It's the old Irish Joke!

Lost traveller in Ireland: "Excuse me, but can you tell me the way to the new all-singing, all-dancing European Union?"

Irishman: "If I were you, sir, I wouldn't start from here."

In accordance with the Irish Constitution the Irish people were given a vote on whether or not to accept the Lisbon Treaty, and last week they said "NO". The Lisbon Treaty is supposed to be different from the "European Constitution" that was drafted a couple of years ago and to which the French and the Dutch also said "NO". Most people, however, (at least those who can understand the Lisbon Treaty) assert that there is little difference between the two, and on this basis the British Government should have honoured its promise to give British citizens a referendum on whether or not to accept. But no, of course, they reneged on the deal, trying to convince us that this is something quite different, and therefore needs only to be ratified by Parliament.

Since European law states that the Lisbon Treaty can only come into effect if ratified by ALL European States the Irish referendum result kills it stone dead - doesn't it?

I doubt it, because the European Union, though claiming to be democratic is quite the opposite, and the European Commission is hell bent on driving these changes through. As soon as the Irish said "NO" the bureaucrats were jumping out of their boxes to tell us that it would make no difference. So, no change there then.

Meanwhile, hats off to the Irish for saying "NO" to something that nobody understands, and reflecting the view of most European citizens that the Brussels bureaucracy has got too big for its boots and is interfering into too many internal affairs of the individual Nation States.