Arnold Carton - Protestant, Unionist and Irish
@ArnoldCarton
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Retired Lisburn teacher living in Belfast. Occasional contributor to
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Joined March 2014
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Pinned Tweet
I listened with interest to Leo
#Varadkar
's comments at the excellent
@IrelandsFuture
event on Saturday. Is it worth retweeting a letter I sent to the
@irish_news
2 years ago in response to the comments of Michelle O'Neil who is now our First Minister? Any comments?
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As the Orange Order is prevented from walking down the Garvaghy Road for the 25th year my sympathy (as a Protestant and unionist) is with the bereaved McGoldrick, Quinn, Hamill and O’Reilly families.
The inconvenience suffered by the OO is minor by comparison to their loss.
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An Irish mother in Letter Kenney will be very proud after watching her son on this video.
Well done young man.
Hi
@NiallMcConnell5
, why did you delete this video. The random Black guy you approached didn't buy your bs?
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As a unionist it would be remiss of me not to congratulate Michelle O'Neill on becoming First Minister of N. Ireland today.
Congratulations. You got the votes, you deserve the post.
Democracy works better than the alternative.
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I am a unionist who lives fairly close to the location of this school.
Will someone explain to me how on earth it could negatively impact on my life?
Why would I need to be consulted on anything other than traffic implications?
Loyalist representatives tell Minister to end Irish language school plan for east Belfast
➡️
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I suspect many unionists like me are uncomfortable with displays like this on our main Belfast roads.
A union flag on your house is fine, but UDA flags on our lamp posts is not.
Our unionist politicians should be speaking out against this.
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As a Protestant & unionist I have to point out that when most of us think of Drumcree the 'burning injustice' that comes to mind concerns the innocents killed during those protests.
My sympathy is with families like the Quinns, the Martins, the Taylors, the McGoldricks & Hamills
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If you are a unionist you must listen to
#bbctheview
Devastating analysis for the
#DUP
of the calibre of candidates selected.
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@HalimaNyomi
@JuliaHB1
It has been shocking how relaxed British journalists seem to be about the murder of journalists in Palestine by the Israeli forces.
@BBCNews
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Nollaig Shona everyone.
No unionist will be offended by being wished Merry Christmas in Irish. Time we stopped getting worked up over silly stuff like this.
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Astonishing attack on the NI Business community from the DUP's Sammy Wilson who fails to recognise that it was the DUP's blind obedience to Boris & the Brexiteers that led us to this situation.
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Not just Gaels. Some unionists like myself will be present as well.
Gaels from all over the country are rallying in Belfast, tomorrow, Saturday 10th February to register their opposition to
#IsraelsGenocide
of Palestinians.
Join them & add your voice on the
#NationalDayOfAction
for Gaza & demand a
#CEASEFIRE_NOW
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This is seriously no good.
What are the DUP thinking?
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The Orange Order does not speak for unionists like me.
I enjoyed listening to the debate
@IrelandsFuture
on Saturday.
I went in as a unionist and left as a better-informed unionist.
Mervyn Gibson on Ireland's Future:
"They will say 'we have Protestants involved' but vast majority of unionists want nothing to do with it"
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Jamie Bryson on
#nolanlive
explaining
#DUP
policy on the
#BrexitProtocol
once more.
Who is leading the DUP?
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Am I the only one who is disturbed by Jamie's portrayal of
@StephenFarryND
?
I don't like bullying & this sort of attack would make me more likely to vote for Stephen if I lived in North Down.
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Tragic that this Hindu family had their property burnt out in a racist attack. Ulster is a poorer place because of racism.
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😀😁😆😅
Just received this from a nationalist friend. This should make us all smile.
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Please stop embarrassing unionists with posts like this. You are out of touch with what matters to people. My generation has moved on from your ancient views.
By the way, I am a 63 year old pensioner.
Amazing that the BBC NI News gives priority to an attack in Tullamore, Co Offaly before an item on the Windsor Framework or electricity supplies in NI. Once again BBC NI new policy is to prioritise RoI News - is it a BBC decision or request of the NI Office??
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Really sad to see this reaction towards someone enjoying trying a new sport. How will he respond when the DUP send him a card wishing him 'Nollaig Shona'.
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If the objective of the dual language signage is to promote Irish, how much extra would it cost to include a literal translation below the Irish see bottom picture?
It won't make us unionists love Irish, but might help us to see the relevance & would be more inclusive.
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Some of us did try to help the DUP,
we warned you that
#Brexit
would be a disaster,
we warned you that it would result in a border in the Irish Sea
we advised you to accept the Windsor Framework compromise.
