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originally posted by: UKTruth
originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin
Theres a chance, depending on how badly this DUP business goes, that we may get another chance to elect Corbyn, and I for one will be taking it, if it comes.
...and he'd lose again. This country is not going to elect a communist.
*Maria McGuire on her affair with Provisional IRA ruling council member David O'Connell, which started in Amsterdam... "It just happened, and seemed perfectly natural, even though our situation was very unnatural. We were under considerable stress together, and became very close, depended on one another, because of that. Possibly it meant more to Dave than it did to me; but when we managed not to worry about the outcome of our mission and our own chances of escaping, we were very happy."
*Maria McGuire on meeting the Provisional IRA chief of staff, Sean MacStiofain... "He seemed short and squat, and lacked Dave's physical presence: only later did I realise he was in fact over six feet tall. He appeared a little taken aback by me too; I knew he had heard about me, but possibly he wasn't expecting someone wearing hot pants to be interested in the Provisional IRA."
*Maria McGuire on the IRA's bombing campaign in Northern Ireland.... "The intention behind the bombing campaign was to cause confusion and terror. In 1971 bomb explosions averaged three a day throughout the six counties, and it was very easy to create confusion in the centre of Belfast .... Sometimes the Belfast Provisionals would give a succession of false alarms, and then just as the city was enjoying the lull, plant half a dozen bombs on the same day. We believed that the bombing campaign had a greater psychological effect in this way. By causing such terror we demonstrated that whatever steps the army took, the Provisionals could continue the military campaign; half a million people in Belfast would be kept wondering where the Provisionals would strike next, and would be forced to tell the British to make peace with us."
*Maria McGuire on killing British soldiers.... "I agreed with the shooting of British soldiers and believed that the more who were killed the better. I remember occasions where we heard late at night that a British soldier had been shot and seriously wounded in Belfast or Derry - and we would hope that by the morning he would be dead." *Maria McGuire on killing civilians... "I accepted too the bombing of Belfast, and when civilians were accidentally blown to pieces dismissed this as one of the unfortunate hazards of urban guerrilla war." *Maria McGuire on being banned from entering Switzerland... "I happened to hear a television news item that two Irish citizens had been excluded from Switzerland - Dave O'Connell and myself. We had done nothing illegal in Switzerland that I could recall... Then the Swiss Embassy in Dublin telephoned Dave and asked us to call at the embassy to collect our exclusion orders. We naturally refused."
*Maria McGuire on becoming disillusioned in the face of escalating violence.... "I could not avoid the conclusion that the probability of civilian casualties had been accepted, and perhaps even planned. Whenever such casualties had occurred before, there had always been the pressure of events to take my mind off them. But now, almost for the first time, I wondered about the crippled and the widowed and the lives that had been changed forever."
originally posted by: Freeborn
a reply to: Soloprotocol
They are having big problems at present in the Northern Irish Assembly at Stormont where they have been unable to form an executive for some time now.
Any coalition / alliance or whatever between the DUP and The Tories will only serve to complicate things further.
Sinn Fein are pushing for a referendum on continued membership of the UK and believe its only a matter of time before they have one. I suspect that any cozying up between the DUP and The Tories would be perceived as a hindrance to that.
originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: UKTruth
Interesting you should say that.
Corbyn had a greater share of the vote than did Blair in 05.
This is the best Labour performance in a long, long time.
It's pretty obvious what happened here - it was a last ditch effort by remainers to try and stop Brexit that was not offset by UKIP voters who split evenly because they don't trust May. It had nothing to do with Corbyn.
originally posted by: Freeborn
a reply to: Soloprotocol
Everything possible must be done to ensure that the relative peace is maintained in Northern Ireland.
I question both the sense and the morals of any coalition with the DUP.
Corbyn was vehemently criticised for his links to the IRA, quite rightly so in my book, yet The Tories see nothing wrong with working with the DUP which has known links to both the UDA and UVF and no doubt will have ex-members of those paramilitary within their ranks - hypocrisy of the highest order.
Parties regularly get labelled as 'extremist' in the UK - but there's no mention of 'extremism' when The Tories decide to enter into a political partnership with a party that is anti-abortion, against same sex marriage, deny climate change etc.
I don't think we'll see a resurgence of IRA terrorism.....just yet.
But I think if this coalition goes ahead, which seems increasingly likely, then it'll certain threaten any chance of reconciliation in Stormont and some Republicans / Nationalists will feel both threatened and intimidated.
It'll be interesting to see what happens when Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson meets Arlene Foster leader of DUP considering the DUP stance on things and that Ruth Davidson is a lesbian who is due tp marry her Irish Catholic partner soon.
originally posted by: SprocketUK
a reply it: Cobaltic1978
Ruth Davidson is an impressive operator.
Not sure if the tory membership is ready for an openly gay leader.
I think it would be a hell of a good move though.