It’ll be like back-to-school day up Stormont today. Those who’ve been there before will be greeting fellow-veterans from other parties (or at least we hope so – I’m given to understand that most DUP MLAs no longer stand stony-faced and silent at the urinal when they glance sideways and see they’ve been joined by a Sinn Féin fellow-reliever). Those who are arriving for the first time will be checking out how good an office they’ve been assigned, what the view is like, and how they feel about working in a building where the architecture and emblems shout “We are unionist and unionist we will stay!”
Much has been made of the fresh faces that will appear today. Does that mean we’ll have a – to coin a phrase – fresh start at Stormont? Well it depends on what you’re expecting. The two big parties, the DUP and Sinn Féin, are unlikely to change the general strategy that has served them well, in that the electorate have returned the DUP with a full complement of 38 seats, and Sinn Féin has returned with almost a full complement – dropping one seat to 28.
And the others? The SDLP and the UUP will be anxious as often as possible to justify their existence. The truth is, the two parties are very close to Sinn Féin and the DUP respectively. Not close in terms of hugs and kisses, but close in terms of their core policy. Oh, OK, the SDLP may not be that concerned about partition, but don’t expect them to be yelling that from the Stormont balcony. The UUP, which swung sharply right a while back and then swung left more recently, will be fretting if Mike Nesbitt is good at talking the talk but not so hot at walking the walk (ditto the SDLP and Colum Eastwood). The big question, some say, is whether the two parties will stay in the Executive or go into opposition. Unkind critics answer that with “How could you tell?”, since both parties frequently lambast Executive decisions while remaining part of it. I’d expect self-interest (i.e., gimme that Ministerial post, please) to triumph.
And then there is the Naughty Corner lot. Jim Allister is back, but must feel crest-fallen that he didn’t manage to take anyone with him. He might also feel a bit overshadowed by the arrival of Gerry Carroll and Eamonn McCann of People Before Profit. (Very clever name that, by the way – it suggests that other parties are putting profit before people.) Much has been made of Eamonn McCann’s oratorical skills, and as one who has been listening to him since he and I were about sixteen, I can tell you what you probably know – he is indeed one very articulate man. But will that do anything to advance the policies of People Before Profit, or will we just relish hearing McCann – and Carroll, perhaps – tearing strips off some verbally-challenged political opponent? I plan to ask that question when I do a Periscope interview with Eamonn McCann at Stormont this afternoon. Maybe you have one you think I should ask?
Ask Mc Cann why he doesn’t think unborn people are worthy of being put before profit?
Kevin
We might witness two bald men fighting over a womb!
It’s the seperate entity with different DNA not the womb that is being cut up. The mother is killing her own body.
※Isn’t
He probably does. Why do ‘pro-lifers’ keep ignoring the fact that 1000s of Irish women have to pay for abortions every year in england.
Our abortion laws do not prevent abortion they transport the abortion across the Irish sea
Why do Pro-deathers only talk about how sad it is that people have to pay to get their babies killed and ignore everything else?
It would be useful to hear Mr McCann’ s opinion on the expression being used by members of the DUP about “rewriting history” in the context of the conflict in Ireland.
What are his views about some of the “ageist” comments being made in relation to some but not all politicians?
How might he counter media bias and lip service to equality. For example, on Friday last, RTÉ screened the proceedings in Dáil Éireann. The leader of Fianna Fáil made suggestions about Dáil discipline. Caoimhghín Ó Caolín rose to speak and the camera switched back to the studio, Mr Ó Caolín was neither seen or heard, yet there were further ageist comments made during ‘The Week In Politics’ (8.5.2016) but only in relation to one specific party.
Fashion aficionados are keen to know if Mr McCann will subscribe to the male dress code with all its symbolism. How will he avoid such red herrings in order to maintain a focus on the role of transnational corporations with all the associated rampant consumerism that impacts on the lives of citizens?
The Assembly values stability and the status quo. How does People Before Profit intend to challenge funding decisions that neglect constituents west of the Bann?
