Important clarification - the TUV are a unionist party - I mixed them up with a party in the rest of the UK with a similar name (parties in the UK and NI are usually very distinct, likewise with NI and regular I)
@@JamesDonnellyDrumsIt is when it immediately makes it apparent that there are glaring contradictions when it comes to the north of Ireland. Contradictions that arise from a now obsolete propaganda war where symbolism and terminology mattered.
Being Irish I want to clarify on one thing: The religious side of this divide is pretty much irrelevant in the modern context. Nothing that happened in the last hundred years involved religion, although we do identify ourselves as Catholics or Protestants, the actual importance of the religion itself is very much insignificant. 'Catholic' and 'Protestant' is synonymous with 'Republican' and 'Unionist' respectively in this context. The labels originate from a time where there was very real religious sectarianism, going back to the time of the War of the Three Kingdoms, where the divide was far more about religion than it is now. Via cultural momentum, we never stopped labelling ourselves as 'Catholic' or 'Protestant' as a short hand for communicating our political agenda, even as the importance of the religions themselves waned. Hence the joke "Are you a catholic or a protestant?" "I am an Atheist" "Aye but are you a Catholic Atheist or a Protestant Atheist?" We reject the very notion that anything that happened in the 20th century, or 21st century, was ever truly about 'Religious sectarianism'. That is a British myth. The misinterpretation of the divide being anything to do with religion was partly due to British propaganda during The Troubles of the 70 through to the 90s, attempting to diminish the dispute and make it seem more ridiculous than it actually is. Unfortunately, as evidenced here, it is misinformation that lingers on to this day in the British consciousness. Disclaimer: I have made generalized, sweeping statements throughout. There are no doubt people in NI for whom the religious side of this still matters to the point where it is the predominant factor, but they are certainly in the minority.
Ian Paisley, Willie McCrea, TARA, had nothing to do with religion and was all British propaganda? The Northern Government since 1922 'didn't' discriminate on the basis of religion?, I remember in my younger days being stopped and held by the UDR and they made it clear they were annoying you because you were a Catholic, you even had butcher gangs killing Catholics in a pathological rage due to religion.
I took it as religion is upstream from culture, and that there are significant differences between people that either go unmentioned or become disregarded. The point is regardless of whether Northern Ireland wishes to secede, these demographic differences will continue to persist.
But he CAN do the British accent precisely because he's British! I don't understand what he meant by that. His regular accent already IS the British accent! Ugh!
I hope we can welcome eachother into a united Ireland soon! I've never truely visited the North due to the Troubles and everything, even after the GFA. I would love for one day for us all to be travelling back and forth regularly, and really learning about eachother and becoming the brothers and sisters we once were
Belgium has the most insanely complicated government, and yet they can just not have it for a year and a half and nothing changes. Absolutely redundant
Well, institutions stay the same. It is not like the courts can't rule and police can't police. Things generally just rumbles along and nothing changes.
The problems start when strikers in the public sectors can't get the pay rises they demand because there's no government to give them anything so they do more strikes. Or when laws have to change to meet climate targets, which can't happen as there isn't a government (if there was one I doubt much would happen).
Don't apply your British or Irish system or customs on Belgium. Unlike Northern Ireland where there was absolutely no government during 728 days, in Belgium the prior government stays in office until the day the new government takes over. Additionally, there is a system to determine which laws can be made or changed during this period. The statement Belgium went 589 days without government is blatantly incorrect. Counting from election day, it took 589 days of negotiations to come to a new government but during that period there was a functioning government with predetermined powers to make or change laws.
@@AlexGys9 did you not read their comment? they said that they can have it for a year and a half where nothing changes. that's true. the caretaker government doesn't have a mandate to continue their agenda. you read a few words of comment and assume what it's saying, and all the words after that mean nothing because you've already made your mind up on what that comment means. Absolutely redundant
I would like to correct you on the meaning of TUV, as you state that it means 'Trade Union Voice' can imply that they care more about trade unions than about complete unification with the UK. In actuality, it means 'Traditional Unionist Voice', and they are the party that cares the most about the UK.
@@ibx2catwe do not. we have the TUSC (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition). Not the same acronym as the TUV (who as stated, is the party most concerned with the union with britain)
Just thought I'd point out that it doesn't take us a very long time to form a government. We could get it done the very next day the results are announced and seats are filled. It's just because the DUP decided to boycott until they were satisfied with Brexit terms for Northern Ireland. Without the largest Unionist party and without the largest Nationalist party, we can't form a government. But it can be done very quickly if no one boycotts.
I mean, this is not too different from most multi-party democracies, the only real difference is that the coalition partners in Northern Ireland hate each other to an unusual extent. The fact that they've gone from two sides at war to coalition partners at all, even if that coalition is unstable and prone to collapse, is kind of a miracle.
The Nationalists may hold the office of First Minister, but Unionists still hold the most combined seats... Interesting times for Northern Ireland indeed
Dia Duit, I’m an Irish nationalist from Belfast. I used to watch your Minecraft videos religiously hahaha, I had no idea you made politics videos. Really interesting to here opinions from people outside of Ireland, particularly English people. Just a couple things I wanted to add that I think are interesting - Sinn Féin don’t just operate in the North, they are also the most popular party in the Republic with the leader, Mary-Lou McDonald, expected to be the next Taoiseach (Prime Minister). That means that by next year we could be looking at an island where both jurisdictions are led by the same party. In terms of constitutional change, it gets more interesting when you look at the younger vote. Recent polls show that a majority (57%) of 18-24 year olds in the North would vote yes for reunification. Obviously this is only a snapshot, but it does indicate that change may be inevitable as these young people, born into a place of peace instead of violence, less and less value a connection to Britain. On a personal level, I don’t think I know anyone directly, Protestant or Catholic, who describes themselves as anything other than Irish or Northern Irish. I live my life speaking Gaeilge everyday, playing Gaelic and Hurling, playing Trad, telling people I’m from Ireland. I am friends with loads of people from a Protestant background who would say the same - religion plays a very negligible role in our lives compared to the outside perception. While I would vote for reunification, it wouldn’t change how I view my own identity or how I live. Also, while 728 days is a lot, it doesn’t quite match our own record of 1000+ days with no government from 2017-2020 😂.
Deas le cluinstin go bhfuil Gaeilgeoir eile inár measc ar líne!! Ní easaontaím go bhfuil méadú i líon na ndaoine óga a thagann ó fhréamhacha Phrotastúnaigh nach bhfuil féiniúlacht “Briotanach” acu, ach tá cuid mhór Protastúnach den nós an fhéiniúlacht s'acu a choinneáil fá rún, nó fá chois, amhail is gur daoine “moderate” iad. Cuireann siad cuma séimh ar a dtuairimí a bhaineann le cúrsaí bunreachtúla os rud é go bhfuil eagla ar nach beag acu roimh aimhleas óna gcomhghleacaithe Náisiúnaigh. Is minic a chluintear “oh, I don’t have many opinions on that issue, I’m not interested in politics!”, uathu, ach mar sin féin, seans ann gur “loyalists” atá iontu! Ní ionann é seo agus achan Protastúnach óg!
Wow, that’s a great idea, Almost as great an idea is getting a ninja air fryer. And they’re so inexpensive too. Why get a full size oven when you could just get an air fryer. That’s how good an idea this is.
@@1conorjust like Michelin the tyre company started the Michelin star system to promote travelling to resteraunts all over Europe and thus buying more tyres.
Canadian Provincial Assemblies also use the term MLA, and honestly as far as I can tell Northern Ireland's status within the UK is basically the same as a Canadian Province has within Canada but without being part of an actual federation, more like a top-down created province as it currently stands
The Irish response to COVID was very smooth and reassuring. They cancelled st Patrick’s day and most the population was on the same page . We didn’t have a government at that time and things worked well then the government came back after their recess and that’s when things started to make no sense again.
