To think most people in the UK don't really care about NI

[Tooldemont]

Just that really, we don't seem to be a together nation and many people I know would just prefer Ireland to become one country on that landmass.

Maybe it's just my circles, but rings true here

Funny you say that about London, JustHereWithMyPopcorn. My middle boy loves London and wants to move from Manchester to London. He thinks it’s a wonderful city and enjoys the diversity.

Nice to hear that for a change PositivelyPERF! 😄

Sorry Irish and northern Irish people but no, most people on the mainland without ties there dgaf. I'm sick of hearing about the fecking backstop!

Fucking hell, what has the UK become?

And coincidently my London niece wants to move to Manchester!

I note that nobody seems to describe the East Midlands as a money pit or too expensive, even though essentially it is the same situation

Whilst I agree with the generality of what you say, I have heard people from the South of England make precisely this kind of assertion about the East Midlands of England, and the North, and Scotland.

I don’t agree, I know lots of people without family in Ireland who absolutely do care!

I’m just dreading the cost of hotel accommodation if he does. We haven’t went over to Manchester to visit him yet, but have been to his previous home in Liverpool. I adore Liverpool. The people are so friendly and the restaurants are amazing.

I'm Irish and we don't want a united Ireland under these circumstances. Imagine the DUP in the Dáil ...

This whole thing is like a divorce where neither parent wants the children.

Sadly, the DUP are doing the cause of Unionism no good at all.

While I do not think the UK should ever force reunification, if Brexit happens I suspect there will be a renewed push for a referendum and reunification could well be the result. An interesting article in the New Statesman last week claimed that younger Protestants are furious about Brexit and disenchanted with the DUP. We shall see.

The DUP are idiots (newsflash to no one!) in taking this hardline Brexit stance. They're doing more for the United Ireland cause than Sinn Fein have ever managed. When socially liberal unionists are rubbing their chin, looking at Ireland, and thinking 'hmmm, perhaps' you know you've taken a wrong turn somewhere!

To be fair, it’s bloody expensive so you’re not unreasonable to be concerned. My DH and DS1 support Liverpool FC and love going up there too.

I know it is mean of me, but I would pay good money to see the Dail having to put up with the DUP. I think Ireland would quickly get a Sinn Fein government just to piss them off.

I'm from NI. Nationalist background. I live in one of the two countries sellotaped onto the unionist majority areas.

Genuinely, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. We have affordable housing, a superior education system to the rest of the UK, the benefits of being in the uk (tv channels (less of a bonus with streaming these days), cheaper online delivery prices compared to ROI etc) AND we're much better craic than all of you.

Yes, some people from NI voted leave, but like I've said many times, the vast majority of those idiots only did so because Irene said they should, and she only did so because they didn't for one second believe leave was going to win. I can just imagine the "Oh fuck!" moment of realisation for the DUP. But they can't backtrack now. Oh no. They'd look less British. And there's nothing more important than being British. And no British citizen is more British than the ones who live in Ireland. Except maybe for the queen.

In all seriousness, I don't know a single catholic/Nationalist here who voted leave. And how ironic that, if brexit goes ahead, it will likely lead to a United Ireland at some stage. Not yet, but it will happen.

We're fucked if brexit happens, and hopefully one upside of that will be that the unionists/loyalists who voted for it realise that it was a case of turkeys voting for Christmas. The nationalist population is rising steadily and will soon be the majority. And people like me, who were happy with the status quo are now very very angry. I know that many in ROI don't want us... yet. But they will. Because we'll be all dolled up to make us more attractive. Just how much does the bill for 800 years of oppression come to these days?

It's not that I don't care it's just that I guess it just seems so culturally different that it doesn't feel like Northern Ireland has anything to do with the rest of the UK.

I care about NI. The majority of the population see themselves as British and share a cultural heritage with the rest of the UK.You can't remove a people's nationality because it is convenient.

Having said that, I don't think you can run a country on the basis of we must let the EU decide our laws or there may be an increase in terrorism.

I care about NI and worry about the future of the Good Friday agreement. I am old enough to remember the Troubles and the offence of failing to cover your uniform when outside a military base, even in here in Scotland. I can remember the close connection of both sides to similar communities in Scotland. The road from the NI ferry was littered with Special Branch.

I also fucking hate, with a capital H, those Orange Order bigots who should be bloody banned. Coming from the North of Scotland, they were quite rightly seen as scum. I loathe the self-righteous smugness of the hard faced, wasp-chewing DUP, proudly marching backwards into the 19th century. I am aghast that a country in the Untied Kingdom can still ban abortion and equal marriage - and only by politicians, not the population. I am horrified that a 12 year old rape victim had to be made to travel to England for an abortion, accompanied by police to seize forensic evidence.

