Mary Kelly: Edwin Poots is right about reaching out – but he needs to persuade voters in loyalist areas too

It‘s nice that DUP MLA Edwin Poots has recognised his wee country is changing.

Maybe he just needed to get off the farm in Lagan Valley and move around his new constituency in south Belfast – the most mixed area in Northern Ireland by age, religion and ethnicity.

A walk down the Lisburn or Ormeau roads might reveal a mightily-changed atmosphere, despite the red, white and blue bunting across the main thoroughfare. There are plenty of brown and black faces, foreign shops, supermarkets and cafes.

There was even one Syrian-owned mini-market in Sandy Row, until rioters burned the business to the ground.

Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Tyrone any more

Unionists have pulled the Stormont brake, but there’s no need for it to create a crisis - The Irish News view

But not much gets past Edwin. He has told the BBC’s Red Lines podcast that unionists can no longer rely on their traditional, white, working-class Protestant voter to come out in their thousands.

“That part of our demographic has reduced significantly.”

He went on to say that there were lots of people from other communities that had chosen to come and live here.

“A lot of those people want to be part of the United Kingdom. So you know we need to reach out to those people and to be working with those people who wish to be unionists, who don’t fit the traditional model of unionists.”

His interview was recorded ahead of the “reaching out” that erupted in violence in largely unionist areas, targeting foreign-owned businesses. Mr Poots has of course condemned the attacks and met business owners.

But while some politicians talk about “legitimate concerns” and cite local discontent at feeling “left behind”, they do society a disservice.

If people in Sandy Row feel that way, then their elected representatives need to step up and own it.

Who have they been voting into power for generations?

Behind the scenes, gestures of support for migrants are not enough. Politicians need to be seen at burnt-out businesses as soon as possible. They need to demonstrate by their presence their utter opposition to such criminal and racist behaviour.

Until the disgraceful scenes south of the border, nationalists felt a little smug that they were better at welcoming migrants than loyalists. But scratch the surface and the same “ourselves alone” attitude comes in shades of green and orange.

Pootsy is right that demographics are changing. But he has a job on his hands to persuade his usual voters that the new neighbours should be encouraged to join their side.

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Air travel has certainly changed a lot since the days when Cary Grant picked up his tickets from swooning ground staff and walked a few yards to get on a plane, where he stretched out his elegant legs while sipping a martini.

Now it’s an unpleasant ritual of queues, taking your shoes off and walking barefoot on sticky airport floors, while being told off by clenched-jaw security staff for the mosquito spray that you forgot to take out of your handbag.

And in the confusion, you leave your iPad in a tray and it costs £50 to have it returned – oh, and you also bring back an unexpected souvenir – Covid.

Last weekend’s return journey from Kosovo ended with a two-hour delay at Gatwick for the Belfast flight. It felt like the last straw.

It happens. You try to remain chilled, but there is something about the constant herding of passengers by airline staff as part of a ruse to pretend the delay isn’t really that bad.

They make you line up at the gate, then you’re all kettled down a corridor for another 20 minutes while they empty the passengers off the incoming flight.

Would it really be beyond expectations that when such delays happen that instead of just the standard apology, they actually offer you something by way of recompense? Is a free cup of tea really beyond their powers?

Apparently so. When I suggested it to the stewardess, she looked at me with a barely concealed sneer of disbelief.

“That’ll be £3.20” came the response.