You keep ignoring our help.
Other NI parties should ‘help’ DUP solve political impasse, says Ian Paisley
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So according to a DUP MP the problem here is that the unelected Jamie Bryson has been subjected to persistent silencing over the years. (She clearly doesn't listen to the Nolan show.)
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Excellent response to Gregory Campbell on
#BBCTalkback
from Sinead (at 12:25) who points out that the DUP suspension of Stormont executive is pushing people like her towards supporting Irish unity.
Why would any unionist party set out to prove that NI is unworkable?
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When the DUP replaced the UUP as the largest unionist party the union was safe, no-one expected Irish unity.
In 20 years with the DUP in control we've had Brexit, Stormont collapsed and the union severely damaged.
Help the DUP finish the job?
I really don't think so.
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Why do the cows cross the road?On the road to Derry this morning.
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I had to go out and buy a copy of the Irish Times to read David Adams article. This takes courage.
He will be speaking at
@IrelandsFuture
on Saturday.
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Supporting Palestine is not the same as supporting Hamas.
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Today's Newsletter. The belief that upsetting nationalists makes you a stronger unionist is one reason why we often support angry voices that lead unionism into pointless, damaging conflicts.
Getting on well with our nationalist neighbours should not be treated with suspicion.
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One of the reasons unionism is so weak is that too many of us accepted the myth that upsetting nationalists makes you a better unionist.
The union is safe only when nationalist feel at home within the union.
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As a 'Garden Centre Unionist' I shouldn't be surprised to discover that even with the Windsor Framework the plants my daughter bought for our British garden are coming from Ireland. Does this mean I am less than 100% British? Does anybody care? 😭😁
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Happy to discuss immigration with anyone, but time for a bit of honesty.
If you were involved in burning out your Turkish Barber, or Syrian supermarket or Sudanese cafe, you are either a naive full who is being manipulated, or you are a racist bigot
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This is very sad news. Watching a partner suffer with cancer is difficult.
Sorcha & Dale have our sympathy.
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In 1985 a strikingly similar picture was taken of thousands of unionists attending a protest against the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
Today the people protest about equality of income, rather than identity.
It is time the DUP accepted that N. Ireland has changed.
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Excellent summary of the DUP by Terry Wright on Slugger.
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As a unionist I don't often sympathise with SF but it was wrong to boo the SF speaker at today's
#Belfast
#Palestine
march. The children of Palestine need as much support as we can get, whether from SF or unionists.
(Time for some unionist speakers?)
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My letter in this mornings Newsletter.
It is the DUP MPs that are letting unionism down, rather than their MLAs, so why don't the DUP MPs resign and let their hard working MLAs return to govern?
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From today's Newsletter.
Apparently having shops in the area lying closed and derelict, is fuelling actions such as burning out the successful supermarket businesses in the area.
An area represented for decades by the DUP feels forgotten & unrepresented?
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Well done to the staff of Homebase at Forestside, Belfast who find time to care for animals that make homes in the premises while still doing their jobs. Good to see this.
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The UDA & UVF are a continued danger to the Protestant and Unionist community.
They cannot transition, they need to disband.
Rathcoole UDA boss ‘sleeping with teen girls as payment for their drug debts’
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The short answer is Y E S
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As a retired teacher can I point out that this pic from
@Kscott_94
sums up the risk to our children of being drawn into rioting.
How will this child settle back into education & accepting the authority of teachers after a summer spent like this?
@News_Letter
@williamcrawley
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Utterly shameful behaviour. Lady deserves credit for trying to protect these men from their own stupidity but they ignored her and should suffer the full legal consequences.
We in the Protestant community are embarrassed by this behaviour & the house owner deserves our apology.
This behaviour is sick. The people responsible are clearly identifiable and should face justice for a disgusting and sectarian attempt to intimidate a mother and her young family.
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That sign doesn't look particularly aggressive to me.
Perhaps we need a:
'Beware of the Sign'
sign, warning of potential distress for those easily offended.
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WTF is going on
@uuponline
After a successful election in which the party gains an MP, the first in many years, why would they be ditching
@BeattieDoug
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Two pictures from this morning. The first one was taken at the
@IrelandsFuture
event and as a unionist I make no apologies for taking the time to listen.
The second was taken on the way to the SSE Arena via the Cregagh Rd & does warrant an apology.
@irish_news
@BelTel
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Disappointing as usual from David Lammy, who refuses to accept that Iran has a right to defend itself - apparently that right only applies to Israel.
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Mervyn Gibson will be having words with someone tomorrow.
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Misusing the tragedy of the Hamas massacre in Israel as a weapon with which to attack your political opponents is fairly nasty, but well within your comfort zone.
