Arlene Foster is a conflicted woman. I don’t mean that she isn’t interested in conflict – as leader of the DUP, Conflict is her middle name. Her predecessors took a similar line. Ian Paisley promoted conflict with the same zeal he brought to denouncing the Catholic faith; and who could forget Peter Robinson’s remarks about sending a Muslim to the corner store for milk? No, the conflict for Arlene is one of Arlene vs Arlene.
Like the rest of us, she is confronted with the shambles we call Brexit. Yes, her party campaigned for a Leave vote, but only in the way that a turkey might gently gobble its affection for Christmas. Saying the acceptable thing but praying it won’t come to pass. The DUP and Arlene were for a Leave vote because they knew their followers enjoy talk of the authority of the Mother of Parliaments and the need to stem immigration.
However, Arlene and her party also knew that were the EU to withdraw its support for agriculture, for example, or for road-building, the north-east of our island would feel a grip of death on its windpipe. Not only would vital subsidies come to an end but we little North-Eastern Irish would be faced with a hard border between ourselves and the state to the south. Not so much bad news as a nuclear disaster.
Arlene’s public presentation of her conflicted state came in two instalments. The first was a feisty one, when she slapped down Enda Kenny’s suggestion of an All-Ireland, oops, All-Island conference for all interested parties on the island to discuss the dangers that Brexit confronts us with. Arlene couldn’t afford to show herself dancing to the tune of a Taoiseach, so the lady said No. But at the same time she needed to get talking with the south to try to prevent a hard border between our north-eastern Nirvana and the south. So having shown no Tea-shock would tell her what to do, she swivelled 180 degrees and went into a huddle with Enda and others.
But if Arlene’s relationship with the south seems tricky, consider the UK’s relationship with the EU.
Brexit is going to happen. To that everyone bar the Lib Dems and Tony Blair seems resigned. Even if there’s a vote in Parliament, MPs will be too afraid to look like they’re flouting the will of the people and will troop obediently behind the Brexiteers.
So can we expect that sometime inside the next two years approximately, the UK and the EU will shake hands, maybe give each other a little hug before parting? Um, no. Theresa May is not going to emerge from EU negotiations bowed down by going-away presents. On the contrary, she’ll emerge from negotiations with two black eyes, torn clothing and a pronounced limp. Metaphorically speaking.
Any teacher could have predicted this unhappy outcome . If you’ve a child in the class who announces loudly that s/he is fed up with you and your stupid class and s/he’s off, you as teacher have two courses of action open to you. You can send the child on his/her way, with your best wishes and promises of continuing support; or you can tell the little punk to make your day and watch s/he doesn’t let the door hit his/her bottom on the way out. Make his/her exit comfortable and you’ll have a class where everyone wants some of that.
So yes, the EU is going to give the UK a right good seeing-to, with a hard border in Ireland being just one of many blows which will rain down on the unhappy Mrs May.
Because the DUP leader knows all this, we have Arlene (Half A) happily whistling about making a success of Brexit, while Arlene (Half B) is perspiring heavily, wondering what in God’s name she’s supposed to do when Brexit brings north-south trade to a juddering stop at the border.
If it wasn’t for the money and the power, you’d nearly feel sorry for the Pride of Fermanagh.
No, no, Tom – sit down, please. We’re not talking about you.
Both britain and the EU will be dishing out plenty of bloody lips and black eyes to one another, and the US will be pulling out the rug and leaving them both fighting on slippery ice to boot.
Ireland unfortunately will be caught up in the crossfire and will need strong leadership from a Taoiseach able to fight our corner and get the best deal possible for Ireland above what is best for either the EU or UK. The most important will be sorting out trade relations and links with the US and then the UK, and it will have to achieved from within the EU at least in the short term but Ireland must put ourselves first.
Is Enda up for the job?
Judging by his decision to brand the US president a racist just prior to his election, I think he has been proven to have been following the UK down too narrow a tunnel, afraid to get off their coat tails and is already missing opportunities for Ireland.
Unfortunately, control of the media will allow him to get away with it.
“Judging by his decision to brand the US president a racist just prior to his election”
Are you sure Enda called Trump a racist Jessica? because Enda was the very first call Trump accepted when he won the election, where Enda congratulated him and where both he and Trump spoke about keeping strong ties between Ireland and the USA for 10 minutes. Trump invited him to USA for St Patricks Day too. Indeed many speculated Trump deliberately kept Angela Merkel and Theresa May in the phone queue because of their verbal abuse of Trump during the election campaign….
I doubt Trump would do that if Enda called him a racist….indeed I read Enda was criticized for excusing Trumps comments before the election….
He did in deed Ryan.
Trumps interests in Ireland goes deeper than the current Taoiseach.