Wish him and all his comrades well with their work. Things can only get better.
Jude, ask him if he is essentially a Conollyite or a Walkerite.
Cad é ‘Walkerite’?
https://www.marxists.org/archive/connolly/1911/connwalk/
This is worth a read Jude. It’s the spat between Connolly and Walker about the place of Irish nationalism in international socialism. The editor eventually calling time on the personal abuse seems a bit like some bloggers trying to control the comments section.
12 Jude ..??
Larry – I only got ‘sometime this afternoon’ – will go up hill and loiter with intent from 2.30 pm approx…
I cast my mind back to the late sixties when the PD cast opprobrium on Stormont and all who sailed within her. They called it The Great White Sh*tehouse on the Hill. What has changed? Why, Eamonn has finally got elected. Soon he’ll be wearing the “30 guinea” suits that he used to laugh at. A street entertainer who has been elevated? for five years. I can’t wait.
Hi Jude, as a former st columbs alumnus, I was glad to see eamon achieve some political status at long last, and I wish him well. But I think his lack of designation is ( to quote a former college president ) bunkum. He may not be actively campaigning for either a united Ireland, or staying within the UK, but if he is prepared to pursue his policies within the status quo and accept same , the I would classify him as a unionist with a small u ( like Alliance).
Ask McCann this
As Sinn Fein (& to a lesser extent the SDLP) are his & Gerry’s main electoral competition should we anticipate a lot of criticism of SF & SDLP from PBP over the next 5 years 7 not a lot of criticism of the DUP/UUP?
Also, ask him why he thinks PBP performed well in traditional nationalist constituencies as opposed to their derisory performance in traditional unionist constituencies
No blog defending Gregory Campbell, Jude, for his statement about Raymond McCartney? What he said was true, after all.
And there was me thinking Gregory Campbell was the only ignoramus in the country who could or would stoop so low!
“And there was me thinking Gregory Campbell was the only ignoramus in the country who could or would stoop so low!”
Woosh
An unexpected but no less utterly welcome coincidence, Esteemed Blogmeister, happened at the weekend. Which may well have advanced the insular inhabitants along the long and winding road to an Ireland of Unity (IOU). Even if only by another tortuously tentative step.
That would have been, of course, the happy coincidence of both Governments being simply formed simultaneously.
While the undoubted highlight in Norneverland was the phenomenal success of the People Before Profiteers , down here south of the Black Sow’s Dyke it has been indubitably and , not inappropriately, the massive yet dainty steps taken in the cause of Gender Equality.
Which brings to mind the two massive hits of the late, great American Tejano singer, Baldemar Gerza Huerta: ‘Before the next Teardrops Fall’ and ‘Wasted Days and Wasted Nights’. Either of which could well be the new anthem of the Cause – teardrops of joy and nothing goes to waste, respectively.
Indeed, Freddy Fender (for it is also he !) could well be the de facto bushy mustachioed Pied Piper of the Gender Equality movement.
Three new female faces will stretch their shapely legs underneath the Cabinet table:
Mary Mitchell O’Connor, Katherine Zappone and the last, but not the least lass, Regina Doherty.
Sadly, and sadly predictably, the usual shape-shifters have been out already with their negative comments, all couched in their shovel-ready clichés.
As usual they quote liberally from the go-to guru of gripe: The Wicked Wikipedia of the West.
In the case of Mary Mitchell O’Connor, they quote:
-On the 2 May, 2011 the newly elected Fine Gael TD surprised staff at Leinster House by driving her campaign car on to the pedestrian plinth at the Dail car park and down the steps. The plinth has a ramp at one side to facilitate wheelchair access, but steps at the other end. The incident was witness by several journalists and there was a report on it in the RTE evening news’.
While it is not on record that the, erm, enterprising and innovative driver was asked whether she had, ‘a drop taken’ nonetheless the incident is totally incidental to the Portfolio she has been Solemnly entrusted with:
The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. Not, repeat, N-O-T the Department of Transport.