According to the latest eurostat data I could find, Irish average salaries are only lower than Luxembourg and Denmark within the EU (+ Switzerland outside the EU).
@@CaptainKramMedium typically means average. Do you mean the "median"? If so, the closest stat I could find is Eurostat's "median equivalised disposable income" which measures after-tax incomes. As per the latest stats there, Ireland is 9th highest in the EU, basically equal to France or Sweden for salaries. Ireland also being the 9th largest GDP in the EU and having a low income inequality (gini coefficient), the OP's comment seems purposefully disingenuous.
The status quo is the UK. So, the Alliance tends to be Unionist but doesn't make a point of it. The religious divide is a proxy for ethnic identity. British settlers were Protestant and Irish natives were Catholic. Religion is a factor but identity is at the core of the conflict. agh is an "aa" sound in Irish. Armagh is Ar-m-aa. The Palestinian people are real. Israeli's want to make them Arabs and deny their reality. Makes it easier to disappear them from the map. There is no such thing as an Arab flag. There is a Palestinian flag. Let's please recognize that Palestinians are people. Thanks for stepping into the debate. Always good to have fresh perspectives.
absolutely reeling that the last video of yours i watched was on minecraft communism, and now there’s a video on the new northern irish devolved government! pretty cool :)
@@user-ue8vp6fy8yMostly, not exactly. Wolfe Tone was a famous Irish republican that was a protestant. Religion and ethnicity are going to match up more often than not though as religion is an aspect of ethnicity. But a minute difference in spiritual belief isn't motivating anyone.
Hey Andrew, I’m from Australia but I am going on a holiday to Europe in march this year, I really want to get a lobster roll and a best Kebab but I don’t really know where to get a lobster roll and I don’t know which best kebab to go to. If you could please send me the coordinates for both places that would be amazing :). Cheers, Connor
There hasn't been any increase in the nationalist vote, indeed it fell in 2022 compared with the previous election, and there are still more Unionists in the assembly than Nationalists. Its just that Unionist votes are divided between 3 main parties and Nationalists between 2. SF has just as you said taken support from the other nationalist party. Indeed support for the Nationaists has hardly varied at all from 40% in all the elections to the Assembly. Unionist support has declined as the Alliance Party has grown, but then when Alliance voters are asked about unification a solid majority oppose it. Brexit did up support for unification, by making soft Nationalists into hard Nationalists, but it didn't lead to a trend, it was a one off boost for the cause, About a third of voters support unity, about half are against it. The whole more Catholics than proteststants thing is irrelevant, as not only are Catholics less united on the issue than protestants, but its driven by the growth on none religious people, more of those tend to be from Protestant back grounds as the Catholic identity is harder to leave. Also a lot of extra Catholics are immigrants from southern Europe or Poland, who I doubt are much motivated by the issue.
Exactly. People for some reason when they are showing demographic charts and statistics always fail to grasp this. It's maddening, especially watching people from other countries talk about this as it proves that they just don't have a clue about what's going on over here. They are all willing to stick their oar in though and give us plenty of advice. They love their charts and figures but they can be misleading. In this case especially.
Nothing unusual about an Irish nationalist been in power in Ireland, what's actually strange is a British imperlist, royalist having power in Ireland and not Britain
Going from watching your minecraft videos covering the new snapshots, to seeing you cover the political events of my home country is quite surreal! Nevertheless, I will be interested in checking out this channel's content!
@@snowy4112Not impossible. SF are an all island party and their headquarters in Dublin. If they win an election in the Republic (which is expected to happen sometime this year) both juristictions of Ireland will be run by the same political party. United...sort of.
Agreed: Antrim is 80% British/ Protestant; So is North Down and these plus a few adjacent areas should stay British forever. The Catholic areas tend to be next to the Irish State, with the exception of West Belfast, so they could join that easily.
@@Themanyfacesofego the real question when going down that route is what to do with the areas of unclear affiliations. I mean we *COULD* do a coin toss but I doubt that would satisfy everyone...
@@Themanyfacesofego yeah, but that would leave close to half of the population or more pissed and we might get carbombs as a result. That or you do the resettlement of peoples to seperate them into their respective areas, which while leading to solid results a couple generations down the line (i.e. Prussia/India-Pakistan) is generally messy af in the short term.
It was a bit disingenuous not to mention how the British population descend from settlers during colonial times while the Irish are native. "I'm Irish and I'm living in the wrong country" was tone-deaf.
It is important context I usually provide when talking about NI, but I think it'd be wildly disingenuous to pretend that people living somewhere for 300+ years makes them settlers still, in a world when 2nd gen immigrants are considered naturalised
@@ibx2catI think people need to stop viewing the word settler as some value judgement or as an inherent essential characteristic. It is simply an accurate description of someone’s status relative to settler-colonial institutions. Ulster Protestants have benefited and continue to benefit from the settler-colonial arrangement that was the Plantation of Ulster, and in fact the entity that currently encompasses the six counties of Ulster that remain under British control was created specifically to maintain their political and social privileges relative to the native Irish. Meanwhile, Protestants in the south of Ireland, while largely sharing the same origins as Protestants in Ulster and having many of the same privileges while all of Ireland was still under British rule, can no longer be described as settlers because the south of Ireland can no longer accurately be described as a settler-colonial project for their benefit. Once settler-colonial institutions are abolished, they will cease being settler-colonists.
We had a big election in 2023, our council elections. Our turnout was around 58% (I think). The pro-United Ireland parties received a 44% vote share whereas the pro-UK received 40%. The momentum is changing towards nationalism. The middle ground are looking at a fall in the polls in the next general election as well.
@@ghgfrghfrhgdxvgredghhgvfth1573 But there was always 40% of the electorate that didn't vote. So that point is negated. As of the 2023 election, the nationalist bloc (SF, SDLP, PBP, Aontú, IRSP, WP, nationalist independents) got 44.19% of the vote. The unionist bloc came in at a total of 40.05%. Things have most definitely changed.
@@Jhimself turnout in the assembly election was 63/64%. Still near 40% of the electorate which didn’t vote, not even commenting on those who haven’t even registered to vote. Should we negate the significance of those results as well? Turnout in assembly elections hovered around 55% between 2007-2016
@@eoin7 I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to someone else who made a daft comment about 40% of the electorate not voting. He's now deleted the comment (after he realised how daft it was).
@@Jhimselfit still doesn't change their point, if you negate one side due to low voting, then you can't take the other stance with only slightly more voting percentage as more valid. Demographically 40% of people called themselves British, 30% identify as irish or northern irish.
Obviously the long-term trend is in favour of the nationalism (I expect a United Ireland to happen probably by about 2050); but I would note the caveat that Alliance do way better in unionist than nationalist areas (check the map); that most Alliance voters are therefore probably unionists; and that there's still likely a narrow unionist majority if it came to a border poll right now. (Fair to say that most Alliance voters are unionists who didn't approve of Brexit.)
The origins of the troubles wasn't that some irish nationalists wanted big Ireland. It was the british government treating native irish people as second class citizens and the police shooting them without any repercussions.
The information in this video is so riddled with errors. Describing the TUV as the Trade Unionist Voice is hilarious when it SAID Traditional Unionist Voice when you hovered over. The TUV are a more extremist unionist party, not a party that cares for workers. Also, using out of date census data from 2011 is unprofessional given the population changes since then. It would have been better to use more recent polling data rather than that. Also, its SDLP not SLDP. Also, also, also, the Republic have consistently polled that they would accept the North of Ireland and that has literally never changed, so it was weird to even make that point. People who arent from the north of ireland like to boil our issues all down to religion but dont look at the lasting effects of colonialism in creating all of irelands current issues. Most people in my experience are not religious in the north and dont at all care about doctrinal differences between catholics and protestants. It just happened that british/scottish colonists from the plantation were protestant and the indegenous irish were catholics. The difference in religion mattered then but it hasnt mattered for a while, its all been the colonial relationship between coloniser and colonised. I get youre just trying to get a video out quickly but man this is just lazy.
