Peter Robinson has a dream...

[Frosty1]

Well I'm not in denial. I'm not going to pretend that things aren't changing because they are. I would like sf to have less power and unionists to have more so I think that would be better. There's no point in saying it's not happening because it is. It can't stay like this. I don't think it'll happen for a long long tine or in my lifetime but I think that some sort of united Ireland will eventually happen. So we should start preparing for that and have the right things. There's no point in sitting here in denial. Because if we don't prepare then we will lose out.

[Garza]

Well I'm not in denial. I'm not going to pretend that things aren't changing because they are. I would like sf to have less power and unionists to have more so I think that would be better. There's no point in saying it's not happening because it is. It can't stay like this. I don't think it'll happen for a long long tine or in my lifetime but I think that some sort of united Ireland will eventually happen. So we should start preparing for that and have the right things.

If you think Unionist Unity will protect the union you are a fool. You are thinking short term, not long term. The way to protect the union is to convince 25% of catholics to vote for the Union at a border poll. How to do that? By making Northern Ireland a very normal and suitable place to live - this includes normal non-tribal and non-sectarian politics.

An United Ireland is far from inevitable. Never underestimate Irish political apathy, as long as their is food on the plate, luxuries rolling in and allowed to indulge in their culture from time to time, most Irish people couldn't give a f**k about the border.

[Frosty1]

Anyone? Is there an ni forum where you can discuss politics without extremists? Are there forums for each few ie liberal conservative?

Anyway on to your question. I never said that. I said that it would help the unionist control as all parties would be bunched together instead of one. And to convince Catholics I suggest they do a number of things. 1. We immediately get rid of bitter people (were not getting anywhere with them) 2. Get rid of anyone that has terrorist involvement in their past. 3. Replace them with people who actually care about the economy and not stupid religion. 4. Do stuff for catholic areas and not just Protestant areas. 5. Try and get rid of the whole Protestant influence (Catholics won't vote because of this). I think if they continue to implement those changes we'd get catholic voters as it would change everything.

[Garza]

Anyone? Is there an ni forum where you can discuss politics without extremists? Are there forums for each few ie liberal conservative?

Anyway on to your question. I never said that. I said that it would help the unionist control as all parties would be bunched together instead of one. And to convince Catholics I suggest they do a number of things. 1. We immediately get rid of bitter people (were not getting anywhere with them) 2. Get rid of anyone that has terrorist involvement in their past. 3. Replace them with people who actually care about the economy and not stupid religion. 4. Do stuff for catholic areas and not just Protestant areas. 5. Try and get rid of the whole Protestant influence (Catholics won't vote because of this). I think if they continue to implement those changes we'd get catholic voters as it would change everything.

Ok do you think you can get that with a United Unionist party consisting of the DUP and the rump of the UUP. Catholics will have a hard time voting for the DUP, hell I'm a unionist and I will never vote DUP.

We need civic unionism, I personally think we can only get that with the Cons, Labour and Lib Dems.

[daniels]

As a unionist, Unionist Unity is the biggest insult to my intelligence as a voter. It implies I should vote for one party because it has ONE policy I agree with, screw all the rest of the policies, like education, health, environment - NO IT IS ONLY THIS POLICY YOU SHOULD BASE YOUR VOTE ON - this is infantile politics - the kind you find in many nationalist parties across the world. It is not for me, I will not be fear-mongered!

The likes of Arlene Foster don't seem able to grasp this reality and don't appear too worried they might be insulting their own voters since they crudely and clumsily tried herding them in Fermananagh/S Tyrone and the unionist vote actually went down.

[Schomberg]

What difference would it make to the UUP if it picked a 'path' and followed it? They were set up as an umbrella party, for liberials and conservatives, to protect the Union. That job is done, so now maybe it's time to choose a left or right (centre) stand. Course, they'll loose members/votes this way too, but they've at least some hope of rebuilding themselves for the future. Any Northerner willing to shed a bit of light on it for me?

[between the bridges]

If united unionism was the natural way of things, the DUP would never have existed in the first place. If it was good for unionism, it would have happened by now, and if it was wanted the people would have voted for it. The idea that a “cosy relationship” between the UUP and DUP benefits anyone is fanciful.

OPINION: Unionist unity is illogical, impractical and wrong - Politics - News Letter

[Castle Ray]

What difference would it make to the UUP if it picked a 'path' and followed it? They were set up as an umbrella party, for liberials and conservatives, to protect the Union. That job is done, so now maybe it's time to choose a left or right (centre) stand. Course, they'll loose members/votes this way too, but they've at least some hope of rebuilding themselves for the future. Any Northerner willing to shed a bit of light on it for me?

The problem for the UUP is they aren't able to choose a left or right path as they are simply an umbrella movement with a single policy that unites many different shades of opinion. The Conservatives are coming in to centre-right area, DUP also tries to appeal to this area yet it wavers to the left and is generally a Unionist party with populist policies to win votes. The UUP should disband and those from the centre-right should go to the Conservatives, those of the left should either join the Alliance or form a new left-of-centre party, and those who's tribal issue is the focus should join the DUP.

The main void in NI politics is a non-tribal left-of-centre party. Alliance is meant to be in the centre but is really left-of-centre in policies and imo it is too wishy washy for many on both sides of the tribal divide. Alliance, the left of UUP and SDLP should really form a Labour party for here for Politics here to improve. That way SF and DUP could knock themselves out with the tribal stuff and then we'd have a left / right opposition which would garner increasing support going forward. NI should really be run mostly by a cross-community centre-left Executive with a reasonable strong centre-right opposition which has the potential to be elected on occasion when the centre-left messes it up.

[Schomberg]

Thanks for that Ray! Think I've a better understanding of where they're coming from now