Kick fucking Czechs out of the EU pls!

[Josquius]

I wonder if the Mail will have the balls to print that article in the Oirish edition of their rag.

Why?
Its true.
Hell, the Irish love to make a big song and dance over their thousand year rule by the evil English.

[Razgovory]

I wonder if the Mail will have the balls to print that article in the Oirish edition of their rag.

Why?
Its true.
Hell, the Irish love to make a big song and dance over their thousand year rule by the evil English.

I didn't know the English spoke Gaelic.

[Neil]

I must admit, given Sinn Fein's completely understandable attitude, that I have never been able to comprehend the SNP's European policy. Why are they so hot for an "independence" they intend to give away the next day?

Scottish nationalism is based entirely on watching Braveheart.  They hate England with all their hearts, but they need a real country to pay for their laziness.

Really, it's similar to the modern Irish, who don't appreciate that every good thing about their country is because of England and English rule.

[ulmont]

I wouldn't blame the entire country for one enormous jackass, even if he is the head of state.

You ain't kidding.   

[Agelastus]

I didn't know the English spoke Gaelic.

We don't.

Neither do a majority of the Irish.

Irish is the main community and household language of 3% of the Republic's population (which was estimated at 4,422,100 in 2008). Estimates of fully native speakers range from 40,000 up to 80,000 people. Areas in which the language remains the vernacular are referred to as Gaeltacht areas. The Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs estimated in 2007 that about 17,000 people lived in strongly Irish-speaking communities, about 10,000 people lived in areas where there was substantial use of the language, and 17,000 people lived in "weak" Gaeltacht communities; Irish was no longer the main community language in the remaining parts of the official Gaeltacht. However, since Irish is an obligatory subject in schools, many more are reasonably fluent second-language speakers. Furthermore, a much larger number regard themselves as competent in the language to some degree: 1,656,790 (41.9% of the total population aged three years and over) regard themselves as competent Irish speakers. Of these, 538,283 (32.5%) speak Irish on a daily basis (taking into account both native speakers and those inside the education system), 97,089 (5.9%) weekly, 581,574 (35.1%) less often, and 412,846 (24.9%) never. 26,998 (1.6%) respondents did not state how often they spoke Irish. Complete or functional monolingualism of Irish is now restricted to a handful of elderly within more isolated Gaeltacht regions as well as among many mother-tongue speakers of Irish under school age.

In fact, although I will have to look the references, I am fairly sure that use of Gaelic as a first language has actually declined since independence.

[Razgovory]

The passage referred to it as past tense (supposedly when the British ruled Ireland) during those times I don't think the majority of Irish spoke English.

[Agelastus]

The passage referred to it as past tense (supposedly when the British ruled Ireland) during those times I don't think the majority of Irish spoke English.

Actually, the relevant part of the sentence quoted is in the present tense. Grammatically speaking, the sentence should have been split in to two, in my opinion, as he starts in the past tense but then strays in to the present ("share" instead of "shared".)

[derspiess]

   Vaclav Klaus

[Josquius]

The passage referred to it as past tense (supposedly when the British ruled Ireland) during those times I don't think the majority of Irish spoke English.

When the 'British ruled Ireland' (rather when Ireland was part of Britain) the majority spoke English also. It wasn't so clear cut as today but nonetheless it was.

But anyway, it's quite clear there that they're speaking in the present tense since its about the Brits having a interest in the Irish referendum.

[Razgovory]

God you guys are touchy about this ain't you?

[Sophie Scholl]

We share the same language as Britain, why won't you all fall into lockstep with us and become our official second class island?

[The Minsky Moment]

1,000 years of history ends like this

One could only hope so, for what a horrid, violent and nasty 1000 years it has been.

Particularly rich to see the Daily Mail, of all publications, romanticizing the Easter Rising.

Wait, what is this ending?  What happened 1,000 years ago?

In 1009, for the first time in recorded history, a London town crier invented some stupid piece of gossip to rile up the yokels, thus beginning the long and storied tradition of schlock yellow journalism of which the Daily Mail is a proud inheritor.

[Sahib]

Kick the Brits out.
Klaus is one person, and will be out of politics in a couple of years. The Brits will continue to sabotage European integration for generations to come 

[Alatriste]

Klaus probably is a fool but worse still, he waited until the day after the Irish referendum to announce new demands. That shows an awful degree of bad faith, and on top of that, he hasn't made public exactly what does he want added... I don't know about you, but I'm starting to wonder if in past generations our forefathers had to suffer so many clowns in world politics (if the answer is yes, I finally understand why Bismarck always seemed either exasperated or exhausted).

Regarding Britain, I think this whole mess about the 'Constitution' has buried forever the idea all of Europe can advance exactly at the same pace towards a common target. 27 countries can't do that, there will always be someone shouting 'No' here, there or over there. Rather, the future will see more changes like the Euro or the Schengen group, in which the core countries that want real integration don't wait for the others or indeed be interested in their position.

And yes, I think the time has come for Britain to have a referendum not on the Treaty but on belonging to the Union. Either 'in' or 'out', but being 'in' and always opting out and trying to stop the others from doing anything new must be terribly uncomfortable. As things stand now they are making me admire De Gaulle stance on this matter, if a bit grudgingly.

[Martinus]

For the record, Poland just signed.