Do EU regret Brexit result?

DID you see the boy Paisley bellowing like a constipated cow in the House of Commons last week? He embodied the Brexiters’ approach to international relations – just shout at the foreigners until they get the message.

There were so many other things he could have said. He could have asked about the 12% tanking Northern Ireland’s economy is going to suffer in the event of a no deal Brexit.

He could have shown concern about the possible loss of jobs in his agriculture-dependent constituency of North Antrim.

He could have warned the Prime Minister about the dire consequences of a hard border.

Instead, he wrapped himself in the Union flag and roared like a yob on the football terraces.

Well done that man.

Of course, that is the Brexiters’ usual response when hard facts are staring them in the face. Just shout at them until they go away.

Dismiss the experts as fools and laud their own ignorant delusions as infinitely superior.

In this post-truth era, we don’t need facts, just a loud voice and a jabbing finger.

If you detach yourself from the deluded jingoism, if you stand back and really look at the situation with an unbiased eye, you can see that

Brexit is going to be an unmitigated disaster.

We aren’t just shooting ourselves in the foot – we are going to blow our legs off.

Now let’s pretend that Paisley’s contribution to the democratic process was more than just a boorish rant by someone who loves the sound of his own voice.

Let’s pretend – and I know this is unlikely but bear with me – that, in fact, it represented a tipping point in the Brexit process.

Let’s further pretend that Theresa May went back to 10 Downing Street and thought to herself: “You know, the boy Paisley has a point. No surrender!”

Then she picked up the phone to European chief negotiator Michel Barnier and said: “Barners? Stuff you and the horse you rode in on. Start spreading the news – we’re leaving today!”

Eighteen months later, we are out of Europe with no deal, Northern Ireland’s economy has plummeted by 12% and you, a Brexit supporter and DUP voter, are out of a job.

Will you be happy? Will you see it as a job well done? Will you consider your inability to feed your children a small price to pay to be independent?

I know a lot of people here vote because of political and/or religious identity – be honest, no one votes DUP or Sinn Fein for their financial acumen – but do you really believe being British is more important than having money in your pocket to buy presents for the family at Christmas?

When your wife complains that Phoenix Gas have turned your supply off because you can’t pay the bill, will you reply: “So what? We’re out of Europe – isn’t it great!”

Will you and crowds of other people like you – proud, British and jobless – be carrying Ian Paisley Jnr in triumph down Belfast’s Royal Avenue, past the closed down and shuttered stores and shopping centres?

If your answer to any of these questions is “yes” then there is no hope for you.

I am wasting my time here. Good day to you.

But if you’re beginning to say “Well, um, perhaps, um…” then there is hope for you yet. You may soon see the light.

It’s not too late for a second referendum, fought on facts not fiction.

Let’s stop this madness in its tracks.

A CHRISTIAN group has slammed a cinema chain that won’t screen a film it has made showing gay people apparently being “cured”.The Core Issues Trust, which believes in “gay conversion therapy”, is now taking legal action against Vue Cinemas.I understand the anger. I, too, have produced a film – only mine shows people being cured of their Christianity.It’s very simple, you just give them facts.Sadly, some people will no doubt see it as propaganda for religious conversion therapy and will no doubt claim it will fuel hatred and prejudice against Christians.I say this: There are some of us who have an irresistible urge to judge other people and interfere with their lives and it is blatant discrimination to try to stop us doing it.Until we’re cured, of course. THE BBC’S Talkback has been criticised for playing the Garth Brooks song If Tomorrow Never Comes just before a piece on Gerry Adams. Democratic Unionist MP Jim Shannon says it was inappropriate, adding: “Tomorrow never came for the men and women of the RUC, UDR, Army, prison officers or the civilians.” Sure, there are a number of more appropriate songs the BBC could have chosen.Elton John’s Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word. Shaggy’s It Wasn’t Me. John Lennon’s Gimme Some Truth.For new Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou Mcdonald, how about Puppet On A String?

RANTIan Paisley Jnr in the Commons