If i can pose an honest (but perhaps stupid) question to anybody who may know the answer then: Why are the all of the mainstream parties except the SNP campaigning for a No vote to independence?
What are the benefits to keeping Scotland in the union rather than letting them go their own way?
Is it the fear of a loss of influence internationally?
Is it North Sea Oil?
The Scottish Regiments?
If it is to the benefit of the English tax payer why not let them go?
It also seems to me that their arguments consist of a mixture of scare stories and basically saying Scotland would have nothing if it wasn’t for England pulling them along.
Maybe i’m reading the wrong newspapers or watching the wrong news but nowhere have a read a compelling case for the retention of the union based on proper arguments.
I suspect this will be one story everyone will agree on, the public should not have to bail any politician out because they can’t keep their mouth shut or put their pen down. Its frankly outrageous that they can do what they like with no penalty to themselves. Anyone costing taxpayers this amount should also be considering their own position surely?
If i’m being totally honest i think fair play to Glenda Jackson, if David Cameron recalled parliament and set aside over 7 hours for “tributes” to be paid (btw Winston Churchill only got 45 mins) then he should perhaps expect to hear certain things he isn’t going to like. First woman PM? – good on you, Longest serving PM in the 20th century? – extraordinary. However more important to me is what she actually did in the highest office in politics. This woman polarised society, destroyed communties in Scotland, and the north of England, criminalised an entire city, opened the floodgates of excessive bank bonuses and sowed the seeds of the economic recession we are now reaping through deregulation of said banks. The rich got richer the poor got poorer. Not to mention her tacit support for apartheid in SA through the refusal to implement sanctions, and her calling Nelson Mandela a terrorist. She was absolutely diametrically opposed to the left and they were to her, and now its looking like Cameron and his chums want to make political capital out this for the up coming local elections and Labour and the MPs of those devasted communities and everyone else is just supposed to say nothing to disagree with the many over the top sycophantic “tributes?” or worse still lie through their back teeth and offer false platitudes? I’m sorry no, Cameron asked for this debate the Tories can hardly complain because they got one.
That gerrymandering didn’t really do that much harm?
That it wasn’t a way of keeping all of the power concentrated in an elite group so that the other side couldn’t have even a little tiny bit of power?
That if there isn’t enough people to get someone elected or to change something then they really don’t need a vote because it can’t happen anyway?
Is this what passes for unionist democracy these days? (and those days too?) I suppose it does looking at recent examples it all begins to make sense!!
Sinn Fein involved in removal of Union Flag shocker….. UPC, there is no doubt Sinn Fein are pushing their own agenda (again shocking!!) but the problem here is that unionists knew they were going to lose the vote, like they also knew they endorsed designated days in other councils, but the difference in BCC was they decided to make it into an issue to get Alliance out of that East Belfast Westminister seat the problem was they couldn’t put the genie back into the bottle when loyalism decided to use it for their own ends. Apparently this protest is more than just the flag it covers deprivation of PUL communities etc…
Ask yourself this who is to blame for the lack of PUL job opportunities? SF? or the people PUL communities elect to help attract those jobs? who is to blame for the lack of PUL affordable housing? SF? or the people PUL communities elect to help attract people in to build them? i could go on but i suspect you see my point, unionism has a tendency to blame themuns when something changes or something happens they don’t like. They don’t engage their own communities and don’t paint them a true picture of the realities. In short who is to blame for leading the PUL community to have unrealistic, distorted or downright wrong viewpoints on whats going on in Northern Ireland? – the people they elected! because its always easier to blame someone else than face up to the fact that unionism is failing unionists. Remember when all else fails play the sectarian card.
“Why can’t the protesters just lie in their bed to mid-afternoon like they do on the other 364 days of the year? They wouldn’t even know what was going on on Crumlin Road as no-one from Ardoyne can even see if from their homes”
Seriously? this is what you’re resorting to lazy (no pun intended) stereotyping? Why can’t the people of Ardoyne do what they like on the 12th instead of being restricted in their movements? Why should the people of Mountainview, Abbeydale etc.. be basically blocked into their houses for hours on end? Why should Nationalists have to put up with an archaic, sectarian, triumphalist organisation marching past an area they live in? Sorry UPC it ain’t the 50′s anymore and the sooner the OO realise it the better.
Oh and as we’re going for the lazy stereotypes why can’t orangemen just go straight to their church in their cars like they do every other weekend?…… i mean its not like they’re parading to antagonise anybody or anything….
Well the difference (please correct me if i’m wrong here) between the flag protests and the OO is they have headquarters, easily identified leaders and halls with which the police and parades commission can engage and if necessary issue fines and or arrest warrants (if trouble really occurs).
