Straight out of the starting blocks the ‘joint leaders’ of the UUP-Tory party alliance, UCUNF, have released a statement redolent of the tired old clap-trap that connoisseurs of ‘old politics’ are so used to:
“This election will be about change and the demand for something better for the people of Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom as a whole.”
Meaningless platitude.
“It will also be about restoring trust in politicians and in our entire political process.”
How? Is this an example of your ‘new politics’? How pathetic!
“In Northern Ireland we are offering people a clear choice.”
As does every single election.
“Five more years of the same, tired old politics in Northern Ireland or a change of direction to a new optimism with the Conservatives and Unionists.”
And selecting a bunch of the same old UUP politicians, plus a couple of ‘celebrity candidates’ is the way to do that? How stupid do you think the electorate is?
“Five more years of Northern Ireland stuck on the margins of UK politics with the local parties or back into the mainstream of UK politics with a Conservative and Unionist Government.”
Um, the UUP are a ‘local party’, and they got most of the UCUNF candidacies. The rare Tories are in no-hoper seats. Mind you, so are the UUPers.
“Five more years of Gordon Brown's discredited Labour Government and its neutrality on the Union, or change with a Conservative and Unionist Government that supports the Union and wants to govern for the whole of the United Kingdom.”
Every government governs the whole UK. Either you’re being stupid or you think the voters are stupid. Not good in either sense.
“This really is the most important election in a generation. The outcome will affect every single person in Northern Ireland.”
Every election ‘affects every single person in Northern Ireland’. See previous comment.
“For the first time in decades people in Northern Ireland can help decide who will enter No 10 Downing Street on the morning after 6 May.”
If there is a hung parliament this is true. But it has been true in every other election since democracy started (around 1918, despite the propaganda that claims otherwise).
“But they can't do it by backing any of the other local parties.”
Untrue. If the DUP hold the balance of power then they will decide. Ditto the SDLP, for that matter.
“Sinn Fein, the DUP and SDLP have one thing in common. None of them can form the government at Westminster, or have ministers in the UK government.”
What a silly statement – trying to pretend that Sinn Féin are a ‘normal’ party which would ever wish to play a role in ‘British’ politics. And if the DUP hold the balance of power, who knows what role they might exercise?
“The alliance between the Ulster Unionists and the Conservatives offers us the chance to end Northern Ireland's semi detached political status.”
Yes, by ensuring that it becomes fully detached.
“It gives us the opportunity to realise one of unionisms most cherished objectives - equal citizenship for all the people of Northern Ireland.”
Are you now admitting that Northern Irish people have been denied ‘equal citizenship’? Would you care to expand on that? Compare and contrast previous Tory administrations.
“At this election, it is only by backing the Conservatives and Unionists that you can vote to put Northern Ireland at the heart of the Union.”
At the heart? You’re joking, right? A marginal overseas possession with fewer seats than east London? You still think Northern Irish voters are stupid, don’t you, Cameron? After all, they’re just thick paddies, right? Some of them so thick that they’ll buy into your nonsense. But not enough, thankfully.
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Commend you for actually reading this through.
I love their 'at the heart of the union' line..what does that even mean? I'm English and couldnt tell you, so I doubt someone from north-east Ireland could. The best thing about the alliance is that if the next government is a Tory one and by some miracle Sir Reg wins a seat, I cannot wait to see his face when he says to Cameron, 'so David, what cabinet portfolio have you got in mind for me?', and DC turns around and says, 'come on Reg, you didn't think I was being fooking serious did you?'. They are so deluded, when will unionists realise people from 'the mainland', wherever that is, don't see them as fellow citizens, just a pack of loonatics who'd swallow any turd as long as one log was red, one white and one blue.
Willie Ross is making a comeback. The Former Ulster Unionist MP is to stand for the TUV in East Londonderry.
http://www.antrimguardian.co.uk/articles/news/13113/reg-empey-on-red-alert/
"The DUP is not riddled with open divisions and splits."William Mc Crea said today.
No Willie you prefer to keep that kind of stuff behind closed doors don't you? What else are trying to keep secret from the voters?
UUP Leader Reg Empey, who is now being touted as Adrian Watson’s replacement in South Antrim, voted in the Assembly to ask the Westminster government to withdraw the amendment to the Equality Act. This law prevents gay people being discriminated against by guest-house owners, as well as in every other area of the provision of goods and services.
