To be frank, until quite lately I have never paid very much attention to Northern Ireland politics; whilst I support the end of violence and the symbolic rapprochement, the reality of putting diametrically opposed political parties into roles that demand them working together, while hating everything they each stand for is in my view ping-pong politics. Bluster and fluster and then agree the carve up away from the cameras off the record and off the beaten track.
Then of course we have the petition of concern - the wild card or the joker in the wolf pack - depending which side you come down on and it's still all about sides. Except it isn't as the same side is either for or against to a point. The point being stalemate, save face, or brass neck.
The problem is, that the longer they all linger, posture, postulate, pettifog and procrastinate, the worse it gets for those who depend upon welfare benefits to survive - less than a MLA wage or an industrial wage come to think of it; despite the tales of the greedy living high on the benefits hog, the reality is that we accept that it's quite o.k. for (someone else's) children to live in poverty - every child matters or do they?
Welfare reform - we either got the best deal or we didn't. Before the General Election, there might have been some leverage for the Unionists but Mr C is home in a boat and doesn't need any help in the galley from our MP's. The don't needs their friends from the North but we still need their few quid to save us from sinking quips.
Word is that Gerry and Sinn Fein need to fight austerity from the hustings down south and in doing so kick out at the British for having the cheek to set welfare policy here with no mandate - I call that Gerry Mandating considering despite the all-Island take the reality is that our friends in the Dail Eireann don't really help us balance the budget or pay towards the welfare bill. I really couldn't care less if they opt for a cowboy supper or an Irish stew, they need to sort it out or we'll all be on bread and water.
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A very thoughtful piece. I can strongly identify with Mercutio’s (implied) sentiment, “A plague o' both your houses!” (since about age 12) and the profoundly depressing Punch and Judy ding-dong between this island’s Lilliputian advocates of interminable controversies (pick any subject matter) with similar relevance to Swiftian “Little-Endianness/Big-Endianness” and absolutely none to Welfare Reform (which actually affects people’s lives).
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