Alfredo and the island

Something truly historic happened yesterday.

No, no, not that…

In fairness, it was a personal milestone for the sportingly fair Colombian.

However, the league campaign was over before the vernal equinox.

Take a bow Mr Lawwell!

Still,  Alfredo’s equaliser added to the sum of our knowledge on Planet Fitba.

In a tightly controlled experiment, it has been proven that the South American striker prefers his workplace to be klan free.

I get that.

I’m with him on that.

No, something even more important happened yesterday.

These words blink to life in Ulster.

My location is further north than Belfast.

However, to those who self-define as Ulsturr Scatch, I’m in “the South”.

My three kids are Gaeilgeoirí, speaking the Ulster dialect of Irish.

A century ago, the Border was drawn on purely sectarian and tribal lines.

Why?

Well, the nine-county province of Ulster simply had too many people of a Catholic/nationalist background.

During the Home Rule Crisis, various permutations were considered, including five county statelet.

The chaps in Westminster even briefly entertained the idea of a four-county Northern Ireland.

In the end, of course, they thought that a polity made up of the six counties would be sustainable.

By that, they meant a permanent unionist majority based upon the numbers of cultural Protestants.

In order to maintain this, it would be necessary, by the occasional use of pogroms and constant discrimination, to keep the nationalist population down.

Well, those days are over, Sammy!

Yesterday the census folk might just well have collated the numbers that also spell the end of the partitioned statelet on this island.

We have known since the 1991 census that the nationalist population was growing.

Because of the conflict, accurate figures were not collected in nationalist areas of the Six Counties for the 1971 and 1981 censuses.

Whatever the final breakdown of the numbers collated yesterday, the overall demographic trend is inexorably discernible.

This BBC piece from two years ago lays out the basic facts.

Of course, a Northern Ireland with a Catholic/nationalist majority does not mean that ipso facto there would be a vote for reunification in a future Border Poll.

However, it is undeniable that the mood music of civil and political discourse in the Six Counties would be changed, changed utterly.

The triumphalist majoritarianism of political and cultural unionism will be a thing of the past.

Therefore, to preserve the Union, those in favour of maintaining the constitutional link will have to reach out to those they have been denigrating for generations.

That strategic pivot will not be to the liking of the self-styled PUL  (Protestant Unionist Loyalist) community.

Whatever new relationships emerge on this island, we will all have to come to terms with the fact that they are a permanent feature in Irish life.

They even have their own language.

Now, we know that that some of them can’t spell, but can some of them count?

The more adaptable in that community may finally acquire enough historical literacy to reclaim their illustrious radical heritage.

Sadly, the less fortunate will remain part of the Ibrox underclass.

For the avoidance of doubt, the only solution is education, even if the process is painful.

Of course, that doesn’t mean humour cannot play a role.

A huge shout out to a ridiculously talented young fella in the Rebel County.

Tadhg was even gracious enough to acknowledge the minor contribution of your humble correspondent.

Unlike the Brits, I won’t claim all of the credit for his triumph!

Please stay safe and keep smiling, dear reader.

This pandemic is not a drill.

We are all entitled to our opinion, but not to a different set of facts.

That is why the UK Census is important for all of the people on this island.

Abú!