...
The Ulster Unionists claim to believe in equal treatment for gay and lesbian people, but they voted to make it legal to discriminate against gay people in the provision of goods and services. That means they want to allow people to refuse me service if I want to stay in a guest house, sit down for a meal in a restaurant or even pop into a shop to buy something. What century do they live in exactly?
There is no difference between Adrian Watson’s point of view and Reg Empey’s point of view. Neither believe that gay and lesbian people are entitled to equality of treatment. If David Cameron’s Notting Hill clique have a problem with that, they should have carried out due dilligence before they shacked the Tory Party up in the UCUNF marriage of convenience.
The above is according to Gerry Lynch of the Alliance party.
Kieron says,
spiffing stuff Horsey.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/northern_ireland/8608573.stm
Did you see the ‘rope-a-dope’? No, not the 1974 rumble in the jungle one with Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. The Good Friday one with Seamus McKee and Peter ‘they’re all out to get me’ Robinson. If you don’t know anything about boxing technique, then ‘rope-a-dope’ is when one boxer dodges around the ring allowing the other to punch himself out hitting air until he’s exhausted and loses the contest.
That’s what happened in the Good Friday bout. It’s worth watching on the BBC website if you can. A master class on how not to do an interview, all twenty-four minutes of it. Seamus McKee opened with, ‘Can I ask you first why did Fred Frazer sell you a valuable piece of land for £5?’ and Robinson lunged out of his corner flailing and slashing wildly. Who advised him to handle the interview that way? Who advised him to do the interview? Did the DUP think that because it was Good Friday no one would see it on the basis that Friday is a good day to bury bad news and Good Friday probably the best?
If so, the ploy failed because their boss completely lost it within seconds of the interview opening and so it continued for the duration of the contest. He never landed a blow on McKee who sat in classic rope-a-dope style absorbing all the insults and taunts Robinson threw at him. ‘Are you so dense that you’re not picking up the point I’m making? I wish you knew how silly you sound in all of this. Are you doing your master’s bidding?’
Bullying, hectoring, desperately hoping to land a punch. Then paranoia: it was all the BBC’s fault. They’re out to get him. It’s a smear campaign. His political opponents and the BBC are all liars.
In the course of his rant Robinson never addressed the issue. He just kept insisting the ‘sliver’ of land was worthless. He ignored the fact that the BBC had independent opinion that it was worth over £70,000.
If it was worth nothing Robinson was unable to explain why Frazer had asked a developer for a price to include a percentage of the purchase price of all houses subsequently built. Robinson needs to answer the simple question, if it was of no value and not a ‘ransom strip’ why did he want it? One question McKee didn’t ask was, who paid the legal fees and costs for transferring the strip to Robinson? Did they amount to more than £5?
Robinson looked like a man on the verge of a breakdown. His UUP opponents said the interview was astonishing. To say the least. That’s not because of its content because Robinson tried to evade the key questions. He always brought it back to his garden, avoiding the rationale for wanting, in his description, a worthless a ‘sliver’ of land. It wasn’t the unanswered questions about his relationship with Fred Frazer.
What was astonishing and revealing was Robinson’s disgracefully offensive performance itself. He’s supposed to be First Minister and as such he clearly expects some respect. After twenty minutes sounding like a bar-room chancer chittering at Seamus McKee he dispelled any such expectation. He cast aside any pretence at dignity.
What a puny political figure he is: devoid of gravitas, flair, vision or imagination but full of pretensions, rancour and bile. Robinson has emerged in his true colours, a natural number two who happily carried Paisley’s bags for decades, a political flunkey who suddenly found himself in charge of the palace and starts ordering the staff around. As Paisley’s hatchet man he could throw his weight around confident that behind him loomed the heavyweight champion of unionism. With Paisley gone Robinson still tried to throw his weight around but discovered that without Paisley he’s weightless and the staff are rebellious.
For years at election time Robinson was the DUP’s Wizard of Oz. Now, when the party needs him most he’s exposed as a diminutive political figure behind a curtain and it’s not because the BBC or anyone else is after him. It’s because his deficiencies as a political leader are manifest. Notice the shocked silence from his ‘loyal’ MPs and MLAs.
Above is Brian Feeney's column from the Irish News
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7576088/General-Election-2010-David-Cameron-pledges-to-govern-for-all.html
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