united Ireland

Aaron & Brian’s Sunday View: the Census

Aaron&Brian on December 16, 2012, 5:50 pm

| Readers 89

The Irish Times led with, ‘There are just 54,000 more people from a Protestant background than from a Catholic one in Northern Ireland’. The headline figure, that most papers and the media noticed, was that the gap between Protestants and Catholics had narrowed to 3 per cent in the recent statistics released from the 2011 census. Bringing together the information on Religion and Religion Brought up in, 45 per cent of the population were either Catholic or brought up …

Turas, by Colin Neill – a story of strangers in a strange land

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on August 6, 2011, 10:10 am

| Readers 87

Colin Neill’s first novel Turas peeks into a world in which many Ulster Protestants feel uncomfortable. It’s 2020 and the Irish unification that unionists and loyalists confidently predicted would never happen has become a reality. President Adams is ensconced in Phoenix Park. The newsreader reported that … a short ceremony at Stormont had confirmed the passing of Northern Ireland, and had officially confirmed the birth of a now 32 county Republic of Ireland. The Union Jack had been lowered and …

If Robinson pitches for Catholic votes, where does that leave nationalism?

Mick Fealty on June 24, 2011, 1:12 pm

| Readers 35

There’s a long distance between Catholics preferring to stay where they are and getting them to actively vote for Unionist parties. But that’s what Peter Robinson’s pitching for. Good luck to him, though as Conal McDevitt points out there’s a considerable way to go to convince people the politics emanating from OFMdFM is not business as usual. Robinson has some form on this, as Pete pointed out the day he took up the baton from his former leader to become …

A modest proposal…

Paul Evans on May 16, 2011, 11:30 am

| Readers 821

Introducing the DUP.ie: A new political party to coincide with the visit of Her Gracious Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second of the United Kingdom and bits of Ireland…. Hat tip: @conorp on Twitter Paul EvansLiving in London, working as a trade union official in the film and TV industry (opinions my own). Author of “Save Democracy, Abolish Voting” (published by Demsoc in November 2017). Personal website with link to other writing here. On twitter as @paul0evans1 nevertrustahippy.blogspot.com

“How many school yards now ring out to nationalist or republican songs like ours did?”

Mick Fealty on November 9, 2010, 2:31 pm

| Readers 63

One of the most striking things about Barry Flynn’s great evocation of the IRA’s 1950’s border campaign was the degree to which the shooting of IRA volunteers Sean South and Fergal O’Hanlon seemed to galvanise pro Republic sentiment south of the border. That was reprised with the death of the ten hunger strikers of the early 80s. But in the absence of conflict and death from Northern Ireland the south has simply presumed all is well and settled and has …