The English have never been shy of telling the Irish what to do. Tomorrow's European Union referendum in Ireland on the Lisbon treaty has given London-based newspapers the chance to offer advice to the people of Ireland on how to vote.
A leading article in today's Times, The luck of the Irish, urges a No vote. It says: "Deprived of our own vote, we must pin our hopes on Ireland to speak for all of us."
That was as predictable as The Guardian's Saturday leader saying: "An Irish yes would be an enlightened act." That prompted an Irish reader, in a letter published today, to write: "Enlightenment is thin on the ground here... Given the unknowns, indeed the unknowables, in Lisbon's serpentine text, Ireland has a duty to vote no."
The Independent is also eager for a Yes vote. Monday's leader said: "We must hope Mr Cowen can pull off a 'Yes' result... A 'No' vote in Ireland would be a serious setback." A worried Financial Times leader, An Irish bombshell, said: "Irish voters would be ill-advised to reject it. There is no cost-free No vote. Ireland would be weakened in Europe, and Europe would be weakened in the world."
The headline over a commentary by The Sun's political editor, George Pascoe-Watson, was unequivocal We hope Irish reject EU treaty.
And what about newspapers elsewhere in Europe? An Irish Times round-up, All of our neighbours are on tenterhooks, tells of panic and angst among German papers, such as Munich's Süddeutsche Zeitung, the left-wing Tageszeitung and the Frankfurter Allgemeine (headline: "The Irish don't know").
The French papers seem worried about a No vote. Le Monde feels it would present an insoluble problem, arguing that it would be "legally untenable to think of a Union of 26, without Ireland." Le Figaro thinks an Irish No vote "would be dreadful for everyone".
