Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Josquius]

The name of these protests was not a wise choice.
Kill the bill.
Of course everyone thinks its about killing police.

These guys really need to fuck off. They're wrecking the lefts record of good behaviour and feeding the fasc.

[Admiral Yi]

The presence of Extinction Rebellion members cracked me up.  Pretty much defines professional protester.

[Sheilbh]

The latest weirdness of Northern Ireland - Northern Irish politics is all backstory over the smallest of issues and it would be great if we could go back to ignoring it

But there's rumours of a rebillion within the DUP. Basically the last time Stormont collapsed was a scandal about mismanagement of a renewable heat scheme worth about £500 million and the proposed Irish Language Act. Sinn Fein collapsed Stormont over the ash scandal, but also over the DUP's refusal to move forward with Irish language legislation - Irish, of course, being a very important part of republicanism/Irish nationalism. After a couple of years of direct rule the parties agreed to re-open the Northern Irish Assembly in 2019. The issues around the heating scheme had been addressed but Sinn Fein's absolute red line was Irish language legislation.

A compromise was hammer out and basically it would grant Irish and Ulster-Scots the same status as English in Northern Ireland, improved education etc. This was part of a broad agreed agenda between the DUP and Sinn Fein. So a couple of weeks ago at First Minister's Questions, Arlene Foster was asked about the Irish language legislation and she said it was going ahead and that "I'm almost tempted to say - sin e" which is "that's that" in Irish. It is pretty extraordinary for a unionist leader to say anything in Irish but especially in the Assembly.

Flash forward to today and reportedly a senior DUP is saying the DUP will not pass the ILA as long as the NIP remains. It's a pretty serious challenge to Arlene Foster's position - presumably for being too soft on the NIP - and also a bit of a test to see how Sinn Fein respond. I think Sinn Fein are probably canny enough to handle it successfully but it wouldn't be a surprise to see a leadership challenge in the DUP as the move into a harder line position to bolster their position within unionism where they're now being challenged by more hard line parties like the TUV. We'll see if this materialises soon enough I imagine but undermining something your leader's guaranteed only two weeks before is pretty strong.

[Admiral Yi]

Someone wants to offer classes in "Ulster-Scots?" 

Why the hell haven't Pikeys gotten their own language classes yet?  Or chavs?

[Sheilbh]

Don't get why it's ridiculous - it was a very nice compromise

[Admiral Yi]

That's kinda my point.  The idea has the appearance of being suggested by someone who's idea of "compromise" is one of these thing for and one of these things for me, without regard to desire for these things.

Is there actual demand for and interest in Ulster Scots?  (Does Ulster Scots even exist outside the fevered imaginations of academic linguists?)

I concede the totality of my knowledge of Northern Ireland comes from three sources: The Boxer, In The Name of the Father, and Derry Girls.  But in none of those did any character opine about their love for the ancient, poetic Ulster Scots language.

[Sheilbh]

That's kinda my point.  The idea has the appearance of being suggested by someone who's idea of "compromise" is one of these thing for and one of these things for me, without regard to desire for these things.

Exactly. It's power-sharing in Northern Ireland - so each side has a veto (on most things - not the NIP which is another unionist grievance because it required the UK government to amend legislation implementing the GFA) and if they exercise it we go back to direct rule.

Sinn Fein want Irish language legislation and without it they'll walk out of the executive and the assembly which means direct rule by Westminster (which lasted for two years and introduced gay marriage and legalised abortion). So for the DUP to get Stormont up and running again and stop Westminster from running amock they need to do a deal with Sinn Fein, but you can't do a deal with Sinn Fein without getting something in return. Ulster-Scots is a language, it's distinctive to unionists - make that an official language too, everything's up and running and everyone can get back to work

The nice thing is that it's just about language legislation. The first three suspensions were because of failures by the IRA to decommission weapons and the longest suspension followed police raids on Sinn Fein offices related to an IRA spy ring in the executive and assembly.

Is there actual demand for and interest in Ulster Scots?  (Does Ulster Scots even exist outside the fevered imaginations of academic linguists?)

It exists for sure - it is spoken, there's literature in it etc. There's large and growing demand for Modern Scots in Scotland - though it bears no resemblance to older versions of Scots as it's mainly adapting in relation to modern English rather than an evolution of older Scots. I don't think there's a huge demand for Ulster Scots but that could change as unionist identity possibly becomes a little bit more sharpened following Brexit.

I concede the totality of my knowledge of Northern Ireland comes from three sources: The Boxer, In The Name of the Father, and Derry Girls.  But in none of those did any character opine about their love for the ancient, poetic Ulster Scots language.

Which is about the amount of knowledge anyone should ever need of Northern Ireland. It's just annoying topical. But those are two films and a TV show about Catholics

Declaring their adoration of Ulster Scots would be about as in-character as Ian Paisley breaking out into Men Behind the Wire

[Valmy]

Derry Girls.

