THE END IS NIGH FOR *ORTHERN IRELAND AS WE KNOW IT- AND UNIONISTS CAN BLAME THEMSELVES.

If the unconstructive, self-harming DUP is not willing to serve under a Sinn Féin First Minister, the power-sharing model is probably dead. 

*ORTHERN IRELAND is coming to an end, and Unionists, having nowadays only themselves to blame, are plummeting through history, desperately seeking the security of the (Mainland) homeland they are convinced their forefathers built for them. 

Susan McKay

Wed 30th March, 2022. 

   Stormont - which unionists are using like        a big stick to beat nationalists with - by      shouting from the rooftops - 'Stormont or             the Protocol you can't have both'. 

There will be elections to the Stormont Assembly in Belfast on 5th May, but it looks as if the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), currently the largest unionist party, will refuse to return. Sinn Féin looks set to come in as the largest party, thereby winning the first minister’s role. Up to now this has always been a 'safe unionist seat'. The DUP has said this is "a problem". 

There are those with a nostalgia for violence who like to hint that the paramilitaries (haven't gone away you know) will rise again and save the (union) province. 

Fifty years ago, on 28th March 1972, the British government, realising that unionism was incapable of handling the requirement to change by giving civil rights to nationalists, shut down the *orthern Irish parliament and imposed direct rule. Brian Faulkner, the last of the province's unioist prime ministers, declared it a betrayal. Tens of thousands of loyalists rallied in protest in front of Edward Carson's statue outside Parliament Buildings at Stormont.

       Lord Edward Carson's statue outside               Parliament Buildings at Stormont 

In 1974 the Sunningdale Agreement, an attempt to set up a new regime with participation by nationalists, was thwarted when unionists and loyalist paramilitaries joined forces to stage a massive strike that brought *orthern Ireland to a standstill. Direct Rule continued for the rest of the years of the Troubles, only ending when the Good Friday Agreement was signed in

   We all know the DUP love to to say "[NO]" 

  No Catholic First Minister, No Protocol, No     GFA, No Catholic Judiciary, No Catholics                           about this place. 

The problem in 1972 was the refusal to share power, and recognising the rights of Irish citizens in NI, and the problem today is the same. Even though the arrangements at Stormont are founded on a mandatory powersharing coalition and the first and deputy first ministers are actually joint and equal, the DUP has been pretending to itself and to its gullible voters that because the first minister's office has always been held by a unionist, *orthern Ireland essentially still had a unionist prime minister. And that it was therefore still in charge of its beloved wee country with the right to say "no", over and over and over again.

A rude awakening is coming and panic has set in. And so it is that Jeffrey Donaldson MP, the DUP leader, and, reluctantly, one of its candidates as an MLA, finds himself sitting miserably on lorry-pulled trailers at poorly attended anti-Protocol rallies in the main streets of small towns in unionist heartlands. He has his Orange Sash with him, least anyone doubt his loyalty - and plenty do, for paranoia is the prevailing condition at these events. The Orange Order is once again trying to unite the unionist family. What is being opposed is not just the Protocol - it is now also the Good Friday Agreement. 

Alongside Mr Donaldson MP are people who, have nothing constructive to offer to politics, seek to make up for it with breast-beating sectarian rhetoric which portrays unionists as the most betrayed and vistimised people in the world. The Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister (his party's sole MLA) claims *orthern Ireland has been colonised by the EU (European Union) and is coveted by the Republic of Ireland. A senior DUP politician told one rally that if the government could stand up for Ukraine, it could stand up for the union. 

This was expanded by (Pound Shop lawyer) a hyperbolic blogger who explained that while Ukraine was under siege from Russia, *orthern Ireland was "[in the] UK, subjugated by the Protocol & is under an EU jackboot". There are warnings about (does this include Ukrainians I wonder?🤔🤔) foreigners and enemies - including journalists and the Judiciary. 

Jim Allister, Kate Hoey and Ben Habib *orthern Ireland Protocol is lawful, court of appeal rules. 

  Apart from Kate Hoey, for whom no one in *orthern Ireland ever cast a vote for, they are all men. Manliness is next to godliness when it comes to saving Ulster. Allister sneerily equates the prospect of unionism taking the deputy first minister's role with becoming the "bridesmaid" of Sinn Féin. 

The DUP was disappointed by Westminster's reaction when it crashed the executive at Stormont earlier this year. The government hardly registered the big move, and there was the usual scramble for the exits when MP Ian Óg Paisley got up to lament the ingratitude of the prime minister to his most loyal subjects. This week the secretary of state for *orthern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, said checks on goods crossing the Irish Sea must continue. Unionists love to call for the "triggering" of article 16. Lewis pointed out that this would not in any case mean scrapping the Protocol. 

