We know how British people can be Irish. Doug Beattie has provided the exemplar: they simply have to support Ireland in the rugby (somewhat assisted by the lack of a Northern Ireland team).

In an episode of the now defunct podcast Here Comes the Guillotine, Frankie Boyle – whose parents come from Donegal – pondered how a person can come from an Irish background and trust the British state.

Considering that our political consciousness is informed by events like Bloody Sunday, where British soldiers shot unarmed people protesting for democratic rights, not to mention thousands of people imprisoned for no reason, including by English police forces in an effective act of racial profiling, it’s a fair question.

So much of the contemporary debate is squandered on the unionist obsession with the Irish language; continuing a mindset that views Irish culture as inherently seditious.

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One reason that unionism is bound to end up amidst the history of failed political movements is a failure to win nationalist votes.

Peter Robinson attempted to do so ahead of the 2011 Assembly election when he argued the DUP is more aligned with........

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