[FuckingRotter]

I doubt any one is going to question Arlene Fosters commitment to preserving the integrity of the United Kingdoms borders.

I don't know about this festival you wrote of, but if there is a republican connection (remember "republican" can take more than one shape in the British Isles), then an openly pro-European Federalist speaking there would be of concern to a British loyalist.

It ought to be of concern to any one that cares about Irish independence and self-governance too, so it is becoming more obvious by the day that Sinn Fein are no longer the radical political party they once were. They have joined the mainstream political class.

If you go back a decade, Ireland voted on whether to sign the Lisbon Treaty, the logical conclusion of that piece of legislation is a European Federation. Tax raising powers, a "European" military, and all the trappings of a nation state.

The United Kingdom was also promised a vote on Lisbon, but Tony Blair at the time reneged, claiming the treaty wasn't what we thought it was. (See the usual electorate is too stupid to understand treatment there?)

Any way, quite sensibly, the Irish voted to reject the Lisbon Treaty. So the Irish government went to Brussels, got them to promise not to interfere with Irish military neutrality, held another vote. Ireland signed up. Problem is, there is no actual written piece of legislation that ensures Brussels will not demand Ireland contributes to a future European Union military project.

So, in effect, Irish military neutrality no longer exists. At any moment we could see Paddy, glass of the pure in one hand, carbine in the other, not marching on Tommy in Belfast, but towards Ivan in Sevastopol. He won't be wearing the traditional green boiler suit and black ski mask of PIRA, he'll be wearing a dull gray uniform with a bright yellow star.

So you see, if you take Leo Varadkar, cheerleader of European federalisation, in the context of the wider British Isles/European Union political situation, any Irish nationalist ought to be very concerned theirself. So far, the European Union has rejected every single proposal for maintaining an open border in Ireland after the UK has left the EU, put forward by the British government. The EU is blatantly more concerned about maintaining its political integrity than it is about maintaining peace, any where, full stop.

Still, if that is what Paddy wants, who are we to disagree?