BS: G.B. and N.I.?

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: Raggytash
Date: 18 Aug 17 - 08:27 AM

"UK does not want a hard border Jim, just Dublin and the EU."

Any evidence to support the assertion that Dublin wants a hard border.

It is not what is being said by the media in the Republic of Ireland.

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 18 Aug 17 - 08:17 AM

the position isn't so much incoherent as acknowledging that its a complex situation. using language to diminish your perceived enemy's position isn't going to help.

the idea of a hi-tech border seems a bit daft on the face of it. but one thing we can be certain of regarding NI, the answer doesn't lie in the past.

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: DMcG
Date: 18 Aug 17 - 06:23 AM

The UK doesn't want a hard border, but it wants things that make a hard border inevitable. Its position is incoherent and somewhere along the line it will have to compromise with itself. A high tech border for trade for example doesn't address population movement.

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 18 Aug 17 - 05:17 AM

why the incident in lloret always stuck in my mind is that i timidly asked about the flamenco sounding music that was being played on the bar stereo.

THat's not flamenco! THat's the great Basque Folksinger, Ramon. He's our Bob Dylan! Flamenco is played by gypsies down in the South. That's another country! that's not Spain either!!

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 18 Aug 17 - 04:44 AM

UK does not want a hard border Jim, just Dublin and the EU.

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 18 Aug 17 - 04:39 AM

its the way of things. the first night i ever went to Spain i was in a bar in lloret de mar. the locals were saying - we get pissed off- theres no such country as Spain. We are Basques. WE speak Basque. The songs we sing aren't in Spanish. We hate speaking Spanish and paing taxes to Madrid.

The key to the thing is that some people are prepared to kill over these differences. other just smoulder with the injustice. others just want to carry on with their lives and leave the politicians to act like arseholes, which is what they're best at.

Charles Dickens had it right two hundred years ago. The only proposition that will ever work is if we stop trying to generalise and work out doctrinaire solutions. we have to simply act as decent human beings.

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 18 Aug 17 - 02:38 AM

It's going to become an issue as the "United" Kingdom become more disunited after Brexit - watch what happens when the borders do back up in Northern Ireland and the lorries start having to queue up for hours Al
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 18 Aug 17 - 02:23 AM

Does any of this really matter? 99.9*% of Americans think that the correct name for The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is 'England', so...

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: Allan Conn
Date: 18 Aug 17 - 02:06 AM

David Carter but your point isn't logical. The state is called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Isle of Man and Channel Islands are part of neither so even calling it Team UK would still exclude them from the official title anyway. Calling it Team GB still excludes them from the title but it also excludes one of the constituent parts of the state itself. I can't see how calling them Team GB and NI excludes Guernsey anymore than Team GB does!!! It may be a clumsier name and that is maybe why the easier Team GB was chosen but I can't see how Jersey or Man have any real relevance there. Don't follow that line of argument.

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 17 Aug 17 - 06:40 PM

call it something else then, call it Brechin City and neighbouring provinces

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 16 Aug 17 - 08:49 PM

The thing is, there has only been a country called Great Britain during the period between the Scottish Act of Union in 1707, when it was established, and the Irish Act of Union in 1800, when it ceased to exist.

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 16 Aug 17 - 01:13 PM

i suppose we are a mixture - we could be called The Vindaloo Gang.

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 14 Aug 17 - 01:55 AM

Mrs. Fenswoman and I attended the IAAF World Championships 2017 on the first Saturday and Sunday. Great atmosphere, loved the stadium, one of the best sporting events I've been to.

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Aug 17 - 06:58 PM

i just like watching fabulous athletes doing their best, win or lose. It's been fantastic.

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: Kampervan
Date: 13 Aug 17 - 06:40 PM

Ok then, to turn the question on it's head, 'Why can't we have simple name such as ABC *(Associated British Conglomeration) that encompasses all of those regions/territories mentioned in the earlier posts.


They could all vote independently as to whether they wanted to be in the ABC or to apply for status as a competing nation in their own right

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: David Carter (UK)
Date: 13 Aug 17 - 03:55 PM

If they are really "Great Britain and Northern Ireland", then that would exclude athletes from the Isle of Man and Channel Islands. Which would be silly (Mark Cavendish for one could not compete at the Olympics). The United Kingdom is what they really should be called (until as Jim says the union dissolves).

