Opinion

Tom Collins: Bribes and threats won't fix #Brexit

Tom Collins

Tom Collins

Tom Collins is an Irish News columnist and former editor of the newspaper.

Tom Collins's Twitteritis worsens in direct proportion to the amount of nonsense spouted about Brexit
Tom Collins's Twitteritis worsens in direct proportion to the amount of nonsense spouted about Brexit Tom Collins's Twitteritis worsens in direct proportion to the amount of nonsense spouted about Brexit

THE muscle on my left shoulder - the trapezius - is as tight as a Lambeg drum, and my right thumb's lower knuckle is sore.

For those who don't have access to Grey's Anatomy, it is known as the basel carpometacarpal.

From time to time my arm goes numb. I have a twinge in my wrist, and occasionally my hand cramps in the shape of an iPhone.

I am sure some readers suffer from the same symptoms.

I don't need to ask Alexa what the problem is. It's Twitteritis - a repetitive strain injury brought on by excessive interest in the thoughts of people I would not normally pay attention to.

In addition to the physical symptoms, my mental health is suffering. Like a calculating teenager, the Twitter-sphere knows how to wind you up.

Most days I feel like Cassandra, running madly round Troy crying 'doom, doom' to an uncomprehending public.

I see others like me on Twitter too. There are enough Cassandras to form a decent-sized club, but not enough to change the world.

In the nine years I have been on Twitter, I have perpetrated 16,400 Tweets. I doubt if one of them has made a difference.

I don't need to ask Alexa what the problem is. It's Twitteritis - a repetitive strain injury brought on by excessive interest in the thoughts of people I would not normally pay attention to

If I had spent the time more profitably I might have finished that great Irish novel I keep promising to write.

I had been in remission from over-use of Twitter, but the Tory election, the existential crisis that is Brexit, and having too much time off, have proved to be a lethal combination.

The main target of my ire this past week has been the little-known leader of a right-wing 'think tank'.

Alan Mendoza heads the Henry Jackson Society. Metaphor alert - 'Scoop' Jackson was a US Republican politician masquerading as a Democrat. The society is a British-based neo-liberal organisation focused on foreign policy.

Most think tanks are job creation schemes for people who are incapable of holding down work, but think their opinions are worth foisting on the world. (I should set one up myself.)

Their funding often lacks transparency and, in a news hungry world, the media often gives their views more credibility than they deserve.

Mendoza was one of the guests on Friday's Politics Live. It is the BBC's daytime fix for people who have nothing better to do with their lives than wait for the start of Bargain Hunt.

One of the downsides of the 24/7 news agenda is that people like Mendoza, who represent nobody but themselves, are given platforms to spout their views.

That's all well and good if what they say is subject to critical analysis and challenge.

But in this instance, nothing of the sort happened.

During a discussion on Brexit and the options facing the next British PM, Mendoza said this: "... you don't go to Brussels, you go instead to Dublin and you literally do a deal with the Irish where you bribe them or threaten them, one way or the other, get them into the position where they're the ones who drop opposition to the backstop."

Other than a look of disbelief on the face of Daily Mirror editor Alison Phillips, Mendoza's despicable comment went unchallenged - a sign this type of institutionalised stereotype of the Irish is alive and well in British political thinking.

If anything typifies the true nature of relations between Britain and Ireland this is it, and the realisation should inform Ireland's approach to its long-term future relationship with the UK (if the UK survives).

"Bribe them or threaten them," must have been in Leo Varadkar's mind when he warned about the decline of the British economy post-Brexit.

Ireland's economy is too dependent on the UK's. It must decouple itself or it will go down too.

And as Northern Ireland looks to its centenary as a failed state, it must face up to the fact that will be better off with Dublin than with London.