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Yes it's finally here the Halloween Holiday, this last week seemed like it was forever and lots of teachers that I talked to felt the same. Even though we all agreed that the actual period between coming back to school and this the first recognized break has really flown. Halloween recognised as the time for Ghosts and Ghouls also had a far greater significance this year as it is meant to be the deadline for Brexit. Boris Johnson pledged to take the United Kingdom out of Europe on 31st October with or without a deal and it's looking extremely unlikely that this timetable will actually fall into place due to many factors. 

However, the Brexit deal that he negotiated has caused consternation among the Unionist community in Northern Ireland as they feel betrayed and used as a bargaining chip. I have included a number of clips of various politicians speaking on these issues as part of this episode to give some clarity around why this is the case. Essentially the Boris Deal has led to a friction-less border on the island of Ireland as enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement and has resulted in essentially a customs/VAT border in the Irish Sea. 

This has enraged the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), as everything that they stand for is bound up in their link with the United Kingdom and indeed their 'confidence & supply' voting arrangements with the minority Conservative Government have helped Boris get to this point.  Indeed the same Boris spoke at last years DUP Party Conference and guaranteed no change to Northern Ireland's position within the union. It can be a little hard to work out what the DUP actually want on occasions and perhaps they have had a dose of their own medicine as Boris has played fast and loose with them throughout and it looks like he has sold them out.  

They consistently cry they want Northern Ireland to be the 'same as' the rest of the United Kingdom and yet within Northern Ireland they back different laws with regard to LGBT rights, same sex marriage, abortion and language acts and they also misquote the Good Friday Agreement as and when it suits they are against it but at this juncture they are now looking to use it to stop this East/West trade barrier, this very same agreement that they refused to sign up to or back from its inception!