Brexit Impact on Northern Ireland

That is logical, except that if there was such a transition then you can bet that nothing at all would be done for 14.9999 years and then demands that the EU push back on their demands to punish NI and do something.

Why did the DUP want double jobbing, what was the strategy?

Wow, that's grim. Really that blatant?

He shouldn't stand then.

Brexit will impact Northern Ireland very negatively. In economic terms, there will be carnage. If there is any compensation through union with the mainland, then it will have to be a very strong ideology to sustain it.

But what option do they have? They feel completely British, and therefore their only friend is GB. So the Tories dump on them, again, but what is the alternative? They have none. So they put up with whatever they get because if they lash out they may be dumped and then they will be on their own.

They cannot run the risk of the GB government, whomever it is, taking the view that NI, by dint of DUP, is really too much trouble and sure let's have a vote. Once that even begins being talked about the fundamentals of NI will completely change.

The same poll showed SF on 25% (+1) and DUP on 17% (-1). I do wonder if this business of 'let's crash Stormont over the protocol' is really just a smokescreen for 'let's crash Stormont because we don't want a nationalist as First Minister'.

If Stormont gets brought down by an increasingly desperate Donaldson, I think it would be extremely difficult to bring it back. None of the ideas being put forward by the DUP look positive for the future of the union.

I think you hit the nail on the head there with their real reasons.

UUP leader Doug Beattie's position in big trouble after a series of tweets from a decade ago resurfaced. Too many of them to repeat here - on BBC Talkback they said there are around thirty that have come up - but a search on Twitter brings a bunch of them up. He's facing accusations of racism, misogyny, anti-Irish remarks, being transphobic, and more.

He sounds broken listening to him now on BBC NI trying to explain this. I do find his defence of this quite desperate. He said it was 'a different time, ten years ago'. Was 2012 really that different in terms of attitudes? Don't think so.

Raises serious questions about what this means for the upcoming election. Will those tempted to give the UUP a vote now think twice if he stays on, and if so, who will they turn to?

He was in his late 40s when posting those tweets, so none of the "I was young and I've matured" cover.

UUP seem doomed in terms of finding a sane long-term leader. Suspect the problem is so many of the politically astute soft-u unionists have left to Alliance.

I listened to Talkback on BBC NI which was discussing Beattie's comments. Many callers were practically giving Beattie credit for the episode, saying he had handled it well. One of the contributors said the fact he was in the army ought to excuse his comments as that was the culture, and an ex-army officer called in and backed up this line of reasoning. I'm not surprised he's kept his position but I am surprised he sorted the issue out in 24 hours.

She's carrying on where Lord Frost left off. What mandate do they have to warrant her time?

In other news, it appears neither the DUP First Minister Paul Givan, nor the PM Boris Johnson, will be in Derry to mark the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday tomorrow.