Sir, – Someone should tell Arlene Foster that a majority of people in the North want to remain “trapped” in the EU. That’s what we voted for.
The question for unionism is how long before English nationalists wake up to the fact that they’re effectively trapped in the EU by the DUP’s paranoid absolutism.
Civitas director David Green, a prominent English leaver, recently described Northern Ireland as a “millstone round the neck of the rest of the UK” and noted, with incredulity, that Britain pays £7.8 billion a year to the EU but pays £8.8 billion a year to 1.8 million people in Northern Ireland. And as Dominic Cummings puts it, many English leavers couldn’t care less if “Northern Ireland fell into the f***ing sea”.
If you hear beeping sounds near the Border, don’t worry – it’s just the DUP battle bus in high-speed reverse, before the inevitable U-turn. – Yours, etc,
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SEÁN MacCANN,
Trillick,
Co Tyrone.
Sir, – Joe O’Hanlon (Letters, October 12th) extols the virtues of the Swiss model of direct democracy and suggests it could be used as a way out of the backstop quagmire. The system is described as vibrant and forward thinking.
Was it not direct democracy in action that got us all into this mess in the first place? – Yours, etc,
REAMONN O’LUAN,
Churchtown,
Dublin 14.
Sir, – With representatives from the EU and the UK government isolated in a “tunnel”, negotiating against time for agreement to unlock the long-running Brexit conundrum, the media will be in high competitive mode to be the first to announce the sighting of a “light at the end of the tunnel”.
In view of the many twists and turns of the Brexit saga to date, they would do well to recall the wise words of the man who cautioned that the light at the end of the tunnel may prove to be the light from an oncoming train. – Yours, etc,
VAL O’DONNELL,
Glasnevin,
Dublin 9.
Sir, – Arlene Foster is quoted as saying that “flexibility” is needed. Unfortunately, that word is not in the DUP’s vocabulary. – Yours, etc,
CECIL ORR,
Wicklow.