Bad News Day for the DUPers.

[Rooster]

The gulpins we elect just perpetually keep themselves in a job by using fear to get themselves elected again, SF has the veiled threat of return to violence in the background and DUP have the United Ireland as their main hold, they both then have the various little private projects to keep it stirred up, gay marriage, Irish language, etc etc

[Russ]

Irish language is a bit of a joke to be honest

Luckily with direct rule the tories will throw that out



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[Dave]

Irish language is a bit of a joke to be honest

Luckily with direct rule the tories will throw that out



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They should target Welsh first.

[Russ]

Irish language is a bit of a joke to be honest

Luckily with direct rule the tories will throw that out



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They should target Welsh first.

Sadly us taxpayers have been bent over already by that dead language

Araf

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[Snipe Watson]

It's a means to an end. SF want it because of the additional kudos it will gain them. The DUP want to block it because the language has been politicised and their core supporters wrongly feel that it is not the language of their forebearers.

[Dave]

Irish language is a bit of a joke to be honest

Luckily with direct rule the tories will throw that out



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They should target Welsh first.

Sadly us taxpayers have been bent over already by that dead language

Araf

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Also, firstly, they should tackle illiteracy rates in English cities such as Newcastle, Huddersfield and Stoke. These people can barely spell their own name but in fairness they are given difficult names to spell by their parent. Beyonce, Shakira, Daenerys etc...

[promenader 2]

I see the new Shinners mantra is "Joint First Minister". They're some value..........

It is beyond me why the DUP don't tell Michelle O'Neill to stand down while the RHI inquiry is going on as her department was promoting it and she was involved in meetings about it despite what she is saying in the press.

Simple enough, that one. Arlene was the Minister in charge of the department which designed and launched the scheme and which removed the cap on payments which were left in place in the GB model. Arlene was also in charge of the DUP at the time her SPADS were, allegedly, running around trying to keep the scheme open. Ergo, she has questions to answer and should stand aside until she's absolved of blame. This would be the expected behaviour in most other liberal democracies. This is Norn Iron, however, so if one of 'our ones' has to stand aside, then obviously one of themmuns should stand aside too.

Michelle was in charge of Agriculture and her department was promoting the scheme, she was actively involved yet she denied knowing much about the scheme or attending meetings, it is fact that she attended meetings and promoted the scheme and also abused her position as Agriculture Minister by attending meetings and leaking embargoed information.

As Agriculture Minister she would have been obliged to promote a major NI government initiative, especially since her departmental constituents - farmers - would have been those expected to buy into the scheme for their hen houses outbuildings, etc. She didn't design the scheme, she wasn't responsible for removing the payment caps. She didn't ignore the warnings of whistle blowers, or deny receiving their communications. She wasn't in charge of the SPADS who allegedly kept the scheme open, or who had family connections to those benefiting from it, or (in Brimstone's case) were benefiting from it themselves. She wasn't Jonny Bell's party leader when he took over responsibility for the scheme after Arlene. Arlene may be totally blameless in all of the above, but there is a question mark against her integrity and she should stand aside as First Minister as Peter Robinson did before her until this has been removed. Throwing Michelle O'Neill into the mix is just a weak attempt at whataboutery.

[Russ]

I see the new Shinners mantra is "Joint First Minister". They're some value..........

It is beyond me why the DUP don't tell Michelle O'Neill to stand down while the RHI inquiry is going on as her department was promoting it and she was involved in meetings about it despite what she is saying in the press.

Simple enough, that one. Arlene was the Minister in charge of the department which designed and launched the scheme and which removed the cap on payments which were left in place in the GB model. Arlene was also in charge of the DUP at the time her SPADS were, allegedly, running around trying to keep the scheme open. Ergo, she has questions to answer and should stand aside until she's absolved of blame. This would be the expected behaviour in most other liberal democracies. This is Norn Iron, however, so if one of 'our ones' has to stand aside, then obviously one of themmuns should stand aside too.

Michelle was in charge of Agriculture and her department was promoting the scheme, she was actively involved yet she denied knowing much about the scheme or attending meetings, it is fact that she attended meetings and promoted the scheme and also abused her position as Agriculture Minister by attending meetings and leaking embargoed information.