In the case of Katherine Zappone:
-Zappone was embroiled in controversy after being elected as allegations surfaced regarding her claiming excessive amounts for mileage expenses. On 24th March, 2016 the Sunday Times reported that the former senator stood to earn excess of 80,000 euros over the next five years from these expenses as she claims to live more than 25 km from Leinster House. The paper, however, reports that AA’s route planner puts the distance at less than 25 km. During her time in the Senate, Zappone was paid expenses on the basis she lived farther than 25 km from Leinster House.
Once again, this report is completely irrelevant to the Portfolio this new Minister has been Solemnly entrusted with, to wit, to hoo, ‘Minister for Children and Youth Affairs’. And not, repeat NOT either the Minister for Transport OR the Minister for Finance.
(Minister Zappone it will be remembered, romantically proposed to her fiancé on RTE shortly after being elected. No, she wasn’t quizzed neither as to whether she had ‘a drop taken’).
In the case of Regina Doherty, the naysayers quote:
-According to a report in the Irish Independent of 23/1/2013 under the heading ‘Fine Gael TD’s firm folds with debts of 280,000 euros’ : A creditors meeting to put Enhanced Solutions , the firm of Meath East TD, Regina Doherty, was held last week. Losses are understood to be 280,000 euros, including 60,000 euros owed to the Revenue Commissioners, and 50,000 euros owed to the state-owned bank, AIB.
For the third time on the trot, this is a report which is immeasurably irrelevant to the Portfolio which the new Minister has been Solemnly entrusted with. And which is not, repeat NOT, the Department of Finance:
-Chief Whip.
Whip craic away ! Whip craic away !
Go, Lady Latex.
I’m glad that racist bullyboy Jim Allister will no longer be viewed as the ‘one man opposition’ that some of the Slugger schmucks like to paint him as. Also heartened that he didn’t manage to drag any of his fellow TUV neanderthals over the line with him. Particularly the odious Henry Reilly.
Despite very little change between the big two, I do find myself incredibly heartened by the presence of Gerry Carroll and Eamonn McCann up on the hill. Yes, a voting bloc of two is hardly going to shake the place to its foundations but they provide a much welcomed fly in the ointment up there. Hope they don’t disappoint.
I find myself equally heartened by the election of Sadiq Khan over in London. I wonder will Campbell, Dodds and co allow him to go to the shops for them while they’re busy ‘working’ in Westminster?
I’m getting the very distinct impression from some of our contributors such as billy , fiosrach and Paddy Digit…(I know it’s like a superhero group)…..that they think that the idea of voting within the current set-up is only propping up the Norneverland state and Eamon McCann should be ashamed of himself given his life-long adherence to left-wing ideals for actually going one step further and accepting a place withinin its bosum. I imagine that they want no part of it at all ,if I am reading the runes properly here, but maybe if that is the case they could enlighten the rest of us as to what sort of alternative we might all feel happier with and how exactly this unknown process might work..Do we simply not vote and take no part in any of it like fifty percent of the population already abstaining do anyway, or is there some other way we can make ourselves heard ? …Is there something besides this political game that the rest of us might take a look at while we sit on our hands?
coming through dublin the other day everybody was going about their business,banks shops buses taxis all working away,the sky hasnt fell in and there hasnt been a government there for months.your right i want no part of it and ime in no group superhero or other i just dont vote like the other 50per cent why would i,maybe the windbag mccanns party,uup,sdlp,tuv,might offer you an alternative if they walk away and go into opposition,oh forgot there there is none here.
“Do we simply not vote and take no part in any of it like fifty percent of the population already abstaining do anyway, or is there some other way we can make ourselves heard ? ”
Tell me, what exactly are you voting for Harry?
I am not a socialist and I have never seen eye to eye with Sinn Feins economic policies but I have been a long term supporter all the same because of their focus on the removal of britain out of ireland. This is the first election I have chosen not to participate in since the GFA.
