What will happen in the North

I wonder what the "Democratic" Unionist Party will do here....

It's a very different time now. There is no way the current British Nationalist UK govt. would allow Ireland next nor near having any say in the running of NI.

So it would be a period of direct rule. The UK govt. certainly doesn't care what voters in NI think or who they vote for anyway. They have their "team" up there (DUP/loyalists) that will support their fights with the EU (the most important thing), and that's about as far as their reflection on NI goes.

direct rule/hard border/ back to '69/ Russian support for IRA

Maybe, but it's also very hard to see any hope for a 'border poll' and a UI ever being a success too................

Sinn Fein get 64% of the vote in West Belfast , 4 out of the 5 seats, serious percentage vote

All constituency have 5 seats this is The only constituency to see one party get 4 of the 5 seats.

Yep.. so back to direct rule for NI. We/ they are clearly not politically mature enough yet to discuss and agree how to share the island and it's institutions.

The corrosive nationalist view is as bad as the daft unionist position.

Maybe in another generation or two.

What will happen up North, plenty of photos ops and plenty more grand statements, after all that, not much will happen. The problem with politics up north is the place was set up to appraise two fundamentalist opposing sides. They never got anything done in the past and will not any day soon.

"we....."

Depends on how close the result is. The defeat of the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum didn't kill that cause because it was only 55% no; SNP apparently planning to hold another one next year. Anything north of 45% yes in the north for a UI referendum would keep the issue alive and I think would justify the exercise from SF's POV.

A Border Poll doesn't happen until such time as the NI Secretary decides it will likely pass. How the NI Sec decides this, exactly, isn't well defined in the GFA, but that's the rule.

Therefore Sinn Fein need not say a word about a UI, but rather to work to make it desirable for a majority of voters in NI.

Such a poll presupposes a functioning NI. We are nowhere near that yet at all. It also presupposes a SF government who can bring it to the people. We on this part of the island tend to be quite cautious about saying Yes to things in referenda, so just announcing one doesn't mean it will pass.

Sinn Fein won't be wanting a border poll any time soon. It's not up to them whether one happens anyway, and the NI Sec can easily judge from looking at the vote shares that a border poll would be quite unlikely to return a vote for a United Ireland any time soon.

But the DUP, those ever-reliable masters of political strategy, are doing their level best to fall for every trap laid to hasten their most feared eventuality, and Sinn Fein are laughing their heads off. Sinn Fein know that all they have to do is sit back, fold their arms, watch the DUP throw tantrum after tantrum, watch Unionism fight with itself and bleed voters to the AP. Sure, Sinn Fein would like those voters for their own, but they know it won't happen. Simply having hard Unionism shrivel up as a political force in NI will be a worthy second prize for SF, though.

Thats what I was thinking.

A second election could work against Sinn Fein. They spent the whole election campaign saying it was nothing to do with a border poll and everything to do with the cost of living. They have spent every minute since the election result talking only about a border poll, and doing nothing about the cost of living.

People shouldn't fall for that twice.

They’ve done nothing about the cost of living since the election? How many hours/days ago was that Leo/Micheál?

Only thing we have heard from them is tired old stuff about a border poll. Nobody listening.

You are either unresearched or willfully misleading.

Exactly. The people banging on about a "border pool" appear to Unionists mostly. Shitting themselves over a bogeyman that's probably still many, many, years away. Can't see the Shinners pushing for it in the short term, because they know it'll move voters away from what they were voting for in the first place. The majority of people voting for SF are, more than likely, uninterested in a border poll at the present time, and are more interested in seeking a better future in economic and general living terms.

All of this "border poll" gibberish seems to be built on one side's fear and fearmongering.

the evidence shows otherwise.

cost of living along with health and education have been the main talking points, a border pole in the long term has only been mentioned a couple of times and it's the minority talking point.

SF are only going to increase their vote, slow and steady, the DUP are finished, it's over, belligerent unionism is in it's death throws.

the people know SF can't do anything because the DUP won't work with them and get the assembly up and running and SF will not be blamed for that.