LongTimeLurker

My guess would be that they thought Remain would win and were safe to support Brexit and wave the Union Jack about a lot to avoid being outflanked by parties like TUV.

Inaminate Carbon Rod has seemed to have his finger on the pulse where Clydebank are concerned in the past, so what to make of this? Windup or the cat's out the bag now on a breakaway movement by some west region clubs that the SFA bigwigs are taking seriously enough to meet?

Not much point meeting until the SFA can dream up some way out of the current impasse.

There seem to be some indications now that Labour MPs can vote for it without being deselected. Maybe Corbyn wants it to pass, so it's easier for him to get Leave votes in the upcoming general election.

Not that long ago in historical terms the SNP were not above stating that they were fighting a "Winning campaign" to try to tap into rampant homophobia being fueled by certain religious figures in the Daily Record. Scotland isn't the same as NI, but that doesn't make it some sort of idyllic Shangri-la.

It's nothing like that simple. What you are not being told is that the apparent trend on tribal head count numbers last time around was mainly due to a relatively large influx of Polish and Portuguese economic migrants through being in the EU rather than what was happening amongst people born and raised in NI. That hasn't been continuing to happen at the same rate. Also worth noting that there is a growing group that identifies as neither RC or Protestant because they realise there is no sky fairy. Until recently they have tended to be from a Protestant rather than an RC background, but that's changing so it's quite possible that there will never be 50%+ that identify as Roman Catholic and that both religious groups will slowly recede in the years ahead as rational thought becomes the name of the day. If things do settle down to something reasonable where the border is concerned, UI could quickly fade as a pressing issue. The bizarre thing about what has been happening is that the DUP have appeared to be doing their best to engineer the scenario where that's definitely not the case.

The obvious difference is that SF and the IRA are arguably one and the same thing. That's clearly not the case with the DUP and the UDA (or UVF). It's not safe to assume that Arlene F will follow the advice she received from leading Loyalists any more than she would with advice from business or church leaders. Sometimes they even get to meet the Queen:

Probably all hinges on what Labour will do with MPs who vote with BJ on this one. If they really will be deselected, I suspect the numbers won't be there to get it through.

It's more the UDA that they were always uncomfortably close to over the years. The problem for the DUP is that there isn't scope for a Unionist veto on the backstop if this goes to Stormont as there normally would be under the GFA. That's not something they are likely to fold on. Boris J needs parliament to collapse pronto so a general election is fought on the issue of him delivering this deal, so he's probably more than happy to jettison the DUP at this point.

They only really care about the Union. Everything else is secondary.

It's the petition of concern mechanism I am referring to. If they have 30 MLAs in 2024, they can block any change to the backstop with a majority of self-designated Unionist votes.

There appears to be a "as things stand" caveat in the small print of what they are saying, so they haven't completely closed the door. They'll definitely want a Unionist veto on the 2024 Stormont vote as that's part of the GFA.

Not particularly likely on any timeline under 20 years. The BJ deal actually looks quite a bit better for Unionism than the TM one was, but the DUP will do what they need to do to not be outflanked by a more hardline alternative as that's the core of their electoral base.

A reminder of how the DUP got its start and what is still deeply encoded into its political DNA:

Complete the following for what the DUP will do, if NI is getting somewhat detached from GB. Ulster says .... Doubt the EU would do that on the second bit given a late November general election might lead to a better outcome for them.

Could be a positive development if they are cutting out the middle man and talking to a junior region's clubs directly.

The outcome of the SJFA's 2018 AGM and last season's PWG meetings is well-documented on here.

The juniors do want to move en masse. The problem has been how to square that with the EoS already being there.

The complication in Bo'ness is that Newtown Park belongs to the people of Bo'ness and is run through a not for profit association rather than by the EoS Bo'ness United club. That meant there was nothing Bo'ness United could do to stop an amateur club called Linlithgow Thistle (that had been run to a significant extent by people from Bo'ness) from moving in and setting up shop as a Bo'ness junior club, if the SJFA accepted them into membership. Happy to be corrected on this but my understanding is that although it is being made to look from the outside like it is all one big happy Bo'ness United family, they are two separate clubs.

HJ's point appears to be that you can't have a reserve team in the EoS, if you have a first team in it. That's only open to LL and SPFL clubs. Syngenta are clearly a fully separate club from Dunipace so no problem there. Less obviously that appears to probably be the case in Linlithgow and Bo'ness despite the similar names that are being used. Not sure about Sauchie.

Boris's real endgame is an extension forced by the opposition followed by an early election so he can secure a big enough majority to do what he likes without the DUP. Before that he needs to undermine the fear factor over No Deal by making it look like he can get a reasonable one if handed a majority.

Just noticed Bo'ness United Juniors lost to Ellon United at home on penalties. Name may be the same, but that's a scoreline that would have been unthinkable a couple of years back for the BUs.

That's the same crabs in a barrel mentality that held back the use of floodlights in the juniors.

Ye coodnae trap a bag of cement is one I remember from years ago.

^^^bookmarked for future reference