As evolutions go, this is a significant one. That’s not how it was intended to be seen. But the facts are there. The DUP isn’t interested in the welfare of the UK. It’s interested in this tight little corner of Ireland alone. Sinn féin, you might say.
How else to interpret Peter Robinson’s declaration that if his party will refuse to be part of a post-election Cabinet, should it hold the balance of power at Westminster after the election in less than one hundred days. “We are not interested in coalition. We are not interested in getting positions for ourselves. We are there to get the best possible deal that we can for Northern Ireland,” Peter explained. A billboard stating “Only the DUP can do it” will go up shortly.
So the party which is loudest (after the TUV of course) in proclaiming its commitment to a United Kingdom, which will sometimes talk of ‘the country’ when it means the UK, which likes to refer to ‘the mainland’, has now decided the best thing to do is get as many goodies as possible for the north-east part of Ireland. As for the rest of the UK: Peter doesn’t say it but you can hear him thinking: Frankly, dear David, I don’t give a damn.
And what has swung Peter to this position where it’s a bit of Ireland first, last and always, and let that lot over there fight for whatever they want? It’s East Belfast, stupid. Peter himself will likely not stand in that constituency (the scalded cat fears the hot stove, etc), but it’s almost equally vital that Gavin Robinson or whichever Peter proxy pluck back that seat from Naomi Long. If the DUP don’t, the party will have suffered damage that will take a long, long time to heal. People tend to lose faith in two-time losers.
Meanwhile, Peter is busy complaining about how unfair it is that so many ‘mainland’ parties are being allowed to clamber into that TV debate and they won’t let him in. But what would be the point, Peter? You’re not going to get DUP votes in Finchley or Farnborough. You’ve made it clear that your gaze is firmly fixed on this little colony: why would your masters bother giving you a soapbox when no one over there will give a monkey’s fumble what you say? I hate to spell it out because I know it can offend, but you’re a paddy, Peter. Forget the debate. Concentrate on that seat. Although even there, no guarantees are possible. Naomi Long may prove to resemble the Shinners in one respect at least: once a seat is won, it stays won.
I was listening yesterday to the open armed welcome that the lickspittles gave the National Crime Agency. See how easy they say “National”? They have also taken a shine to “the main.land”. They go down to ‘Ireland’ for their holidays. On the Nolan Show (biggest show in the country) who was on only TV Feargal talking about the ‘national’ something or other. Most Irish people find these terms offensive and smack a big bit of Uncle Tomism. Another reason _ if one was needed_ to despise them.
I will place a bet with you Jude that the DUP will win back East Belfast.
Say a lunch at Deanes?
So I’d have to eat lunch with you AS WELL as pay for it? Nah – them stakes is too high, neill. I really don’t know if the DUP will win East Belfast back. But I do know they’ll throw the kitchen sink and everything else at it – they MUST retake East Belfast.
They will retake east Belfast very easily
Time, as they say, will tell…
Who said anything about inviting you Deanes is very classy you might feel uncomfortable there.
You sound as if you would fit in very well in classy joints Neill….very academic and intellectual…. as for me, I’ll just stick with an Ulster Fry (yes, Republicans/Nationalists eat those too) at my local greasy spoon.
I would eat anywhere from my local greasy spoon all the way to the ritz just depends how much alcohol i have drunk….
Ryan
I love this Ulster Fry controversy. I remember Barry McElduff one time on the radio (Radio Ulster) getting quite heated after being asked if he enjoyed an Ulster Fry. A friend of mine while staying in a hostel one time got scolded by a fellow resident for describing the breakfast as a big Ulster Fry. Myself, well I happened upon a 6 Counties Fry on the Falls a few years back. I’ve no idea when the Ulster Fry first came into existence.
So it’s good bye Piccadilly, farewell Leicester Square for P.R.who’s no fan of P.R., most especially when it stands for Proportional Representation.
But, of course, Ringmaster Robinson (for it is he !) late of Piccadilly Circus, knows what he is about. About 5 feet 10 inches in height, for starters. After that, admittedly, things begin to get a little on the muddy side of trenchfoot..
Mind you, things may not be as gloomy as are painted in some quarters for the Realtor of Real Politik, if his overheard remark to his coo coo ca-choo is anything to go by. A remark uttered in confidence (don’t ask) one Sunday afternoon on a sofa in East Belfast, where there is, by all intelligence reports, very little else to do at that particular juncture of the live long week:
-We’ll always have Clontibret,.
Which may well be a further cry from the outlandish than it can seem on first hearing. Considering that the ‘tibret’ bit in the original kickass leprechaun ‘Cluain Tiobraid’ is the exact identical same as the ‘tiobraid’ in ‘Tiobraid Arann’/ ‘Tipperary’.
