If “Brexit and a backstop are mutually incompatible”, as Nick Crawford claims (Irish Independent, Letters, July 16) then the English are just going to have to ditch Brexit.
The Government’s position is a no-brainer, seeking only to protect Ireland from the fallout of a crazy, reactionary decision.
Let’s be clear, Brexit would be a disaster for all bar the well-heeled and we must do all we can to open their eyes to that fact.
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We do our friends across the water no favours by tugging the forelock on the issue. We must be steadfast and continue to demand a moral response to this problem instead of pandering to the whims of egoists.
Jim O’Sullivan
Rathedmond, Sligo
Lesson from history about the peddlers of populism
A set of quotes to consider:
:: “The broad masses of a population are more amenable to the appeal of rhetoric than to any other force”;
:: “Strength lies not in defence but in attack”;
:: “The great masses of the people will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one”;
:: “The art of leadership… consists in consolidating the attention of the people against a single adversary and taking care that nothing will split up that attention”;
:: “How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think”;
:: “Great liars are also great magicians”;
:: “Universal education is the most corroding and disintegrating poison that liberalism has ever invented for its own destruction”;
:: “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed”;
:: “All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach”;
:: “Success is the sole earthly judge of right and wrong.”
You might wonder who said these things. Could it be a living politician? But no, it is a dead one: the man who became chancellor of Germany in 1933 when his party was voted into power by 17.34 million people (43.9pc).
Hitler’s poisonous book was written in 1924 while in prison for attempting a coup in Bavaria. His book was originally titled ‘Four-and-a half Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity, and Cowardice’.
This is a man who made populism an art form. Take note.
Alison Hackett
Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin
Island nation should question the wisdom of a smaller navy
In an island nation, with a disproportionately modest navy, can the withdrawal from service of two ships be justified?
Eve Parnell
Dublin 8
Our man in Brussels seems to be missing point about Brexit
You report (Irish Independent, July 15) that Phil Hogan will be kept away from the post of EU competition commissioner in case doing the right thing would create problems for Ireland with the high-tech firms that employ so many people here (and add to our coffers).
So much for the exercise of power for the good of all of the states and people of the European Union rather than the country of the individual commissioner.
But we should have no fear of Mr Hogan, as this comedian outdoes his namesake Paul.
As Agriculture Commissioner, Mr Hogan totally contradicts every other EU spokesperson in decreeing that in the face of a hard Brexit a way can be found to avoid animal and food checks at the Border.
Firstly, he says, because the whole island of Ireland is treated as one entity. Of course it is, because the UK is still in the EU but, Phil, it won’t be when the UK leaves, will it?
The other dubious or irrelevant comments include the fact that currently 55pc of products coming from Britain to “Northern Ireland” come through Dublin.
Again, can’t Phil understand that, for tariff reasons alone, this will not be so after the UK leaves the EU?
Is Hogan so adrift from everyone else’s reality, or is he just a condescending Eurocrat?
Ciarán Clarke
Co Fermanagh
Equal pay for equal work goes missing at Wimbledon
I was astonished to read that the men’s and women’s Wimbledon singles winners received £2.35m (€2.6m) each.
The amount of the prize money didn’t surprise me, but the fact both men and women received the same amount did.
The men play the best of five sets and the women play the best of three. The men’s final lasted four hours, 55 minutes; the women’s lasted 56 minutes.
There is something seriously wrong here!
Dermot Brady
Sutton, Dublin 13
Source: Read Full Article
Home » Analysis & Comment » Letters to the Editor: 'Government must protect State and stand by backstop'
Letters to the Editor: 'Government must protect State and stand by backstop'
If “Brexit and a backstop are mutually incompatible”, as Nick Crawford claims (Irish Independent, Letters, July 16) then the English are just going to have to ditch Brexit.
The Government’s position is a no-brainer, seeking only to protect Ireland from the fallout of a crazy, reactionary decision.
Let’s be clear, Brexit would be a disaster for all bar the well-heeled and we must do all we can to open their eyes to that fact.
Please log in or register with Independent.ie for free access to this article.
Log In
New to Independent.ie? Create an account
We do our friends across the water no favours by tugging the forelock on the issue. We must be steadfast and continue to demand a moral response to this problem instead of pandering to the whims of egoists.
Jim O’Sullivan
Rathedmond, Sligo
Lesson from history about the peddlers of populism
A set of quotes to consider:
:: “The broad masses of a population are more amenable to the appeal of rhetoric than to any other force”;
:: “Strength lies not in defence but in attack”;
:: “The great masses of the people will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one”;
:: “The art of leadership… consists in consolidating the attention of the people against a single adversary and taking care that nothing will split up that attention”;
:: “How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think”;
:: “Great liars are also great magicians”;
:: “Universal education is the most corroding and disintegrating poison that liberalism has ever invented for its own destruction”;
:: “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed”;
:: “All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach”;
:: “Success is the sole earthly judge of right and wrong.”
You might wonder who said these things. Could it be a living politician? But no, it is a dead one: the man who became chancellor of Germany in 1933 when his party was voted into power by 17.34 million people (43.9pc).
Hitler’s poisonous book was written in 1924 while in prison for attempting a coup in Bavaria. His book was originally titled ‘Four-and-a half Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity, and Cowardice’.
This is a man who made populism an art form. Take note.
Alison Hackett
Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin
Island nation should question the wisdom of a smaller navy
In an island nation, with a disproportionately modest navy, can the withdrawal from service of two ships be justified?
Eve Parnell
Dublin 8
Our man in Brussels seems to be missing point about Brexit
You report (Irish Independent, July 15) that Phil Hogan will be kept away from the post of EU competition commissioner in case doing the right thing would create problems for Ireland with the high-tech firms that employ so many people here (and add to our coffers).
So much for the exercise of power for the good of all of the states and people of the European Union rather than the country of the individual commissioner.
But we should have no fear of Mr Hogan, as this comedian outdoes his namesake Paul.
As Agriculture Commissioner, Mr Hogan totally contradicts every other EU spokesperson in decreeing that in the face of a hard Brexit a way can be found to avoid animal and food checks at the Border.
Firstly, he says, because the whole island of Ireland is treated as one entity. Of course it is, because the UK is still in the EU but, Phil, it won’t be when the UK leaves, will it?
The other dubious or irrelevant comments include the fact that currently 55pc of products coming from Britain to “Northern Ireland” come through Dublin.
Again, can’t Phil understand that, for tariff reasons alone, this will not be so after the UK leaves the EU?
Is Hogan so adrift from everyone else’s reality, or is he just a condescending Eurocrat?
Ciarán Clarke
Co Fermanagh
Equal pay for equal work goes missing at Wimbledon
I was astonished to read that the men’s and women’s Wimbledon singles winners received £2.35m (€2.6m) each.
The amount of the prize money didn’t surprise me, but the fact both men and women received the same amount did.
The men play the best of five sets and the women play the best of three. The men’s final lasted four hours, 55 minutes; the women’s lasted 56 minutes.
There is something seriously wrong here!
Dermot Brady
Sutton, Dublin 13
Source: Read Full Article