The news of the proposed visit by the Queen to Dublin has brought the not unexpected plaudits from those unionist representatives who have all too frequently failed to analyse the actions of the British establishment over the years. It would be inappropriate to comment on the proposed visit before examing the history of Royal visits to the country(province). I have long claimed that there is a clear relationship between a sell-out by the Government and the importance of the Royal personage; the Queen inevitably comes over to quell the natives'fears when a major betrayal has occurred or about to take place. Was it mere concidence that Mountbatten was invited by the Queen to a banquet in 1972,where he made clear his desire and that of the British establishment to the Irish ambassador was to advance the cause of Irish unification. It is with this background in mind that I turn to the proposed visit by the Queen.

1. The claim that the Queen is above politics in this instance quite clearly is incorrect;could there be anything more political than such a visit taking place within days of an Assembly election and is quite clearly designed to assist the DUP?
2. Ony political blind unionists could imagine that the visit is for the purposes of protecting or/and strengthening the union; rather it is another step in the exorable grind by sucessive British goverments to destroy the Union; such a visit only takes place at the behest of Government..
3. No doubt the reception accorded will be hailed as a sign of the liberality and generosity of spirit of the ''bankrupt and corrupt'' Irish Republic and this will be used by Goverment flunkies and the great and good of the news world to berate the unionists for their lack of generosity towards this freedom loving society and castigation of unionist failure to join such a society. In due course baseless assurances will be advanced by the British Government of the day and no doubt the Republic will respond with an expression of intent to join the Commonwealth when unification is in place.
4. Many views of what 2021 will hold have been advocated but my view is that we will see a united Ireland. We will have been told inter alia by people professing to be unionists that this is for the unionists benefit and there will be financial assistance and security and there is no alternative.
Lyle Cubitt
N.L. March 4, 2011

The Queens visit will probably go off without to much trouble, due to security measures on the day however for how tolerant the Irish really are, we ourselves only have to look how the Love Ulster march was treated on the streets of that Great City.

Cubitt is correct when he says that when a Royal visit etc takes place it is usually as a sop for something that has been taken away from us or about to be taken away. The RUC and the George Cross come to mind. My own opinion is that Eire will rejoin the Commonwealth and after a period of time could well leave it again but by that time a united Ireland will be a fact,and accepted as such by the Protestants of Ulster. So there will be no resistance.

After all....we are all Irish anyway (as Tone wanted).

The Irish will do anything to win over the Unionist community, the stronger t he ties with the South, the more irishisation, the easier it is for them to conquer take over by stealth without a shot being fired. That’s why it’s important for us to fight the propaganda war and spread our message, when our people stand up and gain knowledge about our history and historical facts on the history of Ulster and the British Isles, then the chances of conquering Ulster will go out the window for the Irish, if you have people who are confident and proud of their identity and their knowledge of the history concerning them specifically, then the Irish will find it a lot more difficult to win the hearts and minds of our people but if you have a community like we have at present, who haven’t a clue who they are, then to all intensive purposes they are just miss-guided Irishmen easy for the taking.

Cementing London Link

The letter from Lyle Cubitt (March 4) in which he links the proposed visit of the Queen to the Irish Republic as a move towards Irish unification has some merit.

Former DUP leader Ian Paisley, in his inaugural speech in the House of Lords,advocated Irish unification,albeit under the Crown,but Irish unification nevertheless.

One wonders about the DUP, when we see the speaker of the Assembly,William Hay, intervening against Fred Cobain on behalf of Old Baily bomber Gerry Kelly. However,while Sinn Fein moves south,we in the United Kingdom Independence Party will be strengthening the Union with London,our natural home.

Terri Jackson,Secretary, North Down UKIP

I don’t think the DUP have any long term objective other than to just keeping going on as things are going, they seem to like to delude themselves that republicans have somehow given up their objective of a United Ireland and want to work and administer British rule in Northern Ireland. Personally I think the best way to go is to strengthen the links with the rest of the U.K. and as time passes by voting for the mainstream British parties could be the way to go. As our own politicians are now that Politically correct and watered down brand of Unionism that there is very little difference between them in actual terms of policy except one has the potential to deliver and big players on the main stage while the others are insignificant outside of Northern Ireland.

I agree about strengthening the links with the rest of the UK. As a kid at school and beginning to notice these things I always thought we were British and part of GB. As time went by I realised this was not the case. Even when Direct Rule was introduced I thought great! not so bad, we are now we are a part of GB the same as the other home countries who were directly ruled from London. But of course I was wrong and realised this when I heard the term 'full interegation' being used. We were still outside the fold and not the same as the rest of the home countries.

From that I started to think that it is one or the other, we either go for full interegation or an independent Ulster. Seemed a simple choice to me,but of course it wasn't simple. I think that it will always be a half-way house. Unlike Scotland,England and Wales we never promoted an identity of our own and I believe we will eventually pay the price for that.

To sum up I would be for the mainstream mainland parties coming here and on one occasion actually voted for a Conservative candiate here,because at least he was standing here and the Conservatives had organised in Ulster unlike Labour. So what I would be for is for the mainland parties to fully organise here and at the same time promoting an Ulster identity. You can still have the both. One is not contradictory of the other. So I suppose what I'm meaning is a British Ulster or even Ulster British identity within the UK

We have to promote our own identity plus strengthen our links with our kin on the British mainland both culturally and politically.

In my eyes that is the only logical solution, if not we’re done for. Even if a United Ireland doesn’t come about, the way we are going our own identity will be that watered down and our people won’t have a clue about who they are give it a few more decades and we will be that watered down Ulster will no longer be Ulster.

I agree we should have stronger links with our fellow Britishers on the mainland. I have friends there whom I have known for many years and the bonds have lasted over those years.

The Loyal Orders are exclusively Protestant, that won’t be changed in the short term, flute bands on the other hand especially in the last few years are easily won over. And I’m not saying that as an insult but almost every band I know has received funding ranging into the thousands in the past few years. They are easily bought, and as the bands improve the lust for better uniforms and instrument obviously increases so then does the requirement for money, with this circle and bands becoming less and less loyalist orientated over time and becoming more about winning competitions they can then be easily won around in the long run.

People might say that’s ridiculous, well it’s already been happening now for years with the pipe bands, many of them were once staunchly Orange, now they are open to everybody and we things like the walking on the twelfth are insignificant.