Sir, – Further to "Bamboozled Britain dishes out Brexit blame" (Opinion & Analysis, May 25th), when is Fintan OToole going to stop this obsession with Brexit? Every chance he gets he says that Brexit is to blame for all our ills. Some of us admire the British for turning their backs on the EU. They were perfectly within their rights to do so after a democratic vote. We are still waiting for the roof to fall in on them. Britain is a huge trading nation and is well able to deal with leaving the EU. Why are all Irish Times journalists so obsessed with Brexit? Have we not enough of our own problems to be dealing with! – Yours, etc,
JAMES LANCASTER,
Dublin 8.
Sir, – Fintan O’Toole begins his latest diatribe on Brexit with the grandiose question “If Brexit is so wonderful, why does anyone have to be blamed for its consequences?” Apart from demonstrating a pomposity that most of us can only dream of, he entirely overlooks the point that most Leave voters in the UK are extremely happy with the consequences of Brexit: we can now make our own decisions and our own mistakes. There are outstanding issues, of which the status of Northern Ireland is probably the most serious, but overall the dire consequences predicted by many Remainers – the collapse of sterling and the stockmarket, for instance – have simply not materialised. Those advocating Remain – including Fintan O’Toole – made much of a gullible British electorate being hoodwinked by the “lies” told by Leavers. This is patronising to Leave voters, many of whom knew full well for what they were voting. We understood Project Fear and, on balance, thought it to be overstated. I wouldn’t go so far as to characterise the architects of Project Fear as liars – many of them are every bit as sincere as Leavers – but the evidence is mounting that they were simply wrong. As for your columnist’s overworked theory that Brexiteers are now suffering from self-pity, that just sounds like more huffing and puffing about a referendum that went against what he thought should happen. I can assure him that there are many Leave voters without a whinge in the world, however astonishing he might find it. – Yours, etc,
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DAVID HARRIS,
Poole,
Dorset, UK.