The DUP

[Miguel Sanchez]

2 hours ago, NotThePars said:

In my current job (like everywhere else) we are obsessed with acronyms but since it's an English government department they don't understand why I keep pissing myself laughing when people ask if I know what "UDF" and "IRA" means.

I can't for the life of me remember what we were discussing at the time but I mind in at university a girl from Luxembourg referred to "fenn-ians" having never seen the word or having any clue what it meant despite having spent 4/5 years in Glasgow

The obliviousness was endearing

[pawpar]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-56921825

Not for the first time would the DUP stoop backwards. 

[GordonS]

Imagine the most powerful politician of a large region in Western Europe in the 21st century being someone who literally doesn't accept that dinosaurs are real.

[LongTimeLurker]

 Gavin Robinson (no relation to Peter) is probably going for a subliminal level Ian Paisley style image with his posture and hairstyle in that stock photo. There are a lot more DUP MLAs than MPs so I guess that's a big part of what makes Edwin Poots the bookie's favourite. Think who they could really have used being a candidate are Emma Little-Pengelly or Nigel Dodds but neither holds elected office right now.

Edited April 30, 2021 by LongTimeLurker

[Jacksgranda]

Not sure if someone undergoing cancer treatment should undertake a stressful job like leader of the DUP/First Minister

[Salt n Vinegar]

2 hours ago, GordonS said:

Imagine the most powerful politician of a large region in Western Europe in the 21st century being someone who literally doesn't accept that dinosaurs are real.

To be fair () some of the more fundamentalist Christians accept that the dinosaur remains are real, but that they were planted in the ground by a god to test their faith.  

By the way, it's sometimes funny (but sad at the same time) to look at some of the same sort of stuff "out there"... If folk fancy a good giggle, the could google "creation museum" which is in Kentucky and is (I kid you not) is a huge advert for young Earth creationism, where the Earth is about 6000 years old and humans coexisted with dinosaurs.  The Wikipedia article is a belter.  There's scarier folk than the DUP about. 

[Jimmy Shaker]

21 hours ago, GordonS said:

Incidentally, I've found the Irish Irish (if you know what I mean) to be surprisingly ignorant about the north too. You'd think they'd be more interested but many, if not most, really aren't. 

The Irish lad I shared a flat with back in days of yore was absolutely not interested in the northern part of the island and said the English were welcome to it, although I think he mainly referred to the residents. Said most folk his age were of a similar opinion and the idea of reunification didn't appeal in the slightest. 

[GordonS]

32 minutes ago, Salt n Vinegar said:

To be fair () some of the more fundamentalist Christians accept that the dinosaur remains are real, but that they were planted in the ground by a god to test their faith.  

Planking dinosaur bones for the lols.

[GordonS]

33 minutes ago, Salt n Vinegar said:

By the way, it's sometimes funny (but sad at the same time) to look at some of the same sort of stuff "out there"... If folk fancy a good giggle, the could google "creation museum" which is in Kentucky and is (I kid you not) is a huge advert for young Earth creationism, where the Earth is about 6000 years old and humans coexisted with dinosaurs.  The Wikipedia article is a belter.  There's scarier folk than the DUP about. 

I think Bill Bryson wrote about going there, or somewhere similar. Life-sized animatronic scenes of humans alongside dinosaurs. Magic stuff.

[WhiteRoseKillie]

Apparently Arlene Foster's main failing was abstaining on a vote to ban gay conversion therapy. Not supporting it, even - abstaining. This has made her position as leader of a major political party untenable. In Western Europe. In the 21st Century. 

I despair.

[LongTimeLurker]

 

[GordonS]

4 hours ago, WhiteRoseKillie said:

Apparently Arlene Foster's main failing was abstaining on a vote to ban gay conversion therapy. Not supporting it, even - abstaining. This has made her position as leader of a major political party untenable. In Western Europe. In the 21st Century. 

I despair.

It's classic tribal stuff. Sinn Fein have gone big on progressive issues, partly because Ireland has and they want to emphasise the similarities, so the unionists have doubled-down the other way. It's the same thing as nationalists (and Celtic fans) flying Palestinian flags so unionists (and Rangers fans) fly Israeli flags. Whatever one side does the other goes the other way, though it seems to be much stronger when it's unionists responding to nationalists. 

Insisting that your party leader votes for gay conversion therapy feels like a new low.

[GordonS]

 

[LongTimeLurker]

52 minutes ago, GordonS said:

It's classic tribal stuff. Sinn Fein have gone big on progressive issues, partly because Ireland has and they want to emphasise the similarities, so the unionists have doubled-down the other way. It's the same thing as nationalists (and Celtic fans) flying Palestinian flags so unionists (and Rangers fans) fly Israeli flags. Whatever one side does the other goes the other way, though it seems to be much stronger when it's unionists responding to nationalists. 

Insisting that your party leader votes for gay conversion therapy feels like a new low.

Think it's more a DUP thing than a general Unionist one. Worth bearing in mind that the DUP has a relatively small membership heavily skewed towards Free Presbyterians.

https://sluggerotoole.com/2021/04/28/who-can-save-the-dup/

...Another key issue with the party is that it is too small, with less than 750 members and falling, this is both dwarfing its opportunities of promoting talent from within and building a party unreflective of Unionism and Northern Ireland. As long as membership reflects the fundamental Free Presbyterian church, then the DUP cannot reflect Unionism or articulate Unionist issues or even issues facing mainstream Northern Ireland...

Edited April 30, 2021 by LongTimeLurker

[Baxter Parp]

[Jacksgranda]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-56961548

"We could easily end up with a border down the middle of the DUP."

[LongTimeLurker]

...at a Shankhill Road community...

BBC showing their deep knowledge of all things Northern Ireland.

[Jacksgranda]

7 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

...at a Shankhill Road community...

BBC showing their deep knowledge of all things Northern Ireland.

That piece was by the BBC NI political correspondent. Probably done deliberately to rile up the loyalists...

[Salt n Vinegar]

Oh goody. It gets better and better.

I hear that Sir Jeffrey Donaldson is to throw his hat into the ring for leadership of the DUP.  That'll be the same bloke who used to be in the UUP but walked out of the talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement because he opposed his party's involvement in them. A couple of years later he resigned from the UUP and joined the DUP, which opposed the Agreement. Just the sort of sound lad needed in these tense times. 

[LongTimeLurker]

Can't be bothered googling but think his objection was the lack of confirmed weapons decomissioning by the IRA. That left Unionism  power sharing initially with the political wing of a terrorist organisation that "haven't gone away you know". He had close relatives that were murdered by the IRA so think his reservations were understandable enough. 

What leaves me a bit puzzled is if Poots doesn't want to be first minister as he is positioning himself for some sort of Free Presbyterian Ayatollah role and Donaldson wants to stay on at Westminster as an MP (probably?) who exactly is getting the poisoned chalice of replacing Arlene at Stormont and having to deal with those ever so progressive and reasonable ex-balaclava wearers?