DUP now biggest Unionist Party, what fun.

The BBQ Pit
#1

Oh fuck.
Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.
Thanks to the people of Northern Ireland, Ian Paisley is now leader of the largest Unionist Party. :frowning:

A party of bigoted goat felchers.
They’re anti-agreement, anti-catholic, anti-Irish, anti-gay, anti-women, anti-Blair, anti-Trimble, anti-drinking, anti-dancing, anti-logic, anti-common sense, anti-co-operation, anti-compromise, anti-fucking-everything.
In Paisley’s ideal world:

There would be no Catholics, they’d all have seen the light of the true protestant faith, burned the pope as anti-christ, and become Free Presbyterians.

Women would be seen and not heard, they’d stay at home, wear head scarves and long skirts and have lots of babies.

There would be no dancing, drinking, swearing, smoking, premartial sex, abortion, contraception, tv or cinema, or Sunday opening.

Gay people would be “converted” or imprisoned.

Nationalists and Republicans would be imprisoned, executed or driven into the sea.

The Orange Order could march whenever and wherever they wanted.

Northern Ireland would stay British, and there would be no cross border co-operation with the Irish government. Actually, the Irish would probably see the error of their heathen ways and ask to become British again.

And we’ve just given him the largest number of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Oh happy day. :smack:

#2

Well, “we”… you’re Irish, so you didn’t vote in the NI elections, right?

#3

I’m putting the kettle on, and hiding the cutlery. I may be some while . . .

#4

Well, it does make one thing very clear though, does it?
Unionists don’t want the Good Friday Agreement.
I don’t know what they want, exactly, they haven’t told us yet, but they don’t want the deal that’s on the table.

They don’t want to make NI a safer place for both communities to live in, because that would require relinquishing control and power, and they’re not ready to do that, yet. Ian Paisly and the DUP aren’t, that’s for sure.
David Trimble has made it appear that he is, but I’ve my doubts about that.

I’m afraid we will see the nasty side of Unionism combined with some religious hysteria.
yum. can’t wait.

#5

They have the biggest share of the 1st preference vote, but that doesn’t necessarily translate as the largest number of seats - yet. (We’ll not know the full picture until later today). Although, it’s not looking too good for the pro-agreement unionists at the moment. Or for the SDLP, for that matter. But there will still be much more pro-agreement seats in the (future?) Assembly that anti-agreement. Keep track here, if you like.

And without wishing to defend the DUP, I think your categorisation of their policies is silly - there is no point in demonising people you disagree with, regardless of how fuck-witted some of their ideas are. And there is a big difference between Big Ian’s personal bigoted views and those forwarded by his party as election pledges. And they have the mandate now, which, like it or not, has to be accepted if not respected (to paraphrase someone last night).

BTW, Coldie, Irishgirl is actually from Belfast & merely studying in Dublin, so is, of course, eligible to vote.

#6

I stand corrected - went by the location alone. Also, her name. Although I know that the mere fact that she has the word “Irish” in her name doesn’t mean she can’t be from NI. :slight_smile:

#7

A recent breakdown of the numbers that voted for the GFA in 1998, shows that even back then, a lot of the unionist population voted against the agreement.

I wonder why, though, the GFA seems fair, doesn’t it? What about it exactly is it that the DUP finds so revolting? I can understand the immunity for IRA members in exile, or the release of prisoners, in some cases, but surely the rest is all about bringing peace to a troubled part of the country?

I do agree the mandate given to them (the DUP) has to be respected, as does Sinn Fein’s mandate, given to them by the majority of the nationalist population.
Do you really think they can work something out together? Or will it be a continual “process”, with no actual Assembly working, but direct rule from the UK? Or joint sovereign rule, perhaps? Something that has always been ruled out so far?

It seems that the two communities are now more divided that ever.
The IRA has stated it was opposed to any violence for political purposes. And we know that the physical decommissioning isn’t the real issue, should they so wish, they could build up a bigger armament than they had in a reasonably short time.
So what is the real problem the unionists have with working with Sinn Fein?

