Manufacturing the new blue British passports contract will be given to..... the French.

First topic message reminder :

Well that's a good start.  

"HOME Office chiefs were last night accused of “a national humiliation” after deciding FRANCE will make Britain’s new blue passports.
British company De La Rue is to be stripped of its long-standing contract to produce the nation’s new identity documents
Instead, the lucrative business will be handed over to French firm Gemalto, The Sun can reveal.
The security giant have won the tender to make the iconic items from 2019, in a deal worth £490million..

De La Rue produced its first passport for the UK Government in 1915, and hundreds of job losses are now feared.
The decision sparked uproar among Tory MPs last night, who called on the Home Secretary to step in.
Former Cabinet minister Priti Patel dubbed it “a disgraceful decision” and “perverse”.
The prominent Brexit campaigner added: “This should be a moment that we should be celebrating. The return of our iconic blue passport will re-establish the British identity. “But to be putting the job in the hands of the French is simply astonishing. It is a national humiliation."

They made a huge error. Why is Northern Ireland separately identified on the passport? Isn't Northern Ireland a part of Great Britain?

Or, do the Brits expect to have to give it back soon?

Original Quill wrote:They made a huge error.  Why is Northern Ireland separately identified on the passport?  Isn't Northern Ireland a part of Great Britain?

Or, do the Brits expect to have to give it back soon?

I thought you knew your history?

Ever heard of the Acts of Union 1800 and that before 1922 it was The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Notice the difference with now?

Didge wrote:

Original Quill wrote:They made a huge error.  Why is Northern Ireland separately identified on the passport?  Isn't Northern Ireland a part of Great Britain?

Or, do the Brits expect to have to give it back soon?

I thought you knew your history?

Ever heard of the Acts of Union 1800 and that before 1922 it was The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Notice the difference with now?

History is largely irrelevant.  Lots of things happen in history.  This is today, and the passports are being generated right now.

You can call yourselves anything you want.  At any one time in history your country was ruled by the Anglos, the Saxons, the Normans, the Angevins, and so on.  Suppose we in the US were to call ourselves the 'United States...and BTW, also Alaska and Hawai'i'...it suggests you're not quite sure.

Tradition dictates that you choose a name that aptly describes your situation today. I suggest that separating out Ireland on your passports suggests that your hold on that territory is tenuous, at best, and quite likely temporary.

Original Quill wrote:

Didge wrote:

I thought you knew your history?

Ever heard of the Acts of Union 1800 and that before 1922 it was The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Notice the difference with now?

History is largely irrelevant.  Lots of things happen in history.  This is today, and the passports are being generated right now.

You can call yourselves anything you want.  At any one time in history your country was ruled by the Anglos, the Saxons, the Normans, the Angevins, and so on.  Suppose we in the US were to call ourselves the 'United States...and BTW, also Alaska and Hawai'i'...it suggests you're not quite sure.

Tradition dictates that you choose a name that aptly describes your situation today.  I suggest that separating out Ireland on your passports suggests that your hold on that territory is tenuous, at best, and quite likely temporary.

How is it irrelvant here, based on you actually not understanding here?

We know what the country was called under each of the various groups above.

With the time of the Anglo Saxons, it was small kingdoms, called Mercia, Wessex etc, where the Celts held sway still in Wales and Cornwall. Its from the Angles where we derive the name English and how the area controlled by the Angles Jutes and Saxons, came to be known by the Angle name, England.

Quite simple to understand here really

You can suggest many things, all in fact which are irrelevant

A person in Northern Ireland, has a British passport

Didge wrote:A person in Northern Ireland, has a British passport

Then call his passport Britain, and stop making exceptions for Ireland.  Technically, if you're going to single out other island than Britain, it should read Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Anglesey, Wight, Mull, Skye, Lewis, Jura, Islay, Man,  Orkney, Jersey, Guernsey, and don't forget lil ole Iona.  And if you're big on history, remember old Saxon times...every location that ends with 'sea' was once an island in the Themes estuary...Chelsea, Battersea, etc.  Even the capital, Westminster, was originally situated on Thorny Island.  You get the idea.

It's going to be quite a passport.    

Original Quill wrote:

Didge wrote:A person in Northern Ireland, has a British passport

It's going to be quite a passport.    

Its not down to you to decide what to call it.

Hence the absurdity of your warped views here.

Or how to define nations

Best you take it up with the Northern Irish

Didge wrote:

Original Quill wrote:



It's going to be quite a passport.    

Its not down to you to decide what to call it.

Hence the absurdity of your warped views here.

Or how to define nations

Best you take it up with the Northern Irish

Or, you could solve the problem by giving the Irish back their whole island.

Original Quill wrote:

Didge wrote:


Its not down to you to decide what to call it.

Hence the absurdity of your warped views here.

Or how to define nations

Best you take it up with the Northern Irish

Or, you could solve the problem by giving the Irish back their whole island.  

I want a united ireland, but I also back the right of the self determination of the Northern Irish.

As should you.

Its they who decide who they want to define themselves as and be a part of.

Maybe you should give California back to Mexico

Veya smells of dingleberries...!

Why is Northern Ireland left off of Great Britain?  Is it possible that Scotland, Wales and England aren't sure the Irish are going to stick around?

This gives me some ideas about the south in our country.  Perhaps we should discreetly, but politely send them some oars and oar locks.