The Queen wears green as she greets Martin McGuinness - VIDEO

As for the handshake, while i welcome it i believe it was more for the benefit of the electorate in the Republic than it was for the unionists of NI. Otherwise can anyone explain what has changed politically that has enabled S.F. to reach out to unionists today when they couldn't do last year during the visit of the Queen to the Republic?...

@Sparklet & Barneyjo: I don't agree with most of what Allan07 said but let's not put words into his mouth. His statements about the 12th July and national sporting achievements are petty & stupid but I don't believe he was denying the plight of Catholics in Northern Ireland. Seems to me he was stating that there were parallels to the plight of Protestant/Unionists in the Republic and that the same thing wasn't going to happen to Unionists in the North. I agree with the three points you made in your last post to me Barneyjo and yes Allan is still making silly and abusive posts that do him no favours when trying to put his arguments across and there is no shortage of posters replying in kind (i.e. sirpeter)...

@Towngate - No matter, the meeting happened between the Monarch and the former IRA Commander. Previously The Monarch acknowledged Republican Dead during her visit to Dublin. Previously she spoke "Cupla Focal as Gaelige", and she was greeted As Gaelige, by the Deputy First Minister As Gaelige. Sacred Cows being swept away all over the place these days dont you think?

Just a footnote on Martin's refusal to 'bow' to his Queen of Northern Ireland: By staunchly refusing to do so, he recognises and admits that it is expected! ~ and perversely honours her in that way! ~~~ For his information, Her Majesty is well known not to give a corgi's backside about all that bowing and scraping. She is also a noted and talented Mimic so it is not hard to imaging the capers back home as she and Philip re-enact the Pantomime of a meeting. ~~~ A new dance has been devised called the 'Edinburgh Escape' based on the moment when Marty tried to cosy up to Philip when he was looking at an exhibit, and the 91-year-old Duke skipped smartly away, avoiding contact with him as if he was a suppurating buboe. Freeze-frame the moment and Marty facial expression tells us all we need to know about how far the Republican cause has really progressed.

Whats Martin really thinking? " Begorragh that's a lovely shade of chartreuse, I'll be using a bit of that for me next salmon fly." Of course Mr. McGuinness has access to some of the prime salmon/sea trout spots in the country that us second rate citizens could only dream of...

@Sparklet - Surely you've heard of Holocaust denial (it never happened). Same premise can apply in other situations!!

Is Allan07 seriously suggesting that the Protestants in NI were never guilty of treating Catholics like second class citizens, or have I just read it wrong?

@citizen69 - You may not believe this but I feel sorry for Allan07, or anyone for that matter, be they Unionist, Nationalist otherwise, who seriously think that even now it is still possible to reach the future through the past. It never was, it isnt now, and it never will be. I seem to recall some time back, you and I both were happy to give our friend Allan07 a fools pardon for attempting to tar all Nationalists with the one brush, and you rightly said that posters should be respectful of each others views. Well, in the time since that encounter here on IC as far as Allan07 is concerned, nothing seems to have changed for him, and that is fair enough. I accept totally that the tone of my last post was somewhat more "strident" than normal; but read through it, and I hope you will find that what I have said is accurate (vis a vis the quotations) The points I was making were threefold; 1)that two wrongs dont make a right.2) That debate and discussion based on the merits of "Whataboutery" are pointless. 3)that the world has changed for us all; and I detect from your posts that you and I are of the one view on that. For our friend Allan07, his world is "back there" somewhere. Rev WF Marshall(the Bard of Tyrone) once wrote "Drumquin you're not a city, but you're all the world to me" For Allan07 it means "Drumquin you're not a city but you're all the world I have!!" And that makes me very sad for him.

Calm down lads, we've all had a drink!!

allan07.I was wondering when you were going to go into Billy boy meltdown.lololol.You can't speak to ancavker that way.How dare you say you will kick HER in the nuts.It's not marching season yet Billy Boy.Why don't you give it up? Rangers cheated and all the titles are gone forever and the Queen is now a Celtic fan as you can see.lol.She doesn't want to be a hun anymore.Look at Peter Robinson and the smile on the Queens face.That's not fake.Martin has extended the hand of friendship to everyone in the Unionist community.The Queen dressed in GREEN has extended the hand of friendship to Ireland again.The world doesn't revolve around the Billy Boys.Just do your marching and celebrate your Protestant 300 year old victory.For what it's worth.But remember this reality.The Irish Republic or England,Scotland or Wales will never win the world cup or the European Championship.But such is the standard nowadays Northern Ireland will never ever qualify for either ever again.

