When a politician is associated with the term “bridge building” then it is usually a positive sign.
Donald Trump became President Trump because he wanted to build a wall.
One is a civil engineering project of hope and togetherness, while the other is a structure that is designed to exclude.
Sometimes these ambitions projects serve no purpose in the real world, but it is about a politician being free and easy with public money.
In the last decade “the bridge to nowhere” in Alaska was a powerful symbol of Pork barrel politics.
However, in an era when the greatest country in the world wants to build a wall then a few more bridges might be an idea.
Of course, context is everything.
Not all bridges are about a harmonious coming together.
The former First Minister of Northern Ireland, Arlene Foster, wants a bridge to be built between Narne Arne and Fair Caledonia.
For her, a physical link between “the mainland” and Northern Ireland would have huge political significance.
The putative cost of this project is £15bn.
To put that in context the annual budget deficit of the Six County statelet is £10bn.
That is what the Westminster money tree has to find every year to keep Norn Iron afloat.
Of course, these are conjoined islands and at the closest point, the coast of Antrim and the Kintyre peninsula are only separated by 12 nautical miles.
Your humble correspondent can personally attest that it is a fine day out on a sea kayak.
For the avoidance of doubt, that journey was completed several decades ago!
That narrow channel was well travelled by the ancients.
Indeed, at one point the traveller might not have required to leave dry land.
The best guess by geologists is that there was a land bridge at some point before the sea levels inexorably rose after the ice age.
Of course, Ms Foster has a very transparent political reason for pushing this ambitious and hugely expensive civil engineering project.
Scotland has always had great cultural weight in Northern Ireland.
Pretty much from the moment that Partition happened Unionism lost its Irish dimension.
Ulster hero Edward Carson was a Dubliner who self-identified as an Irishman.
However, by the 1980s certain people within Loyalism where exploring an alternative ethnic origin myth.
That was the Cruithin myth, the idea that the Protestants of Northern Ireland were, in fact, Picts as opposed to Gaels.
The Ulster Loyalists were searching for an ersatz identity that didn’t start with them being a British settler population in the modern period.
This was an attempt to have a narrative that pre-dated the Plantation of Ulster in the early 17th century.
Yes, it was all rather risible until you remember the Shankill Butchers.
A chap called Lenny Murphy actually believed he was at war with the alien Irish.
Bizarre doesn’t do it justice.
In a recent documentary, Ms Foster stated that in the event of a united Ireland she felt that she would have to leave this island.
Ms Foster stated this bridge building ambition at an Orange Order event in Cowdenbeath last weekend.
Just before she travelled over to Scotland the former First Minister had been taking part in some highly sequenced bridge building of her own.
In recent weeks she has attended a GAA match, an end of Ramadan celebration and spoke at an LGBT event at Stormont.
For someone who doesn’t do “gesture politics” it has been a whirlwind tour of groups that the DUP routinely denigrate and other.
Ms Foster perhaps hopes that all the people of Scotland are like the marchers in Cowdenbeath.
The demographics on the Six County statelet are inexorably altering away from an ethnic unionist majority.
If the Union is to survive on this island then people from a traditionally nationalist cultural background will have to vote for that in a future plebiscite.
For some, this is a hostage to fortune and they see a day when the majority of people in their “wee cuntry” will vote to be part of 32 county republic.
That is an appalling vista for some and there is now a trickle of Northern Ireland folk moving to Scotland, mainly Ayrshire.
At times link this the “Scottish connection” means more and more to Ireland’s insecure British tribe.
However, Scotland’s largest city Glasgow voted in 2014 to leave the United Kingdom.
Of course, she will have always find a warm welcome among members of the Orange Order and customers of Pariah FC at Ibrox.
As I have written here before the Uber Britishness down Edmiston Driveway is at variance with the changing zeitgeist in Scotland post-Indy Ref.
As well as not having as many allies in Scotland as in times past, Ms Foster is also beset by European troubles.
