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Category: Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland Westminster Election 2019 – Review And Insight

Northern Ireland Westminster Election 2019 – Review And Insight

First and foremost, congratulations to all 18 winning candidates and commiserations to all the losing ones. I will be covering plenty of information including what next?, future prediction, etc. With all the focus on the word “Brexit”, was this election really about brexit and did some parties help other and dent others? find out below First up we have the good old battle between D.U.P and the Alliance. Belfast East (Alliance Party vs DUP) DUP had a 8,500 majority going…

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ALMOST THREE YEARS! We Have Simply Had Enough! Get Back To Work!

ALMOST THREE YEARS! We Have Simply Had Enough! Get Back To Work!

A1 guest slot by The Green Machine It’s been all three years (since January 2017) that the Northern Ireland government has been in their work place, why? Well, first of all things haven’t been the same since the days of the Irish Chuckle Brothers (Martin McGuinness & Ian Paisley). It’s hard to believe that these two bitter rivals for around 30 years were very close friends in the end. They done more together than the public think. In 2014, Ian…

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Seduced and abandoned. The DUP’s chances in the general election

Seduced and abandoned. The DUP’s chances in the general election

Even as a famous swordsman, Boris Johnson must be proud of the way that he has so comprehensively screwed the DUP. His Prime Ministership has not so much been a refutation of their strategy as a confutation of the DUP themselves.   The DUP have for many years campaigned as unflinching unionists.  Though they choose to forget the fact now, they campaigned against the Good Friday Agreement as a sell-out. They are not ideologically Conservatives: they are free-spending cultural conservatives of…

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Can anyone challenge the green and orange waves?

Can anyone challenge the green and orange waves?

A guest slot by GreenMachine A lot has happened since the 2017 election and the Northern Ireland Executive has been out of office for 3 years now, What will we see this in the election!? First of all we’re going to start with the more obvious results. Belfast West: S.F have held this seat since the 1980’s bar the 1992 election where the S.D.L.P won by several hundred votes. S.F regained control of Belfast West in 1997 (shortly after the Peace…

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The mood changes on Brexit but the devil will be in the detail

The mood changes on Brexit but the devil will be in the detail

A UK Brexit by the end of the year now 38% betting favourite Judging by today’s front pages the prospect for a deal on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU look better than ever. Certainly Johnson’s meeting with his Irish counterpart on the Wirral yesterday looks very promising but at the moment we do not know exactly what concessions have been made and whether that will be acceptable to the DUP. A political problem of course is that there are…

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A general election could unlock a restoration at Stormont

A general election could unlock a restoration at Stormont

Brexit isn’t the only issue stoking the tensions in Ulster Northern Ireland rarely gets much coverage from the mainland British press. Riots generate a fraction of the coverage that a similar one in England or Scotland (never mind London) would get; the recent Harland and Wolff closure was only of interest because of a ship that sank 107 years ago; its sporting competitions are, like its politics, a different world. Here be dragons. For once, however, Northern Ireland can’t be…

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Why they just don’t put up a hard border in Ireland

Why they just don’t put up a hard border in Ireland

From Topping, who served there with the British Army during the Troubles It was sobering listening to Simon Byrne, a bluff Northerner and current chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), this morning on the radio opining on the practicalities of policing a hard border should it be required. He feared a return to a paramilitary style of policing and how, with his 7,000 policemen, it would be impossible to fulfil such a remit. At the height…

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Brexit is Ulsterising British politics

Brexit is Ulsterising British politics

One issue has become so important as to define the entire system Most people would regard the Good Friday Agreement as a Very Good Thing. Certainly, it was so at the time and 21 years later, that broadly remains so. Despite the continuing background presence of dissident political violence – sadly this week coming into the foreground – the Agreement brought peace and an agreed political structure to the province. As with much else in Irish politics, the GFA has…

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