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My letter in today's
@News_Letter
in response to their shocking Saturday editorial.
@BBCNews
@Belfast_IPSC
@ipsc48
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Nothing wrong with putting a union flag on your own house but flags on lamp posts or painting kerb stones as a way of marking territory is wrong. What happened in
#Antrim
last night is shameful.
We all need to vote tactically on Thursday to end the dominance of hardliners.
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Known in N. Ireland as a 'Tilly Lamp'.
Anyone remember these?
Produced a surprising amount of light, as well as heat.
How an incandescent gas mantle works to make light
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Last year my wife developed breast cancer. Within six weeks she had a double-mastectomy from the NHS and despite some problems with medication she is doing well.
We still own our house and are not bankrupt. Anyone wanting to risk losing the NHS is very foolish.
Private Healthcare is only for multimillionaires everyone else goes bankrupt and dies.
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The unionist community do not support the intimidation of Sorcha Eastwood. This needs to be stated clearly by all unionist representatives. We do not want the paramilitaries to take control of our community.
@SorchaEastwood
@J_Donaldson_MP
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Years ago, when I was an enthusiastic young teacher, my wife found me in bed reading The Times Educational Supplement (TES).
She told me that was embarrassingly boring, but this is worse.
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A good point raised by
@chrisadonnelly
Russian athletes have to prove they didn't support the Russian invasion of Ukraine before being allowed to compete in
#Olympic2024
While Israeli athletes openly supporting the bombing of Gaza are welcomed.
Palestinian lives don't matter?
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Orange Order should stop damaging it's reputation by pursuing a pyrrhic victory at Drumcree.
The cost of completing previous marches was the murder of innocents. Repentance for the sin of pride might be more beneficial to the Order than 'completion' of Drumcree.
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Good to hear Doug Beattie planning to keep modernising the UUP.
Not a good result, but will take more than one election cycle.
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It is worthwhile for all unionists to take time to read this carefully. The Republic does appear to have better benefits in some areas.
Nurses and teachers paid better.
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This weekend Israel will kill roughly 600 people in Gaza (ave 300 daily) and many of them will be children. This is revenge, not self-protection.
I am ashamed that my British government supports murder like this.
Who benefits, apart from Netanyahu?
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Brexit seems to be going very well in the Irish Republic. Pity it is such a disaster for the UK.
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Really shocked by Arlene Foster's testimony at Covid enquiry. Seemingly as First Minister she made no effort to create a coherent, integrated strategy for dealing with the Covid pandemic. She clearly was not a leader.
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Zac. I attended
@FeileBelfast
and as a unionis audience member got to ask questions and speak about the unionist perspective on several occasions over the week, including on the tensions over immigration yesterday morning.
We unionists need to learn from the Festival.
It's all unionists fault as usual, typical hate fest, on unionism. Not surprising unfortunately.
However, Ignoring the leadership of
@little_pengelly
@BeattieDoug
on this issue is quite telling of their agenda.
We won't take lectures on leadership, especially from this panel.
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If nationalists watching The Long and the Short It on BBC1 about the Larne gun running are feeling indignation or even outrage at unionist hypocrisy, you have my sympathy.
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In January 2019 we elected these 8 DUP MPs.
Now we are told the union is under the greatest threat it has ever been, that we are semi detached from the UK.
What did they do wrong?
Did we choose the wrong unionist party?
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The DUP do NOT have a MANDATE to keep Stormont down. Before the election they promised not to sit in the executive. They did NOT say they would not elect a speaker.
Journalists like
@BBCNolan
should be aware of this.
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Did anyone else listen to
@BBCTalkback
12:30-1:00 today on paramilitaries?
Are we expected to believe that us unionists NEED the UVF/UDA to stop us going out and rioting?
That they are policing us?
Does anyone really believe this nonsense?
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I am shocked at how frequently the DUP walk into this trap, seeking short term electoral gain at the expense of long term stability for N. Ireland.
Do Edwin and the DUP have a long term strategy or will they blunder from confrontation to confrontation over Irish?
#bbcnolan
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Excellent discussion in
#Shankill
library this morning on the 1974 Loyalist strike, but too short & we needed a bigger venue. Don Anderson particularly interesting
We need more discussion like this within the unionist community.
Well done to
@FeileBelfast
for organising this
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This took courage, Donal.
Well done for handling this so reasonably. Teenagers can be very silly, but the sectarian comments are very disappointing.
@ClaireHanna
has been an excellent MP & doesn't deserve this abuse.
Had a run in with a few young lads who taking down
@ClaireHanna
’s posters the other night. You can see yourself in the video how it went.