Post-Brexit the economic viability of the Northern Statelet makes Sevco look like a shrewd investment.
The Fermanagh woman whose maiden name is Kelly is clearly uncomfortable with anything Irish, which is rather sad.
Of course, what Ms Foster wants isn’t a bridge to Scotland, but an escape route to the past.
The Scotland of her imagination only exists when the Orange drums are banged during the summer months and when Ibrox is full of The People.
Although the future will be uncomfortable for her and her DUP colleagues it will be massively better for all of the people of these islands.
I live in Fife, and I saw this celebration of their kulchur. It embarrasses me and probably most Fifers and Scots that this menagerie was permitted by the council to drag their monobrowed bodies through our towns spewing their hate and bile.
Are we in the 17th century? No enlightened 21st century country would allow this defecatory behaviour to happen. This is not about freedom of speech or freedom of expression, but about triumphalism and entitlement.
Watching all the wee chocolate box soldiers in their gaudy uniforms was hilarious.
Another sinister note was a group dressed in First World War uniform. What is it with these people and militarism?
Did we not fight a war to eradicate all of this?
Overall it was like watching the living dead on a day out.
Excellent blog Phil. Thank you sir.
P.S I didn’t know that Sloth from the Goonies was an orange thing.
Excellent Phil,
Give Ireland back to the Irish…
Loved the ‘statelet’, lower case… pmsl ???
A trickle of North Irish people moving to Scotland you say?
Well I’m in certainly in favour of welcoming refugees from other lands.
But refugees from a land that time forgot is a new development.
Thing is, they would have to be sympathetic to our British Ways. For example marriage equality for all, and a woman’s right to sovereignty over her own body – both of these without any interference from church or state.
Perhaps they should be made to sign a pledge of allegiance?
Says the baby-killing abortion apologist. Brave man targeting the innocent and defenceless unborn child in the womb. Prick.
America first is more to do with staying out of foreign entanglements …. like the second world war… Charles Lindbergh was a leader of America First… then his infant son went missing never to be seen again… two poor stoogies were rounded up and executed… some people now think they were set up.
Lindbergh kept very quiet after that.
America first should read Israel last…. but Trump would want any harm to come to Mellanie… or whatever her name is…would he…??
About the bridge driving via the bridge from roughly Cushendall to South end of Mull of Kintyre then to Glasgow would take roughly 4 hours… the ferry from Cairnryan would be longer… but only because you have to spend time queuing for the ferry… in my experience most of the traffic leaving Cairnryan heads for the M74 / M6 towards Gretna and the south. So bridge would be a big inconvenience for them.. if the ferries where cut back.
Then there is the undersea topography…. there is a deep trench between Scotland and Ireland….they used it as a dumping ground for live unwanted shells after world war II…this trench may be further south than the proposed bridge route… the water may be shallower …or. . deeper at the bridge route…. sod the bloody bridge…. if you’re going to do it do it right….. a tunnel from Cowdenbeath to Ballymena….is your man…. any day of the week…. trouble is you’ll never find any Irish navvies to build it for them.
Personally I would love a bridge to Scotland (only if it had a rail link on it) so I could get a direct train from Lurgan to Glasgow. Cut out those pesky ferries!!!
I suspect Mrs Foster and her coat-trailing acolytes would prefer to build a bridge back to the 17th century.
Got the signed copy of the book Phil, half way through and a cracking read, thanks.
Great stuff.
I hope you enjoy The Squad
Hi Phil, perhaps Sharlene wants to do walking away over a bridge to Scotland in the event of Irish reunification. The gal loves walking. Your point of a previous connection between the province and Scotland doesn’t sit well with some DUP dignities who professs a young earth.
Anyone know if the Fermanagh farming gal paid into Clones…..Sterling/Euro/Woodpellets. Other currencies exist.
On a tangent I learn with some chagrin of the parting from Liam of former Spicegirl an nation sweetheart. Will the England v Columbia contest proceed as scheduled.?
