Loyalist violence weakens the argument for Northern Ireland remaining in the Union

John Major previously spoke of loyalism's "phantom fear" here.  Hugo MacNeill has since written a piece by the title, 'Young People Have a New Vision for Northern Ireland', in The Irish Times here:

"Loyalist violence around parades and flags has created little solidarity from the rest of the UK. Perhaps no matter for now. However, with (a) possible Scottish independence, and (b) Britain’s place in Europe being debated, potentially significant changes to the UK could follow. These could have huge and potentially negative implications for Northern Ireland. Violent attacks on security forces do little for Ulster unionism in the wider UK."

The piece by Hugo MacNeill in The Irish Times here was entitled 'Young People Have a New Vision for Northern Ireland. I wrote in an earlier piece here that, like the young Iranians in Iran, the young people will bring change to Northern Ireland. My blog post on violent loyalists as traitors to Northern Ireland here. My blog post on loyalists being Irish is here. My blog post on Linda Ervine and being Irish and a loyalist here. Billy Mitchell was Irish and a loyalist, see here.

The cartoon above and here was done by Blotski as a parody of Tenniel’s ‘The Fenian-Pest’ which appeared in Punch March 3 1866 (see cartoon 5.1, p. 67). In Drawing Conclusions: A Cartoon History of Anglo-Irish Relations 1798-1998 Roy Douglas, Liam Harte and Jim O'Hara said:

"Whereas Tenniel demonised the Fenians for their revolutionary presumption, Blotski simianises Paisley’s loyalist mob for threatening violent action. The Britannia figure of Margaret Thatcher has no sympathy with their antics and, it is suggested, will crush them if necessary. Thus, militant Ulster loyalism has become just as threatening to the British and Irish governments as militant Irish republicanism."

John Major on Loyalism's "phantom fear" here. See my blog post here on the Irish Senator, protestant and unionist David Norris who slammed the behavior of loyalism in the Dublin Senate. My blog posts on Ian Knox's cartoon commentary on the state of loyalism can be seen here and here. Blotski was the nom de plume of Ian Knox, and you can read more about Ian Knox as Blotski below: