Despite the tone of prior correspondence and the impression I may have given, I am not against the DUP for the sheer fun of it. They are ultra-unionists and, not to patronise, I consider unionism to be an honourable political stance to have, every bit as commendable as those stands that oppose it.
Retired now, I spent 39 mostly enjoyable years as a UK civil servant and I too regarded myself as a unionist – albeit a soft one, with occasional nostalgic yearnings for a day when Ireland might eventually be reconciled and united again for the benefit of all its citizens.
I should add that I am not – and never have been – a member of any political party, a conscious decision given the cesspit undertone of sectarianism that still blights what passes for political discourse here.
I am no longer a unionist. I have utterly turned my face against it and the sole reason for this can be firmly laid at the door of the DUP. Their form of extreme unionism – to the complete exclusion of all reasonable moderation – is insidiously destructive to any hope of long-term reconciliation here, and to tolerance of any form of legitimate nationalist aspiration, of LGBT rights, of Irish language promoters, and of integrity in public office. That pernicious intolerance of simple diversity, the DUP’s sheer contempt for equality and common rights, is not what I want for the society in which I choose to live.
But nowhere has this contempt for the people’s views been more blatant than in the contorted stand on Brexit adopted by the DUP.
With the continued outright rejection of both the Withdrawal Agreement and any form of a softer Brexit, coupled with their flat refusal to acknowledge the ruinous economic consequences of a no deal outcome, the DUP has unashamedly shown itself to be in favour of the hardest of all Brexit outcomes – consequences bedamned. There is now no denying that the party is hell bent on getting one over on Dublin, hell bent on a hard border, and hell bent on undermining the Good Friday Agreement, regardless of the costs. This too is not what I want for the society in which I choose to live.
I choose something better than the grimly depressing offering of the DUP. I choose a different vision – one of hope and optimism and peace, one of aspiration for unity and common purpose – not of division and rancour.
In my view the DUP has no offer worthy of a second look. They give unionism a bad name, and that is patently not fair as it tars many thousands of very tolerant and moderate unionists with an unworthy DUP brush.
I now enthusiastically look to a new future, a new Ireland, and a new dispensation free at last from sectarian politics on this island. There is no going back, only going forward, but I won’t be doing so as a unionist. I wonder how many others like me will now consider doing likewise?
E.O. CASSIDY
Omagh, Co Tyrone
Circumstances demand caretaker PM to charge of Brexit coalition
Talk of a government of National Unity should be examined and extended into forming a Brexit coalition inclusive of Conservative, Labour and DUP MPs taking office and committed to leaving the EU.
A Brexit coalition determined to take back control of the country.
There was never going to be a meaningful vote which meant that the UK could leave and remain at the same time. Had Mrs May succeeded we would be annexed from the union and governed like an EU colony jointly by Brussels and Dublin. Unionists are greatly indebted to all those who stood four square behind the union.
Circumstances demand a caretaker prime minister to take charge of a Brexit coalition. It will test the tacit Tory remainers. Labour loyalties will divide where they have large numbers of MPs from solid leave constituencies. The DUP will ponder on the merit of joining mainstream politics. But none have a choice with the nation under siege from the EU. The crisis necessitates bold, tough and honest cross-party cooperation. Trusted MPs can do the country proud by utilising the strengths of cutting free of Brussels and signing up to trading under World Trade Organisation Rules.
The Irish have done us no favours with the backstop demand, we owe them nothing.
The remain amendments are timorous, meek and dishonest tommyrot.
The world’s fourth largest economy will be shackled to a recession-ridden EU and tied to propping up their growing debts.
In staying they would be subjected to being a rule taker trapped inside the customs union, banned from trading outside the EU and denied freedom ever because of the poisoned backstop.
Our laws and rights will be dictated by the EU. Free trade will disallowed with our farmers and fishermen governed by Brussels.
This great nation is above such humiliation.
So, cometh the hour cometh the man or the woman who will regain our national identity and sovereignty by taking control of both the government and the parliament.
A prime minister honouring the integrity of the legal people’s vote to leave. A leader restoring confidence and serving notice to the EU that the UK refuses to be servile to them or any other united states of Europe. A prime minister finally delivering on Brexit .
DAVID McNARRY
Strangford, Co Down
Ryanair... lost property
I wonder have any of your readers had the same problem as I have had in trying to get in touch with Ryanair re lost property on one of their recent flights? I inadvertently left my spectacles (in their case) on the plane (my own fault, admittedly) but I have found it impossible to contact anyone at Belfast International Airport, to which the late flight last Saturday arrived, or in Ryanair. All the very expensive calls went in a sort of ‘round-robin’, with much music, but no outcome, and the one person I did briefly speak with had either difficulty with her English or the line reception was poor. Is there anyone out there who can unravel the mysteries of such communications?
I am perfectly willing to pay postage (or whatever) to get my property back.
ISABELLA CORR
Newtownards, Co Down
Outside the box thinking needed
What point was Tom Kelly (April 1) trying to make?
Unionists, above all else, want no part of a united Ireland in any shape or form. The Good Friday Agreement failed to deal with the issue, which has two sides to it.
The other side concerns the right of Irish people in Northern Ireland to national freedom under Irish sovereignty.
This is not about ‘flegs’ or a bogus patriotism. People have a right and a responsibility to govern themselves. British sovereignty over Irish people cannot be justified. Equally, Irish sovereignty over unionists cannot be justified. Which means we need to think outside the united Ireland box.
MALACHY SCOTT
Belfast 15
Example of an algorithm
There seems to me at least to be a horse and cart width between the mindset of Deputy Dodds who says he wants a deal and Sam ‘the man’ Wilson who was reported in the papers last week as saying no deal presented no risk to peace here. But then on the same page was a report in the rise of hallucinatory drug-taking in the over 65s. Is that an example of an algorithm?
NORMAN MEHARRY
Belfast BT4
