Opinion

SDLP should be honest and change its name to Socialist Unionist Labour Party

Are the SDLP nationalist or unionist? Ever since the lost the support of the nationalist people, they have been scrambling around trying to garner support from everywhere they can get it – without much success, I may add. They even got so desperate they tried to ally with both Fianna Fáil and Fianna Gael – not much luck there. So, unable to get nationalist or southern support, they decide to court the unionist vote. This looks like a win-win situation to them, as the preference votes will help some of them get elected and they can also boast they have cross-community support. Whereas in reality, the unionist support is not for the SDLP, who they can continue to cajole and manipulate, but to stop a republican party – who will stand firm and demand that we all live as equals – from being elected. Next, it is off to Westminster to gain support, with a campaign pledge by Eastwood that he would stop Brexit and bring jobs and prosperity to the north and in particular Derry. He achieved neither and in fact the only thing he has achieved since grinning on his hallowed green benches, was to pledge his allegiance to the head of the armed forces – who slaughtered 13 of his own people and countless more around the whole country. He couldn’t even find the courage to call the British army murderers, instead calling them killers, in case he offended any of his fellow parliamentarians. I find it strange that the leader of a nationalist party is politically based in a foreign country where he has absolutely no impact on the decisions being made there. Yes, I know, he would have the same impact here, but at least he could give the impression he was doing something. Instead he is driving around in a Boris bus and downplaying any need for anything to do with Irish culture and identity. After all, unionists will never accept any of that and as the SDLP are quite happy to remain under British rule, as long as they can be part of it. Better that than a united Ireland, where they would disappear altogether. If you listen to the SDLP, when saying scripted speeches or in interviews, they will say the north, but when put under pressure when on live, they always revert back to  their natural instinct of Northern Ireland. No real support for Irish language, no green in their election posters, apart from the candidate’s name. The SDLP is concerned about people’ welfare and wants to give every household £200 each.

So let’s help the utility companies make more profit and sure it is nearly summer and people won’t need much heat anyway.

Eastwood was so concerned about peoples’ welfare he missed the premiere of Derry Girls to talk about it. Even though there are people in Derry who cannot afford to heat their homes or even eat, no matter afford the bus fare to the city centre.

Their plan to fight living costs, includes four points that require laws being changed in Westminster, not Ireland. We can all see how the Tories don’t care about their own people, so why would any rational person think they would help the Irish people.

So, as it is much more beneficial for the SDLP to remain under British and unionist rule, surely they should be honest about it and change their name to the Socialist Unionist Labour Party.   

ANDREW McANEE


Derry City

Ireland failing to use UNSC membership to promote peace

When Ireland was elected to the UN Security Council (UNSC) it’s likely it received very few votes from Nato countries as we were up against two Nato members –  Norway and Canada. Leo Varadkar said “our relationship with African and island states and the work done by the Irish Defence Forces in the UN” were factors in Ireland’s success. Ireland’s neutrality was also a significant factor in getting Ireland onto the UNSC on four occasions. The Irish government has not used its present UNSC membership in a non-partisan way to help promote international peace and justice. Irish neutrality has been unnecessarily compromised by our support for US and Nato wars of aggression in the Middle East. Ireland should be using our UNSC membership to promote peace in Ukraine, but instead has been fuelling the conflict by allowing US aircraft delivering weapons and munitions to Ukraine to refuel at Shannon airport. Diplomacy is the only way Ireland can contribute to international peace, but we have abandoned diplomacy towards the Ukraine conflict. The visit by Foreign Minister Simon Coveney to western Ukraine on April 14 would have been justified if he had also visited Russia and used these visits to help end this conflict. Mr Coveney’s justified criticism of possible war crimes by Russian forces in Ukraine would have been far more credible if the Irish government had been equally critical of US and Nato war crimes in their Middle East wars. The best interests of the Irish people and the interests of humanity as a whole, will not be served by promoting militarism and abandoning neutrality. Instead of getting rid of nuclear weapons a nuclear arms race is now in progress. If we fail to create peace by peaceful means there may be no future for humanity.

EDWARD HORGAN


Castletroy, Co Limerick

‘Propaganda war’ assertion misses the point

John-Patrick Bell’s assertion (April 21) that because all “Russian news outlets are blocked” (presumably here in the west rather than in Russia itself where they most definitely are by the Kremlin) it means that Ukraine has some sort of advantage in the ‘propaganda war’ misses the point that there wouldn’t be a ‘propaganda war’ had Russia not embarked on an actual war in the first place.

He further states that “no war is black and white” and that the truth will only be revealed after proper investigation. I would suggest that there is little to be investigated when a (debatable) ‘super power’ invades a neighbouring sovereign state and wages war – primarily on its civilian populace – and sets about laying waste to some of its major cities.

P KELLY


Belfast BT11