Unionism
Protestant Alienation 2011
Almost 20 years ago now the academic community in Northern Ireland first began looking at the concept of Protestant Alienation. Amongst the factors they identified were the feeling that the Hume Adams talks were creating a blueprint for the defeat of unionism which the British government might acquiesce to. That feeling of alienation increased with [...] more »
Shane Greer awakens a hornet’s nest over NI’s £7 billion annual ‘dig out’ from England
Just been listening to Shane Greer getting it in the neck on the Nolan Show… It was extraordinary, for the amount of raw abuse he took for, wait for it, his mid Atlantic accent… He had to go early to catch a business flight to DC… Here’s some quotes from callers: “Nolan is mad for [...] more »
Brian Ervine resigns as PUP leader
After the PUP’s failure at the Stormont assembly elections Brain Ervine the leader of the PUP has announced that he is going to stand down. This will be the third leader the PUP has lost in little over two years. Dawn Purvis of course resigned over the murder of Bobby Moffett after having become a [...] more »
The UUP’s election: the past is another country
In the almost a month since the elections a number of attempts (Alex Kane’s is usually the best) have been made to analyse the UUP’s fortunes. The clear message from most (less so from Alex) has been that the UUP did badly and is in decline: quite possibly terminal decline. A number of reasons have [...] more »
Sinn Fein’s defence of the appointments can’t be the last word
Well which is it? A Robinson- McGuinness-led joint move to take over the centre ground as well as the “extremes,” or a new wave of sectarian politics? I ask genuinely because I can’t be sure but hesitantly because I fear the sound of grinding axes. The lack of cool analysis so far suggests uncertainty over [...] more »
Alliance: successes and dangers
The Alliance Party seem pretty pleased with their election. They received almost 51,000 votes, elected 8 MLAs and saw their share of the vote rise by 2.5% from 5.2 to 7.7%. (The council elections were broadly similar with them getting 7.4% and 44 councillors). They gained 1 MLA in East Belfast (from the PUP’s prodigal [...] more »
Unionist thoughts on the Queen’s visit to the Republic
The Queen’s visit to the Republic has received almost wall to wall coverage. It has also elicited almost universal praise. Almost everyone in the RoI seems to have been delighted by the exercise apart from the dissidents: even Gerry Adams whilst not reversing his claim that the visit was premature, praised her remarks. There is [...] more »
Thoughts on the DUP’s victory
It may be more two weeks now since Peter Robinson’s triumph at the polls but although time may make people more blazé about it that does not change the nature of his victory. I have frequently argued that Peter Robinson was a master tactician but not a brilliant strategist. However, the tactics have now become [...] more »
Queen’s Visit: Time to move on but not to forget…
‘I have signed my own death warrant’; so (allegedly) did Michael Collins spake after he had signed The Treaty in London in 1921. Collins’s support for the Anglo-Irish Treaty which both agreed to the partition of the country and required elected representatives in the new state to promise to be faithful to His Majesty King [...] more »
The Queen’s visit means politics is catching up with the people’s interests
The dissident republican threat may be a factor in producing a confusing response to the Queen’s visit from Gerry Adams. In the Examiner he ‘d seemed to cast aside SinnFein’s former reservations to welcoming it grumpily, seeing it as an opportunity for “much fuller discussion” about the British-Irish relationship. This would allow him to write its significance [...] more »
At least now, the UUP’s blinkers will probably come off
The last time a major Unionist party was lead by anyone from west of Portadown it was Harry West in in 1970′s. That was not a happy period of the UUP’s history. The sense of ‘otherness’ that exists amongst border Unionists is well known, researched and documented. It is not a fictional notion dreamed up [...] more »
The TUV’s disappointing victory
Two years ago Jim Allister scored one of the most stunningly successful defeats of recent Northern Ireland political history: he may have been defeated but his success and share of the vote sent shock waves through Northern Ireland politics. Today the same Jim Allister scored a fairly pyrrhic victory being elected on the final count [...] more »
Bill Craig came to his senses too late
Interesting to see that the Guardian has marked Bill Craig’sdeath at 86 with a Chris Ryder obit and touching to see that Mark follows the peculiar Irish practice of warning against speaking ill of the recently dead. Sam McBride’s” Political Giant” is infected by similar sentimentality on the unionist side. But critical comment on Craig’s record [...] more »
The true nature of the political upheaval in Scotland
Tom Gallagher’s recent column (and follow up comments) casts a non-starry-eyed gaze over the seemingly natural procession of the SNP at the moment towards a second term in the Scottish Parliament. For Tom, there are some crucial factors. Salmond’s undoubted sure-touch as a populist Scottish politician; a commentariat and editorial cadre, strategically placed in the Scottish media, [...] more »
Room for a unionist elephant or two?
