en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/4276444 Comments by footstool http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/education/79-in-northern-ireland-said-yes-they-would-back-a-move-to-see-their-childrens-school-change-to-integrated-29101285.html#IDComment581793714 The politics here are a disgrace. The people are way ahead of the politicians. We need normal political parties here and a healthy opposition to keep them in check and balance. We do not want an ultra-nationalist party and an ultra-Loyalist party as the two main parties. That is suicide. The rest of the political parties have no real impact either. They would be better off disbanding and forming one main integrated opposition party to show the people that such an inclusive party can exist here. The only thing keeping them from doing this is self-interest. They are a total waste of the taxpayers money and as much as an obstacle to normality in this country as the two main parties. Fri, 1 Mar 2013 10:47:54 +0000 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/education/79-in-northern-ireland-said-yes-they-would-back-a-move-to-see-their-childrens-school-change-to-integrated-29101285.html#IDComment581793714 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/columnists/eamon-mccann/churchmen-rewrite-history-to-claim-what-is-not-theirs-16265374.html#IDComment553867557 As Chomsky said about Christianity in general ; Christianity started as a religion of the oppressed, caring for the sick and down-trodden, speaking out against the establishment and the rich etc to being a religion of the establishment and the oppressor when they joined Constantine and the Roman Empire in the 4th century. They have remained there ever since. Fri, 25 Jan 2013 16:16:38 +0000 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/columnists/eamon-mccann/churchmen-rewrite-history-to-claim-what-is-not-theirs-16265374.html#IDComment553867557 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/flag-protests-wersquore-going-to-make-hundreds-of-arrests-declare-police-as-they-trawl-cctv-footage-16265502.html#IDComment553763735 The headline should read ; We will copy police at London riots. It's no secret the PSNI have been consulting with the English Police force. As usual this paper refuses to tackle the real root causes of rioting. Most of the rioters are between the ages of 18-25. This is also the case in Ardoyne over parades. Most of them are unemployed and local community leaders have no influence on them. In many cases on both sides, local paramilitary leaders have no influence either. Also true on both sides is that many of them are being influenced by extremists like dissident Republicans and rogue elements of the UVF who cannot get much support from anywhere else. The last time I looked there were over a million unemployed 18-25 yr olds in the UK with no training opportunities, no access to higher education and only a handful of fiercely fought over minimum waged jobs to be had. We are told by the government that they want to reduce long-term unemployment yet they continue with their failed austerity without growth policy including taking away any chance young people have of bettering themselves by making it as hard as possible for them to enter mainstream society and progressing. It is no different in England. The truth is that neo-liberal economics is producing an army of disillusioned and angry young men with no escape route to anything better. It doesn't matter what is going on around local politics because it is the same story in Northern Ireland, The UK and right across Europe. The politicians meanwhile are more concerned with lowering corporation tax for the richest in society and promoting N.I as a low-wage economy with the lowest wages in the UK and handing millions of taxpayers money to N.Irish companies to relocate to China through Invest N.I. But let's focus on flags. Fri, 25 Jan 2013 13:53:16 +0000 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/flag-protests-wersquore-going-to-make-hundreds-of-arrests-declare-police-as-they-trawl-cctv-footage-16265502.html#IDComment553763735 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/bank-of-england-governor-mervyn-king-warns-unite-or-we-risk-losing-jobs-16264962.html#IDComment553217238 This coming from a person who was at the heart of the UK economy for a couple of decades. A personal friend of Bernanke in the US yet somehow they never saw the financial crisis coming apparently. As head of the central bank he was responsible for the entire money supply to all banks. He was one of the major causes of the recession and is now swarming around the country making his final speeches like a US President at the end of their second term and nobody listens to them only the gullible and ignorant. This newspaper is as bad, running campaigns for the business community, as if that will sort the flag issue out and we will all live happily ever after. People are dripping with money here after Christmas aren't they ? I don't see the Telegraph running campaigns to stop the closure of the Housing Executive, schools or hospitals, forced upon us by the kind of neo-liberal economics Mr King was so keen to administer. Are there any journalists left at this paper ? You could look up the word balance. Thu, 24 Jan 2013 22:59:25 +0000 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/bank-of-england-governor-mervyn-king-warns-unite-or-we-risk-losing-jobs-16264962.html#IDComment553217238 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/popes-surprise-choice-to-lead-irish-catholics-into-future-is-fierce-critic-of-academic-selection-16263994.html#IDComment553029379 