You get dragged back into the old divide,” she says wearily, noting how the traumas of the recent past so inform the stalemates of the present.

Sarah Laverty, a Green party member, grew up unionist in staunchly Protestant Ballymoney, but now describes herself as “left wing, progressive, feminist, socialist”. And of course it soon removed from me the notion that Protestants in the North of Ireland were one large, groupthinking monolithic block.Ulster Unionists are facing a demographic tipping point, with the likely loss of their long-standing majority status within Northern Ireland.

The pain of people who lost loved ones during the troubles is still understandably raw in many cases, compounded by the governments recent pronouncements on how they are treating the legacy of the troubles.

This updated edition includes a new introduction, and provides the backdrop to her new title ‘Northern Protestants – On Shifting Ground’. Chief among them is the implementation of the post-Brexit trade protocol, which Boris Johnson assured the DUP would only happen “over my dead body”.

And working-class Loyalists, claiming to have received no benefit from the long decades of relative peace, are now making ominous noises about ‘fighting to defend the union’. I found the book enlightening and I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the north of Ireland, particularly if you fall under the umbrella of Northern Protestant. perhaps because I know more of the interviewees, some better than others, and even with those I don't know I recognise the mindset. Poots’s reign as leader lasted just 21 days before he, too, was toppled in a rebellion within his own party. Her latest book follows a similar format to that previous tome, in that it attempts – primarily from a series of interviews - to paint a portrait of Northern Irish Protestantism through the words of more than 60 members of that community.I'd have liked a conclusion that could recommend what could be done to help NI move forwards, or provide an analysis of where it stands now. We want normal politics,” says Kenny McFarland, who happens to be chair of the Londonderry Bands Forum. Never does McKay come remotely close to resorting to the kind of condescension which can often be the default setting for intellectuals – whether from the Irish Republic or from Britain – when working-class Protestants are being discussed. But it is on the more personal, human level that “Northern Protestants: On Shifting Ground” is really illuminating.