All Party Talks Now!
The PM and Taoiseach are here and talking to the DUP and SF. Maybe they think a deal can be done between the big two. Unfortunately experience suggests that even if McGuinness and Robinson do shake on something the chances of it sticking are slim.
Time is limited and the two premiers should move straight to an all party process. It is the only mechanism which is proven to work in this region and it is the only way of keeping all shades of opinion inside the process.
Comrade,
The offer’s still open if you change your mind between now and then.
The point I’m trying to make is that I could choose to be offended when I go into Belfast city centre on St Patricks Day and get surrounded by scores of youths in Celtic shirts, waving tricolours and singing IRA songs. I don’t though. I laugh it off and carry on with my day. I look past the negative aspects of the event to enjoy the positive ones.
Again, it’s easy to be offended if you want to be.
Comrade stalin, I noticed the stance of the GR residents had hardened after the OO made a decision to call their bluff and seem to have succeeded, to the point that even SF hasn’t got the control there, they used to.
If as you say the demographic in OO is getting older, i’m more inclined to let them march again there. That, of course is easy for me to say here in Derry.
and enjoying the traditional music of Ulster.
Posted by Stephen Ferguson on Jan 25, 2010 @ 11:13 PM
Stephen its hardly the traditional music of Ulster you’ve only been here a few hundred years or did the Planters bring music with them too.
Comrade stalin, I noticed the stance of the GR residents had hardened after the OO made a decision to call their bluff and seem to have succeeded, to the point that even SF hasn’t got the control there, they used to.
That doesn’t change anything I’ve said. If people harden their viewpoints we won’t get anywhere. Right now, people are being asked to face the people who tried (and succeeded) to kill their friends and family across a table – and they’re doing it. Putting up with a march which has a bad history is asking somewhat less, and I think it’s quite reasonable that that march has conditions imposed. If people back off just a wee bit, the problem will go away by itself.
tacapall:
Stephen its hardly the traditional music of Ulster you’ve only been here a few hundred years or did the Planters bring music with them too.
Parts of my family have only been here three generations. This bloodline stuff is total bullshit. If you want to debate about genes and who is pure and who isn’t, I’m sure there’s a local neo-nazi movement you can join.