"Minister admits we need new Lisbon poll"

Via Denis Cooper:

EUROPEAN Affairs Minister Dick Roche raised the prospect of a second Lisbon Treaty referendum last night, saying he believes it is "the appropriate response" to the country's continuing political crisis* ... He added: "If we want to retain our position as a constructive EU member state, we cannot simply sit on our hands, as some would have us do, and keep saying that 'No' means 'No'."

As compared to saying that 'No' means 'Yes', presumably?

Interesting is this bit: ... the Catholic Primate of All Ireland yesterday voiced fears that some Christians had voted against the treaty because the EU was becoming ever more secular in its outlook.

What is the CPAI trying to say? What's his or her personal opinion on this? Does he or she think that Christians should vote for the treaty despite the fact the EU is becoming ever more secular in its outlook? Or what?

Denis summed it up thusly: For God's sake, Cameron, just say "Even if the Irish vote 'yes' in a second referendum, I'll still hold a British referendum" and put this bloody treaty out of its misery.

Which leads us on to Hannan's First Law (discuss among yourselves). The only question remaining is, will Hannan's First Law still hold once the EU has unravelled (as all empires do) or once the EU has descended into being an expensive talking shop with an over-inflated sense of self-importance, but completely detached from real life (see also United Nations, World Bank, IMF, G7, NATO etc etc)?

For example, are general elections in Western Europe fought and lost on the question of whether a country would leave the United Nations, for example? Of course not, all politicians pay lip-service to it while completely ignoring UN resolutions in practice. Similarly, NATO membership is still a hotly debated issue in ex-Soviet countries, but does anybody know whether France are currently in or out of NATO (without looking it up)?

* Which "political crisis", exactly? They had a referendum, there's your answer, surely that makes the politicos' life that much easier, one less thing to bicker about?