Unionism 2021

Unionism 2021: Unity could bring a more strategic, confident and professional unionism

Mick Fealty on September 12, 2010, 7:09 pm

| Readers 17

By my reckoning the News Letter’s series on the future of Unionism has been something of a resounding success. Perhaps on reflection the questions posed each of the writers might have been more challenging, but it has drawn in folk from across the unionist world, and beyond. Today, it is Arlene Foster’s turn. She could almost be thinking of what’s left of her support in the UUP: The mistake civic/liberal unionists make is that they believe they can build a …

Decent government will sort the Constitutional question…

Mick Fealty on August 2, 2010, 12:40 pm

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I’ve a piece in Saturday’s News Letter, as part of that paper’s focus on Unionism in 2021. At its core, I argue that Unionists, and Nationalists for that matter, in Northern Ireland have been living vicariously off the virtues of their own ideas of their mother state for years, but that: Increasingly, our politics will be about being good in government, and making strong coherent choices that enhance rather than blight the future. As 2021 dawns, our choices should be …

Unionism 2010: Does it really matter who gets to be ‘titular head’?

Mick Fealty on July 28, 2010, 2:07 pm

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I have a piece coming out in the News Letter’s series on Unionism 2021, although I am not sure when. All contributors have five questions to answer, the final one asking whether Martin McGuinness would be acceptable as a First Minister. Perhaps surprisingly Paisley senior accepts the prospect with some equinimity, but not without a little dig at his successor, “Sinn Fein didn’t become the majority party on my watch.” Without giving too much away, my own take is that …

Unionism: “Like most liberalism, when directed at others it’s patronising”

Mick Fealty on July 20, 2010, 3:42 pm

| Readers 36

Christopher Montgomery thinks the hand wringing liberal unionist set need to accept that nationalists are not going to convert to unionism, and move on accordingly: There isn’t going to be a 32 county Irish republic in 2021, and there is still going to be an Ulster in the Union. And it’s still going to have lots of nationalists in it who don’t want to be there. It speaks well of unionism that its conceit has been to turn the other …