Letter: We need a new cast to take unionism forward - the leading players are not good enough

We by comparison have no leaders, no plan, and no commitment to our community - in short, we are ignorant, and we are lazy; we just girn! Our position within the UK has been compromised and seriously weakened, more alarming we are being conditioned into acceptance, and have lost the capacity to fight back. Are we too arrogant to learn from the nationalist community?

Blaming Sinn Fein for all our woes is a cop out; they are doing what they were elected to do, and doing it well. Can we say the same about our politicians? To add to our problems there is a fifth column within our own community who vote Alliance, scorn our culture and traditions, and undermine our position. They need to be exposed, challenged, and called out, if we are to move forward.

These people come from the more privileged section of our community and have an exaggerated sense of their own self-importance - those better informed, who come from all sections of our community, need to call them out and educate them.

The protocol was imposed, and we are living with the consequences; it has bedded in to such an extent we’re not unduly bothered. We have to ask ourselves who we are, where we are and where we are going. That decision has been taken out of our hands.

I am painting a bleak picture, but there is a faint ray of hope. If we can shake off the cobwebs, the years of gathering dust, and dig down to the foundations, we may claw back some of the ground we have lost. We won’t reclaim it all, it’s too late for that, but it may leave us enough to build on; and it won’t come cheap.

To do that, those in positions of leadership who have failed need to be replaced - that won’t be easy, they have bedded in and are resistant to change. Moving them will take courage, they will shift the focus from themselves, and paint us as the enemy.

Our enemies, in both communities, may have done us a favour. They have focused on our weakness, and drawn attention to all those years of neglect. One thing for sure, if we rise like a Phoenix from the ashes, we won’t look the same. They are drawing the curtain on a performance that has run for a hundred years, and now dictate we change the plot.

We need a new cast, the leading players are not good enough, and we need to regroup, write a new script, and hopefully go on another run. If we are up for the challenge, we will regain some measure of self-respect, and by virtue of our industry, and on merit, take our place at the negotiating table.

Clive Maxwell, Bleary