Been pretty hardline united Ireland, but I love your analogy of a kid choosing where to love but needing permission. In the US, at least, religion is fading in the mainstream; hopefully that helps the continuing struggles in Ireland
You know the gaint lake in the middle of northern ireland? Yeah that was covered with algi. Couldn't be cleaned up because there was no government to pay for it.
Bet they'd arrive at a consensus a lot quicker if they MLAs got locked into a room with just bread and water until the figured something out - this is also the origin of the papal conclave (with a key, aka locked), after cardinals took years to elect a Pope
15:00 because of the good friday agreement ireland doesnt have a choice in accepting the north or not. because in a way the vote has already happened (the people of ireland voted for the deal)
You're incorrect. We had a vote to change our constitutional claim over northern Ireland, and to add a stipulation that the island could reunite if a referendum was passed to do so on both sides of the border. A second vote would be held in the republic on unification at the time
@@papirealio9846 I do think that a vote for reunification would almost certainly pass in the south, but they do in fact have a choice and would not be legally required to allow reunification. Maybe you mean that it would be morally wrong for us in the south to vote no, in which case I agree with you
@@eoghancasserly3626 I was misinformed and told that in the GFA ireland didn't have a choice in accepting NI after the original vote for the deal but I do still think the southern vote is guaranteed to pass and it would be insane to vote no for something like this
It is not Trade Unionist Voice, which would be interesting, it is Traditional Unionist Voice. They or he is the most extreme unionist party. They are not in the middle, they are like the old white South African parties. It shows you know nothing about Ireland.
Saying Irish people are Irish is quite the take to who exactly? Any unionist born on the island of Ireland, regardless of any invisible border, has grown up on the same island as me, which to be clear, again, is the island of Ireland. They are just as Irish as I am, even if their ancestors are British. If they really have an identity crisis over it, they could always move back to Great Britain to their ancestral homeland, it's a short trip. Also let it be known, before the partition of Ireland, Unionists referred to themselves as Irish, it's only since the partition that this notion that they're British came about. They haven't been British for hundreds of years at this point.
Most Unionists are descendants of English and Scottish settlers and speak primarily English and Ullans (Ulster-Scots) rather than Irish, so no, they are not Irish.
It's quite the take to Ulster unionists, obviously. You can acknowledge that your own opinion is controversial - that doesn't mean it's wrong, it just means that not everyone agrees with it.
8:47 Traditional Unionist Voice, lol not the Trade Unionists. 11:06 No omg, it's not actually a religious divide, religious labels like catholic or protestant are an indicator of what your identity likely is. So if you're catholic there's a higher chance you identify as Irish, if you're protestant there's a higher chance you identify as British. It's a political divide not a religious divide!
i got a lot of love for you man, but this enlightened centrism kick you’ve been on ever since October really has me feeling some type of way. You flattened the entire history of the conflict in NI to abstract concepts of culture or religion. As if the IRA took up arms because “thems up there are protestants and we don’t like that very much” during the Troubles. You should know how ridiculous that is. You took this and applied it to Palestine. Rounding it out with the conclusion that the people who live in a place should “decide what happens” (yet i never heard you apply that particularly novel conclusion to Palestine.) I apologize for being so harsh, but this isn’t your minecraft channel. If you want to talk about geography, history, and politics you can’t just skip over every bad thing YOUR country’s imperialism is responsible for (NI and Palestine). The song and dance around the issue you’ve been doing isn’t cute or coy, it’s embarrassing. Especially if you want anyone to take your groundbreaking message of peace and love seriously. I had a lot of respect for you and your curiosity, but i find your ignorance, or cowardice, or whatever this is, genuinely disappointing.
Sorry to hear! The goal isn't really enlightened centrism, the thing I've always enjoyed most is the "understanding both sides" thing - I feel like there are enough places that big up the "why these people think you should injure civilians" that I can summarise it down nice and neatly to "we hate people different than us, but for historical reasons" people in Palestine should probably also decide their future, ideally
There is no sensitivity about the existence of Northern Ireland, it was originally called Ulster and existed for centuries after Southern Ireland was occupied by the British. There has always been an independent Northern Ireland or Ulster and at no time in history has Northern Ireland or Ulster been ruled by a sovereign Dublin or Southern Irish Government, only subjugated by both its neighbours after it was conquered, with the British in charge during its occupation. The controversy is entirely around the historically relentless battle between Dublin and London to ethnically cleanse the Northern Irish population in their own image, which has resulted in a very polarised country.
The NI voting system is STV = single transferable vote (or, if you're pedantic like me, PR-STV - since proportional representation systems are by definition multi-winner, and the English names of many voting systems being notoriously unstandardized enables unnecessary equivocation between proportional and majoritarian systems, in this case with the single-winner instant-runoff or AV or whatever name you _prefer_ LOL). The 'additional member system' is the triply half-assed variant of MMP (mixed-member PR) that is used to elect the Scottish parliament and (so far) the Welsh Senedd. Besides thet Assembly (and other elected assemblies) in Northern Ireland, PR-STV is also used for all elected assemblies in the neighbouring Republic, local elections in Scotland, the parliament of Malta and almost all upper houses (including the national Senate) in Australia. It tends to be the default PR system for Anglophone countries to consider, even when it's not the one they end up implementing.
How about splitting N.Ireland? The west for the Irish republic & the east becomes a new Northern Ireland & British & they’d officially recover the hand flag.
Because they were irish nationalists before there was a northern ireland Also its not a nationalist led government, Michelle o'neil isnt in charge she has the same powers now as she did when she was deputy first minister - but it is symbolic..
The irony of the Brit low key ignoring the colonization in both Ireland and “British Palestine” is so bang on you cannot make it up lol. Obviously im American so British colonization is the bed rock of our country and our history so its thought of easily for me but still damn your history classes need to acknowledge your countries role more in historical conflicts (as does ours to be completely upfront and honest the US and the UK are still playing the same bull shit games with endless wars in the world but it is very relevant to this topic Ireland was/ is essentially still a colony as are the US territories)
British person here. I'm acutely aware of British history, but my take is that the past cannot be undone. British actions in both Ireland and Mandatory Palestine introduced a new settler community to a region that didn't previously exist there - but several generations later that community exists, it's made up of ordinary citizens who were mostly born there rather than wicked colonialists, and they can't just be abandoned in the name of abstract "decolonisation". (Britain colonised Ireland in 1821; imagine being an Ulster unionist born in 1970s Belfast and being blamed/ostracised for something that you played no part in that happened 150 years before you were born. Should you be expelled from the place you call home because of something your great great great grandfather did?) I'm not particularly interested in how the conflict started, I care far more about how it ends; I seek reconciliation not condemnation. Peaceful solutions must be found that command cross-community support. I know that sounds impossible, but the Good Friday Agreement once seemed impossible. Progress is possible.
Yeh this video fails to make a number of points. Yes there is now a Republican First Minister in Michelle O’Neill, but you fail to mention that the deputy First Minister, Emma Little-Pengelly has effectively the same job. Neither can function without the other being in post, they both have the same amount of power. Another interesting point is that the largest party in the Assembly is a Nationalist party, but the percentage of people voting for Nationalist parties did not rise significantly from the previous election. Instead the largest Unionist party, the DUP lost some of its vote share to other unionist parties and the Alliance party (officially classified as ‘other’) due to factors like Brexit and how it has been paralysing Stormont for the better part of two years. This is what led to a Nationalist First Minister, not a newfound surge in support for Sinn Fein. I would consider myself to be a Northern Irish unionist, but I feel that a united Ireland is most likely inevitable at this point. I don’t see it happening in the next 5-10 years as many have recently been suggesting, but probably in my lifetime. There is a lot of work and careful planning to be done which neither the government in Westminster nor in Dublin seems willing to put in at the moment to make it happen. There will be a lot of difficult debates and hard pills to swallow for unionists in the years to come.
