It’s funny how Gerry Adam’s ratings went up slightly in the last Irish Times/MRBI poll, despite his recent contradictory statements about his knowledge/non-knowledge of allegations of child abuse in the 80s against his brother, Liam, who subsequently worked on youth projects for the Shinners in Belfast and Dundalk.According to Liam Clarke in the Sunday Times, Adams told a conference in Dublin that “rich lawyers” with whom he consulted advised him that the press “can publish anything, [including] total untruths” with impunity, and that the only thing that stopped him from suing them after some reports on the scandal was the prospect of legal costs.
Journalists might disagree. In fact libel laws in the Republic are particularly stringent, with certain colourful businessmen just waiting to pounce and shut down any newspaper or media outlet that slips up and falls foul of them. And then there’s Martin Cullen, of course. So it would be interesting to hear the full Sinn Fein position on freedom of the press.
Perhaps any prospective prosecution by Adams might be made more difficult given the fact that no one can seriously believe a word the man says? He says he was never in the IRA, for example. Now, years ago, when the “troubles” were in full swing, that was a necessary tactical denial - but is there a need for him to keep it up now? Also, when Jean McConville was kidnapped and murdered by the IRA, Adams said he was in prison - a claim disputed by commentators.
Then there’s the behaviour of the Sinn Fein leadership during the hunger strikes, as alleged in a book by a former IRA member, who says that they let their own members die even after Thatcher had conceded on key points. If that's the case, some of them died soley in pursuance of the Shinners “ballot box in one hand, Armalite in the other” electoral strategy.
A more harmless porky, in the scheme of things, is that Adams cites Monty Python's Always Look on the Bright Side of Life as one of his iconic prison memories, which he and other inmates/POWs sang after being beaten by prison guards.
Trouble is - the song was not written until after his release.
Gerry Adams "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" video
Back to Gombeen Nation main page
47 comments:
A newly arrived newspaper reporter to Chicago in the 1920’s was in a restaurant with his boss. The boss said to him: “never criticize Capone, because you might live to regret it”. Sitting at an adjacent table was Tony Accardo (Joe Batters). Mr Accardo leaned over to the reporter and said: “You won’t live to regret it, get what I mean!”.
That is how I feel about Mr Adams, even though the Provisional IRA are quiescent, ‘the trigger men’ are probably not too far away. I would feel hesitant about confronting him with the truth about: “The Adams Family”.
Well, GM, according to the Vinyl-Version I have here, "Always look on the bright side of life" was released in August 1979 ...
It seems another SF party member was known to have seriously assaulted / possibly raped his young daughter, again this was known within the party, no attempt at expulsion. Yet DUP expelled Iris Robinsion for having sex with men who were consenting adults.About 5 yrs ago a 15 yr old girl was brutally raped in West Belfast- and a SF Assembly memebr, said if anyone in the community knew anything about the crime to Not go to the police. All the above Hardly makes me feel SF are grown up politicians who understand the real needs and concerns of Irish people especially women and children ( rapists and child abusers go free).
SF are in a misty Tir of their own , Tir Na Amadans: All that Irish people Really need is a 32 county Irish speaking Republic- or so they tell us. Would we miss a party like this if they vanished overnight?I often felt SF/DUP existed mainly because of fear of each other- when votes for one go up- the vote for the other goes up as well- all driven by fear.
If those 2 parties vanished over night- and any effective politicians within their ranks joined mainstream NI Nationalist or Unionist parties, that would not be a bad thing- and I think the peace process would jump forward Anna.
@ Anon. Yes, the kneecaps are safe for the moment, but...
@ Harald. He was in between '73-'77 and a brief period of remand in 1978. The film and record came out in 1979.
@ Anna. Agreed. The world would be a better place without the Shinners and the Despotic Unionist Party.
As for the Shinners dream of a United Gaelic-speaking Ireland - not a chance. Do they propose sending dissenting unionists off to Madagasgar, I wonder?
I sometimes think politicians present untenable aims purely because they are untenable - and they can make a nice long career out of it, living off the gullible.
In contrast, look at poor old Mikhail Gorbachev, someone I can respect. He wanted Glasnost and Perestroika and then found himself out of a job.
An Old Roman proverb, loosely translated: “YOU CANNOT DO BAD, AND EXPECT GOOD TO FOLLOW”
The Gombeen man has summed it up succinctly: “I sometimes think politicians present untenable aims purely because they are untenable”. Politics is a business and so is Sinn Fein and the DUP. (just like any PLC) Gerry Adams and Peter Robinson once “didn’t have a pot to piss in”, and now, according to intelligent speculation both of them are millionaires. (Poor Iris just gave the game away about the DUP double dealings).
