Who is speaking for the Union?

It is a question that has been asked for several decades by Northern Ireland citizens anxious about the firmness of their place in the United Kingdom.

It is now a question that will be asked with increasing concern by unionists in England, Scotland and Wales.

In 'The Idea of the Union: Great Britain and Northern Ireland', historians, distinguished politicians, economists, political journalists, cultural historians and versatile scholars on both sides of the water break cover and declare for the Union. The 20 contributors include David Trimble, Mike Nesbitt, Ray Bassett, and Graham Gudgin. The Foreword is by Baroness Hoey.

'The Idea of the Union' is a manifesto in favour of the constitutional link between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, and between the nations of the kingdom. It also promotes cultural relations in the British Isles. But primarily, it is a handbook of arguments, rooted in history and the real world, against Northern Ireland's severance from Great Britain.

Irish separatist nationalism has had a fair innings. Now it's time for reason and reality to go to bat.