Any Northern Ireland peeps want to tell me are you worried as I Am.

[postmanwatcher]

My DH works in south. I'm really worried what will happen now! I feel like we are again being held hostage at the whim of the English!
They really don't care do they? What is going to happen here?

Name changed for this. I'm terrified to be honest.

Originally from NI, my entire family are still there. I live on the monaghan now on the boarder with fermanagh and tyrone. I travel to the north to see family at least 3 times a week. Its a 20 minute journey. I use what was once "illegal roads". If i travel "legal" roads will take almost an hour. I remembered only to well the boarder checkpoint, the guns, the blackened faces, the searchs and the fear. I don't want my kids knowing any of this. I've been given no reason to believe it wont happen again.

My husband crosses the boarder daily for work. He earns sterling, our financial situation is also unknown now.

I'm worried sick about my almost pension age mum. She's not in great health either.

Johnston, Cameron, May and the rest of them should be strung up.

postmanwatcher and Chocolatepeanuts do you mind if I ask why you would be switching Alliance to SDLP? Not a dig, genuine question.

I've pretty much always voted Alliance. Our MP at the minute is Sylvia Hermon, the only non DUP MP from NI who actually sits in Westminster. I voted Alliance last time, but in a GE I'd vote for her this time as her seat is quite precarious now they've redrawn the boundaries.

@mindy I suppose because when it comes down to it Alliance are a broadly unionist party. Their real work is the bread and butter that is the priority for most of us, schools, education, no green and orange politics. As I said previous to Brexit I was happy with the Status Quo, so I suppose you could have called me a unionist?! I definitely would not call myself a unionist now. So I will be voting for a nationalist party, but one with nore moderate views, more willing to.compromise and would take a seat in Westminster if they won it.

@Mindy I am well into my 40's and I have always voted Alliance. I remember Mr Neison and he really inspired faith in the peace process. It felt like they were actually involved in life in Northern Ireland.
I absolutely do not get any sense of inspiration or excitement (for want of a better word) from Naomi long or John Ford. The alliance Candidate in the area I live in now is an elderly man who should have retired. The party are not dynamic and have fallen into the trap of "he said She said" politics.

During the last election Colm Eastwood was brilliant. He was dynamic and I agreed with everything he said. I am currently embarrassed to be "British" Westminster have made Britain a laughing stock and made it clear they don't care about NI. SDLP are forging links with southern parties for the good of NI (sinnfein are a joke in the south so I'd not support them in a million years) DUP are only interested in personal power and gain. UUP? Probably wouldn't vote for them either.

I'd be watching to see who was looking for a united Ireland and I'd support them.

Thanks for answering. I do find it sad that people are turning away from the middle ground. But SDLP are fine with me so I get it. Although I really do rate Naomi Long.

I just hope we can get out of this mess somehow. I don't think reunification is the answer, but the status quo doesn't look like it's going to stick either. :/

@mindy. My husband like Naomi Long but would agree she doesn't have a strong enough team behind her. They are all a bit benign and unable to make themselves heard. I just can't see a way forward for us with out having to move south. It's so sad. I feel really let down by the British government.

I rate Naomi too.

NI remain voter here. As time passes I am getting more and more angry at the whole situation. No one but no one who has lived through the troubles knows how much NI has suffered and how badly we hope not to to return to those days. I feel that Boris and his Tory mates- Cameron and May included- have no idea.

Brexit serves the argument that Ireland never should have partitioned in 1921 because here we are now with our future in the hands of the rest of the UK and we are in such a unique situation. The Good Friday Agreement is so precious and must be protected. I’m hoping the Irish and American governments continue to advocate for us, particularly Leo Varadkar and Nancy Pelosi because right now that’s our only hope.
I hope that after this mess is concluded there is a border poll for Irish unity. Yes, as a Nationalist that is what I would have aspired to but more importantly I want peace. I also want to remain in the EU, not go back to checkpoints, bomb scares, having your bag checked going into every shop, etc. I would also hope that this would dissolve some of the DUP’s voice given their views on equal marriage and abortion.

