It's sometimes argued that nationalism can help to reaslise social justice 'in one country' because it helps to sustain the requisite solidarity to take the sting out of any redistributive policies. Maybe.

If social justice involves treating everyone as an equal, then it's wrong to make expceptions for your fellow countrymen, so cosmopolitanism is the way forward.

How 'nationalist' nationalists here are isn't entirely clear. It's not inconsistent with moral cosmopolitanism to want a united Ireland as means to greater social justice. Whether that judgement is correct is another matter :-)

The claims of Irish nationalism (and Ulster unionism) grow increasingly anachronistic as globalism becomes the dominant force in defining the terms of the political and social justice debate – here in Ireland as much as anywhere else in the world.

It seems somewhat petty – not to say irrelevant - for local politicians to be arguing over which form of local administration (whether London, Dublin or Belfast-based) can best safe-guard our ‘first world nation’ rights – when so much of what we assume to be a non-negotiable standard of living is dependent on cheap labour in China and cheap oil from Saudi Arabia (both reliant on repressive regimes with an almost total disregard for individual human rights).

Since the 1970s the traditional industrial classes have more or less been off-shored to faraway places where we don’t have to listen to their complaints –leaving the rest of us with some peace and quiet to worry about important things like when IKEA is coming to Belfast.

Yeah when is Ikea coming to Belfast? :-)

It's not lads, it's coming to Dublin. Didn't ye hear? The minister for the Environment Dick Roche was decent enough to make a 'one-off' exception to the 'strict' limitations on the size of retail outlets allowed according to planning regulations in the republic... when IKEA threatened to locate their Irish store in Belfast rather than Dublin.

At least it'll be better than taking the ferry to Glasgow.

Errr, damn it, I just lost my social justice focus yet again...

Now where was I?