BorderIrish
{{Short description|Pseudonymous satirical author}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox writer
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| image = Northern Ireland.png
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| caption = Map of Northern Ireland and the border
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| genre = Satire
| subject = Irish border
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| notableworks = I Am the Border, So I Am (2019)
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| years_active = 2018–2020
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| website = {{URL|1=https://twitter.com/BorderIrish}}
}}
BorderIrish or @BorderIrish was the pseudonym of an anonymous satirical author, resident on the island of Ireland, who from 2018 to 2020 wrote in the first person about being the 97-year-old {{Cvt|499|km}} Irish border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (i.e. an anthropomorphism), both on Twitter as @BorderIrish and in print with I Am the Border, So I Am (2019); and in particular on the implications of Brexit on the Irish land border.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/nov/24/brexit-anonymous-twitter-account-gives-droll-voice-to-irish-border-row | date=24 November 2018 | author=Rory Carroll | newspaper=The Guardian | title=Brexit: anonymous Twitter account gives droll voice to Irish border row| access-date=26 December 2019}}{{cite news | url= https://www.lemonde.fr/m-le-mag/article/2019/11/13/sur-twitter-l-humour-sans-limite-de-the-irish-border_6019009_4500055.html | newspaper =Le Monde | author= Julien Marsault | date=13 November 2019 | access-date=26 December 2019 | title = Sur Twitter, l'humour sans limite de " The Irish Border " | trans-title = On Twitter, the boundless humor of "The Irish Border" | quote= Les Monty Python n'auraient pas renié le compte @BorderIrish qui s'exprime sur le Brexit au nom de la ligne, presque invisible, qui sépare les deux Irlandes. [Monty Python would not have surpassed the humour of the twitter account @BorderIrish, which expresses the effect of Brexit on the almost invisible line which separates the two Irelands.] | language=fr}}{{cite news | url=https://www.wienerzeitung.at/nachrichten/politik/europa/1006574_Die-irische-Grenze-schlaegt-zurueck.html | title = Die irische Grenze schlägt zurück: Ein anonymer Twitter-Account bringt Schwung in die endlose Brexit-Debatte | trans-title= The Irish Border strikes back: An anonymous Twitter account boosts the endless Brexit debate | author=Siobhán Geets | date=6 December 2018 | access-date=27 December 2019 | newspaper=Wiener Zeitung | language=de }}
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".{{cite news | url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/the-border-has-decided-it-s-time-to-go-public-1.3403228%3fmode=amp | newspaper=Irish Times | author=Freya McClements | date=24 February 2018 | access-date=26 December 2019 | title=The Border has decided it's time to go public | archive-date=13 April 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413212741/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/the-border-has-decided-it-s-time-to-go-public-1.3403228?mode=amp | url-status=dead }} In a December 2018 interview with Austrian newspaper Wiener Zeitung, 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 (both as the author, and as the border), the author identified as male, and said he had lived on both sides of the border;{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-46459904| title=The Irish border and Brexit explained by @BorderIrish | author=Meabh Ritchie | date=7 December 2018 | access-date=26 December 2019| website=BBC News | quote= The man behind the account, who wants to remain anonymous, has lived on both sides of the Irish border.}} however, he has not clarified any other facts regarding his identity, and speaks through his agents.{{cite web | url=http://www.caskiemushens.com/borderirish | title=@BorderIrish | website=Caskie Mushens | access-date=30 December 2019 | archive-date=30 December 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230163153/http://www.caskiemushens.com/borderirish | url-status=dead }}{{cite magazine | url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/hc-crosses-line-border-buy-972936#|title=HC crosses the line with Border buy | date=14 March 2019 | access-date=30 December 2019 | magazine=The Bookseller | author=News Team}}
The author has been interviewed as his pseudonym, both by Irish and British media{{cite news | url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/are-you-crinkly-or-squiggly-and-19-other-questions-for-the-irish-border-1.4057969 | author=Patrick Freyne | date=26 October 2019 | access-date=26 December 2019 | title=Are you crinkly or squiggly? And 19 other questions for the Irish Border | newspaper=Irish Times}} and by media from the European continent;{{cite news| url=http://www.tageblatt.lu/headlines/alle-reden-ueber-sie-jetzt-ergreift-sie-selbst-das-wort-tageblatt-interview-mit-der-irischen-grenze/ | title= Alle reden über sie, jetzt ergreift sie selbst das Wort: Das 'Tageblatt'-Interview mit der Irischen Grenze | trans-title=Everyone talks about her, now she takes the floor herself: The Tageblatt interview with the Irish border | newspaper=Tageblatt | date=26 October 2018 | access-date=27 December 2019 | author=Armand Back}} and his satirical tweets as the Irish border have been discussed in wider media coverage on Brexit.{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/twitter-account-aims-to-bridge-divide-over-border-h528jpbjq|newspaper=The Sunday Times | author=Ed Dracott | date=2 January 2019 | access-date=27 December 2019 | title=Twitter account aims to bridge divide over border}}{{cite news |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/the-uk-government-has-made-brexit-promises-it-cannot-keep-1.3470067 | newspaper=The Irish Times | author=Chris Johns | date=22 April 2018 | access-date=26 December 2019 | title=The UK government has made Brexit promises it cannot keep}}{{cite web | url=https://news.sky.com/story/smiling-stock-photo-actors-used-in-post-brexit-immigration-scheme-advert-11593615 | title=Smiling stock photo actors used in post-Brexit immigration scheme advert| website=Sky News | date=28 December 2018 | access-date=26 December 2019 }}
In January 2019, the Twitter account of Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar was noted as a follower of @BorderIrish;{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/world-news/and-finally/meet-the-brexitbashing-twitter-account-followed-by-leo-varadkar-37672433.html | newspaper=Irish Independent | date=1 January 2019 | access-date=26 December 2019 | author=Ed Dracott | title=Meet The Brexit-bashing Twitter account followed by Leo Varadkar | quote=With Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and more than 66,000 other followers, The Irish Border – Twitter handle @BorderIrish – trolled the Brexit process throughout 2018 with its brand of dry wit.}} other notable followers of @BorderIrish include Robert Peston and Alastair Campbell.
