David McNarry: Essay was a harsh but truthful assessment of how successive governments have ignored unionists

In his article on Saturday, Ben Lowry, took readers down an better forgotten trip along memory lane (‘The prospects of a DUP return to Stormont recede for now but it is still possible this year,’ September16).

It was a truthful, harsh and realistic assessment of, a. how ruthless successive governments have been in ignoring unionists, b. how pliable unionists have been in accepting changes without thinking through the consequences, and, c. how the Sinn Fein process of destroying the Union is not being challenged with gusto.

Ben wonders (as if in anticipation) if the government will give the DUP a sweetener legal protection of the Union, swaying Jeffrey Donaldson to join Doug Beattie and enter Stormont as hailed heroes.

His article concludes with the mischievous question, ‘will a return happen anyway, followed by a unionist realignment’?

If the DUP walk arm in arm with the UUP back into government it will not be realignment. It will be unionism in serious trouble.

A realigned unionism administering an Irish Sea border causes the word capitulation to spring to mind.

The wimps, the wokes and the wets will be the people linking arms in celebration of beating unionists into the ground.

Sinn Fein will be victoriously delirious. Instead of unity there will be another unionist party formed leaving unionists weakened, damaged and rudderless

Apart from a media-inspired frenzy, leading a misguided NIO in a merry dance of silly gossip about “substantial progress”, the majority of unionists are not in the mood to bury their heads in the quicksand and sink into doom and gloom.

Unionists hold the trump cards in the battle of wits between themselves and British government-sponsored republicans.

Ours is a principled stance. Having come this far and winning increased support to stay away from the Windsor Framework, the majority unionist leadership can sit tight through the winter cold war.

David McNarry, Comber