That's right. We are all afraid of change but it must happen if we are to provide our children with a future in this country. Many of our brightest kids are leaving here after their education because the status-quo is not providing for them. Many are leaving to be educated somewhere else altogether. Whether a shared future or a United Ireland, it doesn't matter, integration is essential either way. Thu, 24 Jan 2013 18:30:42 +0000 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/popes-surprise-choice-to-lead-irish-catholics-into-future-is-fierce-critic-of-academic-selection-16263994.html#IDComment553029379 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/popes-surprise-choice-to-lead-irish-catholics-into-future-is-fierce-critic-of-academic-selection-16263994.html#IDComment552958818 Not all interface areas are like Ardoyne. There are other areas where part- access through dividing walls has already been allowed gradually. These are the things we need to build on. I am not in any way suggesting putting kids in the firing line of sectarianism. The Holy Cross fiasco is a good example what happens when there are Catholic only schools. Had the school been totally integrated and maybe better placed there would have been no trouble. I am in no way defending the terrible things that those children had to experience. All countries in the world are not the same. Every one has to treated as an individual. No other country has experienced what we did and most other civilised countries haven't had a bloody past between Catholics and Protestants. We do and it continues. You have offered no logical alternative as a pathway to integration yourself only rejection. We have all had enough of that over the years. Thu, 24 Jan 2013 16:46:12 +0000 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/popes-surprise-choice-to-lead-irish-catholics-into-future-is-fierce-critic-of-academic-selection-16263994.html#IDComment552958818 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/popes-surprise-choice-to-lead-irish-catholics-into-future-is-fierce-critic-of-academic-selection-16263994.html#IDComment552906078 Now its clear you're just talking rubbish. It isn't happening at home in the Loyalist and Nationalist Ghettos we have created here over the last half century. It needs to be forced upon them if its not happening. Unless kids are brought up together and educated from an early age it will always be the same at home. Integrated schools need to built right on the interface areas and then eventually the walls can come down. Educating kids together now will produce a much healthier and integrated society for generations to come. Going to school together, playing sports together and socialising in the evenings together is what needs to happen if we are serious about a shared future. If you want them taught about religion it can still be taught in integrated schools once or twice a week like any other subject. There is no justification for a Catholic only school Compromise is a two way street.. Thu, 24 Jan 2013 15:30:58 +0000 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/popes-surprise-choice-to-lead-irish-catholics-into-future-is-fierce-critic-of-academic-selection-16263994.html#IDComment552906078 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ed-miliband-pledges-an-end-to-culture-of-tax-secrecy-16260992.html?r=RSS#IDComment550190988 The Labour party receive a lot of their funding now from corporations. They were queuing up to give Blair donations and buy policies and Blair nearly broke their arm for it. Mon, 21 Jan 2013 20:21:46 +0000 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ed-miliband-pledges-an-end-to-culture-of-tax-secrecy-16260992.html?r=RSS#IDComment550190988 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/letters/unionists-must-not-agree-to-a-poll-on-border-16263906.html#IDComment550107676 The notion of a United Ireland is ludicrous under the current state of affairs at Stormont. I do not believe either of the two main parties will deliver it or are capable of getting close to it. These two tribal warlords may have laid down their arms to which I am very grateful but they are still very much at war with each other politically. I do not believe they are capable of achieving even a shared future ( I mean a real one ) let alone a United Ireland. The story is no better on the ground in Nationalist and Loyalist working class areas as recent events have shown not to mention the dividing walls in Belfast. Would a United Ireland simply be a continuation of a divided North where Catholic and Protestant school children remain segregated for their entire childhoods ? Would that not be the old ill-thought-out Unionist state after partition reversed ? That sounds more like revenge by Sinn Fein rather than a shared future as they want to run the U.I they are proposing. Until we have a tried and tested shared, fully integrated N.I that has had many years to prove itself mature enough will the people of Northern Ireland even begin to consider who they are better off with. Mon, 21 Jan 2013 18:08:20 +0000 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/letters/unionists-must-not-agree-to-a-poll-on-border-16263906.html#IDComment550107676 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/popes-surprise-choice-to-lead-irish-catholics-into-future-is-fierce-critic-of-academic-selection-16263994.html#IDComment550045848 " Of course not. Im suggesting that none of those things has anything to do with religious education. Which is why they don't occur in the many other