When the whingers actually got something

Gregory Campbell, MP for East Londonderry, was on BBC Radio Foyle this morning referring to people in the North-West as whingers, well-balanced in the sense that they have a chip on both shoulders.
He's one of our local politicians, and sat for thirty years on Derry City Council, stepping down in 2011.
In his interview, he said that instead of complaining, we should focus on action - lobbying, making the case and so on. And certainly if he was able to deliver the support of his colleagues in the DUP, there might be a lot more happening in the North West in terms of motorway access, a university and a proper rail link.
It is about delivery. Because if you've made a good case for decades, and nothing happens, you might be inclined to whinge.

The Magee campus of the University of Ulster - there's an unanswerable case for a full campus which has gone unanswered.

I reminded of all this reading 'Reminiscences of a Long Life' by W. D. Killen, D. D., LL.D, President of Belfast Presbyterian College. Dr Killen's book was first published in 1901, and this edition came out from Braid Books & Moyola Books in 1995.
Dr Killen lived through most of the 19th century, from 1806-1902. He remembers a time when Derry was up there in terms of university education in the North of Ireland.
After a time in Raphoe, Dr Killen arrived in Belfast in 1841 to take over from Dr J. S. Reid as Professor of Church History, Church Government and Pastoral Theology, training students for the ministry. At that time he was teaching in a room at the Belfast Academical Institution. The Presbyterian Assembly was just planning a college of its own, plans complicated when the government announced it was erecting Queen's Colleges in Belfast, Galway and Cork.
Dr Killen commented:

The announcement of a large legacy [£20,000] bequeathed by Mrs. Magee, of Dublin, for the erection of a Presbyterian College, complicated the discussion ; and this protracted debate issued in the building in Derry of a seminary bearing the name of the lady whose wealth contributed so largely to its foundation. The Magee College of the Maiden City has created a healthy rivalry between Derry and Belfast, and has unquestionably given impetus to the cause of education in the North-West of Ulster.

Belfast Presbyterian College opened in 1853, although it seems those involved had a hard time raising the money, not least because of the "controversy relative to the Magee College". Magee opened in 1865 primarily as a theological college but also offering course to students of all denominations. In a busy period for third-level provision, Queen's opened in 1849.

Presbyterians were in the lead, in those days, in making further education available in the North-West.