I would be quite happy to vote for a british withdrawal, but I am not prepared to vote for willing participants in a devolved british parliament in ireland.
I am an Irish citizen living in Ireland. Responsibility for Irish citizens in all parts of this island lies in Dublin not London does it not?
If Dublin has not the courage to stand up for its citizens and is happy to abandon irish people in the north east of our country then we can either accept it and participate in UK affairs or alternatively refuse to participate and make dublin well aware of that refusal.
Why should we let them off the hook by participating in orchestrated electoral institutionalisation fostered by an alien government?
75% of the electorate not voting would be a better result in many ways imo and might even kick start the desperately needed discussions on the future direction of this island.
Paddykool, the stormont set up was sold to the electorate as part of the G.F agreement. Republicans held their noses apparently and decided to take part in this British inspired creation. Despite reservations from others the republican electorate backed SF in supporting this enterprise in the hope(blind faith?) that the leadership knew what they were doing I.e this would further the aims and objectives of achieving an irish republic. Alas the GFA was really only a exercise in doublespeak to suit all parties interests. It is becoming abundantly clear the British have no wish to uphold any thing in that agreement that doesn’t preserve the status quo. Stormont is merely a glorified council; Manchester or Birmingham council wields more power than this stormont farce. Urging folk to vote so one side or another so either can claim to be first minister really is pathetic and no republican should want anything to do with sham fights like that.
Encouraging street politics would probably be a better alternative than pretending that all is fine and dandy in this state. Highlighting that partition is a huge problem rather than pretending it isn’t would be a better alternative. Conditioning people to be submissive law abiding citizens isn’t going to achieve the aims of obtaining an Irish republic which is the ultimate goal of republicans after all.
Maybe if SF,SDLP etc and other nationalist parties who backed the GFA took a leaf out of the British,unionist and Irish free state book and decided to ignore the GFA and instead campaigned for some way to bring true democracy to all the people of Ireland then we may see more folk taking an interest in voting? Perhaps the ‘one Ireland one vote’ campaign initiated by the 1916 societies would be a way to get people interested again? If anything this campaign will put all those who claim to want a United ireland on the spot. For far too long institutions,church and political parties have paid lip service to wanting unification but have never been given the chance to put their money where their mouth is sort of speak. After all waiting for the British or a free state govt or indeed any party in stormont to activate a campaign on Irish unity doesn’t look likely to happen in the very near future so it looks likely republicans will have to do it themselves.
Couldn’t agree more
“Manchester or Birmingham council wields more power than this stormont farce.”
No they don’t.
Right, paddy kool. You presumably have been voting since you reached the use of reason. What have you to show for it? The British can point to the relative calm of the natives and how they are so much in favour of their colonial status that they willingly take part in all the trappings of democracy. Now you imagine if no disgruntled taig had voted or taken high office in this colony since 1921 would we be any worse off.
I always was ,and am, intrigued by this don’t do anything attitude…..like the proverbial ostrich ….bury your head ,everything will be grand in the end……the nasty Brits will, remorsefully, see the error of their ways , Unionism will embrace equality and hug a Fenian will be the order of the day. Every single small step that we took forward , in their eyes , was viewed as a concession and had to be painfully wrenched from the deepest reaches of their psyche. Expotential change only began to materialize when we started to embrace politics….electing Bobby Sands as an MP was viewed worldwide as a triumph for Irish Republicanism….I could go on and on but to gain total independence and re-unite our country ,it has do be done with a democratic mandate and if that means engaging in British controlled elections then so be it….to snipe from the sidelines ,especially when you can offer NO alternative is not only naive stupidity but very foolishly plays into you opponents hands
“I could go on and on but to gain total independence and re-unite our country ,it has do be done with a democratic mandate and if that means engaging in British controlled elections then so be it….to snipe from the sidelines ,especially when you can offer NO alternative is not only naive stupidity but very foolishly plays into you opponents hands”
Eolach, and what party should we vote for to show we oppose british rule in ireland?