In the last days of what may be the last Northern Irish assembly for the foreseeable future, bills that had already been progressed were voted through.They included one to offer women further protections from domestic violence, one to stop anti-abortionists from harassing women outside health clinics, and another to give more parents the ability to choose integrated education for their children. 

The DUP attempted but failed to stop most of them. No wonder many of those who used to vote unionist are now looking elsewhere, or not voting at all. 

Last week, while Prince Charles and Camellia were learning Irish dancing in the Irish Republic during a congenital tour, gunmen forced a man to drive a hoax bomb to a venue at which an Irish government minister was speaking. Nationalist politicians have been intimidated, their election posters set on fire. After Ulster Unionist party (UUP) leader Doug Beattie spoke out against incendiary rhetoric at anti-Protocol rallies, the window of his constituency office was smashed. Thuggery. 

There are those with a nostalgia for violence who like to hint that the paramilitaries will rise again and save the province. They won't. They do not have the capacity and the people do not want them. *orthern Ireland never worked for all of its people. Unionism has seen to it that it never will. 

With many thanks to the the: Guardian.com and Susan McKay for the original publication. 

Susan McKay is an Irish writer and Journalist whose books include *orthern Protestants - On Shifting Ground. 

THE Good Friday Agreement (GFA) will 'NEVER' be Renegotiated and UVF Intimidation will not Achieve the Removal of the Protocol

     HOW LONG IS UNIONISM GOING TO           ALLOW LOYALIST PARAMILITARIES TO                   HOLD THEM TO RANSOM 

   UVF terrorist paramilitaries conducting a                             show-of-strength 

VERY Recently the leader of the DUP Jeffrey Donaldson MP spoke on Jamie Bryson's blog 'Unionist Voice' and called for the GFA (Good Friday Agreement) to be renegotiated.

The rhetoric at the anti-Protocol rallys have now uped the ante and now they are calling for the Good Friday Agreement to be abolished. 

  This image appeared on a loyalist Internet       site only recently claiming the GFA has                                      failed. 

Around 8 or 9 months ago Sammy Wilson MP appeared on RT and called for 'guerrilla warfare' on the streets of *orthern Ireland against the Protocol. This has now been seen to have taken place with the recent armed hijacking on the Shankill Road by members of the loyalist terrorist organisation the UVF. 

The recent attack by the UVF in north Belfast at a cross-community event dedicated in their honour and named the: John and Pat Hume Foundation. 

This attack by the UVF was an attack on democracy. How will this type of attack bring an end to the Protocol? Its complete nonsense all this including the Protocol rallys are going nowhere. 

It all began with the Flag Protests that started after Belfast City Council decided not to fly the Union Jack (Union Flag) whatever makes you comfortable calling it - from 365-days-a-year down to designated days of the year the 'Flag Protests' achieved nothing . In the end the Union Jack still only flys on the designated day's of the year. 

All of this rhetoric that is being stirred up and led by a handful of people. And beleieve it or not its the same handful of people namely TUV leader Jim Allister, Jamie Bryson and his cohort Moore Holmes. And a handful of others I won't even bother to name. 

Following on then from the 'Flag protests' we have had the Protocol rallys which has now been expanded to the new  Protocol and Abolishing the Good Friday Agreement rallys. Even this morning on the Nolan Show the rhetoric continued with running down the Protocol and it has now extended to include renegotiating the GFA. 

Even Matthew O'Toole from the SDLP has hit out at the Nolan Show, which some nationalists now call the 'Jamie & Jim show'. But Mr O'Toole has hit out in the Irish News at 'prominence given to small section of hardcore voices'. A selection of who I have just identified above that's why it was nicknamed the 'Jamie & Jim show. 

The problem has now escalated even further and we have had the bomb attack by the UVF on the Crumlin Road in north Belfast. No-one is saying that loyalists should not be allowed to voice their concerns over the Protocol and if they wish to express that anger by holding rallys they a given right to do so the problem here which we all should have is the rhetoric in the speeches being used at the rallys provocatively. 

The rhetoric being used is raising tensions, provoking anger and getting the young ones especially in their early 20s over exasperated and this anger must be expressed somewhere and the only place young people have of expressing that anger is on the streets. 

Susan Breen Sunday Life/Belfast Telegraph - Tweeted the following: SDLP West Belfast candidate, Paul Doherty, says he was approached by men on the Shankill Road last night & told he wasn't welcome there - with threats made to take down his election posters. This election campaign has just begun, & it's already totally toxic. 