I don't want to see the Troubles return but I wonder about the demographics of hardcore Unionism, and age, particularly with a more modern, less church-fearing nation to the south. Don't forget that many Catholic communities initially welcomed the British Army to protect them from attacks by unionists and the RUC. The UDA also had close connections with the far right, particularly after Mad Dog Adair was chased out of NI.

It's not simple and it's intricately woven into the history of England and the UK.

I’m English. I grew up hearing about the troubles. My mother was a doctor there for a year but before I was born and told me about knowing they would have casualties and when from how old the bomb was. I saw the troubles on tv.

I admit that after GFA I didn’t think much about NI. However one of the reasons I voted remain was knowing the UK has a land border. I began to care again when Dup came to power. I now try to listen to Inside Politics (Radio Ulster podcast) but find it a bit impenetrable.

I'm from NI, but I've lived in the UK and now live in ROI.

This thread has been interesting reading.

I agree that the unionist position is baffling to many 'mainland' British. And the DUP is most viewed with contempt outside of NI, so there's a real irony that the people who most want to be British have alienated many on the mainland.

The brexiteers would happily throw NI under the bus to achieve their aims and that's unforgivable really. The brits caused both the mess that is NI and the mess that is brexit. There is no way they should be able to wash their hands of it.

Now is not the right time for reunification. There's no appetite for it in the Republic. The brexit shitshow has been a huge PITA for the government in ROI and there is no willingness at all to clear up more mess caused by the UK.

I feel sorry for (non DUP voting) unionists, because it's become obvious how little the UK cares about their position. I also feel sorry for the nationalists because a hard border will massively fuck with their rights under the GFA.

Brexit is truly a disaster for NI. The status quo was working quite well, society was slowly healing. Now everything is up in the air for them because the brexiteers couldn't be arsed with coming up with an orderly brexit plan.

Certain people should be tried for treason. I'm not even joking. I'll start with David Cameron.

@VladmirsPoutine having read this thread I think the lack of malicious intent behind the apathy isn't something I'd believe.

I wonder if some of the people on this thread are as openly bigoted irl and about other sections of the population. You should be ashamed - labelling a population of people as a drain and so on is terrible.

I'm young enough to remember the good Friday agreement being drawn up but thankfully not the troubles. Britain have acknowledged that they did many wrongs in the past - in particular to many innocent citizens. Now that you've had enough it's time for reunification? I'm a unionist and have the wit to realise that neither the UK or ROI want us but tbh I'm not willing to let anyone abdicate their responsibilities for the situation we find ourselves in now.

Also as we can hold both a British or Irish passport thanks to dual citizenship I believe this gives us the right to state we are British (if that is our choosing).

As for the ignorant who replied to the thread with NI means no less to us that Scotland or Wales. Therein lies the problem - England is not the UK it's part of the UK along with Scotland, Wales and NI.

I agree that the unionist position is baffling to many 'mainland' British

I remember talking to the organiser when a very large group of police widows and widowers were visiting the Scottish Police Memorial. There were so many that there were four coaches, organised by nation. There was an English bus, a Scottish bus, a Welsh bus and a British bus as those from NI refused to have anything else.... 🙄😲

Well said, Watsmyname,

@watsmyname I completely see what you're saying. My comment was more to do with IRL rather than this specific thread. In another life I used to be an EU civil servant. However these days I've found when I speak to people about Brexit they don't seem to grasp the importance of e.g the GFA or indeed the customs union/single market. That sentiment isn't because they are hostile towards it - it is literally because they just don't know enough about it to give a toss. Granted therein also lies an argument that they should have spent sometime educating themselves about it hence my comment r.e. history book but there we go.

Just want to add, I actually dgaf about ni btw I’m not Irish.

@Winebottle - Having said that, I don't think you can run a country on the basis of we must let the EU decide our laws or there may be an increase in terrorism.

No. But it is reasonable to expect a country to be run whereby the expectation is that an international agreement is adhered to, and not trampled underfoot, simply because it doesn't fit in with the agenda of a section of the population..

The other thing I find is that people in GB don’t really consider that there was a civil war in the UK until 20 years ago. NI is part of the UK. There was no civil war in ROI.

The backstop is about preventing the return of conflict in NI - i.e. part of the UK, but most of the rest of the UK do not care.

This is such a depressing thread...