# The DUP, eh? Welcome to your new lizard overlords



## LiamO (Jun 9, 2017)

We've had to put up with them for years over here - now it's your turn.

Kay Burley hits the nail on the head here. Mrs Merton would be so proud.

_"Given that the Lib Dems are where they are, what first attracted you to the anti-abortion, pro-Brexit, climate change deniers that are the DUP?" _

WATCH: Kay Burley sums up everyone's fears about the DUP in the mother of all questions | JOE.ie

The Giants Causeway now has a brand new, state-of-the-art visitors Centre. The centre-piece is all about the geology - as you would imagine it would be.

All except the bit where the Creationist exhibition, the one that claims the Earth is 5000 years old, the one the DUP insisted on, is housed.

Good luck explaining climate change to these cunts.

National Trust in Giant's Causeway creationism row

"The issue of including creationist theories has sparked controversy in the past in Northern Ireland, when prominent members of the Democratic Unionist Party at Stormont lobbied for museums to include such opinions."


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## LiamO (Jun 9, 2017)

What connects Brexit, the DUP, dark money and a Saudi prince?

Mind you. You can't say they didn't put the hard work in for Brexit. Maybe they have earned their seat at Treeza's right hand.

I wonder if the british media will suddenly find this weeks-old 'news' interesting now?


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## maomao (Jun 9, 2017)

Any proper dirt on them? Violence/corruption? Tory voters are unsurprisingly pretty okay with politicians being thick nasty cunts so a bit of creationism isn't going to win any arguments.


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## bimble (Jun 9, 2017)

Maybe I'm being stupid but why does it make sense politically / pragmatically that TM decided to bunk up with this lot and go through the brexit shitstorm instead of just stepping aside and letting labour try to cobble a coalition together ? That way Corbyn'd get blamed for whatever comes to pass in the next couple of years-  In the longish term I mean haven't they the Tories just set themselves up for a monumental fuckup ?


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## maomao (Jun 9, 2017)

bimble said:


> Maybe I'm being stupid but why does it make sense politically / pragmatically that TM decided to bunk up with this lot and go through the brexit shitstorm instead of just stepping aside and letting labour try to cobble a coalition together ? That way Corbyn'd get blamed for whatever comes to pass in the next couple of years-  In the longish term I mean haven't they the Tories just set themselves up for a monumental fuckup ?


That might benefit the Tories but it wouldn't benefit May. Her hubris is all her own and this election was supposed to be all about her.


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## Thimble Queen (Jun 9, 2017)

I thought this was a good overview of the DUP for people who don't know a great deal about them and what they stand for: So, who are the DUP?


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## SE25 (Jun 9, 2017)

Surely it'll take about 10 seconds for the papers to expose these as the loons and wronguns they are?

this will not last


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## Plumdaff (Jun 9, 2017)

bimble You are forgetting a/ they absolutely believe in a Tory right to govern and b/ they are genuinely terrified of any threat to their power and privilege.

They don't actually give a shit about taking the country down with them, they see that as their entitlement.


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## teuchter (Jun 9, 2017)

LiamO said:


> All except the bit where the Creationist exhibition, the one that claims the Earth is 5000 years old, the one the DUP insisted on, is housed.



Having done a bit of reading up on this, it seems you are hyping things up a little.


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## LiamO (Jun 9, 2017)

maomao said:


> Any proper dirt on them? Violence/corruption? Tory voters are unsurprisingly pretty okay with politicians being thick nasty cunts so a bit of creationism isn't going to win any arguments.



post# 2


LiamO said:


> What connects Brexit, the DUP, dark money and a Saudi prince?


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## LiamO (Jun 9, 2017)

maomao said:


> Any proper dirt on them? Violence/corruption?



Cash for Ash anybody? Only gonna cost the taxpayer a few hundred million 

Stormont's jacket on a shaky peg...

Then there was the time when the Leaders 60-yr old wife was shagging a 19 year old student. She set him up with a nice little business. She borrowed £50k with one simple phone call (no business plan, not one item of paperwork, just one phone call) to a business man who owed much of his wealth to DUP patyronage. ANd she shaved 10k off the top for herself before she passed on £40k to the toy-boy


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## LiamO (Jun 9, 2017)

I'll post some darker stuff over the weekend if I have time.


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## maomao (Jun 9, 2017)

LiamO said:


> Then there was the time when the Leaders 60-yr old wife was shagging a 19 year old student. She set him up with a nice little business. She borrowed £50k with one simple phone call (no business plan, not one item of paperwork, just one phone call) to a business man who owed much of his wealth to DUP patyronage. ANd she shaved 10k off the top for herself before she passed on £40k to the toy-boy


Which leader is this (given that the current leader is a woman and they're against same sex marriage)?


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## LiamO (Jun 9, 2017)

bimble said:


> Maybe I'm being stupid but why does it make sense politically / pragmatically that TM decided to bunk up with this lot and go through the brexit shitstorm instead of just stepping aside and letting labour try to cobble a coalition together ? That way Corbyn'd get blamed for whatever comes to pass in the next couple of years-  In the longish term I mean haven't they the Tories just set themselves up for a monumental fuckup ?



One would hope so


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## LiamO (Jun 9, 2017)

maomao said:


> Which leader is this (given that the current leader is a woman and they're against same sex marriage)?



Peter robinson 

Iris Robinson affair: Five key findings - text messages, late night calls and bizarre redactions - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

Iris Robinson scandal - Wikipedia

and this for the lols


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## Bahnhof Strasse (Jun 9, 2017)

LiamO said:


> Peter robinson
> 
> Iris Robinson affair: Five key findings - text messages, late night calls and bizarre redactions - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk
> 
> ...





Notice Iris Robinson thinks homosexuality is an "abomination".


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## Fez909 (Jun 9, 2017)

LiamO said:


> WATCH: Kay Burley sums up everyone's fears about the DUP in the mother of all questions | JOE.ie


Sky news has been surprisingly good/balanced this election. What's going on there?


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## Pickman's model (Jun 9, 2017)

Fez909 said:


> Sky news has been surprisingly good/balanced this election. What's going on there?


Sadness in her eyes


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## LiamO (Jun 9, 2017)

Bahnhof Strasse said:


> Notice Iris Robinson thinks homosexuality is an "abomination".



Jim Wells MLA has stated publicly that gay marriage is ' a red line issue' for the DUP - as in they won't sit down to negotiate re-establishing the stormont executive with (pro-marriage equality) Sinn Féin, if the Shinners insist on puruing the issue of marriage equality. 

He seemed quite smugly pleased that his 'Peter won't be marrying Paul in Northen Ireland' quote made a few headlines.


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## LiamO (Jun 9, 2017)

Bahnhof Strasse said:


> Notice Iris Robinson thinks homosexuality is an "abomination".



Think that might be a dig at her hubby.


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## Bahnhof Strasse (Jun 9, 2017)

Has May not heard what happens when you lie with dogs?


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## Pickman's model (Jun 9, 2017)

Bahnhof Strasse said:


> Has May not heard what happens when you lie with dogs?


She's lied with pretty much everything else


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## paolo (Jun 9, 2017)

Lexit allies?


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## DexterTCN (Jun 9, 2017)

You can't seriously put these people in a position of power.   It's insane.


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## Casually Red (Jun 9, 2017)

DexterTCN said:


> You can't seriously put these people in a position of power.   It's insane.



Umm..they've been in govt over here for the past ten years . And yes..it's insane . And now it's your turn . 
I don't wish them on anyone but it's fucking brilliant they can't be ignored any more . The dirty secret can't be swept under the rug . Walk a mile in my moccasins kemosabe .


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## Casually Red (Jun 9, 2017)

Im convinced if the British public are fed a solid enough diet of the dup..when it dawns on them these cunts are blowback from owning a bit of Ireland there'll be a clamour from lands end to John ogroats to cut the sick counties loose for good . To erect razor wire round Stranraer and the mull of kintyre and mine the fucking channel . And train dolphins to kill swimmers just in case  .


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## Casually Red (Jun 9, 2017)

It'll also be a complete hoot watching actual British people aghast with their mouths open at these strange people who are the most unbritish thing ever . And telling them that too . I think it's fucking hilarious ..on that level . I appreciate the downside of being ruled by the DUP.

I'll say that again in case it hasn't sunk in.

Ruled..by..the ...D.U...P!!!


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## YouSir (Jun 9, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> It'll also be a complete hoot watching actual British people aghast with their mouths open at these strange people who are the most unbritish thing ever . And telling them that too . I think it's fucking hilarious ..on that level . I appreciate the downside of being ruled by the DUP.
> 
> I'll say that again in case it hasn't sunk in.
> 
> Ruled..by..the ...D.U...P!!!



Just wait 'til the Commons bars empty out one day and the strained and aged voices of Tory back benchers kick in saying 'well I think those _Irish _chaps have a good point about Creationism/homosexuality/dancing' - one tiny, insane love in.


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## littlebabyjesus (Jun 9, 2017)

bimble said:


> Maybe I'm being stupid but why does it make sense politically / pragmatically that TM decided to bunk up with this lot and go through the brexit shitstorm instead of just stepping aside and letting labour try to cobble a coalition together ? That way Corbyn'd get blamed for whatever comes to pass in the next couple of years-  In the longish term I mean haven't they the Tories just set themselves up for a monumental fuckup ?


Not sure the maths allows it. Labour plus everybody else is not a majority. And the DUP hate Labour and Corbyn in particular - they would bring them down as soon as they could. So unless the tories agreed to vote for a Labour Queen's speech, I don't see how a Corbyn-led govt gets started with this seat distribution. Tories have just too many seats to make giving Corbyn a go an option.

Also, the Tories looking like they don't want to govern would look really fucking bad.

tbh my first thought was fucksticks, so close. But that was not knowing a huge amount about the DUP beyond that they're Paisley's mob and have displaced they other ones, Trimble's lot. The more I learn of the DUP, the better this current maths starts to look.


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## LiamO (Jun 9, 2017)

YouSir said:


> Just wait 'til the Commons bars empty out one day and the strained and aged voices of Tory back benchers kick in saying 'well I think those _Irish _chaps have a good point about Creationism/homosexuality/dancing' - one tiny, insane love in.


Irish?! Irish?????

Us DUP are Brateesh, I'll have you know.


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## LiamO (Jun 9, 2017)

And their grasp of online security seems pish poor too.

Some clever clogs Fenian has only gone and hacked their websites and translated them into Irish - I mean Arreesh. 

Hacker translates DUP websites into Irish - BBC News

DUP website embraces Irish language (ie, hacked)


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## Casually Red (Jun 9, 2017)

LiamO said:


> Irish?! Irish?????
> 
> Us DUP are Brateesh, I'll have you know.




Yeah...just look at oor passports....actually...no. Please don't look at our passports .


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## J Ed (Jun 9, 2017)

Can't wait for centrist media to have a go at legitimating the DUP.


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## ruffneck23 (Jun 9, 2017)

tm hand in hand with dt , who I'm sure there are rumours about funding certain groups now hand in hand with the dpu ?

please educate me against my drunken posts


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## LiamO (Jun 9, 2017)

Theresa May meets the DUP *C*onservative & *U*nionist *N*egotiating *T*eam


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## agricola (Jun 9, 2017)

J Ed said:


> Can't wait for centrist media to have a go at legitimating the DUP.



"At the end of the day, despite the vitriol from the Corbynistas, it must never be forgotten that the DUP are both democratic and a political party".


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## Casually Red (Jun 10, 2017)

Let's see them spin this . Until very recently when he lost his seat in one of our never ending cycle of elections Nelson McCausland was a senior DUP minister in Stormont . He remains a very senior and influential party member .

Have a read of his bio . Among other things Nelson believes..as a govt minister remember..that the Ulster Museum should teach creationism , that nobody should be offended by him standing with a kick the pope  band hammering out sectarian tunes right outside a catholic chapel, and that Ulsters Protestants are one of the lost tribes of Israel. Yup..one of the lost tribes .

NelsonMcCausland - Wiki

pedi
a
	


This the top of the DUP were talking about here . Not some loony fringe .

As regards terrorism and law and order, here he is on a platform during the twaddell protests . These people rioted against the police for days on end . And just listen to the diatribe...papish onslaught  . And note the guy on Nelsons immediate right . That's a guy by the name of winston Irvine . Winston Irvine is a very senior terrorist in Belfast . One of the most senior and powerful terrorists in all of Belfast in fact . And there's a DUP government minister sharing a platform with sectarian Neanderthals and terrorists.




And a nice tv bio of Nelsons mate winston Irvine here .




And just when you think none of this can get any worse, think again . Remember that RHI boiler scandal the DUP were responsible for ? Well guess who had no less than 3 RHI boilers ..in the middle of a fucking housing estate ...burning away merrily making himself a complete fucking fortune thanks to the DUP ?

Charity linked to UVF boss Winkie Irvine runs three huge RHI boilers in Belfast - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk


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## not-bono-ever (Jun 10, 2017)

DexterTCN said:


> You can't seriously put these people in a position of power.   It's insane.



it reminds me of an old 2000AD Dredd story where Judge Caligula took over the reigns.


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## Hocus Eye. (Jun 10, 2017)

I had no idea that the DUP had creationist ideas. This is very frightening. Surely May knew about their lunatic fringe theories. I thought that creationism was a purely American aberration and am very surprised to find that it also exists in the civilised world of Europe. If May is so desperate for friends that she aligns with these people then the UK is in serious danger. Things are much worse than I imagined.


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## xenon (Jun 10, 2017)

I am finding the naive questions quite amusing.  But surely the Conservatives the Tories they wouldn't not with them. What is happening. Hello where have you been for ever.


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## Casually Red (Jun 10, 2017)

Hocus Eye. said:


> I had no idea that the DUP had creationist ideas. This is very frightening. Surely May knew about their lunatic fringe theories. I thought that creationism was a purely American aberration and am very surprised to find that it also exists in the civilised world of Europe. If May is so desperate for friends that she aligns with these people then the UK is in serious danger. Things are much worse than I imagined.



Some of their leaders believe they're the lost tribe of Israel. Really believe it .
Others subscribe to the theory that the Irish..as celts...are invaders of Ireland From central Europe . Occupiers. And that they are the dispossessed original inhabitants assuming their natural status at long last .

There was no actual Celtic invasion , the ancient Irish simply adopted aspects of Celtic culture, alphabets etc due to trade with Europe. But in dup la la land ..the Catholics invaded Ireland . Papist rampage. And they read this utter batshit nonsense out during governmental debates about flags . In actual government fucking chambers  Alongside their creationist bollocks .

Get used to them . They're not large but they're in charge . 








I'm fucking loving this despite the awfulness


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## Kaka Tim (Jun 10, 2017)

Tories/DUP - the Bad Friday Agreement (not mine - but i thought id share)


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## ddraig (Jun 10, 2017)




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## flypanam (Jun 10, 2017)

LiamO said:


> Theresa May meets the DUP *C*onservative & *U*nionist *N*egotiating *T*eam



Better hope Sammy Wilson turns up with his clothes on.


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## mather (Jun 10, 2017)

Does anyone else know what deal type of deal the DUP reached with the Tories to get them to support a minority Tory government? What did the Theresa May promise them in return for their support? Whatever it was it allowed them to reach a deal very quickly, usually negotiations concerning coalitions and supporting minority governments takes a few days at least.


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## littlebabyjesus (Jun 10, 2017)

mather said:


> Does anyone else know what deal type of deal the DUP reached with the Tories to get them to support a minority Tory government? What did the Theresa May promise them in return for their support? Whatever it was it allowed them to reach a deal very quickly, usually negotiations concerning coalitions and supporting minority governments takes a few days at least.


None. She hasn't done one yet. Going to the Queen to announce her new govt straight away yesterday was yet another terrible decision.


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## gentlegreen (Jun 10, 2017)

ddraig said:


>



Ironically I'd forgotten these throwbacks (DUP) still existed - I can only understand them thanks to hanging out in American chatrooms.


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## Wolveryeti (Jun 10, 2017)

maomao said:


> Any proper dirt on them? Violence/corruption? Tory voters are unsurprisingly pretty okay with politicians being thick nasty cunts so a bit of creationism isn't going to win any arguments.


Is the Cash for Ash debacle not enough?

Renewable Heat Incentive scandal - Wikipedia


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## J Ed (Jun 10, 2017)

I have to say, I thought that I was pretty ignorant about Northern Irish politics but watching the commentariat try to talk about the DUP makes me feel like a political scientist on Northern Ireland or something.


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## The Boy (Jun 10, 2017)

J Ed said:


> I have to say, I thought that I was pretty ignorant about Northern Irish politics but watching the commentariat try to talk about the DUP makes me feel like a political scientist on Northern Ireland or something.



Watching the commentariat talking about [subject] will generally make one feel like an expert on [subject]...


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## moochedit (Jun 10, 2017)

If you feel like some clicktavism......(yeah i know another bloody epetition)

MAY OUT - NO COALITION WITH THE D.U.P!


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## Cid (Jun 10, 2017)

moochedit said:


> If you feel like some clicktavism......(yeah i know another bloody epetition)
> 
> MAY OUT - NO COALITION WITH THE D.U.P!



I wish people would be more coherent when they write these things.


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## redsquirrel (Jun 10, 2017)

littlebabyjesus said:


> Not sure the maths allows it. Labour plus everybody else is not a majority. And the DUP hate Labour and Corbyn in particular - they would bring them down as soon as they could. So unless the tories agreed to vote for a Labour Queen's speech, I don't see how a Corbyn-led govt gets started with this seat distribution. Tories have just too many seats to make giving Corbyn a go an option.


Tories could abstain as they did under Heath


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## not-bono-ever (Jun 10, 2017)

a winner. fuckinh hell, it is as if there is a disruption bot working away in russia somewhere on this


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## Poi E (Jun 10, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> It'll also be a complete hoot watching actual British people aghast with their mouths open at these strange people who are the most unbritish thing ever . And telling them that too . I think it's fucking hilarious ..on that level . I appreciate the downside of being ruled by the DUP.
> 
> I'll say that again in case it hasn't sunk in.
> 
> Ruled..by..the ...D.U...P!!!



Are they the last folks clinging to the empty vessel that is Britishness?


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## Casually Red (Jun 10, 2017)

Poi E said:


> Are they the last folks clinging to the empty vessel that is Britishness?



They're probably the most unbritish people on the planet .


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## rekil (Jun 10, 2017)

An oldie but a goodie. 

State papers: DUP MP William McCrea wanted air strikes launched on the Republic in the 1980s - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk



> A firebrand DUP MP urged the British Government to launch air strikes on the Irish Republic in the 1980s.
> 
> William McCrea also called for bombing raids on republican strongholds in Northern Ireland.
> 
> Rev McCrea wanted "Libyan-type strikes" against Dundalk, Drogheda, Crossmaglen and Carrickmore.


"Firebrand DUP MP". That's one way of describing them. I don't recall there being any other kind at the time. The DUP view on homosexuality, the public one at least, is now a bit more liberal, partly in order to keep younger loyalists in the fold

William McCrea backs DUP decision not to take stance on homosexuality


> A DUP veteran and long-standing Free Presbyterian minister has supported his party leader’s decision that the DUP should take no stance on the issue of homosexuality. The Rev William McCrea said that he was happy with the party position as articulated by Peter Robinson. Last week Paul McClean, a DUP councillor and a senior member of William McCrea’s church, said that homosexuality should be recriminalised. Last week Peter Robinson made clear that the DUP – which once campaigned against homosexuality – would now take no position on the issue. The Rev McCrea said: “I genuinely do believe that Peter, our leader, has made the position of the party clear ... and he’s made it on behalf of the party and that has been stated over and over and over again and I think that is quite honestly where the party, including myself, stand.”


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## Bernie Gunther (Jun 10, 2017)

The DUP pissing away half a billion on a botched renewables scheme Timeline: Renewable Heat Incentive scandal - BBC News what's the score with that? Incompetence, corruption? Some combination thereof?


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## SpookyFrank (Jun 10, 2017)

Cid said:


> I wish people would be more coherent when they write these things.



The petition I saw had 'coalition' spelled wrong


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## Casually Red (Jun 10, 2017)

Bernie Gunther said:


> The DUP pissing away half a billion on a botched renewables scheme Timeline: Renewable Heat Incentive scandal - BBC News what's the score with that? Incompetence, corruption? Some combination thereof?



