Ballymena

The grammar system in NI cannot be compared to the grammar system in England.
When accounting for the brain drain NI suffers it doesn’t have a lower attainment rate than the rest of the UK.
This was a very narrow statistic which doesn’t represent reality.

I totally agree, combined with low expectations and intergenerational low achievement.

An outcome of the grammar system: some children do exceptionally well; others terribly.

💐 x 37 and 💕

One really awful one has sticks in my mind, Caoimhe Morgan, her poor beautiful baby twins trying to wake her up while she was dead, unrecognisable.
Mary ward too, I know there was many more, it is an epidemic from Derry to Kerry.
Since, 2020, 37 women have been violently killed in Ireland, 25 women killed in Northern ireland, horrendous.
Sorry for the derail.

Same in Craigavon Area Hospital. The migrant workers are essential for food production and healthcare.

30 women killed in NI in the past five years by men, usually their partners and seeing as we have such a tiny proportion of immigration here, betting is 99.9 of those perpetrators were Irish/N.Irish/British

Most of them in Ballymena recruited by who we know as Moy Park ( now Pilgram ) who actively recruit in EU and sponsor their work permits, pay their resettlement costs and house them

Thanks for this article.

‘If women in Northern Ireland rioted every time one of us was attacked, the country would lie in ashes.’

Indeed.

Remember this about Jim Allister and his views on a man who sexually abused a young girl.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-59511695

and another recommendation of Slugger O'Toole if you want to know more than the BBC tells you.

https://sluggerotoole.com/

Unionist politics is in absolute turmoil and there seems to be a lack of grassroots politicians or activists who can intervene to stop these rioters.
This has nothing to do with orange culture as many are stating, it's about a disenfranchised poorly educated group of people who are represented by no-one and that makes them really dangerous.
The references made to the DUP are interesting,this party has advocated for immigrants in support of the wishes of business There's a strong attitude in NI of expecting the police to solve these issues whilst complaining about their every action or inaction.
I pray for these riots to stop but there's a lot of work to be done in these loyalist areas.

But the attacks are on migrant workers who are needed and mainly work in factories and healthcare.

I think the issue is that it's low is very low re educational attainment, seems to be a huge range between the high and low achievements.

Northern Irish Catholics are white too. Basically this is racism in the attacks, a progrom. Catholics were subjected to bigotry and sectarianism. I do urge you to read the link below.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/14/ballymena-violence-women-racism-northern-ireland

It’s incorrect. Have a look at the actual education statistics not one single article that can’t back up its claim.

Just my perspective on immigration in NI.

There are legitimate issues when unsavoury things are imported, knife culture of eastern Europeans being the one I'm accustomed to, and there is merit to those from here who are aghast by this.

And there is a legitimate issue when there is an influx of immigrants into a specific area which completely transforms it to the point it becomes unrecognisable (this applies to anywhere). What you want is controlled immigration in that those who arrive in a place adapt to it (it is afterall why they moved there) rather than have the place have to completely adapt to them. You do not want enclaves, basically no go areas, and areas where not a word of the native language is spoken. Immigrants should be able to come in, blend in with their new surroundings, abiding by its laws, whilst also retaining their own cultural heritage.

As I said I cannot comment on the merits of any genuine concerns those in Ballymena (or the other places where riots took place) have. The best thing I know of Ballymena is the advert "it's a big shopping centre in ballymena hi".

In terms of those who are just against immigration full stop, firstly I'd say it's a tiny minority who think like that here, but I'd say the vast majority who hold those views are staunch unionists as they view them as diluting the electorate, making a united Ireland much more of a possibility, or at least accelerating it.

Don't think there is any coincidence the riots (to my knowledge) are in unionist areas, albeit some nationalists have tagged along. It's the same community who partake in Orange marches, Ulster is British, and have kids burning effigys of the Pope in their giant bonfires. The Brits in Great Britain want nothing to do with these folk, and if they had a vote in the morning I'm in no doubt Brits in GB would vote to cut themselves off from here. I seen their bewilderment of here first hand when I went to uni in England. The Brits in GB view them as regressive and hugely embarrassing. As Kay Burley said to her viewing audience of Brits who knew nothing about the DUP in that Sky news piece, "who are these people"?

During PM questions, when the DUP man/woman gets up to speak the normally raucous house of commons chamber goes deathly silent, not out of respect or good manners, its because the other MPs from GB constituencies have nothing in common with the DUP man/woman who is speaking, they switch off and wait until they have said whatever they have to say, and then when they are done the noise in the commons reappears and normal proceedings recommence. Basically the speaker from NI in PMQs is seen as a break, an intermission.

Jim Allister, he epitomises the extreme backwardness of staunch unionists.

