Free Republic

Launching his bid for the Tory leadership this week, Brexit Britain has been wallowing in a hyped-up psychodrama of national humiliation. ..A random sample of headlines from across the spectrum tells the story: “Brexit and the prospect of national humiliation”;“Voice of the Mirror: Theresa May’s Brexit is a national humiliation”;“‘Humiliating to have to beg’ for EU exit, says Arlene Foster” And so, endlessly, on.There is something hysterical in this constant evocation of humiliation. It is a cry of outraged self-regard: how dare they treat us like this? Yes, of course, the Brexit debacle has reduced Britain’s prestige around the world..but...

Farmers will have to fence off cattle to prevent them accessing rivers and streams as part of new measures to improve water quality. A review by two government departments of a program to ensure Ireland complies with the EU Nitrates Directive has recommended that farmers on more intensively stocked farms must take measures to prevent contact between cattle and water sources on their land from January 1, 2021. The review of the Nitrates Action program by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government said the deadline would give farmers the chance to plan fencing...

Thousands gathered on the streets of Irish capital Dublin today to demand liberalization of Ireland’s stringent anti-abortion laws. The street protest, the second the city has seen in three days, was called in response to the Oct. 28 death in a Galway hospital of Savita Halappanavar, who was pregnant and reported to the hospital complaining of severe pain. She was reportedly refused an abortion, and died after complications during a miscarriage. Her widower, Praveen, says they was told this was because Ireland was “a Catholic country.” The death has sparked outrage across Ireland—and the world. One headline in an Indian...