countries around the world that have religious education." You are proposing continuing segregation and keeping our children apart for their entire childhoods under a United Ireland. You haven't proposed anything to end this. " Id suggest that integrating education will have no effect on segregated housing while there are sectarian parades and intimidating flags in housing estates, none of which is related to religious education " Flags/symbols and parades can be resolved when there is mutually agreed policy on both for all of N.I. The politicians have failed to deliver this which needs done ASAP. This does not alter the fact that our children are separated for their entire childhoods and to suggest that by resolving the flags and parades issue will miraculously bring about integrated housing is living in cloud cuckoo land. If you are serious about integration you need to set out a pragmatic framework and a realistic and logical way of getting there. You haven't done any of these which suggests you are not really serious. Mon, 21 Jan 2013 16:28:48 +0000 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/popes-surprise-choice-to-lead-irish-catholics-into-future-is-fierce-critic-of-academic-selection-16263994.html#IDComment550045848 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/popes-surprise-choice-to-lead-irish-catholics-into-future-is-fierce-critic-of-academic-selection-16263994.html#IDComment549966063 Rubbish, The Republic hasn't had two warring factions murdering each other for a half century nor has it 30 foot reinforced concrete walls diving Nationalists and Unionists in its capital city. You seem to be suggesting that in a United Ireland we should keep these divisions going ? If integrated education is not the single most important aspect of initiating integration I would be interested to hear how you propose to move on to integrated housing and removing the dividing walls that have entrenched and reduced the population into Loyalist and Nationalist ghettos ? Mon, 21 Jan 2013 14:16:10 +0000 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/popes-surprise-choice-to-lead-irish-catholics-into-future-is-fierce-critic-of-academic-selection-16263994.html#IDComment549966063 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/popes-surprise-choice-to-lead-irish-catholics-into-future-is-fierce-critic-of-academic-selection-16263994.html#IDComment549882834 With all the talk of a border poll, shared future and a United Ireland recently surfacing here, it is a complete nonsense to suggest any of them are possible when The Catholic Church are committed to separating catholic and protestant schoolchildren for their entire childhood. If we are all serious about a fully functioning shared future as opposed to the rhetoric being spewed by the politicians, then education must be freed from any religious interference whatsoever. The notion of a real shared future when our kids are segregated from the age of Primary School to the ages of 16-18 is a complete non-starter and a sick joke and a very cruel one at that. Even worse would be the scenario of a United Ireland run by Sinn Fein or anyone else that would continue this policy where the entire Protestant population would find itself in an apartheid Ireland. Mon, 21 Jan 2013 11:58:54 +0000 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/popes-surprise-choice-to-lead-irish-catholics-into-future-is-fierce-critic-of-academic-selection-16263994.html#IDComment549882834 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour-says-no-to-northern-ireland-16262073.html#IDComment546473347 We are grateful they delivered a cease-fire but we need to move on from orange and green politics and get back to the grass roots, bread and butter issues. Thu, 17 Jan 2013 14:35:29 +0000 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour-says-no-to-northern-ireland-16262073.html#IDComment546473347 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour-says-no-to-northern-ireland-16262073.html#IDComment546472349 It is real working class fully inclusive left-wing party that is needed in opposition to Sinn Fein and the DUP who have both abandoned the working class. Labour are now a right-wing party, especially economically. Nationalists and Loyalists need to form a working class party to challenge these dinosaur warlords who are not capable of taking us any further in this country. Thu, 17 Jan 2013 14:33:47 +0000 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour-says-no-to-northern-ireland-16262073.html#IDComment546472349 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour-says-no-to-northern-ireland-16262073.html#IDComment546467434 The Tea Party are right wing extremists in the US. We already have The DUP who are pretty similar to The Tea Party and The Republican nut-cases in the US. It is a working class left-wing party that is needed here in opposition to Tory-led austerity measures. Thu, 17 Jan 2013 14:25:40 +0000 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour-says-no-to-northern-ireland-16262073.html#IDComment546467434 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/columnists/gail-walker/skindeep-peace-process-at-mercy-of-ageold-hatred-16261377.html#IDComment546144108 The Loyalist working class are caught in a trap and always have been. The working class has been traditionally represented by left-wing parties but Loyalists have no other choice but to vote for two right-wing parties. There is no right-wing party in the world that I know of who represent the working class._This is something working class Loyalists need to face up to and address._The