Yup , both . And that was just the latest scandal . Prior to that we had Red Sky ( the pricks who made a fuck up..deliberately I suspect..of my house renovations )

Investigations & Analysis - Northern Ireland from The Detail

And the colossal scandal which was NAMA

Nama inquiry: DUP first minister Peter Robinson 'beneficiary of £1bn deal'


And then there was Irisgate

Iris Robinson scandal - Wikipedia

Also worth remembering that all of these governmental scandals happened on the shinners watch . And time and time again the shinners claimed they were oblivious to what was going on , and then set about covering up for the DUP on the various committees that were supposed to look into them . That's how a rotten sectarian carve up works . They would have covered up the boiler row too but the DUP picked a seriously bad time to dump a measly £ 50,000 Irish language bursary scheme..out of rank sectarianism.. and that tipped the sectarian apple cart . only for the uk election results they'd be happily sitting back down with the DUP and doing ...thoroughly rotten..business as usual .


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## Poi E (Jun 10, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> They're probably the most unbritish people on the planet .



Britishness is surely just social quirks with a Unionist bent.


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## Casually Red (Jun 10, 2017)

ruffneck23 said:


> tm hand in hand with dt , who I'm sure there are rumours about funding certain groups now hand in hand with the dpu ?
> 
> please educate me against my drunken posts



It's not rumours at all . The terrorist groups which are publicly calling for votes for the DUP are in receipt of millions of pounds in taxpayers money thanks to a Stormont slush fund set up to line their pockets and embed them into the community with government funded offices , expense accounts and the like . While the rest of us can fuck off to the food bank while hearing how the DUP and their Sinn Fein partners have to implement austerity cuts on schools, hospitals etc .

Government gave UDA-linked groups £5 million of taxpayers' money - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk


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## tim (Jun 10, 2017)

mather said:


> Does anyone else know what deal type of deal the DUP reached with the Tories to get them to support a minority Tory government? What did the Theresa May promise them in return for their support? Whatever it was it allowed them to reach a deal very quickly, usually negotiations concerning coalitions and supporting minority governments takes a few days at least.



Lots more money for pet projects is what they'll want. This should be welcomed by the greener posters here as the DUP have shown a great enthusiasm for investment in renewables


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## Casually Red (Jun 10, 2017)

Ummm..don't the Tories let " the ethnics " into their party these days ? 

I wonder what " the ethnics " would make of senior DUP figure and occasional nudist exhibitionist Sammy Wilson ?


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## tim (Jun 10, 2017)

Hocus Eye. said:


> I had no idea that the DUP had creationist ideas. This is very frightening. Surely May knew about their lunatic fringe theories. I thought that creationism was a purely American aberration and am very surprised to find that it also exists in the civilised world of Europe. If May is so desperate for friends that she aligns with these people then the UK is in serious danger. Things are much worse than I imagined.




You'll be shocked to discover there are groups of creationists regularly meeting the length and breadth of Europe. If you have a building with a big tower full of noisy bells near you, or one that gets regular visits from men in strange headgear, you may well find that it is a centre for the propagation of such beliefs. Theresa May's dad used work in one of these places, so she is probably familiar with the theories they disseminate.

Personally it's the bigotry and corruption of the DUP that concerns me more.


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## moochedit (Jun 10, 2017)

mather said:


> Does anyone else know what deal type of deal the DUP reached with the Tories to get them to support a minority Tory government? What did the Theresa May promise them in return for their support? Whatever it was it allowed them to reach a deal very quickly, usually negotiations concerning coalitions and supporting minority governments takes a few days at least.



Their website seems to be working again and their manifesto is here (if that gives any clues to their possible demands)

http://dev.mydup.com/images/uploads/publications/DUP_Wminster_Manifesto_2017_v5.pdf


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## CrabbedOne (Jun 10, 2017)

Bernie Gunther said:


> The DUP pissing away half a billion on a botched renewables scheme Timeline: Renewable Heat Incentive scandal - BBC News what's the score with that? Incompetence, corruption? Some combination thereof?


That one is a cracker. Though Arlene was central in it and is a defector from the rightwing of the formerly dominant UUP. I'm amazed she survived as there was clearly a lot of incompetence involved in RHI. You do have to wonder about everybody else up on the hill in Stormont though letting half a billion get wasted on their watch. Even by the historic standards of Irish governance it's inept.


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## Casually Red (Jun 10, 2017)

tim said:


> You'll be shocked to discover there are groups of creationists regularly meeting the length and breadth of Europe. If you have a building with a big tower full of noisy bells near you, or one that gets regular visits from men in strange headgear, you may well find that it is a centre for the propagation of such beliefs. Theresa May's dad used work in one of these places, so she is probably familiar with the theories they disseminate.
> 
> Personally it's the bigotry and corruption of the DUP that concerns me more.



In actuality the creationism is in itself part and parcel of the bigotry . It's yet another means by which to stamp and assert a fundamentalist Protestant identity on aspects of everyday life here .its as much about localised identity politics as anything . I'd consider it highly unlikely they'd even wish to discuss their beliefs with a UK audience much less try and foist them on them . They want to stamp that identity in the 6 counties, not in the uk . It's a self serving thing . The root of it is 'sectarianism . They'll be quite embarrassed the UK public has even found out about it .


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## Casually Red (Jun 10, 2017)

CrabbedOne said:


> That one is a cracker. Though Arlene was central in it and is a defector from the rightwing of the formerly dominant UUP. I'm amazed she survived as there was clearly a lot of incompetence involved in RHI. You do have to wonder about everybody else up on the hill in Stormont though letting half a billion get wasted on their watch. Even by the historic standards of Irish governance it's inept.



One of the main reasons she survived is because the shinners..at long last and under immense grass roots pressure to respond to that and the bigotry against Gaelic speakers, which broke concurrent to the boiler scandal..belatedly went after her . Sort of . Which in turn ensured the DUP circled the wagons when faced with a papish onslaught . Had they left her alone there was a slight possibility her own might have gotten rid of her. But once they made a noise the wagons were circled.

It's a system designed to encourage and reward sectarianism . It's British governance in Ireland which is at fault here . It can never work .an absence of bombs..for the moment..does not equate to normality . The British state in Ireland will always come up with a shitshow like this . It will always be deeply dysfunctional at its root .


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## Casually Red (Jun 10, 2017)

As regards DUP corruption and it's links to loyalist paramilitaries . Back in the late 1990s after the signing of the GFA the DUP reckoned they could beat the sectarian drum louder and accuse the Official Unionists of selling out in order to make enough political capital to overtake them as top dog..they succeeded  . As all the mainstream loyalist organisations supported it they were a bit stuck for a cutting edge .
Then along came loyalist mass murderer and British agent Billy Wright . He fell out with his UVF buddies over the agreement and split away , founding the LVF ..the geniusly named Loyalist volunteer force .

Almost overnight the DUP pretty much became the LVFs political sponsor . The UVF ordered Billy Wright to leave the country within 72 hours . Wright responded by marshalling his supporters for a rally in the orange citadel of Portadown . he and his terror group erected a big platform and stuck flags on it so terrorist mass murder Wright could give a big speech . And guess who invited him onto the platform and shared it with him ? None other than DUP MP , the Rev Willie McCrea . Pictured together on the platform here.


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## Casually Red (Jun 10, 2017)

Video here of DUP mp McCrea and Wright on the platform together exchanging warm greetings .

Now the LVF weren't just involved in sectarian murders . They were also massively involved in drug trafficking . They were an unabashedly criminal outfit who made no effort to conceal their involvement in trafficking . And that of course resulted in profits that had to be laundered for the group by respectable business types . Which in mid ulster / north Armagh just happen to be a demographic closely aligned to the DUP . One of our local rags, the Sunday World, while a terrible rag it did have one single investigative journalist capable of digging up real dirt . He was a guy named Martin Ohagan who lived in the middle of the LVFs turf . Ohagan focused on the group relentlessly and dug up some outrageous fascinating stuff . this made him a target for the LVF and they eventually murdered him as he walked home from a night out . At the time of his death he was working on a major exposé of the LVFs activities , and is strongly rumoured to have had quite a bit to say on respectable DUP members role in laundering the terror groups narcotics profits .

Needless to say the DUP had very little to say on an act that would cause outrage in any normal, decent society . The murder of journalists is generally frowned upon . But the DUPs contribution seems to have consisted of little more than DUP bigwig Nelson McCausland going onto his infamous blog and trashing the reputation of the murdered journalist . They haven't , for example, called for any sort of enquiry despite the fact the murderers identities being widely known and pretty much all of them having been state agents .

They do however spend an inordinate amount of time in the house of commons calling for an enquiry into mass murderer Billy Wrights killing . Despite the fact the republicans who did it inside Long Kesh were immediately caught and convicted and didn't deny it for a second .

I'll post up some links in a mo . This tablet tends to delete stuff once I go away .

Why does Ian Paisley's party show such interest in a mass murderer?

The INLA Execution Of Billy Wright


Murdered journalist Martin O'Hagan's murderers were ‘paid police informers'


Btw the DUP scored 2 own goals while championing Wright . After MP McCrea appeared on the platform on portadown with Wright nationalist voters were so outraged they voted tactically, abandoning the SDLP in massive numbers and booting him out . After Wrights death and their persuit of an enquiry , the digging that resulted from that turned up that the DUP, chiefly their MP McCrea , had been meeting with Wright back in the early 90s at the height of then UVF mass murderer Wrights sectarian murder campaign in Mid Ulster . During the period of McCreas confabs with the mass murderer his gang in mid ulster murdered victims such as an elderly catholic grandmother in her 80s , a heavily pregnant catholic housewife alone in her isolated farmhouse , 2 young girls earning pocket money in a mobile shop in a housing estate, an elderly pensioner couple..a long list of atrocities but the DUP were regularly on hand to talk to Wright throughout that period .


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## Kaka Tim (Jun 10, 2017)

tim said:


> You'll be shocked to discover there are groups of creationists regularly meeting the length and breadth of Europe. If you have a building with a big tower full of noisy bells near you, or one that gets regular visits from men in strange headgear, you may well find that it is a centre for the propagation of such beliefs. Theresa May's dad used work in one of these places, so she is probably familiar with the theories they disseminate.
> 
> Personally it's the bigotry and corruption of the DUP that concerns me more.



most c of e and catholic churches don't preach creationism. i was brought up strict catholic and the only creationism i ever encountered was from my (very old school) granddad.


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## danny la rouge (Jun 10, 2017)

J Ed said:


> I have to say, I thought that I was pretty ignorant about Northern Irish politics but watching the commentariat try to talk about the DUP makes me feel like a political scientist on Northern Ireland or something.


It's astonishing actually how ill-informed they are. And the confidence with which they spout pish.


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## mather (Jun 10, 2017)

Kaka Tim said:


> most c of e and catholic churches don't preach creationism. i was brought up strict catholic and the only creationism i ever encountered was from my (very old school) granddad.



Same here, I was raised Catholic and creationism was never preached, in fact one the nuns who instructed me for my Confirmation said that the story of Genesis was a metaphor rather than a literal interpretation of what happened and that evolution is true but also part of God's divine plan.


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## DotCommunist (Jun 10, 2017)

danny la rouge said:


> It's astonishing actually how ill-informed they are. And the confidence with which they spout pish.


private school arrogance I recon.


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## tim (Jun 10, 2017)

Kaka Tim said:


> most c of e and catholic churches don't preach creationism. i was brought up strict catholic and the only creationism i ever encountered was from my (very old school) granddad.



They may not all do but many do and the Creed they recite is overtly creationist



> . *WE BELIEVE* in one God,
> the Father, the Almighty,
> maker of heaven and earth,
> of all that is, seen and unseen


Anyone who believes that there is a guiding intelligence that is responsible for our existence is a creationists. Whether they believe in 7 literal days or some more nuanced form of intelligent design


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## tim (Jun 10, 2017)

mather said:


> Same here, I was raised Catholic and creationism was never preached, in fact one the nuns who instructed me for my Confirmation said that the story of Genesis was a metaphor rather than a literal interpretation of what happened and that evolution is true but also part of God's divine plan.



And how is a belief in evolution as part of God's divine plan, assuming that the concept not  a creationist belief?

And, anyway,  can one have a planned evolution?


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## DotCommunist (Jun 10, 2017)

tim said:


> can one have a planned evolution.


not read him but theres always one...

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin - Wikipedia


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## bimble (Jun 10, 2017)

Darwin himself had to give up on squaring that circle, though he did try hard for the love of his religious wife. He ended up having to just stop going to church, though he'd stroll down with his family and leave them at the gate. Evolution as he came to see it has to include the idea that it's not _going _anywhere, so there's really no room for a divine plan.


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## Casually Red (Jun 10, 2017)

mather said:


> Same here, I was raised Catholic and creationism was never preached, in fact one the nuns who instructed me for my Confirmation said that the story of Genesis was a metaphor rather than a literal interpretation of what happened and that evolution is true but also part of God's divine plan.



The advice Catholics tend to get is ..sort of..umm..ignore the bible in general and ..ffs whatever you do...ignore the old testament stuff at all costs. It's fucking mad altogether  . If there's anything in the bible that might be interesting the priest will read it out for you . That's his job , don't concern yourself with that stuff . Especially..whatever the fuck you do..the old testament .
The Protestant denominations over here tend to go bible mad . Especially the for the old testament stuff . They can quote it and all sorts . It's a bit  Wahhabi at times . There's a million and one ways a priest can piss you off but quoting biblical tracts at you generally isn't one of them . I've never encountered catholic creationism in my life . I'm not sure if it's even a thing .


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## DexterTCN (Jun 10, 2017)




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## Casually Red (Jun 10, 2017)

tim said:


> They may not all do but many do and the Creed they recite is overtly creationist
> 
> 
> Anyone who believes that there is a guiding intelligence that is responsible for our existence is a creationists. Whether they believe in 7 literal days or some more nuanced form of intelligent design



The creationism in question though is the literal interpretation of the old testament in spite of proven scientific theory . That's what the fuss is about here . The denial of dinosaurs..or perhaps the belief man and brontosaurus coexisted happily . That's the commonly accepted definition . There's a huge gulf between someone who has a religious faith and happily accepts scientific reasoning as fact , and someone who abjectly refuses to accept scientific reasoning and proof as fact due to literal interpretation of religious scripture . 
One is open minded and a recipient of logic and knowledge while the other is an opponent of logic and knowledge , elevating ignorance to a virtue despite a wealth of learning and science that contradicts their stance .


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## CrabbedOne (Jun 10, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> One of the main reasons she survived is because the shinners..at long last and under immense grass roots pressure to respond to that and the bigotry against Gaelic speakers, which broke concurrent to the boiler scandal..belatedly went after her . Sort of . Which in turn ensured the DUP circled the wagons when faced with a papish onslaught . Had they left her alone there was a slight possibility her own might have gotten rid of her. But once they made a noise the wagons were circled.
> 
> It's a system designed to encourage and reward sectarianism . It's British governance in Ireland which is at fault here . It can never work .an absence of bombs..for the moment..does not equate to normality . The British state in Ireland will always come up with a shitshow like this . It will always be deeply dysfunctional at its root .


If you look at Stormont it's record isn't so bad despite being run by two bunches of bickering bigoted nationalists. Rather nice social care provision. My mother gets far better care than she would in England and all on the NHS. A well preserved pre-Thatcherite public sector creating lots of cushy jobs. Very sleek _pillars of the community _looking suspiciously well funded. Endless work on the roads round Belfast. Very good comms with the South. Lots of cross border collaboration that I would never have imagined the DUP embracing. All those English taxes being pumped into the place. Jesus if they'd spent the same money on the English NE as the Irish it would be fucking booming. The result is only a minority of Northern Catholics wanting a united Ireland. Up the Shankill they are moaning the RCs look too well fed and happy while looking rather fat about the face and well rested themselves. Nearly everybody is much better off than they were in the grim 70s and they know it. The legacy of the Chuckle Brothers actually isn't that bad.

And what is Ash For Cash compared to the vast corrupt mess of Anglo Irish etc, pretty small beer. That is a major reason folk went so sour on neoliberal Dublin. The biggest pisser for real people who actually live in N.I. seems to be the housing crash that floated up from the exuberance of the Emerald Tiger. I've got friends from both sides still moaning about that. If the inmates of Stormont could just stop wasting their time with the endless twatish whataboutery about shit that happened a couple of decades ago. Get over it you are not so special.


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## bimble (Jun 10, 2017)

Is there the remotest chance that this spotlight being shon on the DUP might be of any help to women in NI for instance?


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## Casually Red (Jun 10, 2017)

CrabbedOne said:


> If you look at Stormont it's record isn't so bad despite being run by two bunches of bickering bigoted nationalists. Rather nice social care provision. My mother gets far better care than she would in England and all on the NHS. A well preserved pre-Thatcherite public sector creating lots of cushy jobs. Very sleek _pillars of the community _looking suspiciously well funded. Endless work on the roads round Belfast. Very good comms with the South. Lots of cross border collaboration that I would never have imagined the DUP embracing. All those English taxes being pumped into the place. Jesus if they'd spent the same money on the English NE as the Irish it would be fucking booming. The result is only a minority of Northern Catholics wanting a united Ireland. Up the Shankill they are moaning the RCs look too well fed and happy while looking rather fat about the face and well rested themselves. Nearly everybody is much better off than they were in the grim 70s and they know it. The legacy of the Chuckle Brothers actually isn't that bad.
> 
> And what is Ash For Cash compared to the vast corrupt mess of Anglo Irish etc, pretty small beer. That is a major reason folk went so sour on neoliberal Dublin. The biggest pisser for real people who actually live in N.I. seems to be the housing crash that floated up from the exuberance of the Emerald Tiger. I've got friends from both sides still moaning about that. If the inmates of Stormont could just stop wasting their time with the endless twatish whataboutery about shit that happened a couple of decades ago. Get over it you are not so special.



Your completely superficial take on this is pretty appalling . The levels of chronic poverty and deprivation are there for anyone to see . The north is so reliant on public subsidy because as an artificial entity there's no other way to sustain it . It requires constant propping up . The existence of British rule here by its very nature ensures , and rewards, the sectarian bickering .

This is like listening to terry and fucking June . Brain dead, anecdotal bollocks . As usual obsessed by property values and a nice road .


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## Sue (Jun 10, 2017)

mather said:


> Same here, I was raised Catholic and creationism was never preached, in fact one the nuns who instructed me for my Confirmation said that the story of Genesis was a metaphor rather than a literal interpretation of what happened and that evolution is true but also part of God's divine plan.


Same here.


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## Buckaroo (Jun 10, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> There's a million and one ways a priest can piss you off but quoting biblical tracts at you generally isn't one of them . I've never encountered catholic creationism in my life . I'm not sure if it's even a thing .



True, it's not a thing, more an obsession with death I think. And sex. Death and sex.


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## Fez909 (Jun 10, 2017)

I 'like' this pic doing the rounds in the usual places


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## Casually Red (Jun 10, 2017)

the new chief whips are determined to keep Tory backbenchers in line .


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## DexterTCN (Jun 10, 2017)

My dad, who died last week, was a scots version of this lot.

They're like a little aggressive tribe.  Literally.  They hate the world.


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## mather (Jun 10, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> the new chief whips are determined to keep Tory backbenchers in line .



Mind you, it would be pretty entertaining to see some Tory MPs get the whip, Ulster style.


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## bimble (Jun 10, 2017)

That thing about chaining up swings so that you can't swing on Sundays.. what's the religious reasoning behind that?


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## eoin_k (Jun 10, 2017)

Its a day of rest, innit, to be spent worship God. Quite a similar position on the Sabbath to that taken by orthodox jews.


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## Casually Red (Jun 10, 2017)

bimble said:


> That thing about chaining up swings so that you can't swing on Sundays.. what's the religious reasoning behind that?



They believe Sunday is a day of rest . Which means just that . Do absolutely nothing . No pub, no shop, no fuck all and no swings . Stay home and read the bible .

I went to a majority Protestant school and a number of my class mates parents used to unplug the telly on a Saturday evening and stick it in the attic so it wasn't there on a Sunday . Sunday's in the north of Ireland were seriously fucking bleak back in the day . Everything was shut . A Sunday afternoon walk through the centre of Belfast..or anywhere else..was like a scene from 28 days later . Completely deserted .

And just throw into the mix the fact Gaelic football..described by the  DUP once as " The IRA at play " is traditionally played on a Sunday and you can imagine the fun it was going to games in a unionist controlled council area . Like completely forget about any council funding or assistance whatsoever for local sport that didn't conform to their bigotry . While the local councillors consorted with mass murderers who'd kill you for playing it . And the cops fucking hated you too . 

Just try and imagine your world being run by the baddie parents from Footloose in partnship with the wing of UKIP Farage has nightmares about , except they had major armed back up and unofficial death squads too . That's what it was like .

