Local election results.

[JamesWales]

Unfortunate for whom? If they win, that will be the democratic will of the NI people. That's how it works.

Does make the UK gov's squirming over the deal it agreed on the NI Protocol even more difficult - I can see that.

Well I wrote the post, so it's unfortunate from my perspective.

I have little time for Sinn Fein I am afraid. It is stacked with people who hold, or have held opinions sympathetic to the IRA and they offer little but chaos going forward and the break up of a country.

I don't dispute for a second their right to try and lead a coalition government but that doesn't mean that I don't think it's an unfortunate thing.

Personally, I'd rather the SDLP and the UUP do better than the more radical Sinn Fein and DUP / TUV

[cyril evans awaydays]

Well I wrote the post, so it's unfortunate from my perspective.

I have little time for Sinn Fein I am afraid. It is stacked with people who hold, or have held opinions sympathetic to the IRA and they offer little but chaos going forward and the break up of a country.

I don't dispute for a second their right to try and lead a coalition government but that doesn't mean that I don't think it's an unfortunate thing.

Personally, I'd rather the SDLP and the UUP do better than the more radical Sinn Fein and DUP / TUV

It will take a lot more time for Sinn Fein to shake of the taint of Adams and McGuinness but when it comes to the potential break-up of the United Kingdom (I presume you mean this country) there are greater pressures than the election of a Sinn Fein First Minister.

I think it was Theresa May who said no UK Prime Minister could agree a customs border in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Northern Ireland but that is exactly what Boris Johnson agreed so expediently with DUP votes to get Brexit done. For all the denial noise from both the UK government and the DUP since the real risk is not the supposed stifling of trade with the mainland but the competitive advantage that Northern Ireland has by remaining in the Single Market.

Similarly Brexit has re-energised separatist sentiment in Scotland. Both present greater threats to the Union than half hearted noises from the Shinners on a United Ireland.

[life on mars]

Well I wrote the post, so it's unfortunate from my perspective.

I have little time for Sinn Fein I am afraid. It is stacked with people who hold, or have held opinions sympathetic to the IRA and they offer little but chaos going forward and the break up of a country.

I don't dispute for a second their right to try and lead a coalition government but that doesn't mean that I don't think it's an unfortunate thing.

Personally, I'd rather the SDLP and the UUP do better than the more radical Sinn Fein and DUP / TUV

Indeed ( I have little time for Sinn Fein) strange how romantically they are viewed now ??