I used to know, voting for Bobby sands sent a clear message in that regard, tell me who is the equivalent in 2016?
I am not sniping, I am despairing and hoping someone can convince me how embracing british politics in ireland is going to lead to a british withdrawal?
I see no tri colour flying over nationalist controlled council buildings, no Irish language act can get past intransigent unionism, no one on this island is taking unification seriously while stormont is functionally implementing british rule in ireland to which the south are happy to cash in on.
The next 5 years are going to be about Sinn Fein reconciliation with unionism with no mention of unionism reconciling with the rest of this island?
I am no fool but please explain to me how embracing british politics in ireland could be a triumph for Irish Republicanism?
I trust Dublin no more than I trust london. I cant change that by voting for stormont and Irish citizens in the north have no vote for an irish parliament.
That is what we should be demanding and rejecting british elections.
Let Dublin spell out where it stands on unification.
Eolach, some would argue entering a system created by Whitehall,was naive stupidity that foolishly played into your opponents hands also. Unionists stamping their feet over so called Mickey Mouse concessions isn’t progress at all. In fact I would argue there’s a method in their madness I.e raise a racket about the Mickey Mouse stuff and the taigs won’t dare raise the topic that really would upset them such as partition. They have nationalists were they want them, they just pretend they don’t.
Meanwhile in our schools, our kids are being conditioned to accept ‘northern ireland’ as our wee country and all that. Our kids history curriculum begins with 1969. Our kids are being taught that all of a sudden the IRA popped up out of nowhere. There’s no lessons on the fenian uprising,United Irishmen and 1916 etc. How are these future generations ever going to vote yay in a future border poll(and don’t start me on that farce) if they don’t understand their history? After all this is the alleged plan of nationalists in stormont. Ffs my daughter told me a couple of years ago that her history teacher told the class that Irish republicans were Catholics and unionists were Protestants! This from a teacher who claims he is republican.
All in all it sounds like a great plan altogether doesn’t it? Blinding nationalists by ‘winning’the right not to fly the Union Jack over an Irish city all the time isn’t progress and won’t matter one iota when it comes to any unification poll. The real work is in presenting all the facts and history to the youth which will then make unification a shoo in. The Brits know it and the unionists know it(no matter what the letsgetalongerists/unionists might say on this forum) heck even the west Brits know it hence their continuous anti republican propaganda. Whilst the Brits continue to play a blinder others are busy playing with their iphones
“Eolach, some would argue entering a system created by Whitehall,was naive stupidity that foolishly played into your opponents hands also. Unionists stamping their feet over so called Mickey Mouse concessions isn’t progress at all. ”
It want so much entering the system, but what you do from within.
The decades are rolling on and the only thing that has changed is Sinn Fein who are now more interested in kissing unionist arses than implementing the changes that are important to irish citizens.
Sinn Fein still claim to be a radical voice, personally, I dont see it any more. They have turned themselves into the SDLP. I mean, they may as well sit in Westminster.
Unionists are not our friends, they are not our people. You wont change them. I want nothing to do with them. Make this place Irish and to hell with them and I will vote again.
Is he aware that the last person claiming to be a socialist representing west Belfast ended up In the house of lords and was also called Gerry.
I don’t think Gerry ever claimed to be a “socialist” and I don’t believe that many who voted for him were deluded into doing so by that misapprehension.
As for Eamon, I think the people of Derry have decided to give him an affectionate lifetime achievement service to the industry/sport award for hanging about for so long. Nothing whatever to do with “socialism” nor for that matter has Eamon..!!!
