as I understand it

[waider]

Events in Leeds Castle went something like this:

DUP: We want the arms issue resolved.

Sinn Féin/IRA: Ok, it's resolved. Unequivocal statements and what not.

DUP: We want the arms issue resolved... AND accountability!

Everyone: Noone expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Notes for the inattentive:

1. Sinn Féin may or may not be the political wing of the IRA. They are, but they deny it. Your hands may wave. However, for the purposes of this humourous post, they're one and the same.
2. DUP = Democratic Unionists Party. I've no idea where the apostrophe, if any, goes. Ian Paisley's party. No, he didn't invent the shirt.
3. This is pretty unprecedented stuff from the Republican side. I'm impressed.
4. They didn't actually talk to each other. The DUP hold a position similar to, say, Cory Doctorow vs. The MPAA: a prejudicial attitude which precludes actual conversation. So, the DUP and Sinn Féin sat in separate rooms while various people conveyed messages between them. "My mate thinks you're gorgeous", etc.

Comments

[bitpuddle.livejournal.com]

I heard they had to vacate Leeds Castle because a wedding was scheduled to take place there. That seems a bit odd.

[waider.livejournal.com]

This is correct, and odd. Can you imagine? "They almost solved Northern Ireland, but of course we couldn't delay the wedding!"

(insert "Feckin' brits" comment here as appropriate)

From the Dept of Pure and Applied Pedantry ... or ...

[(Anonymous)]

... That apostrophe, as waider understands it

"Democratic Unionists Party" doesn't have an apostrophe in its name, but that's because they use the word "Unionist". (And the über-pedant in me noticed that in the official register of UK parties, the perm "DUP" takes what I call full stops and some others call periods: "D.U.P.". See: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/regulatory-issues/regpoliticalparties.cfm?frmGB=0&frmPartyID=31&frmType=partydetail)

Re: From the Dept of Pure and Applied Pedantry ... or ...

[waider.livejournal.com]

Those full stops are a Fenian device designed to break up the DUP and will not be tolerated!