NI Secretary doesn't know the first thing about NI

Actually I think they key line is that: "Karen Bradley has admitted she did not know voters in Northern Ireland split along constitutional lines before becoming its Secretary of State."

I think it's a refreshing change for a politician to admit to learning from experience.
She has actually some experience of working in the real world outside of politics.

Unlike some of our bluffers and spoofers whose only ability is to read from an autocue, who would never be so naive as to give a straight answer to a straight question and for whom honesty and the real world is terra incognita. Eoghan Murphy and Simon Harris how are you.

Politics needs more Karen Bradleys.
 
And to continue, you might think Karen Bradley doesn't know much about Unionists, how much does Eoghan Murphy know about Finglas or South Kerry for that matter?
 
Unionists must be the dumbest people on the planet. They love the Queen, but her ministers, even those she sends to rule them, know nothing about them.
The union has allowed them to be an unfairly privileged majority in the past. Now, at least it stops them being a despised minority in a country which -- as you've just proved -- looks down on them.
 
If they could get over their antiquated notions and bring their undoubted strengths to bear on building a new Ireland I doubt they would be looked down on for long.
 
If they could get over their antiquated notions and bring their undoubted strengths to bear on building a new Ireland I doubt they would be looked down on for long.

We'd be relying on them to do the heavy lifting so!

Maybe if London hasn't been paying attention to NI, NI prefer that to the unwanted attention they'd get here, and they've been paying attention to the antiquated notions on display south of the border.
 
Now, at least it stops them being a despised minority in a country which -- as you've just proved -- looks down on them.
What will change? Either way they will be a despised minority in a country which looks down on them.
 
What will change? Either way they will be a despised minority in a country which looks down on them.

Another person proves my point with casual bigotry. Unionists are right to fear discrimination in a united Ireland. You also have your basic facts wrong -- unionists are not a minority in the UK.
 
Another person proves my point with casual bigotry. Unionists are right to fear discrimination in a united Ireland. You also have your basic facts wrong -- unionists are not a minority in the UK.

Casual Bigotry? That's a bit extreme (some might say bigoted).

Northern Ireland Unionists are a minority. Their "Britishness" is a hundred years out of date with modern Britain. Northern irish Nationalism is also out of sicn with Ireland but not by as much. Their identity means nothing to the vast majority of people in Britain. They have a better chance of having their identity protected and respected within a united Ireland.
That said it would be a different Ireland where the (largely fabricated) "Celtic/Gaelic" Irish identity of this country would have to be seriously diluted in order to accommodate their identity. That would, in my opinion, be no harm. It is long overdue that we realise that they are as Irish as we are, they just have a different view of what Irishness means. If we embrace our history in a non sectarian way we would be better for it.
For the moment I would not like to see a united Ireland; we've spect the last 30 years moving away from tribalism and bigotry. The last thing we need is the Nordie's polluting us with their anachronistic political, social and religious ideas.
 
The union has allowed them to be an unfairly privileged majority in the past. Now, at least it stops them being a despised minority in a country which -- as you've just proved -- looks down on them.

Perhaps we do look down on Unionists, but at least we know more about them than the woman sent from London to rule them.
 
Perhaps we do look down on Unionists, but at least we know more about them than the woman sent from London to rule them.
I look down on tribalistic bigots and religious fundamentalist. I look down on people who are ruled by fear and seek to emphasise the minority of things that divide us instead of the majority of things that unite us. That encompasses a sizable proportion of both sides in Northern Ireland. I make no apology for that.
 
In my, admittedly limited, experience it is not really the south they fear, its their 6 county neighbours - who've now consistently voted in SF lets not forget. I think they'd do fine in a UI, how much would really change? - esp if a sensible (or no) Brexit. They'd have to get used to Euro but in general they'd find people in the 26 fairly chilled out compared to what they're used to. Also I agree you'd probably be looking at the following as part of the deal 1) re-join commonwealth, 2) drop tricolour, 3) drop anthem. They'll still wave union flags, we'd probably still wave tricolours, but the state as a whole would go a bit 'magnolia' and just get on with the business of getting on. "I want to meet you, where you are, I don't need you to surrender." - North & South
 
In general terms they cause division, oppression, wars and general unhappiness.

Really? Quakers, Amish and Mennonites do that? The Salvation Army? I seem to remember the Quakers being the only group doing famine relief in Ireland when popular "non-religious" sentiment had turned against the Irish cause. I've never heard of the Salvation Army causing war and oppression.

What's your definition of religious fundamentalist?
 
Really? Quakers, Amish and Mennonites do that? The Salvation Army? I seem to remember the Quakers being the only group doing famine relief in Ireland when popular "non-religious" sentiment had turned against the Irish cause. I've never heard of the Salvation Army causing war and oppression.

What's your definition of religious fundamentalist?
I'm not going down that rabbit hole with you.
 
Fair enough. The term originally described an early 20th century movement to promote the "fundamentals" of the Christian gospel, and later extended generally to so-called "bible Christians". I've noticed that nowadays people say fundamentalist when they mean extremist. And as often as not they mean "religious people they disagree with".
 
It seems that she really is an idiot.
WE will have to wait and see the end results in a few weeks, Maybe her only crime was letting the cat out of the bag before it time, causing problems for the people who wanted to be fooled for an easy life,
 
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