That’s exactly my point . You are enlightening me as to what you don’t like and what you don’t want to do . You don’t want to vote and won’t vote because you think it’s a pointless exercise because you don’t recognise the state as a legitimate state. That’s about the state of it , right? It’s been like this for about a hundred years now and we’ve been through a variety of low-level fight-backs, a movement for Civil Rights and equality and a thirty-odd year guerrilla war which ended in popular exhaustion and a stalemate. If memory serves me right a lot of people were glad for an ending to something that become little more than a psychopathic turf-war among our own citizens where killing was an everyday affair and criminal paranoia was an everyday companion as you drove to work or came home late at night. It didn’t matter what you thought …it only mattered what “community” you were perceived to come from.
.We’d already been pushed aside by our fellow countrymen below the imaginary border long ago .They wanted nothing to do with us and saw us as distinctly alien to their own way of thinking.They saw themselves as “Irish” but they saw us as something else. They already had to deal with their own censorships, hide-bound social superstitons and conservative political thinking without wanting to share the odious seepage from political malcontents and even more right-wing religious conservatives from up north. They had already long-since settled for something which was a conservative , catholic ,political format which eventually filled the pockets of the rich at the expense of the poor…a far cry from the espoused socialist “republican” ideal which had started the ball rolling.Instead we had in power suited and booted, shirt and tie wearing politicians in the south and now a similar tenuous balance of power in the north .That is what the people settled for in face of a low-level war crunching on forever. The alternative is , I’ll grant you , a very colourless and conservative thing, but it is all we have . What I am asking is what would your alternative be ? …better still, how would you all go about finding and getting this magical beast and what would it look like when you caught it?
Given that this is all we have achieved after a long lifetime of violence, it might be as good as we are capable of getting ,given the complexity of our relationships. What seems to be happening now is that some still think that violent action will still bring a political result to their liking (or possibly a quick criminal financial reward) even though past actions have resulted in the “compromise politics” we now have .Previous violence very obviously led to the current political situation so why would it end in any other way if tried again.
The only alternative to any of that seems to be to piss inside the tent rather than to piss outside it .i suppose someone like Bobby Sands thought that to become an mP in a British government was a subversive thing to do . I think that similarly ,but for differing reasons ,that’s what someone like Eamon McCann has in mind and he ‘s put that into action in a small way, possibly hoping to develop something new. It might not be perfect but there’s little else to do .He’s taking a small step. That’s more than any of us here carping about the situation has done.Yes we can talk and discuss all we like but what grand ideas have we to change any of it?Your vote might be the only weapon that you might have and if you’re not using it you have no defence at all. Like I say I know what you don’t like but what are you prepared personally to do in a practical way to get what you want and what does that look like?
“We’d already been pushed aside by our fellow countrymen below the imaginary border long ago .They wanted nothing to do with us and saw us as distinctly alien to their own way of thinking.They saw themselves as “Irish” but they saw us as something else. ”
Then this is the problem we need to deal with and not britiosh elections.
This is an Irish problem to be resolved among all of the irish citizens on this island. It has nothing to do with britain or unionism.
There is an irish majority on all parts of this island, but it will not be realised through bitish elections, only via dialog among the irish citizens of this island.
Screw stormont the 21st century sunningdale which also failed.
That is the alternative.
Still haven’t listed the changes that your magnificent weapon has brought about in 100 years of acquiescence,paddy. If we had all trooped out to vote for our catholic reps in 1969 – because there was no sane alternative – where would we be now. As it stands the British know that we still have the ability to rock their boat and they are our masters. I doubt that you’re slipping into your pipe? And slippers mode. As an old aunt of mine used to say in the late 60s “you don’t want to be making a fuss”. But she was basing her timidity on memories of what had happened in the 20s. We have different memories of our capabilities and our place in society.
I can understand that much is lost in interpreting what each of us writes here and how it is parsed but I’ll ask the question again just so that you know I am actually interested in a unique answer and not some more well-tuned verbal jousting…..I know what we have but I want to see the shape of the map to our eventual hoped- for destination…
So… either it’s good and lovely that you all got an alternative sussed out for our projected future or you haven’t thought about that yet ,folks …so let’s stop beating about the bush then and tell us what this grand plan looks like if it exists … that doesn’t involve voting in elections to either of the two circuses currently running in Ireland. That’s the question i’m actually asking …not what has been delivered politically during this past century. This isn’t 1916 anymore…it’s not 1966 either .We’re not in the same placewe were and society is not the same either.