Kenny Millar for Pope……….anyone?
FFs John did you not read that back to yourself before you commented. Seek urgent help ,its out there ,as are you.
Phil , the whole shebang eloquently written as per. I don’t think she has recovered from losing the Onionist majority in Stormont for the first time ever under her leadership.
I think I would rather keep my emotional ties than add a physical one.
Peach of a photo Phil ,if a picture paints a thousand words etc. There it is in technicolour a top 0f the range visual aid if ever one was needed.
Just as a footnote , I see a memorial was unveiled today in the French town of Essigny -le -Grand to the Irish troops who fell there 100 years ago ,respect to them and theirs. be lucky John
A united Ireland would be inevitable, if you could wholeheartedly trust the Catholic vote from all classes. I am afraid just like the Scottish referendum there would be voters you felt would be guaranteed, to vote yes. However when many, get to the ballot box they will only look after number one, and not look beyond their own front door. Good article, Phil, and if anyone is thinking of starting a stop the bridge campaign, please please put my name down.
On this site, you will find a created character called “Siobhán in the BMW”.
Someone in Northern Ireland who is culturally Irish and doing financially well in life.
Such a person, I postulated, was crucial to the continuation of the constitutional link to Britain.
My view is that she would vote to remain in the UK for sensible material reasons (e.g.the NHS).
Brexit is a gamechanger for the Siobhán’s of the Six Counties.
You’re wasting your time mate. On TV it’s called programming for a reason.
Quite recently I have been looking into the supposed links between the Ancient Celts and the Israelites who were forced to flee the Holy lands.
By sheer coincidence I have also been in conversation with a fellow Celt from Belfast about the changing demographic shift in Northern Ireland from a Protestant majority to a Catholic which I believe is the beginning of the end for those of a Loyalist persuasion?
Couple this with the looming Brexit Border complication and also the annual Deficit of £10bn per annum (and rising) for the Treasury well put it this way if I was a betting man I’d be putting a rather large lump on a United Ireland via an Indy Vote within the next 15 years?
This Bridge idea may not be as mad an idea as you think as the mass Exodus ? of rotund ,sweaty drum thumpers and flute players saunter their way back to the motherland to reconnect with their Celtic cousins …not a Pict in sight I may add.
As a Scot with Irish blood coursing through my veins I find this possible conclusion very worrying indeed.
I may just step me Gaelly back in the opposite direction.
Just like my Ancestors way back in the day.
The Celts and the Israelites ? Jesus H Christ man get a grip. Or sell me some of what you’ve been having. What’s next ? British Israelites for a United Ireland ?
There is more than enough material online to get yer teeth into on this subject if you so should choose Johnny.
DNA,Linguistics and Cultural traits have spread from the Middle East towards Western Europe and can be trace up through Spain,and France into our own Islands.
Don’t be confusing these people’s with the current incumbents in Israel for I am led to believe they are not from the same lineage?
Though admittedly I am still researching into that side of things.
All very interesting stuff indeed.
All that aside it was an interesting conversation besides ?
I would recommend Bob Quinn’s “Atlantean” film and accompanying book from the 1980s.
This is not an urban myth because I spoke to the fella personally. He lives not too far away from Cowdenbeath and was probably marching there on Saturday past. This fella hits the Holy Trinity of Sectarianism in Scotland he told me: he’s a Freemason; a member of the Orange Lodge and a die-hard Sevco fan. I saw the photos backing up what he told me.
Typically when someone has a view away from the general narrative then he needs medication. John McVey is 100% right. Why mention Trump and jump on the media band wagon. Open your eyes for a change and form your opinions on fact not fiction.
So, John McVey, who is your choice conspiracy monger? Alex Jones? Glen Beck? Brietbart “news”? Or some other unhinged, reckless radical group? Please do tell, for the world awaits for more of your spew.
