[DM Andy]

Originally Posted by frankie_baby

Personally I'd love them to, we would be better and stronger as a slightly bigger country with lots of mutual benefits to both our nations but I know the Irish would never want to (if a hypothetical referendum got even more than a 5‰ yes I'd be be shocked) so that's that, move along please

However I wouldn't be surprised (with the euro collapsing) if Ireland rejoined Stirling within the next 5 years

Tip of the proverbial hat to you for using ‰ on the forum, it's a symbol that's too neglected.

[Frood]

No.

Dreadful idea.

And I can imagine the general reaction in the RoI to such a suggestion

[Irishguy123]

Originally Posted by HillmanImp

Some places do very well as multi Island countries, where some of the islands have slightly different cultures: eg Japan, News Zealand and Denmark. I know all the bad history, blah blah blah, but since the Catholic Churches problems in Ireland both the UK and Ireland now have large sections of their populations that are only vaguely religious - we're all singing from the same hymn book.

If there was a referendum for a reunification of some sort I would vote "yes" - I think we're better off together.

OP how about England joining forces with Germany to form one country? A lot of the bad blood between the two is now healed and the two countries would be even more powerful than they are now. English people could learn German and even be entitled to German passports. It would be wonderful!

Sound appealing?

[1TrueNorth]

I don't have an opinion but i think to much water has passed under the bridge for that to happen.

[Ovalteenie]

Is this thread a rhetorical question?

[Tequila]

Originally Posted by Irishguy123

OP how about England joining forces with Germany to form one country?

Irish people can't speak English then and would have to learn it?

Also, Germany doesn't have a sizeable proportion of England as its territory (with the support of the majority of people in that territory).

[Irishguy123]

Originally Posted by Ovalteenie

Is this thread a rhetorical question?

God knows what it is. A lot of stupid threads about Ireland seem to pop up here in the politics forum a lot. I suppose it's not as bad as some of the American threads that appear though.

[Doc Shmok]

Originally Posted by Irishguy123

OP how about England joining forces with Germany to form one country? A lot of the bad blood between the two is now healed and the two countries would be even more powerful than they are now. English people could learn German and even be entitled to German passports. It would be wonderful!

Sound appealing?

Should one mention that England was never under German rule?
Even Germany was under Allied rule.
England was not under any foreign rule since 1066, aifaik

[frankie_baby]

Originally Posted by Irishguy123

OP how about England joining forces with Germany to form one country? A lot of the bad blood between the two is now healed and the two countries would be even more powerful than they are now. English people could learn German and even be entitled to German passports. It would be wonderful!

Sound appealing?

That's hardly a similar comparison, there are at least many reasons why a reunification with Ireland could be a good idea (language culture economy and a highly intertwined population) however the people of the republic would never want it so that that

[Doc Shmok]

Originally Posted by Tequila

Irish people can't speak English then and would have to learn it?

Also, Germany doesn't have a sizeable proportion of England as its territory (with the support of the majority of people in that territory).

Surely if you would ship enough Germans over to England you could get a "yes" vote to join "the Reich".

[husted]

Originally Posted by Doc Shmok

Should one mention that England was never under German rule?
Even Germany was under Allied rule.
England was not under any foreign rule since 1066, aifaik

What about the Queen? She's pretty German.

[Doc Shmok]

Originally Posted by husted

What about the Queen? She's pretty German.

Grecco German rule..

Pay tax, don't pay tax, pay tax, don't pay tax ...

[Ovalteenie]

Well I was in Dublin last week for the first time ever & there is such a strong sense of Irish national pride. The GPO with its declaration of Irish sovereignty, the bullet marks in the pillars outside & the Irish tricolor flying above it, was most inspiring

[tiggertiny]

We have enough debt and unemployed of our own without importing any more.

They were keen enough to break away so let's leave it at that.

They wouldn't want to rejoin us anyway.

[apaul]

Originally Posted by Doc Shmok

Should one mention that England was never under German rule? :

Where do you think the Angles(and Saxons) came from?

