It’s never easy to put your head above a political parapet here in the wee six. And it’s probably harder when you come from a unionist and deeply evangelical Protestant background, like Wallace Thompson, a founder member of the DUP, devoted Paisleyite and now, it seems, someone who believes a new Ireland is inevitable.
He’s not thrilled at that prospect, still considers himself British, and insists he believes in the Union.
But that’s not enough to save him from the ire of some of the more frenzied members of his tribe, especially on social media.
They’ve once more cranked up the Lundy-ometer, and found him off the scale for treachery.
The poor man has been derided as an Uncle Tom, accused of, at best, muddled thinking and. at worst, dementia. And all because of an interview in which he said unionists had to recognise that “the emperor has no clothes” and that unionism was probably always doomed.
Read more:
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Tom Collins: Time for DUP to wise up and get back to work
Denzil McDaniel: For unionists, clinging to history won't hold back the tide on a new Ireland
His friend of 50 years, ex-DUP MLA Jim Wells said he was wrong to say such things publicly, and should have confined them to private meetings rather than on the front page of the Belfast Telegraph. So keep it 'in lodge' perhaps?
Peter Robinson joined in with a warning to unionists risking independent thinking: “Defeat will first originate in your head.”
Mr Thompson said similar things to the News Letter back in April, when he reckoned some evangelical Christians could be won over to the cause of a united Ireland because their religious philosophy was bigger than the national question and their heritage was no longer respected in the UK.
He’s a leading light in the Caleb Foundation, whose creationist views are unlikely to find much support in secular, multi-cultural Britain.
But those views are hardly going to be embraced in a state that has shaken off its own religious shackles. Are they really going to take on a more looney tunes variety of God-bothering?
But there’s nothing wrong with him looking for confirmation that his Protestantism, his Orange tradition and sense of Britishness would be protected in a new Ireland. Ask them in Rossnowlagh.
His decriers have insisted that Thompson holds no elected office and is unrepresentative of wider unionist culture, which is true.
But if someone with such staunch views says he’s open to discussing how a new Ireland could accommodate someone like him, then it’s worth listening, surely?
Unionists of the DUP variety are doing little to promote their vision of the future with their refusal to allow a government to function here. It’s just one of many own goals they’ve let in.
Maybe continuing to cheer on 'Ooh ah, up the Ra' as harmless fun for the rebellious young, might just be an own goal for the other side?
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I HAVE to confess a sneaking regret that Simon Byrne did finally resign as chief constable earlier this week.
I’d been hoping for a contest between him, the Spanish football boss, Luis Rubiales, and that iceberg lettuce that outlasted Liz Truss.
It’s been one hell of a summer for the beleaguered Byrne, who survived the debacle over the publication of details of 10,000 police and staff.
Despite calls for his resignation then, the Policing Board gave him a vote of confidence and an extended three year contract.
But when he lost the support of his rank and file after a High Court ruling that two junior officers had been unlawfully disciplined, it was all over.
Byrne obviously wasn’t keen to face the music at the NI Affairs Committee either, and took a powder beforehand, but what was the excuse for the non-appearance of the leaders of the board?
The board is meant to hold the chief constable to account, but they seem very reluctant to be held to account themselves. In recent days, urgent board meetings have been held behind closed doors with the media excluded.
The public were left with politicians who attended claiming it was a private meeting, but then dropping hints about who might have said what.
This is no way to conduct business in a society that needs to be able to support policing, warts and all.
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WAS there ever a more graphic metaphor for the last days (we hope) of Tory rule in Britain than the crumbling of school buildings built from shoddy, but cheap, concrete?
Even the name of the product - reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete – is a gift to headline writers as 'Britain goes to Raac and ruin'. Indeed.