I really hope people vote against the DUP in the next election. I really do not believe the the majority of people in this little part of the world are represented by such bigots.

for all of you.

I am an English remainder who has ancestry from both north and south of the border. I am deeply ashamed that, yet again, the British are fucking it all up again over there - both by design and by neglect/ignorance (eg the Land Bridge).

FWIW, I’m sorry.

Boris and his mates have an idea - it's the whole idea. They make money off conflict and war. Any political developments which increase those tensions are not just encouraged, they are actively sought.

I'm Irish living in NE England and am staggered by the lack of awareness around NI here. I am generalising but most people I speak to don't see NI as part of the UK. They have no attachment to it like they would to Scotland and whilst they hate the idea of Scottish independence aren't bothered at all about NI. It's actually really sad that after all these years of bloodshed and fighting that they have no affection or loyalty to NI and to the people that live there - all of them

I have to excuse myself from the table if Brexit discussions start in the pub!

Yes, it's been the laughable reality for decades that loyalists have the utmost reverence and, well, loyalty to a union that doesn't know it exists. More British than the English...

I've always had middle-of-the-road-but-nationalist views (pre ceasefire my parents would have voted sdlp, since then probably all of us voted sinn fein). Most predominantly catholic areas went this way, probably largely due to Martin McGuinness being much more likeable than past-SDLP leaders, plus there was a general sense that things were improving. I don't know if this triggered the move to more staunch unionism or if it happened at the same time? None of this meant I'd have definitely voted for a United Ireland in a border poll. I was happy with the status quo and realised that a united Ireland would have come with some massive changes and probably considerable resistance from some sides, so it definitely would have been a tough decision for me. Not any more.

Alliance didn't even stand in the last council elections for my ward, which seemed strange because they probably could have gotten through on transfers. There is definitely a sense that they are a belfast area party.

All of my siblings and any friends with similar backgrounds have agreed we would vote sdlp in a general election. It's beyond ridiculous that our future in NI is in the hands of idiots we couldn't have voted for even if we wanted to (we didn't want to), implementing a Brexit we definitely rejected.

I have been annoyed with the sinn fein stance on Brexit (and not surprised John O'Dowd is challenging Michelle O'Neill for vice-presidency as she isn't well liked).They never dreamed that leave would win, but now that we are in the shitshow we are, it definitely feels that they want it to go ahead, purely because any sort of brexit fast-tracks a United Ireland by at least 15 years. I believe that without Brexit it would have happened organically anyway, with demographic changes and people becoming more liberal. Like pps said, people are retreating into their corners a bit.

Never talks to strangers

I would love to see a United Ireland but one achieved through peace and compromise. Not through NI being forced out to solve the Brexit issue. Equally I would be quite happy for things to stay as they are provided the interests of NI are looked after and not treated as problem who will just comply and do as they're told.

The feeling where I live is that the Irish are causing issues just to be difficult and there's genuine shock that they are loyal to the EU instead of the Brits. I've lived here in the NE for 17 years and I've always loved it but lately there's been a real shift in attitude that makes me uncomfortable.

There's a refusal to even consider the impact that this will have on people in NI and how their lives will be affected. The irony of Westminster not wanting the EU to be 'telling them how to run their country' or to be imposing laws they don't want is lost on most.

I'm from Dublin and I don't give a shite what political party people are loyal to or what religion they are. I want Ni to have peace and to prosper. For so long NI has had the hardest history, people have lived with hardships that aren't even recognised or acknowledged here. I think it's about time their needs were prioritised and people listened to

How ignorant/stupid/selfish are the tests who think the Irish are being awkward and disloyal??!! Honestly, would be funny if it wasn't so fucking tragic.

I'm Welsh but went to uni in Queen's and lived in Belfast for four years and I just don't think the people here really appreciate how tenuous peace is in NI or just how deep and entrenched the sectarian divide still is! People laugh at me when I say this could stir up violence again but I've seen with my own eyes the level of hysteria that only a flag change over City Hall can bring. You only have to live through the parades, the 12th or St Patricks Day (I lived in the Holylands) once to appreciate just how immediate the mood can change into disorder, Westminster either doesn't get it or doesn't care to try to understand. I'm genuinely scared for NI right now and wish there was something could be done and I'm ashamed to be from a Leave voting country, I thought we had more sense 😬

@dw23

This is the thing I can't get my head around. Pushing for Brexit knowing that it's potentially putting part of the UK their own country at risk of violence.