He wont be an enemy of Ireland, though he will knock the dodgy tax deals for US companies such as apple on the head, pretty sharp
Arlene Brookeborough is no more a political leader than any other unionist. She will follow Westminster like a little dog and be happy in the knowledge she’s still in the so called UK.
I cant stand Brookeborough Ciaran. I know the British Government doesn’t like anyone here, Unionist or Republican, but do they always have to land us with a Tory Toff for a SoS? Could they not at least give us someone half decent? even likeable?….
Did you see her pathetic curtsey to some minor royal?Cring-worthy.
Arlene Og as The Pride of Fermanagh, Esteemed Blogmeister, is a designation designed to make one’s Blue Monday and one’s BMW alike a lighter shade of B.
Curiously, there is , erm,a French connection to both The P. of F. and her role model, the Pride of Petrovore.
Percy French in the latter case and Perse Oreille in the former. Perse Oreille (no relation of another O’Reilly) of course, is the equivalent in the lingua franca of the Frog Oak Monolith of:
-Earwig.
Earworm is defined as ‘a song or melody that keeps repeating in one’s mind’ and now that you have mentioned The Pride of Fermanagh, EB, indeed, the Petrified Pride of Fermanagh, one expects to find oneself singing those verses one knows, whistling those verses whose words escape one and humming where appropriate.
At least till one joins one’s one fellow ear-trumpeters down at the leather-upholstered oasis of The Ochones Club for one’s Monday ritual of downing one’s favourite tipple.
That would be the earnest cocktail invented by Hemingway in the anything but dirty Thirties , a blend of absinthe and champagne, ‘Death in the Afternoon’. Even as one surveys one dwindling cohort of club members to see (with satisfaction) who has, or who hasn’t made it through The Dark Night of the Soul, mate, since the previous Monday.
Earworm is also known as ‘sticky song’ in the vernacular but as this is a family blog one will not lurch into the vulgar. Although earworm is enjoying a contemporary revival there is proof (alleged) that it was first recorded as far back as 1802, possibly even by M. Pearse O’Reilly (see above):
-Friday at the fair of Ballintubber
Arlene met Enda, the Republic’s Big Banana;
I’d like to set me mark upon the robber
For he stole away the Pride of Fermanagh.
But of course it is the earwig which is bothering Arlene Og’s right ear rather more than the earworm which is worrying her left ear, going forward. Earwig is defined as ‘a pong or maladie which keeps repeating in one’s mind’.
Specifically, the earwig which comes in le shape of perse oreille . Les Marchands du Merde, aka, the French will not be exactly behind le pissoir when it comes to shoveling le stuff brun into her Brexit lug.
Truly will her two inner ears be put to the hat pin of their foxfur collar trying to maintain the proper political balance.
Still, there is always Enda to lenda hand, even an O’Halpin hand, to mind her mickey mice at the crossborder Crossroads of Crisis.
BLUE OF BLOUSE, BLUE OF SHIRT
How will our Party of Law and Border
Aid A in her moment of manic disorder?
Will Enda’s card
Be soft or hard ?
P. Power’s odds are on the role of Warder.
–
The EU definitely is going to give the UK a bloody nose, it has to, because if the UK is seen to be getting a good deal (without having to follow the rules) then the Netherlands, France, Hungary, etc will all be spurred on and convinced that being outside the EU is the way to go. Those nations I mentioned are the nations that are speedily electing anti-EU parties, who all argue the same as UKIP: “We can take back control, stay in the single market but have none of the red tape”. The EU will want to put an end to that argument by making an example of the UK.
The DUP never expected the UK to vote for Brexit, deep down they didn’t want it to happen either. They even had a speech prepared for when the UK voted to stay in the EU. In truth, the DUP lost the Brexit vote, they only campaigned in the North for Brexit and a clear majority here voted to stay in the EU.
Enda Kenny and Micheal Martin have both made interesting comments regarding Brexit and Irish Unity. Enda Kenny just last week said that he doesn’t “want to wait 20 years for NI to get accession to the EU”. Basically what he meant, and the media jumped on it, was he couldn’t wait 20 years for a United Ireland. Micheal Martin said recently that the North MUST have special EU status, that both the UK and EU must fight for it. Gerry Adams has today repeated his call for a border poll again. He also said Brexit posed “a unique opportunity for Irish Unity”. I couldn’t agree more with him, that’s why I voted Brexit, though I suppose it would’ve made more sense to vote remain, given if the North voted Brexit then the Unionists would be in a far stronger position.
