Unionists are viewed with barely concealed contempt

Recent psychological research suggests that when a citizen has to vote in a referendum eg, Brexit or a future border poll on the future of Northern Ireland that emotional feeling is more important than rational economic arguments.

Personal feelings and political attitudes are formed by echoes of the group’s collective unconscious, childhood stories, music and memes of behaviour passed down through generations.

Ulster unionism faces existential uncertainty. The recent scenes at the Stormont assembly are disturbing because of the intemperate, sneering viciousness of the language used by MLAs.

Little consideration is given to the plight of unionists who are friendless internationally and viewed with barely concealed contempt by the powerful, atavistic Irish/American interest group (pictured Congressman Richard Neal at Stormont last month), the forked-tongued diplomacy of Dublin politicians who seduced EU apparatchiks in Brussels and closer to home a British prime minister, Boris Johnson, who sneers at ‘Orange Johnnies’ and edges Northern Ireland out of the UK.

I’m sure that classicist Johnson has heard of Publius Syrus who said circa 2000 years ago: ‘Trust, like the soul, never returns once it is gone’

George McNally, Londonderry