Meaning, ‘well’.
Meaning Clontibret is just as long away from P.Circus and Leicester S. as that far away place with the strange sounding name, Tipperary. Which may not be at all as long away as the eponymous song implies.Whatever about Whatshernaomi.
As you acutely point out, Esteemed Blogmeister, Pete from the Land of the Peat is,in the eyes of the mainlanders, a Paddy. Of excellent vintage, true, but a Paddy nonetheless.. Indeed, it was perhaps an over-familiarity on the part of Uachtaran an DUP with the little known third verse of the great theme song of the Great Donkey Derby 14-18 which prompted his decision to do a midnight flit a la Fitt, but in the opposite direction:
‘Paddy wrote a letter
To his Irish Iris-o
Saying ‘should you not receive it
Write and let me know !’.
Well, now. But PR does indeed seem to have a thing or two about wells (see above). This becomes more understandable when one discovers that he is an old boy of Wellington College.
Occidental UK,on both sides of the Black.Pig’s Dyke, is a good place to be in these days, not least if one happens to be an alumnus of a school where ‘Stand Up for the Upscale Ulstermen’ is the song to sing at the game of choice.
Take the comment of J. Heaslip, CEO of the CEO ( Champion Eggchasing Oirish), in The Unionist Times recently when he referred to the Pro 12 League, which includes Dragons and other reptiliana as our ‘domestic league’. As the paper of record did not see anything untoward to rectify in this throwaway remark, one can only conclude it was no, erm, Heaslip of the tongue.
Peter the Grate, who has the eyes of an Osprey, will have duly noted this and concluded that the road south to Clontibret may not be quite as paved with, erm, hard yards as heretofore.
He will have noted too that the Free Southern Stateen is in a ferment at the moment regarding a matter of supreme moment, i.e., which song will gain preferment as the next National Tantrum.
And that the choice, faute de mieux, lies solely in the hands of those Old Boys of awash with dosh Posh Schools. One writes f. de m. with a certain amount of langue in cheek for, in truth, the Paddy Stinks and Mickey Muds who were processed through the bogball-playing schools resemble nothing so much as the misbegotten creatures on the canvas of a Hieronymous Bosch. What would they know?
Thus, the likes of Niall. Francis (no proven relation to Francis the Talking Mule, but no disproven one either) can harrumph (not to be tried in the privacy of one’s hovel) with disdain, again in the pages of the soft-tissue paper of record, that he had ‘no familiarity with that dirge known as The Rose of Tralee’.
(Translation: Oi’ve never been to Croke Park and if Oi had do you think Oi’d admit to such a social faux pas?).
Osprey-eyed Pedro will have duly noted that rightwing left-to-stand comment in his next to favourite broadsheet, The Unionist Times.
But, of course, the musically inclined Mr. Robinson will have extra worry beads to bring to the prey-in (as in: Heaven hold a place for those who prey).. A one time advocate of arms importation from Suid -Afrika to Norneverland he is now a full-time advocate of importing arms,legs, heads, hands, the lot from the Land of the Wilde Beest:
-Die Stem van Suid-Afrika ! Or, Stand up for Ruan Pienaar!
The I.R.F.U., arbiters of National and other tantrums, will duly note this eminently reasonable suggestion.
To conclude on a friendly focal folairimh/ word of warning from Perkie’s inner snaking regarder to Peadairin na Stoirme Stormont / Stormont’s Stormy Petrel.
Peadairin has been heard to be somewhat restrained in his praise of the Sons of the Prophet in the past. Perhaps, he might do well to tone up, or tone down, as the case may be. There is an old saw in the leprechaun which goes: Tuigeann Peadairin na Stoirme peitreal/ The Stormy Petrel knows whence the Petrol comes.
In other words, the, erm, Towel Heads are no Willie Toweels.
(Historical note: Willie Toweel was a world welterweight boxing champion from Suid-Afrika in the Fifties. He once featured on the cover of the Pioneer Magazine wearing his Pioneer Total Abstinence Pin, hailing as he did from the Orange Free Stateen).
Aw Jude . this carry-on about getting themselves in the television debates was always a bit of a lark. The DUP have some notion that they are a force to be considered across the water but I think it is a half-hearted claim anyway. Nobody over there really knows much about them or really cares …just as they know very little or care about Norneverland.The dup are just using a wee bit of the usual puffery to try and appear more British than the british over there. They think that’ll go down well with their followers here .unfortunately the british “over there ” don’t care to see themselves cut from the sme cloth as the DUP. They know at base they are not the same , being mostly a secular lot and they don’t want to be associated in any way with a bunch of dyed- in -the- wool recalcitrants who are locked in some land-locked time -warp of the mind.
As long as the paddies are quiet and non of their sons are sent over here for slaughter in the alleyways of Belfast or the fields of South Armagh , they’ll never really give us a second thought. Of course, if all that biblical conservatism , homophobia , inherent racism and general bigotry was highlighted during television debates , the screen might light up and dark comedy of the kind that sustains us through our darkest days, would be dispensed for an entirely new nation to enjoy….possibly for the first time completely undiluted .It could yet be the comedy sensation of the year and be in the running for several BAFTAs. They may need subtitles ….
PK, John O Dowd made a great point on the radio yesterday. He stated it was a shame the DUP aren’t involved across the water in the televised election debates as they could expose to the British public their dinosaur policies and views on the LGBT community, on abortion, their lack of respect for other cultures and languages etc. Personally I think the British public who have nothing in common with their Norn Iron brethren could once and for all expose this alleged British link and for what it’s worth by clearly illustrating the lack of common ground there really is! I listened to Nelson McCausland yesterday and the tripe that came out of that mans mouth was frighteninng – the hated, accusations, arrogance, refusal to listen! Unreal! Think Nelson needs to give Jim Allister a wee call and hook up with the TUV!
Known secrets
The colonial aspects of this little colony are obvious, the anti – colonial aspects more so. Do we send people to prison for punishment or as a punishment? The use of a riot squad in a prison suggests the latter. There is a long history of incarcerating innocent men and women in prisons in Britain and Ireland, some without the formality of a trial. The trend appears to be alive and well.
Questions were posed in today’s media. Could we deal with the truth about ‘the past?’ Would disclosure result in anarchy? Should a line be drawn on ‘the past?’ Would a group of younger politicians transform the north of Ireland into a pluralist multicultural society?
There are individuals and groups deeply unhappy about the amount of money that has been spent in relation to holding the state to account for the murder and maiming of men, women and children. They frequently forget that partial policing, the partial administration of justice and internment without trial, are all indicative of a colonial mentality. Inquests and other court proceedings have been delayed, public immunity certificates are used frequently and when all else fails, the state uses its ‘get out of jail free’ or national security card. The state spared no expense and continues to spare no expense in its attempt to conceal “the evil that men do.” Voters in Farnborough and Finchley have been spared a 2015 version of King Canute
As far as Naomi is concerned I hope her seat stays won! I personally know East, east, east Belfast people who toasted her victory last time!Let’s hope they have occasion to do it again come May!
Ms Long has been a good MP and well deserves to be returned though it might be a bit of a struggle as the Bel Tel says the DUP are leading by 6%.
According to the Bel Tel”s latest survey the DUP are set to re-take East Belfast
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/dup-on-course-to-win-east-belfast-seat-back-in-2015-westminster-election-30965379.html
Another phrase the DUP like to say often is referring to NI as an “internal part of the United Kingdom (not UK, always said as the UNITED KINGDOM, many unionists/loyalists have only recently realized that Ireland (both north and south) has never been apart of “Britain”, Britain is a separate island and entity of its own, just like Ireland) but yet such an “internal” part of the UK is often viewed as foreign by many British people and as Jude has mentioned in the article, even though the DUP are the 4th largest party in Parliament, they are excluded from a Live TV debate with parties in Britain, even though far smaller parties like the Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru are going to be involved. Why is that? is it because English, Scottish and Welsh people cant vote DUP? that cant be the reason because English people cant vote for the SNP, Scots cant vote for Plaid Cymru and nor can the English but yet these parties are to be included in the debate?…..
Its time for Unionism/Loyalism and especially its political class to take the hint that has been broadcast from Britain for decades now, from British PM Harold Wilsons live TV “spongers” remark about Unionists/Loyalists to the Downing Street declaration that the UK has no selfish interest in NI. Britain views NI as nothing more than its last colony, not as an “internal part of the United Kingdom”, which they cant wait to get rid of at the first opportunity.
I’m not sure if this is true or not, but it was posted by some wag on Twitter the other day –
‘During World War Two, Pathé News suspended coverage of Orange marches for the duration due to outrage in Britain at the sight of so many strapping men not at the front.’
https://twitter.com/tomfromireland/status/563133982964211712
Can anybody confirm or deny this?
It is true RJC. Not even the threat of the beloved “mainland” being invaded and crushed by the Germans stopped the brethren from having their parades.
“public immunity certificates”
What exactly is the above?
Excuse my ignorance.