Unionist politics vanishing at Queens…

Interesting ‘poll’ of final year students at Queens University which show that the highest number of those who declared a political interest in the mainstream political parties (just 41% of those asked) would back Sinn Fein (22%), then SDLP (11%), then the DUP (5%) and finally the UUP (3%). Hmmm… the Newsletter resorts to that old story of non Catholic grammar students heading for the boat. That could be a contributing factor, but the numbers are sooo low that other more culturally based reasons must be at the bottom of the phenomenon… Seven years ago this May we published our report on the future of Unionism, I quote the last lines below the fold:

1066 and All That tells us that the English Civil War was ‘an extremely memorable struggle between the Cavaliers (Wrong but Romantic) and the Roundheads (Right but Repulsive).’106 In future struggles, unionists need to be both right and attractive. For that, a firmer, bolder, more far-sighted unionism will be needed. In a ‘long peace’, after all, people must want the Union for it to survive.

As for the SDLP and Sinn Fein, it probably demonstrates the generational shift in loyalities amongst what is likely to become the Catholic middle classes…

Categories Uncategorised

We are reader supported. Donate to keep Slugger lit!

For over 20 years, Slugger has been an independent place for debate and new ideas. We have published over 40,000 posts and over one and a half million comments on the site. Each month we have over 70,000 readers. All this we have accomplished with only volunteers we have never had any paid staff.

Slugger does not receive any funding, and we respect our readers, so we will never run intrusive ads or sponsored posts. Instead, we are reader-supported. Help us keep Slugger independent by becoming a friend of Slugger. While we run a tight ship and no one gets paid to write, we need money to help us cover our costs.

If you like what we do, we are asking you to consider giving a monthly donation of any amount, or you can give a one-off donation. Any amount is appreciated.