Aaaargh Northern Irish politics
TheTruth1983
Posts: 13,462 Forum Member
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All the problems we face and DUP are more preoccupied with some MLAs speaking a tiny bit of Irish.
DUP and UUP continuing their blatant disregard for democracy with their outwardly sectarian electoral pacts with one goal, keeping "the other side" out.
Sinn Fein trying to join them in removing choice from the electorate with their calls for a similar electoral pact.
Only SDLP and Alliance are staying away from this playground nonsense. I may not agree with them on all issues but at least I can respect that it is the issues they are focusing on.
DUP and UUP continuing their blatant disregard for democracy with their outwardly sectarian electoral pacts with one goal, keeping "the other side" out.
Sinn Fein trying to join them in removing choice from the electorate with their calls for a similar electoral pact.
Only SDLP and Alliance are staying away from this playground nonsense. I may not agree with them on all issues but at least I can respect that it is the issues they are focusing on.
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That would explain the level of ignorance from many in England on Northern Ireland
The latest episode is the controversy over Gregory Campbell's mockery of the Irish language and the DUP freak out over some MLAs speaking a sentence of the language in the Assembly.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-politics-30175407
Or alternatively since the threat of those sectarian squabbles turning into terrorist atrocities on the mainland has lessened substantially those of us not directly affected are now no more interested in the machinations of politicians there than we are of regional politicians anywhere else on these islands.
Having read the link you provided I would say your synopsis is somewhat wide of the mark. If that is typical I can see why Northern Irish politics is so frought
Then there are the undemocratic and sectarian electoral pacts http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-29640781
It's playground politics whatever way you look at it.
Yes it is playground politics but as I have already pointed out your synopsis is deficient, as anyone who reads the link can judge for themselves. Therefore as you are not exactly starting from a level playing field I don't see much point in pursuing the topic.
Still good luck with any other replys you get
Typical of Peter Robinson to dodge the issue. As for Campbell, he is typical of the bigoted types on the extreme end of Unionism.
Alliance are the "sister party" of the Lib Dems, though Long doesn't take their whip, to the best of my knowledge. The Tories have stood there in the past, but have never even won an Assembly seat, while one UUP MLA has defected to UKIP. Apart from SF and the Greens, none of the mainstream Dublin parties run North of the Border, but again only Labour might bridge the sectarian divide (unless FG and the DUP would have common ground?). The sad thing is that the UUP was once very active in the Gaelic League, until 1916 politicised the organisation, but it strictly sticks to cultural matters now.
The level of ignorance is because NI politics is such a joke - lots of washed out old terrorists and Christian nutters who aren't capable of running a bar, let alone a country.
Unionists aren't the ones making death threats.
Whatever you think of Campbell's comments it's not on issuing death threats over it.
The DUP will still most likely win the election next year in northern Ireland and the assembly elections in 2016
^^^ I agree with this and I'd like to see the emergence of a more conventional 'Left-Centre-Right' politics in Northern Ireland rather than the current them'uns sectarian political divide where point scoring is more important than providing good and efficient services for the people of that province.
Gerry Adams now giving the unionist parties something to feed off
What a frickin pantomime. What in the world have we done to deserve people like Gregory Campbell and Gerry Adams?
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-30194908
Wouldn't be surprised if this was a carefully orchestrated stunt to put pressure on the DUP over Gregory Campbell's remarks.
One does need to marvel at the ability of both parties to take offence when it suits them.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-30204080
We, the electorate, really need to stop voting for these people. I already have, when will the rest?
It suits successive British governments that NI politics don't get a lot of coverage on the GB mainland. The more I read about NI politics, NI history since 1922, the Good Friday Agreement and Anglo-Irish relationships, the more I get depressed about British involvement in the island of Ireland as a whole.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s at the height of the NI troubles, neither Labour nor Conservative ever made a negotiated NI settlement a central plank of their manifesto commitments. Instead, we were served a near daily helping of news showing bombs, ethnic clashes, British Army patrols and confrontational speeches by NI leaders - with the inference that this could never be solved.
In my humble opinion, I remain convinced that if NI politics and history were given more airtime on the GB mainland, then many here might start to ponder about the history of British involvement across the Irish Sea.
And as I have said before, if the UK left the EU, it could jeopardise the Good Friday Agreement. UKIP remain silent on this issue. For they have no solutions.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-30199562
Secretary of State Theresa Viliers thinks chances are slim that we will end up with a deal at the end of the current talks.
Thanks to your link, I have now come across the former Northern Ireland PM Terence O'Neill's "Ulster stands at the crossroads" speech. It was written in December 1968. It's the closest I've yet seen to a crystal ball. It's bordering on chilling.
From everyone else, read Mr O'Niell's speech here:
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/proni/1968/proni_CAB-9-B-205-8_1968-12-09.pdf
Yup, it's as relevant to the current talks as it was then for sure.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-30222137
Ignoring the bollocks leading her own party
To be honest if I was a member of any party in NI i would be hanging my head in Shame. These people are paid a fortune and they behave worse than children in a playground.
There are a lot that need to be gotten rid of and Gregory Campbell should be the first one out, there are people who are being left on corridors because the Royal Victoria Hospital cant cope with admission and this man decides in a good time to mock the Irish language and bring the whole assembly in to disrepute.
History of course will judge him. Just a pity he cant see into the future and see what the people will be saying about him them and I can tell him it wouldnt be pretty.
The trust in Assembly politicians has taken a big hit this week.