Sunday, September 13, 2009

Quote of the day

Paul Bew in The Spectator:
So is it business as usual in Ulster politics? Not quite. The DUP visibly fears the prospect of a Cameron predominance in British politics to the point of actually demonstrating against him on his visit to Ballymena. The party privately hopes that somehow New Labour will survive and leave the tramlines of local politics — the protracted fractious community psychotherapy process at Stormont — undisturbed. Increasingly, the DUP makes it clear that they do not want to see Sinn Fein have to face any possible inconvenience or challenge arising from a conservative victory and, therefore, from an alleged London partiality for any local faction in the province. But the status quo in Northern Ireland means a cocooned political class in Stormont — underwritten ad infinitum by the British taxpayer, the great unsung hero of the Troubles, and playing no role in shaping, or being shaped by, the wider UK debate on public policy.
Occasional poster on here, David Wildgoose, also has a suggestion in the comments section that you might want to read;)

6 comments:

fair_deal said...

Paul Bew has many skills and much talent but he has never had any insight into the DUP or its thinking. This just reads like UUP press office conspiracy theories.

tony said...

All wildgoose has done is plagarise me *sniffs* the bloody cheek!

Anonymous said...

Bew has got it spot on.

The DUP are Ulster nationalists and are in decline. Without a hardline republican party to rail against they have nothing to offer. The were and remain a party of protest with no ability to govern.

The CU's will be the biggest unionist block in the next Assembly and the DUP will be cast into the political wilderness as a reward for getting it wrong.

Unknown said...

George Orwell commented on the fact that the one thing that Scots, Welsh and Irish nationalism all had in comment is a dislike through to hatred of England and the English.

But all three see each other as "fellow Celts", (an even more dubious assertion than the description of the English as "Anglo-Saxon").

I'll admit to an element of "Devil's Advocate" in the post, but just try thinking "out of the box".

Irish Unionists remain in Union with Scotland, perhaps keep the Queen but get to ditch the disliked English. Irish nationalists get to ditch England as well and gain closer relations, potentially re-Union, with the Republic.

Scotland gets rid of England, gets rid of Trident, and gets the lion's share (around 85%) of North Sea Oil.

Wales gets to join a larger grouping of "fellow Celts", all able to co-operate in mutual self-interest and without having to involve the English.

The Republic gets closer links with Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales without antagonising the anti-English elements within its own society.

This "British and Irish Union" can share embassies, co-operate on defence, have full free trade, maybe even look to harmonise their legal systems. Oh, and cock a snook at the English.

Meanwhile, as was so ably demonstrated on the Portillo programme on BBC4 at 10pm last night, the English will just carry on as usual simply not caring one jot about your antics.

What's not to like?

(Word Verification: "subtli". Yes, indeed.)

O'Neill said...

You seriously overestimate the Irish Unionist "dislike of the English" in my opinion, but that gives me an idea for a post for when I return...

tony said...

Wildgoose

As I have told you many, many times we might just be about looking after ourselves and not about how much we hate you. Try and get it to sink in and you may be taken seriously now and then.