The Ulster Solemn League and Covenant

The rise of Home Rule

Britain and Ireland had suffered a fractious relationship for centuries. Theirs was a history scarred by battles and rebellions, upheavals and atrocities. By the late 1800s, the cry for Irish self-government was growing in volume. Its spokesman was Charles Parnell, founder of the Irish National League and first leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party.

Liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone was more sympathetic than most British politicians of the age. In 1886, he set out the case for Home Rule in an impassioned three-hour speech to parliament, but this first 'Home Rule Bill' was narrowly defeated. He had another go at introducing Home Rule in 1893. His second 'Home Rule Bill' made it through the House of Commons, but was defeated in the House of Lords.

Riots and resistance

Not everyone in Ireland favoured Home Rule. Protestant resistance to the idea was fierce, particularly in the north of the country. Belfast played host to riots and mass rallies as the anti-Home Rule movement found its voice.

Ulster's mainly Protestant population feared Home Rule was a first step to an independent, Catholic Ireland. They were concerned also that a Dublin parliament would introduce economic policies favourable to farming in the rural south. This would have the effect of penalising the rich industry in the north, of which Belfast's shipyard and linen mills were the proud standard bearers. - continue reading by clicking HERE.



BBC Documentary about the Ulster Solemn League and Covenant. The Ulster Covenant was signed by just under half a million men and women from Ulster, on and before 28 September 1912, in protest against the Third Home Rule Bill, introduced by the British Government in that same year. Sir Edward Carson was the first person to sign the Covenant at the Belfast City Hall with a silver pen, followed by Lord Londonderry, representatives of the Protestant Churches, and then by Sir James Craig. The signatories, 471,414 in all, were all against the establishment of a Home Rule parliament in Dublin. The Ulster Covenant is immortalised in Rudyard Kipling's poem "Ulster 1912".

Overview 1800 to 1967
Within the political establishment in Britain there was hope and expectation that the Act of Union offered a fresh start for Ireland. Furthermore it also viewed the Union as the ideal way to solve the ‘Irish problem’ that had bedeviled it for generations and to ensure that it would no longer need to devote huge amounts of time or resources to deal with Ireland. However it was not long before it became clear that such beliefs were too ambitious and as time moved on the authorities soon found Ireland was once again a pressing concern.

From the controversial issue of Catholic emancipation to the ‘Famine’ of the 1840s was added the debate over the Act of Union itself. In particular developments during the 19^th century were to result in the Protestant community in Ireland, almost overwhelmingly, becoming firm advocates of the Union. On the other hand for the majority of Catholic opinion in Ireland the Union failed to win its loyalty and instead the demand grew for the British government to consider measures which would allow for Irish national aspirations to be fully met. As these opposing political philosophies developed the potential for sectarian tension to grow between Protestant and Catholic increased. This was to prove the case in those areas where they lived in closed proximity to one another, such as the city of Belfast.

Faced with growing instability in Ireland once again the British government began the search for a new solution and eventually settled on the concept of partition. As a consequence a form of self government was to be offered to both sides of the religious divide in Ireland: the Protestant community was to be given six of the nine counties of Ulster to administer, whilst Catholic opinion was handed the remaining twenty-six counties to govern. Although partition was quickly to become a fait accompli what no one could predict was whether it now marked a final settlement or marked yet another chapter of the ‘Irish problem’.

The following are some of the key events and developments that were to occur over this period. - PLS. CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING.

World's Largest Ever Male Choir with Cardiff Arms Park Male Choir (1993)

On 1 September 1966, following Cardiff RFC's 35-0 defeat of Cardiff & District, a group of supporters came up with idea of forming a choir to improve the standard of after-match singing. The Cardiff Athletic Male Voice Choir first met on the following Monday, 5 September, in the old Skittle Alley at the Rugby Club. There were twenty-five members present for the first meeting.[1] The choir changed its name in 2000 to become the Cardiff Arms Park Male Choir, helping to raise the profile of the choir and perpetuate the name of the Arms Park.

The choir made their first TV appearance within weeks of being formed, welcoming the Australian Rugby Team to Wales, and has since appeared on television on numerous occasions, including appearances on BBC, Sky Sports, ITV, Channel 4, New Zealand and Australian TV and MUTV. The choir sang live on Grandstand in 2002 and recorded an advertisement for the BBC's Six Nations rugby coverage alongside Goldie Lookin Chain in 2006.[2] The choir were also filmed for an in-flight advertisement for Qantas airlines. They appeared on the Rogue Trader section of Watchdog, made a very brief appearance on Strictly Come Dancing and supported Ant & Dec in a link for Britain's Got Talent.

The choir has performed alongside numerous stars, including Hayley Westenra, Charlotte Church, Max Boyce, Peter Karrie, Shân Cothi, Goldie Lookin Chain and Foreigner.[3]

The choir has travelled to Scotland (Blairgowrie in 1993, Perth and Crieff in 2009 and 2011), Ireland (Kilkenny in 1998), the Czech Republic (Prague, Plzen and Karlštejn in 2004), France (Pleyben in 2004 Chatte in 2006 and [(Strasbourg)] in 2012), Switzerland (Le Brassus in 2006), Italy (Milan in 2006), Germany (Heilbronn, Satteldorf and Stuttgart in 2007), Poland (Kraków in 2009) and Spain (Santander in 2010). Some of the choir joined as guests of Dowlais Male Choir in their performances at the 2008 Festival Interceltique de Lorient. MORE..

The Super-Rich and Us (BBC Documentary)

The Super-Rich and Us ( BBC Documentary Episode 1 )

Episode 1 of 2

Britain has more billionaires per head than any other country on earth, yet we're also the most unequal nation in Europe. We were told the super-rich would make us richer too, so why hasn't that happened, and what does the arrival of their astronomical wealth really mean for the rest of us?

In programme one of this two-part series, Jacques Peretti looks at how the super-rich first exploited an obscure legal loophole to make Britain one of the most attractive tax havens on earth. He argues this was no accident. Wooing the super-rich was a deliberate strategy by government to reconfigure the British economy, under the belief their wealth would trickle down to the rest of us. But it didn't. The OECD now say the British economy would have been 20 per cent bigger had we not pursued the super-rich. So who sold us the fallacy and why?

Jacques meets the super-rich themselves - from those buying premiership football clubs to the billionaires who are breaking ranks to criticise the decisions that made them richer and society more unequal.

Jacques challenges the architects of these policies, as well as tracking down the foreign multimillionaires who are buying up Britain and turning us from a nation of property owners to a nation of renters.

He uncovers new research that shows growing inequality has been driven by this key factor of unaffordable property, and the far-reaching effect this will have on every aspect of our lives. Inequality is reshaping Britain into two simple classes: the 99 per cent and the one per cent. This is the story of how it happened and what it means for all of us.

The Super-Rich and Us ( BBC Documentary Episode 2 )

In episode two, Jacques investigates how inequality was pinpointed as a business opportunity before the crash by the biggest bank in America, as a way of making money from a more divided society. Jacques also looks at how our work life was made deliberately more unstable in the 70s to drive a new 80s profit culture, and how an acceptance of huge executive bonuses was manufactured.

Jacques meets the billionaires who have gained, and those that are fearful for the society being created, and the people whose decisions are changing the very way we live.