Ulsterman now living in a bitterly disputed Wessex / Danelaw border town. Love/hate relationship with reality, but suspect it may exist independently of me.
UK, Europe 🇬🇧🇺🇦
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A regular reminder:
*A united Ireland would be replacing cross-community power-sharing in Northern Ireland with nationalist rule*
That is not a progressive vision, it's throwing away all the progress N. Ireland has made. And all so that one side can "win". It's so wrong for NI.
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Richard Ayoade and Jonathan Ross are in good company in putting heads above parapet on this. More celebs than you might think.
Credit to the likes of:
Gail Emms
Simon Callow
John Cleese
Judy Finnigan
Robert Winston
Robert Webb
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Mary Beard
Sally Gunnell...
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No cancel culture Graham? OK then, put Graham Linehan, JK Rowling and James Dreyfus on your show and discuss the issue with them.
What’s stopping you …
See the reality?
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I can’t tell you how much I admire JK Rowling just now - as the husband of a feminist and dad of a daughter.
Misogyny is real. Sex-based inequality is real. Protections for women cannot be decoupled from biological sex without falling down a logical ravine, sorry. #jkrowling
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IRFU refuses to use N Ireland flag at Ireland rugby games lest it offend southern Irish (but they’ll use the tricolour).
Defenders of that say NI “has no flag”
Tell that to NI people in other sports incl a certain Ryder Cup winner …
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Ludicrous decision over 4 IRA men getting shot dead by SAS while on murder mission: 'not justified', coroner claims.
His logic seems to be that because armed terrorists were legging it after their raid, they posed "no threat" to pursuers or public😆
Duh.
newsletter.co.uk/news/crime/…
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Mary Lou McDonald, leader of the IRA’s political wing, apparently wants people to stop connecting her with the IRA.
I may be on the point of spotting the tiny wee flaw in that idea …
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Spare a thought for Joe Brolly. He genuinely can’t understand why people might be upset about the IRA murdering our friends and relatives and blowing up our towns. Why would people still be upset?
The SF vote keeps wounds open. You want people to move on, stop normalising SF.
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My wife being labelled a transphobe by her university’s student union, on the front page of the local paper, cranked things up a few notches for me.
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... Alice Sullivan
Selina Todd
Heather Brunskell-Evans
Maya Forstater
Emma Hilton
Stephanie Davies-Arai
Colin Wright
Jane Clare Jones
James Esses
Sharon Davies
Malcolm Clarke
Joanna Cherry
Holly Lawford-Smith ...
Point is: we're past the point where they can hope to silence us.
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Emma Vardy on the BBC news referred to “people here who think of themselves as British …”
No, Emma, they are *actual British people*. And GFA requires all to fully accept that.
Living alongside some who aren’t British does not make you somehow not British.
Sorry to be picky.
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Judy Murray
Stephen Nolan
Marilyn
Daley Thomson
Stephen Pinker
Professor Dame Anne Glover (former chief scientific officer for Scotland)
Joe McGann
Linda Bellos
Ricky Gervais
Michael Ignatieff
Nicole Cook
Ralph Fiennes ...
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...
Oliver Burkeman
Sonia Sodha
Simon Fanshawe
Joanna Cherry
Matthew D’Ancona
Helen Lewis
Martina Navratilova
Nick Cohen
Johann Lamont
Bea Campbell
David Aaronovitch
the late Hilary Mantel
the late Barry Humphries ...
And of course JK Rowling ...
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Which is not to forget those more active voices for a more rational approach to gender and sex, like:
Kathleen Stock
Helen Joyce
Stella O’Malley
Ruth Serwotka
Sasha Ayad
Jesse Singal
Katie Herzog
Allison Bailey
Suzanne Moore
Janice Turner
Debbie Hayton
Susanna Rustin ...
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The best thing you can hope for the Biden visit to N Ireland is that he doesn’t make things too much worse.
Really he’s got a nerve setting foot in NI given the contempt he’s shown its people. It’s like if the editor of The Sun showed up at Anfield.
#Biden #NorthernIreland
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Those with a GRC have a legal right to be treated as if they were women. But as Robert Winston and many others have explained, Adam, no human can physically change sex, it is impossible. That’s the distinction we all have to bear in mind to do this justice.
