Northern Ireland is still largely stuck in old way of doing and seeing things

I have seen the decline of Northern Ireland basic industries due to a considerable extent to an inability to move with the times, to compete with the best producers in the world and an unwillingness to grasp the difficult decisions, while not recognising our own weaknesses.

NI is still largely stuck in the old ways of doing and thinking.

We still have educational under-performance, health and social underdevelopment, political ineptitude and levels of corruption and legally imposed secrecy which a healthy society should reject.

We have two sclerotic big political parties which continue to live in the past and wont risk the changes that are needed.

I hope the next 70 years show more progress that we have seen in the last 70. But to turn that hope into success we all must waken up to the need for controlled and positive change.

Tom Ekin, Belast BT9