The Irish protocol.

Seth Brundle · 14-03-2022 5:19pm

Exactly how many times will it take for NI unionists to realise that the Tories don't give a toss about them? London has shafted them more times than I care to remember but for some reason they think next time it will be ok??????

Is it wishful thinking or just plain stupidity?

Grassey · 14-03-2022 5:20pm

Kermit.de.frog · 14-03-2022 5:22pm

14-03-2022 5:33pm

At the end of this Guardian article on the ruling, there's mention of "an interim deal involving a “green lane” for goods traded between Great Britain and Northern Ireland only". Many temporary solutions have become permanent ....

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/mar/14/northern-ireland-protocol-is-lawful-court-of-appeal-rules

VinLieger · 15-03-2022 10:06am

I really miss having downcow in the thread telling us white is black when the rulings come down against the unionists and the tories for the millionth time stab them in the back.

FrancieBrady · 28-03-2022 5:37pm

UUP have put their cards on the table. Beattie is offering choice to the Unionist voter, back the belligerents or back moderate and realistic Unionism.

The Lundy calls are getting louder though. Fascinating.

AdrianG08 · 03-04-2022 11:21pm

Lundy calls?

FrancieBrady · 03-04-2022 11:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118876591#Comment_118876591

Robert Lundy is reviled in Ulster loyalism as a traitor to this day, and is burned in effigy during the celebrations to mark the anniversary of the shutting of the gates of Derry in 1688.[16] Much like Judas, his name has become a byword for "traitor" among unionists and loyalists.[17] Ian Paisley regularly denounced people, including Margaret Thatcher, Terence O'Neill and David Trimble, as "Lundies".

Seth Brundle · 05-04-2022 11:22am

https://twitter.com/BelTel/status/1511080691643133959

https://twitter.com/JoeBrolly1993/status/1511249747365015553

FrancieBrady · 21-04-2022 12:56pm

Rees Mogg engaging in hoodwinking Unionists AGAIN. Absolute charlatan.

Will Unionists though be stupid enough to fall for it again?

https://twitter.com/AlexKane221b/status/1517062765994819585

VinLieger · 21-04-2022 1:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118956043#Comment_118956043

Absolutely they will, much like a puppy no matter how many times they get fooled they will still chase that stick across the field when the tories pretend to throw it again.

pixelburp · 21-04-2022 1:55pm

The demographics we're talking about, those who orbit around the DUP and TUV, are like Charlie Brown and the football. No matter how many times Westminster screws them over, back they'll come, believing this time the government has their interests at heart.

As always, Edward Carson's quote remains as true now as it ever has:

What a fool I was. I was only a puppet, and so was Ulster, and so was Ireland, in the political game that was to get the Conservative Party into power

FrancieBrady · 21-04-2022 2:37pm

Who'd have guessed that belligerent Unionism would take the bait. 🙄

https://twitter.com/JamieBrysonCPNI/status/1517127414534619140

Seth Brundle · 21-04-2022 3:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118956624#Comment_118956624

"An empty can rattles the loudest"

ancapailldorcha · 21-04-2022 3:52pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118956346#Comment_118956346

Traditionally, Unionists got their stipend from Westminster and threatened a complete government shutdown any time London got uneasy over treatment of Nationalists. Worked a treat as you'd expect. Unfortunately, comfort does not encourage innovation, just complacency and intellectual rot. Arlene Foster could have demanded full parity of NI with GB and plumped for a pan-UK customs union and limited single market membership in areas beneficial to NI or threatened to withdraw her support and throw in with the Lib Dems, Labour and the SNP. She'd never have had to have dealt with the Cash for Ash scandal either.

But no. They had to stay in their fantasyland pretending that the Tories cared one bit for them. Ironically, they've probably done more to advance reunification than anyone.

FrancieBrady · 22-04-2022 8:49am

They cannot say (Unionists) they were not told it was another stunt to save Boris. Doesn't augur well though as I see Unionists on Twitter have bought into it already.

The suspicion is that this is entirely all about Boris Johnson getting ERG support after the NI Assembly elections (which cd deliver a Sinn Fein first minister), shoring up his faltering leadership in the process, giving him cover over the summer

https://twitter.com/tconnellyRTE/status/1517247955190878208

Peregrinus · 22-04-2022 9:42am

Oh, God, we're back to the f*cking Internal Markets Bill and performative illegality again. It was a bad idea then, which the UK had to shamefacedly drop; what in God's name makes them think it will play out any differently this time?

There is seemingly no limit to the harm and humiliation that Johnson will inflict on his country for the sake of clinging to the trappings of office for a few more weeks or, at best, months. The Tory party really needs to take him out behind the barn and shoot him.

ancapailldorcha · 22-04-2022 10:39am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118959460#Comment_118959460

Of course they can. They'll be just as wrong and stupid as they were before but when has this ever stopped them?

fly_agaric · 22-04-2022 11:06pm

They've (UK govt.) marched up this hill so many times now and it has come to nothing it gets hard to take seriously, will this latest be any different?

