A simple choice says Peter

"Flag-lowering, parade-stopping, gay marriage supporting, pro-water charging, holier than thou Alliance Party".

Was the recommendation that Peter Robinson made of the Alliance Party in his speech this afternoon, so let me take those epithets that raised raucous applause from the small minded, one directioned, homophobic, financially irresponsible, holier than God himself DUP delgates found so humourous and look at them one by one.

Flag lowering: Whilst this relates to Belfast City Council, for Derry City Council and many of the councils to the West of the Bann the Alliance Party policy on flying the Union Flag on designated days is actually a flag raising policy. Yes it is one that Sinn Féin and the SDLP need some work on to see it as being fair to the minority of unionists who live in the council areas that they live in. Some of those Unionists undoubtedly vote DUP but haven't seen the Union Flag fly from their civic buildings for years. Therefore where is the DUP call for the flag to fly on all public buildings to mark the Royal Birthdays, the Queen's Coronation Day etc? Of course designated days is what happens in most council areas in Great Britain, indeed some fly other flags Orkney flies the Norwegian Flag on Norway Day, and many the Rainbow flag for Pride.

So make that Flag Raising or Flag Equality

Parade stopping: No doubt refers to the Twadell Avenue stand off, but it was the Parade's Commission as voted for by 71% of the Northern Irish people in response to the Belfast Agreement who decided that one final part of their parade home on the Twelve in 2013 should not go past a parade of shops in a nationalist area. This was based on previous violence in the area from both sides over previous parades. The DUP of course are supporting the cost of policing the ongoing action there  in hundreds of thousands of pounds, while the PSNI this week announced some cuts to manning of police stations to try and meet budget constraints on top of suspending historical enquiry work.

So make that Police Supporting and People Respecting.

Gay Marriage Supporting: Of course marriage equality is not just about the gays (and lesbians), it also affects the bisexuals and those who are transgender and intersex. But then when you are used to attcking just the G of the LGBT+ spectrum you can't be expected to know the details of some of my potential partners I an marry but others I cannot, spousal vetoes and stolen years of "togetherness". Nor does it allow those faith groups that want to carry out same-sex marriages the same rights as their brethren in England, Wales and very soon Scotland. Of course when you defend the union and attack LGBT+ equality on a par with the rest of the Kingdom you make a certain section second class citizens in their own land.

So make that Equal Marriage Supporting or just Equality Supporting.

Pro-Water Charging: Water charging is just one possible way to increase government income. We do have a failing water and sewage provision infrastructure which needs a sizeable amount of work and replacement. One way this is funding in England, Wales and Scotland is through the water charge component in the council tax. So yeah while we have a financial crisis shouldn't we be looking at the various ways that we miss out on the revenue that the rest of the UK can call upon to actually do stuff with, but then doing stuff and the Assembly are two things that very rarely go together. Of course Peter Robinson is looking to get control of local corporation tax, but that is only so he can lower it to match the Republic of Ireland and therefore create more holes in budgets. Taxes and revenue need to meet expenditure not cause even more savings to be sought.

So make that Fiscally Responsible.

Holier than thou: Coming from a party that fails to take into account people of non-Christian, Roman Catholic Faith, or no faith into consideration this seems rather rich. When their definition of what is right is based on a rather narrow reading of the Bible which not even every Christian in Northern Ireland holds to 100%. When they cannot legislate for the state without reference to the bible it is clear who truly is Holier than thou, though I suspect that like the Pharisees and Sadducees before them are actually Holier than God creating extra laws and legislations to go on top of what Moses was given. This is why Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love. For until you can live up to that one you cannot possibly start to consider the others and that is where the hate for certain sectors and failure to understand equality legislation leads to.

So finally I make that  Being a Good Samaritan for EVERYONE.

So in conclusion what Peter failed to see is that the Alliance Party is actually:

Flag Equality Everywhere, Police Supporting, People Respecting, Equality Supporting, Fiscally Responsible, Good Samaritan for EVERYONE

So yeah it is a simple choice for the people of East Belfast. If they want progress and normality that most of the Western World knows, loves and experiences then they can vote for Naomi Long. If they want to carry on with the bigotry, keeping others down and lurching from one financial crisis to another they can back Gavin Robinson.

When you fail to respect Donegal Loyalism you lose my respect

As regular readers of my blog will know I have a family history that goes back to Donegal. Indeed one of my Great Grandfather's was a Grand Master in the Orange Order in that county pre-partition.

Therefore with my roots divided by the imaginary line across our island I naturally associate myself as Irish as much as anything. Because even though my roots are largely within Ulster, they are by in large from the part of Ulster that joined the 26 Counties of the Republic of Ireland.

Therefore the meaning of the Tricolour means something to me. The Orange quarter furthest away from the flag pole actually represents those Presbyterian farmers from Donegal who were relatives. It represents those Loyalist men and women who also signed the Ulster Covenant but were not kept within the United Kingdom. At the other edge of the flag is of course the green that represents Ireland and the nationalist movement and in the middle is white for peace.

Today yet again the Tricolour was burnt outside Belfast City Hall. As will all such burnings the so called 'loyalists' burn from the end furthest away from the pole. Little do they realise that in so doing they are burning away the legacy of those Protestant men and women who did not remain within the United Kingdom. They are burning away the legacy of my ancestors some of whose descendants still live in Donegal and other parts of the Republic.

They claim that the removal of the Union Flag is a chipping away at their Britishness. Well the burning away of the Orange third of the Tricolour is a disrespect to the Britishness of those Loyalists who were cast away in 1922. The burning of that flag and the symbolism of it is also a disregard of those of us proud of our roots which lie outside of Northern Ireland, who come from Loyalist backgrounds, but realise that we are Irish and British at the same time, through no fault of our own making.

Disrespecting a flag that actually goes out of the way to recognise your Orange brethren (if indeed you are Orange) is no respect of tradition or vexillology and the meaning behind it. The Irish Republic when creating their flag recognised that they were a divided community. Yet the Loyalist of Belfast cannot recognise the same here, even though the flag will now be flown to mark all the birthdays of the senior Royals and important days in the Queen's reign. Surely more honouring to the crown to notice these events as special than the current 365 day flying of flags that end up getting frayed as a result.

Why designated days actually make the Flag special

The designated days that the Alliance Party amendment ensured that the Union Flag will still fly over Belfast City Hall are key days to our Monarch.

It is rather ironic that a number of people have said that they didn't notice there was a Union Flag flying over City Hall on Twitter today. I used to work in a Government Office and the Union Flag was only flown on designated days. It always stood out as a special day when I could see the flag on the pole outside my window, it made me wonder what (and more often who) we were celebrating that day.

Indeed here is the recommendation and clarification from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport on when the Union Flag is to be flown. It is being misreported on the news that this will next happen on January 20th for the Countess of Wessex's birthday when it will actually be the 9th for the Duchess of Cambridge. There are now 18 of these Days that apply in Northern Ireland (again people are forgetting the addition of the Duchess of Cambridge last year). These days as you can see actually all honour either our monarch and her family, our fallen forces or each nation's individual identity.

Also the flag should only be flown from 8am until sunset (unless the flag is floodlit). This is why the military have their bugle calls for the raising and lowering of the flag at their barracks. They serve under the flag, hence its raising all 365 days and lowering at the end of the day. This is respect of the flag for them, they do not keep it up all day and night and let it get frayed, indeed they will repair it overnight if that is required.

So actually designated days helps keep the flag special, it honours the monarch and her family more so that flying it every day, all day throughout the year. It is a pity that there aren't more vexillologists around here in Belfast who understand that.