As Agriculture Minister she would have been obliged to promote a major NI government initiative, especially since her departmental constituents - farmers - would have been those expected to buy into the scheme for their hen houses outbuildings, etc. She didn't design the scheme, she wasn't responsible for removing the payment caps. She didn't ignore the warnings of whistle blowers, or deny receiving their communications. She wasn't in charge of the SPADS who allegedly kept the scheme open, or who had family connections to those benefiting from it, or (in Brimstone's case) were benefiting from it themselves. She wasn't Jonny Bell's party leader when he took over responsibility for the scheme after Arlene. Arlene may be totally blameless in all of the above, but there is a question mark against her integrity and she should stand aside as First Minister as Peter Robinson did before her until this has been removed. Throwing Michelle O'Neill into the mix is just a weak attempt at whataboutery.

ONeill should take as much blame as the DUP

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[big mervyn]

It's a means to an end. SF want it because of the additional kudos it will gain them. The DUP want to block it because the language has been politicised and their core supporters wrongly feel that it is not the language of their forebearers.

Aye, They think it's actually Frontier Gibberish aka Ulster Scots.

[againstthehead]

Reminds me of the news report of loyalists ripping down road signs in Ulster Scots thinking they were Irish

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/478513.stm

[solidarity]

Anybody think the time has come to end this consociational nonsense and simply go for a standard government and opposition? We would have to have a coalition and on the current figures, it couldn't be a purely sectarian arrangement (I think). A functioning opposition with the real hope of making it into government next time round would be invaluable. With the DUP and UUP being pretty conservative and SFand SDLP being broadly socialist, people might be tempted to vote on other than sectarian lines. At least it's worth a shot - it couldn't be any worse than the status quo.

[Tender]

Politics is a failed entity. Anarchy, with a simple barter system is the inevitable future. No police, no Tax, no health service, no Benefits, defend your own and let the strongest and the smartest survive.
Politicians wouldn't last a week, the population would level out at a sustainable level and with our fighting genetics, Ulster would dominate World Rugby forever more.

[promenader 2]

Anybody think the time has come to end this consociational nonsense and simply go for a standard government and opposition? We would have to have a coalition and on the current figures, it couldn't be a purely sectarian arrangement (I think). A functioning opposition with the real hope of making it into government next time round would be invaluable. With the DUP and UUP being pretty conservative and SFand SDLP being broadly socialist, people might be tempted to vote on other than sectarian lines. At least it's worth a shot - it couldn't be any worse than the status quo.

Voluntary coalition, which is what you seem to be advocating, would very soon firm up along sectarian fault lines. Look what happened to Mike Nesbitt for merely suggesting that he would transfer a vote to the SDLP rather than the DUPers. Now imagine the reaction if he'd said that he wanted to form a government with the SDLP in preference to the largest unionist party. The pressure on all the parties, unionist and nationalist, to team up with their own sort rather than themmuns would be immense. At the minute, what you would have is the Alliance, Greens and independents holding the balance of power between the two sectarian blocs. The risk of that is that the pressure woud eventually destroy the centre parties. Look what happened with the flag issue in Belfast City Council. Every time a tribal issue arose, the centrist parties would be put under pressure to vote in a certain way, to throw in their lot with either the unionist or nationalist side. Individual members of Alliance and the Greens would be subject to intimidation and abuse. It's unreasonable to expect the middle ground parties to single-handedly manage the fall out from the wider society's sectarian divisions. Politics in NI is still just a sectarian headcount. Normal democratic standards and practices don't apply here.

[Rooster]

Anybody think the time has come to end this consociational nonsense and simply go for a standard government and opposition? We would have to have a coalition and on the current figures, it couldn't be a purely sectarian arrangement (I think). A functioning opposition with the real hope of making it into government next time round would be invaluable. With the DUP and UUP being pretty conservative and SFand SDLP being broadly socialist, people might be tempted to vote on other than sectarian lines. At least it's worth a shot - it couldn't be any worse than the status quo.

Poor Mike tried to suggest that and now he is Johnny No Mates on the prom.

[BR]

Irish language is a bit of a joke to be honest

Luckily with direct rule the tories will throw that out



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Irish language act is far from a joke. It was a significant factor in SF's poll.

It could also be described as 'previously agreed in principle' and could be passed in orders with the relatively low cost (running costs may be more significant, but those don't need to be budgeted yet).

Can't see why Westminster wouldn't see it as an easy gift to give.

I hope those who are fundamentally opposed to an Acht na Gaeilge thank Paul Given for ensuring its creation.