Sam McBride: In half-abandoning its historic anti-gay stance, the DUP is clumsily annoying everyone

Your weekly news roundup from the Belfast News Letter

View email online

Subscribe              Apr 25, 2021           Top Stories A round up of the most popular news stories this week.           Sam McBride: In half-abandoning its historic anti-gay stance, the DUP is clumsily annoying everyone           Viewed from afar, Northern Ireland's politics can seem bleakly unchanging – the same orange and green disputes, the same sectarian hatred, the same centuries-old constitutional chasm.                 SF must face 'full audit' after admitting 'gap' in data handling   A DUP MP has said Sinn Fein should face a "full audit" of its data dealings, after its leader admitted there was a "gap in compliance" concerning its handling of voter information.           Firefighters escalate effort to tackle huge blaze in the Mourne Mountains   Firefighters in Northern Ireland are escalating their battle against a major gorse fire in the Mourne Mountains.           'I can't stand bullies or sectarianism, we need to leave orange and green behind'   Naomi Rachel Long Johnston, was born December 1971 in Downpatrick Street into a staunchly Presbyterian household to Emily, a Sunday School teacher and her father James, a devoted member of the Orange Order and the Royal Black, who worked as a sheet metal worker in the Shipyard, where so many east Belfast men toiled and sweated. A young Naomi was bookish and interested in drama, but after losing her father aged 10 became the man around the house by taking on the DIY jobs, rewiring plugs, laying carpet tiles, painting and papering. Feisty and fearless, she clearly gets some of this from her mother, who refused to give money to loyalists who shortly after her father's demise wanted to paint the kerbstones outside their home red, white and blue. The next day there was a giant Union Jack painted on the road outside the house with 'No surrender' and 'Never forget 1690' emblazoned.           Ben Lowry: Northern Ireland seems to rely increasingly on just one pollster for data on attitudes to a border poll   Northern Ireland is nearing a critical juncture as to public views on its constitutional future, or claims about such views.           NOSTALGIA: Joanne Savage mulls over the mullet   Is the mullet about to make a resurgence?           I do not believe the DUP are serious about removing the Irish Sea border   A letter from John Mulholland:           Brian Rowan's new book a forensic examination of political turmoil in NI   Although the book is described as charting the three years from the collapse of the Executive in January 2017 to its restoration in January 2020, it is actually about much more than that.           Naomi Long: I became the man around the house when my father died and I can't stand bullies or sectarianism   Naomi Rachel Long Johnston, was born December 1971 in Downpatrick Street into a staunchly Presbyterian household to Emily, a Sunday School teacher and her father James, a devoted member of the Orange Order and the Royal Black, who worked as a sheet metal worker in the Shipyard, where so many east Belfast men toiled and sweated.                 View more news

You have received this email as you are opted in to newsletters from the News Letter, published by JPIMedia Publishing Ltd.     Alternatively you can update your email preferences to choose the types of emails you receive from JPIMedia Publishing Ltd, or unsubscribe from all future emails.     JPIMedia Publishing Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales with registered number 11499982, having its registered address at 9th Floor, 107 Cheapside, London, England, EC2V 6DN, United Kingdom. We will process your personal data in accordance with our privacy policy.