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The Irish are about to elect a bizarre republican nut job as president. And they think this will encourage Northern Ireland people to want a united Ireland with them, seriously?
A pleasure to campaign with Catherine Connolly in Monaghan today.
This Friday, I am asking you to seize the opportunity to elect Catherine Connolly as Uachtarán na hÉireann.
There has never been a more important time to elect a strong, independent voice as President of Ireland.
A President who will represent every community across the island with pride, courage, and integrity.
A President who will work to shape a new, united Republic, and stand strong for Ireland’s neutrality, and for peace and diplomacy.
If you want a strong, independent voice as President of Ireland, make sure you come out and vote Catherine Connolly number 1! 👏🏻
ALT With Catherine Connolly in Monaghan today
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Decided to take down a tweet about a friend who has died - whose dad was murdered in 1993 by the IRA - as some SF/IRA supporters were using it to gloat. Is there no end to the depravity of these people? We can never let them win.
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Pat Cullen has some explaining to do. A nurses’ leader standing for the organisation that inflicted decades of sectarian barbarism on Protestants in FST …
Garda and PSNI confirm the PIRA leadership *still* control SF. They are unrepentant.
Cullen cannot surely claim ignorance?
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Everyone in nationalist Ireland today should be shown this on repeat during breakfast, lunch and dinner
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Putin declaring that Ukraine is not historically a proper country, but really part of his country, rings eerily familiar to these N Ireland ears.
Let's hope Ukraine gets more support from the international community than the UK gets over N Ireland.
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Great piece, great to see @nytimes recognising now the true diversity of liberal views on trans and women’s rights. It is not remotely right wing to feel women are getting the shi**y end of the stick in all this.
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Remembering the mother he burnt alive. She was called Yvonne Dunlop. Her 9 year old son was with her too; he miraculously escaped McElwee's sectarian attack.
McElwee chose to take his own life for the sake of the barbaric sectarian organisation he was part of. No tears from me.
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After the #CassReview it seems some major apologies are owed to the whistleblowers at the Tavistock and to everyone else called a "transphobe" for speaking out about the - inexcusably awful - affirmation model being pursued there.
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I have reported several people over the last week for expressing unequivocal support for IRA terrorism. Not even fudged, absolutely blatant; not just against twitter rules, it is a criminal offence under the Terrorism Act.
Twitter has turned down every single one of my reports.
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good grief Billy, this issue exposing you.
Go away and have a think about it. As a man, and one I used to think was a decent one, please show more humility in how you talk to women about an issue that, for many, goes to the heart of who they are and their rights as women.
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Still only 31% in NI have a (non-British) Irish identity. Wow - way lower than I was expecting after Brexit ...
Just shows you what a bubble not just twitter is, but politics. The normal world out there is blithely immune to it all.
Not great news for UI enthusiasts, eh 😬
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Stonewall said lesbians should consider trans women in their dating pool. Many lesbians strongly disagree. Trans women cannot simply be treated as if actual women in all circumstances - it is unfair and unrealistic to force that onto people imho
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Ever heard of pluralism and respect for other traditions, Lucy? Integrated schooling doesn't mean our nationalities disappear just that we mix and we respect each other.
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This kind of thinking - from an avuncular, well-liked figure - is why I find not just republicanism but large parts of nationalism so disturbing. There’s such a moral absence, this urge to rationalise the barbaric. The sheer evil of IRA is I think too jarring for some to process.
🚨🗣"In different circumstances, Gerry Adams would have got the Nobel Prize"
📻Veteran journalist and author @EamonnMallie sits down with our Chief Reporter @jamesgould23 ahead of the 30th anniversary of the IRA ceasefire.
🗣He says people take our peace for granted and the GFA was a "politcal miracle."
🎤He added that First Minister @moneillsf and deputy First Minister @little_pengelly are doing a fantastic job and are not getting enough "recognition or support."
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Did you see the exhibition at the Ashmolean a few years ago on the history of (mainly British I think) witchcraft? Absolutely fascinating stuff
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This is one of those most ludicrous pieces of journalism I’ve seen in a long time.
Mate: it’s NI people who get to decide its future. That is set in stone. Which part of that is hard to understand?
