Stephen Nicholl

Unionism is facing its own existential crisis and must learn how to come to terms with it. Put simply the Democratic Unionist Party represent a clear threat to the very union they purport to uphold. In May 1974 then Prime Minister Harold Wilson used the term “spongers” to describe unionists involved in the UWC strike. Today it is a term that many in the rest of the UK would apply to what the DUP consider robust negotiations.   Losing the goodwill of our fellow UK citizens at a time when Northern Ireland’s position in the UK is the principle barrier to many achieving the Brexit they aspire to cannot be considered a strategic position to take. The DUP constantly refer to the principle of consent underpinned in the Belfast Agreement, an agreement they had no hand in, yet they miss the point that while people are free to make their own determination others are free to try and persuade them of one view or the other. Ignoring this point is central to the risks attached to their threa

There is a saying, “never look a gift horse in the mouth”. It’s an old saying and suggests that people should not question or be ungrateful for something they are receiving free. This is Sunday, she wasn’t a gift horse, but she illustrates the point I want to make. The cost of keeping Sunday over many years is the same whether she cost money initially or was free. There are vets fees, blacksmith fees, stabling costs, transport costs, haylage, pony nuts and the cost of replacing tack. Local authorities take an interesting approach to a gift horse, they are always welcomed whether free or as a highly subsidised purchase. Of course a horse needs a paddock costing say £20,000 but if you can get 4 paddocks for £60,000 then the unit price is £15,000 and better value for money. It also needs a stable, but if you have 4 paddocks you have room for more stables and more horses, so just in case more gift horses appear, you build more stables. More stables and more horses mean