I do symapthise with Toycat trying to do a video on this and constantly adding disclaimers about "well even calling it [X] is controversial in some quarters". Like, I would just like some neutral terms to be able to discuss this issue, because even calling it "Northern Ireland" as opposed to "the North", or "the Irish border" as opposed to "the British border", could be seen as biasing my remarks towards one particular side. Indeed, this vocabulary becomes a shibboleth which binds you to one community or the other before the debate has even begun, and distracts us from actually discussing substantive issues by first having to argue about what to call basic things. It's super unhelpful. (As much as possible I try to stick to calling it "Ulster". Like, I know that technically Ulster does not have the same borders as modern Northern Ireland, but I think it's closest I can find to a neutral term.)
Personally I think that Northern Ireland should be a separate country for the time being and take it's profits for being an in-between country. In the end I'm quite sure it will become part of the Irish Republic as a natural cause of events. Why on earth would one want to stick to Westminster, when it is clear that they have no interest at all in the issue. It's just bonkers!
YES we have our own Government up and running now but I would question for how long before it collapses again because I have absolutely no faith or trust in politicians especially politicians here in Northern Ireland and of course wouldn't vote for anyone of them as they are all rubbish none of them represent my views and consequently worth my vote
If its part of the UK maybe they should take out the name Ireland and call itself South west England or England should maybe call itself North East Ireland? Just so people know where they are?
If we're being brutally honest, the problem arises from "Ireland" being used to refer to both a sovereign state and an island, with different boundaries. We used to have clarity over this by referring to the nation state as "the Republic of Ireland", being one of the few examples where people used the formal name of the country, so we could understand what exactly we were talking about. Usage has moved over to just calling it "Ireland" as a concession to the wishes of (Republic of) Irish people, but it has come at the expense of clarity.
Well if you really want to look at the real problem isn't it the British empire subjegated Ireland and when the empire was falling apart the people in Northen Ireland who think they are English probaly are what was left of the empire forces the same way there are Russian encalves due to the break up of the soviet empire the real solution would be for them to go home to there countires of origin? Just like the people in Hong Kong did? If you want to stay you are chinese or Irish now. The other solution would be to start up the British empire again in the same way Russia is trying to become the russian empire again.@@alexpotts6520
Sinn féin are no longer nationalists. Please stop calling them that. If anything they care more about Palestine then they do about native Irish. The hunger strikers are turning in their graves. Shame on Mary lou & michelle.
Man, Toycat, you've got some cajones wading into Northern Ireland's sectarian politics. As a Canadian of Irish-Catholic origin, I've learned that, unless you know you're talking to an audience of like-minded people, the politics of Northern Ireand/Ulster is treacherous territory.
Sinn fein are not nationalists. Blood on their hands. Bad as fianna fail theyre all as bad as the other. we need to rise up and take back our motherland. Tiocfaidh ar la
Important clarification - the TUV are a unionist party - I mixed them up with a party in the rest of the UK with a similar name (parties in the UK and NI are usually very distinct, likewise with NI and regular I)
Fun fact: In Star Trek Lore Ireland reunifies in 2024
You have done so much research but Northern Ireland is so convoluted you actually missed a lot lol
Ok cool
@@xanderlurksWikipedia surfing is not research
@@JamesDonnellyDrumsIt is when it immediately makes it apparent that there are glaring contradictions when it comes to the north of Ireland. Contradictions that arise from a now obsolete propaganda war where symbolism and terminology mattered.
Being Irish I want to clarify on one thing:
The religious side of this divide is pretty much irrelevant in the modern context. Nothing that happened in the last hundred years involved religion, although we do identify ourselves as Catholics or Protestants, the actual importance of the religion itself is very much insignificant. 'Catholic' and 'Protestant' is synonymous with 'Republican' and 'Unionist' respectively in this context.
The labels originate from a time where there was very real religious sectarianism, going back to the time of the War of the Three Kingdoms, where the divide was far more about religion than it is now. Via cultural momentum, we never stopped labelling ourselves as 'Catholic' or 'Protestant' as a short hand for communicating our political agenda, even as the importance of the religions themselves waned. Hence the joke "Are you a catholic or a protestant?" "I am an Atheist" "Aye but are you a Catholic Atheist or a Protestant Atheist?"
We reject the very notion that anything that happened in the 20th century, or 21st century, was ever truly about 'Religious sectarianism'. That is a British myth.
The misinterpretation of the divide being anything to do with religion was partly due to British propaganda during The Troubles of the 70 through to the 90s, attempting to diminish the dispute and make it seem more ridiculous than it actually is. Unfortunately, as evidenced here, it is misinformation that lingers on to this day in the British consciousness.
Disclaimer: I have made generalized, sweeping statements throughout. There are no doubt people in NI for whom the religious side of this still matters to the point where it is the predominant factor, but they are certainly in the minority.
Ian Paisley, Willie McCrea, TARA, had nothing to do with religion and was all British propaganda? The Northern Government since 1922 'didn't' discriminate on the basis of religion?, I remember in my younger days being stopped and held by the UDR and they made it clear they were annoying you because you were a Catholic, you even had butcher gangs killing Catholics in a pathological rage due to religion.
I took it as religion is upstream from culture, and that there are significant differences between people that either go unmentioned or become disregarded. The point is regardless of whether Northern Ireland wishes to secede, these demographic differences will continue to persist.
So you’re just speaking for the people of NI despite not knowing how they actually feel
Your comment just makes you look like you are trying to bash the British or at least are very ignorant about Unionists in general
I agree that now religion doesn’t impact as much but in the 70s religion was used to determine who’s an enemy and who’s a friend
“I can’t do a British accent! I’m already British” 🤣
But he CAN do the British accent precisely because he's British! I don't understand what he meant by that. His regular accent already IS the British accent! Ugh!
@@jessicatriplev9802which accent are you referring to? Theres like 25 distinct British accents.
@@Jake-nl3erAnd that's just in Western Scotland
Toycat: I must be sensitive
Also Toycat: Diet Ireland
Moustache Toycat is a terrifying sight
Terrifyingly dashing
He failed art school
@@pao5567 every art teacher I had sucked as a human being. Obviously the school failed him
@@pao5567Wrong mustache
he doesn't look like a morally sound human being
As a Northern Irish person, it's a mess. (Also the L in MLA stands for Legislative)
stands for loser mate
Shit im from Belfast and i thought it was local hahahah
I hope we can welcome eachother into a united Ireland soon! I've never truely visited the North due to the Troubles and everything, even after the GFA. I would love for one day for us all to be travelling back and forth regularly, and really learning about eachother and becoming the brothers and sisters we once were
@@Wolfe-Tone- huh? were back and forth all the time, ill be in dublin in 2 weeks lol
@@kob6912 STANDS FOR LOOLLLLLAAAAYYLLL NO SURRENDARRRRRRRRRRRRR ✋✋✋✋✋✋✋✋✋‼‼‼‼‼
least political comment section on a video by a Minecraft RUclipsr
Belgium has the most insanely complicated government, and yet they can just not have it for a year and a half and nothing changes. Absolutely redundant
Well, institutions stay the same. It is not like the courts can't rule and police can't police. Things generally just rumbles along and nothing changes.
