Raised voice of the silent middle being drowned out

IN THE aftermath of the Assembly elections, the raised voice of the ‘silent middle’ embodied in the remarkable support for the Alliance party has been drowned out by Boris Johnson’s belligerent sabre-rattling in support of the DUP’s fabricated ‘red line’ of the Protocol.

It is all very convenient for Mr Johnson to grab another ‘get out of jail card’ in the context of his many domestic political problems such as a total indifference to his own lawbreaking.

The British prime minister is demonstrating a risible attitude to the principle of democracy in this advocacy for the DUP who, in the first instance, cited the Protocol as but one point in its five-point ‘DUP Moving Forward Together’ manifesto and then – on the basis of this lost support and three Assembly seats – has now vetoed the establishment of an Assembly.

Added to this is the fact that some 60% of MLAs returned do not have an issue in principle with the Protocol.

This is an affront to many, but especially to Alliance party voters who were the real winners in the Assembly elections – a feat far more deserving of ‘seismic’ than as applied to Sinn Féin – and critically have finally broken the binary tradition of Northern Ireland politics.

Michael Gannon, Kilkenny city.

Spare Putin’s blushes

WATCHING President Vladimir Putin’s subdued look at the May Day parade in Moscow, one wondered if he had recently discovered that he had bitten off more than he could chew – by attacking Ukraine.

There was no fly-over by his depleted air force, officially because of bad weather, even though a much-smaller parade than usual took place under clear blue skies.

The retreat from Kyiv, the sinking of his prized battleship the Moskva, their inability to defeat the ‘men of steel’ in Mariupol and their latest defeat in attempting to cross the Donets River, where unconfirmed reports suggests that they lost 1,000 men and dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles to the defending Ukrainian army.

Perhaps it is time for a rethink in the Kremlin by the knights of the long table? Maybe now is the time for the West to step in and help Moscow organise an honourable retreat in order to save face, so as to bring this dreadful war, that has caused 13 million people to flee their homeland and caused many thousands of innocent deaths, to a swift end.

It would also spare Putin’s blushes and he would not endure the ignominy of a much bigger bloody nose.

Tom Towey, Clonacool, Co. Sligo.

More lovely horses

WHILE the Irish Mail on Sunday affords its readers extensive sports coverage with well-written reports and interesting analysis, more space could be given to horse racing. The paper has two very good racing scribes in Philip Quinn and Eoghan O’Brien as well as some expert writers in England.

It is a pity to see some of the racing pages being invaded by articles on Formula One racing, which hardly has near as many supporters in this country as the equine sport.

Many consider motor racing as exciting as watching paint dry! So, please give horse racing a fairer crack of the whip!

Willie Wilson, Waterford city.

Pro-life Democrats

IN THE course of his interesting analysis of the US Supreme Court (MoS, May 8), Ger Colleran makes the point that deeply held views on social issues

(eg abortion, same-sex marriage) have impacted mostly on the Republican Party. To some extent this is correct. To the extent that this party has at least allowed social ‘conservatives’ to have an input into policy.

In stark contrast, the Democratic Party has become a very cold house for such people.

Allowing only the very extreme ‘liberal/feminist’ viewpoint to prevail. This was graphically illustrated in 1992, when the prominent pro-life Democrat,

Bob Casey Sr, was prevented from speaking at the Democrats’ convention.

Even now, his son, Bob Jr, is viewed with hostility by many of his Democrat colleagues.

But this has come at a cost to the Democrats. Their intransigence on this issue has resulted in a substantial cohort of these voters abandoning the party for the Republicans.

Surely a classic case of allowing ideology to prevail over common sense and a substantially increased vote.

Eric Conway, Navan, Co. Meath.