Due to the fact most of the local laws still dated back to the period the north was under unionist rule at Stormont EVERYTHING was shut on a Sunday. By law . The DUP would put it back again in a heartbeat .
This is a song from a local group back in that period that summed it up. Needless to say they were feckless catholic types that knew nothing of scripture .


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## Bahnhof Strasse (Jun 10, 2017)

Some DUP fella on the radio this morning told the world three times that he is British to his back teeth. Was well odd, he sounded Irish to me.


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## bimble (Jun 10, 2017)

eoin_k said:


> Its a day of rest, innit, to be spent worship God. Quite a similar position on the Sabbath to that taken by orthodox jews.


Far as I know Orthodox Jews' sabbath is all about doing no _work _but play is ok. So swings is ok. The definition of 'work' they use includes things like switching lights on or off and ripping one sheet of toilet paper from the next along the perforated line, admittedly, so they have special pre-ripped paper for Saturdays - but games are allowed far as i know.


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## Casually Red (Jun 10, 2017)

Bahnhof Strasse said:


> Some DUP fella on the radio this morning told the world three times that he is British to his back teeth. Was well odd, he sounded Irish to me.



I'd seriously encourage everyone to keep pointing out how Irish they are . In every aspect . Accent, location..everything . And be as racist as fuck about it too..." coming over here " that sort of stuff . That's the buttons to push with these freaks . That's their soft underbelly..the fucking jugular . Text into any show they're on and do this stuff . They'll go mental..mentaller .


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## Poi E (Jun 10, 2017)

DexterTCN said:


> My dad, who died last week, was a scots version of this lot.
> 
> They're like a little aggressive tribe.  Literally.  They hate the world.



Sorry to hear that, on both counts.


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## Saul Goodman (Jun 10, 2017)

bimble said:


> Far as I know Orthodox Jews' sabbath is all about doing no _work _but play is ok. So swings is ok. The definition of 'work' they use includes things like switching lights on or off and ripping one sheet of toilet paper from the next along the perforated line



Do they employ somebody to do the wiping?


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## Fez909 (Jun 10, 2017)

bimble said:


> so they have special pre-ripped paper for Saturdays


Is that true? That's fucking hilarious


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## Bahnhof Strasse (Jun 10, 2017)

bimble said:


> Far as I know Orthodox Jews' sabbath is all about doing no _work _but play is ok. So swings is ok. The definition of 'work' they use includes things like switching lights on or off and ripping one sheet of toilet paper from the next along the perforated line, admittedly, so they have special pre-ripped paper for Saturdays - but games are allowed far as i know.



Pushing a swing would not be OK on the Jewish sabbath. 

Unless within an eruv.

Ffs, if you want to make up some silly rules, that's fine and dandy. But seriously, eruv? If you don't want to adhere to the rules, just don't. It's batshitloonery of the very highest order.


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## mrs quoad (Jun 10, 2017)

Guessing whoever organised the whole DUP thing wasn't the same brain behind Yorkshire conservatives having a stall at today's York Pride.

Which went down about as well as might be expected.


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## gosub (Jun 10, 2017)




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## Casually Red (Jun 10, 2017)

This is a great pic . The DUPs  Rev Willie McRea and former Paisley enforcer Major Bunting assaulting a British soldier back in the 1970s in a nationalist town in south Derry they wanted to riot in . McCrea was convicted of riotous behaviour afterwards and got sent down for a few months . 







The Rev Willie McRea is a hate preacher . He also has a long running association with notorious terrorists . His party has recently been caught out taking massive backhanders from the Saudis . So Theresa May is now politically beholden to a Saudi funded party that includes hate preachers who openly consort with known terrorists and who have convictions for violently attacking " our boys in uniform "

Unfit for office .


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## Bahnhof Strasse (Jun 10, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> I'd seriously encourage everyone to keep pointing out how Irish they are . In every aspect . Accent, location..everything . And be as racist as fuck about it too..." coming over here " that sort of stuff . That's the buttons to push with these freaks . That's their soft underbelly..the fucking jugular . Text into any show they're on and do this stuff . They'll go mental..mentaller .



Staines folk are, as usual ahead of the game here:


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## Casually Red (Jun 10, 2017)

Hmm..not sure whether this is totally kosher . But it'll be not far off in spirit .


EXCLUSIVE: The DUP wishlist in full…


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## Calamity1971 (Jun 10, 2017)

Some brilliant comments below the spoof article. 
This guys profile looks genuine which is quite worrying. 

Wesley Mcdowell
Prison Chaplain at Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster
All you smart asses cannot accept that there are people of principle who don't change at the whim of extremely intolerant left wingers, or, should I say, whingers.

This one made me smile

Sean Cassidy
If they called it the Iris Robinson tunnel, everybody would know where it is but no one would want to go there. 
.


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## dessiato (Jun 10, 2017)

My brother in law, who did three tours of NI from the mid seventies, thinks a coalition with the DUP is fine, "as long as it keeps Corbyn out."


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## planetgeli (Jun 10, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> I'd seriously encourage everyone to keep pointing out how Irish they are . In every aspect . Accent, location..everything . And be as racist as fuck about it too..." coming over here " that sort of stuff . That's the buttons to push with these freaks . That's their soft underbelly..the fucking jugular . Text into any show they're on and do this stuff . They'll go mental..mentaller .



Liked for 'mentaller'. Quoted for truth.


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## Casually Red (Jun 10, 2017)

Stormont environment minister Sammy Wilson banned the UK governments pro green energy proposals from being broadcast in the north . Then went on telly to talk a load of old shite . This is all very brass eye...like he's actually pictured at the start standing right beside a completely flooded major arterial route in the centre of Belfast in the middle of August..there was dozens of submerged cars ..for fucks sake . But he banned the ads from being broadcast . And then tried to justify it Jon snow . Snow should have asked him about dinosaurs . Or breast feeding exhibitionists.


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## mather (Jun 10, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> read the bible



Thats not really resting, is it.


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## Fez909 (Jun 10, 2017)




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## UnderAnOpenSky (Jun 10, 2017)

The Shame Game. A guide for British voters.  

The Shame Game - who are the DUP? - Georgia Grainger


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## dessiato (Jun 10, 2017)

moochedit said:


> If you feel like some clicktavism......(yeah i know another bloody epetition)
> 
> MAY OUT - NO COALITION WITH THE D.U.P!


I've signed it because I hope it will show some if the feeling that this situation has created.


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## Nine Bob Note (Jun 10, 2017)

Bahnhof Strasse said:


> Some DUP fella on the radio this morning told the world three times that he is British to his back teeth. Was well odd, he sounded Irish to me.








That's him in the deer-stalker


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## CrabbedOne (Jun 10, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> Your completely superficial take on this is pretty appalling . The levels of chronic poverty and deprivation are there for anyone to see . The north is so reliant on public subsidy because as an artificial entity there's no other way to sustain it . It requires constant propping up . The existence of British rule here by its very nature ensures , and rewards, the sectarian bickering .
> 
> This is like listening to terry and fucking June . Brain dead, anecdotal bollocks . As usual obsessed by property values and a nice road .


Have you ever even popped over for a shandy or talked to a Prod without wearing safety equipment? The outdated Republican talking points and anti-Hun agitprop gets a bit tired after a while and doesn't suggest much real contact with the realities. 

Those do tend to be rather mundane I'm afraid. Despite all the baggage the DUP is fairly boring day to day as are SF. The 6C is a fucked up polity run by extremists. It needs support to slowly (too fucking slowly) mend. Oddly people are concerned with things like how much your very nice Housing Executive home is worth (yes my horrible capitalistic, often unemployed brother, is sad his halved in value) the roads not being as fucked up as they used to be, DLA payments, pensions the NHS and care services. The same concerns that caused a lot of English folk to vote for Corbyn recently. They'd been treated far more shabbily by "British rule" than lavishly subsidised 6C dwellers.

It's not all obsessing on "flegs" and sectarian hatred. Though I'm afraid that still matters rather too much.

And that's down to the DUP and SF in Stormont occasionally doing the right thing for their constituents. That one side might argue was mostly a joint Irish effort if only to annoy the other. It's a low bar and I detest both parties but they deserve some credit for this asshole mud wrestling match producing at least some things for the Common Good. It's more than the US Congress does currently or Dáil Éireann ever has.


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## Casually Red (Jun 10, 2017)

CrabbedOne said:


> Have you ever even popped over for a shandy or talked to a Prod without wearing safety equipment? The outdated Republican talking points and anti-Hun agitprop gets a bit tired after a while and doesn't suggest much real contact with the realities.
> 
> Those do tend to be rather mundane I'm afraid. Despite all the baggage the DUP is fairly boring day to day as are SF. The 6C is a fucked up polity run by extremists. It needs support to slowly (too fucking slowly) mend. Oddly people are concerned with things like how much your very nice Housing Executive home is worth (yes my horrible capitalistic, often unemployed brother, is sad his halved in value) the roads not being as fucked up as they used to be, DLA payments, pensions the NHS and care services. The same concerns that caused a lot of English folk to vote for Corbyn recently. They'd been treated far more shabbily by "British rule" than lavishly subsidised 6C dwellers.
> 
> ...



Idiot . I went to a majority Protestant school . Grew up in a mixed housing estate , went to a mixed primary school. Played with prods, worked and work with prods , drank with prods , had prod girlfriends . My sister in law is a prod from staunchest truest blue east Belfast . You pull this stuff right out of your arse .

You're replying to my post about chronic abject poverty, which you've completely ignored as if it doesn't exist. And instead keep wittering on  about house prices . The roads round here are a fucking disgrace, death traps now frankly . Cars are losing control with alarming regularity in my locality. The local hospitals on the verge of being closed . It's also just whooshed over your head that 17 years into the Belfast agreement for the first time the so called " centre ground " and " moderates " have been completely wiped out electorally . The society is now totally polarised along sectarian lines .

And you're saying it isn't all that bad thanks to a few trips through the centre of Belfast and chats with your property speculating in laws ? Like a great many others I don't own my house . My homes renovations were botched..deliberately out of sectarian spite..I forgot to take the proclamation down from the mantelpiece when the DUPs building firm did the contracting . They made a fortune and kept it . I got chronic dampness and a fortune in  heating bills . After they also installed electric heaters nobody fucking wanted , but made millions from putting them in anyway .

Stormonts not doing a decent job . This is not a decent job . This is a fucking disgrace .

Child poverty in Derry: two out of three youngsters live below the breadline in deprived areas - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

101,000 children living in poverty as income of Northern Ireland families falls - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

West Belfast 'second highest in UK for child poverty' - BBC News

One in five people in Northern Ireland living in poverty


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## tim (Jun 10, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> The creationism in question though is the literal interpretation of the old testament in spite of proven scientific theory . That's what the fuss is about here . The denial of dinosaurs..or perhaps the belief man and brontosaurus coexisted happily . That's the commonly accepted definition . There's a huge gulf between someone who has a religious faith and happily accepts scientific reasoning as fact , and someone who abjectly refuses to accept scientific reasoning and proof as fact due to literal interpretation of religious scripture .
> One is open minded and a recipient of logic and knowledge while the other is an opponent of logic and knowledge , elevating ignorance to a virtue despite a wealth of learning and science that contradicts their stance .



So wnen you say creationism, you actually mean Biblical  literalism.


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## Casually Red (Jun 10, 2017)

tim said:


> So wnen you say creationism, you actually mean Biblical  literalism.



No I mean creationism as its commonly understood by everyone else except you . And it's not just me who says this is what creationism means . It's everyone else, pretty much .


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## tim (Jun 10, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> No I mean creationism as its commonly understood by everyone else except you . And it's not just me who says this is what creationism means . It's everyone else, pretty much .



I can't help it, if you all get it wrong.


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## Casually Red (Jun 10, 2017)

tim said:


> I can't help it, if you all get it wrong.



It certainly is beyond your gift to persuade me..and the rest of the world...that the definition of creationism you just made up is the correct one and everybody else has it wrong . Nonetheless I salute your indefatigability and wish you well in your quest .cant be easy .


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## NoXion (Jun 10, 2017)

tim said:


> I can't help it, if you all get it wrong.



Would you say that Deists are creationists?


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Jun 10, 2017)

tim said:


> I can't help it, if you all get it wrong.



Tbf to Casually Red on this one, most Christians in the UK would understand Creationist to mean a literal understanding, at odds with science, rather then a more woolly view that God did create it but we now have a better understanding of his tools.


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## tim (Jun 10, 2017)

NoXion said:


> Would you say that Deists are creationists?



That would depend on the deist. Some clearly are as they believe on a celestial designer:







> *Welcome to Deism!*
> 
> Deism has a lot to offer you! It also has a lot to offer society! Deism is knowledge*** of God based on the application of our reason on the designs/laws found throughout Nature. The designs presuppose a Designer. Deism is therefore a natural religion and is not a "revealed" religion. The natural religion/philosophy of Deism frees those who embrace it from the inconsistencies of superstition and the negativity of fear that are so strongly represented in all of the "revealed" religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam. (These religions are called revealed religions because they all make claim to having received a special revelation from God which they pretend, and many of their sincere followers actually believe, their various and conflicting holy books are based on.) When enough people become Deists, reason will be elevated over fear and myth and its positive qualities will become a part of society as a whole. Then, instead of having billions of people chasing after the nonsensical violence promoting myths of the "revealed" religions, people will be centered on their God-given reason which will lead to limitless personal and societal progress!



Others, would seem to be more Pantheistic. I'm not  convinced that Pantheists count a Creationists.


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## littlebabyjesus (Jun 10, 2017)

UnderAnOpenSky said:


> Tbf to Casually Red on this one, most Christians in the UK would understand Creationist to mean a literal understanding, at odds with science, rather then a more woolly view that God did create it but we now have a better understanding of his tools.


Most people understand it in that way, surely, not just Christians. 'creationism' is invariably the word used to describe a person who has a problem with the theory of evolution.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Jun 10, 2017)

DUP deal to focus on Brexit, pensions and dinosaurs being a hoax


----------



## DexterTCN (Jun 10, 2017)




----------



## tommers (Jun 10, 2017)

NoXion said:


> Would you say that Deists are creationists?



That would be an ecumenical matter.


----------



## LiamO (Jun 11, 2017)




----------



## xenon (Jun 11, 2017)

Sky news reporting the Downing Street  statement  saying an agreement had been reached, was an error. No such agreement so far. 

Lol


----------



## Supine (Jun 11, 2017)

xenon said:


> Sky news reporting the Downing Street  statement  saying an agreement had been reached, was an error. No such agreement so far.
> 
> Lol



Yeah. The level of incompetence at number ten is astounding. Not heard anything from labour on this yet.


----------



## mather (Jun 11, 2017)

Supine said:


> Yeah. The level of incompetence at number ten is astounding. Not heard anything from labour on this yet.



No surprise with May at the helm, I heard she once missed an important meeting when she was Home Secretary because she forgot what day of the week it was and got them mixed up.


----------



## agricola (Jun 11, 2017)

xenon said:


> Sky news reporting the Downing Street  statement  saying an agreement had been reached, was an error. No such agreement so far.
> 
> Lol



the rest of the Cabinet is probably trying to get the DUP to refuse to support her


----------



## Corax (Jun 11, 2017)

Aaaaaand.... it seems the Orangemen have already kicked things off by marching through Liverpool today.  Apparently unscheduled (it ain't the 12th yet, this was in response to the DUP power grab) and with UVF banners flying.

All very 'reportedly' atm though - some sketchy mobile footage and tweets.


----------



## Casually Red (Jun 11, 2017)

DexterTCN said:


> View attachment 109071



I remember that . It was actually worse than the tweet .A DUP spokesperson said at the time that ELO " stood for the 3 d's...the devil, drugs and debauchery " . And they banned ELO on those grounds . As ELO aren't exactly renowned hell raisers who sacrifice chickens on stage while sniffing coke off bare tits it's safe to assume this is a widely held view within the DUP as regards popular music of any genre .

Like I said its the baddies from Footloose run amok .

The yanks have droned Muslims for a lot less than some of this DUP stuff . If you were Muslim this would definitely get you on a list of some sort . And for the record given their penchant for corruption I wouldn't trust a DUPer to go to the shop for me either .


----------



## ddraig (Jun 11, 2017)

Corax said:


> Aaaaaand.... it seems the Orangemen have already kicked things off by marching through Liverpool today.  Apparently unscheduled (it ain't the 12 yet, this was in response to the DUP power grab) and with UVF banners flying.
> 
> All very 'reportedly' atm though - some sketchy mobile footage and tweets.


seen this


----------



## ItWillNeverWork (Jun 11, 2017)

Caaalm Doown, Caaalm Doown!


----------



## Casually Red (Jun 11, 2017)

ddraig said:


> seen this




Ah..right... hammering away at " the sash " directly outside an Irish pub with a couple of tricolours . I'm sure the British people will be thoroughly enchanted with the importation of these colourful cultural practices and the mardi gras atmosphere we experience here every summer . While the pub owners will thank them for adding a large dash of authenticity to the Irish pub genre . All too often derided for its fake plastic nature .


----------



## Casually Red (Jun 11, 2017)

ItWillNeverWork said:


> Caaalm Doown, Caaalm Doown!



It's the bizziieees !!


----------



## Calamity1971 (Jun 11, 2017)

ItWillNeverWork said:


> Caaalm Doown, Caaalm Doown!


How very original . What is doown? Scottish scouser?


----------



## Corax (Jun 11, 2017)

ddraig said:


> seen this



That's the one.

I've read elsewhere that Liverpool puts up with one march each year - but that's in 'the season' and heavily policed etc.  This one, apparently, came out of nowhere as a provocative celebration of the it's-not-a-coalition-honest-guv.

Any scousers on here who can confirm/refute any of that?


----------



## Calamity1971 (Jun 11, 2017)

Yep. Once a year. You knew who were on the march cos they threw a sicky same time every year.


----------



## Casually Red (Jun 11, 2017)

As we're ripping the piss out of the DUP I thought I'd post this vid of a pub full of punters from my general border locality ripping the piss out of the Rev Willie Mcrea and his general demeanour and beliefs using the medium of verse  . Bloke singing it wrote the song . a local classic round these parts . Just to show people the reaction to DUP antics is often humour rather than anger and violence .

Sorry there's no subtitles . Also , for the uninitiated, a " taig " is a derogatory loyalist term for a kafflick .


----------



## jakethesnake (Jun 11, 2017)

ddraig said:


> seen this



From 2008 I think. Still shit though and soon to be repeated I expect.


----------



## ItWillNeverWork (Jun 11, 2017)

Calamity1971 said:


> How very original . What is doown? Scottish scouser?



I'm here all week.


----------



## Calamity1971 (Jun 11, 2017)

Fuck


----------



## ItWillNeverWork (Jun 11, 2017)




----------



## Poi E (Jun 11, 2017)

Cheers for an interesting thread. Swap the butcher's apron for a Republika Srpska flag and the videos of prod events look like the knuckle draggers I encountered in shitholes in e. Bosnia, complete with church cunts sanctifying things. "So you are Bosnian?" "No I'm Serbian". "But what does your passport say and why are you drinking Turkish coffee?" etc. If only they knew what other wankers in Belgrade thought of their kinsman along the Drina.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Jun 11, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> This is all very brass eye...l



Cake is a May-DUP drug


----------



## bimble (Jun 11, 2017)

quite good:


----------



## Ian Rate (Jun 11, 2017)

It's going to be interesting at the very least.

Mrs May has cornered herself with some very dubious colleagues.

I am surprised that she felt she had a mandate from her backbenchers to collude with these deplorable knuckle draggers. Despite being leader surely more consultation would be expected from her parliamentary party before this odious alignment?


----------



## ddraig (Jun 11, 2017)

jakethesnake said:


> From 2008 I think. Still shit though and soon to be repeated I expect.


Is it? Posted as if was this weekend
Glad if it's old


----------



## bimble (Jun 11, 2017)

Awkward.  General election 2017: Fallon defends DUP government 'deal' - BBC News


----------



## andrewc (Jun 11, 2017)

Local paper are running with the story & say there were a couple of arrests. Two arrested in clashes during Protestant march through Liverpool

Edit. You can clearly see a bus shelter advert for a local college. That's current, I saw it the  other day.


----------



## Puddy_Tat (Jun 11, 2017)

"Tories awarded MBE to DUP member who blamed hurricanes on homosexuality"

from Nye Bevan News


----------



## Calamity1971 (Jun 11, 2017)

Puddy_Tat said:


> "Tories awarded MBE to DUP member who blamed hurricanes on homosexuality"
> 
> from Nye Bevan News


Fucks sake, why am I not surprised


----------



## Pickman's model (Jun 11, 2017)

Calamity1971 said:


> Fucks sake, why am I not surprised


Sure you should be surprised, that he didn't get kcmg or similar.


