Here’s a good one, the DUP Minister at Social Development has commissioned a report (original here, courtesy of Morpheus below) that says that parades bring in £55 million a year [there’s a surprise – ed]. Except that the former Lord Mayor of Belfast says what it does not take account of is:
…the mass exodus of people from the North during the height of the ‘marching season’ or the amount of people put off from coming here by the associated trouble linked to those few controversial parades,” he said. “The cost of this negative image is incalculable.”
Quite… The real question is though lads, what are youse going to do about?
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty