Can anyone defend today's shambolic events?

[Bearbehind]

So it seems TM decided to ignore the fact the DUP has said all along they wouldn't support different rules for NI and tell the EU that that was how we are planning to resolve the border issue.

Then Arlene points out that they weren't bluffing and will not support it so TM has to back track.

It's a fucking joke.

TM and her government continue to think everyone else will just back down if they plough on with their arrogant plans.

When are they going to get real?

Seriously, is there any defence for this staggering display of incomptentence?

We are merely pointing out that prior to 1993, there was a hard border between NI & the ROI. This was managed by blocking off, by various means, most minor roads and funnelling traffic onto the major ones which did have manned crossing points.

If there is a return for a hard border, either to keep the DUP happy or to meet WTO rules, this would be the most likely way to do it.

cheerios you are doing what many a Leaver on here has done before you; take one extreme comment and cling on to it.

I didn't not even think the poster who mentioned blowing up roads was being serious anyway.

The fact is the only solution that is workable here is a free trade agreement which does not require a border or any kind but if we insist on leaving the CU/SM that's not going to happen.

Instead of banging on about one comment, could you come up with any other sensible solution?

OMG is anyone else following the DD interview in the HofC? What an absolute shambles. This is government is beyond a joke now, they are incompetent, dishonest, shambolic and playing with OUR future. Their entire argument now rests on semantics.

20 yes I am. It’s truly unbelievable and shocking.

He has just proved we should have absolutely no confidence in this govt.

What the fuck can we, the public actually do to stop this fiasco?!

government would blow up all the roads and close the border

OK. Pinpoint the time and post where those exact words were said by someone else. Not the embellishment. Just every single road along the 499Km border being blown up.

And I'm afraid you'll have to take it up with the British establishment about them saying there may have to be some militarisation along the border. And also with them if they do the cratering and blocking of yesteryear. Maybe send an email to Brokenshire, Villiers and Owen Paterson. They might tell you what you want to hear. The truth is in short supply. You need weasels.

There were authorised and unauthorised roads before. Finished now.
You even have the photos. This is wasting the thread I know I can be guilty of that too

What the fuck can we, the public actually do to stop this fiasco?!
General Strike on Monday December 11th.

Bear, it was Cheerio themselves who made that extreme comment. Nobody said all the roads along the border would be blown up. This is not what happened before either. Nobody else said it did.

The problem is Cheerio is denying that roads were cratered and barricaded before or that it could/would possibly go to this again in the event of no deal cliff edge Brexit. To return to the past, pre GFA/Customs Union/Single Market. Who knows? But we do know how it was done before. And I fail to see where is the impediment to it happening again in that context.

I want it stopped but I don't want Corbyn in government.

We need a centrist pro Remain coalition.

So David Davis says Brexit Impact studies do not exist after saying just a few weeks ago they existed "in excruciating detail."

Aw, Brexitteers must be so proud.

How old are you Liv?

I'm 33 shhhfastasleep - why?

Bear, it was Cheerio themselves who made that extreme comment. Nobody said all the roads along the border would be blown up. This is not what happened before either. Nobody else said it did.

The problem is Cheerio is denying that roads were cratered and barricaded before or that it could/would possibly go to this again in the event of no deal cliff edge Brexit. To return to the past, pre GFA/Customs Union/Single Market. Who knows? But we do know how it was done before. And I fail to see where is the impediment to it happening again in that context.

This. There are too many border crossings for every single one to have a manned checkpoint. So if, god forbid, we end up in a long term hard border situation (customs, people, whatever) some (many) of the 300 or so border crossings will likely need to be blocked so that the border can be controlled. I don't know why this is hard to understand or causing such an issue on this thread (these threads? I've lost track). I hope to god we never find out what the practicalities of a hard border in 2019 would be, but it does us no harm to be aware of the possibilities.

We have surely crossed a line now with this shower of clowns?

I've emailed my MP re the impact assessments to say that surely it's time for a vote of no confidence in the government, and asked what she and Labour will be doing about it.

'excruciating detail'

Sucking a sweet. Whinging about having to leave the meeting.

I fucking despair.

No one said that all the roads would be blown up except the poster who made the claim that someone had...
It was never the case that all roads were/would/could be rendered impassable, just those that were/would be impossible to police.
I do miss our erstwhile friend Caroline but never mind, Cheerio is a more than acceptable substitute with her ranting, nitpicking and adhominem style. Perhaps they are related? And both with names beginning with C. How sweet. Welcome, Cheerio, you have been busy on lots of threads since - what is it? The beginning of the month?

If you are 33, you won't remember how bad it was before the Good Friday Agreement.
We don't want to mess with GFA but DUP didn't want it in the first place. And you won't remember the damage ( putting it mildly) caused by the IRA and the UVF ( DUP were the political wing of the UVF - think Sinn Fein/IRA).
We want to keep the monsters in the box. We don't want to give even a smidge of daylight or oxygen.
I hope that NI has come too far and achieved too much peace to give them a sniff. Undermine the GFA at our peril, though.

I despair too. It’s really simple. The job of this government is to approach Brexit properly, throughly and honestly. So far, it’s been nothing short of shambolic. Utter disgrace.

No, I don't remember much of it shhh but I remember enough and since I'm from Dublin and living in Belfast, married to a Northern Irish man, I'd like to think I'm reasonably aware.

I know who the UVF, UDA, DUP, IRA, INLA, SF etc are. I don't know what I've said that indicates I don't.

Unfortunately, the monsters aren't in a particularly secure box - as I discovered when the oh-so-crazy decision to take the flag down at City Hall nearly had me killed.

This is precisely why I have repeatedly posted on these threads about the importance of the GFA, maintaining an open Border and, I believe, not putting a border in the Irish Sea if it can be at all avoided.

I'm confused as to what I've said that makes you think otherwise?

Thank you, Liv. Your post about unmanned border crossings struck me as a bit lacking in knowledge. I misunderstood you.
We don't want to go back to that, as I am sure you agree. Some younger posters don't seem to get it at all. You clearly do.

Yeah I read back over my posts and it might not have been clear on this thread - manned border crossings and blocked border crossings are precisely what I'm afraid of. I'm not advocating for a return to that, I was trying to spell out just why a hard border would be a bad idea and unachievable in practicality without drastic measures. Perhaps that didn't come across!

I think we agree on this. So worried about the drastic measures.

Is it true that DD has said Brexit will be comparable to the 1930s depression and that he doesn't need to do impact studies because the impact is obvious. Besides which he doesn't believe in future modelling so hasn't done any, and they'd be too hard tk do anyway.

I want it stopped but I don't want Corbyn in government.

I want both, but I'd take stopping Brexit over electing Labour- and this incarnation of Labour is the one I have been waiting for, so that shows how much stopping Brexit matters to me.

I want Brexit stopped and Keir Starmer as PM.

Hell at this point I'd take Brexit stopped and Blair to come back as PM!

What with the NI/DUP fiasco of a couple of days ago and David Davis today admitting that the impact studies with excruciating detail that he has referred to on several occasions to reassure people and businesses that government know what they are doing don’t actually exist is just mind-blowing.

It’s like Donald Trump. Just when you think things have reached an all-time-low he goes one worse.