GLOBALIZATION IS ANGLOFICATION:

In the aftermath of Brexit, the pro-EU Irish media and political establishment are ever so keen to emphasise the Europeanness of the Irish people. Of course, us Irish are one of the peoples of Europe, but the other Europeans we share the most in common with are the people of Britain. This reality is one rarely acknowledged and seldomly less celebrated by a political and media class who would have you believe that the Irish are closer to Latvians and Belgians despite all the evidence that shows our closest ties lie twelve miles off the coast of Antrim and less than seventy from Dublin. As a friend of mine in Dublin pointed out, most Irish people could tell you what their favourite British sitcom is or which British novelists they admire, but they would be clueless on French popular culture or Spanish cinema. There's a reason why most of the Republic pay for British satellite TV packages and not continental ones.

Despite Dublin's political and liberal cultural elite waxing lyrical about how we are an integral part of the EU, Britain is still the number one destination for Irish emigrants, as it always has been. The UK has far more Irish born permanent residents than all EU countries combined. It is one of history's greatest ironies that for centuries many Irish people longed to be rid of British rule, but during the century since the Republic's independence was achieved, hundreds of thousands of us couldn't get on a boat or to an airport quick enough to avail of the advantages of being back under the crown. We complained about the English for centuries, but as soon as they left it seems like we missed them so much that we decided to follow them home. When we are not migrating to Britain or marrying Britons in far greater number than other Europeans, we are mostly choosing life outside of Ireland in other parts of the English speaking world such as Australia or Canada rather than anywhere in the EU. Culturally, we are not only part of the British Isles, but also the global Anglosphere.

As in most western countries, there is much emphasis in the Republic of Ireland these days about welcoming immigrants, celebrating cultural diversity and being inclusive. Yet, there is little emphasis or celebration from the Irish political and liberal cultural establishment that, before more recent arrivals to Irish shores, we already belonged to a set of diverse islands in which the English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh share an enormous degree of common culture. These links have existed for centuries and (to take just the post war era) can be seen from politics and literature to sport and music. To name just a tiny few, we are the people of: Billy Connolly, Terry Wogan, John Lydon, The Smiths; Snooker star Ronnie O'Sullivan; the actors Claire Foy, Michael Gambon, Michelle Dockery, Michael Caine and Neil Morrisey. Former UK Prime Ministers James Callaghan, Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher all had Irish ancestry. Mrs.Thatcher's ancestral links to Ireland is one of those facts Irish republicans aren't too keen to celebrate.

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