The Political History of Northern Ireland

[charlieTully]

i thrive on my hatred of unionism and hunnery and make no apologies for it. get yourselves down to ardoyne on tuesday, all hands on deck. T.A.L

will they be able to get a crowd this time as they had to call off their protest at the tour as they couldn't muster enough people.

sure the tour was not granted permission to parade through, what would be the point in a protest where no parade is passing.

[MW]

This is a bit off topic but I was driving through a village today between Castlewellan and Banbridge, its name now excapes me.  I would never comment publicly or otherwise about the parades and 12th July as if thats Protestant culture then so be it.  But I was completely astounded today when I saw this flag below among all the other decorations flags etc:


Dear God this is the flag of Apartheid South Africa.  Now I can look over the Israeli flags and UDA ones etc, but what in Gods name can they associate with the one of the most vicious regimes in history.  I have to say it just completely astounded me.  I wouldnt see myself as a bigoted person in as much as I have Protestant friends and all, but just cant see how people one, could put it up, then other right minded people could let it stay there.

I dont want this post to sound offensive, and dont want to tar everyone with the same brush, but I'm just dumbfounded by it!

Could just be some thick b**tard attracted by the orange-white-blue background - which was the actually original flag of the Netherlands under the House of Orange (the Prinsenvlag). (Though it had been replaced by the red-white-blue modern version even by the time of William III). Maybe with the added attraction of a union flag on it.

Hopefully that's it, anyway, rather than a thicker b**tard actually expressing some sort of sympathy with the apartheid system.

[ballela-angel]

J's, I'm exhausted reading thru all this mainland BS (sorry lads, "discussion") - I thought the title of the thread was interesting and had promise, but it seems to have gotten bogged down in a ton of tit-for-tat meaningless hot air (sorry again lads) - Regretably that's also just about the standard of political and social interaction and discussion in the North today (if there is any at all) - Both sides are so entrenched with their respective opinions as to who is right and who is wrong, who f--ked who the most and when, etc etc - All negative energy directed at eachother and achieving nothing but deeper resentment and reinforcing already entrenched opinions - Looks dire! - However I believe there is serious hope for the wee 6, or whatever you want to call it and that is based on the likes of the recent announcement of the ESB buying out the NI Electricity board - I see  transactions such as this as the cure for the area for this reason -  When the Loyalist strikes were on, the main source of their clout was the ability to control the electric supply - Under new ownership from the likes of the ESB, striking employees would be fired if they engaged in similar action today - Over time with economic buyouts, mergers etc historic financial power blocks such as the electricity workers, with their Unionist allegiances, will loose their power - When the sectarian power blocks are neutered, then reasonable political and social dialogue can take place, and although it won't be in our generation and probably not the next either, a time will come when life in the north will not be dominated by green and orange, as it is today.   

[ONeill]

Spain v Holland
Taigs v Huns
12th July.

Winner should take all. Holland win and the taigs head south. Spain win and the Huns get on the ferry.

Only fair.

[glens abu]

i thrive on my hatred of unionism and hunnery and make no apologies for it. get yourselves down to ardoyne on tuesday, all hands on deck. T.A.L

will they be able to get a crowd this time as they had to call off their protest at the tour as they couldn't muster enough people.

sure the tour was not granted permission to parade through, what would be the point in a protest where no parade is passing.

plenty of other flashpoints other than the shops but they couldn't get a crowd,maybe it was the world cup keep all those great Republicans in the house or the club.

