Can you be pro-Union and not a Unionist?

thread, rolls, needle

Shortly after launching NI 21, the leader of the short-lived party, Basil McCrea MLA, insisted in a studio discussion that he was supportive of the retention of the Union but did not describe himself as a unionist. He was treated with derision, bordering on scorn. A few years down the line, and this is no longer generally the case, with a growing constituency identifying as ‘pro-Union’ whilst distancing itself from ‘party political’ Unionism. Are Northern Ireland’s Unionist political parties capable …

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Legacy: “There are others who live with not knowing whilst hoping for something else…”

cherry blossoms, landscape, spring

A good friend whose political views differ from mine was also in attendance on the evening before. He wondered why I did not engage in the discussion. I explained that had I done so, my comments would have presented as… “but, what about..? Until the victims of Bloody Sunday and Ballymurphy are ready to say: ‘What about Claudy and Ballykelly’ and the victims of Claudy and Ballykelly feel they can say: “What about Bloody Sunday and Ballymurphy,’ will we be where …

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After fifty years of improvement and reform in Northern Ireland isn’t it time we gently surrendered to a vision larger than our old sectarian selves?

Who recognises the profound shift towards fairness and equality in the last fifty years in Northern Ireland? Historical facts may not change, but as the world transitions and power shifts, our perspectives should also adjust. Otherwise we may be condemned to an interminable cycle of Groundhog Days.

Adams doesn’t understand how human conduct is coded in the language we choose to use…

cat eyes, eyes, color storm

My first reaction to the now defunct Christmas video by Gerry Adams was that ‘he had murdered a good tune’. The responses to the video and the dutiful view of the Deputy First Minister that it was’ just a bit of craic’ provide sanguine evidence that individuals and groups within all communities emerging from conflict, do not take kindly to any display of insensitivity or frivolity from a key player, linked with self-professed combatants, in a 30 year war that has left a legacy of a deeply …

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Sinn Féin’s vision of the future looks remarkably like its one model version of the past

automobiles, henry ford, vintage

Of the recent visits to the USA by politicians with influence on political development in Northern Ireland, Mary Lou McDonald  seems to be the one who has been reported the more fully. Something to so with the nature of the events in which she held centre stage, perhaps. As reported in the Irish Times, Sinn Féin leader and TD, Mary Lou McDonald speaking to the New York Bar Association described Ireland as living in ‘dying days.’ Albeit that she was …

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Return to the ‘radical ways’ that Micheál Martin referred to in 2016 merits consideration.

The Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin in November 2016 hosted the first All-Ireland Civic Dialogue. To my knowledge no Unionist political representatives were present. Some made a point of not being there; foolish in the light of subsequent events. It is hard to make a case without dialogue. The Taoiseach, Enda Kenny TD outlined the difficulties faced by ‘the most significant challenge in 50 years for the Irish economy’ and noted that a majority in Northern Ireland voted to ‘remain’ but that ‘the vote …

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Faced by demands of Net Zero, digitisation and changing trade, old party tunes are not enough, even for Sinn Féin…

caterpillar, branch, larva

Unsurprisingly An tUachtaráin of Sinn Féin Mary-Lou McDonald TD received an enthusiastic reception from the reduced number of delegates at the 2021 Ardfheis on her home turf in Dublin. There were all kinds of everything for the party members, present and online. The event, organised, as always, with military precision was an interesting occasion for the non-partisan observer. The comments of a seasoned Sinn Féin member in Derry that the party has an ‘army of activists’; that ‘there is nothing …

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Somewhere along a slightly different path is a better future for the union, if we look for it now…

phone, old, year of construction 1955

“I don’t care what religion you are. I don’t care what gender you are. I don’t care what your ethnic background is. You can be Unionist and will be welcome in a Union of people?” – Doug Beattie, Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, 2021 Is this as inclusive, diverse and progressive as political Unionism gets? Is there deeper meaning in saying to those of diverse ethnicity, gender and religion that as a Unionist…….. I do care? Individuals in Northern Ireland …

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Why mixed messaging cannot work for Doug Beattie or indeed the UUP

implement, do, implementation

‘In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things.’ – Miyamoto Musashi Following the General Election of 2010, the UUP produced an internal report addressing the electoral performance of the party which had campaigned with the Conservative party in what was known, rather clumsily, as the UCU-NF initiative. Probably not enough time was given to the process. Based on an earlier European election in which UUP …

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UUP conference has seen the party talk well, but Doug Beattie must find a way to walk better

You cannot make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. After more than twenty years of political stasis, this old commonplace saying is now supremely applicable to Northern Irish politics (and all of it, not just on the unionist side). Judging from the subliminal imaging and aspirational messaging evident in the UUP Political Broadcast and Conference on Saturday, Doug Beattie must have disposed of quite a few political egg shells in setting a long overdue re-boot agenda for the party he …

