Ireland’s referendum shows that some people only like democracy when it gives them what they want

So referendums are good now? The turnaround has been astonishing. The very people who have spent the best part of two years in moral meltdown at the fact that Britons were given a referendum on membership of the EU are now beside themselves with joy over the abortion referendum in Ireland.

‘You know who loved referendums? HITLER’, they said endlessly about the EU referendum, seeming to suffer from a bad bout of the Ken Livingstone Hitler Tourette’s. Yet now they’ve magically forgotten that all referendums are basically acts of fascism and are hailing the Irish people’s mass vote for the right of women to secure an abortion as a wonderful moment in democracy. Anyone would think they only like democracy when it delivers things they agree with and go back to despising it when it doesn’t…

Don’t get me wrong: I am over the moon about the Irish referendum result.