“Politics in NI is dead, has descended into sectarian mud-wrestling” – Alban Maginness

Speaking on today’s BBC TalkBack show former SDLP MLA  Alban Maginness declared that “Politics in NI is dead, has descended into sectarian mud-wrestling”.

Is he right? As the voters abandon the middle ground is our political system now just a straight sectarian headcount?

People were quick to accuse the SDLP of sour grapes:

It's the egotism behind that comment that reveals the flaw in the SDLP psyche – their divine right to lead the nationalist people.

— Danny Morrison (@molloy1916) June 9, 2017

Irish Nationalism now has no representation at all at Westminster. The DUP will now be the main voice for Northern Ireland at Westminster. Will this backfire on Sinn Fein as the DUP now hold all the cards? Or will it help Sinn Fein with their aim of further shifting the focus of Northern Nationalism towards Dublin and an all Ireland?

With the Assembly and now the general election Sinn Fein is on a roll. Getting out of the Assembly seems to have strengthened Sinn Fein, does this further reduce the chances of getting the local Assembly back? Are we entering into a long period of political limbo?

As Sharpie commented over on Micks post:

We have arrived at the place of the dead end. There is no further polarisation possible in Northern Ireland. Neither violence nor politics will move it, the only thing that can is time. In time we will get tired of here, we will allow demographics to shift, we will allow Brexit to do whatever it is going to do, we will allow global movements to happen around us. We will be observers of the world.

We will not live our aspirations in Northern Ireland but as proxies in other countries. We will be cheering on from the sidelines as other people in other countries live their lives. Some will cheerlead for Ireland with it booming economy and burgeoning tourism sector, other will cheer for the UK as it pluckily puts it up to Brussels and takes back control.

One day we will realise that this unresolved stretch is intolerable and we will start to talk with a mind to exploring something different. Its all about timing. We have to be patient and wait for Godot.

Brian O'Neill

Managing Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any political party. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.