I suppose at some stage they may have to follow through with the threat (to the NI protocol/EU Withdrawal Agreement). Can they really keep this nonsense going on repeat, about twice a year or so, for ever? You'd (almost) wish they'd just get it over with and do it.

road_high · 22-04-2022 11:13pm

No protocol = No FTA. The EU shouldn’t blink here for a micro second

road_high · 22-04-2022 11:14pm

Though if you read between the Tory lines it’s all “reform” of the protocol which means it remains in their eyes and unionists will continue to fume

Seth Brundle · 23-04-2022 12:51am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118963449#Comment_118963449

It gives oxygen to the unionist tantrums though whilst making the unionists feel that someone is actually listening to them (until the Tories shaft them yet again).

It is definitely not in NI's interests for this old wound to be allowed to fester indefinitely.

pixelburp · 23-04-2022 7:57am

Jim Allister, at a rally also attended by the DUP, definitely said the quiet part loud:

TUV leader Jim Allister told the rally that the Northern Ireland Protocol was “furthering the objective” of a united Ireland. [...]

Allister added: “All of this is with the political intent that once you create an all-Ireland economically, it is but a short step to a political all-Ireland. That is why all unionists must unite and resolutely oppose the iniquitous protocol.”

So there it is. To hell with a strong northern economy; as the saying goes they'd rather rule in hell than serve in heaven. Burn it all down lest dem 'uns have their way.

The sad part is, it'll probably work in some parts. Plenty of older unionists out there who'd still be fairly middle of the road, but would remember the old days of unity by terror.

https://www.thejournal.ie/jeffrey-donaldson-northern-ireland-protocol-rally-5744522-Apr2022/

ancapailldorcha · 23-04-2022 8:47am

I find that quote amusing. Like, the protocol is something on the way and needs to be opposed, not something that's been the case for nearly a year and a half.

Snugbugrug28 · 23-04-2022 12:34pm

I would say they are trying to take advantage of the Ukraine situation. The UK is a massive, essential partner in that fight and goodwill towards them is about as good as it will get. Whether it'll be enough to allow them to do IMB 2.0 is another matter.

Important for the EU to hold its ground here

fly_agaric · 23-04-2022 1:07pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118963749#Comment_118963749

No, but unfortunately UK govt. (or those in it still obsessed with "Brexit" & endless fights with the EU) kind of want NI festering or worse, as has been clear for a long time now. It is no use at all as a thorn in the EUs side if everyone there is content with the status quo.

Kermit.de.frog · 24-04-2022 10:47pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118964808#Comment_118964808

They should make it crystal clear that breaking the agreement will result in immediate economic sanctions against the UK.

They have yet to do this and my prediction is they won't and they won't do anything when the Tories mess up this island for their own internal benefit yet again.

Of course the real problem is the Unionists not yet fully grasping how unwanted they are to Britain despite all that has been done to them.

How much abuse do people have to take to get the message?

They are just playthings for the Tories and they come across as embarrassing with their flag waving drum beating nonsense.

That's the loud minority. I'd say quite a few Unionists are mortified.

ArthurDayne · 25-04-2022 10:48am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118971867#Comment_118971867

As a Northerner myself originally from a very mixed area, I do hear it quite a lot down here that Unionists don't grasp how unwanted they are by Britain (sometimes it feels a bit like the prelude to the wishful thought that if only Unionists could see how unloved they are by the British, they will embrace the Irish).

But I don't actually think that's entirely true -- at least insofar as their relationship with the English establishment goes. Unionists have a longstanding suspicion of successive British governments which, combined with the obvious suspicion of Dublin and Irish Nationalists, is the very thing which feeds the characteristic siege mentality of their ideology. They expect to be eroded by one side and sold out by the other. I think they are, though perhaps some less visibly than others, well aware that the establishment would ship the burden of Ulster to Dublin in a heartbeat if it were expedient.

Instead, they look more to the Crown for a sense of identity and a national ideal to be loyal to -- which of course is made convenient by the fact that the Queen has never and will never embroil her opinions in the Irish saga. That way, the pretence is kept up that Unionists are part of a family loyal to the central core of quintessential Britishness (i.e. the Crown) and the Crown will not betray its loyal family even though if the treacherous Lundies in Westminster force Britain's hand.

FrancieBrady · 27-04-2022 8:55am

Mervyn hits a brick wall.

https://twitter.com/Martin_BELFast/status/1518990386995335168

😁

Dazler97 · 30-04-2022 12:50am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118973012#Comment_118973012

Very well said, im in Northern Ireland alot as my other half lives up there and sadly it is still divided i can see it, i tried explaining it to my friend in England but it wasn't going anywhere also religion has a big part in this :(

The Irish protocol.

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