----------



## likesfish (Jun 11, 2017)

they are the dark side of john majors old style 1950s fantasy with a side order of anti Catholicism.
  when people complained about the local catholic school parents parking on the grass verges.
  my suggestion of getting a mob together to throw bottles of piss at the kids and painting  big mural was looked at as if I was insane


----------



## Nine Bob Note (Jun 11, 2017)

Pickman's model said:


> Sure you should be surprised, that he didn't get kcmg



He thinks they're blasphemous.


----------



## andrewc (Jun 11, 2017)

Terrified driver films men brawling on her car during Protestant march

Another video from last night in Liverpool.	I walked past the place earlier on my way home , no sign of any damage & full of people enjoying themselves.


----------



## cantsin (Jun 11, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> Ah..right... hammering away at " the sash " directly outside an Irish pub with a couple of tricolours . I'm sure the British people will be thoroughly enchanted with the importation of these colourful cultural practices and the mardi gras atmosphere we experience here every summer . While the pub owners will thank them for adding a large dash of authenticity to the Irish pub genre . All too often derided for its fake plastic nature .



sickening


----------



## DaveCinzano (Jun 12, 2017)

DexterTCN said:


> View attachment 109071


Even Alan Partridge saw ELO - at the Birmingham NEC back in 1976 - making the DUP even more banally small-minded and foaming-mouthed than a fictional, comedically bigoted, priggish Little Englander.


----------



## likesfish (Jun 12, 2017)

Sein Fein will be nursing a hangover this morning.
  Hey we may be terrorists but we arnt the DUP

They dont have to do anything and not taking their seats they will have nothing to do with the coming shitstorm. The DUP won't be able to resist the oppurtunity to express their  er views
   At which point the english public will go what that fuck mostly.
  Only problem is not sure the south wants the fuckers maybe trump can be persuaded to take them


----------



## Puddy_Tat (Jun 12, 2017)

bit in the bogroll known as the 'metro' this morning about concerns that dup were "too close to loyalist fighters during the troubles"

 in a big way


----------



## likesfish (Jun 12, 2017)

The term is plausable denability 
  Everyone knows you fucking did it but for reasons claims theres no smoking gun linking you to the atrocity


----------



## Idris2002 (Jun 12, 2017)

likesfish said:


> The term is plausable denability
> Everyone knows you fucking did it but for reasons claims theres no smoking gun linking you to the atrocity


In Peter Taylor's _Loyalists _book he quotes one of the early loyalist paramilitary leaders as saying that they deliberately kept away from direct contact with Ian the Cunt because they wanted to provide him with just that, deniability.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 12, 2017)

likesfish said:


> The term is plausable denability
> Everyone knows you fucking did it but for reasons claims theres no smoking gun linking you to the atrocity



your lot were running the loyalist gangs anyway so nobody wants to look too closely at certain links do they


----------



## LiamO (Jun 12, 2017)

youse 'uns just hate are kultcha.


----------



## likesfish (Jun 12, 2017)

DotCommunist said:


> your lot were running the loyalist gangs anyway so nobody wants to look too closely at certain links do they[
> 
> Some gangs some of the time they were perfectly capable of coming up with horrors all on their own


----------



## SpineyNorman (Jun 12, 2017)

They sometimes needed help though, like with the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. 

(don't usually go for conspiracies but that one is well dodgy)


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 12, 2017)

yeah but the ones you weren't running, the state knew about. I refuse to believe they didn't know about the shankhill butchers.


----------



## moochedit (Jun 12, 2017)

Looks like Dup are under pressure from their own supporters. May can't possibly agree to this march stuff could she  this'll go well.

Orange Order asks DUP to use banned sectarian Drumcree march ...
Orange Order asks DUP to use banned sectarian march in negotiations with Theresa May


----------



## Treacle Toes (Jun 12, 2017)

moochedit said:


> Looks like Dup are under pressure from their own supporters. May can't possibly agree to this march stuff could she  this'll go well.
> 
> Orange Order asks DUP to use banned sectarian Drumcree march ...
> Orange Order asks DUP to use banned sectarian march in negotiations with Theresa May



Fucking hell they have some cheek. 

Seriously though, this really underlines how dodgey such an alliance is in terms of the UK government's necessary neutral position in the NIPP.


----------



## teqniq (Jun 12, 2017)




----------



## not-bono-ever (Jun 12, 2017)

May has produced a short information video about how she intends the Con/ DUP alliance to pan out

(its a Schienenwolf btw)


----------



## bimble (Jun 12, 2017)

What happens if the Tory party can't reach an agreement with the DUP?


----------



## littlebabyjesus (Jun 12, 2017)

bimble said:


> What happens if the Tory party can't reach an agreement with the DUP?


You think anyone knows? 

My understanding is that they won't try a queen's speech unless they're sure it will pass in the commons, as it not passing is the equivalent to a vote of no-confidence, and that Labour are planning to table their own version of a qs to present to parliament, but I can't see how that would pass either. A new election could be sooner rather than later.


----------



## likesfish (Jun 12, 2017)

Anything to do with parades won't pass nobody in England thinks parading where you arnt wanted and screaming abuse about Catholics is ok.
  Apart from Lewis on bonfire night and that's tradition


----------



## not-bono-ever (Jun 12, 2017)

Puddy_Tat said:


> "Tories awarded MBE to DUP member who blamed hurricanes on homosexuality"
> 
> from Nye Bevan News


 

odd article - the headline saying DUPper was knighted - MBE isn't a knighting is it ?


----------



## ddraig (Jun 12, 2017)

likesfish said:


> Anything to do with parades won't pass nobody in England thinks parading where you arnt wanted and screaming abuse about Catholics is ok.
> Apart from Lewis on bonfire night and that's tradition


Lewes


----------



## likesfish (Jun 12, 2017)

Intelligent nazis strike again


----------



## newbie (Jun 12, 2017)

likesfish said:


> Anything to do with parades won't pass nobody in England thinks parading where you arnt wanted and screaming abuse about Catholics is ok.


Indeed.  So if parades are part of the agreement we'll know for sure certain that May is useless at negotiation.


----------



## bimble (Jun 12, 2017)

'I've always been clear, any deal is better than no deal'


----------



## Pickman's model (Jun 12, 2017)

newbie said:


> Indeed.  So if parades are part of the agreement we'll know for sure certain that May is useless at negotiation.


May is useless at negotiation


----------



## DexterTCN (Jun 12, 2017)

They're doing #DUPmovies on twitter.  Some good ones too 

Prejudice and Prejudice
On Her Majesty's Sectarian Service
Born on the Twelfth of July

and so on


----------



## DexterTCN (Jun 12, 2017)

Sash Gordon
4000 Years BC
Perfect Stormount
Hun flew over the cuckoo's nest
One flute over the cuckoo's nest
Belfast and Furious

sorry I'll stop now


----------



## ViolentPanda (Jun 12, 2017)

Ian Rate said:


> It's going to be interesting at the very least.
> 
> Mrs May has cornered herself with some very dubious colleagues.
> 
> I am surprised that she felt she had a mandate from her backbenchers to collude with these deplorable knuckle draggers. Despite being leader surely more consultation would be expected from her parliamentary party before this odious alignment?



At MOST, she's only obliged (morally, not legally) to consult her cabinet.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Jun 12, 2017)

DotCommunist said:


> your lot were running the loyalist gangs anyway so nobody wants to look too closely at certain links do they



If we're going to pay attention to the facts, it was mostly the Green Slime (that's the oxymoronic Military Intelligence, as named by proper soldiers), RUC Special Branch and MI5 who ran the gangs and pseudo-gangs, not the British army _per se_.


----------



## littlebabyjesus (Jun 12, 2017)

ViolentPanda said:


> At MOST, she's only obliged (morally, not legally) to consult her cabinet.


And tbf the deep-seated tory instinct for survival seems to have kicked in for the moment. As someone said on another thread, they're tories - they'll take humiliation if it means a chance to stay in power over principled defeat any day. And there is no other option - the tories realistically can only form a govt with DUP backing, they can't risk the ultimate humiliation of failing to pass a queen's speech (has that ever happened for an incoming govt?). 

We'll see what tomorrow brings. Seems they are shit-scared now of another election this year because they think they will lose it outright. But one absurd display of loyalty just means the delusional thinking is catching, that's all.


----------



## ViolentPanda (Jun 12, 2017)

DotCommunist said:


> yeah but the ones you weren't running, the state knew about. I refuse to believe they didn't know about the shankhill butchers.



The state knew about everything, including the kiddie-bummers, and let the loyalists get on with it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 12, 2017)

ViolentPanda said:


> The state knew about everything, including the kiddie-bummers, and let the loyalists get on with it.


oh yeah, kincora. How keen the state was to keep that one from the wider investigations of modern times


----------



## not-bono-ever (Jun 12, 2017)

the LCC ( umbrella front for loyalist paramilitaries*) did back instruct its lot to back DUP candidates in the GE

Loyalist Communities Councils Homepage

Its pretty astounding that this lot- including alumni such as Mad dog and pup -  effectively have access to pivotal representation in Westminster.

* terrorists, depending on your take - see other long threads on the minutae of this distinction


----------



## Poi E (Jun 13, 2017)

DUP chief Foster tells Sinn Fein to pick Stormont or Westminster - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

Cocky these days, aren't we Foster?


----------



## gosub (Jun 13, 2017)

likesfish said:


> Anything to do with parades won't pass nobody in England thinks parading where you arnt wanted and screaming abuse about Catholics is ok.
> Apart from Lewis on bonfire night and that's tradition


But it'll only be ONE day a year,   which leaves a bit of scope for the Catholics.  Say every First Friday in August they could blow up whatever they liked.  Or an agreement on the maximum amount of fertiliser in a bomb...


----------



## not-bono-ever (Jun 13, 2017)

The cost of getting the DUPpers onside is reckoned to be a billion quid or so and was drafted in march apparently -includes  the lowering of the corporate tax to 12.5%, a ban on westmister incumbents getting any allowances if they do not take up their seats ( Shinners obvs ). fucking hell


----------



## gosub (Jun 13, 2017)

not-bono-ever said:


> The cost of getting the DUPpers onside is reckoned to be a billion quid or so and was drafted in march apparently -includes  the lowering of the corporate tax to 12.5%, a ban on westmister incumbents getting any allowances if they do not take up their seats ( Shinners obvs ). fucking hell


Can we not rake some of that back with say a 'balaclava tax'


----------



## flypanam (Jun 13, 2017)

You lot should check out Wee Willie Frazer, who is pushing the DUP to press for pardons for members of the security forces involved in killings in the troubles.

this is part of his shit Willie Frazer: Fenian-looking people are snaking about Markethill and watching me - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk


----------



## Idris2002 (Jun 13, 2017)

flypanam said:


> You lot should check out Wee Willie Frazer, who is pushing the DUP to press for pardons for members of the security forces involved in killings in the troubles.
> 
> this is part of his shit Willie Frazer: Fenian-looking people are snaking about Markethill and watching me - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk


Fun fact; Frazer was denied a license for a personal protection weapon on the grounds that police were afraid that if he had a gun it would be "stolen" by loyalist paramilitaries.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Jun 13, 2017)

Poi E said:


> DUP chief Foster tells Sinn Fein to pick Stormont or Westminster - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk



That's definitely going to help resolve matters


----------



## likesfish (Jun 13, 2017)

Idris2002 said:


> Fun fact; Frazer was denied a license for a personal protection weapon on the grounds that police were afraid that if he had a gun it would be "stolen" by loyalist paramilitaries.




Which is more polite than ffs frazer are you out of your fucking mind the mans a nutterI wouldn't trust him with a crayon


----------



## Idris2002 (Jun 13, 2017)

likesfish said:


> Which is more polite than ffs frazer are you out of your fucking mind the mans a nutterI wouldn't trust him with a crayon


And NI peelers are neither shrinking violets, nor unknown to be sympathetic to postures of loyalty.


----------



## MochaSoul (Jun 13, 2017)

Has anyone heard anything about Sinn Féin taking their seats? The Sun is saying they are flying over and Reuters is live facebooking a press conference I can't watch because my stream is shit.


----------



## Pickman's model (Jun 13, 2017)

MochaSoul said:


> Has anyone heard anything about Sinn Féin taking their seats? The Sun is saying they are flying over and Reuters is live facebooking a press conference I can't watch because my stream is shit.




they've taken up their offices before. but not the office to which they have been elected, they just take the frills.


----------



## MochaSoul (Jun 13, 2017)

Pickman's model said:


> View attachment 109248
> 
> they've taken up their offices before. but not the office to which they have been elected, they just take the frills.



Ah! Thanks Pickman's model


----------



## Bahnhof Strasse (Jun 13, 2017)

Pickman's model said:


> View attachment 109248
> 
> they've taken up their offices before. but not the office to which they have been elected, they just take the frills.



Cheap booze.


----------



## Bahnhof Strasse (Jun 13, 2017)

Seven Deadly Sinns


----------



## Pickman's model (Jun 13, 2017)

Bahnhof Strasse said:


> Seven Deadly Sinns


You know you're not allowed to laugh at murdoch humour


----------



## Bahnhof Strasse (Jun 13, 2017)

They may be scum but they give good pun.


----------



## NoXion (Jun 13, 2017)

A rhyme in time makes a word crime sublime.


----------



## Celyn (Jun 13, 2017)

flypanam said:


> ...
> this is part of his shit Willie Frazer: Fenian-looking people are snaking about Markethill and watching me - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk



"Fenian-looking"? Wow!


----------



## moochedit (Jun 13, 2017)

Corax said:


> Aaaaaand.... it seems the Orangemen have already kicked things off by marching through Liverpool today.  Apparently unscheduled (it ain't the 12th yet, this was in response to the DUP power grab) and with UVF banners flying.
> 
> All very 'reportedly' atm though - some sketchy mobile footage and tweets.



Apparently we had one in coventry at the week end. It says they do it every 3 years although i've never heard of it before.

Huge protestant parade marches through Coventry

Edit - here is the last one from 2013...somehow i've managed to miss this before now..


----------



## Sue (Jun 13, 2017)

Celyn said:


> "Fenian-looking"? Wow!


Snaking about to boot.


----------



## not-bono-ever (Jun 13, 2017)

Calls for DUP to reveal source of €500,000 Brexit donation

people getting suspicious about the half bar that the DUP got in a donation. My money is on Aaron Banks


----------



## DaveCinzano (Jun 13, 2017)

not-bono-ever said:


> Calls for DUP to reveal source of €500,000 Brexit donation
> 
> people getting suspicious about the half bar that the DUP got in a donation. My money is on Aaron Banks


In the old days it would've been Robin


----------



## LiamO (Jun 13, 2017)

not-bono-ever said:


> Calls for DUP to reveal source of €500,000 Brexit donation
> 
> people getting suspicious about the half bar that the DUP got in a donation. My money is on Aaron Banks



not-bono-ever  ahem...

What connects Brexit, the DUP, dark money and a Saudi prince?


----------



## not-bono-ever (Jun 13, 2017)

oops


----------



## Almor (Jun 14, 2017)

Shared by family on Facebook


----------



## Rosemary Jest (Jun 14, 2017)

Well, that's me sold then.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Jun 14, 2017)

Almor said:


> Shared by family on Facebook
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Though the British Army/RUC/UVF Glenanne Gang had a fair crack by nearly wiping out the Miami Showband after a gig.


----------



## Buckaroo (Jun 14, 2017)




----------



## Gromit (Jun 15, 2017)

I'm confused. I thought the Catholics were the anti abortion, homophobic bigots etc. 
The DUP aren't the Catholics though, they the other god botherers yes? The Protestants? 

If both sides are such women hating cunts I don't understand why they don't get on more?


----------



## eoin_k (Jun 15, 2017)

Gromit said:


> I'm confused. I thought the Catholics were the anti abortion, homophobic bigots etc.
> The DUP aren't the Catholics though, they the other god botherers yes? The Protestants?
> 
> If both sides are such women hating cunts I don't understand why they don't get on more?



It seems ironic that the Northern Ireland statelet was supposedly founded on the fear that "Home Rule is Rome Rule", when you realise that the main objections are just to do with transubstantiation and the Pope's primacy. But dismissing the whole conflict as being about God bothering paddies betrays your own ignorance of Britain's role in this mess.


----------



## flypanam (Jun 15, 2017)

See


eoin_k said:


> It seems ironic that the Northern Ireland statelet was supposedly founded on the fear that "Home Rule is Rome Rule", when you realise that the main objections are just to do with transubstantiation and the Pope's primacy. But dismissing the whole conflict as being about God bothering paddies betrays your own ignorance of Britain's role in this mess.



Or typifies it.


----------



## mather (Jun 15, 2017)

eoin_k said:


> It seems ironic that the Northern Ireland statelet was supposedly founded on the fear that "Home Rule is Rome Rule", when you realise that the main objections are just to do with transubstantiation and the Pope's primacy. But dismissing the whole conflict as being about God bothering paddies betrays your own ignorance of Britain's role in this mess.



Indeed. The Northern Ireland conflict was not primarily a religious one, regardless of what historically illiterate ignoramuses like Richard Dawkins say.


----------



## likesfish (Jun 15, 2017)

they were just handy labels to use.
  Pira didnt start out as secetarian but kind of dragged down into the gutter along with everyone else


----------



## mojo pixy (Jun 15, 2017)

So _that's_ why they visited London.
Theresa May's week, just getting better and better.


----------



## Buckaroo (Jun 15, 2017)

likesfish said:


> they were just handy labels to use.
> Pira didnt start out as secetarian but kind of dragged down into the gutter along with everyone else



Truish. Wolfe Tone was protestant etc
Wolfe Tone - Wikipedia


----------



## LiamO (Jun 15, 2017)

Buckaroo said:


> Truish. Wolfe Tone was protestant etc
> Wolfe Tone - Wikipedia



ALL of the leaders of Irish Republicanism in the early years were protestants.

1798 - Wolfe Tone, Thomas Russell, Henry Joy McCracken,  William Orr, Lord Edward Fitgerald

1803 - Robert Emmet

1848 William Smith O'Brien

Along with John Mitchell, Thomas Davis et al

and not forgetting Roger Casement, Bulmer Hobson, Sam Maguire, Jack White, Erskine Childers etc around 1916 and the War of Independence.


----------



## Buckaroo (Jun 15, 2017)

LiamO said:


> ALL of the leaders of Irish Republicanism in the early years were protestants.
> 
> 1798 - Wolfe Tone, Thomas Russell, Henry Joy McCracken,  William Orr, Lord Edward Fitgerald
> 
> ...



And yet they still blame it on Catholics!


----------



## flypanam (Jun 16, 2017)

Buckaroo said:


> And yet they still blame it on Catholics!



Like the 16 year old girl who found herself under the car of an Orangeman last summer, obviously it's a Taigy trick
Orangeman convicted of driving over teenage girl in Belfast


----------



## LiamO (Jun 16, 2017)

flypanam said:


> Like the 16 year old girl who found herself under the car of an Orangeman last summer, obviously it's a Taigy trick
> Orangeman convicted of driving over teenage girl in Belfast



It's actually two years ago. 



unrepentant85 said:


> Bail for Orangeman charged with attempted murder
> 
> 
> 
> Is bail usually granted for attempted murder suspects?





LiamO said:


> He will eventually have his charges dropped to much more insignificant ones.. and his defence will be that the crowd were shouting at him (one man apparently kicked his wing mirror) and that he hwas in genuine fear for his life... despite the presence of maybe 100 police officers in full riot gear in the immediate vicinity.
> 
> No doubt he will claim that he had absolutely no idea his presence in that specific place, at that specific time might be a) noted and b) considered a little provocative... despite him being a weekly visitor to _this_ place...
> 
> ...





LiamO said:


> Here's the man charged with attempted murder talking about 'upping the ante'...
> 
> It's from BBC 2013...5.00 onwards
> 
> Corner of Belfast where it is always the Twelfth of July - BBC News




Cheeky fucker went for the 'in genuine fear of my life' routine and was apparently acting out a really accomplished performance in the witness box til the Prosecutor asked him (after he claimed he was terrified that things would be thrown at him) "If you were so frightened, why was your car window fully opened throughout the prelude and the actual incident itself?" 

He knew exactly what he was doing. He knew exactly where he was in terms of the locality and sectarian geography. He knew exactly who the people out on the road were and why they were there. And yet he chose to drive up with his window down, presumably just in case they could not see the Orange sash he was still wearing through the glass.