The problems start when strikers in the public sectors can't get the pay rises they demand because there's no government to give them anything so they do more strikes. Or when laws have to change to meet climate targets, which can't happen as there isn't a government (if there was one I doubt much would happen).
Don't apply your British or Irish system or customs on Belgium. Unlike Northern Ireland where there was absolutely no government during 728 days, in Belgium the prior government stays in office until the day the new government takes over. Additionally, there is a system to determine which laws can be made or changed during this period.
The statement Belgium went 589 days without government is blatantly incorrect. Counting from election day, it took 589 days of negotiations to come to a new government but during that period there was a functioning government with predetermined powers to make or change laws.
@@AlexGys9 did you not read their comment? they said that they can have it for a year and a half where nothing changes. that's true. the caretaker government doesn't have a mandate to continue their agenda.
you read a few words of comment and assume what it's saying, and all the words after that mean nothing because you've already made your mind up on what that comment means. Absolutely redundant
Bosnia & Herzegovina:
As an Irish person the only offensive thing about this video was how you pronounced Fermanagh
or Armanaga 🤣
Oh dear!
Yeah that was on purpose
Can't wait for when toycat becomes a British-Irish-Sri Lankan-American citizen
This video just reminds me how clueless English people are about Northern Ireland lol
"So I'm going to try and be sensitive in this video... A yes car b0mbs"
That's because they don't care and aren't interested because of the hindrance that it is.
And vice-versa. Most English (Welsh and Scottish too) would be content if NI sank under the ocean.
I would like to correct you on the meaning of TUV, as you state that it means 'Trade Union Voice' can imply that they care more about trade unions than about complete unification with the UK. In actuality, it means 'Traditional Unionist Voice', and they are the party that cares the most about the UK.
Thanks for the clarity. We have a similar party that isn't about "the union " but rather unions called TUV in the UK, useful to know it's different
TUV has one MLA in Stormont. A malign presence
@@ibx2catwe do not. we have the TUSC (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition). Not the same acronym as the TUV (who as stated, is the party most concerned with the union with britain)
@@NMY232The scan showed a Jim Alister in your assembly and unfortunately it's malignant 😔
A clown show
Just thought I'd point out that it doesn't take us a very long time to form a government. We could get it done the very next day the results are announced and seats are filled. It's just because the DUP decided to boycott until they were satisfied with Brexit terms for Northern Ireland. Without the largest Unionist party and without the largest Nationalist party, we can't form a government. But it can be done very quickly if no one boycotts.
I mean, this is not too different from most multi-party democracies, the only real difference is that the coalition partners in Northern Ireland hate each other to an unusual extent. The fact that they've gone from two sides at war to coalition partners at all, even if that coalition is unstable and prone to collapse, is kind of a miracle.
This guy should try make a first channel, I'm sure it'll be really popular.
The Nationalists may hold the office of First Minister, but Unionists still hold the most combined seats...
Interesting times for Northern Ireland indeed
Dia Duit, I’m an Irish nationalist from Belfast. I used to watch your Minecraft videos religiously hahaha, I had no idea you made politics videos. Really interesting to here opinions from people outside of Ireland, particularly English people. Just a couple things I wanted to add that I think are interesting - Sinn Féin don’t just operate in the North, they are also the most popular party in the Republic with the leader, Mary-Lou McDonald, expected to be the next Taoiseach (Prime Minister). That means that by next year we could be looking at an island where both jurisdictions are led by the same party.
In terms of constitutional change, it gets more interesting when you look at the younger vote. Recent polls show that a majority (57%) of 18-24 year olds in the North would vote yes for reunification. Obviously this is only a snapshot, but it does indicate that change may be inevitable as these young people, born into a place of peace instead of violence, less and less value a connection to Britain.
On a personal level, I don’t think I know anyone directly, Protestant or Catholic, who describes themselves as anything other than Irish or Northern Irish. I live my life speaking Gaeilge everyday, playing Gaelic and Hurling, playing Trad, telling people I’m from Ireland. I am friends with loads of people from a Protestant background who would say the same - religion plays a very negligible role in our lives compared to the outside perception. While I would vote for reunification, it wouldn’t change how I view my own identity or how I live.
Also, while 728 days is a lot, it doesn’t quite match our own record of 1000+ days with no government from 2017-2020 😂.
Is she expected? I thought from the polls her party might fail as the current coalition q would get more votes?
Also does it not confuse people saying your from Ireland? Because some might think you are from the republic not Northern Ireland?
@@gothicgolem2947 There is only one Ireland.
Deas le cluinstin go bhfuil Gaeilgeoir eile inár measc ar líne!!
Ní easaontaím go bhfuil méadú i líon na ndaoine óga a thagann ó fhréamhacha Phrotastúnaigh nach bhfuil féiniúlacht “Briotanach” acu, ach tá cuid mhór Protastúnach den nós an fhéiniúlacht s'acu a choinneáil fá rún, nó fá chois, amhail is gur daoine “moderate” iad. Cuireann siad cuma séimh ar a dtuairimí a bhaineann le cúrsaí bunreachtúla os rud é go bhfuil eagla ar nach beag acu roimh aimhleas óna gcomhghleacaithe Náisiúnaigh. Is minic a chluintear “oh, I don’t have many opinions on that issue, I’m not interested in politics!”, uathu, ach mar sin féin, seans ann gur “loyalists” atá iontu! Ní ionann é seo agus achan Protastúnach óg!
@@Londubh1 there is only one Island of Ireland but there are two different countries on it
Wow, that’s a great idea, Almost as great an idea is getting a ninja air fryer. And they’re so inexpensive too. Why get a full size oven when you could just get an air fryer. That’s how good an idea this is.
Real
fr fr
Fax
The stash makes Toycat look slightly more insane than normal.
Insane Toycat: 🥴😵💫🤪
More Insane than Normal Toycat: 🥸🥸🥸
belgium and bosnia do a similar thing and are just as dysfunctional for all the same reasons.
I like how he mentions "guiness world record" and he's talking about ireland 🍺
Guinness the beer actually did start the Guinness book of records
@@1conorjust like Michelin the tyre company started the Michelin star system to promote travelling to resteraunts all over Europe and thus buying more tyres.
@@hardcorelace7565 Yep!
5:03 MLA stands for Member of the Legislative Assembly. Hope this helps!
Canadian Provincial Assemblies also use the term MLA, and honestly as far as I can tell Northern Ireland's status within the UK is basically the same as a Canadian Province has within Canada but without being part of an actual federation, more like a top-down created province as it currently stands
As an irish man i agree northern ireland should belong in the middle east
Sinn Fein love Palestine so much maybe they should move there
@@cathalobrien5691it would be easier to move the planters back to Scotland.
They've lived there for centuries@@bumblingborisbuffoon6259
@@bumblingborisbuffoon6259why they where all part of Dal Riada
@@bumblingborisbuffoon6259 If you mean the actual planters, are you going to dig them up?
The Irish response to COVID was very smooth and reassuring. They cancelled st Patrick’s day and most the population was on the same page . We didn’t have a government at that time and things worked well then the government came back after their recess and that’s when things started to make no sense again.
Ireland has a high GDP per capita and GDP per capita ppp due to many companies located there, the medium salary is lower than many European countries
According to the latest eurostat data I could find, Irish average salaries are only lower than Luxembourg and Denmark within the EU (+ Switzerland outside the EU).
@@NMY232 Average is very scewed from very high earning CEO's and such. For a country it's better to look at medium (as the original comment).
@@CaptainKramMedium typically means average. Do you mean the "median"? If so, the closest stat I could find is Eurostat's "median equivalised disposable income" which measures after-tax incomes. As per the latest stats there, Ireland is 9th highest in the EU, basically equal to France or Sweden for salaries.
