Ulster Weeks: “England’s Prosperity Must Be Ulster’s Opportunity”1

Abstract: Brexit has, once again, thrown into sharp relief the uncertain relationship between Ulster unionism and their fellow citizens. Since 1948 a constant concern for unionism has been worries that British ambiguity towards Northern Ireland will eventually see the province jettisoned and abandoned, to be subsumed into the Republic of Ireland. For most of the wider British population attempts by unionism and loyalism to reaffirm their Britishness go no further than parading, flags and the crash of the Lambeg drum. However, some attempts such as unionism’s involvement in the Festival of Britain have been marked by considerable sophistication. Amongst these efforts were the Ulster Weeks campaigns in the United Kingdom. These were part of the wider “Bridge Building” project initiated by Prime Minister Terence O’Neill. Ulster Weeks are now largely forgotten beyond a few lines or footnotes and had no lasting impact; like so much, they were destroyed by the violence of the Troubles. This paper will show that notwithstanding the modernist language of the project they would often fall back on traditional imagery. It exposes a project that despite its rhetoric which wanted to promote a modern, technologically advanced Northern Ireland, it also wanted to uphold a Northern Ireland that was Protestant, British and loyal. Once again, the message would fail to expunge British disinterestedness over Northern Ireland’s place in the Union. This paper will conclude that whilst the Troubles ultimately brought about the end of the project, it had already been rejected by unionists that wanted to destroy O’Neill’s bridges and nationalists who wanted “Civil Rights not Civic Weeks”. Further, it will argue that hard-line unionism has failed to learn the lessons of the Ulster Weeks campaigns.