covenant

The government have also confirmed they will fulfil a manifesto pledge and put the Armed Forces Covenant fully into law.

The covenant is a promise to treat those who have served with fairness and respect.

The Liberal government and its Irish nationalist partners kept trying to convince themselves that was all hot air — sounds familiar, right? — but the wish-casting got more challenging after Carson unveiled the Ulster Covenant of 1912.

A few months later, he announced the formation of the Ulster Volunteer Force, a private army of more than 100,000 men who had signed the covenant.

The United Nations called the agreement a “covenant of hope.”