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Unionism needs more than talk about mental health and social injustice, it needs to deliver solutions.

change, arrows, clouds

Holy Grail refers to an elusive goal continuously pursued. For many Unionists, ‘the Holy grail’ is Unionist unity – politically.  It harps back to the days of ‘United We Stand, Divided We Fall’; a framed picture of which adorned the walls of many buildings used by the Unionist party when it was, by far, the main political party of Unionism; that, and a picture of the reigning monarch. Hopes will have been raised at the sight of the leaders of four Unionist …

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President Biden would do better to be the measured voice for reason that his election promised.

cup, tee, porcelain

When Senator Joe Biden became American President by beating incumbent Donald Trump, his victory was welcomed by many; not just in America. The post-election behaviour of the defeated Trump served only to reinforce the image of a new President offering a different and less disruptive style of politics; with decision-making based on ethical resolve and a freshly defined global role for the USA in promoting conciliation and collaborative problem-solving. The debacle of the exit from Afghanistan, however justified by a …

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The stance adopted by President Michael D Higgins can feed into reflection, even if he has retreated from the scene.

castle, ruin, exit

It’s unusual for the DUP, and other Unionists for that matter, to be exercised at the non-visit of a President of Ireland. The reaction sounds like a mixture of genuine disappointment, wounded vanity and point-scoring. In the case of the DUP, glass houses come to mind. Whatever the reason, the nature of the clamour achieves little and has launched a tirade of sniping political comment on social media. This is something which Archbishop Eamon Martin, shortly after the low-key launch …

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Time to be bold, let politics work and “arrest the spiral of unlearning we seem to be on”…

clock, alarm clock, time

Reconciling Ireland by Richard Humphreys which details and analyses 50 Agreements between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom received an official online book launch hosted by the Irish Association and Queen’s University on 31 August. Asked by facilitator Freya Mc Clements, Northern Ireland correspondent of the Irish Times, which of the Agreements he would describe as a favourite, the author opted to nominate the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. In addition to his personal association with the process …

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“There is no such thing as a conflict that cannot be ended.”

geometry, zirkel, setsquare

“The time that was continues to tick inside the time that is.” -Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano here have been proposals for ‘Dealing with the Past.’ None of them appear to work either in securing prosecutions or in allowing the community to future-proof political, social and economic life.   Solutions collide as political intent, perceived victim hierarchy and contentious narratives produce unchallenged trust in their own ideological flatness. Blame and justification are voiced accordingly; accusation and counter-accusation ensue within a deeply …

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Northern Ireland needs a Protocol it can use and not be used by….

Politics is not devoid of emotion. It may or may not inform how outcomes are seen. The High Court may have concluded that the NI Protocol is not in breach of the Good Friday Agreement and the principle of consent. It feels otherwise. Many who in 1998, largely on the basis of that principle, with Europe barely a consideration, allowed their heads to rule their hearts and supported the Agreement, now perceive it as undermined. During the post-Brexit debates, there was …

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There you are waiting for a new leader and like a bus, two come along one after another.

Well, the DUP has had close connections with bus companies for some time.   The tactics which got under way at the Ramada Hotel have won the day and Edwin Poot’s brief term as leader is over. It would appear his on the surface clumsy leadership played no little part in throwing wide the exit door as he managed to unite friends and foes against him   Unfortunately for the DUP the ‘proverbial elephant remains in the room.’   It …

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“I have always made one prayer to God, a very short one;” O God, make our enemies ridiculous!” And God granted it

If any political opponents of Unionism have been offering a similar prayer to that of Voltaire, it is being answered as the DUP now exhibits all the traits of political disarray leading to despair, criticism and doubt amongst the support base internally and externally. With the DUP holding itself up to ridicule, some are already suggesting that the party is a ‘busted flush’ and will not ascend to the heights of past electoral success. With an Assembly election due next …

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When the new leader of the UUP talks of getting smaller, that’s the easy bit…

“We may have to get smaller before we get bigger” The words of the new UUP Leader, Doug Beattie MLA, echo those of a previous UUP leader Mike Nesbitt MLA, when speaking at a leadership hustings debate in Londonderry in 2012. His ultimately unsuccessful opponent was John McCallister at the time an MLA, a strong advocate for formal opposition at Stormont and closely associated with Basil McCrea, also an UUP MLA. Both left to form NI21. Both parties ended up …

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If Edwin Poots emerges as leader of the DUP, could this be a blessing in disguise for Unionism?

Watching the events which led to the resignation of First Minister and DUP leader Arlene Foster MLA and the subsequent declaration of his candidacy by Edwin Poots- initially understood to be for both position there was a deluge of reaction on social media some of it bordering unnecessarily on vitriolic comment. Not a lot is gained from such. More measured words were reflective of strong opposition to and distaste for the perceived insensitive nature of DUP politics. Clearly, many people …

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