community workers and protest organisers who claim to represent the Loyalist working class are actually adding to this problem by demonising Alliance and swearing allegiance to their masters in the DUP, the biggest right-wing party of them all._If working class Loyalists feel they are not being represented its time they started learning the difference between left and right politics and either join with working class nationalists in forming an inclusive working class political party or start fielding their own candidates from working class areas._Sinn Fein are no different if the statistics are reliable as nationalist working class people are in the same boat or worse. There is no flag that will give you a job or put food on the table. Thu, 17 Jan 2013 04:39:01 +0000 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/columnists/gail-walker/skindeep-peace-process-at-mercy-of-ageold-hatred-16261377.html#IDComment546144108 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/police-officers-injured-in-union-flag-riots-16260519.html#IDComment542138142 There is a huge vacuum in Northern Ireland politics that could be filled by an inclusive political party made up of working class Loyalists and Nationalists based on equality and a shared future. This would address the real issues affecting the working class on both sides that the two main orange and green parties have abandoned. The two main parties have delivered nothing since the Agreement 15 years ago .We are as divided as ever. They need to go. Sat, 12 Jan 2013 11:18:40 +0000 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/police-officers-injured-in-union-flag-riots-16260519.html#IDComment542138142 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/plans-to-scrap-housing-executive-under-attack-16259594.html#IDComment540540057 This plan to disband the NIHE should be scrapped immediately. First of all by handing over social housing to private housing associations means the end of social housing in NI. Secondly, prices will shoot up for the working poor and people receiving housing benefit will not be able to move into work because they simply won't be able to afford the full rent. This will add to the log-term unemployed or force people into working for nothing. A two bedroomed HA house here costs £100 per week compared to a HE 3 bedroomed at around £60-£70. How can anyone on mimimum wage afford HA prices. When the bare essentials for living are covered you are left with zero. Rents are too high and private sector wages too low. To create more competition and to stop rentals from getting out of control you need to build more social housing to keep private rents down. The NIHE should be the ones to do this not private cabals of housing associations fixing prices and paying their directors fortunes while paying no tax as a registered charity. Get McCausland out of this office before he destroys the working class altogether. Thu, 10 Jan 2013 12:51:12 +0000 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/plans-to-scrap-housing-executive-under-attack-16259594.html#IDComment540540057 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/loyalist-flag-protesters-to-target-oireachtas-tricolour-in-dublin-16255998.html#IDComment532642405 I'm from the Loyalist community and can safely say the idiot Willie Frazer does not represent me or anybody I know. The last thing we need in this country is another extremist like Geordie Seawright claiming to represent the grass roots Loyalists. Willie Frazer is a right-wing extremist doing nothing for working class Loyalists accept stirring up outdated hatred and division. If he was interested in grass roots Loyalists he would be out protesting about austerity and the brutal cuts that are leaving people jobless and without homes, closing hospitals and handing money and tax-breaks to the financiers and corporate sector. All fully supported and being implemented by the DUP. A right-wing party claiming to represent working class Loyalists. The Loyalist working class need educated in the real world around them if they follow this header. Mon, 31 Dec 2012 15:05:18 +0000 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/loyalist-flag-protesters-to-target-oireachtas-tricolour-in-dublin-16255998.html#IDComment532642405 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/party-donors-law-shakeup-16253375.html#IDComment526458932 It is long over due that political donors should be made public in Northern Ireland as the sooner we have normal politics here the better. I won't hold my breath though as it seems they are already hinting for us not to expect too much when this new law comes out. We are sort of brainwashed here that the secrecy is for security reasons. This begs the question ; should we have parties in power that are still a security risk 15 years after The Good Friday Agreement ? Isn't it these parties that have held back any form of normality in this country for so long ? The problem here is that somehow we expect a shared future or a normal society in Northern Ireland with an ultra-Nationalist party and a ultra-Loyalist party as the two main parties of the country. We have had 40 years of that and it didn't work and we are now seeing after 15 years since The Agreement was voted in it still doesn't work. If there is still a " them and us " mentality at the top there will be no progress in this country. Sinn Fein and the DUP have had their day. Time for proper political parties to emerge here. Sun, 23 Dec 2012 13:30:46 +0000 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/party-donors-law-shakeup-16253375.html#IDComment526458932