#8

Just shows: some people want their little wars, no matter the cost to the people in the middle.

#9

Well, I reckon you live on a different planet to me, then, because as far as I can see, the stereotypical Catholic Church to which you seem so keen to align yourself and your countrymen has precisely the same mandate.

And unless I am very much mistaken there is currently no abortion in NI anway, so Paisley isn’t exactly going to have his work cut out making it illegal, now is he?

Fair enough, this is the Pit and hysterics are par for the course, and if you want to come on here to inspire foreigners to fill the Noraid coffers, that’s your choice, but don’t expect us all to sit back and applaud.

No, I am not eligible to vote in NI assembly, and politics is not my game, but I think the OP was being somewhat blinkered

#10

Elfje, You could write a book trying to answer those questions, and time is very short for me today. :smiley:

One big issue is the idea that Trimble has already gone too far, offering concessions beyond what the DUP find acceptable - so rather than just halt the concessions they wish to reverse some of them (not going to happen). Policing is a big issue - the 50% Catholic, 50% other rule is considered discriminatory (it technically is a positive-discrimination policy to try and bring about a more fair police service). Another is the idea of a convicted murder (Gerry Kelly) being elected Minister for Policing and Justice in the Assembly. Another is the cross-border bodies which are not answerable to the Assembly in NI.

FTR, I don’t agree with their policy ideas, I am only voicing them here for information.

I simple answer to this is that the DUP view them all (Sinn Fein) as still either murderers or in collusion with ‘murderers’ ie. the IRA, so have no wish to accommodate them until they are convinced the weapons are gone forever. The irony being, of course, that in order to ignore Sinn Fein they must ignore one of the most basic principles of representative democracy – that of accepting the will of the people to elect those whom they wish to represent them.

I’d like to offer a positive view on this - I think, practically, on the ground there are much less people who give a shit about the politics / religion / culture of a person, but judge people as people. I think we all get along much better and there is less and less divide among communities, with the exception of a few key areas. I think the low turn out in the election (due to bad weather, lack of ID cards and apathy as the elections won’t lead to the formation of an assembly immediately) has greatly helped the more extreme parties gain a greater percentage. But I don’t see it as reflective of the mood in NI in general. No need for the dark clouds of doom quite yet - we’ve been through all this shit before.

#11

curly chick, what grounds do you have for thinking irishgirl wants any sort of alignment at all with the Catholic Church?

I mean, all else aside, she isn’t even Catholic.

#12

Coldie, from a nationalist point of view, the people of NI are Irish.

#13

Irishgirl is from Donaghadee though, so you have to admit there must be something a bit funny about her.

What? Stop it, I was joking?

:smiley:

#14

Well, that was good. Italics instead of bold, and a random question mark added for good measure. It really has been just one of those days. :smack:

#15

I understand that. I was trying to be diplomatic about it all - I really don’t have a dog in this fight.

backs off slowly :slight_smile:

Signed,
A Dutchman
(And we all know the Dutch had nothing to do with it! [sub][sup]Well, apart from bringing Protestantism and William to Britain. Sorry 'bout that.[/sup][/sub])

#16

Oh, and as for unionist opposition to the Good Friday Agreement, some time ago the Portadown News (a satirical page created by a unionist) said something along the lines of:

#17

I’ve check the results so far, and, of the 84 seats with declared winners, 45 were DUP or SF members, as opposed to 35 seats for members of the UUP or the SDLP.

#18

Good page for results:

http://www.rte.ie/news/assembly2003/mlaselected.html

#19

The point I was trying to make is that I disagreed with her condemnation of Paisley, based on her perceptions of his religious beliefs.
Using religion as a big stick to beat Paisely with is a nonsense because religion is not the issue in Northern Ireland.

Unionist vs Republican - That’s the issue

Christian religion A vs Christian religion A (minor variant strain) - ancient and hackneyed smokescreen which no one with an ounce of sense should believe in at all, by this stage.

#20

Very sensible. Stay busy in the kitchen with me. In fact, it’s probably time to take the dog for a walk . . .