Brutal dispatch of Arlene Foster might cost the DUP in next election

The new leader of the DUP, Edwin Poots announced at his press conference (mistakingly refusing to take questions from reporters) that the DUP was “the authentic voice of unionism”.

One wonders what he means.

Any Protestant can set up a church in his/her garage unlike a good practising Catholic. Dr Ian Paisley created his own Free Presbyterian Church (now with circa 10,000 members). He then advanced into local politics and set up his own Independent Orange Order.

Poots’ problems are many and insoluble. He has already been lampooned throughout the world for his alleged views on Creationism and the age of the Earth (6,000 years) when two weeks ago geologists in Canada dated rocks as 53 million years old.

Voters under 30 have embraced the ego-involved concepts of secularism and rejected the sola scriptura of Christian fundamentalists.

He does not have the intellectual gravitas to deal with London political betrayers, Dublin bifurcators, the institutionalised apparatchiks of Brussels or the Irish Americans with dewy-eyed nostalgia for the oul sod where Cromwell butchered their forefathers.

The Alliance party will attract more nominal Protestants to the glee of Sinn Fein as they embrace the useful idiots perched on the tumbrel trundling towards Irish unity.

The UUP is irrelevant as it lacks critical mass. The drift to the TUV will continue as disillusioned unionists see Jim Allister as the only one to offer most resistance to the pan-nationalist Irish front.

What many DUP supporters may not have realised is that the brutality of Arlene Foster’s dispatch (et tu Edwin) by self-professing Christians will resonate to their cost at next May’s election for a new Stormont assembly.

George McNally, Londonderry

——— ———

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers — and consequently the revenue we receive — we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Alistair Bushe

Editor