There’s a lot wrong with this.
Throughout the Brexit process, the English media and political sphere has not exactly covered themselves in glory when it comes to Irish matters.
There has been a litany of examples, such as former Brexit Secretary David Davis insisting you could spend pounds in Dublin, and a Tory MP claiming all English people were entitled to Irish passports, while many newsreaders have mispronounced Taoiseach, and Bernard Jenkin referred to “Enda Kelly” as the “Taoiseach of Northern Ireland”.
It’s gotten so bad that Ireland’s ambassador to the United Kingdom wrote a letter addressed to conservative magazine The Spectator to complain about their coverage, accusing it of being “anti-Irish”.
Now, The New Statesman is the latest to come down on the wrong side of the issue with a controversial cover essay, titled “Return of the Irish Question – How an ancient conflict is destabilising the British state”.
https://twitter.com/JasonCowleyNS/status/1128624013104832514
The cover is complete with graphic imagery of Theresa May on a watchtower stood beside a rifle and peering into Ireland using binoculars.
Social media users, as you’ll see in the replies to the tweet above, have been quick to point out a couple of oversights.
First is that the only reason Northern Ireland’s supposedly “ancient conflict” is of any relevance to the UK right now is because they voted to leave the European Union, while Northern Ireland voted to remain.
Second would be that the “ancient conflict” they’re referring to was started by the United Kingdom when they invaded and occupied Ireland for centuries.
As for “destabilising the British state”, it is fair to say that Theresa May and her party bear far more responsibility for that than anyone in Ireland – a country which had nothing to do with Brexit and has no say in how it plays out.
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