[Ovalteenie]

Originally Posted by Doc Shmok

Should one mention that England was never under German rule?
Even Germany was under Allied rule.
England was not under any foreign rule since 1066, aifaik

Richard the Lionheart agreed to becoming a vassal of the German Holy Roman Emperor, in order to be released from captivity in 1194... So technically England was under German overlordship...

[Doc Shmok]

Originally Posted by apaul

Where do you think the Angles(and Saxons) came from?

Wasn't there a program recently, that there is more Celtic|Basque DNA in the UK population than Anglo Saxon?

http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ma...itishancestry/

When I looked at exact gene type matches between the British Isles and the continent, there were indeed specific matches between the continental Anglo-Saxon homelands and England, but these amounted to only 5 per cent of modern English male lines, rising to 15 per cent in parts of Norfolk where the Angles first settled. There were no such matches with Frisia, which tends to confirm a specific Anglo-Saxon event since Frisia is closer to England, so would be expected to have more matches.

[husted]

Sounds like some sort of European political pact involving UK, Germany, ROI and some other countries might be a good idea?

[HillmanImp]

I have no problem at all living in Germany. Both my parents lived there for quite some time (they helped in the Berlin airlift - RAF - they both can speak fluent German)

Germany has a Federal System with state independence. See - your assumptions are wrong about me and Germany.

I suggest that peoples assumptions about Irish people not wanting some link to the UK might be 50 years out of date.

[Doc Shmok]

Originally Posted by Ovalteenie

Richard the Lionheart agreed to becoming a vassal of the German Holy Roman Emperor, in order to be released from captivity in 1194... So technically England was under German overlordship...

But some of these Emperors were indeed from Italy. It was the Holy Roman empire of German Nation. It was hence a Roman empire..

Before 1815, there was no state called Germany, in the sense we now use.
There was the Holy Roman Empire, with a ruler called the Roman Emperor, which claimed in principle to be the continuation of the Roman Empire and ruled basically all of what is now Germany, as well as pieces of Italy, Austria, the Low Countries [now Belgium and the Netherlands] and a few more

http://flagspot.net/flags/de_roman.html

You had Prussia and Bavaria and so on, and like today they are still a bit miffed at each other. Germany is as much an illusion as anything else.

[HillmanImp]

Richard was French.

[Doc Shmok]

Originally Posted by husted

Sounds like some sort of European political pact involving UK, Germany, ROI and some other countries might be a good idea?

Well without the Euro .. I don't think it was that bad.
The odd moronic law ..

[denzl]

Originally Posted by D*****

Religion is not the reason the Irish wanted to end British rule in Ireland OP.

Abolish the United Kingdom in my opinion, because it gives the impression that it is Britain that is in charge. Have independent nations England (Wales), Ireland, Scotland under an EU type cloak of governance between the British Isle Countries. We need each other, we have a lot to give each other, and we can be a strong force if we pull together more tightly. We just need to be careful that each country has its own identity and it is not a case of Ireland becoming British again. We all just pull closer together as independent countries of the British Isles.

The EUSSR would be rubbing their hands in glee at that, anything that further balkanises the british isles and weakens us they would welcome. What next? break us down in to regions and counties, abolish the nation state, but keep the over-arching, undemocratic super-state that is Brussels who would possess the real power.

[Ovalteenie]

Originally Posted by HillmanImp

Richard was French.

He was born in Oxford but emigrated at a young age

[husted]

Originally Posted by HillmanImp

I have no problem at all living in Germany. Both my parents lived there for quite some time (they helped in the Berlin airlift - RAF - they both can speak fluent German)

Germany has a Federal System with state independence. See - your assumptions are wrong about me and Germany.

I suggest that peoples assumptions about Irish people not wanting some link to the UK might be 50 years out of date.

I suggest that your suggestion has no basis whatsoever, and if you repeated your suggestion in an Irish pub people would think you a comedian and hand you a microphone.