Editorial May’s out of step but Foster is dancing with the devil
THE writer Kurt Vonnegut had no time for magical thinking. He had a great line for grounding those straying from reason: “Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand,” he would quip. British Prime Minister Theresa May took a more drastic approach to puncturing the unreality bubble in which her party exists, clearly hoping to stun it back to the real world, with a once seen, never to be forgotten dance routine. This was less performance art, and more desperation. Whether it will ultimately be remembered as a last tango for Brexit, few can doubt Mrs May’s commitment to trying.
It is difficult to remember another time in history when a leader faced with such a formidable task was so poorly served at a time of such grave crisis.
Instead of support she has been surrounded by back-stabbing and every low form of political skulduggery.
There was something almost poignant about her call to Conservatives to unite behind her Brexit plan, warning that divisions within the party could lead to Britain remaining in the European Union.
Repeating her call for the EU to treat Britain with respect in the negotiations, she said she could not accept what she characterised as the unacceptable options currently offered by the EU. The enormity that the UK still refuses to recognise is the EU is simply not prepared to restructure its engineering and risk further cracks, by turning itself inside out to accommodate a British exit.
In a tone straining for patience Mrs May appealed: “When we come together there is no limit to what we can achieve. Ours is a great country. Our future is in our hands. Together, let’s seize it.” While Mrs May undoubtedly has the interests of her country at heart, it is difficult to ascribe any benevolent motivation to the incendiary comments made by DUP leader Arlene Foster. She warned that her party’s “red line” that there could be no Brexit deal that would divide Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom was “blood red”.
“There cannot be a border down the Irish Sea, a differential between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK,” Ms Foster told the BBC. Just one day after undermining the Good Friday Agreement Ms Foster was insisting that: “The red line is blood red.”
Such language is an insult to all those who support and cherish the two decades of peace that the historical international agreement has delivered. When Gerry Adams made his grisly claim: “They haven’t gone away you know,” suggesting that the IRA was still in the background, he was rightly rounded upon for playing with fire.
Ms Foster’s raising the spectre of blood in the context of Brexit introduces a chilling and unwelcome note of menace, suggestive of an ominous turning back of the clock.
Raising the spectre of blood in the context of Brexit introduces a chilling note of menace