Ireland also being the 9th largest GDP in the EU and having a low income inequality (gini coefficient), the OP's comment seems purposefully disingenuous.
@@NMY232 Hi and yeah my mistake, I meant median. I will try to post a link in the next comment. I agree that their are doing quite well nontheless.
Ye move northern Ireland to another part of the world that the British drew lines on the map to create misery 😂😂
The status quo is the UK. So, the Alliance tends to be Unionist but doesn't make a point of it. The religious divide is a proxy for ethnic identity. British settlers were Protestant and Irish natives were Catholic. Religion is a factor but identity is at the core of the conflict. agh is an "aa" sound in Irish. Armagh is Ar-m-aa. The Palestinian people are real. Israeli's want to make them Arabs and deny their reality. Makes it easier to disappear them from the map. There is no such thing as an Arab flag. There is a Palestinian flag. Let's please recognize that Palestinians are people. Thanks for stepping into the debate. Always good to have fresh perspectives.
Hope you enjoyed your dinner, Toycat👍
I did! It was a ludicrously large pizza
@@ibx2cat What toppings were on it? (I also had a pizza for dinner).
@@TheOnlyCaprisun Oh hell yeah I had pizza too. Toycat when's the fan pizza party meetup ??
absolutely reeling that the last video of yours i watched was on minecraft communism, and now there’s a video on the new northern irish devolved government! pretty cool :)
(Also, it's 'SDLP' not 'SLDP')
Don’t get yappy clare hanna in a tizz
It has never been about religion. It has always been about ethnicity.
Which match exactly onto religion.
@@user-ue8vp6fy8yMostly, not exactly. Wolfe Tone was a famous Irish republican that was a protestant. Religion and ethnicity are going to match up more often than not though as religion is an aspect of ethnicity. But a minute difference in spiritual belief isn't motivating anyone.
fellas, c’mon, the cat’s whiskers are hot! 🔥
Hey Andrew,
I’m from Australia but I am going on a holiday to Europe in march this year, I really want to get a lobster roll and a best Kebab but I don’t really know where to get a lobster roll and I don’t know which best kebab to go to. If you could please send me the coordinates for both places that would be amazing :).
Cheers, Connor
Member of the
Legislative
Assembly
We have them here in Alberta as our sub national government has a Legislature and so members of it are MLAs
There hasn't been any increase in the nationalist vote, indeed it fell in 2022 compared with the previous election, and there are still more Unionists in the assembly than Nationalists. Its just that Unionist votes are divided between 3 main parties and Nationalists between 2. SF has just as you said taken support from the other nationalist party. Indeed support for the Nationaists has hardly varied at all from 40% in all the elections to the Assembly. Unionist support has declined as the Alliance Party has grown, but then when Alliance voters are asked about unification a solid majority oppose it. Brexit did up support for unification, by making soft Nationalists into hard Nationalists, but it didn't lead to a trend, it was a one off boost for the cause, About a third of voters support unity, about half are against it. The whole more Catholics than proteststants thing is irrelevant, as not only are Catholics less united on the issue than protestants, but its driven by the growth on none religious people, more of those tend to be from Protestant back grounds as the Catholic identity is harder to leave. Also a lot of extra Catholics are immigrants from southern Europe or Poland, who I doubt are much motivated by the issue.
Exactly. People for some reason when they are showing demographic charts and statistics always fail to grasp this. It's maddening, especially watching people from other countries talk about this as it proves that they just don't have a clue about what's going on over here. They are all willing to stick their oar in though and give us plenty of advice. They love their charts and figures but they can be misleading. In this case especially.
Nothing unusual about an Irish nationalist been in power in Ireland, what's actually strange is a British imperlist, royalist having power in Ireland and not Britain
Nothing strange about British imperialism, unless you were only born yesterday.
Going from watching your minecraft videos covering the new snapshots, to seeing you cover the political events of my home country is quite surreal! Nevertheless, I will be interested in checking out this channel's content!
10:15 "Man unable to pronounce region names in his own alleged country" XD
I know it's not particularly probable, but I hope Northern Ireland joins the Republic of Ireland this year just to make that Star Trek meme come true
Pretty much impossible in all ways now 😔
@@snowy4112Not impossible. SF are an all island party and their headquarters in Dublin. If they win an election in the Republic (which is expected to happen sometime this year) both juristictions of Ireland will be run by the same political party. United...sort of.
@@yermanoffthetelly that is very much differnt from a united Ireland lol
@@snowy4112 not really in a practical sense.
@@yermanoffthetellythe SF in ROI and the SF in NI are actually very different lol
Its weird
bro i thought 2022 was still 1 year ago... time flies
George Mitchell says, “you’re welcome.”
MLA = Member of Legislative Assembly. This is used in almost all Canadian provinces as well.
You were literally bouncing in your seat. Congratulations to the government, it's sad it can't be a Guinness record. Greetings from Belgium.
Naomi Long is continuing as Justice Minister, my day has been made
Can't we just split it so that the places that really want to stay in the UK get to do so and vice versa? I know it ain't that simple, but still...
Agreed: Antrim is 80% British/ Protestant; So is North Down and these plus a few adjacent areas should stay British forever. The Catholic areas tend to be next to the Irish State, with the exception of West Belfast, so they could join that easily.
@@Themanyfacesofego the real question when going down that route is what to do with the areas of unclear affiliations. I mean we *COULD* do a coin toss but I doubt that would satisfy everyone...
@@sizanogreen9900 Even in an area that was split there would still be a majority for something, if there were just two options on the table.
That's what happened originally lol.
Youd still end up with large minorities in some areas though.
@@Themanyfacesofego yeah, but that would leave close to half of the population or more pissed and we might get carbombs as a result. That or you do the resettlement of peoples to seperate them into their respective areas, which while leading to solid results a couple generations down the line (i.e. Prussia/India-Pakistan) is generally messy af in the short term.
"I'm legally Catholic" lol
It was a bit disingenuous not to mention how the British population descend from settlers during colonial times while the Irish are native. "I'm Irish and I'm living in the wrong country" was tone-deaf.
It is important context I usually provide when talking about NI, but I think it'd be wildly disingenuous to pretend that people living somewhere for 300+ years makes them settlers still, in a world when 2nd gen immigrants are considered naturalised
@@ibx2catI think people need to stop viewing the word settler as some value judgement or as an inherent essential characteristic. It is simply an accurate description of someone’s status relative to settler-colonial institutions. Ulster Protestants have benefited and continue to benefit from the settler-colonial arrangement that was the Plantation of Ulster, and in fact the entity that currently encompasses the six counties of Ulster that remain under British control was created specifically to maintain their political and social privileges relative to the native Irish. Meanwhile, Protestants in the south of Ireland, while largely sharing the same origins as Protestants in Ulster and having many of the same privileges while all of Ireland was still under British rule, can no longer be described as settlers because the south of Ireland can no longer accurately be described as a settler-colonial project for their benefit. Once settler-colonial institutions are abolished, they will cease being settler-colonists.
We had a big election in 2023, our council elections. Our turnout was around 58% (I think). The pro-United Ireland parties received a 44% vote share whereas the pro-UK received 40%. The momentum is changing towards nationalism. The middle ground are looking at a fall in the polls in the next general election as well.
@@ghgfrghfrhgdxvgredghhgvfth1573 But there was always 40% of the electorate that didn't vote. So that point is negated.
As of the 2023 election, the nationalist bloc (SF, SDLP, PBP, Aontú, IRSP, WP, nationalist independents) got 44.19% of the vote. The unionist bloc came in at a total of 40.05%.
Things have most definitely changed.
@@Jhimself turnout in the assembly election was 63/64%. Still near 40% of the electorate which didn’t vote, not even commenting on those who haven’t even registered to vote. Should we negate the significance of those results as well? Turnout in assembly elections hovered around 55% between 2007-2016
@@eoin7 I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to someone else who made a daft comment about 40% of the electorate not voting. He's now deleted the comment (after he realised how daft it was).