[ziggysego]

I think I'm the only taig supporting Holland

[Banana Man]

Ha ha no, Germany is at least 50/50 Zap

[Lar Naparka]

J's, I'm exhausted reading thru all this mainland BS (sorry lads, "discussion") - I thought the title of the thread was interesting and had promise, but it seems to have gotten bogged down in a ton of tit-for-tat meaningless hot air (sorry again lads) - Regretably that's also just about the standard of political and social interaction and discussion in the North today (if there is any at all) - Both sides are so entrenched with their respective opinions as to who is right and who is wrong, who f--ked who the most and when, etc etc - All negative energy directed at eachother and achieving nothing but deeper resentment and reinforcing already entrenched opinions - Looks dire! - However I believe there is serious hope for the wee 6, or whatever you want to call it and that is based on the likes of the recent announcement of the ESB buying out the NI Electricity board - I see  transactions such as this as the cure for the area for this reason -  When the Loyalist strikes were on, the main source of their clout was the ability to control the electric supply - Under new ownership from the likes of the ESB, striking employees would be fired if they engaged in similar action today - Over time with economic buyouts, mergers etc historic financial power blocks such as the electricity workers, with their Unionist allegiances, will loose their power - When the sectarian power blocks are neutered, then reasonable political and social dialogue can take place, and although it won't be in our generation and probably not the next either, a time will come when life in the north will not be dominated by green and orange, as it is today.

Unfortunately, I have to agree with everything you say! (write?)
It's a great pity that the discussion, so far anyway, has never really got going and seems likely to go the way of so many other threads that dealt with the same or related subjects.
Back in '69 as the Troubles were beginning, I had a chat with an elderly Unionist friend. Extremists on both sides, as he put it, were galloping towards their own destruction. If they fought their way to a standstill,, they were in for a very nasty surprise; they were going to find they had precious little left to stand on.
As they continued with their bombings and tit-for-tat killings, international financiers were watching events closely.
He felt multinational concerns were moving in quietly already and buying up city centre and other strategically located properties at knockdown prices. They would have the financial resources to sit on their new acquisitions until peace returned, as it inevitably would. Then, as he put it, the paramilitaries would find that, "They had bombed their children's futures down the Lagan."
Before he finished his rant, he had a cut at the "propertied classes" of both sides in NI and he had no time whatsoever for HMG.
The former he claimed were intent on stirring up sectarian tensions as this served to keep their employees' minds diverted from their low pay and substandard living conditions. He trusted the latter about as much as he'd trust a Taig with a sub machine gun. (This was in jest, BTW, as we were both half cut at the time!)
When the Black and Tans razed the centre of Cork City, the Unionist community were hardest hit. HMG would cheerfully do the same to the centre of Belfast and every other town in NI if it best suited their interests.
He aimed his parting shot at De Valera and his UI bandwagon.
Just as James Craig and his associates abandoned the Unionists in the new Free State, Dev and his crowd didn't spare a thought for the plight of Nationalists marooned in NI. During the 1940s, he showed he was quite prepared to hang any of his former IRA associates who decided to do what he had long preached—take over NI by force of arms. Like Craig, he was determined to concentrate power in the hands of a select few and would stop at nothing in order to do so. The people of NI were going to have to look within themselves for a solution to their problems.
That was the first grounding I received in NI politics and the lessons to be learned from its (then) recent history. Stanley Britten, the old man in question has long since gone to his eternal reward but, 40 years on, should he be regarded as a prophet or merely a piss artist?

[Aerlik]

On the road to Garvagh, just outside Kilrea, there is a very small loyalist housing estate/row.  The goons fly Croatian flags.  Now if ever there was a Catholic country it is this one.  They are extremely devout.  Re. the Apartheid flag, the galloots that put it up are dinosaurs who want to perpetuate a myth.

[red hander]

'But they haven't given them back control over lands they previously held, have they, so what's your point?'

No? What about the 58 million acres of land in North America stipulated as reservations/tribal land?  What's your point, apart from poisoning every thread on the board (apart from the GAA ones, obviously)?

You think the reservations and tribal lands are a good deal for Native Americans? You obviously know as little about that situation as you do about politics here.

No, but that wasn't the question, the question was   'But they haven't given them back control over lands they previously held, have they?', which I answered.   You just revert to type by throwing in more shite when you're proved wrong ... there are house flies that talk more sense about politics than revisionist nobends like you

They haven't given them back the land they took from them. In some cases, the reservations are far away from their ancient homelands. In addition, the total land given over to the Native American peoples amounts to about 3% of the total available territory. Hardly a fair shake is it. But at least they're doing something, eh?

