“But, it still requires more.”
A week after a lightning strike knocked out the TV feed to my computer and I’ve finally got everything working again. Here’s the main feature from today’s Politics Show. Below the fold the DUP’s David Simpson and Sinn Féin’s John O’Dowd agree to disagree on a couple of issues and, above the fold, Jim Fitzpatrick introduces Kevin Sharkey’s report on the aftermath of last weekend’s murders by republican paramilitaries.
Part one of the discussion with David Simpson and John O’Dowd
And part two.
The Simpson/O’Dowd debate ended very badly with the DUP seemingly still stuck in a not an inch position in relation to Sinn Fein’s desire for a united Ireland.
It demonstrates clearly that Sinn Fein cannot see that they’re getting treated as the poor relation and the DUP cannot see that the immediate root cause of dissident violence is a confidence matter in relation to Sinn Fein’s ability to deliver a united Ireland and other less immediate things.
This does not bode well for the future.
I watched that this morning and I was drawn to the watch worn by the DUP MP. For some reason the old cartoon Animal Farm (1954) came to mind and the character Napoleon. Very surreal!
@John O’Connell
You can’t give an inch on a united Ireland. You can only give a mile. Of course Simpson’s voters don’t want to be ruled from Dublin, EQUALLY legitimately and with as much heartfelt passion as O’Dowd’s voters don’t want to be ruled from London. Can we not understand that by now?
It’s all as clear as day. On the question of a united Ireland neither O’Dowd or Simpson get to decide. Neither does Gordon Brown or Brian Cowen get to decide that. It’s decided by a plebiscite of those in Northern Ireland. By making a prediction Simpson is doing precisely that, making a prediction, he’s not speaking about something that is under his control. He’s not setting out any intent. He doesn’t have any “inches” to give even if he wanted to. We know he’s a unionist so he’ll argue for the union. What do you want him to do? Pretend to be a nationalist?