----------



## LiamO (Jun 16, 2017)

LiamO said:


> He will eventually have his charges dropped to much more insignificant ones.. and his defence will be that the crowd were shouting at him (one man apparently kicked his wing mirror) and that he was in genuine fear for his life... despite the presence of maybe 100 police officers in full riot gear in the immediate vicinity.



Attempted murder charge reduced to GBH? Check

"Genuine fear of his life" defence? Check

Unfotunately for him 11 jurors out of 12 thought he was a lying bastard once they had seen the evidence.

Still, sentencing has been adjourned til after this year's Marching Season so he can at least get his annual Marching mileage in before he gets sent down


----------



## LiamO (Jun 16, 2017)

LiamO said:


> I wonder if Gerry Adams drove up the Shankill on the Twelfth, got spotted and  drove into a crowd of loyalists would this be deemed a credible defence. My bet is he gets off with a smack on the wrist.


----------



## Pickman's model (Jun 16, 2017)

Buckaroo said:


> Truish. Wolfe Tone was protestant etc
> Wolfe Tone - Wikipedia


----------



## LiamO (Jun 16, 2017)

Don't get me wrong here. If someone unwittingly drove into a crowd of 'the other mob' blocking the road, had their car attacked and panicked I would have every sympathy for them.

Like a reporter from the Irish News who encountered just such a scenario a few years back. He found himself stuck, with his wife and kids, in traffic waiting for one of the thousands of 'local' Orange Parades to pass. Instinctively he and his wife checked the car for outward signs of Taigy-ness (no copies of the Irish news lying about, no religious 'goodluck' charms dangling from the rear-view mirror, no kids wearing GAA gear etc etc). The acr looked 'clean' and they were quite posh so they were happy they could blag their way through if challenged.

Unfortunately they were just back from a caravan holiday in France, having travelled out of Wexford and the back of the Car had an IRL sticker on it. 

They managed to 'escape' with a few shouts of abuse, slaps and kicks on the bodiwork of the car and traumatised kids. I remember thinkig at the time 'I wouldn't blame him if he had ploughed through the lot of the cunts'.


----------



## LiamO (Jun 16, 2017)

I reckon THIS...

Boundary changes could make Sinn Fein biggest party in Northern Ireland - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

is what's holding up the deal. Unfortunately for Arlene the proposed boundary changes are already in the public domain - and even TM might baulk at being seen to interfere in the work of an independent body.


----------



## Mordi (Jun 16, 2017)

LiamO said:


> Don't get me wrong here. If someone unwittingly drove into a crowd of 'the other mob' blocking the road, had their car attacked and panicked I would have every sympathy for them.
> 
> Like a reporter from the Irish News who encountered just such a scenario a few years back. He found himself stuck, with his wife and kids, in traffic waiting for one of the thousands of 'local' Orange Parades to pass. Instinctively he and his wife checked the car for outward signs of Taigy-ness (no copies of the Irish news lying about, no religious 'goodluck' charms dangling from the rear-view mirror, no kids wearing GAA gear etc etc). The acr looked 'clean' and they were quite posh so they were happy they could blag their way through if challenged.
> 
> ...



My brother has a story of running to an RNLI shout and him and other Lifeboat crew getting punched and kicked as they crossed the road in front of a marching band. Fucking disgusting, but also partly to do with the custom of the bands coming in from the surrounding countryside/other areas. Locals in a coast town aren't going to touch someone on their way to the Lifeboat. I mean, their jumpsuits are bright orange for one.


----------



## newbie (Jun 17, 2017)

LiamO said:


> I reckon THIS...
> 
> Boundary changes could make Sinn Fein biggest party in Northern Ireland - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk
> 
> is what's holding up the deal. Unfortunately for Arlene the proposed boundary changes are already in the public domain - and even TM might baulk at being seen to interfere in the work of an independent body.


she could scrap the whole thing citing lack of parliamentary time.


----------



## LiamO (Jun 17, 2017)

Mordi said:


> My brother has a story of running to an RNLI shout and him and other Lifeboat crew getting punched and kicked as they crossed the road in front of a marching band. Fucking disgusting, but also partly to do with the custom of the bands coming in from the surrounding countryside/other areas. Locals in a coast town aren't going to touch someone on their way to the Lifeboat. I mean, their jumpsuits are bright orange for one.



I have a similar (but very different) story too. In 2001 I was on a very large '30th Anniversary of the Hunger Strike' parade in Dundalk.

After only two hundred yards the March faced a 'situation' (except it really was not a 'situation' at all). 

On the right hand side was a Protestant Church ( The Green Church for anybody who knows d' Toowin). On the left was a somewhat stressed bridal party, including Bride and Bridesmaids, heading for the Church.

What to do? Risk the wrath of the scary Republicans or be late for your own wedding?

The chief Steward resolved the situation very quickly. He halted the section of the March closest to the wedding party and they ran across accompanied by one of the Republican Flute Bands playing 'I'm getting married in the morning' and hundreds of people yelling 'yeeeeooooooooowwww' and 'g'wan ya gud ting' etc in a very good-natured fashion.

Now imagine if you can the difference if a wedding party wanting to access a Catholic church was waiting to cross the road and an Orange Parade was passing. Very different scenario. First of all they would have had to wait til every last knuckledragger had passed them and secondly they would have had a whole river of hate & bile poured upon them as they waited.


----------



## LiamO (Jun 17, 2017)

newbie said:


> she could scrap the whole thing citing lack of parliamentary time.



really?

What a wet dream that would be for Arlene.


----------



## newbie (Jun 17, 2017)

LiamO said:


> really?


it seems not, they're separate commissions.  Here's the wiki.


----------



## LiamO (Jun 17, 2017)

Here the view from a typical DUP supporter. I considered (for about half a second)  posting it on the Grenfell Tower thread but thought that would be really disrespectful to the dead and their families.

 I actually have no clue what FGAU (at the bottom of this lobotomised individual's post) means. Any ideas?

https://scontent.flhr4-1.fna.fbcdn....=3c1e2fc8d53a377040e331b6c719b9f7&oe=59D95727


----------



## mather (Jun 17, 2017)

LiamO said:


> Here the view from a typical DUP supporter. I considered (for about half a second)  posting it on the Grenfell Tower thread but thought that would be really disrespectful to the daed and their families.
> 
> I actually have no clue what FGAU (at the bottom of this lobotomised individual's post) means. Any ideas?
> 
> https://scontent.flhr4-1.fna.fbcdn....=3c1e2fc8d53a377040e331b6c719b9f7&oe=59D95727



What a callous heartless bitch!


----------



## mather (Jun 17, 2017)

And thanks LiamO for not putting that in the Grenfell thread, that shit is not needed.


----------



## LiamO (Jun 17, 2017)

.


----------



## Superdupastupor (Jun 17, 2017)

FGAU= for god and ulster 

Loyalist paramilitary shite


----------



## YouSir (Jun 17, 2017)

Superdupastupor said:


> FGAU= for god and ulster
> 
> Loyalist paramilitary shite



God must be fucking embarrassed as hell by now.


----------



## Superdupastupor (Jun 17, 2017)

God now : erm yeh thanks , but no thanks.


----------



## Buckaroo (Jun 18, 2017)

Completely off thread but it took me by surprise. Gusty Spence.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DCXsMfrXsAArju9.jpg


----------



## Pickman's model (Jun 18, 2017)

LiamO said:


> Here the view from a typical DUP supporter. I considered (for about half a second)  posting it on the Grenfell Tower thread but thought that would be really disrespectful to the dead and their families.
> 
> I actually have no clue what FGAU (at the bottom of this lobotomised individual's post) means. Any ideas?
> 
> https://scontent.flhr4-1.fna.fbcdn....=3c1e2fc8d53a377040e331b6c719b9f7&oe=59D95727


All sorts were in Grenfell including a number of Irish


----------



## LiamO (Jun 19, 2017)

Pickman's model said:


> All sorts were in Grenfell including a number of Irish


That'll cheer that gormless cunt up no end.


----------



## likesfish (Jun 19, 2017)

Pickman's model said:


> All sorts were in Grenfell including a number of Irish



pretty sure they'd be the "wrong sort" for said cunt or right sort if they end up dead


----------



## brogdale (Jun 19, 2017)

So what's happened to this coalition/agreement, then?


----------



## J Ed (Jun 19, 2017)

brogdale said:


> So what's happened to this coalition/agreement, then?



If it was a done deal we'd know by now, surely? I think they are going to do a Queens Speech without the agreement..


----------



## brogdale (Jun 19, 2017)

J Ed said:


> If it was a done deal we'd know by now, surely? I think they are going to do a Queens Speech without the agreement..


Make you wonder what they've asked for...aside from the moon-on-a-stick...obvs


----------



## Buckaroo (Jun 19, 2017)

brogdale said:


> Make you wonder what they've asked for...aside from the moon-on-a-stick...obvs



Probably really important stuff like the parades commission. Here we fucking go.


----------



## PaoloSanchez (Jun 19, 2017)

I thought this was pretty good...


----------



## Casually Red (Jun 20, 2017)

Buckaroo said:


> Probably really important stuff like the parades commission. Here we fucking go.



The orange order having their say here . Some of Arlenes MPs are among their membership . Worth noting that the orange order were also instrumental ..alongside the loyalist paramilitaries...in getting the DUPs vote out . They also played a major role in voter registration drives and the like , opening up their halls for registration points . Often with the paramilitaries shooing the prospective voters into them . They expect reciprocation, make no secret of it .

Orange Order asks DUP to use Drumcree march in talks with May - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

Arlene herself was down in Portadown kicking it with the bros just a few weeks before the election.

Thousands gather in Portadown to mark 500th anniversary of Protestant Reformation


----------



## Casually Red (Jun 20, 2017)

And ..fuck me , even I'm stunned at the stupidity of this . The vagaries of the champions league qualifiers have given us this absolute beaut of a fixture in the middle of all this shit . This is literally throwing petrol on a bonfire . On the 11th of July ...just hours before all those thousands of hate pyres are lit ....Glasgow Celtic will be arriving in Belfast to play Linfield. Pretty much the Glasgow rangers of the 6 counties . Rangers sister team in many respects .

Celtic v Linfield: Security fears over potential Belfast clash on July 11 - should venue be switched to Glasgow? - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

This is insanity in my view . The absolute worst night of the year for this to be going down in Belfast . Sectarian tensions will be hyped up massively . That game should definitely be moved to Glasgow or somewhere . It's crazy . Absolutely the last thing Belfast needs right now . An old firm type derby in a sectarian cesspit right on the eve of the bonfires being lit and the annual hate fest .

What could go wrong ?


----------



## Casually Red (Jun 20, 2017)

One small rayof sunshine in this mess is that due to the chronic economic dysfunctionality of the artificial state in occupied Ireland , the place is basically propped up by government grants, public sector employment and a massive reliance on the benefits system . Despite being a far right party the DUP basically don't have any economic ideology . They are heavily populist in their approach to the economic end of things...literally a begging bowl mentality . As you can see from their utterly confused stance as regards Brexit .
This may well serve to put the brakes on some of the Tories  austerity measures and benefits cuts . The DUP daren't go back to their constituents with austerity measures . Although I suspect they'll be quite happy to cut a deal were the North gets insulated from the Tories attacks on the poor . Which would again put their " Britishness " into perspective .


----------



## ViolentPanda (Jun 20, 2017)

brogdale said:


> Make you wonder what they've asked for...aside from the moon-on-a-stick...obvs



Probably a statue of king billy on his big white horse, to go on the 5th plinth in Trafalgar Sq.


----------



## Celyn (Jun 20, 2017)

And a big get-together of singing their traditional and ever-so-folksy-cultural songs. Because they are all so upstanding and good chaps and chappesses, all joyfully up to their knees in Fenian blood.  



> It was gold and it was beautiful and it cost 2 pence a gram
> He scored it on the ferry coming back from Amsterdam
> He said it's just like Lebanese from the bygone days of yore
> And when I can I like to smoke the hash my father scored
> ...


----------



## Casually Red (Jun 20, 2017)

Where the fuck do you even start with this kind of stupid ?


----------



## likesfish (Jun 21, 2017)

fuck it the uup or whatever they were called were tory lobby fodder and only asked for the occasional change to make a bigoted speech in the house whoeverbody ignored .

DUP are going to try to use their power and expose themselves as the arseholes they are.
 less brexit
more Niexit  not sure a country can just tell a province to fuck off but arlene might just be the woman to achieve it


----------



## Casually Red (Jun 22, 2017)

The DUP have over stretched themselves I reckon . They're swimming with big fucking sharks now and way out of their depth .they were much better off with themselves and their cancerous activities  being relatively anonymous, spotlights doing them no favours . corruption is criminality and they're absolutely mired in it . They're wide open and out of their depth meddling in powerful interests power plays . And making their beloved union less than popular among the British public .


----------



## Poi E (Jun 22, 2017)

I wouldn't credit the Tories with being overly blessed with smarts. Two gambles with their party's future haven't turned out they say they expected, and the puppets of the ruling classes negotiating Brexit are looking like provincial fools when facing their opposite numbers. The DUP will feel right at home with the parochial parade of fools in Westminster.


----------



## Teaboy (Jun 22, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> And making their beloved union less than popular among the British public .


  And some.  This is all the tories fault of course but it bothers me a lot that these crackpots that are so out of sync with the rest of the UK are having such an influence upon the government.


----------



## LiamO (Jun 22, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> The DUP have over stretched themselves I reckon . They're swimming with big fucking sharks now and way out of their depth .



In the big boys and girls playground, still clinging to being a big kid in the small playground. Completely out of their League.

Apparently they have collectively decided not to answer their phones to the Tories for 36 hours - arsey teenager stuff.
DUP refused to answer Theresa May's calls for 36 hours

Hell hath no fury like a Tory scorned.


----------



## littlebabyjesus (Jun 22, 2017)

Teaboy said:


> And some.  This is all the tories fault of course but it bothers me a lot that these crackpots that are so out of sync with the rest of the UK are having such an influence upon the government.


tbh that's the bit that gives me the most hope. The more influence the DUP are seen to be having, the better. I want rid of these cunts, and sooner rather than later. And marching season is almost upon us... Let them have their moment of influence, and let it bring the whole edifice crashing down.


----------



## littlebabyjesus (Jun 22, 2017)

LiamO said:


> In the big boys and girls playground, still clinging to being a big kid in the small playground. Completely out of their League.
> 
> Apparently they have collectively decided not to answer their phones to the Tories for the last 36 hours - arsey teenager stuff.
> 
> Hell hath no fury like a Tory scorned.


By my reading of this, the longer it goes on, the less likely it is that the Tories will feel they can offer anything at all. If they'd struck an agreement last week quickly and quietly, with some guarantee of some aspect of NI funding included, they might have got away with it, but not now, not post-Queen's speech. The tories have already ditched most of the shit the DUP were concerned about. They could, if they'd been smart, have presented this ditching as happening due to a process of consultation and listening that included listening to DUP concerns. Now, they cannot do that.


----------



## LiamO (Jun 22, 2017)

I would imagine there will be a great deal more in the british press about the rampant racism and triumphalism of the Marching/bonfire season this year.

Good. Finally the good people of Britain may see the neanderthal antics of those who wave _their_ flag so enthusiastically. I don't doubt that millions will feel positively queasy about what is about to unfold.

And that's before the british press start poking about into Red Sky, Nama, RHI (cash for ash) and the Saudi money the DUP laundered to fund their Brexit ads in the british press.


----------



## LiamO (Jun 22, 2017)

littlebabyjesus said:


> By my reading of this, the longer it goes on, the less likely it is that the Tories will feel they can offer anything at all. If they'd struck an agreement last week quickly and quietly, with some guarantee of some aspect of NI funding included, they might have got away with it, but not now, not post-Queen's speech. The tories have already ditched most of the shit the DUP were concerned about. They could, if they'd been smart, have presented this ditching as happening due to a process of consultation and listening that included listening to DUP concerns. Now, they cannot do that.



But they are not smart. Never have been. They just think they are. 

Dragging their heels and saying 'NO!' has been their political _leit motif_ since their formation.


----------



## littlebabyjesus (Jun 22, 2017)

LiamO said:


> But they are not smart. Never have been. They just think they are.
> 
> Dragging their heels and saying 'NO!' has been their political _leit motif_ since their formation.


There's a certain terrible beauty to the way they're going about this. As you say, they're way out of their depth, but they don't seem to realise yet, probably won't until they start drowning. 

Not that I give a shit, but the tories are probably tearing their hair out. _Who are these people? _


----------



## Teaboy (Jun 22, 2017)

littlebabyjesus said:


> tbh that's the bit that gives me the most hope. The more influence the DUP are seen to be having, the better. I want rid of these cunts, and sooner rather than later. And marching season is almost upon us... Let them have their moment of influence, and let it bring the whole edifice crashing down.



I hope you're right. I worry what damage will be caused in the meantime.


----------



## littlebabyjesus (Jun 22, 2017)

Teaboy said:


> I hope you're right. I worry what damage will be caused in the meantime.


tbh if there were a serious threat to the peace process in NI, I don't see how the tories could do anything other than break contact with the DUP and struggle on without them. 

And as liam says, shining a light on Unionist behaviour in NI might actually do some good.


----------



## Poi E (Jun 22, 2017)

LiamO said:


> I would imagine there will be a great deal more in the british press about the rampant racism and triumphalism of the Marching/bonfire season this year.
> 
> Good. Finally the good people of Britain may see the neanderthal antics of those who wave _their_ flag so enthusiastically. I don't doubt that millions will feel positively queasy about what is about to unfold.
> 
> And that's before the british press start poking about into Red Sky, Nama, RHI (cash for ash) and the Saudi money the DUP laundered to fund their Brexit ads in the british press.



I wouldn't count on the Tory press delving too deeply into the DUP's misdeeds, as I am sure some of the trails will cross paths with Tory knavery.


----------



## moochedit (Jun 23, 2017)

Belfast council helped to store some pallets (that were probably stolen in the first place) and now they have been nicked again.

3,000 bonfire pallets stolen in raid on Belfast council depot - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

Belfast council accused of 'handling stolen goods' for storing bonfire pallets


----------



## J Ed (Jun 23, 2017)

moochedit said:


> Belfast council helped to store some pallets (that were probably stolen in the first place) and now they have been nicked again.
> 
> 3,000 bonfire pallets stolen in raid on Belfast council depot - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk
> 
> Belfast council accused of 'handling stolen goods' for storing bonfire pallets



That's one of those things that you would struggle to explain to a visiting Martian.


----------



## likesfish (Jun 23, 2017)

you'd be hard pressed to explain it in england or wales bits of scotland might understand


----------



## J Ed (Jun 23, 2017)

likesfish said:


> you'd be hard pressed to explain it in england or wales bits of scotland might understand



I was talking to a woman from N Ireland who was absolutely furious that so many people in England were only just now learning about the very existence of the DUP and who can blame her? Ignorance about Loyalist paramilitarism in this country is a very wilful ignorance, at least on the part of our political and media class.


----------



## brogdale (Jun 23, 2017)

J Ed said:


> I was talking to a woman from N Ireland who was absolutely furious that so many people in England were only just now learning about the very existence of the DUP and who can blame her? Ignorance about Loyalist paramilitarism in this country is a very wilful ignorance, at least on the part of our political and media class.


tbh, I think we should do all we can to encourage the DUP in the 300 safest vermin seats in E,W & S.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 23, 2017)

J Ed said:


> I was talking to a woman from N Ireland who was absolutely furious that so many people in England were only just now learning about the very existence of the DUP and who can blame her? Ignorance about Loyalist paramilitarism in this country is a very wilful ignorance, at least on the part of our political and media class.




because of the collusion. 14th int were 'managing' them. Many factions here, within the state response as well

Gary Haggarty: Ex-senior loyalist pleads guilty to 200 terror charges - BBC News



> He has also offered to give evidence against a number of former police officers he's accused of collusion while he was working as an informer from 1993 to 2004.
> 
> The BBC understands he told his interviewers that some of his Special Branch handlers not only protected him from arrest and prosecution, but also actively encouraged his activities.
> 
> Those allegations are the subject of a separate, parallel investigation by the Police Ombudsman.


----------



## J Ed (Jun 23, 2017)

brogdale said:


> tbh, I think we should do all we can to encourage the DUP in the 300 safest vermin seats in E,W & S.



What do you mean?


----------



## brogdale (Jun 23, 2017)

J Ed said:


> What do you mean?


I think they'd do quite well with Mail readers & split the vote.


----------



## DexterTCN (Jun 23, 2017)

Set your faces to stunned.