@@Jhimselfit still doesn't change their point, if you negate one side due to low voting, then you can't take the other stance with only slightly more voting percentage as more valid.
Demographically 40% of people called themselves British, 30% identify as irish or northern irish.
Obviously the long-term trend is in favour of the nationalism (I expect a United Ireland to happen probably by about 2050); but I would note the caveat that Alliance do way better in unionist than nationalist areas (check the map); that most Alliance voters are therefore probably unionists; and that there's still likely a narrow unionist majority if it came to a border poll right now.
(Fair to say that most Alliance voters are unionists who didn't approve of Brexit.)
I think the Netherlands can beat Northern Ireland with how slowly the coalition forming has taken so long
The origins of the troubles wasn't that some irish nationalists wanted big Ireland. It was the british government treating native irish people as second class citizens and the police shooting them without any repercussions.
The information in this video is so riddled with errors. Describing the TUV as the Trade Unionist Voice is hilarious when it SAID Traditional Unionist Voice when you hovered over. The TUV are a more extremist unionist party, not a party that cares for workers. Also, using out of date census data from 2011 is unprofessional given the population changes since then. It would have been better to use more recent polling data rather than that. Also, its SDLP not SLDP. Also, also, also, the Republic have consistently polled that they would accept the North of Ireland and that has literally never changed, so it was weird to even make that point.
People who arent from the north of ireland like to boil our issues all down to religion but dont look at the lasting effects of colonialism in creating all of irelands current issues. Most people in my experience are not religious in the north and dont at all care about doctrinal differences between catholics and protestants. It just happened that british/scottish colonists from the plantation were protestant and the indegenous irish were catholics. The difference in religion mattered then but it hasnt mattered for a while, its all been the colonial relationship between coloniser and colonised.
I get youre just trying to get a video out quickly but man this is just lazy.
James Joyce described the people of Dublin as “West Britons” (maybe sarcastically).
I wasn't expecting this
Been pretty hardline united Ireland, but I love your analogy of a kid choosing where to love but needing permission. In the US, at least, religion is fading in the mainstream; hopefully that helps the continuing struggles in Ireland
2 Years without a government and nobody noticed. Might as well get rid of it permanently.
You know the gaint lake in the middle of northern ireland? Yeah that was covered with algi. Couldn't be cleaned up because there was no government to pay for it.
Surely that would have been paid for by tax payers. The government has no money, it spends yours.
Isn’t MLA member of legislature? It is here in Canada
Bet they'd arrive at a consensus a lot quicker if they MLAs got locked into a room with just bread and water until the figured something out - this is also the origin of the papal conclave (with a key, aka locked), after cardinals took years to elect a Pope
Sinn Fein W
Sinn Fein are a bunch of traitors to the Irish people..e.g - the 'Great Replacement Project".
L*
15:00 because of the good friday agreement ireland doesnt have a choice in accepting the north or not. because in a way the vote has already happened (the people of ireland voted for the deal)
You're incorrect. We had a vote to change our constitutional claim over northern Ireland, and to add a stipulation that the island could reunite if a referendum was passed to do so on both sides of the border. A second vote would be held in the republic on unification at the time
@@eoghancasserly3626 that's what I meant by "voted for the deal"
Although I think it's safe to say that vote is guaranteed to pass on the southern side
@@papirealio9846 I do think that a vote for reunification would almost certainly pass in the south, but they do in fact have a choice and would not be legally required to allow reunification. Maybe you mean that it would be morally wrong for us in the south to vote no, in which case I agree with you
@@eoghancasserly3626 I was misinformed and told that in the GFA ireland didn't have a choice in accepting NI after the original vote for the deal but I do still think the southern vote is guaranteed to pass and it would be insane to vote no for something like this
Growing out a nice moustache Toycat :D
Toycat I haven't seen your videos for a while I just wanted to say that I am surprised to see you now have a mustace and that the mustache suits you
It is not Trade Unionist Voice, which would be interesting, it is Traditional Unionist Voice. They or he is the most extreme unionist party. They are not in the middle, they are like the old white South African parties. It shows you know nothing about Ireland.
Ireland Viva la Éireann (A/N I don’t speak Irish my nations language as I got exempted)
Saying Irish people are Irish is quite the take to who exactly? Any unionist born on the island of Ireland, regardless of any invisible border, has grown up on the same island as me, which to be clear, again, is the island of Ireland. They are just as Irish as I am, even if their ancestors are British. If they really have an identity crisis over it, they could always move back to Great Britain to their ancestral homeland, it's a short trip.
Also let it be known, before the partition of Ireland, Unionists referred to themselves as Irish, it's only since the partition that this notion that they're British came about. They haven't been British for hundreds of years at this point.
Most Unionists are descendants of English and Scottish settlers and speak primarily English and Ullans (Ulster-Scots) rather than Irish, so no, they are not Irish.
Everyone is a person of earth, if we keep trying to exclude and section off each other then this planet is literally going to burn
@@danielchick1 based
It's quite the take to Ulster unionists, obviously. You can acknowledge that your own opinion is controversial - that doesn't mean it's wrong, it just means that not everyone agrees with it.
They’re british.
Maybe toycat shouldnt delve into northern ireland again simply his pronunciation of my home county of armagh
8:47 Traditional Unionist Voice, lol not the Trade Unionists. 11:06 No omg, it's not actually a religious divide, religious labels like catholic or protestant are an indicator of what your identity likely is. So if you're catholic there's a higher chance you identify as Irish, if you're protestant there's a higher chance you identify as British. It's a political divide not a religious divide!
i got a lot of love for you man, but this enlightened centrism kick you’ve been on ever since October really has me feeling some type of way. You flattened the entire history of the conflict in NI to abstract concepts of culture or religion. As if the IRA took up arms because “thems up there are protestants and we don’t like that very much” during the Troubles. You should know how ridiculous that is.
You took this and applied it to Palestine. Rounding it out with the conclusion that the people who live in a place should “decide what happens” (yet i never heard you apply that particularly novel conclusion to Palestine.)
I apologize for being so harsh, but this isn’t your minecraft channel. If you want to talk about geography, history, and politics you can’t just skip over every bad thing YOUR country’s imperialism is responsible for (NI and Palestine).
The song and dance around the issue you’ve been doing isn’t cute or coy, it’s embarrassing. Especially if you want anyone to take your groundbreaking message of peace and love seriously. I had a lot of respect for you and your curiosity, but i find your ignorance, or cowardice, or whatever this is, genuinely disappointing.
Sorry to hear! The goal isn't really enlightened centrism, the thing I've always enjoyed most is the "understanding both sides" thing - I feel like there are enough places that big up the "why these people think you should injure civilians" that I can summarise it down nice and neatly to "we hate people different than us, but for historical reasons"
people in Palestine should probably also decide their future, ideally
There is no sensitivity about the existence of Northern Ireland, it was originally called Ulster and existed for centuries after Southern Ireland was occupied by the British.
There has always been an independent Northern Ireland or Ulster and at no time in history has Northern Ireland or Ulster been ruled by a sovereign Dublin or Southern Irish Government, only subjugated by both its neighbours after it was conquered, with the British in charge during its occupation.
The controversy is entirely around the historically relentless battle between Dublin and London to ethnically cleanse the Northern Irish population in their own image, which has resulted in a very polarised country.
The NI voting system is STV = single transferable vote (or, if you're pedantic like me, PR-STV - since proportional representation systems are by definition multi-winner, and the English names of many voting systems being notoriously unstandardized enables unnecessary equivocation between proportional and majoritarian systems, in this case with the single-winner instant-runoff or AV or whatever name you _prefer_ LOL).
