They’d have to decide that they were, and commit to actually being, Unionist first.
Diane Abbott (yeah, I know!) seems to be telling people that they’re not.
David McKee
2 years ago
_Very_ well said, Henry.
And, while we’re at it, full marks for having the bravery to go along to that bonfire in Portadown. I expect you had to overcome quite a few inbuilt prejudices along the way. I had the same kind of experience last year, just before lockdown, when I had a very civilised cup of coffee with a gentleman who had been convicted in court of Islamist terrorism.
So what should be the politics of Northern Ireland (and Scotland)? Will it be the sterile nationalist/unionist cleavage, or the more productive conservative/progressive cleavage? Will it be the politics of identity or the politics of aspiration?
Labour should hold its head in shame that Belfast is the only industrial city in the UK which has never, not once, returned a Labour MP to Westminster.
Seems identity is winning out. Scotland’s now defined by that sterile nationalist/unionist (without the added layer of religion). Choose your flag politics with little space for those of us who aren’t ‘flag wavers’. It’s deeply depressing. So, I have to respect Anas Sarwar, the new Scottish Labour leader for at least trying to rise above that and move onto the issues that should matter to people. It’s going to be a very long haul to win the argument but all credit to him for trying.
Good sense? If only. No, they never had the opportunity.
David Uzzaman
2 years ago
You mean stand as opposed to kneeling! I’m not sure how that would go down with the Brothers & Sisters.
Sarah Atkin
2 years ago
You make the point about the Good Friday Agreement well – to respect all the communities of NI (btw does anyone say Ulster these days?) and to respect the right of people to choose their allegiance. You can choose to be British or Irish if you live in NI and that’s fine. It’s also complicated. So, to explicitly coming down on a ‘side’ doesn’t sit well with me – either ‘side’. It’s too blunt and smacks of Starmer, yet again desperately (and clumsily) trying to prove his ‘patriotic’ credentials. Far better for a more nuanced approach that speaks across the divide and to the sizeable chunk of the population who must want to move beyond sectarianism defining everything and currently have nowhere to ‘go’ politically. The problems NI faces because of the protocol are universally felt. There is a narrative that can be fashioned to appeal across the divide in NI to those who simply want a good life; want peace and want the opportunity to prosper. Parties who seek to form governments have a duty to field candidates in NI if it’s part of the UK. It’s shocking to me that this has never been the case.
I always thought that the Allian ce Party was the non-sectarian, ‘progressive’ party of choice in Northern Ireland and seemed to be doing quite well electorally? Surely Starmer’s Labour Party is identitarian politics personified and would go down like a lead balloon in working class areas of the North of Ireland, just as it has done so in the grittier working class communities of the North of England and elsewhere….
Kristof K
2 years ago
I often wonder why the SNP doesn’t field candidates in the whole of the UK!
They’d have to decide that they were, and commit to actually being, Unionist first.
Diane Abbott (yeah, I know!) seems to be telling people that they’re not.
_Very_ well said, Henry.
And, while we’re at it, full marks for having the bravery to go along to that bonfire in Portadown. I expect you had to overcome quite a few inbuilt prejudices along the way. I had the same kind of experience last year, just before lockdown, when I had a very civilised cup of coffee with a gentleman who had been convicted in court of Islamist terrorism.
So what should be the politics of Northern Ireland (and Scotland)? Will it be the sterile nationalist/unionist cleavage, or the more productive conservative/progressive cleavage? Will it be the politics of identity or the politics of aspiration?
Labour should hold its head in shame that Belfast is the only industrial city in the UK which has never, not once, returned a Labour MP to Westminster.
Seems identity is winning out. Scotland’s now defined by that sterile nationalist/unionist (without the added layer of religion). Choose your flag politics with little space for those of us who aren’t ‘flag wavers’. It’s deeply depressing. So, I have to respect Anas Sarwar, the new Scottish Labour leader for at least trying to rise above that and move onto the issues that should matter to people. It’s going to be a very long haul to win the argument but all credit to him for trying.
Maybe the people of Belfast just have good sense
Good sense? If only. No, they never had the opportunity.
You mean stand as opposed to kneeling! I’m not sure how that would go down with the Brothers & Sisters.
You make the point about the Good Friday Agreement well – to respect all the communities of NI (btw does anyone say Ulster these days?) and to respect the right of people to choose their allegiance. You can choose to be British or Irish if you live in NI and that’s fine. It’s also complicated. So, to explicitly coming down on a ‘side’ doesn’t sit well with me – either ‘side’. It’s too blunt and smacks of Starmer, yet again desperately (and clumsily) trying to prove his ‘patriotic’ credentials. Far better for a more nuanced approach that speaks across the divide and to the sizeable chunk of the population who must want to move beyond sectarianism defining everything and currently have nowhere to ‘go’ politically. The problems NI faces because of the protocol are universally felt. There is a narrative that can be fashioned to appeal across the divide in NI to those who simply want a good life; want peace and want the opportunity to prosper. Parties who seek to form governments have a duty to field candidates in NI if it’s part of the UK. It’s shocking to me that this has never been the case.
I always thought that the Allian ce Party was the non-sectarian, ‘progressive’ party of choice in Northern Ireland and seemed to be doing quite well electorally? Surely Starmer’s Labour Party is identitarian politics personified and would go down like a lead balloon in working class areas of the North of Ireland, just as it has done so in the grittier working class communities of the North of England and elsewhere….
I often wonder why the SNP doesn’t field candidates in the whole of the UK!