What I understand about Northern Irish politics you could write on a postage stamp. My views, such as they are, are obviously informed by having in-laws with deeply held proddy beliefs. I was, however, quite pleased to be driver up the Shankill by my sister in law. I like Belfast - its a city I think could live in, anyhow, and it has all the features required by a London exile apart from maybe the tubes, the manic crowds and so forth. Socially, when compared to London, my wife's family's best estimate though is that NI society is about 20 years behind that of England; which can be a good and bad thing depending on how you look at it. Society there is pretty traditional, and there hasn't been the same level of immigration as say, to Dublin. But all this is changing fast and with the huge mostly untapped potential of the province up for grabs, I suspect that NI society is going to change faster than just about any other in the UK. Give it five years and Belfast will be the new Dublin. House prices have risen 25 percent in the last year alone, while the rest of UK's only managed eight. Investment for meaning projects would be a great benefit to the place and to the UK as a whole.
The future's bright...though not necessarily orange.
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