John Downing

speaker

506 appearances 6 recordings 1 series first heard Apr 2026 last heard 10 Sep

John Downing’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 6 in all, peaking in Sep 2026 with 2.

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The Indo Daily · Would a border poll actually deliver a united Ireland? · 4 Sep 2026 podcast

I think t doubt the the story of referendums is about doubt.

If in doubt, leave it out.

So enough doubt and you can defeat the proposition.

There's a history of this, similarly ones in Wales in the nineteen seventies about Welsh home rule.

Of course the backlash to all of that in Scotland is that Brexit

Went ahead, six out of ten Scottish people voted to remain within the EU.

In the end it was lost by five points on on the global UK vote.

And a huge backlash in Scotland said, Well, there you are, you know, it was all gonna be hunky dory, we were gonna be in the EU, and what you do then?

You just dragged us out of the European Union.

So it would be quite interesting if it was rerun.

Twelve years on, yeah, you could get a very different result.

What Scotland does has huge impact in Northern Ireland because they're very, very strong emotive links.

Between Northern Ireland and Scotland, you know, going way back, but especially going back to the plantation of Ulster, sixteen oh nine and all of that.

So um that is also in play.

Well, if when you stand back, uh the the tone and and the speed and the you know, that he totally peremptory take on on the situation reminded us of two things.

Firstly that for all his user friendliness in relation to Ireland, he is for all of that a British unionist.

Secondly, he may well have been

Uh in fact

not may well have been, he was specifically most uh strongly addressing the Northern Ireland unionist community who often feel themselves to be in a very vulnerable position and

when people are cornered it's hard to get any good out of them in terms of political negotiation if they feel their backs are too totally to the wall.

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