A Tangled Web

WHO CARES ABOUT "DEVOLUTION NOW"?



The answer is not that many unionists, if this article is to be believed.



The 2004 Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey, one of the most authoritative snapshots of public attitudes, highlights a sharp increase in Protestant disaffection with the Good Friday agreement since the power-sharing institutions were suspended in October 2002. The survey, carried out in late 2003 and early 2004, says 70 per cent of Protestants believe the agreement has benefited Catholics compared with 50 per cent at the time the deal was signed in 1998. Then, 41 per cent of Protestants believed both communities benefited equally. Today just 18 per cent do so.



I wonder what percentage believe that the terrorist community has benefited? Funny how that question never popped up, isn't it?



Sometimes I wonder at those unionists with an apparently slavish devotion to local Political parties here who crave power for powers sake and devolution "our ministers" is just handy code for that. Since I put liberty first, and since I have not time for devolution, it is pleasing to discover that at least 41% of fellow unionists think likewise.