Originally Posted by
holidaysong
It's in the interest of the politicians in the DUP, the UUP, Sinn Féin (and to a lesser extent the SDLP) to preserve the Irish - British dichotomy in Northern Ireland. In my opinion these parties have nothing to them apart from claiming to represent one of the two ethno-national communities. Therefore it's in the interest of the DUP to play the British identity card as it's in the interest of Sinn Féin to play to their Irish constituents. If a plural Northern Irish identity developed in the province, and with it normal politics - political parties fighting over normal issues - then the likes of Adams, Robinson, McGuinness and Dodds are out of a job. If the DUP, UUP and SF were abolished in the morning and Adams, Robinson and the others were running on Labour or Conservative tickets I'm sure they wouldn't be too slow about reaching out to voters on the other side.