Interesting since the RM have imagined in the past that the Protestant churches could somehow negotiate for their followers. (Unionism being a delusional state caused by English dominion rather than a proper political identity, appropriate pastoral comfort is their only entitlement after RM victory)

I thought Newell was impressive on Hearts & Minds last night. A unionist politician would have lost the bap. Newell remained steady, calm and reflective, and seemed to voice how many Presbyterians are thinking.

For someone like Newell - who has been one of the few religious leaders to go out of his way to reach out to the 'other side' - to state that he has basically lost confidence in Sinn Fein is a pretty major thing.

If Sinn Fein are at in any sense the inheritors of the legacy of 1798, it would seem they've just alienated the Dissenters from the equation.