Northern Ireland politics.

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bindeweede
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Northern Ireland politics.

Post by bindeweede »

Lady Hermon, independent Unionist to retire. Sinn Fein and SDLP to withdraw from some seats.



http://www.irishnews.com/news/northerni ... t-1756551/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50323768

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/u ... akes-shape

NI population = 1.88 M. Anyone attempting a prediction of UK GE19 result, atm, would be very hasty, to say the very least.
chaggle
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Re: Northern Ireland politics.

Post by chaggle »

Am reading that right - that Sinn Fein are standing aside in favour of Unionists implying that remaining in the EU has higher priority for them at this time than the republican cause?
Don't blame me - I voted remain :con
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bindeweede
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Re: Northern Ireland politics.

Post by bindeweede »

Recent quote from Gavin Esler (via Twitter.) " Boris Johnson has achieved the remarkable feat of uniting unionist and nationalist opinion that he is a charlatan who can never be trusted."

I have a feeling numbers of others are coming to the same conclusion.
Tony.Williams
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Re: Northern Ireland politics.

Post by Tony.Williams »

The Tories must be hugging themselves with delight that their main opponent is Corbyn - they couldn't have chosen a better opposition if they'd tried.

Corbyn has, quite rightly IMO, been described as unfit to be PM. The problem is, so is BoJo. In fact, given the centrifugal forces throwing the two main parties to the extremes, I can't see anyone on the front benches of either party who I regard as being good PM material. And the smaller parties are not realistically in the race.

Is it just that I'm becoming old and cynical, or is the standard of senior politicians steadily falling?
chaggle
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Re: Northern Ireland politics.

Post by chaggle »

Tony.Williams wrote: Sat Nov 09, 2019 9:33 am Is it just that I'm becoming old and cynical, or is the standard of senior politicians steadily falling?
Both. :thumb:

I was just watching BBC news - Naga was interviewing the health secretary.

She showed us two clips - the first of Johnson (looking very drunk TBH) waffling on in only a marginally coherent fashion about tariffs and paperwork between NI and GB, the second of the trade secretary saying almost completely the opposite of what Johnson said.

He didn't even try to explain the discrepancy - just made out it was an inconsequential detail and what was important was to GET BREXIT DONE

It's worrying. I'm glad I'm in the latter part of my life and I have no kids.
Don't blame me - I voted remain :con
Tony.Williams
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Re: Northern Ireland politics.

Post by Tony.Williams »

chaggle wrote: Sat Nov 09, 2019 9:53 am
I was just watching BBC news - Naga was interviewing the health secretary.

She showed us two clips - the first of Johnson (looking very drunk TBH) waffling on in only a marginally coherent fashion about tariffs and paperwork between NI and GB, the second of the trade secretary saying almost completely the opposite of what Johnson said.

He didn't even try to explain the discrepancy - just made out it was an inconsequential detail and what was important was to GET BREXIT DONE
Yes, the bare-faced dishonesty of politicians these days is staggering. I am becoming allergic to seeing MPs being interviewed and I fear for my blood pressure. All they can do is churn out the party line, over and over again. An AI could probably do better, even in their present, primitive state.

I am still fascinated by the political shenanigans but I am only really interested in hearing commentaries from outside observers (like Chris Grey), not from political toadies. Incidentally, Grey's latest blog post starts like this: https://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com
As prefigured in my previous post, this election campaign looks set to avoid any serious discussion of Brexit. That is actually quite extraordinary. We have a country whose politics and culture have been convulsed by Brexit for the last three years, and will be for years to come. A country whose entire future and place in the world will be shaped by what happens with Brexit. A country where there is not a single area of policy that Brexit does not affect. Nothing sensible can be said about government spending or taxation without reference to the impact of Brexit but, equally, environmental, security, foreign, diplomatic and defence policies are all intertwined with Brexit, as are debates about Irish reunification, Scottish independence and even, if perhaps less audibly, Welsh independence.....

So Brexit isn’t just ‘an issue’ in this election. It is the beginning and the end of it. And if people are fed up with hearing about it, well, that’s just tough luck. It flows directly from how people voted in the 2016 Referendum that they would be hearing about it for years thereafter and, as we have been endlessly told, it is outrageous elitism to say that they didn’t know what they were voting for.
Sadly, few commentators are so perceptive.
It's worrying. I'm glad I'm in the latter part of my life and I have no kids.
Likewise!
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