“So… either it’s good and lovely that you all got an alternative sussed out for our projected future or you haven’t thought about that yet ,folks …so let’s stop beating about the bush then and tell us what this grand plan looks like if it exists … that doesn’t involve voting in elections to either of the two circuses currently running in Ireland.”
I would be happy to vote in the southern elections to appoint people to a Dublin parliament.
I am just through with britain.
There is a reason I travel on an Irish passport and do not own a british passport.
I see the Irish flag as the flag of this island, the anthem that of the irish nation to which the north all of it belongs.
There is nothing I can do to remove a global super power from my country but electing someone to a devolved British establishment is not something I can endorse.
As I said, my polling ticket went in the bin at the school door, 10 feet away on the other side of the wall from the polling booth.
I went with my gut feeling that it was wrong and that is all that I have.
If the strategy is British elections then perhaps it needs to fail and perhaps more spectacularly than expected before an alternative can be taken seriously throughout this island.
A more pertinent question Harry, would be, who does the responsibility for an alternative rest with?
I would say over 500,000 Irish citizens in the north should expect Dublin to be responsible for that alternative, not Sinn Fein.
If they aren’t interested, let all of the main parties there come out and say it and not hide behind the now defunct GFA.
Yoy win,harry. We really have no alternative. Let’s stick with the status quo.Éirigí, a lucht ocrais ó bhur gcodladh.
Well unless we can somehow convince ….say another 25% of the voting masses that this is the wrong direction entirely,then someone might take a bit of notice(who would that be?)… but that doesn’t appear to be the game -plan for the majority of voters at the moment either nationalist or unionist. As for the south ,the only reason they are taking any notice of our existence at all is because Sinn fein hav emade their presence known .otherwise we wouldn’t even be a consideration for southern voters. I might have a preference for an Irish passport as a declaration of my island identity to the outside world… but that is about all that its purpose is. Nobody in the southern political sphere has raised the notion of a united Irish people as yet.In fact they appear to be cosying up nicely to Britain as of late . It wouldn’t surprise me if the southern population decided at some future point that they wanted their very own monarchy and to hell with the idea of a peoples’ republic.
“As for the south ,the only reason they are taking any notice of our existence at all is because Sinn fein have made their presence known .otherwise we wouldn’t even be a consideration for southern voters. I might have a preference for an Irish passport as a declaration of my island identity to the outside world… but that is about all that its purpose is. ”
Same here Harry.
The south are a bunch of w**kers. So much for unification. Too little too late.
“The south are a bunch of w**kers” – what – all of them, jessica? Come on now…
““The south are a bunch of w**kers” – what – all of them, jessica? Come on now…”
That’s how I feel Jude
I feel your pain, jessica, and even share it (is that the same thing?) from time to time, but it doesn’t make sense. People in the south vary enormously, like everywhere else. There are indeed a considerable coterie of self-abusers, but that’s not the same thing as the entire population. The trick is to identify those who share your think, those who are implacably opposed to your thinking, and those who are open to argument and persuasion.
harry, you and me both
will go to our 6×3 singing ‘No change’
I think it will be an evolutionary thing fiosrach…it might take another thousand or two years to see changes .By which time the tides may have risen some and the landmasses might be smaller; the people inhabiting our island and every other isle will be a dolly-mixture of coffee-coloured racial types and mixed world internationalities; there may be four or five sexes running about …possibly a majority of hermaphrodites…although no -one will know whether or not they are the result of rampant plastic-surgery or not …..and instead of Norneverland being abrew with kacklicks and praddesstands, there may well be a nation of moon-worshippers praying for the sea to subside….Never mind the old 6×3 fiosrach …i fancy a Viking funeral meself….go out in a blaze and all that !