Make no mistake about it this summer could really turn very nasty and lives could be lost in the potent brew of OO parades, loyalist paramilitary backed flag protests, dissident republican violence, nationalist road blocks of the OO parades (particularly Ardoyne).
The lack of a police response to whats been happening with these protests so far will come back to haunt them if they beat nationalists off roads in the summer regardless of the illegality of the (nationalist) protests as nationalists will see this as political policing.
Lastly the lack of proper and responsible leadership from unionism really is astonishing are they REALLY that terrified of losing that seat in Stormont that they don’t have the backbone to condemn violence and illegality?
I’d agree Blue Hammer i wouldn’t really follow local football but everytime the local football highlights are on the TV i shake my head when it cuts to Windsor being 3/4s empty – terrible sight! so it will resemble when Queens Park play their home games at Hampden Park 500-1000 in attendance in a 50,000 seater stadium. Far better for Linfield and the IFA to go their separate ways.
Although i still think even for NI matches an 18,000 capacity is probably 5000 too high.
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Tweet Dolours Price – sister, mother, bomber, prisoner and a thorn in Gerry Adams’ side – died in her Malahide home on Wednesday night. The Guardian’s Ireland correspondent Henry McDonald writes: Price was involved in a car bombing at the Old Bailey in 1973, which injured more than 200 people and may have led to [...] read our review »
Tweet Just your average family gathering at Christmas, with a bit of an argument about the seating cleaning arrangements… Scuffles have broken out between rival groups of Greek Orthodox and Armenian clerics over a turf war in Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity. Bemused tourists looked on as about 100 priests fought with brooms while cleaning [...] read our review »
Comment on No parallels with Ireland as a pro-union strategy in Scotland begins to emerge at last
on 26 April 2013 at 2:03 pm
Sorry if i duplicated grandimarkey’s 1.37pm question there my internet page only updated just now!!
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Comment on No parallels with Ireland as a pro-union strategy in Scotland begins to emerge at last
on 26 April 2013 at 1:54 pm
If i can pose an honest (but perhaps stupid) question to anybody who may know the answer then: Why are the all of the mainstream parties except the SNP campaigning for a No vote to independence?
What are the benefits to keeping Scotland in the union rather than letting them go their own way?
Is it the fear of a loss of influence internationally?
Is it North Sea Oil?
The Scottish Regiments?
If it is to the benefit of the English tax payer why not let them go?
It also seems to me that their arguments consist of a mixture of scare stories and basically saying Scotland would have nothing if it wasn’t for England pulling them along.
Maybe i’m reading the wrong newspapers or watching the wrong news but nowhere have a read a compelling case for the retention of the union based on proper arguments.
Go to comment
Comment on Northern Irish politicians now commercially indemnified against libelling members of the public…
on 18 April 2013 at 12:21 pm
I suspect this will be one story everyone will agree on, the public should not have to bail any politician out because they can’t keep their mouth shut or put their pen down. Its frankly outrageous that they can do what they like with no penalty to themselves. Anyone costing taxpayers this amount should also be considering their own position surely?
Go to comment
Comment on Commons Debate on Margaret Thatcher: Glenda Jackson goes and spoils the party by, erm, having a debate….
on 11 April 2013 at 12:46 pm
If i’m being totally honest i think fair play to Glenda Jackson, if David Cameron recalled parliament and set aside over 7 hours for “tributes” to be paid (btw Winston Churchill only got 45 mins) then he should perhaps expect to hear certain things he isn’t going to like. First woman PM? – good on you, Longest serving PM in the 20th century? – extraordinary. However more important to me is what she actually did in the highest office in politics. This woman polarised society, destroyed communties in Scotland, and the north of England, criminalised an entire city, opened the floodgates of excessive bank bonuses and sowed the seeds of the economic recession we are now reaping through deregulation of said banks. The rich got richer the poor got poorer. Not to mention her tacit support for apartheid in SA through the refusal to implement sanctions, and her calling Nelson Mandela a terrorist. She was absolutely diametrically opposed to the left and they were to her, and now its looking like Cameron and his chums want to make political capital out this for the up coming local elections and Labour and the MPs of those devasted communities and everyone else is just supposed to say nothing to disagree with the many over the top sycophantic “tributes?” or worse still lie through their back teeth and offer false platitudes? I’m sorry no, Cameron asked for this debate the Tories can hardly complain because they got one.