Isn't the name of that town something that will get you killed and shunned by your friends and relations in NI?

Like if you call it Londonderry vs Derry.

[Admiral Yi]

Which is about the amount of knowledge anyone should ever need of Northern Ireland. It's just annoying topical. But those are two films and a TV show about Catholics

Declaring their adoration of Ulster Scots would be about as in-character as Ian Paisley breaking out into Men Behind the Wire

The cops in In The Name of the Father, the old boxing buddy in The Boxer, and the hunky virgins in Derry Girls.

[Admiral Yi]

Isn't the name of that town something that will get you killed and shunned by your friends and relations in NI?

Like if you call it Londonderry vs Derry.

I can tell you there's one scene where they show a roadside sign that originally read "Welcome to Londonderry" with London painted over and "Free" written over it.

[Sheilbh]

Isn't the name of that town something that will get you killed and shunned by your friends and relations in NI?

Like if you call it Londonderry vs Derry.

Yeah sort of. Technically Londonderry = Protestant/unionist; Derry = Catholic/nationalist and there's a lot of court cases, disputes, style guide rulings etc. I think it's the one of the very few places where in the UK and Ireland there are two options for place of birth in your passport (for the same place)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derry/Londonderry_name_dispute

As we're not directly involved I think Derry is the safer choice because of Derry Girls and not wanting to appear like colonial monsters

[Sheilbh]

Prince Harry joins $1bn Silicon Valley startup as senior executive
Duke of Sussex's first formal role since ending royal duties involves 'meaty role' as chief impact officer at BetterUp
Rupert Neate
@RupertNeate
Tue 23 Mar 2021 13.59 GMT

Prince Harry has been given a job by a $1bn (£730m) Silicon Valley startup which provides professional coaching, mental health advice and "immersive learning" as its chief impact officer.

The Duke of Sussex said he hoped to be able to "create impact in people's lives" by working with BetterUp to provide "proactive coaching" for personal development, increased awareness and "an all-round better life".

It is the Duke's first formal position at a private company since he stepped down from being a working member of the royal family a year ago.

Harry and his wife, Meghan, have also signed multimillion-dollar deals to provide content for Spotify and Netflix.

As chief impact officer at BetterUp Prince Harry will be expected to help with product strategy decisions, charitable collaborations, and advise on topics related to mental health. Harry has already worked closely with mental health charities.

"This is about acknowledging that it isn't so much what is wrong with us, but more about what has happened to us over the course of life," Harry told the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the appointment.

"Often because of societal barriers, financial difficulty, or stigma, too many people aren't able to focus on their mental health until they're forced to. I want us to move away from the idea that you have to feel broken before reaching out for help."

Alexi Robichaux, the chief executive of BetterUp, said: "It's a meaningful and meaty role."

The pair are said to have met through a mutual friend and have been discussing the collaboration since last autumn. Robichaux did not reveal how much Harry would be paid or whether he has been handed shares in the business.

"He's synonymous with this approach of mental fitness and really investing in yourself," Robichaux said. "It was not a hard internal sale."

BetterUp, which was founded in 2013, recently raised $125m from an array of international investors to fund expansion. That new funding valued BetterUp at $1.7bn, making it a so-called "unicorn" – a new company valued at more than $1bn. It claims to employ 2,000 coaches and to have 300 business clients including Hilton, Nasa, Chevron and Mars.

The firm, based in San Francisco, says it is focused on "changing the world by bringing the power of transformation to each and every person". Its employees, it says, "are empowered to go above and beyond to reach their best self".

Chief impact officers are a rare but increasingly popular position at startups and Silicon Valley firms. The position, which has been given the nickname "Chimpos", usually carries responsibility for measuring sustainability, mental health and a company's impact on wider society.

The Silicon Valley tech firm Salesforce was one of the first to introduce the position. It says it's CIO is responsible for "driving positive social and environmental impact across our company, customers, partners and community, driving positive social and environmental impact across our company, customers, partners and community".

Looking into this company it's lots about coaching and learning and development. I suspect the $1 billion value, however, is mainly linked to the AI and analytics on "employee insights"

[Admiral Yi]

You're a whore Harry.

[Valmy]

As we're not directly involved I think Derry is the safer choice because of Derry Girls and not wanting to appear like colonial monsters

Um...not directly involved? Aren't the people in Northern Ireland part of the UK?

[Sheilbh]

As we're not directly involved I think Derry is the safer choice because of Derry Girls and not wanting to appear like colonial monsters

Um...not directly involved? Aren't the people in Northern Ireland part of the UK?

Don't have a horse in that race. Within Northern Ireland it just indicates your background/identity (though this is recent) - internationally Derry is more standard and if one of us used "Londonderry" it'd be us very much making a point.