Brexit

I think there are more than a few politicians whose gameplan is:
1) Put all your savings into foreign currencies.
2) Brexit.
3) Profit.

(Regardless of how this may come across) This is NOT a political message.

I don't care how you voted, all I know is that this is a mess! Embarrassingly so. On an international level.

Last thing to go, the sense of humour! Love this.

For ones with a short memory or too young to understand the Irish Border issue, just stumbled upon an interesting documentary on iPlayer

Pop Goes Northern Ireland.

Amazing to think all that carnage has happened in my lifetime in what we perceive as a peaceful period in British History.

All what you said.

The NI and wider Ireland issue had been going on for many years and being from Birmingham I have heard much about the pub bombings and can remember a lot of the terror down the years.

I could never understand how the terrorists always seemed to be one step ahead but employing hit and run tactics can almost nullify the strength in numbers of the army.

Also over all the years who was the actual leader of the IRA - I know Gerry Adams was head of Sinn Fein and Martin McGuinness was a prominent senior member but we never heard an actual leader ever named.

People have such short memories, it's really shocking. Or do people simply not understand the role the EU has played in the peace process?

It's one of the reasons why not undermining the EU as a whole is really important for many member states - as an institution its very existence helps maintain relatively peaceful relations in a lot of places. And peaceful relations are the foundation stone of everyone's economy.

The EU created the conditions that allowed both sides to agree to a peace deal. Or rather, the single market and the customs union are the means via which we maintain a completely transparent border. A fragile peace has held in no small part because, on the ground, to all intents and purposes there is no border, apart from the fact that you use different currencies on either side of the line. We've had a common travel area between the UK and Ireland for much longer than either country has been a member of the EU, but the common travel area in itself can't maintain the same transparent border, which depends on absolute regulatory alignment between both sides. We had a common travel area all the way through the 'troubles' - and we also had a hard border, and people died because of it.

Totally ... I knew every which way home from central to the sticks, re-routing was routine and barely worthy of a shrug. 

Now we are at the endgame things are starting to become more inevitable and the most obvious outcome seems to be that there is no possibility of any deal getting through the commons and the EU. As such, the only possible Brexit is a no deal Brexit, not Chequers, not some <insert random country> deal, no possible bespoke solution, just crashing out.

Elsewhere I see people salivating/despairing that this will happen, saying that the government will just let us do so. I really doubt that, however, as the blame will all fall on parliament and the parties in power in particular. To allow a no deal is to commit political suicide. As such we will not crash out at parliament’s behest.

So, the way out for any politician wanting to save their party’s and personal skin is to let others shoulder the blame. Who are the only other entity that can make that decision? The electorate, of course. This can only be done through either a referendum or an election. The latter is likely to still leaving a government to carry the can so we are, perhaps inevitably, going to have a second referendum.

This, for one very important reason. No political party or grouping will ever want to take the blame for what is now generally acknowledged as going to be a disaster. People vote remain, then blame the people for changing their mind. People vote leave, then blame the people for the chaos that ensues. It’s all going to be our fault.

Yes, completely. They have little to lose from us walking away, and they don't care. We are not "playing hardball", Theresa May is just flailing incoherently to try to come up with a solution to something there was never any plan for.

The EU doesn't have to do anything. If we walk away the EU will simply brush off their hands and continue as normal. No deal would actually be in the EU's favour in many respects; we're the only ones who would lose out.

Would you really be happy with food and medicine shortages, price increases due to tariffs, certain trades collapsing, the pound plummeting, loss of EU subsidies, companies moving overseas leading to mass job losses, reductions in staff in essential areas eg NHS workers, loss of free travel, grounded flights, and an Irish border which may reignite violence?