Twelfth of July Orange walk to be televised live on BBC One in Northern Ireland


----------



## DexterTCN (Jun 23, 2017)

Maybe it'll keep them off the streets


----------



## LiamO (Jun 23, 2017)

DexterTCN said:


> Set your faces to stunned.
> 
> Twelfth of July Orange walk to be televised live on BBC One in Northern Ireland



It's televised Live every year. They even do a 45-minute 'Highlights' package later in case you missed it. #couldn't makeitup


Can't wait! OrangeFest is almost here!!


----------



## DexterTCN (Jun 23, 2017)

what...fuckin hell.  sorry

I was gonna do a joke.


----------



## LiamO (Jun 23, 2017)

DexterTCN said:


> what...fuckin hell.  sorry
> 
> I was gonna do a joke.



Sure go ahead. The whole thing is a fuckin joke


----------



## DexterTCN (Jun 23, 2017)

Well first I was gonna say Channel 4 are showing Riverdance.

But then I thought of March of the Day.


----------



## DexterTCN (Jun 23, 2017)

Irish tv and UK tv though, yeah?


----------



## LiamO (Jun 23, 2017)

DexterTCN said:


> Irish tv and UK tv though, yeah?



BBC NI only. Your taxpayers licence money well spent?

Maybe it will be shown in Britain this year as part of the DUP/Tory mash-up?


----------



## DexterTCN (Jun 23, 2017)

No sorry...I meant that in NI do they have both influences? UK and Irish tv-wise, not that both would show the march.  Sorry....walk.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 23, 2017)

LiamO said:


> BBC NI only. Your taxpayers licence money well spent?
> 
> Maybe it will be shown in Britain this year as part of the DUP/Tory mash-up?


glasto footage would make a pleasant compare/contrast I recon. Theres music at these marches isn't there? Jobs a goodun


----------



## LiamO (Jun 26, 2017)

Stolen from a friend's FB

"The word 'Tory' used to describe a member of Conservatives is derived from Irish 'tóraidhe' meaning outlaw or plunderer of stolen cash. Spot on."


----------



## LiamO (Jun 26, 2017)




----------



## DexterTCN (Jun 26, 2017)

LiamO said:


> BBC NI only. Your taxpayers licence money well spent?...



btw no...I refuse to pay it


----------



## LiamO (Jun 26, 2017)

DexterTCN said:


> btw no...I refuse to pay it


DexterTCN 

Pay what, tax?

Who'd you think you are? Fuckin Google? Starbucks?


----------



## Casually Red (Jun 27, 2017)

DexterTCN said:


> Well first I was gonna say Channel 4 are showing Riverdance.
> 
> But then I thought of March of the Day.



I think it's Fahrenheit 1690


----------



## Sprocket. (Jun 27, 2017)

LiamO said:


> Stolen from a friend's FB
> 
> "The word 'Tory' used to describe a member of Conservatives is derived from Irish 'tóraidhe' meaning outlaw or plunderer of stolen cash. Spot on."



This is correct though nowadays I believe Tory is the word to describe the scum underneath the silt that lines the bottom of sewage settlement tanks.


----------



## DexterTCN (Jun 27, 2017)

LiamO said:


> DexterTCN
> 
> Pay what, tax?
> 
> Who'd you think you are? Fuckin Google? Starbucks?


TV licence.


----------



## CrabbedOne (Jun 27, 2017)

On Slugger So what can we do with £400million for infrastructure projects?

Roads, lots of roads. 

In another piece on Slugger it was pointed out that the DUP's great loot of The Treasury may not really be as impressive as it seems as due to Brexiting with a hard on and EU subsidies being withdrawn May was rather committed to subsidising N.I. even more mightily. Of course knowing the DUP it's just a start. They'll be ripping the copper piping out of No 10 before this is finished.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 27, 2017)

tories  have wheeled someone out on the Daily Politics to tell everyone that this is normal lol


----------



## DaveCinzano (Jun 27, 2017)

It's the strategy of graft-lite & pallet stocks.


----------



## JuanTwoThree (Jun 27, 2017)

Bit of background


----------



## SpookyFrank (Jun 28, 2017)

JuanTwoThree said:


> Bit of background



Seems legit.


----------



## skyscraper101 (Jun 28, 2017)

I'll vote for Rome. Rome is great.


----------



## Poi E (Jun 28, 2017)

Antichrist only the fourth thing to worry about.


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jun 28, 2017)

LiamO said:


> Here the view from a typical DUP supporter. I considered (for about half a second)  posting it on the Grenfell Tower thread but thought that would be really disrespectful to the dead and their families.
> 
> I actually have no clue what FGAU (at the bottom of this lobotomised individual's post) means. Any ideas?
> 
> https://scontent.flhr4-1.fna.fbcdn....=3c1e2fc8d53a377040e331b6c719b9f7&oe=59D95727



For God And (the) Union?

Dear Lord, that is semi-literate at best, never mind the nauseating, (and grossly inaccurate) sentiments expressed.


----------



## littlebabyjesus (Jun 28, 2017)

1. Ecumenism.

I had to look that up. Promoting closer links between Christians??? Disgusting. Rightly top of the list.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 28, 2017)

littlebabyjesus said:


> 1. Ecumenism.
> 
> I had to look that up. Promoting closer links between Christians??? Disgusting. Rightly top of the list.


they are all for it when its ecumenism by the sword I bet


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jun 28, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> Some of their leaders believe they're the lost tribe of Israel. Really believe it .
> Others subscribe to the theory that the Irish..as celts...are invaders of Ireland From central Europe . Occupiers. And that they are the dispossessed original inhabitants assuming their natural status at long last .
> 
> There was no actual Celtic invasion , the ancient Irish simply adopted aspects of Celtic culture, alphabets etc due to trade with Europe. But in dup la la land ..the Catholics invaded Ireland . Papist rampage. And they read this utter batshit nonsense out during governmental debates about flags . In actual government fucking chambers  Alongside their creationist bollocks .
> ...



Celts - Wikipedia
Celtic Ireland in the Iron Age: the Celts
http://www.knowth.com/celts.html
The Celts & Ireland


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jun 28, 2017)

copliker said:


> An oldie but a goodie.
> 
> State papers: DUP MP William McCrea wanted air strikes launched on the Republic in the 1980s - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk
> 
> ...



Airstrikes on XMG would have been welcome.


----------



## CrabbedOne (Jun 28, 2017)

> ...
> "The time is come that Protestants must expose those within their own ranks. Ecumenists are nothing more and nothing less than Rome's fifth column - their aim is to eradicate Protestantism and an easy takeover by Rome."
> 
> An agreement between the Catholic and Anglican Churches to recognise the Pope as the sole head of the Christian church showed this was the case, he said.
> ...


Linky.

Not often understood that Paisley had really big problems with other pious Prods being prone too prone to compromise in a range of ways. He had a touch of the wild eyed Takfiri about him. Paisley's brand of atavistic euroskepticism hinged around this. There's also that deep fear of a united alien Continent as a work of Satanic conspiracy. It's an interesting relic: Kipperism as it was done in the late 17th century. As expressed here  EIPS "E(uro)cumenism": The European Union and the Ecumenical Movement (Part I). I'm not sure how much of this survives in the 21st century DUP. It's been rather watered down with almost equally nutty ideas imported from England.

Boarding the outrage bus over standardised bananas and insufficient rusk in sausages seems a bit mundane in comparison.


----------



## likesfish (Jun 28, 2017)

Then theirs the whole lost tribe of israel insanity which I never managed to get my head round, not that I expended a great deal of energy to do so..


----------



## Celyn (Jun 28, 2017)

CrabbedOne said:


> Linky.
> 
> Not often understood that Paisley had really big problems with other pious Prods being prone too prone to compromise in a range of ways. He had a touch of the wild eyed Takfiri about him. ...



Just a touch, yeah. Hardly noticeable, really.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 28, 2017)

Celyn said:


> Just a touch, yeah. Hardly noticeable, really.


apparently he was mildly disapproving of homosexuality as well, not the sort to shout about it mind, just had his views


----------



## Celyn (Jun 28, 2017)

littlebabyjesus said:


> 1. Ecumenism.
> 
> I had to look that up. Promoting closer links between Christians??? Disgusting. Rightly top of the list.


If you had to look it up, you are confessing to insufficient watching of "Father Ted", which is truly shocking.


----------



## Celyn (Jun 28, 2017)

DotCommunist said:


> apparently he was mildly disapproving of homosexuality as well, not the sort to shout about it mind, just had his views


Oh, he would never "shout", surely? A quiet-spoken and meek gentleman like that shouting? Heaven forfend!


----------



## Nine Bob Note (Jun 28, 2017)

littlebabyjesus said:


> 1. Ecumenism.



Yes!


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jun 28, 2017)

bimble said:


> That thing about chaining up swings so that you can't swing on Sundays.. what's the religious reasoning behind that?



That is still the case in Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides, a 'Wee Free' stronghold.


----------



## planetgeli (Jun 28, 2017)

littlebabyjesus said:


> 1. Ecumenism.
> 
> I had to look that up. Promoting closer links between Christians??? Disgusting. Rightly top of the list.



Down with that sort of thing.


----------



## Celyn (Jun 28, 2017)

Warning - a bit of a tangent here.  Any Scottish Urbs (or anyone really, but Scottish is more likely) remember Pastor Jack Glass at all?

A cheery sort of chap. A wee bit from his obit in the _Guardian _might give you an idea of him:



> ...  He was as devout in his commitment to self-publicity as to Protestant fundamentalism, and never lost an opportunity to demonstrate against the perceived march of Popery - or *worse, ecumenism.*
> 
> *He established the dubious credential of being more religiously extreme than Northern Ireland's the Rev Ian Paisley *when he demonstrated outside a fundamentalist conference in Edinburgh.
> 
> ...



_(bolding mine)_

Obituary: Pastor Jack Glass

I don't actually know why he wanted to hang Nelson Mandela, but I suppose he had a general purpose wish to kill most people really.

Oh, as I do with useless info, I ended up reading more of it:

a bit from his Wiki entry:


> ... On 1 June 1982, Glass and Paisley jointly led a protest march through Glasgow which culminated in a demonstration near the landing site of the Papal helicopter in Bellahouston Park. Glass and Paisley are said to have led the crowd in shouts of "The Beast is Coming", "No Surrender" and "Down with the Pope of Rome"...


Jack Glass - Wikipedia

They're really great at that Christian charity and love thy neighbour thing.

On a brighter note, this notion of 





> ... Protestant tinnitus for at least three days...


 *might* just turn out to be a good idea. I mean, for the people of the six counties who prefer not to be anywhere near crazy mad orange marches, wouldn't it be great if you could go to the doctor and get signed off work for three days?


----------



## Celyn (Jun 28, 2017)

bimble said:


> That thing about chaining up swings so that you can't swing on Sundays.. what's the religious reasoning behind that?





Sasaferrato said:


> That is still the case in Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides, a 'Wee Free' stronghold.



Is it? Is it really? I think it is not, you know.


----------



## pogofish (Jun 28, 2017)

Celyn said:


> Is it? Is it really? I think it is not, you know.



Its not - They stopped chaining them sometime between 2004 and 2008 but the battle open the Stornoway Leisure Centre on Sundays has still to be won.


----------



## Sue (Jun 28, 2017)

pogofish said:


> Its not - They stopped chaining them sometime between 2004 and 2008 but the battle open the Stornoway Leisure Centre on Sundays has still to be won.


I did see some chained up swings in the Western Isles a couple of years ago with a sign about respecting the Sabbath. Took a picture which I can't find now. Wasn't Stornoway though, some wee place whose name escapes me.

Hebcelt music festival in Stornoway still ends on the Saturday night with the tents staying up untouched until the Monday because of the Sabbath.


----------



## Casually Red (Jun 28, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> Celts - Wikipedia
> Celtic Ireland in the Iron Age: the Celts
> http://www.knowth.com/celts.html
> The Celts & Ireland




Celtic invasion is pure mythology


----------



## gawkrodger (Jun 28, 2017)




----------



## Casually Red (Jun 28, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> Airstrikes on XMG would have been welcome.



By you certainly . Not seen as welcome by the people who actually lived there and had to put up with people like you in their town .


----------



## Casually Red (Jun 28, 2017)

Ha !! Unionists getting mightily pissed off at their treatment by the English media . Denouncing it as racism . Linking it..with a straight face..to the anti Irish punch cartoons of the Victorian era..when they promote the very same shit themselves as their raison detre....chiding the English for their lack of tolerance etc .

Lampooning English Press cartoonists should really learn where to draw the line - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

Nobody loves you, you're nobody's child . And unlike Millwall you do care .

Eta

If that's the tack they're going to take we can expect Arlene foster to wheel out her " misogyny " routine again to explain why everyone hates her .


----------



## DexterTCN (Jun 28, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> Ha !! Unionists getting mightily pissed off at their treatment by the English media . Denouncing it as racism . Linking it..with a straight face..to the anti Irish punch cartoons of the Victorian era..when they promote the very same shit themselves as their raison detre....chiding the English for their lack of tolerance etc .
> 
> Lampooning English Press cartoonists should really learn where to draw the line - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk...





> I had an appointment with a surgeon at the Royal Victoria Hospital last week. An erudite man and an Alliance voter, he asked me if the negative racial stereotyping of Ulster Protestants in the English 'quality' Press was annoying me as much as it was him. I confirmed my assent but explained that it should surprise no-one.



That's some...well....I don't know what it is but that is certainly some of it.   My first thought was Harry Enfield tbh.


----------



## ruffneck23 (Jun 28, 2017)

If they can't take the heat they should get the fuck out , what do they expect ?


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 28, 2017)

c'mon man, they should expect not to be lampooned as violent drunks _as a people._ By all means lets rip the DUP for what they are but I can't endorse the right polishing off all their anti-irish shit they've been doing since forever. Have to be better than that


----------



## ruffneck23 (Jun 28, 2017)

I was talking about the DUP , to be honest I'm tired and didn't read the article fully


----------



## Casually Red (Jun 28, 2017)

This is an Irish cartoon mocking their pro brexit advertising campaign in London, suspected by many to have been funded by the Saudi secret service . 







Currently my favourite .


----------



## Casually Red (Jun 28, 2017)

DexterTCN said:


> That's some...well....I don't know what it is but that is certainly some of it.   My first thought was Harry Enfield tbh.



This is the hate mongering twat here in his sash . Take a look at who he's standing with ...and the hate and fears hes whipping up..and you'll see the English press have hit the nail on the head for once .



A group of people who habitually ..routinely ..mock the mass starvation suffered by the  Irish people during the Victorian era now wrapping the mantle of that very victim hood around themselves . He's shameless .
The DUPs MPs were returned by the active assistance of loyalist paramilitaries and the thugs and bigots of the orange order . That's who registered the voters and returned their mandate for them . They're in political hock to them .  Press depictions of the DUP as loyalist thugs are totally spot on in this instance . The DUP are a political front for them .


----------



## LiamO (Jun 29, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> Airstrikes on XMG would have been welcome.



Really? you would happily murder these little children? For shame, you village idiot.



St Patrick's Crossmaglen


----------



## Celyn (Jun 29, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> Ha !! Unionists getting mightily pissed off at their treatment by the English media ...





> ... It seems that the chattering classes of today, like the landladies of the past, have a resolute position. Where the government is concerned, they can attract support from the Welsh or the Scots, *but no Irish need apply ...*



But I thought they did not think of themselves as Irish. I thought part of the thing they often shout about is "We're British" (in a loud Ian Paisley voice).


----------



## Poi E (Jun 29, 2017)

Tories likely to get tired of kissing the lizards according to Finton O'Toole

Fintan O’Toole: DUP’s crush on Britain will end badly


----------



## William of Walworth (Jun 29, 2017)

Lots here by Ian Cobain in yesterday's Guardian about  DUP/'loyalist' paramilitary links (as in ties that bind). I expect most knowledgeables on this thread know most of it, but it might include a few new details?

Troubled past : the paramilitary connection that still haunts the DUP


----------



## William of Walworth (Jun 29, 2017)

Poi E said:


> Tories likely to get tired of kissing the lizards according to Finton O'Toole
> 
> Fintan O’Toole: DUP’s crush on Britain will end badly




That's a superbly written article! 




			
				O'Toole said:
			
		

> But does it notice that, even as the Tory party clasps it to its bosom, the lack of enthusiasm would be scarcely less evident if the Tories were wearing rubber gloves and surgical masks? They are not swooning with love, they are fainting with revulsion. The DUP may think it is coming home; most Tories think the mad woman has come out of the attic of an old hyper-Protestant British identity and is sitting in the parlour demanding tea and scones with lots of jam and a bucket of clotted cream. She has to be humoured for now, but only until there is some way to get rid of her.


----------



## Poi E (Jun 29, 2017)

Disunited Kingdom dawns on UUP fellow

Lampooning English Press cartoonists should really learn where to draw the line - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk


----------



## CrabbedOne (Jun 29, 2017)

Poi E said:


> Tories likely to get tired of kissing the lizards according to Finton O'Toole
> 
> Fintan O’Toole: DUP’s crush on Britain will end badly


At this point the expectations of DUP voters are very high. Arlene has the whip hand and will be expected to use it. Somebody on Slugger a while back was saying the danger was more that in cuddling up to the Tories the DUP would eventually piss off its own base. This could come true if there was any backsliding on austerity in the 6C or "them-uns" getting too much of the pie. There's a great deal of talk of loyalty but the English are more often cast as the great betrayer by Ulster Prods. I recall the incandescent rage at Thatcher over what became the GFA. People literally had heart attacks. The DUP are not the Lib-Dems easily blindsided in coalition which is probably the model No 10 has in mind. The Tories are in hock to a very transactional party with a very transactional base that is fast to form angry mobs. It's quite unlike bland English politics.


----------



## Poi E (Jun 29, 2017)

And they're against the wall, demographically and educationally. The future ain't bright and it ain't orange.


----------



## CrabbedOne (Jun 29, 2017)

On Slugger The £400m for Infrastructure in the Conservative-DUP agreement will only exacerbate Northern Ireland’s east-west divide


> ...
> This imbalance in transport provision is about much more than travel options, as it also influences our economy and population. Put simply – people, businesses and jobs tend to gravitate towards areas where transport infrastructure is good in preference to areas where it is substandard. Our east-west transport divide is reflected in the regional economic and population imbalance that Northern Ireland also faces. And this in-turn has a self-reinforcing dynamic, as areas with greater population and economic activity tend to justify greater transport investment. The west’s population would almost certainly be larger today if it hadn’t lost its railways in the 1960s (and/or if the promised motorways had actually been delivered). Given its poor infrastructure, the fact that over a quarter of Northern Ireland’s population still lives in the western half of the province is perhaps  remarkable.
> ...


An explainer on N.I. infrastructure. The West is majority RC and poorer.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 29, 2017)

just occurred to me that the party just given a billion are provably and recently dishonest  and dodgy as fuck with money- let not all the other shit about them distract, with the cash for ash they've been literally shown to be shady fucks. Infrastructure eh.


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jun 29, 2017)

LiamO said:


> Really? you would happily murder these little children? For shame, you village idiot.
> 
> 
> 
> St Patrick's Crossmaglen




XMG was inhabited by murdering fucking scum. At times so hot, we could only go in and out by helicopter. So, roll your pictures into a tight cylinder and stick them up your arse.


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jun 29, 2017)

DotCommunist said:


> just occurred to me that the party just given a billion are provably and recently dishonest  and dodgy as fuck with money- let not all the other shit about them distract, with the cash for ash they've been literally shown to be shady fucks. Infrastructure eh.



Simple incompetence I think, over the heating thing... maybe.


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jun 29, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> This is an Irish cartoon mocking their pro brexit advertising campaign in London, suspected by many to have been funded by the Saudi secret service .
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Except that this is beyond mockery. It is obscene. An example of the true character of the politician. It does not matter how vile another party is, if they can keep you in power, they are your new best friends.

I don't think anyone here was in any doubt about the character of politicians, but this really is the pits. One wonders if the other political party had been on par with the Nazis, would the coalition have gone ahead? I think it would.


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jun 29, 2017)

Celyn said:


> Warning - a bit of a tangent here.  Any Scottish Urbs (or anyone really, but Scottish is more likely) remember Pastor Jack Glass at all?
> 
> A cheery sort of chap. A wee bit from his obit in the _Guardian _might give you an idea of him:
> 
> ...



I had forgotten about Glass. A totally fundamentalist lunatic.


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jun 29, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> Celtic invasion is pure mythology



I beat you 4 -1 on quotes.  Second leg next week?


----------



## N_igma (Jun 29, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> XMG was inhabited by murdering fucking scum. At times so hot, we could only go in and out by helicopter. So, roll your pictures into a tight cylinder and stick them up your arse.