I read in a British newspaper, the Guardian I believe, that the main reason why SF agreed with the Good Friday Agreement was because they were convinced with the demographic changes coming that the North could easily just vote for Irish Unity, that’s what they were told by both Governments. Its obvious many southern politicians hold that view today. Given the decline of Unionism in elections (compared to previous years, where they were dominant) it really does show that times are changing. Belfast City Council is a prime example. Once a Unionist Citadel, its inevitable its going to be a Republican majority in a few short years. It can be fairly argued that SF has a bigger voter base today than the DUP has, its getting voters out that’s the issue.
Arlene has many serious problems. There’s brexit and all the chaos that will bring. There’s a growing Nationalist population who she wont reach out to but has to if she ever hopes to keep Unionism on dominant footing. But if she does reach out to Nationalism, she fears the inevitable backlash from the Unionist electorate, which the DUP spent years on training to be the way they are. And will Arlene reaching out to Nationalists bring votes from them? I seriously doubt it….
A lot of things are going to backfire on Unionism, and backfire spectacularly…..
The fact that Sinn Fein are going in the right direction to lead the next Dail I am sure has nothing to do with it.
But it is good to see some interest from Dublin on the north, even if it did take brexit to make it happen.
Also nice to see our president praising castro for the inspiration given in many struggles for freedom
Things can only get better
“The fact that Sinn Fein are going in the right direction to lead the next Dail I am sure has nothing to do with it”
I think Sinn Fein would have more seats in the Dail (and Stormont) if they made clear that they opposed Abortion Jessica. They have already lost voters and even councillors because of their slippery stance of trying to please both Abortionists and Pro-Life supporters. They need to give themselves a shake and be clearly Pro-Life.
“Things can only get better”
It can indeed!
They do oppose abortion Ryan as do I.
However, I have far greater respect for them making the right decision over support for abortion in very limited circumstances.
Some may feel no circumstance should be tolerated, which is fine, but how many Irish women find themselves for whatever reason so desperate for an abortion they will risk their lives or make a long lonely trip across the water?
Sinn Fein support abortion for when a child is already dead, I think it should go further and our doctors should be given full discretion based on the well being of the woman. Compromise is a good thing.
If that means losing seats in the Dail or in the north then so be it, but the young people who aren’t yet voting will soon enough.
The churches are going to lose this one in the long run Ryan. I have no doubt about it whatsoever.
Long runs the fox.
“However, I have far greater respect for them making the right decision over support for abortion in very limited circumstances”
Its a slippery path Jessica, most people (and I’m one of them) see this talk of “abortion in limited circumstances” as abortion by the backdoor. They will edge in a few laws, then add a few more over the years until people start saying “We may as well have full abortion”. Its all a trick.
“but how many Irish women find themselves for whatever reason so desperate for an abortion they will risk their lives or make a long lonely trip across the water?”
That still doesn’t justify the murder of an unborn child Jessica. Taking a 20 minute trip across the Irish sea is hardly an excuse to legalize abortion on demand. If a woman’s life is genuinely in danger then abortion is already permitted here. Even the Catholic Church doesn’t oppose that.
“Sinn Fein support abortion for when a child is already dead, I think it should go further and our doctors should be given full discretion based on the well being of the woman. Compromise is a good thing.”
There’s been cases of doctors saying a baby is dead and then that baby being born healthy. That’s one of the most common misperceptions in History: the belief that doctors are “experts”. Far from it. My grandmother died in June because of a doctor giving her the wrong medicine. My brother was told his skin condition (the worst I’ve ever seen in my life) would “never clear up and your going to be left like this for life”. My brother told the doctor bluntly: “Your talking crap” and walked out. He’s now been cured of his condition for the past 8 years. A Taxi man once told me his friend was told 10 years ago he’ll be dead in 6 months from a serious illness, his friend is still alive and well today. I have countless stories of doctors talking nonsense Jessica. Even nutty Willie Frazer was told he’ll be dead in 3 years then next thing he’s given the all clear of cancer.
What isn’t spoke about is the numerous women who had mental breakdowns because they regret their abortion. Women who were told their babies were dying or had incurable illnesses but refused to have a abortion (as recommended) but yet their child is still alive today years after birth.
There is no “compromise” on a child’s life. Just because most of the World supports Death over Life for unborn children, that doesn’t mean Ireland should do the same.
“If that means losing seats in the Dail or in the north then so be it, but the young people who aren’t yet voting will soon enough”
I’m a young person, I certainly wont be voting for abortion…..SF have already lost my vote due to this.
“The churches are going to lose this one in the long run Ryan. I have no doubt about it whatsoever”
Who said anything about the churches? To assume its only religious people who oppose abortion is foolish. I have no doubt whatsoever far more people will oppose abortion here than will support it. I side with anyone, Unionist, Nationalist, Neutral, etc who is against abortion.
