BorderIrish or @BorderIrish was the
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...
of an anonymous satirical author, resident on the
island of Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially named Irelanda sovereign state covering five-sixths of th ...
, who from 2018 to 2020 wrote in the first person about being the 97-year-old
Irish border
Irish commonly refers to:
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the island and the sovereign state
***Erse (disambiguatio ...
between the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...
and
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
(i.e. an
anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...
), both on
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
as @BorderIrish and in print with ''I Am the Border, So I Am'' (2019);
[ and in particular on the implications of ]Brexit
Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU).
Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...
on the Irish land border.
Authorship
The author first began posting satirical tweets as the Irish border in February 2018, tweeting "I'm seamless and frictionless already, thanks. Bit scared of physical infrastructure. Don't like the sea".[ In a December 2018 interview with Austrian newspaper '']Wiener Zeitung
''Wiener Zeitung'' () is an Austrian newspaper. First published as the ''Wiennerisches Diarium'' in 1703, it is one of the oldest newspapers in the world. Until April 2023, it was the official gazette of the government of the Republic of Austria ...
'', BorderIrish said (as the border): "I had retired and spent the past 20 years watching the sheep and the clouds. Everyone had forgotten me, but then Brexit came and suddenly journalists were looking for me and politicians were talking nonsense about me, so I decided to make me heard".[
In a December 2018 interview with '']BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
'' (both as the author, and as the border), the author identified as male, and said he had lived on both sides of the border;[ and by media from the European continent;][ and his satirical tweets as the Irish border have been discussed in wider media coverage on Brexit.]taoiseach
The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...
Leo Varadkar
Leo Eric Varadkar ( ; born 18 January 1979) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2017 to 2020 and from 2022 to 2024, as Tánaiste from 2020 to 2022, and as leader of Fine Gael from 2017 to 2024. A Teachta Dála, ...
was noted as a follower of @BorderIrish;[ other notable followers of @BorderIrish include ]Robert Peston
Robert James Kenneth Peston (born 25 April 1960) is an English journalist, presenter, and author. He is the Political Editor of ITV News and host of the weekly political discussion show '' Peston'' (previously '' Peston on Sunday'') alongsid ...
and Alastair Campbell
Alastair John Campbell (born 25 May 1957) is a British journalist, author, strategist, broadcaster, and activist, who is known for his political roles during Tony Blair's leadership of the Labour Party. Campbell worked as Blair's spokesman an ...
.[
On 31 January 2020, as the United Kingdom left the European Union, BorderIrish announced that he was retiring his Twitter account telling ''The Irish Times'': "It feels like I won the battle and lost the war"; and signing off his Twitter account with "I was the Border, so I was".
]
Works
In October 2019, BorderIrish released a book titled ''I Am the Border, So I Am'',Fintan O'Toole
Fintan O'Toole (born 16 February 1958) is an Irish journalist, literary editor, and drama critic for ''The Irish Times'', for which he has written since 1988. He was drama critic for the ''New York Daily News'' from 1997 to 2001 and is Advisin ...
as "among the best satires of the Brexit era", and listed by Alex Clark Alex Clark may refer to:
* Alex Clark (baseball), American baseball player
* Alex Clark (journalist), British literary journalist
* Alex Clark (politician) (1916–1991), American politician
* Alex Clark (squash player) (born 1987), Scottish squash ...
in the ''Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'' "Best audiobooks of 2019".
Bibliography
*
See also
*Brexit and the Irish border
The impact of Brexit on the Irish border and its adjacent polities involves changes in trade, customs, immigration checks, local economies, services, recognition of qualifications, medical cooperation, and other matters, as it is the only la ...
*Brexit in popular culture
Brexit is the commonly used term for the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union on 31 January 2020, which resulted from a referendum on 23 June 2016. This article details the mostly critical response to this decision in the visual art, ...
*Twitterature
Twitterature (a portmanteau of ''Twitter'' and ''literature'') is a literary use of the microblogging service of Twitter, X (formerly known as Twitter). It includes various genres, including aphorisms, poetry, and fiction (or some combination ther ...
*Led By Donkeys
Led By Donkeys is a British political campaign group established in December 2018 as an anti-Brexit group, but which has also criticised other actions of the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative government. After the 2024 election of Premiershi ...
References
External links
*
@BorderIrish: 22 Unmissable Tweets
from British satirical website, The Poke
The Poke is a British satirical website. It was launched in 2002 as a fanzine distributed at the Edinburgh Festival and independent music shops. The website has produced viral videos, which are often Auto-Tune edits of British current affairs.
...
(June 2018)
{{2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum
21st-century pseudonymous writers
Absurdist fiction
Consequences of Brexit
Internet characters introduced in 2018
Irish male bloggers
Irish male writers
Irish political writers
Irish satirists
Parody social media accounts
Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border
Twitter accounts