It’s desperately sad to younger ones echo the old prejudices. Politics needs to do better for them.
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DUP want the PSNI Chief Constable to resign, knowing that he cannot be replaced with a new Chief Constable UNLESS we have an executive in place.
Can the DUP tell us now, will they allow the executive to be restored?
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Very disappointed to see UUP voting against a ceasefire in Gaza. Surely, with our experience of terrorism, we can see how stupid & counterproductive Israel's excessive violence towards Palestinians is?
We would never tolerate this behaviour in our country.
📹Party Leader
@BeattieDoug
raised his concerns on the Cease Fire in Gaza motion in the Assembly today.
Watch below 👇
#makeNIwork
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Why has the Orange Order allowed itself (a Christian organisation) to be used all week for party political purposes? After the murders associated with Drumcree most unionists turned away in disgust.
Who benefits politically from raising tensions over this dispute?
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#BBCNolan
have just kicked the SDLP representative off the air just because he called Nolan's argument pedantic, yet the BBC won't kick someone off the air for making for talking about a credible threat of violence
Elected representatives vs paramilitary who will Nolan let speak?
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DUP Early Day Motion with careless typo.
Roman emperors Nero & Caligula distracted the people using 'bread & circuses', letting them watch people fight to the death in the colloseum.
The DUP offer us parades and bonfires instead of a functioning economy, well funded schools & NHS
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@DanielSeidemann
@djrothkopf
If you control the land on which they live, then they deserve full citizenship.
Otherwise, set them free and give them back their land.
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Well done to
@FeileBelfast
for hosting this excellent Shrapnel Podcast talk on Loyalism. Outstanding.
We need more of this. Unionism needs more of this.
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While Israel keeps killing the children of
#Palestine
the people of
#Belfast
will keep marching.
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This is what just one of Israel's 4000 booby trap pagers did.
If this was happening to Israeli citizens there would have been outrage across the UK & USA instead of tacit approval.
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Well done France.
France has backed the ICC calls to arrest war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu…🇫🇷🇵🇸
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As I understand it, we still call one of our major road junctions Shafesbury Square in honour of his family. Unless he significantly assists the cleanup of Lough Neagh I suggest we
#renameShafesburySquare
Please retweet if you agree.
Little Lord Shaftesbury says he’ll sell us back our own property and wants treated like any other ‘business owner’. He should be treated for what he is, the handler of stolen goods.
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If the British government had done this in Crossmaglen or Newry the USA would not have tolerated this. Unfortunately, the welfare of Palestinian Muslims doesn't matter as much as that of white Christians to western governments.
For the sixth day in a row, Israel continues destroying streets and infrastructure in Jenin, West Bank.
They are not fighting 'terrorism'; they are targeting the civilian population, making their lives hell.
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@MarkWilson1980
Last time I checked, the 6 British counties of Ulster were on the island of Ireland. That makes us Irish.
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@maggsbrowne104
More unionists share my thinking than you might think but it is easy to be intimidated into silence. We need leadership if we are to talk sense into the hardliners.
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@trishdevlin
NI has had so many tragedies. The horror suffered by the Quinn family is one that we will never forget.
Like so many unionists, I felt shame and disgust on that morning. I know it means little but the Quinn family have our sympathy.
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Disappointing to see the newsletter hosting a coordinated attack on the UUP.
They should remember that most unionists will not vote for a party led by Jamie & Jim, and that is what the DUP has become.
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Loved this.
Is it a metaphor for the TUV/Reform partnership?
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Is Sam McBride the best journalist we have?
Listen to the last 15 mins of Nolan where he challenges the 'childish' populist behaviour of our politicians
We need more of this, difficult decisions about reorganization of hospitals & schools need to be taken.
Well done
@SJAMcBride
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@delicto_pi97218
The choice of words was deliberate.
If she has acquired Irish citizenship, works in our hospitals and brings her children up so well in Ireland, she is a Irish mother.
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Let's be honest about this. Geography matters. We are divided by the Irish Sea.
We always had checks at the ports.
When we were in the EU, the differences between ourselves & the rest of the UK were minimal, but Dodds & the DUP maximised the divide through Brexit.
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Dead easy to pick a row with a police officer like this if you are selling a confrontation. Well done to the police officer.
"I’ve already seen you deliberately leave the pavement and walk against this march…your comment is disingenuous"
Footage emerges of conversation between Israel lobbyist Gideon Falter and a police officer during the recent demonstration.
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Lots of negative comments on Varadkar, but he stood up to Johnson. Just look at Boris squirm as Varadkar subtly ridicules him.
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