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“Strictly Come Dancing with the volume muted”

on 29 November 2006 , 10:58 pm 30 | 7 views

David Vance takes the DUP to task for its policy U-Turn at St Andrews.

  • exuup

    michael, do the UUP support or oppose the St Andrews agreement? Are you with Burnside or Hermon?

  • Truth and Justice

    The UUP support the St Andrews Agreement and Hermon does 100%

  • Plum Duff

    Ho hum. Dog bites postman. Hen lays an egg. David Vance is ‘agin’ something. Y-a-w-n….

  • PP

    At the risk of breaking the rule on ball not man I think people like David Vance should stand for the next assembly election so we can see the groundswell of unionist support that they have.

  • sam

    Go ahead- play the man- 408 votes in 2001

  • willis

    “My alternative to mutated devolution – responsible integration. How would that work? Ask Jefffrey D – he used to know.

    My alternative to having water rates imposed, huge hikes in rates – slimmed down Government. In our case – none at Stormont.”

    You see! Quite easy really.

    What if responsible integration means Joint Authority? The DUP clearly think it does. How does DV hope to stop that?

  • Henry94

    PP

    In fairness people are entitled to hold unpopular views too. Electoral support is not the only measure of an opinion. For clarity and consistency you could not fault David Vance.

    It’s the DUP are changing their position. But they are right to do so and if David and the likes of Bob McCartney did win a majority of unionist votes they would be faced with the same difficult choices.

    If David Trimble, who was a hardliner, and now Ian Paisley feel compromise is their only option then why would anyone believe Bob McCartney wouldn’t feel the same when faced with the alternatives.

    Winning the leadership of unionism is a lot easier than leading unionism.

  • Henry,

    It’s where Unionism is being led that is at issue.

  • Truth and Justice

    Whats David Vances alternative?

  • willis

    Joint Authority

    See above

  • exuup

    yes david, please tell us how you will stop the south having a greater say in our affairs?

  • aquifer

    Dave you are going to have to cut back on this intra-ethnic outbidding, stauncher, harder on SF, more loyal, hardline, etc. The Brits concluded long ago that you were all just too wierd and that it was much safer to leave the British citizens who happen to be Catholic in charge of the place, with that nice North Dublin man Bertie Ahern.

  • bertie

    T&J every day is sounding more and more like the “yes” wing of the UUP in the BA days. If he is actually in the DUP, he should know better.

  • Balloo

    Its quite amusing to see the DUP brown-nosers supporting this deal, as it is, without objection.

    David Vance is right in stating the hypocritical position of the DUP leadership at this moment in time.

    If the DUP can’t deliver what they promised in the past, ie. no government with SF/IRA, then they have to be honest. The chances are slim on that one.

    In the same way the UUP leadership has to stand up and admit to the mistakes they made in the past instead of a self-righteous ‘we told you so’.

  • PP

    Balloo,

    Not sure who you mean by the “DUP brown-nosers” but as far as I can tell there is not a single DUP representative or supporter that could or does support the StAA agreement as it stands and certainly not it’s implementation to date.

  • Rory

    I thought it was fairly obvious to all that Paisley was completely broken at St Andrews and knew he had nowhere to go – either play house with Sinn Fein in an assembly which would ever be under the watchful eye of mummy and daddy in the Joint Authority – or overt Joint Authority with no role to play as pretend joint housekeepers and no allowance all for oneself and no nice little roles in the play to pass out to one’s favourites.

    All he has to do is convince his mates to play along and the fact that it’s all only make believe isn’t a big problem or at least shouldn’t be for one who has grown fat peddling pie-in-the-sky over many decades.

    What does David Vance suggest? Declare UDI? Invade Britain and demand total integration? Appeal to the international community (or at least the Dutch) to send a force to intervene?

    Is it not finally time for sober men to awaken to the fact that Ulster Unionism is dead, has nowhere to go and that the only place on earth that will tolerate what passes for the cultural aspects of that tradition in any meaningful way, with any real respect and with a modicum of comfort is within the island of Ireland itself. Time to wake up and smell the roses that can bud and flourish among the orange lilies.

  • slug

    This position of the DUP is consistent with the position taken in their 2003 assembly election literature.

    The DUP have strategically triangulated the UUP.

  • Truth and Justice

    Just to make you all aware i am not in the DUP and am usually a UUP voter i just believe the DUP have abetter deal!

  • Slug,

    Total garbage. The position of the DUP is widly at odds with their previously ourlined positions and THEY, if not you, know it

  • baldrick45

    I don’t know, maybe I’m a touch eccentric but WTF is so wrong about the Irish Government having an interest or even a consultative role in what is going on up here? Why is this still so completely anathema to Unionist posters of all persuasions.

    The Irish Government has a vested interest, since even in the most extreme unionist fantasy we are unlikely to ever not to be part of “the island of Ireland”; a sizeable chunk of our population welcomes their involvement and to be honest , so many things, to me anyway, would seem to run best if applied on an “all-island” basis.

    I’ve mixed on a professional basis with many businessmen and irish civil servants and guess what; they all wanted to get on with their lives, build up their businesses and make Ireland a bettter place to live and while being Irish mattered to them, nationality wasn’t the be all and end all that it is for all the ar*eholes we seem to keep electing.

    Personally I have always found their “let’s get on with it” attitude very refreshing.

    My point is that I can’t any longer hear someone speaking about “Irish meddling in our affairs” without thinking “Get a life you f*cking tosser!”

    Enlighten me please, without any 18th Century paranoia about state oppression of a Protestant minority (I don’t buy that one boys), or about the Irish imposing what they want upon us (same basic argument, same load of sh*te from where I’m standing) what is so terrible about active Irish interest/participation in “the North” cause I can’t see it.

  • Truth and Justice

    David Vance will be tellying us he is rejoining Bob McCartney next – tell me this David what is your alternative and how are you going to stop the Governments plan B Joint Authority, Water carges, massive rate rises, grammar schools and Accedemic selectoin being done away with? is there anything in the St Andrew Agreement thats good for Unionism?

  • Truth and Justice,

    How did you know about my re-union with Bob?

    Seriously, any idea what brought about the ending of academic selection, what kicked off water-charges….oh yes – the Last Assembly! So, the sooner we get a fresh one back the better…right???

    Is there anything about SAA that good for unionism? Yes. It helps the pro-Union electorate assess the effectiveness or otherwise of their political representatives.

  • Truth and Justice

    In other words David you dont have a clue?

  • David

    If the SAA is so good how come the main way of arguing for it is to insult anyone who has the temerity to disagree?

  • bertie

    David

    makes you think doesn’t it. It remids me of the BA.

    Which is why I suspect that T&J is really opposed to the SAA and is doing a good job of building resistance to it.

  • Bertie,

    I think T&J may be Trimble in disguise!

  • joeCanuck

    From the breadth and depth (lack of) his/her comments, i suspect that T&j is an immature juvenile.

  • POL

    Just love it, first the uup then the dup implode.:-)

  • Truth and Justice

    Its very good knocking the St Andrews Agreement but when you dont have an alternative to back up your arguments then you have lost the case!

  • bertie

    T&J

    Have you got hold of the cribsheet for “selling” the BA, which was basically a mantra of “what’s your alternative?”, this is the only show in town. Have you used “yesterday’s men” yet?