'I know what we do with murdering fucking scum we become even bigger murdering fucking scum' 

You should've stayed in Scotland where you belong you twat.


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jun 29, 2017)

N_igma said:


> 'I know what we do with murdering fucking scum we become even bigger murdering fucking scum'
> 
> You should've stayed in Scotland where you belong you twat.



Ah 'ad hom'. Why should I have expected anything else?


----------



## Casually Red (Jun 29, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> Except that this is beyond mockery. It is obscene. An example of the true character of the politician. It does not matter how vile another party is, if they can keep you in power, they are your new best friends.
> 
> I don't think anyone here was in any doubt about the character of politicians, but this really is the pits. One wonders if the other political party had been on par with the Nazis, would the coalition have gone ahead? I think it would.



A small part of me said surely the Tories wouldn't dare , in this day and age, to be seen openly in alliance with the DUP . Then may came out of no 10 and uttered the immortal words " conservative and unionist party " to the cameras and I burst into spontaneous laughter . I'd no doubt then what was about to happen . These guys are more extreme and more out there than the BNP in many ways . They're a byword for bigotry and extremism . Chronic habitual law breakers mired in all sorts . and they can be bought too . By anyone . The British government are going to need deep pockets being propped up by this mob . 

It's worth rembering too they've already wasted more than Mays magic money tree bonanza through outright corruption, incompetence and graft . That's what's likely to happen with their new windfall . And then they'll be back for more . And it will be more than just money they're after .


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jun 29, 2017)

CrabbedOne said:


> At this point the expectations of DUP voters are very high. Arlene has the whip hand and will be expected to use it. Somebody on Slugger a while back was saying the danger was more that in cuddling up to the Tories the DUP would eventually piss off its own base. This could come true if there was any backsliding on austerity in the 6C or "them-uns" getting too much of the pie. There's a great deal of talk of loyalty but the English are more often cast as the great betrayer by Ulster Prods. I recall the incandescent rage at Thatcher over what became the GFA. People literally had heart attacks. The DUP are not the Lib-Dems easily blindsided in coalition which is probably the model No 10 has in mind. The Tories are in hock to a very transactional party with a very transactional base that is fast to form angry mobs. It's quite unlike bland English politics.



I don't see it lasting.


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jun 29, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> A small part of me said surely the Tories wouldn't dare , in this day and age, to be seen openly in alliance with the DUP . Then may came out of no 10 and uttered the immortal words " conservative and unionist party " to the cameras and I burst into spontaneous laughter . I'd no doubt then what was about to happen . These guys are more extreme and more out there than the BNP in many ways . They're a byword for bigotry and extremism . Chronic habitual law breakers mired in all sorts . and they can be bought too . By anyone . The British government are going to need deep pockets being propped up by this mob .
> 
> It's worth rembering too they've already wasted more than Mays magic money tree bonanza through outright corruption, incompetence and graft . That's what's likely to happen with their new windfall . And then they'll be back for more . And it will be more than just money they're after .



Like most people on this side of the water, I was aware of the DUP, in a vague sort of way. A minority party, and of little consequence over here.

That has changed big time. I've also done a bit of reading about what the DUP stand for, with increasing incredulity. They really are beyond parody, no parody could exceed the reality. I wonder if the majority of Tory MPs realise what they have got into bed with?


----------



## eoin_k (Jun 29, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> Ah 'ad hom'. Why should I have expected anything else?


Having just explicitly advocated mass murder of a civilian population including children, you're not doing a great job of maintaining the moral high ground.


----------



## Casually Red (Jun 29, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> Ah 'ad hom'. Why should I have expected anything else?



Why should you have expected anything else when you state the people in our district should be subject to the collective punishment of being liquidated by high explosive regardless of age , gender or combatant status ? 

And you're criticising the DUP why ?


----------



## planetgeli (Jun 29, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> XMG was inhabited by murdering fucking scum. At times so hot, we could only go in and out by helicopter. So, roll your pictures into a tight cylinder and stick them up your arse.



And there was you just trying to deliver milk eh?


----------



## chilango (Jun 29, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> Ah 'ad hom'. Why should I have expected anything else?



Why should you deserve anything else?

Your post above regarding Crossmaglen is despicable.


----------



## J Ed (Jun 29, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> Ah 'ad hom'. Why should I have expected anything else?



Yeah can we keep the name calling out of this very civil and sensible discussion where I am advocating airstrikes against children?


----------



## Teaboy (Jun 29, 2017)

To be clear.  Sass is advocating war crimes?

Great.


----------



## Poi E (Jun 29, 2017)

Defence of the yoonyun. FGAU.


----------



## Casually Red (Jun 29, 2017)

So, looks like Stormont is fucked at the minute .

Final meeting to secure Northern Ireland deal cancelled two hours before deadline

The shinners can't back down without serious loss of face on their demand for an Irish language act as a precondition for power sharing with the DUP. They've already backed down on their demand for foster to step down due to the cash for ash scandal. At the last assembly elections unionism fared very poorly due to the series of corruption scandals that led to widespread voter apathy . That saw an outright uniionist majority at stormont crumble.

That disaster in turn was seen by unionism as a threat to the union itself , and had a galvanising effect . It led to loyalist voter registration campaigns and the like and a frenzy of electoral ism within unionism for the GE . And saw the DUP romp home .

Now in such a strong position the DUP will have little interest in doling out concessions to the shinners .especially with the 12th round the corner . Direct rule , especially in this position, suits them very nicely . They have a plan b and a plan c. The shinners have nothing.
It definitely doesn't suit the DUP to go back into a stormont parliament without a majority . Therefore it makes perfect sense for them to stall, bide their time under direct rule and wait for an attempt to revive the shithole with fresh elections . Where one would expect the reinvigorated orange voting machine to restore the sectarian balance . Especially now the DUP have secured such a massive windfall and appear to be holding the cards . The DUP would be pretty stupid to walk back into stormont right now . They can stick it to the shinners by just biding their time. Don't see a y reason why they wouldn't do that .

Yet another round of elections in the north seem inevitable I reckon.


----------



## Nylock (Jun 29, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> XMG was inhabited by murdering fucking scum. At times so hot, we could only go in and out by helicopter. So, roll your pictures into a tight cylinder and stick them up your arse.


Take your 'comedy' suggestion of an airstrike on the place and shove it up yours.


----------



## Casually Red (Jun 29, 2017)

Nylock said:


> Take your 'comedy' suggestion of an airstrike on the place and shove it up yours.




Worth a read under the circumstances

CAIN: Events: Fr. Denis Faul and Fr. Raymond Murray. (1976) Majella O'Hare: Shot Dead by the British Army 14 August 1976


----------



## 19force8 (Jun 29, 2017)

Poi E said:


> Disunited Kingdom dawns on UUP fellow
> 
> Lampooning English Press cartoonists should really learn where to draw the line - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk


What a wonderful piece. Sometimes I forget that Orangemen were the real victims of the troubles.


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jun 29, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> Worth a read under the circumstances
> 
> CAIN: Events: Fr. Denis Faul and Fr. Raymond Murray. (1976) Majella O'Hare: Shot Dead by the British Army 14 August 1976



You can no doubt provide a link to those murdered by the IRA, just in the way of balance?

Or perhaps this:

Murder of Jean McConville - Wikipedia


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jun 29, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> You can no doubt provide a link to those murdered by the IRA, just in the way of balance?
> 
> Or perhaps this:
> 
> Murder of Jean McConville - Wikipedia



There were no winners or losers in the conflict, only grieving relatives.


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jun 29, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> So, looks like Stormont is fucked at the minute .
> 
> Final meeting to secure Northern Ireland deal cancelled two hours before deadline
> 
> ...



Every time I see 'cash for ash' scandal, it reminds me of payments made to doctors to provide a 'natural causes' certificate prior to cremation. A number of junior doctors were caught signing certificates for patients they hadn't ever seen.


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jun 29, 2017)

19force8 said:


> What a wonderful piece. Sometimes I forget that Orangemen were the real victims of the troubles.



The bigoted bastards are part of the problem, not the solution.

I thought they were eccentric but relatively harmless, until I had the misfortune to spend the evening in the company of one of them. The 'religious' equivalent of Alf Garnett racism.


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jun 29, 2017)

planetgeli said:


> And there was you just trying to deliver milk eh?



No, we were trying to stop two lots of scum from killing each other, although why we bothered...


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jun 29, 2017)

chilango said:


> Why should you deserve anything else?
> 
> Your post above regarding Crossmaglen is despicable.


 Grow up.


----------



## chilango (Jun 29, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> Grow up.



Fuck off.


----------



## maomao (Jun 29, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> Ah 'ad hom'. Why should I have expected anything else?


Writing off a whole area as full of scum and needing bombing isn't ad hom? Your comments were fucking disgusting.


----------



## moochedit (Jun 29, 2017)

what does "XMG" mean?


----------



## N_igma (Jun 29, 2017)

moochedit said:


> what does "XMG" mean?



Crossmaglen.


----------



## ruffneck23 (Jun 29, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> No, we were trying to stop two lots of scum from killing each other, although why we bothered...


Classy


----------



## LiamO (Jun 29, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> No, we were trying to stop two lots of scum from killing each other, although why we bothered...



For a man of your age and wordly experience, you really are embarrassingly dim-witted.

Is anyone really _this_ stupid? So bereft of any understanding of why him and his mates were sent to a foreign country to be shot at by 'ungrateful' natives?

You truly are the village idiot's village idiot.

And an advocator of war crimes.


----------



## flypanam (Jun 29, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> XMG was inhabited by murdering fucking scum.



Yeah the British Army.


----------



## Casually Red (Jun 29, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> No, we were trying to stop two lots of scum from killing each other, although why we bothered...



This guy was working for you lot in south Armagh....army intelligence and special branch .. and further afield . Without doubt the most prolific killer during the conflict .

Robin Jackson - Wikipedia

This guy served in Crossmaglen barracks, as did quite a few others he names . This is what was really going on down there .

Document:John Weir Affidavit - Wikispooks


As did this guy, a former DUP activist

Billy McCaughey - Wikipedia

The British forces weren't there to stop people killing each other . Far from it . That was a lie for the gullible.


----------



## Poi E (Jun 30, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> No, we were trying to stop two lots of scum from killing each other, although why we bothered...



You were fighting for the union. Don't church it up like it was UN peacekeeping. No need to hide fealty to Lords and Ladies in London.


----------



## newbie (Jun 30, 2017)

So, the DUP have got a billion quid to lubricate their slush funds and their faces all over the media, but in doing so have driven a coach and horses through their local abortion restrictions.  Unintended consequence presumably but looking like a serious humiliation.  I wonder if they were even consulted when May decided to lob another million or so into her self-preservation pot?

How big a deal is this over there?


----------



## Poi E (Jun 30, 2017)

Christ May's government is a soft touch. Thank fuck the country isn't going into its most important negotiations since WW2 ended.


----------



## CrabbedOne (Jun 30, 2017)

It's all a cunning Tory plan to lull the EU27 into a false sense of security by pretending to be hapless buffoons easily debagged by a bunch of creationist rednecks from beyond the Pale.


----------



## William of Walworth (Jun 30, 2017)

CrabbedOne said:


> It's all a cunning Tory plan to lull the EU27 into a false sense of security by pretending to be hapless buffoons easily debagged by a bunch of creationist rednecks from* beyond the Pale*



*Within* the Pale surely, in the DUP's case (not that that's historically accurate either)


----------



## CrabbedOne (Jun 30, 2017)

On The Belfast Telegraph Move on free NHS abortions for Northern Ireland women is hailed and criticised in equal measure


> ...
> DUP MP Ian Paisley told the Commons: "This is not a matter for Belfast, it is a matter for NHS England."
> 
> But the relaxation of the rules infuriated churches, pro-life activists and social conservatives here. The Presbyterian Church in Ireland said it was "deeply saddened and puzzled" by the move.
> ...


Steady, the DUP are still counting the money they got from the Godless English.


----------



## 19force8 (Jun 30, 2017)

William of Walworth said:


> *Within* the Pale surely, in the DUP's case (not that's historically accurate either)


Historically, definitely beyond the Pale, though maybe a bit hard on rednecks.


----------



## CrabbedOne (Jun 30, 2017)

William of Walworth said:


> *Within* the Pale surely, in the DUP's case (not that's historically accurate either)


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jun 30, 2017)

Teaboy said:


> To be clear.  Sass is advocating war crimes?
> 
> Great.


I was not serious FFS. No wonder the left get nowhere, no sense of humour or the ridiculous.


----------



## ddraig (Jun 30, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> I was not serious FFS. No wonder the left get nowhere, no sense of humour or the ridiculous.


how is any of this in any way funny?
last refuge of the scoundrel "only joking", "where's your sense of humour _love_" ffs


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jun 30, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> This guy was working for you lot in south Armagh....army intelligence and special branch .. and further afield . Without doubt the most prolific killer during the conflict .
> 
> Robin Jackson - Wikipedia
> 
> ...


It wasn't quite as simple as that.

Was it you that recommended Ann Cadwallader's book, which I bought and read? It was shocking, genuinely shocking. I have no doubt that the heirachy were aware of what was going on, but the ordinary soldier was not, not at the time.

I see the conflict from one side, you from the other. All we wanted to do was survive, and get home, never to see the place again. The thought that the people of NI couldn't easily move away didn't occur to us. In retrospect, it must have been utter hell.

Hindsight is wonderful; at the time it was simple and clear, we were there to keep the peace. Now, especially after reading that book, I feel absolutely ashamed of the actions of Britain at that time. They were deplorable.


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jun 30, 2017)

ddraig said:


> how is any of this in any way funny?
> last refuge of the scoundrel "only joking", "where's your sense of humour _love_" ffs


Yawn. Get over yourself.


----------



## LiamO (Jun 30, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> Was it you that recommended Ann Cadwallader's book, which I bought and read?



No. That was me.



Sasaferrato said:


> Was it you that recommended Ann Cadwallader's book, which I bought and read? It was shocking, genuinely shocking. I have no doubt that the heirachy were aware of what was going on, but the ordinary soldier was not, not at the time.
> 
> ...
> Hindsight is wonderful; at the time it was simple and clear, we were there to keep the peace. Now, especially after reading that book, I feel absolutely ashamed of the actions of Britain at that time. They were deplorable.



But even after all that you are still capable of coming out with the drivel of two days ago, which you compounded yesterday. You have had 40-odd years to come to a more mature/nuanced/informed view, but you have chosen not to. What exactly are you so afraid of that you continue to cling desperately to the simplistic ediface constructed for you by your 'betters' all those years ago?

And you could have avoided all this bitterness by adding "The way we/us squaddies felt at that time" to your statement about airstrikes. But you chose not to. In fact you continually choose not to. The question to ask yourself is "Why"?


----------



## Poi E (Jun 30, 2017)

CrabbedOne said:


> On The Belfast Telegraph Move on free NHS abortions for Northern Ireland women is hailed and criticised in equal measure
> Steady, the DUP are still counting the money they got from the Godless English.



Maybe the prod churches should try their luck with the Vatican, which shares their views on this matter.


----------



## xenon (Jun 30, 2017)

Airstrikes. LOL.

Yep. One of the classics that one.


----------



## 19force8 (Jun 30, 2017)

Poi E said:


> Maybe the prod churches should try their luck with the Vatican, which shares their views on this matter.


Yeah, but that whole transubstantiation thing...

On the other hand how much can you get for a decent indulgence these days?


----------



## Poi E (Jun 30, 2017)

19force8 said:


> Yeah, but that whole transubstantiation thing...



Had to look that one up! Bells, smells, spells and hell sell, huh?


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jun 30, 2017)

LiamO said:


> No. That was me.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



What you don't seem to grasp, quite probably because I have failed to articulate properly, is the difference between the experience/objective of the ordinary soldier, and the objectives of the British government. They were not the same.

With regard to government policy, I am deeply ashamed that the country I'm part of behaved in such a mendacious and despicable manner. I can assure you that neither myself, or my colleagues, knew what was happening. It is only as the truth slowly emerged that we realised... well, that we had been duped basically. Had been used in a way entirely contrary to what we had been told. Remember also, we led a very enclosed life. I didn't leave barracks when off duty, I had a wife and child and was not heading into any unnecessary danger.

As an ordinary soldier, I was in a situation where people were actively trying to kill me. It wasn't a game, it was a situation where a wrong move could mean your death, or the death of a colleague. The people of NI suffered, but so did we. (from now on, 'we' means the ordinary squaddie.). One of the most prominent and respected posters on these boards was blown up in NI, and has suffered ill health ever since. I'm not going to name him without his consent. As a medic, I diodn't have to do street patrol, but it was made clear that it was expected, because it rested someone else. A lot of people were wound very tight, having been shot at, and having seen their colleagues killed in various ways. I lost a friend at Warrenpoint, we had joined the army on the same day, he was Para, I was RAMC. 

I patched up innumerable people who had been hit by shrapnel, hit with bottles, stones etc. We really did not consider the bigger picture, we counted down the days until we could get to fuck out of there. My experience has left me with an abiding hatred of NI terrorists of all flavours. I do regard them as scum, and that will never change. It didn't matter to us which side they were on, they were trying to kill us. 

It is very easy forty years later to point out how wrong it all was. Back then, information such as Ann Cawallader's book was not available. We had to rely on the information supplied, with no way of knowing, or checking its veracity.

My remark about airstrikes on XMG, I cannot help but feel there is a deal of faux outrage going here, it was perhaps in poor taste, but anyone taking it literally is more than a tad deluded.


----------



## Idris2002 (Jun 30, 2017)

Spoiler


----------



## YouSir (Jun 30, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> What you don't seem to grasp, quite probably because I have failed to articulate properly, is the difference between the experience/objective of the ordinary soldier, and the objectives of the British government. They were not the same.
> 
> With regard to government policy, I am deeply ashamed that the country I'm part of behaved in such a mendacious and despicable manner. I can assure you that neither myself, or my colleagues, knew what was happening. It is only as the truth slowly emerged that we realised... well, that we had been duped basically. Had been used in a way entirely contrary to what we had been told. Remember also, we led a very enclosed life. I didn't leave barracks when off duty, I had a wife and child and was not heading into any unnecessary danger.
> 
> ...



Fair few people at the time were point out that it was wrong, no?


----------



## chilango (Jun 30, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> My remark about airstrikes on XMG, I cannot help but feel there is a deal of faux outrage going here, it was perhaps in poor taste, but anyone taking it literally is more than a tad deluded.





Sasaferrato said:


> Airstrikes on XMG would have been welcome.





Sasaferrato said:


> XMG was inhabited by murdering fucking scum. At times so hot, we could only go in and out by helicopter. So, roll your pictures into a tight cylinder and stick them up your arse.





Sasaferrato said:


> I was not serious FFS. No wonder the left get nowhere, no sense of humour or the ridiculous.



Read it back.

Are you standing by your comments or not?


----------



## CrabbedOne (Jun 30, 2017)

Poi E said:


> Maybe the prod churches should try their luck with the Vatican, which shares their views on this matter.


That would be an ecumenical matter.

Being pro-life is already pretty much of a consensus with Churchy folk in N.Ireland. The big parties are mostly that way as well with SF flirting with being a tiny bit more progressive recently in line with sentiment down South causing howls of outrage from some supporters. I heard the DUP aping 60s Evangelicals in the US was recently doing some outreach to conservative RCs over this but folk are so doggedly sectarian in N.I. success seems unlikely.


----------



## Casually Red (Jun 30, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> What you don't seem to grasp, quite probably because I have failed to articulate properly, is the difference between the experience/objective of the ordinary soldier, and the objectives of the British government. They were not the same.
> 
> With regard to government policy, I am deeply ashamed that the country I'm part of behaved in such a mendacious and despicable manner. I can assure you that neither myself, or my colleagues, knew what was happening. It is only as the truth slowly emerged that we realised... well, that we had been duped basically. Had been used in a way entirely contrary to what we had been told. Remember also, we led a very enclosed life. I didn't leave barracks when off duty, I had a wife and child and was not heading into any unnecessary danger.
> 
> ...



I forgive you . Pax vobiscum .


----------



## ddraig (Jun 30, 2017)

Sasaferrato said:


> Yawn. Get over yourself.


you stupid stupid idiot buffoon
what is any way amusing about it?


----------



## LiamO (Jun 30, 2017)




----------



## YouSir (Jun 30, 2017)

ddraig said:


> you stupid stupid idiot buffoon
> what is any way amusing about it?



He's a nasty old bastard, always has been, just a thin veneer of jokiness over the top.


----------



## DexterTCN (Jun 30, 2017)

YouSir said:


> He's a nasty old bastard, always has been, just a thin veneer of jokiness over the top.


right...that's half of urban.


