The Brexit referendum result has told a tale of two parties and confirmed the political constant that Irish people and British people in Ireland have never had real influence at Westminster.
The DUP enthusiastically jumped on the band wagon of English nationalism that was at best ambivalent towards the union. Perhaps they instinctively tried to ingratiate themselves with this ultra movement by out-Briting them – failing to understand that to most English people the Celtic nations were only ever tools of a dead empire. Now they are perceived as financial anchors dragging on HMS England’s voyage toward future greatness.
The DUP shouted their ‘influence’ from the rooftops of Westminster, attracting in the process not power but rather resentment and unsympathetic consideration. They were cynically indulged by the Tories and punished by Labour with the imposition of abortion and same-sex unions. Theresa May stabbed the union only for the DUP to turn the other cheek toward Boris Johnson. The DUP saw only the Union Jack that Boris had draped over both his faces, yet Boris was looking over his shoulder toward the real power in Brussels.
Sinn Féin must have looked on in disbelief as the DUP inadvertently ticked so many boxes in their wish list. Sinn Féin ineptitude in office had left them as hecklers in the cheap seats watching a farce that invited them on stage and presented them with editorial influence and invited them to take a bow for a plot they had only ever watched from afar. Sinn Féin, laden with DUP gifts and stinging from voter displeasure barely glanced at the new script as they blindly returned to Stormont. The DUP did the same bedecked in their fig leaf suit.
Julian Smith wooed both parties with Monopoly money promises only for the ink to run after opening night. Given the DUP’s history with finance, why were they again trusted to look after our money? Given Sinn Féin’s record on everything requiring common sense why were they trusted with a single vote?
GERARD HERDMAN
Belfast BT11
Breaking hospitality workers’ statutory rights is unlawful
Colin Neill from Hospitality Ulster has welcomed comments from the new Communities Minister on licensing reform in the north.
I was delighted to read the article in The Irish News (January 22) under the heading ‘Hospitality Ulster welcomes Hargey licensing pledge’, where the minister said she was ready to push the button on licensing reform here. This was in reference to later opening hours around the Easter holidays.
I welcome this as I’m sure the extra supplement for working late and unsociable hours at holiday periods will suit certain workers with no family commitments or workers that don’t mind these unsociable hours
I also agree with Colin Neill that the rent and rates employers are paying in hospitality are extortionate – hence the five or six pounds a pint. However, I hope Colin, as a champion and spokesman for the industry, will also remind the minister regarding the unfair and unlawful treatment of hospitality workers in Belfast and all over Northern Ireland carried out on a daily basis in our hotels, bars, cafes and restaurants.
I’m sure Colin will agree that ‘modernisation’ of hospitality employers’ outdated HR practices towards hospitality workers is needed and breaking workers statutory rights is unlawful and reform is well overdue.
MARTY McCAFFERTY
Belfast BT14
Missed opportunity
In politics there are points to be made and opportunities to be missed. The recent controversy over the tribute to the RIC falls into the latter category in my view, given the context of our politics at the moment with the probabilities of a border poll leading to a united Ireland. There has been an over reaction to this tribute just as there was an over reaction among unionist politicians when the Maze project was first talked about. I would suggest that there is a strong element of ‘Tricolour politics’ going on in the Republic which is an irony indeed. Now that we seem to have got our act together in the north it would be a pity to sour the moment by not being able to see the bigger picture on the island as a whole. And let’s be clear, our plate in both jurisdictions is full enough.
DOMINIC HENDRON
Sion Mills, Co Tyrone
Meet the new boss
Leader of the free world, Donald Trump, apparently threatened to manufacture huge demonstrations against the Iraqi prime minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi if he didn’t renege on an agreement just signed with China to finish reconstruction of Iraq’s infrastructure and electricity grid. Trump also threatened to place US Marine snipers on tall buildings in order to target Iraqi protesters and security personnel if the Iraqi prime minister didn’t agree to concede 50 per cent of Iraqi’s oil revenues to the US. The notion of American exceptionalism has always been false news. The concept of one country’s interference in the affairs of another country is practically a US monopoly. Can we now not all agree that the west’s intervention in Iraq had nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction and had everything to do with oil? Let’s stop celebrating our armies when evidence shows the west is involved in terrorism abroad and has no other goal than expansion, control and plunder.
LOUIS SHAWCROSS
Hillsborough, Co Down
Change of venue
The venue for today’s climate change meeting has been moved from the Stormont Assembly Building to the nearby Stormont Hotel.
The meeting starts at 3pm with speakers Piers Corbyn Msc Royal Meteorological Society and Philip Foster MA (Nat Science) Cambridge.
Those who have already registered please note the change of venue.
TERRI JACKSON
Coordinator, Bangor, Co Down
