The DUP thread

[gallsman]

if assembly goes down again could anyone be arsed with listening nolan and crawley talking every day abou twhen it will be back up again.

The rent a mob crowd of "commentators" like David McCann, Alex Kane and Suzanne Breen will be happy anyway

I find Gareth Gordon the pick of the current bunch.  Comes across as down to earth and well informed.

GG is BBC NI political correspondent. He's a journalist (and you're right, a good one), not a commentator.

[Wee Barky]

Is it a coincidence this news broke just before a bank holiday weekend, or is that a cynical view ?

[GTP]

The SF representatives mentioned are stepping down at the next election so again no bye election required.

Gildernew is contesting the European seat in June. Will she step down if elected? She should, but with Westminster election one a few months later I wonder would there be any point.

My understanding is dual mandates are not permitted so she would have to resign. Bye election would depend on if a general election was to be within the 3 months of resignation.

[drillsergeant]

The SF representatives mentioned are stepping down at the next election so again no bye election required.

Gildernew is contesting the European seat in June. Will she step down if elected? She should, but with Westminster election one a few months later I wonder would there be any point.

My understanding is dual mandates are not permitted so she would have to resign. Bye election would depend on if a general election was to be within the 3 months of resignation.

With General Election looming surely now the DUP are looking over there shoulders in South Antrim, East Belfast and now Lagan Valley.

Regarding FST - Sinn Fein will need a strong candidate to hold that seat. No doubt they face a unity Unionist Candidate with it going to the wire.

[David McKeown]

You're not allowed to name defendants for Sexual offences in the North.

Yes you are. You aren't allowed to name complainants

[red hander]

You're not allowed to name defendants for Sexual offences in the North.

Yes you are. You aren't allowed to name complainants

You can't name defendants if doing so identifies the complainants (ie sex offences committed within a family). However, if the complainants waive their right to anonymity, then the defendants can be named.

[Dougal Maguire]

You're not allowed to name defendants for Sexual offences in the North.

Yes you are. You aren't allowed to name complainants

You can't name defendants if doing so identifies the complainants (ie sex offences committed within a family). However, if the complainants waive their right to anonymity, then the defendants can be named.

This is like 'good, better, best' in the Antiques Roadshow

[RedHand88]

Is it a coincidence this news broke just before a bank holiday weekend, or is that a cynical view ?

Not everything is a conspiracy.

[bennydorano]

Is it a coincidence this news broke just before a bank holiday weekend, or is that a cynical view ?

Not everything is a conspiracy.

I had thec exact same conversation with my Mrs yesterday funny enough. Gives it all time to die down over the long weekend.  I'd say there's been a political choice (or consideration at the very least) made on the timing of the arrest. It's just the way shit works, Chief constables are political beasts. - not to protect wee Jeff either but Stormont itself.

[marty34]

Is it a coincidence this news broke just before a bank holiday weekend, or is that a cynical view ?

Not everything is a conspiracy.

I had thec exact same conversation with my Mrs yesterday funny enough. Gives it all time to die down over the long weekend.  I'd say there's been a political choice (or consideration at the very least) made on the timing of the arrest. It's just the way shit works, Chief constables are political beasts. - not to protect wee Jeff either but Stormont itself.

Yeah, timing is everything.

Plus no Nolan for a day or two!

[JPGJOHNNYG]

The SF representatives mentioned are stepping down at the next election so again no bye election required.

Gildernew is contesting the European seat in June. Will she step down if elected? She should, but with Westminster election one a few months later I wonder would there be any point.

My understanding is dual mandates are not permitted so she would have to resign. Bye election would depend on if a general election was to be within the 3 months of resignation.

With General Election looming surely now the DUP are looking over there shoulders in South Antrim, East Belfast and now Lagan Valley.

Regarding FST - Sinn Fein will need a strong candidate to hold that seat. No doubt they face a unity Unionist Candidate with it going to the wire.

With demographic shift FST should finally be beyond Unionism even with a unity candidate. I think this year they will win comfortably, although comfortably in FST in recent years has been double figures😂.

Lagan valley most certainly is in play, will be interesting to see how the unionist community reacts to the Donaldson fall out, will they keep voting DUP to keep SF out, will they drift to the TUV headbangers. If the UUP don't massively profit from this crisis then they truly are finished.

SA now looks good for UUP. EB, LV and even EA and Strangford could big improvements for Alliance with maybe a couple of gains.

If the nationalist voters bothered to turn up in upper banned for a change then SF  could come through the middle of split unionist vote. EL is similar but would need a miracle perfect storm.

[JPGJOHNNYG]

The SF representatives mentioned are stepping down at the next election so again no bye election required.

Gildernew is contesting the European seat in June. Will she step down if elected? She should, but with Westminster election one a few months later I wonder would there be any point.

My understanding is dual mandates are not permitted so she would have to resign. Bye election would depend on if a general election was to be within the 3 months of resignation.

With General Election looming surely now the DUP are looking over there shoulders in South Antrim, East Belfast and now Lagan Valley.

Regarding FST - Sinn Fein will need a strong candidate to hold that seat. No doubt they face a unity Unionist Candidate with it going to the wire.

With demographic shift FST should finally be beyond Unionism even with a unity candidate. I think this year they will win comfortably, although comfortably in FST in recent years has been double figures😂.

Lagan valley most certainly is in play, will be interesting to see how the unionist community reacts to the Donaldson fall out, will they keep voting DUP to keep SF out, will they drift to the TUV headbangers. If the UUP don't massively profit from this crisis then they truly are finished.

SA now looks good for UUP. EB, LV and even EA and Strangford could see big improvements for Alliance with maybe a couple of gains.

If the nationalist voters bothered to turn up in upper bann for a change then SF  could come through the middle of a split unionist vote. EL is similar but would need a miracle perfect storm.

[marty34]

The SF representatives mentioned are stepping down at the next election so again no bye election required.

Gildernew is contesting the European seat in June. Will she step down if elected? She should, but with Westminster election one a few months later I wonder would there be any point.

My understanding is dual mandates are not permitted so she would have to resign. Bye election would depend on if a general election was to be within the 3 months of resignation.

With General Election looming surely now the DUP are looking over there shoulders in South Antrim, East Belfast and now Lagan Valley.

Regarding FST - Sinn Fein will need a strong candidate to hold that seat. No doubt they face a unity Unionist Candidate with it going to the wire.

With demographic shift FST should finally be beyond Unionism even with a unity candidate. I think this year they will win comfortably, although comfortably in FST in recent years has been double figures😂.

Lagan valley most certainly is in play, will be interesting to see how the unionist community reacts to the Donaldson fall out, will they keep voting DUP to keep SF out, will they drift to the TUV headbangers. If the UUP don't massively profit from this crisis then they truly are finished.

SA now looks good for UUP. EB, LV and even EA and Strangford could big improvements for Alliance with maybe a couple of gains.

If the nationalist voters bothered to turn up in upper banned for a change then SF  could come through the middle of split unionist vote. EL is similar but would need a miracle perfect storm.

I think all this will depend on the DUP's path over the next few weeks.

Will the 'no/never'people at WM take control of the party now and drive it further to the right?

Will they kick back against going back into Stormont? Now is their chance.

Will this renergise a united unionist party covering all strands of unionism?

Be interesting to see what their plan of action is.

It's all too early to state will will happens in 12 months. A week, as they say, is a long time in politics.

[David McKeown]

You're not allowed to name defendants for Sexual offences in the North.

Yes you are. You aren't allowed to name complainants

You can't name defendants if doing so identifies the complainants (ie sex offences committed within a family). However, if the complainants waive their right to anonymity, then the defendants can be named.

Yes jigsaw identification.  You cant publish any details that could lead to the identification of a complainant.  So the way that is usually done is if there's a familial relationship the press might say a man has appeared in court accused of raping his grandmother for example or Joe Bloggs has appeared in court accused of rape (but then provide no details as to the relationship with the complainant).  In the Donaldson case now that his name is out there, it will not be allowed to publish any details relating to the connection if any between him and the complainants.

[Eire90]

what is the purpose of bringing down stormont again apart from it being some childish temper tantrum what do they want the tories or labour to give them