Hi Bronx, I’ll tell you if you tell me which mainstream media outlet you prefer to be brainwashed by, CNN, BBC, New York Times, Huffington Post, CNBC?
When Ireland unites we will get the worst dregs of the unionist society.
The unwashed, the unemployed, the unemployable, the orange walkers, the fuck the popers and the no-hoppers.
Something to look forward to in an independent Scotland.
They wouldn’t come to an independent Scotland. Their adherence to the Union and the Crown are too strong to countenance a move to a Scotland that has turned it’s back on the UK and may well be or become a Republic.
So only if Scotland is independent will the unionist dregs come here?Being part of Great Britain, waving our union jacks, being controlled by the most racist, xenophobic and empire loving parliament ever won’t be attractive to loyalists?
So they will move to England. The land of the church of england.
Masses, priests and bishops.
Avoiding scotland. The most bigoted anti Catholic country in the world. Bar none.
There is something dark and unholy about presbyterianism. A religion that brought us apartied in south africa and the six counties. And the klu Klux Klan in the USA.
But I will sleep more easily now after you analysis.
Thank you.
If Scotland does become independent I think those particular excuses for human beings will gravitate to the country of their Queen. Where they will to a very great extent be absolutely ridiculed.
The mystery is solved! We now know who ate all the pies.
Well sai Sir !
A bridge over troubled waters indeed . The times they are a changing here too perhaps a bridge in the other direction straight off the edge of the world would be better for her
There’s a lovely little video online of the Cowdenbeath march. There they all are marching along in their regalia, waving their union flags and some even carrying poppy wreaths, whilst the band does the most horrendous version I’ve ever heard of the Luftwaffe march, Aces High.
I hardly think Donald Trump became the US president because he wanted to build a wall! Controlling illegal mass immigration was certainly a part of his manifesto, but he also wanted to make America great again by building new infrastructure, renegotiating trade deals, stopping the fraudulent NWO carbon tax based on the fraudulent global warming scam, draining the swamp from the out-of-control corruption, going to war against the satanic elite pedophile rings, arresting Big Pharma executives and doctors who have been poisoning America with mass prescriptions of unnecessary opiates etc. etc. You didn’t need to mention Donald Trump in your article but you did, because you’ve no doubt been fooled by all the controlled mainstream media hysteria. Otherwise your article might have been worth reading!
John you’ve been skipping your medication again !
You are Nigel Farage and I claim my £5. Clownshoe.
John have you been skipping your medication again ?
Since your such an admirer John of Mr Trump, perhaps you enlighten us with his vision for gun control, maybe explain why protecting the gun lobby is more important than protecting school children
William – Who said I was an admirer of Trump? I was just pointing out that the article stating “Donald Trump became president because he wanted to build a wall” is typical of the sloppy lets bash trump obsession that the mainstream media works on us on a daily basis which I am totally fed up with. Have you ever wondered WHY the controlled mainstream media are obsessed with bashing Trump from every angle? Perhaps the elite who control the media don’t control him? Was there the same obsessed hatred of Bush when he and his colleagues lied to invade Iraq and murder / displace / maim / poison / destroy MILLIONS of people? Time to start thinking for yourself mate.
‘NURSE,NURSE,Johns eaten all his meds,’
Nurse:’well done John,see I knew you could do it!’
Onlooker:’I meant he’s eaten ALL HIS MEDS,a whole months worth.’☮️
Or perhaps he was persuaded by the Russians to become president and if he didn’t their golden shower video of him would become public. Who knows?
But John, you clearly read it.
Unlike your comment,DEE L’OODEED.
Thanks Phil insightful,although some comments were surly written under pain of physical influence or prescription/illicit drugs.
Personally I feel hard done by,coz John McVey must be oan a stoatir ae a prescription,coz whatever he’s oan,it’s needed here by me,coz it’s REALLY strong.So John,prey tell,who’s yir generous doctor?
Thanks Phil appreciate your time and connections.HH?