A motion calling for the banning of conversion therapy, brought to Stormont in April by the Ulster Unionist MLA Doug Beattie was passed. The DUP opposed it. First Minister Arlene Foster's abstention was cited as one of the reasons her party went on to oust her as leader. Anna is Presbyterian, and when I asked her what she thought of her church’s hostility to same-sex marriage, given Anton’s being gay, it became apparent that the two had never discussed Anton’s sexual orientation. This despite his having brought his boyfriend, David, to meet her, and talking about him all the time.

I think a lot of what's happened recently vindicates a lot of what I found in the book. There is greater diversity within the community than politics is able to show. I met people who told me they voted DUP, but they only did so because they're unionist, they don't necessarily support the DUP's politics. And I think, if there are alternatives, unionism may become more fragmented. In the meantime, unionist anxiety is turning to anger and, on the ground in loyalist areas, to unrest and threats of violent resistance from the paramilitaries, who have been an ominous presence at recent anti-protocol protests. One can only hope that the pragmatic voices that echo throughout this book will prevail, but Northern Ireland’s troubled 100-year history suggests otherwise. Both books take a look at Protestant people from all walks of life in Northern Ireland, to build up a varied picture of the community in the present moment. Purvis described how, in 2006, she was talking with DUP members in North Antrim and she told them that, in her view, the-then DUP leader, Rev Ian Paisley, was going to do a deal with Sinn Fein. “And they said, ‘No, he’ll not, no, he’ll not. The Doc won’t sell us out.’”I just thought, aye, well I’ll form my own opinion here,” she told me. (Martin McGuinness was, in her estimation, “a bad rascal”.)

The coach said he was an inspiration to other young people. She mentioned his talent, his skill, and his dedication. But the special quality that enabled him to accept his defeat so gracefully was, she implied, his self-confidence. It was, she commented, a rare enough quality in Northern Ireland. She is right.

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For the latest breaking news straight to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter here. Read More Related Articles Twenty-two years ago, when I was writing Northern Protestants — An Unsettled People, the late Billy Mitchell, a former UVF man who supported the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, told me that, while he took responsibility for his own choices in life, it was Paisley who had fired him up to decide to become a paramilitary. The loyalist ceasefire meant that “we’ve sheathed the sabre — they can’t rattle it anymore”. Margaret Veitch and her sister Joan, whose parents William and Agnes Mullan were killed in the Enniskillen bombing However, if there's one theme dominating the book it's summed up in its title, which is taken from a remark by a local poet, Jean Bleakney, whose family is from Garrison and who grew up in south Armagh and Newry.

In general, Susan says she would welcome more people from the south, and from the rest of the UK, taking an interest in the diversity and complexity of what it means to be a Protestant from Northern Ireland. Read More Related ArticlesSusan said that, during her interviews, a large percentage of people wanted to talk about issues relating to poverty, rights, and social justice, which is not always reflective of how Northern Ireland Protestants are characterised by their political classes. The idea of change is central to Northern Protestants — On Shifting Ground. The book’s cover is from a photograph by Trevor McBride of the effigy of Lundy that is burned in Derry each December. If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month.

As is the case elsewhere, many younger people have rejected party politics altogether, embracing more global issues such as climate activism and gender politics. Belfast playwright Stacey Gregg describes an emerging “fluidity of persona and identity” among her contemporaries, wryly observing that Northern Ireland “has unclenched somewhat”. Former DUP leader Rev Ian Paisley whose paraty led opposition to the Good Friday Agreement. Photograph: Stephen Davison. A couple of weeks ago, it sent out a 19-year-old youth, who had only joined it a matter of days beforehand, to tell the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee at Westminster, which is looking into the impacts of the Brexit Protocol, that such was the anger that he could not rule out people resorting to violence. Tweed left the DUP in protest when his old hero Ian Paisley Sr signed up for power sharing in 2007. He became a councillor for the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) party. Its leader, Jim Allister, also declared himself “deeply saddened” by the death of Tweed, a “larger than life character”. It was “a devastating blow to his family and wide circle of friends”. After Brown spoke out, he denied any disrespect. He said Tweed’s conviction was overturned and he was “not going to be bullied into saying the court was wrong to acquit”. Brown said she was “disgusted”, pointing out that in 2016 the conviction was quashed on a technicality. There are claims that it is unionists who now need a civil rights movement, that we have “two-tier policing”. The DUP seems intent on reigniting a sense of grievance to provide a revival of unionist dominance.The DUP now seems very out of step, and I think the UUP had been on social issues as well, until very recently. Amnesty International did a poll recently where they shared that 67% of DUP voters felt that abortion should not be regarded as a crime. So their politics are out of step with the views of their voters.