Round and round in circles you go as per usual ... like a turd going down a toilet

[Myles Na G.]

'But they haven't given them back control over lands they previously held, have they, so what's your point?'

No? What about the 58 million acres of land in North America stipulated as reservations/tribal land?  What's your point, apart from poisoning every thread on the board (apart from the GAA ones, obviously)?

You think the reservations and tribal lands are a good deal for Native Americans? You obviously know as little about that situation as you do about politics here.

No, but that wasn't the question, the question was   'But they haven't given them back control over lands they previously held, have they?', which I answered.   You just revert to type by throwing in more shite when you're proved wrong ... there are house flies that talk more sense about politics than revisionist nobends like you

They haven't given them back the land they took from them. In some cases, the reservations are far away from their ancient homelands. In addition, the total land given over to the Native American peoples amounts to about 3% of the total available territory. Hardly a fair shake is it. But at least they're doing something, eh?

Round and round in circles you go as per usual ... like a turd going down a toilet

Like your argument heading down the pan, you mean. 
Bye, timewaster.

[Evil Genius]

i thrive on my hatred of unionism and hunnery and make no apologies for it. get yourselves down to ardoyne on tuesday, all hands on deck. T.A.L

So did you get to join the murderous scum, then, or is today too late? 

PSNI woman injured at Orange march protest in Belfast

There was sporadic violence in parts of Belfast, Derry and Lurgan.

Assistant Chief Constable Alistair Finlay said the past 24 hours had been "a very challenging time for policing".

Seventy baton rounds were fired by police and 55 officers were injured on Monday night.

Over two days of violence, police said 82 officers had been hurt.

In Ardoyne, north Belfast, on Monday evening, police fired a number of baton rounds after being attacked.

Two people injured by baton rounds were treated at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. They were later discharged.

More than 100 riot police were involved in an operation to remove nationalist protesters blocking the road ahead of the return of an Orange Order march.

The crowd threw petrol bombs, a blast bomb and other missiles at police. The policewoman was struck on the head by debris thrown from the roof of the shops at about 2200 BST.

Police said they had to protect their injured colleague and ambulance crews from further missiles in Ardoyne as they tended to her, before she was taken to hospital.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/10609517.stm

[Main Street]

Those PSNi Landrovers are certainly impressive. I do like my Jeep but those devices look indestructible. Fit it with some modest 33" or 36" tyres and there would be no stopping you even in soft underfoot conditions.
Do the PSNI ever have a sale?

[Doogie Browser]

Someone has just told GDA that Gordon Strachan has been offered the Celtic job again!

[charlieTully]

i thrive on my hatred of unionism and hunnery and make no apologies for it. get yourselves down to ardoyne on tuesday, all hands on deck. T.A.L

So did you get to join the murderous scum, then, or is today too late? 

PSNI woman injured at Orange march protest in Belfast

There was sporadic violence in parts of Belfast, Derry and Lurgan.

Assistant Chief Const
able Alistair Finlay said the past 24 hours had been "a very challenging time for policing".

Seventy baton rounds were fired by police and 55 officers were injured on Monday night.

Over two days of violence, police said 82 officers had been hurt.

In Ardoyne, north Belfast, on Monday evening, police fired a number of baton rounds after being attacked.

Two people injured by baton rounds were treated at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. They were later discharged.

More than 100 riot police were involved in an operation to remove nationalist protesters blocking the road ahead of the return of an Orange Order march.

The crowd threw petrol bombs, a blast bomb and other missiles at police. The policewoman was struck on the head by debris thrown from the roof of the shops at about 2200 BST.

Police said they had to protect their injured colleague and ambulance crews from further missiles in Ardoyne as they tended to her, before she was taken to hospital.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/10609517.stm

nah. eastenders was on.