Just thinking out loud... If that weird coalition somehow against all the odds would survive, does that mean the death of devolution? The SNP due to its heavy losses will be in no real position to ask for devolution, the DUP will have to viciously oppose it for NI... So if that coalition survives it could mean that by accident May has actually made the promise "taking back control" come true, just not from Brussels, but by taking the power from Wales, Scotland and NI back to Westminster...
Thing is though, it's not a formal coalition - the situation we had back in 2010 with the LibDems and Tories was a "proper" coalition government. This is a "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" arrangement. And we already have devolved governments. Scotland has the Scottish Parliament, Northern Ireland has the Northern Irish Assembly, and Wales has the Welsh Government. Scotland are pushing for a second independence referendum, and an independent Scotland is completely different to a devolved Scottish Parliament. Denying the SNP a second independence referendum, and denying NI republicans the opportunity to vote on a united Ireland, will have utterly no effect on the existing devolved governments. Neither will the General Election for that matter; we already voted for our Assembly Members last year, thankyouverymuch . Frankly you'd have to pry devolved powers from our cold dead fingers, and the same probably goes for Scotland & NI.
Anyone is welcome to take over power from Stormont and our non sitting [Strike]Government[/Strike] raving loonies You think the DUP is bad, Sinn Fein is worse. They are very political savvy with the aim to cause as much damage as possible. They are like the Republicans during Obama's tenure in that for every compromise you attempt to make they demand two more until you enter fantasy land level of demands and end up withdrawing resulting in you collapsing negotiations. Interestingly their aim of the Westminster election was to gain speaking rights in the Irish parliament the Dail.......yes I'm aware that makes no sense. Luckly for Sinn fein, the DUP are inbreed, simple minded hypocrites who are just as capable of destroying everything they touch through general incompetency and closed mindedness. As for the rest of the parties.....well you could dredge up Thatchers corpse and probably get better decisions out of it. Interesting Enoch Powell is mentioned in the article the only thing I know about him was he made the "Rivers of Blood" speech. I never knew the connection with Northern Ireland. I reckon devolution will still happen. Smaller local governments make more sense. Like bins are really a council issue. The Scottish people clearly want SNP to run things. Devolution still needs to happen for England tho and Westminster needs to be scaled back to UK wide issues. An easy solution for a United Ireland would be to dissolve Stormont, Get the Republic to join The UK, Devolve power to the Dail nad there we go. Sinn Fein get their united Ireland, no need for a border pole and the North gets to remain part of the UK. Everyone wins! No but they still attacked members of the public some of which where "their own people" and have become nothing more than organised crime. Fosters meeting with the UDA was after a man was gunned down in public over a feud within the organisation. Carrick has had a few shootings recently so I wouldn't be surprised if it was in connection with that. Regardless, both sides opened Pandoras box and just because they walked away from it, doesn't make them any less accountable for the destruction from what they set in motion and helped gain momentum. Just because you bail from a moving car doesn't make you any less responsible for the destruction caused after.
In Blair's autobiography he said that during the peace talks, if they had a good session with one group and they were happy at end they had to try and sneak them out by the back dooras if the other side saw any smiling they'd be immediately asking "what the hell have they just got?" Seemed to be a zero-sum mindset.
But devolution already has happened in Scotland, Wales & NI. The NI Assembly might be in crisis, but it still exists. I wasn't trying to excuse what they are or what they have done, my point was more about the "BUT CORBYN AND TURRURISTS!" mentality that some people seem to want to employ. To many people it doesn't matter how despicable the DUP or its members might be because whoever they are they're not the IRA. Which makes it all OK: Corbyn is a terrorist sympathising anti-British traitor because he met with the IRA in the 80s. QED. It doesn't matter that for decades our governments have been indirectly supporting terrorists via arms sales to countries like Saudi Arabia; that doesn't matter because the Saudis weren't the people setting off car bombs and shooting soldiers in the 80s. I see that mentality in my own family and it drives me up the bloody wall. I grew up learning to check under the wheel arches of the car for suspicious devices because of the threat of terrorist attacks against military personnel; but at the same time I recognise that the path to peace must involve sitting down at a table with your enemies, people who might well be directly responsible for killing your people.
She wouldn't. It was her oppposition to the formation of the EU that forced her out of downing street and she railed against the maastricht treaty in the lords advocating putting it to the public. Thatcher was very Anti eu but origionally pro EEC but her time as prime minister made her resent that organisation even.
If you say so. On another note: ironic how we are now having a PM who hobnobs with former terrorists. And it ain't Jeremy Corbyn.
These elections always provide great examples of 'democracy'. This time around, basically the same amount of people voted for two parties, neither of them got enough seats, so it's the niche nutjobs who only 1 in 100 people voted and who only have one seat and interested in one country (not even the main one m8) that decides everything for theoretically the next 5 years (a time frame no one agreed on or wanted). All while people feel forced to vote otherwise they're offending dead people, so go to the booth not even sure who they'll vote for, and still end up only voting for leaders rather than their candidates. And mainly based on how likeable and well-spoken they seem rather than policy. Great to live in a DEMOCRASAY! /Obi Wan
One lord say's this, one lord says that. Just look at her years post 90 and hear it from the woman herself.
I assume you mean a PM that is supported by a party that hobnobs with former terrorists. Or are there ex UDAetc types in the DUP?
'A coalition of chaos supported by terrorist sympathisers and nutters' ...everyone assumed it was a warning about Corbyn... turned out it was Trump level projection...
And yet (iirc) she gave away our veto on new treaties in return for the rebate, in effect Thatcher gave the EU a green light to expand massively for a rebate we'd later give away by voting to leave the EU. Would Peter Robinson count?
That were the single european act. If a country doesn't sign a new treaty it can't be implemented still like the EUconstitution and ireland which ended up watered down to the lisbon treaty.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2017-40219030 how's getting rid of hammond and davis going now, May? And gove She's really screwed her pooch....
I don't know; IDS hated having to put through the sick benefit stuff and was ecstatic when the higher minimum wage were announced and got done over by osborne on universal credit with the marginal withdrawal rate. Most of the bad stuff IDS did as DWP minister were osborne's doing and he ended up resigning over it after he got sick of having to wear osborne's do overs. Also gove were a decent justice secretary who was going to implement some very liberal prison reforms and also saved the country from boris because he saw what boris was.
The DUP were born out of a now disbanded terror group, URM, which had close ties to the UDA and UVF as that's who they procured their illegal guns through. While it hasn't been categorically proven that there are paramilitary members within the DUP (and there is very little will within the PSNI to do so as they just want to keep relative peace and keep collusion secrets under wraps since a politician thrown under the bus could plea bargain) the DUP and paramilitaries definitely socialise together through the Orange Order
