NI Dec 22 Assembly Election

Here we are. In none other than francies bible, Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland%27s_Call

….and I know that won’t be enough either. It’s like trying to convince Ian Paisley that the free p church is conservative

ha ha ha, that wicki doesn't even go to primary sources of the book. It just uses the Guardian article I posted as the source.

Well here we go. The true francie. “There is zero representation of the 'UK' on the Irish team. NONE. It is an all Ireland representative side”. I can assure you that Rory best would tell you he is from the Uk. That post of yours says a lot.

man’s you argument collapses agian as you refer to the Uk anthem as the “anthem of the England team”. The England team play it because it is their national anthem. Wales and Scotland choose to play something that is not a national anthem. Yet you harp on about gstq cannot be played because - well I don’t know anymore

Sarcastic laughing sort of gives the game away.

….and ss is not the anthem of the island of Ireland.

here’s the difference in you and me. I have worked tirelessly to try and stop gstq being played at OWC matches, but the ifa have no courage to face down the tiny hard rump, just like Ireland rugby and ss. Difference is you want to defend the playing of ss and you don’t give a toss about the feelings of people like me.

The height of arrogance. Francie is going to tell me what song includes me. Doesn’t matter what I feel, francie knows best. You couldn’t make it up.

Francie this discussion has zero to do with success or not. It is about the inability of republicans to take on any responsibility for division and their inability to see their own prejudice. Sad really. But it’s a case of ‘if you know, you know’ and clearly you don’t yet know. Hopefully someday

Here is another sporting success story local to me featuring what can happen when barriers are broken down and people come out of their bubbles. I know all the people interviewed here. Two members of my family have played for Rodney's team.

Coincidently featured on RTE today.

Of course my preference is that teams would represent countries. That shouldn’t be such a great surprise people. I have done the sums and 99.98% of people in the world operate they way I prefer, our island is the only exception I can find. Having said that, I would be very happy to support the current all-island two-country teams which span an international border, if there would be near-equal recognition to the identity of those living in each side of the border. It’s not an unreasonable request.

Or do some of you think that is an unreasonable request?

With local elections coming up in May (just around the corner really) Unionist unity seems to be a distant dream. Multiple spats now taking place between key voices. It has already seemed to have jumped the shark with this contribution from Kate Hoey aimed squarely at the UUP which sparked a nasty row between Doug Beattie and Jamie Bryson etc

With the Orange Order seemingly directing votes to the TUV if the DUP renege on going back into powersharing,(seems to me it is the implied messaging in their intervention on the WF Protocol) will the Unionist vote be completely fractured?

To be perfectly honest downcow I think the idea that the DUP brought anyone to the negotiating table was scotched by how it all worked out. It was primarily rumblings from the ERG and internal Tory fighting that brought that about. As soon as Sunak found a way to subdue/sideline the ERG, Unionism was thrown as firmly as could be, under the bus. 515 wheels v 29.

Also, the notion it is a better deal is contested within Unionism:

Sammy Wilson briefing too that it is 'not a great deal'.

How widespread would you say the quandary you are in, is? And which of the parties do you think will win most hearts and minds locally?

P.S. I don't see similar huge issues facing the nationalist vote, so wouldn't expect much of a shift. SDLP seem to be having some candidate issues and I can't fathom why they are sticking with Eastwood. He'll be watching how they perform nervously I'd imagine.

Just quoting what is actually being said in Unionism about the deal and responding to what actually happened.

You would admit yourself that Unionist opposition has not subsided but once the ERG got sidelined the UK has very firmly moved on. That just doesn't square with the DUP having much sway without the ERG.

Not gonna argue about it. It's all about how you see things I suppose.

The DUP seem to have kicked the ball on the WF down the road until after the Local Elections and there seems to be a lot of conflict within Unionism as that election approaches.

That is why I asked; How widespread would you say the quandary you are in, is? And which of the parties do you think will win most hearts and minds locally?

They presumably want NI to be treated the same as the rest of the U.K. wrt the EU which is - from their perspective - a reasonable position.

The DUP have been Eurosceptic down through the decades so their opposition to the EU isn’t a new thing.

Yeah, but there's a tension between those two positions. A hard Brexit in which NI is treated in the same way as GB is not politically possible — the cost to UK would be too great, so the UK government will not go there. So you can have hard Brexit, or you can have Brexit on uniform terms across the UK; you have to decide which of these two objectives you prioritise. A refusal to prioritise one over the other is effectively a decision to let someone else set the priority.

If we look at what they do rather than what they say, DUP have all along prioritised hard Brexit over the position of NI within the union, and they have aligned themselves with, and supported, GB politicians who also prioritise hard Brexit over the position of NI within the union. From a unionist point of view, this has been little short of disastrous, and its something that I think unionists are entitled to be very angry about. If the leading unionist party is not willing to prioritise the union and to demand that Westminster also prioritise it, who will?

This I agree with even though itS not comfortable for me to accept it is true. I am in company often where to oppose brexit makes you appear disloyal. This is a helpful way for people like me to frame it in such company ie that dup and TUV have prioritised brexit over the union. It’s a good challenge to them which I will use. You may say that it should be obvious but sometimes any of us can to to close to the wood to see the trees