When it comes to unionism, there are numerous elephants that follow them into the debate around violence on the political stage. Invoking morality as a counter argument to the deployment of violence in the political arena jars considerably with the history of unionism. Once ‘Irish’ unionism became a failed political entity (as it didn’t find [...] more »
DUP confusion on First Minister post?
Until recently the DUP has played down the danger of Martin McGuinness becoming First Minister. They had suggested that this election was not about such things but about the economy, jobs etc. and have recently listed their “40 achievements in 4 years.” Last year Ian Paisley seemed less than worried by the prospect of Martin [...] more »
New tales of Empire from David Cameron
A small treat for students of British imperialism especially in Ireland where the agenda of withdrawal from Empire was set. Only the Daily Telegraph so far picks out a headline on these remarks by David Cameron who is keen to make a new start with Pakistan. Odd, coming from the leader of the historic party of Empire where the orthodoxy remains [...] more »
Not the old bogey of Sinn Fein again!
The politics of it are all too familiar. Peter Robinson raises the bogey of Sinn Fein to get the vote out and try to prevent SF becoming the largest party in the Assembly. “Sinn Féin will be in government, I’ve no doubt about that whatsoever. But there’s no point to be in government just to [...] more »
Pan-Union Politics: A Policy Without a Party for a Party Without a Purpose
With the Ulster Unionist Party, once a monopolist mechanism for the exercise of unionist political power, now out of power, it needs to carve itself an ideological space in Northern Irish politics to survive. The best hope both for the party and the province is becoming an advocate for mainland politics. more »
A year on Peter Robinson’s problems mainly those of success though some dangers lurk
It is only a year since the Iris Robinson affair rocked the DUP; following that there was the row about the £5 land deal. Many expected the meltdown or at least heavy defeat of the DUP. Then in the Westminster election the challenge of both the UUP and TUV was almost completely defeated. Peter Robinson [...] more »
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Books
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Hearing the Other Voice from the Grave: Why Should we Listen to David Ervine’s Stories?
Ed Moloney’s Voices from the Grave: Two Men’s War in Ireland has received considerable attention in the press and in the public realm since its publication earlier this year. Although the book relates the experiences of the Provisional IRA’s Brendan Hughes and the PUP/UVF’s David Ervine, much of the discussion has focused on Hughes’ stories [...] read our review » -
A New Vision for the Catholic Church – Book Review
The oft-quoted verse from the book of Proverbs, ‘where there is no vision, the people perish,’ (chapter 29, verse 18) opens a new book by Gerry O’Hanlon, A New Vision for the Catholic Church: A View from Ireland (Columba Press, 2011). That verse could be considered an apt summary of the current state of the [...] read our review »
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Of the Old North and other Vanished Kingdoms..
I’m currently trawling through Norman Davies’s fabulous new tome – “Vanished Kingdoms” – Five stars in the (London) Telegraph’s review from Ben Wilson: All the nations that have ever lived have left their footsteps in the sand,” writes Norman Davies. “The traces fade with every tide, the echoes grow faint, the images are fractured, the human [...] read our review »
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