Don't you just love the flippant manner in which the God botherers deny that same-sex civil marriage is a matter of equality and human rights? They claim the right to determine what IS and what is NOT a human right. How arrogant can these hate-driven bigots be?
Perhaps the rest of society should start persecuting these "believers"?
Deny them the right to attend church. Close ALL church schools. Tax ALL churches at the same rate as corporations. Make proselytizing on the streets illegal. Make church weddings illegal.
See how THEY like it if someone threatens THEIR human rights.
Religious schools are NOT a human right, yet we taxpayers are compelled to fund them.
We have to suffer the diminution of our individual rights because of the malign influence and diktats of these "institutions".
While not in any way supportive of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Ba' hai etc, these minority "faith groups" are discriminated against, attacked, belittled and pronounced "less than" on a daily basis by these very same Christians (of either sect), who are not content unless they are allowed to force their own preposterous belief in hocus pocus on other, decent people.
People who believe in parthenogenesis, talking snakes, dead Poles "curing" brain tumours, resurrection after death in a corporeal form, despite the fact that the corpse has rotted away, have lost ALL right to be taken seriously. One might as well believe that aliens seeded this planet - oh, wait, someone has beaten us to that..
Religion is a cancer eating the body politic of the human race. It is THE greatest reservoir of hatred and division between people which exists on our beautiful planet. It should be RIGIDLY regulated and denied ANY influence in matters of state and/or civil society.

So Gerry Adams has more influence in the north as a TD for Louth than the boul Peter?
Tough, that, innit, Robbo?
Let's f**k over the sick and disabled, because they're the REAL cause of all our woes. Let's tax their bedrooms so they fall even further below the poverty line. They're not deserving of any benefits. They can be safely abandoned to their own fate.
Oh, and while we're at it, let's have a big pay rise for ourselves, because "we're worth it".
And let's get back to what really matters : Millions more flags on thousands more lampposts.
Plaster the place until all we can see is flags.
And let's force sectarian mobs through areas where they're not wanted, because keeping the uppity Taigs in their place is number one priority, even though the union depends on a goodly number of them voting unionist..
Sometimes Robbo's logic simply defies all explanation!

Unionists always rattle the old "you'll end up as paupers" sabre when they feel threatened or undermined. They said the same to the US (at a time when its economy was only recently nascent) and yet the US went on to become the richest nation on earth (until China takes over).
An independent Scotland will do fine, economically. They can grow their economy in ways which are not allowed in the UK system.
They said Ireland would fall off the face of the earth if it left the UK.
It didn't.
Ireland pootered on, building a weak economy bit by bit until the recent boom made it the envy of the world economically. Then, when the inevitable bust came, the world and its wife were caught with the knickers round the ankles and everything went a bit ar*e over elbow.
Now, Ireland's economy is growing again and it has begun the process of paying back the loans needed to bankroll it during the economic implosion.
Scotland doesn't have that level of debt and so would be that little bit more flexible and responsive economically. And it's not as if trade with England, Wales and Ireland will stop - it won't.
It will continue, as it did when Ireland left the union, indeed it will probably grow.
Scotland's economy will be much stronger when it is focused IN SCOTLAND, FOR THE SCOTTISH PEOPLE, when they are the driving factors behind that economy, rather than mandarins in Whitehall.
Scotland in the union is Scottish people playing second fiddle to the wonts and interests of London and the south east.
It is Scottish culture abased by being subsumed into a "British culture" which doesn't really fit the Scottish mindset or notion of nationhood.
Only as an independent nation will Scotland reach its full potential.
Only as a free people can the Scottish reclaim their proud nationhood, lost when the Act of Union was signed in 1707(or thereabouts).
I hope the Scots grab their freedom with both hands and stand proud with the rest of the nations of the world as equals, not secondary to any other ethnic or national grouping, whose interests were ALWAYS going to take precedence.
Gabhaigí ar aghaidh, a cháirde Albanacha!

Allister is a nasty, bigoted, sectarian little troll with too much time on his hands and not enough to do to keep him from causing mischief. Anyone who says they're intimidated by GAA tops is a liar and a s**t stirrer.
If GAA tops are banned from universities, then wearing poppies must be banned. Playing the British anthem must be banned. ALL sports gear must be banned. Burqas, turbans and other such religious nonsense (including Jewish skull caps) must be banned. All pictures of British "notaries" must be removed. ANYTHING that would suggest favouritism of one sect against the other(s) MUST be eradicated. Except, we're NOT going to let you tell us what we may and may not wear at university for which WE ARE PAYING FEES.
Don't like the GAA? Fine. Just shut your mouth and stop your whingeing. I don't like Rangers tops, but sports attire will NEVER harm me, so I suck it up, bite my lip and get on with my day. You whingeing unionists should do likewise. The world is sick to the back teeth listening to your constant "victimhood" and whining and gurning. Cop on and get over yourselves!