Absolutely incredible level of cluelessness. belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opini…
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Overall sec force response to PIRA campaign was one of *huge* restraint. Culpable in <5% of Troubles deaths while PIRA murdered them in vast numbers. A truth you would not guess from tv and film Troubles narratives, nor even do many historians really reflect it in their takes.
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Ladies and gentlemen, Kevin Meagher, celebrated United Ireland author. Not every day I get called a “delusional fraud” 😆
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Ulster born and bred … but here’s my DNA profile. It’s been fun!
A political point:
Seeing NI and its people through a primarily “Irish” lens - as Michelle O’Neill or Lee Anderson do - is just an absurdity. For many of us, our real, deep history is a pan-British-Isles one.
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Britishness is not foreign in Ireland, it is native to it.
It is bigotry to suggest otherwise.
Don’t let anyone slide back to the attitudes of the past. Parity of esteem for Britishness and Irishness matters, it’s the key to a better future for all. We all need to insist on it.
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Anyone who thinks the UVF and UDA are anything other than a scourge on society and a disgrace to unionism need their heads examining. There is no room for ambivalence about them, any more than there is room for ambivalence over IRA’s continued existence. Zero tolerance to either.
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Mairia does more for nationalism than almost anyone I know, because of her moral compass and thran Ulster grit. She remains as far as I know a believer in a united Ireland. But her kind of nationalism earns non-nationalists’ respect. There is a lesson there.
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Do you consider it is exclusionary to be same sex attracted rather than sane gender identity attracted? That I’m afraid is the logic of this.
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The Pat Finucane Centre has never helped a single PIRA victim. Coincidentally, one of its leaders was a PIRA terrorist himself.
A group for victims, unless victim was a “legitimate target”.
This Orwellian organisation is a standing insult to people who experienced the Troubles.
Why does someone who was an IRA gunman work for a victims organisation? #ExecutiveOfficeCommittee #TimothyGaston #TUV
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This is it - @Docstockk nails it. Spot on about Gen X professional class habit of deferring to Gen Y and Z on politics, through guilt and lack of conviction. It is how this madness has been possible.
The fantasy of Britain's liberal elite - UnHerd unherd.com/2023/04/the-fanta…
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“I think Ricky believes it is just him being a “naughty boy””
Do you genuinely think that’s what this is? Just trying to shock and not caring whom he hurts?
The way Ricky crafted it should have told you: it was a response to an incoherent belief system becoming hegemonic … 1/
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Unionists: the Irish Sea border is a disaster. Whoever you blame, the solution *long term* is the whole UK either re-joining EU, or much more closely aligning. It is a choice between the Union and hard Brexit - always was. Any unionist with sense chooses the former every time.
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This is not the way to do politics in Northern Ireland. Writing off a whole community with deep roots in Northern Ireland as having a “coloniser mindset” is just unacceptable. Deeply sectarian comment.
The Coloniser mindset runs deep.
I literally cannot fathom hating the Irish culture/heritage/language this much when your own reps stood proudly wearing shamrocks a fortnight ago?
Make it make sense!
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This pains me as a Europhile but Brussels continues to completely misunderstand and underestimate the depth of the problems their hardline approach to the EU single market is causing for NI politics, society and economy and GFA. I thought the penny might have dropped by now.
Even if partly bluster, this is an extraordinary moment in European politics: the EU threatening the UK with trade sanctions if it does not stop fresh food shipments into Northern Ireland in three weeks.
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-i…
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She is very careful with her wording not to ever admit PIRA was wrong.
By trying to feign a generosity of spirit while actually continuing to laud PIRA murderers as heroic, she keeps NI wounds open.
She needs to disown PIRA. But she’s not allowed, and doesn’t want to anyway.
“Let’s make sure those circumstances never arise again”
#latelate
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For republican fools trying to suggest Zombie wasn’t anti-IRA, here’s how its writer explained the song:
“… some prick, some airhead who thought he was making a point did that [Warrington] … The IRA are not me … it’s some idiots living in the past.”
Clear enough for you?
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Utter disgrace.
2 of us at my mum’s funeral. 2 of us. And I’m not even needing to set an example.
SF are shameless.
The half-baked “apology” rings very hollow - she knew exactly what she was doing. They treat everyone else with contempt and do what they want. Arrogant, rotten.