“Long runs the fox”
The Fox isn’t always caught. Churches or Pro-Life supporters aren’t foxes either. If you think the Churches are losing influence, then you should go to Clonard Chapel during the Novena in June, on average 100,000 people attend every year, young and old…..I wonder how many will turn up to greet Pope Francis when he comes here in 2018?
Amnesty International delivered a petition of 40,000 people supporting abortion to Stormont last month. Just today another petition was delivered to Stormont, with the signatures of 300,000 people opposing abortion. Abortion in Ireland will be fought tooth and nail.
I never said anything would justify the murder of an unborn child Ryan.
I do think that such language would be extremely hurtful to many women who are carrying a brain dead child and already grieving. The fantasy slippery slope does not justify accusations of murder based on conjecture.
“If a woman’s life is genuinely in danger then abortion is already permitted here. Even the Catholic Church doesn’t oppose that.”
I believe it does. A woman has already lost her life in Ireland over a doctors fear of being convicted under current legislation.
The rules are too vague to substantiate your claims against the state never mind the most obstinate church on the planet.
In my eyes that was church led oppression on a limp dick state who failed to protect a citizen through spineless legislation resulting in negligent medical care that cost a woman her life.
“There’s been cases of doctors saying a baby is dead and then that baby being born healthy. ”
I am sure there have been cases of doctors breaking laws and abusing their position just as there are in any vocation.
Priests abused children, should we prevent all priests from coming into contact with our children?
Regardless, it is up to the state through well thought out legislation to ensure Irish values are upheld
As far as I am aware, abortions are never recommended in our health service, risks are presented and the woman makes the choice herself.
Support is offered, the rest is up to the individual.
Vilifying women will only prevent them from seeking out support as it creates a stigma as you yourself Ryan have already judged them all publically here as murderers. You should really consider this as it starts to sound more and more like the Salem witch trials.
“There is no “compromise” on a child’s life. Just because most of the World supports Death over Life for unborn children, that doesn’t mean Ireland should do the same. ”
And Ireland may or may not, but whatever our people decide should be respected.
“I’m a young person, I certainly wont be voting for abortion…..SF have already lost my vote due to this. ”
I recall, you voted SDLP.
You are old enough to make your own mind up Ryan.
Sinn Fein have made theirs and will do ok without your vote or mine.
“To assume its only religious people who oppose abortion is foolish.”
I have constantly said I oppose abortion, but I also respect compromise and I absolutely detest the vilification of sections of our people that I respect.
I believe that it is the churches and religious views that will drive this and it will be fought tooth and nail and it will be divisive.
What I will say, is while I have always been anti abortion, I find myself edging towards support for abortion on demand and pro choice based on the disgusting language I have seen used towards Irish women on this issue.
“The EU definitely is going to give the UK a bloody nose, it has to, because if the UK is seen to be getting a good deal (without having to follow the rules) then the Netherlands, France, Hungary, etc will all be spurred on….”
Keep an eye on upcoming elections in Italy and France; the EU may not be able to muster a fart never mind give anyone a bloody nose if things don’t go their way in those countries. The EU is corrupt and the natives are rumbling with discontent. The Irish would need to turn off the X Factor and look at what’s really going on.
People in Britain voted for Brexit as they do not like or want immigrants. Fine, that just means that Britain cannot join the single market as they will not be able to concede the free mvmt of people and labour and an annual payment of €1bn. Once article 50 is triggered the two year time limit for negotiations will wind down and Britain will realise the extent of its economic suicide. Scotland will vote again and I can only see one outcome. So plenty to look forward to before we are ready for a vote on Irish Unity in 5 to 10 years.
Again one shouldn’t believe all you are told, especially it what you are being told comes from the newspaper and other biased media whose agenda isn’t the welfare of you,me or indeed immigrants, but the continuance of the lucrative gravy train that is globalisation via the EU. Infinite cheap labour designed to reduce wages will eventually take it toll and somethings gotta give. Brexit,Trump etc are not neccessarily as a result of people not ‘liking immigrants’ but a rather a case of not playing the US/EU globalist game. Who knows in 5 or 10 years there maybe no EU.
As for irish unity? Well I hope you are right but I have a real feeling the Brits have made the right move and as a result of that, we will have to look at smug people saying I told you do. Btw, Nicola sturgeon should be agitating for a general election rather than lobbying her EU partners, if she truly wants another referendum because at the minute she has no grounds to ask Terry May to grant her one.
le.pen says she will pull the plug on the eu the next day if she wins.italy could be a good double with france to quit with paddy power.meanwhile fly enda is trying to get ole red socks over for a tour,wonder will he try and arrange the abortion referendum just after the visit with lots of alter rail munchers feeling renewed.