""[imo]if you believe in the peaceful unification of Ireland ,this is a reason not to vote Conservative,because you are in effect voting unionist.""

With respect Dick, that statement is nonsense.

A conservative vote in England, has no bearing on what happens with the Northern Irish vote in Stormont.

At the moment, there are more loyalists in Northern Ireland than republicans. It is supposed to be a democracy, so the majority carries the day, and just now the majority chooses to remain part of the UK.

That balance, though, is changing, and before long there will be more republicans than Loyalists, and when that day comes the majority will unite with the south (assuming that Eire wants them, and that's by NO means certain), and if the loyalists can't accept that, they will be free to leave and go to England or (more likely) Scotland, just as today's republicans could, if they chose move south.

This, unless somebody starts up the violence again, is what IS going to happen, and it is right that it should.

And for those who continually castigate the British government for its interference, I am certain that the British government LONGS FOR THE DAY that it sheds the responsibility to intervene, when Northern Ireland leaves the Union.

Don T.