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".{{cite news | url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/the-irish-border-signs-off-twitter-it-feels-like-i-won-the-battle-and-lost-the-war-1.4156754 | title=The Irish Border signs off Twitter: 'It feels like I won the battle and lost the war' | author=Freya McClements | date=31 January 2020 | access-date=3 February 2020 | newspaper=Irish Times}}
Works
In October 2019, BorderIrish released a book titled I Am the Border, So I Am,{{cite book| url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0008356998/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0| title=I Am the Border, So I Am | date=31 October 2019 | isbn=978-0-00-835699-6 | publisher=HarperCollins| author=BorderIrish}} which was favourably reviewed,{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/book-review-i-am-the-border-so-i-am-by-borderirish-8kggcwbz3|title=Book review: I Am the Border, So I Am, by @BorderIrish|newspaper=The Sunday Times|author=Kathy Foley|date=15 December 2019|access-date=26 December 2019}}{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/best-british-politics-books-buy-christmas-2019/ | title=The best British politics books to buy for Christmas 2019 | author=Asa Bennett | date=10 December 2019 | access-date=26 December 2019 | newspaper=The Daily Telegraph}}{{cite news | url=https://www.businesspost.ie/books/i-am-the-border-so-i-am-a-satire-that-borders-on-the-ridiculously-funny-f6a540f4 | author=Paula Shields | newspaper=Business Post | date=5 January 2020 | access-date=5 January 2020 | title='I Am the Border, So I Am': A satire that borders on the ridiculously funny | archive-date=10 August 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810024120/https://www.businesspost.ie/books/i-am-the-border-so-i-am-a-satire-that-borders-on-the-ridiculously-funny-f6a540f4 | url-status=dead }} and described by Fintan O'Toole as "among the best satires of the Brexit era",{{cite news | url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/fintan-o-toole-on-brexit-satire-it-would-be-funny-if-it-wasn-t-so-serious-1.4080581?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fculture%2Fbooks%2Ffintan-o-toole-on-brexit-satire-it-would-be-funny-if-it-wasn-t-so-serious-1.4080581|title=Fintan O'Toole on Brexit satire: It would be funny if it wasn't so serious |author= Fintan O'Toole |author-link= Fintan O'Toole | newspaper=Irish Times | date=16 November 2019 | access-date=26 December 2019 | quote=Books by @BorderIrish and Led By Donkeys are among the best satires of the Brexit era}} and listed by Alex Clark in the Financial Times "Best audiobooks of 2019".{{cite news| url= https://www.ft.com/content/b290fdb6-0c10-11ea-b2d6-9bf4d1957a67 | title= Best books of 2019: Audiobooks | date=22 November 2019 | access-date=26 December 2019 | newspaper=Financial Times | author= Alex Clark | author-link= Alex Clark (journalist) | quote=What started life as a satirical Twitter account has slowly morphed into an insightful spotlight on the vagaries, complexities and historical importance of perhaps the most intractable and misunderstood aspects of Brexit.}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book|url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0008356998/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0| title=I Am the Border, So I Am | date=31 October 2019 | isbn=978-0-00-835699-6 | publisher=HarperCollins| author=BorderIrish}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{twitter|BorderIrish}}
- [https://www.thepoke.co.uk/2018/06/01/irish-border-twitter-brilliantly-trolling-brexit/ @BorderIrish: 22 Unmissable Tweets], from British satirical website, The Poke (June 2018)
{{Authority control}}
{{2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum}}
Category:21st-century pseudonymous writers
Category:Consequences of Brexit
Category:Internet characters introduced in 2018
Category:Irish political writers
Category:Parody social media accounts