Michelle O'Neill denies it was 'hypocritical' to criticise Boris Johnson over partying in Downing Street in light of her attendance at the funeral of Bobby Storey.
itv.com/news/utv/2024-05-14/…
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People not from N Ireland: when you hear people from N Ireland telling you Protocol is OK, ask them if they are nationalist. Many will be. It’s why many are so unbothered about damage to east-west links and so dismissive of unionists. Not because Protocol is actually working.
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I’ve spent much of last decade debating on @SluggerOToole (as Mainland Ulsterman) and on here, about a UI. I’ve concluded there is a sentence pro-Union voices need to repeat until everyone knows it:
“A UI swaps cross-community power-sharing in NI for nationalist rule.”
It wins.
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The Finucane case must have had more public legal resource thrown at it than any other Troubles murder. Most recently an 841-page review by De Silva in 2012.
I’m all for victims getting justice, but it seems those supported by SFIRA get infinitely more than SFIRA’s victims do.
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They left this aspect of Maiden City life out of Derry Girls … and it goes on and on, this is just the latest.
Protestant Londonderry girl traumatised after being subjected to sectarian assault by Catholic children in Derry city centre
belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/…
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Re Eoghan Harris, I’m seeing a remarkably high correlation between people gloating most and them having a retweet of SF in their timeline. I know he crossed line with others; I’m not defending that. But deserves huge credit for decades of calling out SF, at risk to his life.
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We’re now over 100,000 likes on this.
The republican problem bedevilling nationalist popular culture now is deepening.
Something going very wrong.
I wish the many decent nationalists battling against this all the luck in trying to eradicate this. They have a mountain to climb.
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Imagine if an Ulster British academic posted a bad family picture and said: “They look like a family of Catholics from Louth”
But as it’s Ulster Prods it’s OK …
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My mum died on 18th March last year - there were two of us at the funeral. We didn't even have the grandkids or wives.
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Republicans faking on social media they are a unionist who has seen the light: this happens a LOT. This guy was less sophisticated than some though 😆
Please note this phenomenon @EmmaVardyTV, @StephenNolan, @BBCnireland, @BBCTalkback
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Worth saying that while RUC made mistakes - and a small minority of corrupt officers - their service during the Troubles overall was absolutely amazing.
Saved thousands of lives and stood firm against the terrorists, at great personal cost. They have my eternal gratitude.
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dressing like a woman is one thing, insisting you literally are one, and that anyone who disagrees must be a bigot, is another thing entirely.
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That's really not on - @Waterstones staff should not be intimidating customers for not sharing their beliefs (esp highly contested ones on a highly sensitive subject).
Waterstones: any comment? Can we be reassured staff will be spoken to, to prevent this happening again?
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Interested to read Ursula von der Leyen's speech, comparing the UK to Russia. Chimes with what one of her staff tweeted to me a few months ago - a Commission lawyer with a remarkable set of views on Northern Ireland - a thread 1/
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So I’m confused: does Nesbitt support Northern Ireland still or not?
He seems to be calling the place The North of Ireland now. Quite a few dyed-in-the-wool nationalists don’t even go that far.
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You couldn’t make it up - their non-appearance on UK current affairs tv and radio to debate this for YEARS, due to their own ridiculous ‘no debate’ policy, is now blamed on the media, with Stonewall et al the victims. What a flakey, detached-from-reality place they now inhabit.
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I am not supporting Ireland at the Rugby World Cup, in large part because the flags and anthems disrespect the few Ulster British players they deigned to include in the squad.
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We’re not “of a British identity”, we *are British*.
And these islands do not divide constitutionally into “Britain” meaning mainland UK, and Ireland - but UK (incl NI) and ROI.
I respect her Irish nationality, but she subjects my British nationality to another dog whistle dig.
Today I respectfully join leaders from Britain, Ireland & the international community at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II as she is laid to rest. It is a sad day for her family who mourn her loss, and all those of a British identity from across our community who grieve also.
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Never forget this or those who excuse it
2 bombs left in rubbish bins by the IRA in Warrington, over 50 injured and 2 children killed. 3yr old Jonathan Ball and 12 yr old Tim Parry. Michelle O'Neil says there was no alternative. Thoughts with their families and friends today and always. Lest We Forget .
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SF-IRA collaborated extensively with the Nazis before and during WW2. Those involved included Sean Russell, Tom Barry and Frank Ryan.