The constitutional position Is settled ONLY pro tempore, John.

The constitutional position of these six counties is thus: they will remain part of the UK UNTIL such times as a majority should decide otherwise. That majority and that decision are coming. They cannot be escaped. No other region of the UK has such a time-limited membership of the UK. And if, as I hope they will, the Scottish "grow a pair" and take back their nationhood and independence, this time constraint will be all the more acutely felt.
To presume that "the union is safe" in such circumstances is nonsensical. The clock is ticking on the union, both here and, hopefully, in Scotland. And what if the Welsh decide they, too, want independence?

So much excrement issues forth from Nesbitt's mouth that he is in urgent need of a doctor to examine why his vomitus is faeculent! Poor McGuinness can't do right for doing wrong, it would seem. If he had snubbed this invitation and/or refused to shake Mrs Windsor's hand, he would have been attacked by unionists for insulting her. Because he observed protocols and showed respect for the woman, he's attacked by unionists for attempting to show respect for their monarchical sensibilities. Such a crowd of begrudging old fogies, these unionists!
Unionism is in SERIOUS danger of being overtaken by circumstances and overlooked by the rest of the UK and the world around them and who will be to blame for this? THEMSELVES.
Orange State: GONE. Unionist domination: GONE. Religious discrimination: OUTLAWED. Orange Order: HAVING MANNERS PUT ON IT. Nationalists and Republicans: DOING WHAT THEY SAID THEY WOULD DO. Reaching out to their unionist neighbours, showing them respect, trying to open up shared space and a genuinely shared future. Unionist response: "CROSS" BEGRUDGERY AND LACK OF RECIPROCATION.
You can see why they're not the world's favourite group of persons, can't you?
Did Mike "I don't know what I'm doing" Nesbitt follow protocol and genuinely show respect to President Higgins and his First Lady? Did ANY of the unionists from here who went to this event show genuine respect for the President and his wife?
C'mon lawds. It's time to stop acting the lig and learn to get along peaceably and in friendship with your Irish neighbours, north and south! Just like the rest of the British people do!

Then make the effort to find out how the man's name is spelled! It's Ó Muilleoir, for your information! Such lazy arrogance!

It seems to me that Catholic schools do better because they discipline schoolkids better and set them firm, well-signposted and tangible boundaries, which I think are given less prominence in Protestant schools. Also, because of our erstwhile societal disadvantage in relation to Protestants, Catholic parents attached much more importance to their children doing well academically, as they saw this as a means to overcome the former discrimination in employment practiced by their Protestant neighbours. I disagree with the abolition of academic testing, though. Kids need to see where the bar is set and need to be aiming for it or to surpass it. They'll get no help jumping employment hurdles when they start work, so they should be made aware that, whatever their academic ability, they MUST work hard to do as well as they possibly can, educationally. And they should bring back the strap at schools. It did me no harm, nor anyone else who had it done to them. It certainly helped in teaching me what was acceptable and what was not. Parents today abdicate their responsibilities to teachers, instead of assisting the teacher in the development of work-ready, well-educated children who know how to think for themselves and question and research everything they're told/taught. I fear educational standards will drop if selection isn't re-introduced to separate the higher achievers out and direct them to schools appropriate to their abilities, while, for the less well-achieving, teachers should concentrate more on the basics, i.e. reading, writing, spelling, simple algebra (but not trigonometry and stuff like it), percentages, simple fractions and division, subtraction, multiplication and addition, so they're prepared for work, where these skills will be required. As for the comment that John O'Dowd is a muppet, this is complete and utter nonsense. He has proven himself an adept minister for education, certainly better than any of his predecessors, thus far..

The democratic process must earn whatever respect it gains. It is not entitled to it by right (natural or conferred). It is wrong for you to assert that "morals" had anything to do with this, since the lady's baring of her breasts was neither immoral nor amoral. "Morality" is a construct, nothing more, nothing less. It is not absolute. It is not agreed upon. One man's pornography is another man's art. This is a case of pasty white middle-aged Protestant men getting their knickers in a twist over nothing at all (or their remembering what they used to do all night which now takes all night to do once). A load of old hooey over one of the most natural things in the world. Typical of right-wing moralising control freaks.