You have politicians saying NI can't be treated differently as it will lead to the break up of the UK but my experience in the 17 years I've lived in England is that the everyday person here has no emotional connection to Northern Ireland and don't see people there as 'Brits'. They are visibly upset at the thought of Scotland achieving independence but will openly admit that NI isn't important to them.

I've never spent time in wales or Scotland so can't comment. But it's refreshing to read your take on it

Tests above should be twats.

The only way brexit stands a chance of not fast-tracking a UI is putting the border in the Irish Sea (backstop), which is, ironically what the DUP are fighting against and what the majority of people in NI see as the only solution. The DUP are definitely going to be the architects of their own demise. Who knew they were the biggest Republicans of them all?

I still think they only campaigned for Brexit because it seemed like an awfully British thing to do (and they are, like I said above, the most British of all). They never expected leave to win. Are they are now so unbelievably stupid that they don't realise what they are doing or shitting themselves?

Aside from trying to appease the DUP, which surely most MPs shouldn't give a shit about, I can't understand why pro Brexit MPs voted against the WA. Why is the backstop so unpalatable to the average mp? I can understand remainers voting it down in the hope of the whole thing being called off.

I recently showed my son who is 19 and a few of his mates a photo of one of the peace walls in NI. Asked them to guess where it was.

All in agreement had to be Trump's Mexico wall. My son is Irish, educated in the UK but somehow knows more about Trumps wall that those closer to home.

We talk about Brexit, Ireland, NI all the time but it's so clear that they cannot relate to what life was/is like in NI.

It makes me a little anxious reading about former Alliance voters switching to SDLP. Don’t get me wrong, I understand your reasons, but it had been so heartening to see the Alliance start to gain seats in recent elections, and I’d been feeling optimistic that this would continue, as people became fed up with the dominance of green/orange. For those who questioned why DUP do so well, I believe it’s a shift to the extreme, in response to SF starting to take votes from SDLP. And I worry that as nationalists start to move from Alliance to SDLP, unionists will respond by moving back to one of the other unionist parties. Which history tells us doesn’t serve any good to anyone.
FWIW, I’m an alliance voting Protestant and where I live, Alliance are NOT seen as a unionist party in any way. They are actually seen as traitors. I’d personally view them as non-sectarian and going with what the majority want ie part of UK for now but inevitably moving towards a UI. Which I’m ok with.
I’m another who thinks Naomi Long is great, she’s clearly passionate about representing ordinary people in NI, is easy to listen to and very sensible. Stephen Farry is another great representative, he actually reminds me of Colm Eastwood. David Ford, I presume that’s who you meant) retired as leader and didn’t run in SE Antrim recently, so seems to have stepped down as a politician although may still be a party member. Granted he wasn’t dynamic, as such, but was extremely articulate and principled, and didn’t rely on soundbites or slogans like so many of our politicians.
In the event of a no deal I’m not keen for a GE as I’d like the Tories to deal with the mess they’ve created, but as and when it does happen I’ll keep my fingers crossed the Alliance do well (possible) and the DUP do badly (unlikely, sadly).

Alliance are up in the polls in 3 DUP constituencies. In the Telegraph this morning.

Alliance voting catholic here, although I live in a DUP stronghold. I’ve written to my useless MP numerous times about my concerns over Brexit, especially No Deal. Still waiting a response....thanks Jeffrey. What else can we do?

My English in-laws think that any talk of a return to violence here is scare mongering and anyway why should the terrorists be allowed to prevent their “clean break” Brexit. They don’t really care the risks they are asking us ordinary people of NI to take for them in order to achieve their “dream”

I care. I’m English and lived in NI for years. I love the place more than England. I have friends and family there. The English do care. Don’t get us confused with Westminster. They don’t speak for us.