“the election results reflect a deeply fractured society”
Veteran punk band Stiff Little Fingers played the Ulster Hall on Friday and one of their tracks, Alternative Ulster, provides both the starting point and the conclusion to the Observer’s Henry McDonald’s survey of the political landscape post-election. Given my previous post, it won’t be a surprise that the stand out quote, for me, comes from Queen’s University’s Dr Peter Shirlow who, as Henry McDonald notes, said the outcome did not necessarily entail a move towards historic compromise.
“I think we have seen the emergence of two political movements rather than parties. Sinn Fein and the DUP are working on the basis of [politically] catch-all ethnic groups catering for rival populations. In particular, the DUP are getting a very big vote out of fear of the other side and the growth in Sinn Fein. That huge DUP vote is not about compromise, but tapping into deep insecurity in the Protestant community. Both parties are, in a way, feeding off each other.”
And a musical interlude..
Lest we forget the electorate only turned out to be a ‘sectarian headcount’ when SF and the DUP became the biggest parties… remember sectarianism didn’t exist when the SDLP and UUP were up there.
Sour grapes from a bunch of middle class careerists licking their wounds at people seeing them for what they are (soon to be were).
Pete, BP,
â€It helps in a discussion if there’s, at least, an attempt to understand what’s being said.â€
Thanks Pete and I agree. That is precisely what I was trying to do as I thought there was a possibility that BP was being provocative, possibly using a moderate tone to disguise a more hard-line belief. I was merely trying to highlight the ambiguity in the original comment (â€â€¦things I dislike – like anyone in Britain itself…â€). I can see this wasn’t the intention and am more than happy to concede I got this one completely AAF!.