EARLIER this year, just before the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the DUP leader Gavin Robinson publicly declared that families of those killed by British forces on the day should “move on” and stop the “endless pursuits of others”, after it was announced that soldiers would not face perjury charges.

A few months before then, in October 2025, Gavin Robinson posted an image of the Parachute Regiment’s insignia within hours of news emerging that Soldier F had been acquitted of the murders he had been charged with on the day of the massacre.

As an example of gratuitously aggravating and hurting relatives of deceased victims, it has few parallels.

That the insignia was posted by a political leader, and not merely an anonymous online troll, is indicative of the current state of leadership within political unionism.

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I welcome todays common sense judgement. Soldier F trial has been a painful and protracted process. There needs to be a better way of dealing with the legacy of the past and to ensure no rewriting of it. pic.twitter.com/xwqAKvDgHZ

More recently, the concept of ‘moving on’ returned to our political scene.

In the aftermath of the Scottish and Welsh elections returning first ministers supportive of independence for their two nations, the Scottish leader, John Swinney, declared he was “happy to take forward collaboration with Sinn Féin and with Plaid Cymru as........

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