I view myself as largely neutral. Irish yes, but would in all likelihood vote to remain in the UK. But the staunch unionists who make things not work here are only making their nightmare more of a possibility. A NI that works is a place that people are not likely to vote for a change.

From the article:

‘However, it has some of the worst education attainment rates in the UK’

Education isn’t a priority? And yet overall NI often out performs England.

‘Despite a gritty reputation, Northern Ireland scores better for housing, unemployment and poverty than many parts of England, Wales and Scotland. However, it has some of the worst education attainment rates in the UK and the highest rate of economically inactive people, metrics that hint at the alienation and hopelessness felt in some Catholic and Protestant working-class areas.’

So they have better housing and less poverty than England. Despite this they were given a £1bn bribe by Teresa May to back Brexit. Education isn’t a priority for a sizeable number. They have the highest number of people on benefits in the UK. All of this and they have the cheek to riot and chase working immigrants (who only make up 3.4% of the population) out (the article states only a small proportion of foreigners are asylum seekers).

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jun/14/facile-explanation-for-ballymena-outbreak-of-hostility-northern-ireland-racism

I’ve lived in NI for 35 years and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a roaming lynchmob.

My next door neighbour is a consultant gynaecologist from just outside Gdansk, the fella opposite us is from Iran and my cleaner is from Slovakia.

They’ve coped perfectly fine, from what I can tell.

So are 'Catholics'. @ComemosZanahorias' post upthread - 17:22 yesterday gives a good summary.

@Sofiewoo That is an interesting perspective, still laced with "how dare you comment because you don't live here". I also comment on Gaza and the Ukraine, but I don't live there either. It doesn't mean my views are invalid.

AT no point did I suggest that NI is "culturally hateful", but you were denying decades and decades of sectian history which still divides the country; and as for "roaming lynch mobs", perhaps those "immigrants" forced from their homes and jobs would offer a different perspective? Who is it marking homes with graffiti warning "foreigners" to get out and painting targets on their homes - graffiti fairies?

I am aware that the marchers are a minority - they are a powerful minority backed by powerful forces that intimidate and terrify people every year. I am aware too of the power and dealings of powerful mafia like gangs in NI.

The riots in England were awful and I roundly condemn them as much as I condemn violence in NI. By the way - did you forget that there were riots at the same time by racist thugs in Belfast? It wasn't just England was it? Was it just solidarity amongst thugs? Will those be the same thugs forcing Catholics out of their homes right now, or different thugs?

What is different is the culturally ingrained sectarianism that introduces yet another level of violence. You see I agree with you that schools should be secular - but the very fact that you cannot make that choice is proof that the sectarianism exists at some level throught NI whether you want it to, or acknowledge it.

I do not - as I have made clear - think that most people in NI are thugs, criminals or bad people. But a sizeable minority are, and what is done about it is the measure of people too. Where are the counter protests? Genuine question - when the streets of England had race riots there were also people out protecting and defending the victims. You deny there is a problem for "most of us" - there is a problem, it is a problem that has existed for a very long time, and until people take a stand it will continue to exist. If the majority of NI do not want this kind of sectarian society, the answer is in your hands.

Anyway, thank you for explaining what you meant, even if I cannot agree. BTW, the reason I do not live in NI is because my parents were driven out of NI. Not everyone gets a choice, you see.

You would know what was wrong with that statement if you were in NI.
The claim that there are constantly roaming lynch mobs is so beyond ridiculous and the fact that you’re arguing this without even living there is beyond stupid.

The vast majority of NI is nothing like extreme loyalist groups who parade and protest every summer. They are a tiny minority and don’t at all represent the majority of the population, nor does the their existence mean that NI is culturally hateful.

NI people don't like "outsiders" and nobody is allowed to exist if they are "outsiders".
People disagreeing with you isn’t because you are an “outsider” it’s because you make stupid, generalising and incorrect statements like this as facts without really having any understanding.

Is it a fair summary to say because there were riots after the kids Taylor swift club attack that England is a culturally hateful place? Or is that somehow different?

A differing opinion to your own is not an attack. Hope that helps ✌️

I’m confused - aren’t Romanians white?

Do not lecture me on where I am from. Largely because you are wrong. You are the one lashing out because I asked you legitimate questions about what you have said. You are simply proving the point that you are disputing - NI people don't like "outsiders" and nobody is allowed to exist if they are "outsiders".

You have said that saying "And NI has a long history of sectarian violence so this is in the same ballpark. Hatred and violence towards the “Other”.
I would not want to be an ethnic minority living there. Just seems to be roaming lynch mobs" is uninformed and naive. I have asked you how you explain that given the facts of sectarian violence and attacks on ethnic minorities and you fail to do anything other than attack. The evidence is that you may live there but you are the one barely understanding what you are talking about when you cannot see what is in front of you every day.

Again - explain what is uninformed and naive about what is a perfectly accurate observation.