The Idea of the Union: Great Britain and Northern Ireland - Realities and Challenges

I got little value from reading the first 250 pages of this book, most of it being predictable old canards. From Dudgeon (a school contemporary) there is a valuable detailed update on recent legal moves by UK governments, seeking to limit their (ie English) financial outgoings to the economically struggling 'nation'. Nowhere is the NI 'millstone' issue really dealt with, especially the 'Lawfare Industry' effect, notable since the Saville Inquiry that cost £200mn with lawyers flying in daily and paid c.£1000 per day (back then).The authors are urban men, only one (distinguished) woman, seemingly with little experience elsewhere. Lowry mentions how Protestants near the border were more vulnerable to attack and the idea that 'West of the Bann' (as my home town) there were questionable local practices. The book's staunch defence of Social Housing policies deals only with the state sector. I recall my father in his last years admitting to me that he was in a small group that tried to keep private rented houses in the hands of (local) Protestants. Nesbitt describes how his family situation was drastically affected by the destruction of their business (as was mine in 1979) and the family differences that arose as a consequence, His uncle taught me Physics.Gudgin makes the economic case against unity, highlighting the difficulty of assessing RoI government statistics that have cash flows 'sloshing' through from their beggar-my-neighbour corporate tax polices. He obliquely suggests that some public services are over-funded, and then there is the bonanza of public service UK pay rates, that 30 years ago led to Belfast city having the highest UK ownership of BMW cars. It is recorded the Taoiseach is no enthusiast for taking over this largesse. However, with the invention of EU issued bonds, a mechanism exists to assist such a transition (as it does to facilitate Scottish independence)In my visit home this June, it seemed little has changed. There seems to have been a 'negative selection' process operating since c1970 when many who could leave (QUB graduates like me) did so, and the 'Left Behinds' (not in the US evangelical Rapture sense) seem ever more arrogant. Golf and food-faddism seem more important now, and a rather anti-intellectual 'culture' prospers outside academe.I am at a loss as to how Unionists can deal with the people elected leaders of the Conservative & Unionist party. Our forefathers first used the word 'Tory' to mean an 'alien outsider', when they were mostly Whigs and Liberals and the Conservative party was establishing in 19thC Ireland. The Union I fear is outdated.

This book is long overdue. It brings together a number of authors each experts in their own field to give a balanced view on the value of the union of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Norther Ireland.

well worth a read

Like!The truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So help me God.

I am bringing this book to Washington DC to share its contents with my American friends.

Christmas gift

Myths taken to the cleaners, numerous academic pieces continually referenced throughout, what the politicians aren't (predictably) doing.... What's not to like about this book?There is no greater substitute in this world for a good, hard, solid dose of REALITY.

This book is long overdue, entirely factual and written by experts