Back to Northern Ireland again! This time some good news. Westminster legislation has now been enacted to put an end to the near-total ban on abortions and the outright ban on same sex marriage. Northern Ireland has now been brought into alignment with the rest of the UK and Ireland. It would have been better for the liberalisation of the laws to have come from the Northern Ireland assembly but there are times when basic rights have to be universally available. And since the Assembly hasn't functioned for over two years, Westminster had to step in to bring about the reforms.
We are witnessing however a bizarre situation in which the DUP, the party which looks to Westminster to ensure Northern Ireland is treated no differently from the rest of the UK, is attacking Westminster for not treating Northern Ireland as different to the rest of the UK. And Sinn Fein, no fans of Westminster and with elected MPs who refuse to take their seats in the Commons, are welcoming the new conformity of Northern Ireland with the rest of the UK (and Ireland).
What a strange world in which we live.
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