"And it is not a day that you CAN inflict on my community, not any more" (Jeez, you'd think I could get my sentence structure correct wouldn't you!!)

@ALLAN07 - By how many goals did Engerland beat the Italians by, can you please remind me again? Oh and I hope you are not going to join the boycott of Rangers Season tickets for Division 3 games next year :) And in the final analysis when you ask about the treatment of Protestants in post-partition Ireland, do you seriously think that two wrongs could ever make a right, when you consider the treatment of the Nationalist minority in Norn Iron, post partition. "A Protestant land for a Protestant people" was the cry. Primeminister Basil Brooke famously declared that "I would not have a Catholic about the place" Despite all the "f**king kickings dished out by Unionism to Nationalism, we're still here; and NO I wont go out to celebrate the "Glorious Twelfth" if you dont mind because it does not have the same significance for me as for my Protestant neighbours. I hope you all have a good day; but its a day for your community to enjoy, not mine. And it is not a day that you CANNOT inflict on my community, not any more. Kick the Pope by all means (you would have to join a very long queue of Catholics to do that at this stage) but leave your Nationalist neighbours out of it, if you would please :)

@ALLAN07 - By how many goals did Engerland beat the Italians by, can you please remind me again? Oh and I hope you are not going to join the boycott of Rangers Season tickets for Division 3 games next year :) And in the final analysis when you ask about the treatment of Protestants in post-partition Ireland, do you seriously think that two wrongs could ever make a right, when you consider the treatment of the Nationalist minority in Norn Iron, post partition. "A Protestant land for a Protestant people" was the cry. Primeminister Basil Brooke famously declared that "I would not have a Catholic about the place" Despite all the "f**king kickings dished out by Unionism to Nationalism, we're still here; and NO I wont go out to celebrate the "Glorious Twelfth" if you dont mind because it does not have the same significance for me as for my Protestant neighbours. I hope you all have a good day; but its a day for your community to enjoy, not mine. And it is not a day that you can inflict on my community, not any more. Kick the Pope by all means (you would have to join a very long queue of Catholics to do that at this stage) but leave your Nationalist neighbours out of it, if you would please :)

@ancavker you behave like a child whom cries for his sweets. My sweets my sweets i want i want i want. You will get a good f**king kicking in the nuts and thats about it. The protestant people of the Irish Republic after 1922 were treated like vermin. Second class citizens we will never allow that to happen in our own country Northern Ireland. For those whom dont like it go SOUTH to the Republic. A failed state that has been kept afloat by the EU, Britain, the US and others. (IMF). Get a life and move on. Enjoy the 12th July in a few days time. No surrender. Remember 1690. You lot came second. Accept the facts. Your pants in everything. Euro Championships 0 points. Rugby. Ireland 0 New Zealand 60. Paddy last thats sums your lot up. Olympics Great Britain 30 Gold. Ireland 0. Your a bunch of cabbages. No talent, no culture, no class, no skill, no economy, no hope, no chance, Useless lot.

@Bythebay - I dont wish to appear condescending, BUT 1) I am certain that you will not be supporting Glagow Rangers in the SPL next year (Sacred cow no 1). The Deputy First Minister's meeting with Banrion Eilis a Do last week is proof positive that despite its best efforts the Unionist Monolith in Northern Ireland was an abject failure!! (Sacred cow no 2). It sought to uphold a Democratic deficit to the disadvantage of a Nationalist minority, to curtail its rights and place limitations on its freedom of expression and its cultural expression. Yet despite this, a working class apprentice butcher from Derry/ Londonderry is now joint Chief Executive of the defacto "Super council" that passes for a Government in Norn Iron, despite every obstacle put in his path (Sacred Cow no 3). For as long as it remains necesseary, any form of Governance and self determination for the people of Northern Ireland will only be possible through a mandatory coalition between Unionism and Nationalism (Sacred cow no 4) The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland can no longer march WHERE they will, WHEN they will (Sacred cow no 5)Banrion Eilis a Do is happy and relaxed about speaking "Cupla Focal As Gaelige" (speaking in Irish - Sacred cow no 6) And if you take the Passport test, you will not be able to discriminate between a British and Irish Passport as they are basically the same document (Standard European communities Model). Happy to point up more Sacred Cows gone in due course :)