Peter Robinson rushed to hospital.

[T Fearon]

People don't understand politics.The message on TV and sound bites for tribal consumption don't reveal the true person.I have yet to hear of any constituent being refused help from their local MP,MLA or councillor on the grounds of religion or nationality.

Now some do go over the top in beating the tribal drum but the vast majority operate without favour.But as Seamus Mallon said unionists will never become nationalists and vice versa

[Rossfan]

Do you still consider yourself a Nationalist Tony?
You've been praising the DUP a lot lately and now Petereen as well.
Also said something about being glad to be living in the North and not wanting to join us in case you had to pay for water or doctors.

[omaghjoe]

Some seriously unchristian comments on here

Its not about politics or what side of the fence he's on, he a human being.

If you can't say something civil..... say nawhin!

Wishing him a speedy recovery

[T Fearon]

Rossfan I honestly don't know if I'm a nationalist or not at this stage.I don't recognise and have no affinity with moral degeneration such as gay marriage and greed and corruption which seems to permeate the Southern body politic,and that's without going into the economic differences in basic public services.

[omaghjoe]

Rossfan I honestly don't know if I'm a nationalist or not at this stage.I don't recognise and have no affinity with moral degeneration such as gay marriage and greed and corruption which seems to permeate the Southern body politic,and that's without going into the economic differences in basic public services.

Odd that you would allow a completely unrelated topic to the concept of nationalism influence your opinions on it. Maybe its tribalism that your talking about?

[T Fearon]

Wider than that.I believe (despite obvious differences) both communities in the North have far more in common with each other than either has with people in England,Scotland,Wales or the South of Ireland.Therefore I believe that just as we are currently second class "British Citizens" we would similarly be second class Irish citizens in a United Ireland.Just as people in the UK neither want nor identify with Northern Unionists,I believe similarly the people in the South similarly neither want nor identify with northern nationalists.

Devo Max Govt in the North for the benefit of both communities,with the eradication of sectarianism is probably the best option for everyone in the North at this stage.

[Rossfan]

Them Munster crowd are awful yokes for not wanting to identify with Northern nationalists.
We here in the West like a lot of ye .
So if you want the 6 Cos  to remain separate from the rest of the Country you're hardly a(n Irish) Nationalist then

[T Fearon]

Is that why the Dublin Govt treats the North as Foreign Affairs and voted en masse for the deletion of Articles 2 and 3 copper fastening partition?

[stew]

I must say I am shocked at some of the bigotry being shown on here.

What happened the 'if you cant say something nice, say nothing' attitude?

Or even common decency?

Or manners?

On this board??? You are having a larf!

[Wildweasel74]

When Peter said the Dup could pull nationalist voters a few year ago i couldn't keep a straight face and everybody was laughing at that statement. Now i know he was talking about people like Tony here.

[J70]

Is that why the Dublin Govt treats the North as Foreign Affairs and voted en masse for the deletion of Articles 2 and 3 copper fastening partition?

Right, because the deletion of Articles 2 and 3 happened in a vacuum.

[omaghjoe]

Is that why the Dublin Govt treats the North as Foreign Affairs and voted en masse for the deletion of Articles 2 and 3 copper fastening partition?

Huh? when where they deleted? Thought they were still there just claiming people not land, which is what a nation is? People not land?

I'd be much more concerned with the fact that Irish people as claimed in Arts 2 & 3 are not allowed to vote on the Irish President and changes to the constitution. The old "no representation without taxation" does not add up in those two cases.
I suppose it demonstrates the nationalist negotiating strategy during the GFA was: "get as much stuff as possible of the Brits" forgetting about the under representation and mistreated by the Dublin Government.

I believe those two concessions by Dublin would have been easily passed during the GFA

[omaghjoe]

Wider than that.I believe (despite obvious differences) both communities in the North have far more in common with each other than either has with people in England,Scotland,Wales or the South of Ireland.Therefore I believe that just as we are currently second class "British Citizens" we would similarly be second class Irish citizens in a United Ireland.Just as people in the UK neither want nor identify with Northern Unionists,I believe similarly the people in the South similarly neither want nor identify with northern nationalists.

Devo Max Govt in the North for the benefit of both communities,with the eradication of sectarianism is probably the best option for everyone in the North at this stage.

Your probably right regarding we have more in common with each other as we have all been living on this piece of land for 400 years

However the question of who you are governed by is surely who would do the best job and who has your best interests.

DevoMax at the moment would clearly not be a good option considered the ramshackle operation that is going on at the minute.

Also Westminster does not have the best interests of NI/W6 in here agenda. London does not even have the best interests of Scotland Wales, the West, North or the Midlands of England in her agenda. London and the SE of England is the big revenue maker and where all the politicians and bureaucrats live so to be frank thats all they really care about. If NI was chopped of the UK it wouldn't really matter a hoot to the running of Westminster or have any impact on anything to the rest of the UK.

The South (Ireland) at least have to care, what happens in the North impacts the South  because of its size and geographical proximity and cultural attachment. A bigger pool of public services would be both easier to run and more efficient. There would of course be the problem of the Unionists, but until they are fully backing of some sort of all-island nation state will we have a united Ireland anyway? As I stated in my last post a nation is its people not land and the people must be united.

Of course there is also that over inflated public economy we have in the North and to be frank I don't completely buy it but what better way to get rid of it than chop it off where the over supply is coming from. Is that the way we want to live anyway? as leaches of Westminster? Not me, its bad for any society/community not to pull its full weight.

[topcuppla]

Some seriously unchristian comments on here

Its not about politics or what side of the fence he's on, he a human being.

If you can't say something civil..... say nawhin!

Wishing him a speedy recovery

You must be in your 20's maybe ask someone older than you about this human being!

[theskull1]

I'd recommend evolution myself to anyone who's "firmly" stuck in the past. Is every 40/50/60 year old happy for the historical reasons to hate, to fester indefinitely? Personally I don't think so.

I'm in the human being camp and feel all the better for thinking that way.