Arlene’s DUP fast running out of good friends & allies

Lost sympathy for Sil

VICTOR Silvester was a famous band leader in Britain when I was a young lad, frequently appearing on the BBC’S iconic Come Dancing programme which was watched by millions in the 1960’s.

He was born in 1900 and during his long and successful career in the music business he sold more than 75million records.

I was intrigued by him after learning many years ago he hid a big “secret”, that he had told some close friends and colleagues that during the war he had been forced to take part in a couple of executions as a member of a firing squad, and this had haunted him.

For years I had great sympathy for him, thinking what a horrible thing to have had to live with.

So, imagine my surprise when I came across a reference to his service records in which it was stated clearly that this was simply not true; he was never a member of an execution squad.

Why would you say something like this?

Iwas invited to do a creative writing course in the Galliagh area of Derry not too long ago. It was a place I knew relatively little about it. The first morning I was sitting having a cup of tea with one of the women involved in the Galliagh Women’s Group, who had organised the course, and she remarked, “Do you know there have been three suicides in this area in the past fortnight?”

I didn’t know that.

Let me fill you in: Galliagh is one of the most deprived areas in the North, with male unemployment hitting close on 70%. If you go there and drive in all you’ll see is just big urban sprawl.

Facilities are few, a huge estate served by a couple of shops, a Catholic church and that’s, as far as I could see, about it.

The other day I came across the claim by Arlene Foster, right, that nationalism was waging a “cultural war” on unionism.

The DUP leader was suggesting the genuine concerns within the loyalist community were being ‘“dismissed” by nationalist representatives.

The tone of the article was in keeping with much of the rhetoric from several sources within loyalism and unionism in recent times, namely that the Good Friday Agreement has delivered for nationalism but not for them.

And this narrative does seem to have struck a chord with the young people who have taken to the streets to protest at what they see as the injustice of it all.

Unfortunately, it is absolute balderdash. And the facts are there to prove it.

If you check the statistics, you’ll soon find that most of the deprived areas in Northern Ireland are nationalist.

Now, no one is saying that loyalist areas don’t have major issues in terms of employment opportunities but they are not unique, far from it. And as for the much-vaunted claims of two-tier policing, Eileen Weir of the Shankill Women’s Centre rejected that when she stated in the Irish Times on Saturday “the language our political leaders are using is disgraceful and is putting people on edge …there is no two-tier policing.”

I don’t think I need repeat the many claims made by nationalists of perceived policing discrimination in recent times.

If the PSNI is “on” their side, they sure haven’t noticed it yet.

Weir made a point I think worth quoting: “You won’t see kids on the Malone Road out rioting. That’s because they have prospects. These areas we are in have been badly let down. “Our young people need an education system that works for them and they need jobs.”

I would think most people understand unionism is in a bad place right now.

Boris Johnson absolutely screwed the DUP on Brexit and it looks like the Protocol is here to stay.

The PSNI and the Public Prosecution Service don’t seemingly jump any more when unionist politicians shout.

The demographics here are changing at a rapid rate.

Most reasonable people in both communities get that and understand why unionism is upset and troubled.

What most reasonable people don’t get is how the DUP has alienated just about everybody, not only in London but also in Dublin, Brussels and around the chamber in Stormont.

In their arrogance, they dismissed the concerns of others so have few friends to turn to now that they need a dig out of the hole they are in.

That was the real cultural war that Foster didn’t seemingly want to see, much less address.

And it now looks like Arlene et al have managed to lose it big time.

Kids on the Malone Road aren’t rioting.. they’ve got prospects