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That police forces have allowed their political neutrality to be so compromised by taking Stonewall side on such a divisive issue beggars belief really. But seems some forces are now starting to accept that the issue is not the simple ‘right side of history’ one they thought.
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This flying of Paras flags by some loyalists is ridiculous and offensive. Of course people can be proud of our armed forces, but let’s face it, this isn’t that
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This IRA chanting is endemic now in mainstream nationalist Ireland - when wee kids are doing it at an Olympics celebration, you know you’ve got a deep societal problem.
What soul-searching is going on within nationalism over the attitudes that lead to this?
The pro IRA chant arose among children in the background during a live BBC broadcast from Dublin as coverage of Team Ireland's return from the Olympic Games newsletter.co.uk/news/politi…
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It's not very polite and sorry you get spoken to rudely.
Having read some of your tweets though, I would just say it is worth bearing in mind that partisan criticism of a country from someone from another country rarely goes down well whatever those countries are. 1/2
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This is brilliant news: SF calling again for the jailing of large numbers of its own members for Troubles crimes
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As @McKinleyAn says, this is damning.
Harvey is asked v politely by a seminar attendee (Prof Liam Kennedy?) if he regards IRA campaign as justified and he refuses to answer - twice.
If he harbours pro-IRA views, as a human rights professor he must surely resign. Clarity needed.
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I wonder what the First Minister For All has to say about this latest revelation about the antics and values of the gang she answers to.
IRA chiefs used family tragedy to hide body of Disappeared victim Joe Lynskey belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/…
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I’ll bet it was a very uncomfortable read for you. Realising the people you have demonised are rational, reasonable, evidence-based and clear-headed - and that you and many friends might have made a huge mistake - is a very, very uncomfortable feeling.
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Very good opinion piece by Ben Lowry: Up the Ra chant shows why unionists should steer clear of New Ireland newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…
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Moral failures like Finucane can support PIRA barbarism if they want, but they can’t expect to then be treated as normal politicians. SF are a weird, murderous, sectarian cult.
Finucane to attend commemoration for leader of IRA and Sinn Fein, McGirl newsletter.co.uk/news/politi…
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Fairly quiet from the Irish nationalist accounts this morning, I wonder why?
@irishborderpoll @IrelandsFuture etc … Seems those “conversations” haven’t quite been having the intended effect.
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If you had a family member murdered by IRA and dare to talk anout it, SF supporters then tell you it’s your fault. This guy is sadly not alone in his revolting attitudes.
Centrist people must say enough is enough. If we tolerate these disgusting attitudes they poison all of us.
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Need a response from @BootsUK. Taking sides in “culture wars” is one thing; wishing death on a prominent lesbian rights campaigner, a hugely admirable and eloquent one, is quite another. This has potential to grow into significant damage to the Boots brand unless addressed.
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After this person’s disgusting comments about hoping a hospitalised woman dies, I can’t see how @BootsUK can let this sit. Boots should be about health and well-being, not twisted nastiness.
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This case has already had an 841 page QC’s report with massive detail. When is it everyone else’s turn?
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I am a Stewart Lee fan and go to see him on every tour. He is however a human being, not infallible.
His take on the gender critical is that we are just people who don’t like change, are struggling to adjust. He mischaracterises and underestimates his opponent badly though here.
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Student politics doesn’t get any better. But it does get (unintentionally) funnier. The University of Galway is blessed with a great candidate for Equalities officer ... 🤣
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Looks like @GosportFerry have stumbled into a legal quagmire by discriminating against a gender critical staff member, apparently unaware of the Forstater ruling last year. They may need some funds and some good lawyers ...
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His target is not trans people, it’s the zealots of this new belief system, one imposed on us all without brooking any objection or even giving a proper explanation. To object is to be a bigot. And this has a grip on the great and the good; ordinary people feel powerless 3/
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Predictably, Colin did not see the need to attend any 50th anniversary marking of Bloody Friday, nor so much as tweet about it.
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Mainland UK broadcasters (e.g. @BBCNews) often bring on people from Irish Repub to talk about Northern Ireland, and defer to them as if they have greater insight into NI through being Irish. But here’s the reality of Irish public’s ignorance and nationalistic skew over Troubles:
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