----------



## William of Walworth (Jul 1, 2017)

William of Walworth said:
			
		

> Within the Pale surely ...





CrabbedOne said:


>



Apologies all for being crap with that earlier post of mine. I should have checked. I had forgotten how narrow an area geographically the Pale was. Had misremembered it as including Prods but excluding Catholics more generally


----------



## CrabbedOne (Jul 1, 2017)

William of Walworth said:


> Apologies all for being crap with that earlier post of mine. I should have checked. I had forgotten how narrow an area geographically the Pale was. Had misremembered it as including Prods but excluding Catholics more generally


The most English part of Ireland but always mostly Catholic I think. A lot of Anglicans settled in North Armagh in the 17th century as well. My mother's family originating from Yorkshire for example. The core DUP base tends to look more to a Scottish heritage and the dissenting tradition.


----------



## CrabbedOne (Jul 1, 2017)

In The Daily Telegraph Ministers hold secret talks with DUP MPs about compensation for victims of Libyan-supplied IRA bombs


> ...
> "The reason this matter is not explicitly mentioned in the Agreement between the DUP and the Government is because we have not yet reached an agreed position or established legal basis for accessing Libyan assets, given that these are the subject of international sanctions and covered by international law.”
> 
> In the letter seen by the Belfast Telegraph, he added: “We remain committed to supporting the wider campaign by innocent victims to secure recompense and reparation from Libya and will seek to use our influence to secure a positive outcome.”
> ...


Magic money trees springing up everywhere.


----------



## Casually Red (Jul 2, 2017)

This is interesting

Brexit minister linked to group that used loophole to channel £435,000 to DUP


----------



## CrabbedOne (Jul 2, 2017)

On RTE Did Arlene Foster sell out on Brexit?


> ...
> Useful though the cash will be, it is surprising to see how little consideration is given to addressing the impact of Brexit. The only exception is agriculture.
> 
> The deal says: "The parties agree to continue to commit the same cash total in funds for farm support until the end of the Parliament. Further discussions will take place on the future framework for farming support."
> ...


Interesting point as N.I. may be quite badly fucked over by the Hard Brexit the DUP are supporting. Particularly rural communities that are a big part of the DUP's core base and hinge around farming. These are also liable to be screwed by post-Brexit Free Trade Agreements. On the other hand jam tomorrow is an unreliable commodity.


----------



## Casually Red (Jul 2, 2017)




----------



## LiamO (Jul 2, 2017)

part one


----------



## LiamO (Jul 2, 2017)

part two


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## LiamO (Jul 2, 2017)

The gift that keeps on giving ...



Who knew Mr Bean was in the DUP?


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 2, 2017)




----------



## dessiato (Jul 2, 2017)

Apparently there was an orangeman parade in, of all places, Prestonpans.


----------



## Sue (Jul 2, 2017)

Battle of Prestonpans - Wikipedia


----------



## newbie (Jul 3, 2017)

out of interest, how do they build these engineering marvels?  Are cranes involved or is it all done by hand? The core looks empty in that photo, at least at the top.  Surely not? 

It must take a long time, how do they keep the hedgehogs out?


----------



## mojo pixy (Jul 3, 2017)

Hedgehogs are all catholic so there's no problem with burning them to death


----------



## N_igma (Jul 3, 2017)

newbie said:


> out of interest, how do they build these engineering marvels?  Are cranes involved or is it all done by hand? The core looks empty in that photo, at least at the top.  Surely not?
> 
> It must take a long time, how do they keep the hedgehogs out?



Mostly by hand you can see in that photo certain pallets sticking out like rungs on a ladder so they stand on them and can pass pallets up to the next tier. 

Some of the bigger ones use cherry pickers and what not. There's a surprising amount of help from adults and businesses in this whole enterprise you'd think it was just a bunch of kids but it's not.


----------



## Casually Red (Jul 3, 2017)

newbie said:


> how do they keep the hedgehogs out?



Keep them out ? It's orange tradition that they send out little children who are too small to lift pallets to scour the countryside for hedgehogs and then fill the inside of the bonfire with hundreds of them . It's sort of like the wicker man . They believe the offering  will bestow great fortune upon loyalism .  And lo and behold Theresa may gives them a magic money tree . There'll not be a hedgehog left at this rate .

They also roast hedgehogs on a stick over the embers and make bowler hats out of them .


----------



## CrabbedOne (Jul 3, 2017)

And as for the hedgehogs...


----------



## CrabbedOne (Jul 3, 2017)

On Slugger Five minute guide to building a bonfire

I did hear for some of the bigger ones lately they get in structural engineers, cranes etc.


----------



## Casually Red (Jul 3, 2017)

Sue said:


> Battle of Prestonpans - Wikipedia


----------



## newbie (Jul 3, 2017)

Casually Red said:


> Keep them out ? It's orange tradition that they send out little children who are too small to lift pallets to scour the countryside for hedgehogs and then fill the inside of the bonfire with hundreds of them . It's sort of like the wicker man . They believe the offering  will bestow great fortune upon loyalism .  And lo and behold Theresa may gives them a magic money tree . There'll not be a hedgehog left at this rate .
> 
> They also roast hedgehogs on a stick over the embers and make bowler hats out of them .


How unfair is that! I wondered why people didn't like the DUP and now I know.  I will write to Arlene Foster to tell her that I don't like their treatment of hedgehogs.


----------



## Poi E (Jul 3, 2017)

So when Foster gets to embarrassing for the Tories I guess they bump her up to the House of Lords, right?


----------



## Dogsauce (Jul 3, 2017)

Poi E said:


> too embarrassing for the Tories



I don't think such a concept exists. This is the party that stuck Grant Shalks in a senior role FFS.


----------



## DexterTCN (Jul 3, 2017)

This was all foreshadowed by that tory who was found dead with a bag over his head and an orange in his mouth ages ago.


----------



## moochedit (Jul 3, 2017)

newbie said:


> How unfair is that! I wondered why people didn't like the DUP and now I know.  I will write to Arlene Foster to tell her that I don't like their treatment of hedgehogs.



Someone should start an epetition on change.org against this outrage


----------



## moochedit (Jul 3, 2017)

Poi E said:


> So when Foster gets to embarrassing for the Tories I guess they bump her up to the House of Lords, right?



Would mean a byelection though. Although i guess she's in a safe dup seat.


----------



## Poi E (Jul 3, 2017)

moochedit said:


> Would mean a byelection though. Although i guess she's in a safe dup seat.



She's not a Westminster MP.


----------



## Poi E (Jul 4, 2017)

Bit off-topic but a good question from Finton O'Toole. Are the English fit to govern themselves? Perhaps not, viewed through the prism of Irish modern history.

Opinion | Are the English Fit to Govern Themselves?


----------



## Dogsauce (Jul 4, 2017)




----------



## LiamO (Jul 5, 2017)




----------



## CrabbedOne (Jul 5, 2017)

On Slugger As for that RHI overrun, erm, that will be just £2 million per annum thank you very much?


> ...
> Now, if there is a legal challenge, these estimates will be out. That said, and given the transparent change in behaviour the tiering system has brought in, it doesn’t presently seem to be an issue. It still remains a poorly constructed scheme (paying by burn rates, tiered or not, ain’t Green).
> 
> But, the 1/2 Billion projected overrun appears now to be more a matter of _science fiction than science fact_.  Tell me, why have the local parties in Northern Ireland hand back the keys of power to the conservatives again?


So Arlene didn't lose quite such a big sum down the back of the sofa. Southern press losing patience with Stormont's well bribed but still squabbling inmates as well. 

You have to appreciate here though the devil in the details. Like what percentage of civil service jobs are reserved for Gaelic speakers and how much cash goes to preserving the not exactly dying dialect Ulster Scots that most of Antrim speaks. Essentially jobs for the boys; mostly middle class boys. You wouldn't want trivia like plugging the gaps in the N.I. NHS or lowering rates of child mortality to get in the way of that. The endless zero sum game blethering may be set to run on all Summer.


----------



## Casually Red (Jul 7, 2017)

'Everybody hates us but we've got the cash,' says DUP's Ian Paisley Jr


Yeah Ian, it's just like Islamophobia


----------



## Casually Red (Jul 7, 2017)

CrabbedOne said:


> On Slugger As for that RHI overrun, erm, that will be just £2 million per annum thank you very much?
> So Arlene didn't lose quite such a big sum down the back of the sofa. Southern press losing patience with Stormont's well bribed but still squabbling inmates as well.
> 
> You have to appreciate here though the devil in the details. Like what percentage of civil service jobs are reserved for Gaelic speakers and how much cash goes to preserving the not exactly dying dialect Ulster Scots that most of Antrim speaks. Essentially jobs for the boys; mostly middle class boys. You wouldn't want trivia like plugging the gaps in the N.I. NHS or lowering rates of child mortality to get in the way of that. The endless zero sum game blethering may be set to run on all Summer.




They aren't preserving a dialect . They're equating an accent with a bit of slang to an indo European language . For purely ...blatantly..sectarian reasons . Most people in  Antrim ...by far..live in Belfast and it's environs  and most certainly do not have this particular accent which is confined to a few rural backwaters. Its quite understandable 95 percent of the time to anyone who speaks English . Because it is English . Geordie is harder to understand . All their doing is over emphasising an accent and throwing in a few archaic verbs no longer in common usage and calling it a fucking language . And it's not just the loyalists responsible for this shit . The nationalist GFA types signed up to this parity of esteem shit and dignified it, legitimised it in their own rotten persuit of their slice of the British pie . And now it's cemented and normalised along with all the other sectarian , identity politics nonsense . A myth was given credence . 

I think it's more correct to describe the whole rotten sectarian mess as a race to the bottom rather than zero sum . There is no way the DUP are engaging in any rapprochement with the shinners over the marching season . Not a chance . And yet again it's " competing cultures " rather than sectarianism being fostered by foreign rule in Ireland . This is precisely what's meant to happen under the GFA . It's entire narrative was the conflict was down to" competing cultures" , not British rule . Not part of Ireland being occupied . Nobody should be surprised that cultures compete till the fucking cows come home . It's exactly what's supposed to happen . None of this will change under British structures . They foster it , deliberately .


----------



## littlebabyjesus (Jul 7, 2017)

_A language is a dialect with an army. _


----------



## likesfish (Jul 8, 2017)

unfortunately the glorious Irish peoples  army liberation bus stalled somewhere outside Dublin.
  so the peace process was buying off two sets of thugs and their hangers on so shit like this and community workers are the result still cheaper and less bloody than the alternative. 
  without a genuine non sectarian approach to kicking the UK out republicanism was on a hiding to nowhere it never had the numbers to win it didn't have the support of the south regardless of if it wanted it or not. Tory s fucked this up at the end of the 20th century and everyone is still paying for it. slighter smarter people and we could have had an alcoholic Canada as a neighbor.
  rather than the shithole we got.


----------



## Idris2002 (Jul 8, 2017)

likesfish said:


> unfortunately the glorious Irish peoples  army liberation bus stalled somewhere outside Dublin.
> so the peace process was buying off two sets of thugs and their hangers on so shit like this and community workers are the result still cheaper and less bloody than the alternative.
> without a genuine non sectarian approach to kicking the UK out republicanism was on a hiding to nowhere it never had the numbers to win it didn't have the support of the south regardless of if it wanted it or not. Tory s fucked this up at the end of the 20th century and everyone is still paying for it. slighter smarter people and we could have had an alcoholic Canada as a neighbor.
> rather than the shithole we got.


"My Da saw an advert that said "Drink Canada Dry" - and he said CHALLENGE ACCEPTED"


----------



## Idris2002 (Jul 8, 2017)

There must be at least a fraction of the Protestant community who are at best uneasy with all this pallet collecting, surely? I once had a student in Queen's tell me about how her Da, a lifelong Orangeman had resigned in disgust over the 'criminal element' who had come into the order at the time of Drumcree and after.


----------



## Poi E (Jul 8, 2017)

Got to think positively. As England enters the existential crisis of identity and self recrimination that starts wirh Brexit, and when the DUP votes are no longer needed, NI will be asked to fuck off. Or paid to do so.


----------



## N_igma (Jul 8, 2017)

Idris2002 said:


> There must be at least a fraction of the Protestant community who are at best uneasy with all this pallet collecting, surely? I once had a student in Queen's tell me about how her Da, a lifelong Orangeman had resigned in disgust over the 'criminal element' who had come into the order at the time of Drumcree and after.



There is a sizeable minority of mostly Middle Class Protestants who just want to get away from it all. For instance on the 12th two years ago I met two Protestant teachers in a pub in the heart of south Armagh who came up for the day to do a bit of hiking and then a few drinks after in a pub, in one of the if not the most Republican area in Ireland.


----------



## Idris2002 (Jul 8, 2017)

N_igma said:


> There is a sizeable minority of mostly Middle Class Protestants who just want to get away from it all. For instance on the 12th two years ago I met two Protestant teachers in a pub in the heart of south Armagh who came up for the day to do a bit of hiking and then a few drinks after in a pub, in one of the if not the most Republican area in Ireland.


And that was the first time ever you'd met a Prod, right?


----------



## N_igma (Jul 8, 2017)

Idris2002 said:


> And that was the first time ever you'd met a Prod, right?



Lol yeh strange beings they are. Eyes too close together and can't pronounce the letter 'H' properly


----------



## Idris2002 (Jul 8, 2017)

N_igma said:


> Lol yeh strange beings they are. Eyes too close together and can't pronounce the letter 'H' properly


I thought it was us lot who can't pronounce "H" properly.


----------



## N_igma (Jul 8, 2017)

Idris2002 said:


> I thought it was us lot who can't pronounce "H" properly.



No we're always right


----------



## likesfish (Jul 8, 2017)

Idris2002 said:


> There must be at least a fraction of the Protestant community who are at best uneasy with all this pallet collecting, surely? I once had a student in Queen's tell me about how her Da, a lifelong Orangeman had resigned in disgust over the 'criminal element' who had come into the order at the time of Drumcree and after.


 violence or the threat of violence is pretty good at silencing descent


----------



## likesfish (Jul 8, 2017)

Poi E said:


> Got to think positively. As England enters the existential crisis of identity and self recrimination that starts wirh Brexit, and when the DUP votes are no longer needed, NI will be asked to fuck off. Or paid to do so.




my favorite was too gift it too argentina


----------



## Casually Red (Jul 8, 2017)

Poi E said:


> Got to think positively. As England enters the existential crisis of identity and self recrimination that starts wirh Brexit, and when the DUP votes are no longer needed, NI will be asked to fuck off. Or paid to do so.



Dont ask them , just tell them to fuck off . As rudely as possible so the lesson sinks home .

In all seriousness I think you mightn't be too far off the mark . The DUP...unionism in general.. has been shaken by the British reaction to them propping up may and the spotlight generally shone on what they're about . And it's only started . This could turn out to be the worst card they've ever played . They were much better off skulking in the shadows . They're hated in England now, even by many Tories . Despised pretty much . That's not good when you're utterly dependent upon the British to prop you up, in every way .


----------



## maomao (Jul 8, 2017)

littlebabyjesus said:


> _A language is a dialect with an army. _


And a navy. Army alone not enough apparently.  

I don't remember the details because it's been a very long time but it's the syntax of Ulster Scots that has been of particular interest to linguists however objectionable the behaviour or politics of a sizable proportion of its speakers.


----------



## flypanam (Sep 28, 2017)

2017 - Catholics are told to move of the Cantrell development, they lose their rehousing points and the DUP say 'Nothing to see here'
Because we are Catholic: Resident speaks out after UVF force him and pregnant wife to leave home - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

and

DUP's Pengelly slammed over 'let it be' attitude to terrorist flags in mixed estate - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk


----------



## Pickman's model (Sep 28, 2017)

maomao said:


> And a navy. Army alone not enough apparently.
> 
> I don't remember the details because it's been a very long time but it's the syntax of Ulster Scots that has been of particular interest to linguists however objectionable the behaviour or politics of a sizable proportion of its speakers.


it's the only language to consist of variations on 'no'


----------



## maomao (Sep 28, 2017)

Pickman's model said:


> it's the only language to consist of variations on 'no'


I don't get it.


----------



## Pickman's model (Sep 28, 2017)

maomao said:


> I don't get it.


no, i didn't suppose you would


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## maomao (Sep 28, 2017)

Pickman's model said:


> no, i didn't suppose you would


Well to be fair your post doesn't make sense, what little sense it might appear to make isn't true and I'm not familiar with Ulster Scots anyway so I was never going to get it.


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## Poi E (Sep 28, 2017)

flypanam said:


> 2017 - Catholics are told to move of the Cantrell development, they lose their rehousing points and the DUP say 'Nothing to see here'
> Because we are Catholic: Resident speaks out after UVF force him and pregnant wife to leave home - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk
> 
> and
> ...



Pengelly's old man founded the Ulster Resistance paras and got very lenient treatment after getting nicked in Paris getting guns for the cause. No surprise she is doing FA.


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## Pickman's model (Sep 28, 2017)

maomao said:


> Well to be fair your post doesn't make sense, what little sense it might appear to make isn't true and I'm not familiar with Ulster Scots anyway so I was never going to get it.


yeh because you're something of an uberpedant and unable to think outside the box.


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## Poi E (Sep 28, 2017)

Hope its hot down there, Rev.


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## likesfish (Sep 28, 2017)

why do you hate satan so much


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## eoin_k (Sep 28, 2017)

maomao said:


> Well to be fair your post doesn't make sense, what little sense it might appear to make isn't true and I'm not familiar with Ulster Scots anyway so I was never going to get it.


To be fair, his post made perfect sense if you had any awareness of the context.

















(and he's an Orangeman).












And last but not least, Yukon Street says... No


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## maomao (Sep 29, 2017)

eoin_k said:


> To be fair, his post made perfect sense if you had any awareness of the context.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I actually misread his post on a phone in a hospital while thinking about something else. I can now confirm that Pickman's model's post did make sense and that I did 'get' the joke.


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## Celyn (Sep 29, 2017)

I often thought the whole thing could be sorted out easily if someone asked Ian Paisley if he had any objections to a united Ireland and an end to UK rule.  He's say "no", then it would just have been a matter of sorting out a few details.


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## flypanam (Nov 23, 2017)

Not quite the DUP but John Taylor late of the UUP has been trying to talk Donegal back into the UK. Oi, John what the fuck is the matter with Cavan and Monaghan. Take us back then we can have a border poll.

Lord Kilclooney claims Donegal would be better off in UK


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## Streathamite (Nov 23, 2017)

maomao said:


> I don't get it.


the famous line has it that the entire history of the DUP is of them finding a new way to say 'NO!!!' to every new proposal or idea that's ever been aired in NI.


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## Idris2002 (Nov 24, 2017)




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## LiamO (Nov 24, 2017)

Fundamentalist 'Christians' demanding the removal of a Christmas tree.

Loyalists demand the removal of Co Derry Christmas tree

"A LOYALIST group involved in a bitter row over the removal of a Union flag from the centre of a Co Derry town has demanded that a Christmas tree put up nearby be taken down... 
...Forum chairman William Lennox said there are “Muslims in the town and a lot of non Christians” who may be offended by the festive tree."


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## Poi E (Nov 24, 2017)

A close friend of the Muslim communities, then.


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## LiamO (Nov 25, 2017)

Can't wait for all his previous 'Muslim supporting' tweets and fb posts to be posted by those who will, inevitably, want to share his consistency.


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## flypanam (Feb 7, 2018)

Oh dear Arlene's tough on crime, but not the causes of crime. No pardons for suffragettes cries Arlene.
DUP's Arlene Foster against pardon for suffragettes who broke law

Could Arlene love Rees Mogg


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## NoXion (Feb 7, 2018)

flypanam said:


> Oh dear Arlene's tough on crime, but not the causes of crime. No pardons for suffragettes cries Arlene.
> DUP's Arlene Foster against pardon for suffragettes who broke law
> 
> Could Arlene love Rees Mogg



I wonder where Arlene would be if it weren't for the suffragettes?


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## krtek a houby (Feb 7, 2018)

NoXion said:


> I wonder where Arlene would be if it weren't for the suffragettes?



She'd be grand, didn't god choose her, after all?


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## Teaboy (Feb 7, 2018)

_A crime is still a crime
_
I can't begin to think of an ulterior motive in her thinking here.


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## Idris2002 (Mar 28, 2018)

I'll just leave this here:


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## Poi E (Jun 24, 2019)

Just in case you missed the DUP and their tawdry shite Love cheat DUP MP sent woman 11,000 texts - and his firm sacked her husband - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk


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