As the dust settles after the Irish referendum "NO" vote on the Lisbon Treaty, BBC online has decided to allow a comments thread on the subject. We know how the BBC likes to make sure no nationality or race is offended by any of its published comments, so it is heartning to see that this policy is adhered to here.
Apart from the English, of course.
First we have a Scots Nats person spouting drivel:
Ranting about being kicked out of the EU and free border crossings in the EU do not justify our erosion of soverignty over our own country - some Unelected gathering in another country making laws to govern us is not acceptable and will not be tolerated by the British people - The Scottish want free of England so why should the accept the EU - Give us the vote and be a man gordon - you were elected by the people and you can go in the same manner if you fail to listen.
I replied to this, pointing out that England does not exist constitutionally and that the PM is a Scot, representing a Scots constituency. I also included my views on the EU. None of it was published.
Then this:
English jokes often portray the Irish as dim. I as an Englishman applaud their intelligence in voting no and criticise the naivity of other countries in not protesting more vigorously against their govenments´ refusing a referendum. What happened in Britain was an utter disgrace; the government made an election promise and then went back on it fearing a no vote. The EU is full of hypocrisy, claiming to be democatic but denying the people its say. No doubt it will come up with some clever fudge!
Isn't it odd that English people so often submerge "English" under "British" in writing and speech and yet this e-mail paints a perceived wrong-doing as being "English" - and yet the old "Englishman, Irishman and a Scotsman" jokes were prevelant throughout England and Scotland in the 1960s/1970s!
A source close to this blog also informs me that the writer of the e-mail is not English at all - but Scots!
Why is he/she disguising him/herself as English? Search me...
Just a little quibble - but I'm always amazed when I read BBC comments threads at the number of times Auntie lets anti-English stuff seep in - even if it is totally untrue as in the case of the first comment featured here.
Still, the tone of the majority of the comments is highly encouraging as far as I can see - but still David Miliband declares that the ratification process in the UK Parliament will continue... And we still won't get a say.
"It's right that we continue with our own process." says Mr Miliband. But it isn't OUR PROCESS. It's the politicians'. And it's not RIGHT. Ratification was supposed to depend on unanimity.
Mr Miliband goes on to say that there should be a "British view" on the treaty - but surely that should come from the people, not a bunch of dictators closeted away at Westminster?
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