The 'additional member system' is the triply half-assed variant of MMP (mixed-member PR) that is used to elect the Scottish parliament and (so far) the Welsh Senedd.
Besides thet Assembly (and other elected assemblies) in Northern Ireland, PR-STV is also used for all elected assemblies in the neighbouring Republic, local elections in Scotland, the parliament of Malta and almost all upper houses (including the national Senate) in Australia. It tends to be the default PR system for Anglophone countries to consider, even when it's not the one they end up implementing.
How about splitting N.Ireland? The west for the Irish republic & the east becomes a new Northern Ireland & British & they’d officially recover the hand flag.
Because they were irish nationalists before there was a northern ireland
Also its not a nationalist led government, Michelle o'neil isnt in charge she has the same powers now as she did when she was deputy first minister - but it is symbolic..
The irony of the Brit low key ignoring the colonization in both Ireland and “British Palestine” is so bang on you cannot make it up lol. Obviously im American so British colonization is the bed rock of our country and our history so its thought of easily for me but still damn your history classes need to acknowledge your countries role more in historical conflicts (as does ours to be completely upfront and honest the US and the UK are still playing the same bull shit games with endless wars in the world but it is very relevant to this topic Ireland was/ is essentially still a colony as are the US territories)
British person here. I'm acutely aware of British history, but my take is that the past cannot be undone. British actions in both Ireland and Mandatory Palestine introduced a new settler community to a region that didn't previously exist there - but several generations later that community exists, it's made up of ordinary citizens who were mostly born there rather than wicked colonialists, and they can't just be abandoned in the name of abstract "decolonisation". (Britain colonised Ireland in 1821; imagine being an Ulster unionist born in 1970s Belfast and being blamed/ostracised for something that you played no part in that happened 150 years before you were born. Should you be expelled from the place you call home because of something your great great great grandfather did?)
I'm not particularly interested in how the conflict started, I care far more about how it ends; I seek reconciliation not condemnation. Peaceful solutions must be found that command cross-community support. I know that sounds impossible, but the Good Friday Agreement once seemed impossible. Progress is possible.
Members of the Legislative Assembly
Religion doesn’t matter if you’re god. You all are my potato children🙌
Why are all the first parts of the post codes in Northern Ireland BT? I.e. referring to BelfastT.
Why isn't Belfast called LondonBelfast?
God, you need to chill out and relax and ease off the uppers. Why not a weekend in Dublin to relax. I am turning off now, it is far too irritating.
Brexitey things also contributed to the delay in forming a government after the May 2022 elections. The gift that keeps on giving...
Why is toycat covering our politics. im scared.
Yeh this video fails to make a number of points. Yes there is now a Republican First Minister in Michelle O’Neill, but you fail to mention that the deputy First Minister, Emma Little-Pengelly has effectively the same job. Neither can function without the other being in post, they both have the same amount of power.
Another interesting point is that the largest party in the Assembly is a Nationalist party, but the percentage of people voting for Nationalist parties did not rise significantly from the previous election. Instead the largest Unionist party, the DUP lost some of its vote share to other unionist parties and the Alliance party (officially classified as ‘other’) due to factors like Brexit and how it has been paralysing Stormont for the better part of two years. This is what led to a Nationalist First Minister, not a newfound surge in support for Sinn Fein.
I would consider myself to be a Northern Irish unionist, but I feel that a united Ireland is most likely inevitable at this point. I don’t see it happening in the next 5-10 years as many have recently been suggesting, but probably in my lifetime. There is a lot of work and careful planning to be done which neither the government in Westminster nor in Dublin seems willing to put in at the moment to make it happen. There will be a lot of difficult debates and hard pills to swallow for unionists in the years to come.
Andrew getting attacked by some caterpillars? 🤔
I do symapthise with Toycat trying to do a video on this and constantly adding disclaimers about "well even calling it [X] is controversial in some quarters". Like, I would just like some neutral terms to be able to discuss this issue, because even calling it "Northern Ireland" as opposed to "the North", or "the Irish border" as opposed to "the British border", could be seen as biasing my remarks towards one particular side. Indeed, this vocabulary becomes a shibboleth which binds you to one community or the other before the debate has even begun, and distracts us from actually discussing substantive issues by first having to argue about what to call basic things. It's super unhelpful.
(As much as possible I try to stick to calling it "Ulster". Like, I know that technically Ulster does not have the same borders as modern Northern Ireland, but I think it's closest I can find to a neutral term.)
Do you ever take a breath when your speaking.? 😂
He doesn't even speak that fast 🗿
One day Ireland will be unified
Would be terrible for Northern Ireland, would lose the NHS, affordable housing, Free GP Visits and prescriptions etc
@@Jack72961 the Tories have butchered the NHS to begin with
Yeah because the south needs more migrants LMAO
Nope 🇬🇧
As a gay from Serbia I also think we should put Norther Ireland somewhere south of Yemen
That is the best solution.
Gay and Serbian? Impossible
please do!!!@@ghgfrghfrhgdxvgredghhgvfth1573
I swear if Star Trek some how calls it.
Ulster.
Personally I think that Northern Ireland should be a separate country for the time being and take it's profits for being an in-between country. In the end I'm quite sure it will become part of the Irish Republic as a natural cause of events. Why on earth would one want to stick to Westminster, when it is clear that they have no interest at all in the issue. It's just bonkers!
This is the worst idea for obvious reasons
@:6:55 just like the intro to The Simpsons....
YES we have our own Government up and running now but I would question for how long before it collapses again because I have absolutely no faith or trust in politicians especially politicians here in Northern Ireland and of course wouldn't vote for anyone of them as they are all rubbish none of them represent my views and consequently worth my vote
If its part of the UK maybe they should take out the name Ireland and call itself South west England or England should maybe call itself North East Ireland? Just so people know where they are?
If we're being brutally honest, the problem arises from "Ireland" being used to refer to both a sovereign state and an island, with different boundaries.
We used to have clarity over this by referring to the nation state as "the Republic of Ireland", being one of the few examples where people used the formal name of the country, so we could understand what exactly we were talking about. Usage has moved over to just calling it "Ireland" as a concession to the wishes of (Republic of) Irish people, but it has come at the expense of clarity.
Well if you really want to look at the real problem isn't it the British empire subjegated Ireland and when the empire was falling apart the people in Northen Ireland who think they are English probaly are what was left of the empire forces the same way there are Russian encalves due to the break up of the soviet empire the real solution would be for them to go home to there countires of origin? Just like the people in Hong Kong did? If you want to stay you are chinese or Irish now. The other solution would be to start up the British empire again in the same way Russia is trying to become the russian empire again.@@alexpotts6520
ROFL, Are Manga Na and Fir Manga Na. Classic!
I was really looking forward to watching this. Disappointing dross.
This is crazy
What’s this guy on?.???
Let's leave it a mystery.
Sinn féin are no longer nationalists. Please stop calling them that. If anything they care more about Palestine then they do about native Irish. The hunger strikers are turning in their graves. Shame on Mary lou & michelle.
Man, Toycat, you've got some cajones wading into Northern Ireland's sectarian politics. As a Canadian of Irish-Catholic origin, I've learned that, unless you know you're talking to an audience of like-minded people, the politics of Northern Ireand/Ulster is treacherous territory.
Pretty ill informed video tbh
Tiocfaidh ár lá
Nope 🇬🇧
I wouldn,t like to go for a dinner date with him 🥩
shave
I often wonder how 'British loyalists' from the six counties feel when they go to the 'mainland' and get called 'Paddy'. 😅
Sinn fein are not nationalists. Blood on their hands. Bad as fianna fail
theyre all as bad as the other. we need to rise up and take back our motherland. Tiocfaidh ar la