Jeffrey Donaldson and Doug Beattie have both served time in the British armed forces, Jeffrey in the now defunct UDR and Doug in the army in Afghanistan. So, both men have a military background and should be familiar with both military language and military tactics. This being the case both men will be fully aware of what fighting an organised retreat means and both will be aware of the tactics necessary and the decisions that have to be made.
Their current retreat in their political fight for survival is like any military retreat that is doomed, they must decide when it is no longer viable and when talks to bring their inevitable defeat to an end must be called. Both Jeffrey and Doug will be well aware of this, as are most of the rest of the unionist political elected representatives. They can of course continue to pretend to be blind to these facts but it will only make the final outcome all the more hard to take for their electorate.
Civic and political nationalism are actively preparing for the new political dispensation coming to this island, the Irish government are at last on board the unity train, and the British government is clearly now ready to take part in real negotiations to enable the reunification of Ireland to take place. It is the talk on the streets of our towns and cities, it is the current dialogue between many of our academics, it is getting increasing television time and is in much of our media on a daily basis.
Our nationalist political leaders have all accepted these undeniable facts, so why will our unionist leaders not open their eyes and accept what is coming down the line – even at this late stage? The answer is as sad as it is simple – they are unionists, they believe in the union and they can envisage no other kind of existence. They have never, despite all the warning signs, thought of or prepared for an alternative arrangement for the government of the island under a single jurisdiction, and even now refuse to accept what almost everyone else believe is inevitable.
Their opposition to what is coming their way will be the same as the nationalist rejection of partition 100 years ago – it will happen with or without their participation and they will simply have to learn to live in the new system.
They are both fully aware of the political future of Ireland and are doing their electorate no favours by somehow convincing them that this movement can be halted or even slowed down. Like any great military leader they must acknowledge that defeat is staring them straight in the face. It’s time to take the strategic move necessary to gain something from the hands of this defeat and ensure they get the best possible for unionism in the new Ireland.
SEAN SEELEY
Craigavon, Co Armagh
Northern
Ireland still has much
to learn
D avey Bustard (July 13) seems to defend Orange parades and the sensitive TV coverage of them in the name of ‘free speech’. He supports all free speech as long as it does not incite violence.
Did he see page five of The Irish News on that same day and the sensitive coverage on July 14? Images of elected politicians and the pope hung on bonfires?
The Twelfth celebrations have encouraged hatred and violence as long as I have lived here – which is more than 70 years.
Modern legislation enables the police to investigate these as examples of ‘hate crimes’.
Mr Bustard refers to AOH parades. These confine themselves to very narrow areas. I have never seen one in my life and the TV coverage is brief. Would Mr Bustard approve if they were on TV for a whole day?
He refers also to Spanish parables which he says celebrate the inquisition. This was a shameful and iniquitous period in Spanish history but these modern ‘celebrations’ do not burn effigies of Jews or anyone thank goodness. Perhaps the Spanish have learned what the Orange Order has not.
True, governments and monarchs throughout Europe during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries tried to impose their religious orthodoxies on their people. Mass rocks throughout Ireland are a testimony to this.
Surely we can all move on from this and treat each other with some respect.
The images of Orange bonfires suggest we have much to learn in Northern Ireland, even in 2022.
GERALDINE BROWN
Belfast BT7
Renounce all
false-flag
provocations
I
f only for the sake of peace in Ukraine, Bosnia and Georgia -- because leaders in Donetsk, (Republika Srpska and South Ossetia) are all rattling their sabres and ballot boxes -- we in Ireland (and Scotland) should renounce all false-flag provocations to violence, not least, binary referendums.
Britain’s first multi-option vote was in 1948 in Newfoundland, when three options were on the ballot paper. Maybe the world’s best was in 1982 in Guam, where the voters were given six options to choose from, while a seventh was left blank, just in case anyone else wished to promote other ideas. It’s called pluralism. Difficult? Not at all – many restaurants offer a choice of six or seven options – the invalid vote was 0.85 per cent.
Violence has never resulted from a multi-option poll. In contrast “all the wars in the former Yugoslavia started with a [binary] referendum”, (Oslobodjenje, Sarajevo’s famous newspaper, Feb 7, 1999), as did today’s war in Ukraine.
PETER EMERSON
Director, The de Borda Institute, Belfast BT14
Support unpaid
carers
U
npaid carers across Northern Ireland are spending hundreds of hours each month looking after sick or disabled family members, often with little-to-no support. Many are being pushed to exhaustion and burnout as a result.
Carers NI’s annual State of Caring survey seeks to capture these experiences and give a voice to carers. It covers a wide range of themes, including carers’ finances, health, wellbeing and more – helping to build a picture of unpaid caring and highlighting the biggest challenges facing our carer population today.
We’d encourage as many carers as possible to complete the survey and help generate the evidence we need to make a case for change to the government. It can be found online at: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/9CTNL6F.
CRAIG HARRISON
Carers NI, Belfast BT1
