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A bird's eye view of the vineyard
Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb
The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.? We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).?
What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are
Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader 2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of
The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by The Saker >>
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony
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Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony
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Promoting Human Rights in IrelandHuman Rights in Ireland >>
Does Reform UK Need to Move to the Centre to Win in 29? Sat Jun 28, 2025 17:00 | Joe Baron The conventional wisdom inside the Westminster bubble is that elections are won on the centre ground. Ignore this PPE bromide, Joe Barron tells Nigel Farage. Stick to your Right-wing agenda.
The post Does Reform UK Need to Move to the Centre to Win in 29? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Parents Can Remove Children From Classes With LGBT Books, US Supreme Court Rules Sat Jun 28, 2025 15:00 | Will Jones Parents can take their children out of classes if they are reading books with LGBT characters and storylines in them, the US Supreme Court has ruled, as the US upholds a parental right denied in the UK.
The post Parents Can Remove Children From Classes With LGBT Books, US Supreme Court Rules appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
The Lab-Engineered Pandemic Sat Jun 28, 2025 13:00 | Dr Roger Watson Has the mystery of Covid's origins been solved? Jim Haslam thinks so and has written a book detailing his research. Professor Roger Watson reviews it for the Daily Sceptic.
The post The Lab-Engineered Pandemic appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
All Phones to Blast Out ?Emergency Alarm? in System Test as Government Warns UK to Prepare for War Sat Jun 28, 2025 11:00 | Will Jones Every phone in the UK will blast out an 'emergency alarm' on the orders of the Government as the system is tested for the second time in two years and the Government warns Britain to prepare for war.
The post All Phones to Blast Out ‘Emergency Alarm’ in System Test as Government Warns UK to Prepare for War appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Annoyances Sat Jun 28, 2025 09:00 | Dr James Allan Three things really get Prof James Allan's goat: the self-serving business elites who love how mass immigration depresses wages; the double standards with pro-Palestine protests; and the ludicrous reach of trans ideology.
The post Annoyances appeared first on The Daily Sceptic. Lockdown Skeptics >>
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Good Friday cop-out?
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rights, freedoms and repression |
opinion/analysis
Thursday November 20, 2008 18:04 by Gerry Rice gerrice at btopenworld dot com 11 Newcastle Road, Ballynahinch, Co. Down. BT24 8NE 02897562773

The Northern Ireland Assembly was meant to be interdependent. After ten years there is no sign of its being interdependent. Why? I cannot understand how or why, during these past ten years since the signing of The Good Friday Agreement, nobody seems to have recognised, identified with or acted upon arguably the most significant aspect of that Agreement, ratified by a massive majority of the people across the island of Ireland.
Paragraph 3, page 1, states, “We are committed to partnership, equality and mutual respect as the basis of relationships within Northern Ireland, between North and South, and between these islands.”
This is what I stood for in the General Election in South Down nineteen years earlier. I stood for Interdependence on a budget of less than £200, the only person I believe to have done so in an election in this United Kingdom. At least three universities contacted me after the election to hear more about the notion of Interdependence.
Paragraph 5, page 1, goes on, “We acknowledge the substantial differences between our continuing, and equally legitimate, political aspirations ..... It is accepted that all of the institutional and constitutional arrangements ..... are interlocking and interdependent and that in particular the functioning of the Assembly and the North/South Council are so closely inter-related that the success of each depends on that of the other.”
The Assembly itself is quoted “in particular”, emphasizing that the present Northern Ireland Assembly, especially, CANNOT be interdependent as it is a unilateral entity controlled by the British Government. To be interdependent it must of necessity be bi-lateral and as such MUST be self-determined just as the British Government and the government of the Republic of Ireland are, in order to comply with the Agreement’s demands for “partnership, equality and mutual respect as the basis of relationships ..... between these islands.”
My one election advertisement stated:
"I seek a self-determined government for the people of Northern Ireland conceived of a bi-lateral declaration of Interdependence between,
1, the people of Northern Ireland and the people of Great Britain and
2, the people of Northern Ireland and the people of the Republic of Ireland,
based on my belief that,
Interdependence assumes a mutual need,
Interdependence needs a mutual demand,
Interdependence demands a mutual supply,
Interdependence supplies a mutual respect,
Interdependence respects a mutual right.
Interdependence - you already practice it, why not vote for it?"
After nearly thirty years the notion of Interdependence is now even more relevant, given the changed status of England, Scotland and Wales, and is a recipe for challenge and contemplation in all five jurisdictions.
Yours faithfully,
Gerry Rice.
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