I think that strictly, in a geographical context and forgetting politics, DMcG's link is wrong, and Great Britain cannot include the Isle of Wight, Skye, Hebrides, Anglesey etc. It seems to be a political convenience to state that they are included.

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 13 Aug 17 - 03:00 PM

"Team GB' is actually the short form of the name of the UK's Olympic team. "
Wonder what they'll call it when Brexit breaks up the Union as it looks like it might
Little England Disunited,
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 13 Aug 17 - 09:36 AM

'Team GB' is actually the short form of the name of the UK's Olympic team. The official name is actually: 'Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team'.
The British Olympic Association started using the brand name Team GB in 1999...

British Olympics Committee issued a statement explaining that the name 'Team GB' represented not only England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but also the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and UK Overseas Territories such as Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands.
These Overseas Territories, it said, are not represented by the name 'Team UK' and would therefore exclude Olympians such as Mark Cavendish, a cyclist who is Manx, and Carl Hester, a dressage rider who from Sark.


Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2016/08/15/rio-olympics-2016-why-is-team-gb-not-called-team-uk-6068065/#ixzz4pdrLdnUkThe

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 13 Aug 17 - 06:04 AM

It always amuses me how Irish sportsmen like Roy Keane ( a Corkman) suddenly become 'British' when they find fame
An interesting situation in the Six Counties at present
For nearly a decade the Unionists have had and abused their majority
Now the gap has narrowed and the DUP is starting to seek Nationalist Support
Wonder of the Nats will demand a £Billion bung for co-operation as the DUP did for Brexit
Jim Caarroll

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: Allan Conn
Date: 13 Aug 17 - 04:01 AM

I think for some reason unknown the team representing us at the Olympics has always been called Great Britain rather than the United Kingdom. I'm not sure but I suspect "and Northern Ireland" was maybe originally added way back because the Olympic Association in Ireland has since its inception claimed to represent the whole island and not just the Republic. In modern times the British team has used the term Team GB for its branding which has, maybe not surprisingly, rankled with some unionists in Northern Ireland. Folk from NI can choose which country to compete for and the bulk of them choose Ireland. Not sure if that'd be out of allegiance or maybe in some cases they have more chance of actually qualifying for the team that way!!!

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Aug 17 - 08:16 PM

I suppose it's as well to remind people that Northern Ireland has never been part of Great Britain, and never could be, since that's the name of the island, not of a country.

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: DMcG
Date: 12 Aug 17 - 06:26 PM

My guess would be that officially there is no l

Aplace called the "United Kingdom"; only the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". However both "Great Britain" and "Northern Ireland" are official terms. So it might be a jobsworth at work. Or there might be some obscure legal reason. Or that fact that the United Kigdom used to include the whole of Ireland might be a touch sensitive when the border issue is live at the moment. Or any number of other reasons I havent thought of!

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Aug 17 - 06:21 PM

Great night for sport. At least Gatlin was well buried in a team that didn't win.

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: Kampervan
Date: 12 Aug 17 - 06:14 PM

DMcG, thanks for that, complicated but just about understandable. So why isn't the team called the 'United Kingdom'.
Not asking you, just wondered if there was an expert on this sort of thing to tell us.

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: Kampervan
Date: 12 Aug 17 - 06:09 PM

Bloody brilliant performance, especially Gemili, but maybe wrong to single him out.So sad that Bolt and Farah didn't go out on a high, but all credit to them for appearing and for what they've done in the past.

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: DMcG
Date: 12 Aug 17 - 06:06 PM

Well, it is complicated. I remember a breakfast in a hotel sharing a table with some Americans who asked me to explain it. Off the cuff, it was a challenge, I admit.

Subject: RE: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Aug 17 - 05:44 PM

I know. It's a very clumsy moniker. However, didn't the relay lads and lasses do well!

Subject: BS: G.B. and N.I.?
From: Kampervan
Date: 12 Aug 17 - 05:14 PM

Just wondering why the athletics squad for us over here is referred to as Great Britain and Northern Ireland?

Isn't it the U.K.? Isn't there a title that includes all of the nations? Why do we add Northern Ireland?

Just asking... no agenda.