Go to comment
Comment on Origins of the Northern Irish conflict: Gerrymandering and mistrust…
on 4 April 2013 at 3:48 pm
OM, so what you are saying is… what exactly?
That gerrymandering didn’t really do that much harm?
That it wasn’t a way of keeping all of the power concentrated in an elite group so that the other side couldn’t have even a little tiny bit of power?
That if there isn’t enough people to get someone elected or to change something then they really don’t need a vote because it can’t happen anyway?
Is this what passes for unionist democracy these days? (and those days too?) I suppose it does looking at recent examples it all begins to make sense!!
Go to comment
Comment on “Simply because if you fill in a form you could get charged with an offence”
on 22 February 2013 at 3:46 pm
Sinn Fein involved in removal of Union Flag shocker….. UPC, there is no doubt Sinn Fein are pushing their own agenda (again shocking!!) but the problem here is that unionists knew they were going to lose the vote, like they also knew they endorsed designated days in other councils, but the difference in BCC was they decided to make it into an issue to get Alliance out of that East Belfast Westminister seat the problem was they couldn’t put the genie back into the bottle when loyalism decided to use it for their own ends. Apparently this protest is more than just the flag it covers deprivation of PUL communities etc…
Ask yourself this who is to blame for the lack of PUL job opportunities? SF? or the people PUL communities elect to help attract those jobs? who is to blame for the lack of PUL affordable housing? SF? or the people PUL communities elect to help attract people in to build them? i could go on but i suspect you see my point, unionism has a tendency to blame themuns when something changes or something happens they don’t like. They don’t engage their own communities and don’t paint them a true picture of the realities. In short who is to blame for leading the PUL community to have unrealistic, distorted or downright wrong viewpoints on whats going on in Northern Ireland? – the people they elected! because its always easier to blame someone else than face up to the fact that unionism is failing unionists. Remember when all else fails play the sectarian card.
Go to comment
Comment on The PSNI have lost any moral authority to intervene to clear roads of protestors in advance of contentious loyalist parades through sectarian interfaces. Discuss.
on 22 February 2013 at 3:12 pm
“Why can’t the protesters just lie in their bed to mid-afternoon like they do on the other 364 days of the year? They wouldn’t even know what was going on on Crumlin Road as no-one from Ardoyne can even see if from their homes”
Seriously? this is what you’re resorting to lazy (no pun intended) stereotyping? Why can’t the people of Ardoyne do what they like on the 12th instead of being restricted in their movements? Why should the people of Mountainview, Abbeydale etc.. be basically blocked into their houses for hours on end? Why should Nationalists have to put up with an archaic, sectarian, triumphalist organisation marching past an area they live in? Sorry UPC it ain’t the 50′s anymore and the sooner the OO realise it the better.
Oh and as we’re going for the lazy stereotypes why can’t orangemen just go straight to their church in their cars like they do every other weekend?…… i mean its not like they’re parading to antagonise anybody or anything….
Go to comment
Comment on “Simply because if you fill in a form you could get charged with an offence”
on 22 February 2013 at 2:41 pm
Well the difference (please correct me if i’m wrong here) between the flag protests and the OO is they have headquarters, easily identified leaders and halls with which the police and parades commission can engage and if necessary issue fines and or arrest warrants (if trouble really occurs).
Make no mistake about it this summer could really turn very nasty and lives could be lost in the potent brew of OO parades, loyalist paramilitary backed flag protests, dissident republican violence, nationalist road blocks of the OO parades (particularly Ardoyne).
The lack of a police response to whats been happening with these protests so far will come back to haunt them if they beat nationalists off roads in the summer regardless of the illegality of the (nationalist) protests as nationalists will see this as political policing.
Lastly the lack of proper and responsible leadership from unionism really is astonishing are they REALLY that terrified of losing that seat in Stormont that they don’t have the backbone to condemn violence and illegality?
Go to comment
Comment on Attwood announces a new Windsor Park…
on 20 February 2013 at 12:43 pm
I’d agree Blue Hammer i wouldn’t really follow local football but everytime the local football highlights are on the TV i shake my head when it cuts to Windsor being 3/4s empty – terrible sight! so it will resemble when Queens Park play their home games at Hampden Park 500-1000 in attendance in a 50,000 seater stadium. Far better for Linfield and the IFA to go their separate ways.
Although i still think even for NI matches an 18,000 capacity is probably 5000 too high.
Go to comment
Comment on First Minister issues warning over alleged political connection to punishment shooting…
on 15 February 2013 at 10:13 am
Anton von Padua Alfred Emil Hubert Georg Graf von Arco auf Valley you wouldn’t once have been known as DC in a past life would you?
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