The Will of the People

: The will of the people.

It seems to me that it will be a massive injustice if we are unable to progress in the Brexit talks because of the need to provide a backstop arrangement between the boarder of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
It was not so long ago that we were at war with the non official Irish nationalists in the form of the IRA. Many lives were spent even in the bombings on English soil and a treaty to cease fighting The Good Friday treaty was cobbled together by Tony Blair to bring to an end the dirty war pursued on the backstreets of many small towns in Northern Ireland
Of course the Irish Question goes back much further in time and the wrangling over Home Rule brought down the government in Westminster. The English landowners in Ireland were much hated for their ignoring the plight of the ordinary people during the potato famine of 1845 to 1849. The heartless disregard for the starving Irish cast a cloud over future relationships which right up until this day have not been forgotten by the residents of areas most effected.

The IRA and Sinn Fain, the political wing of the nationalist movement caused mayhem in Northern Ireland but as part of the Good Friday agreement they formed the opposition in the newly created Northern Ireland Parliament. Gradually over the years the size of Sinn Fain has grown and at the time of last election nearly formed a majority of the votes counted. Considering that their single aim is reunification with Southern Ireland and given that they nearly won why are we making such a fuss over protecting the rights of  Protestant trade and friction less boarders if in a few years Northern Ireland may be politically reunited by a vote of its own people.
We seem keen to fight so many lost causes. The Falklands, probably Gibraltar and Northern Ireland, all seem to bewitch us with our past glory and, along with Scotland who seem bent on independence, we continue to stretch our credulity by opposing the flow of the will of the people in the twenty first century.