BBC Gareth Gordon Tweeted the following: Doug Beattie had the window of his constituency office smashed last night. And former leader of the UUP Mike Nesbitt Tweeted: Terrorists have murdered many of our members, including elected representatives. Smashing windows will not deter us. 

         The UUP's constituency office was                  attacked   last night. And the front                         window was smashed in. 

Another women has been arrested and is being interigated over the hoax bomb attack in north Belfast, by Detectives from Terrorism Investigation Unit and is now at this moment at Musgrave Serious Crime suite. 

Gerry Kelly of Sinn Féin has claimed that a group of loyalists had been ripping down his election posters on the North Circular/Ballysillan Road in north Belfast last night. 

The DUP's Ian (Óg) Paisley today told NI Secretary of State Brandon Lewis "That after nine months maybe the UK government will only listen to "street politics"! 

SDLP election posters were set alight and burned on Cyprus Avenue in East Belfast. And the fire service had been called by members of the public to extinguise the fire. Who time were waisted putting out posters that were burning and they might have been needed in an emergency somewhere else. 

Doug Beattie leader of the UUP says he'll repair the damage to his office window but says what can't be repaired is the damage caused by loyalist paramilitaries - he stands over the decision for the UUP to stop attending anti-Protocol rallies - he says people should reconsider how they protest against the Protocol. 

BBC Gareth Gordon Tweeted the following from Doug Beattie: "It is now clear that anti-Protocol rallies are being used to raise the temperature in *orthern Ireland and adding tensions that now see a resurgence in UVF activity" says Doug Beattie. Significant cracks appearing tonight in Unionism and how it fights the Protocol. 

Sam McBride published in the Belfast Telegraph today the following story: DUP gains ground, but overall support drops for divided - and here is an extract from that story: From one angle, the DUP's strategy in this election is not madness - it's an entirely rational way to save salvageable DUP seats. But it has two problems about which the DUP is not aware: "It's driving voters to Sinn Féin - & driving voters from unionism. 

While Jeffrey Donaldson MP has said that he rejacts the suggestion from the UUP that the anti-Protocol rallies are increasing tensions, when it is clearly obvious that they are if you are reading this blog. He also says he'll still encourage unionist voters to transfer down the ticket on 5th May as unity is needed. 

But this is the way I see it (and this is only my personal point-of-view) in the upcoming elections in May - "YOU VOTE FOR JEFFERY - AND YOU GET JAMIE"! 

BREXIT HAS FAILED IT HAS NOT WORKED FOR GB AND CERTAINLY WAS NEVER GOING TO WORK FOR *ORTHERN IRELAND. THAT'S THE REASON WHY WE HAVE THE PROTOCOL IN PLACE TO PROTECT US FROM BREXIT AND THE DAMAGE BREXIT IS CAUSING TO GB. 

These are the headlines of the Guardian published today: more than 7,000 finance jobs have left London for the EU so far since GB voted in Brexit, EY finds. Paris, Frankfurt and Dublin are reaping the profits from Brexit its financely beneficial for the European Union. The Tory Party and the ERJ along with Jacob Rees-Mogg got the elusive benefits of Brexit wrong. In finance assests alone finance jobs alone have cost the British economy £1.3tn - think about that for one moment 'Trillion'. 

Now only today the Financial Times (London) is reporting that the: UK is exploring a fourth delay in imposing checks on EU imports. Now this is being reported in the Financial Times so we are guaranteed it will be announced by MPs in the coming days in the Houses of Parliament - 

it proves my point that Brexit is not working and this news effects *orthern Ireland businesses dramatically. And places NI businesses temporarily at a disadvantage but this is one of the reasons the Protocol is beneficial to *orthern Ireland. 

The DUP lied over Brexit and the Protocol and are now (because of the upcoming elections on May 5th) trying to push the blame of Brexit & the Protocol problems onto to everyone else. The proof is in the pudding (as they say) but in this case its a fact and can be proven in the British government documents below: 

                                     

                                     

    The anti-Protocol and Abolishing The Good Friday Agreement rallies are not going to work the Good Friday Agreement is an International Peace Agreement signed by three superpowers - their is no going back on the Good Friday Agreement. 

And as for the NI Protocol it cannot be Abolished it can be readjusted to suit NI businesses more on compatability and much less paperwork to fill in (which at this moment is being done) but the Protocol is an agreement between Great Britain and the European Union it effects *orthern Ireland but cannot be changed or readjusted by any NI Political Party. 

So the calls by the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) on the Protocol are a False Flag an Election stunt by the party to gain more votes and hold onto their position as the First Minister for *orthern Ireland after the election. 

                                    

Everyone thinking of voting for the DUP on May 5th should remember this when they are going to the Polls on Polling Day.