I was fortunate enough this morning to get a short interview with Sinn Féin’s John O’Dowd. If there had been time I would have asked for questions from blog- readers but time didn’t allow for that. The thing that struck me most was his comment about the several links of northern parties with the south, and how this leaves the DUP the odd man out. Check the interview and see if you agree….
Tag Archives | DUP
This week will shape our future
Knowing what’s coming doesn’t necessarily ease the pain. Watching a bomb as it hurtles from ‘way up in the skies into your living-room doesn’t mean it’s any less shattering when it hits. This week has been a long time coming. Today in Westminster will separate the boys from the men and the girls from the […]
The DUP and the Tories: so different and yet so similar
Some people believe the DUP and the Tories are not a natural fit: that Sammy Wilson is lacking in the kind of urbane manner that Tories naturally display, and similarly that you could never find a P G Wodehouse figure like Jacob Rees-Moggs in the ranks of the DUP. Those are indeed stand-out differences. But […]
How To Alienate Your Base
It was like watching a trusted mastiff suddenly turn and bite its owner in the bum. Or a dead sheep being slowly turned on the spit. Totally unexpected, painful and yet hilarious. I’m referring, of course, to The View on TV the other night. The good knight Sir Jeffrey spend what seemed like years trying to […]
The DUP: is all publicity good publicity?
If all publicity is good publicity, the DUP must be doing handstands in the halls of Westminster. There was a time not long ago that the great British public knew the name of one DUP politician – Ian Paisley – and that was it. Not so now. Last week’s Have I Got News For You […]
Stop picking on Karen Bradley!
I never thought I’d type these words, or if by some awful mistake I did, I’d immediately chop off the fingers of my left hand and get a friend to chop off those on my right. What words? These: The British Secretary of State is being given an unnecessarily hard time. While I still have […]
An open letter to Arlene
Dear Arlene, I hope this finds you well and that you’re not suffering excessively from the current heat…Yes of course I’m talking about the weather. I have taken the liberty of writing to you because I’m fearful you may be about to set out on a path that can only end in disillusionment and […]
The DUP and that old-time border
Does the DUP want a hard border? Most of us would rather not think about the answer, but it’s vital we do. Unfortunately, it seems the answer is Yes. And No. Let’s start with No. Even the most economically illiterate DUPer knows that a hard border will make life on this island markedly more […]
The EU says “Enough with the ambiguity. Let’s address the bare, brutal facts, Theresa”
Appropriately enough, the Germans have a word for it – Der Tag,The Day. This is the day when the car containing the Tories and the DUP comes hurtling towards the EU wall of reality. How to devise a frictionless border? Easy, the EU is saying, in clear legal language: let the north of Ireland remain […]
Joe and the dumb nationalists in the north
When I was an impressionable teenager, I used to read Time magazine. It impressed me mightily: it could take some matter – any matter – and make what had been vague and fuzzy precise and sharp-edged. It wrote with clarity, it spoke with authority. Time was my bible. And then one week they did a […]