Letter: Lying about engagement with Sinn Fein-IRA was disgraceful but not nearly as disgraceful as the actual engagement

This has been followed by calls for an apology for its criticism of the UUP for it doing the same but not lying about it.

Yes, lying about such engagement was disgraceful but not nearly as disgraceful as the actual engagement.

You don’t get a free pass to dance with the Devil by merely being open about your tango.

The argy-bargy between the more honest miscreants and the deceitful miscreants has brought in the inevitable laments about ‘stop fighting each other’ and the ‘unionist unity’ plea.

Unionist unity has turned from a pragmatic aspiration to a cult mantra, requiring a blind eye turned to all sorts of immorality.

Let’s ignore sanitising the evil of SF/IRA, lying about it, traipsing to the funeral of an unrepentant terrorist godfather, sanitising the evil of the PUP/UVF, links of activists and even elected representatives in other unionist parties to loyalist terrorists, including saying of UDA prisoners: ‘Say what you like about them but anytime I ask them for support they've given it and I've seen the support they give for the Good Friday Agreement – they have to be praised for the work they have done.’

Let’s ignore welcoming the former members of PUP/UVF into the UUP (including someone who has tweeted about attending the memorial parade of the loyalist terrorist Brian Robinson) without any requirement to denounce such terrorism, hagiography of David Ervine, the nauseating spectacle of the Sister reincarnation of the Chuckle Brothers and Hutchinson being an unrepentant double murderer.

Ah now sure what’s a spot of terrorism and its support amongst friends?

If such amnesia is the requirement for unionist unity, you can shove it!

Aileen Quinton, Fermanagh