Jerry Adams and Sinn Fein are no better as according to intelligent speculation have accumulated great personal wealth through extortion, intimidation, money laundering and drug dealing. But we are not to speak of this because it might be dangerous, as suggested by an earlier post. These people may have killed other people to achieve their political and avaricious aims. The IRA/Sinn Fein have not changed since their foundation and they are still cold blooded killers.
Ireland will never be a United Republic, not ever, nor does it deserve to be. Ireland became a Free State by Treaty. The people were asked to vote and the majority agreed that there had been enough killing. However, DeValera and the predecessors of Fianna Fail for reasons of personal wealth and personal power wanted an opportunity to clear the decks of any opposition for any future government. The rest is bloody history.
A CASE IN POINT
My uncle Joe was tailor’s apprentice in a town near Dundalk during the Irish Civil War. Occasionally he slept in the workshop when they were busy. One morning 5 men came to the house and took the tailor out to the back garden. They accused him of being an informer and shot him.
The tailor has never been involved in politics of any sort and had not given information to anybody. The men who shot him were anti treaty soldiers. They did not have the decency to kill him outright, but he was mortally wounded and it took him several days to die in front of his wife and five children. Had they known that uncle Joe was there, they would have murdered him in cold blood as well.
According to uncle Joe one of the gunmen was Frank Aitken, a leading anti treaty leader who later became the founder of Fianna Fail and a Fianna Fail minister. The old tailor was murdered for reasons of greed; because one of the 5 gunmen wanted to steal his house and land.
This murderous gentleman (not unlike MR Adams)also became a minister in all of the Fianna Fail governments’. Ireland is cursed and will never ever be united because of such evil and greed.
Helen Devenish
Finchley.
There is Evil in the Air, Mr Adams (you are it).
Gerry Adams; Sinn Fein and Fianna Fail are advocating to name the buildings and the streets of Ireland in Irish. This gesture is to antagonise the DUP a UUP and to cause tension, insecurity and instability.
They are taking the gamble that the UK government will not want to return to violence, and will relinquish their control of the North. This has to be done now because in a few weeks from now if David Cameron wins Conservative/UUP seats in the six counties he will return things to much the way they were in the 1940’s. Hell will break loose again for another 80 years
@Anon
"Ireland will never be a United Republic,"
Oh, I think it will. Even if it is just because London gets eventually too tired of all the nonsene and hot air that is produced across the Irish Sea; not to mention all the money that is wasted there.
Hi GM
Saw the Liam Clarke piece and one point in particular made me smile. On the IRA punishment squads he says "Many suspected of crime were shot by punishment squads and, as well as being brutal, the system was corrupt. One leader of the squads was a child-sex abuser". LOL
Hello...These guys are killing people. That usually trumps anything else they might have been up to.
Rob
I read this last year, can’t remember where: it seems some S F person, maybe a councillor with Dublin City Council wanted to have Merrion Rd, or whatever rd the British embassy is on renamed ‘ Bobby Sands Rd.’ Why- because it would Really Embarrass the British Embassy to send this out as their address. REALLY? It seems the road the British embassy is on in an Indian (?) city may have been re-named this way. I can’t comment on why things were done in India. This is Ireland.
What do Dubliners need? Public housing, good transport, community centres etc. A lot of young embassy staff would HAVE No IDEA WHO Bobby Sands was- neither would many who received correspondence from that address. By the same token shouldn’t the magnificent Royal Victoria Hospital, Falls rd Belfast, not be renamed the Wolfe Tone Hospital or something similar? You know, just to make it inclusive to All people of NI who avail of its excellent services-and just show how democratic and grown up SF really are? Leaving aside any ..em…forceful associations SF have, it’s for things like this I never vote for them…on hearing above proposal for British embassy I was gobsmacked..I just thought How can any councillor even waste their time Even Dreaming up this nonsense? The Country would Really look good, not just to English investors but those all over the world, if the capital city’s council could entertain such malevolent immature nonsense.
PS: if you want a suitable memorial to anyone of any persuasion, who died from violence in Ireland, look around you. PEACE. Anna
I don't think Gerry Adams is to bothered about whether he is believed by those of us who consume the standard news output. His whole 'life history' is nothing more than a smokescreen that is gleefully consumed by a none-too-discerning press.
Bilbo
Hi GM
Some of your posters appear a bit miffed at SF and the IRA and don't seem to appreciate the contribution the made to Irish history. It would be nice to live in a world where freedom was just given to us and no one had to get their hands dirty fighting for it.
The freedoms we have today were hard won and we should show a bit more appreciation for those who did their bit.
Sorry mate. What "freedoms" are those, exactly?
@ GM - a good and interesting post, and I note a departure from your usual.
@ Helen Devenish from Finchley and "intelligent speculation" - unless the day comes that Mr Adams is convicted in a court for drug dealing, extortion, intimidation and money laundering, one can't really say he does these things. Perhaps I'm wrong and he has been convicted?
@ Rob an excellent point "Hello...These guys are killing people. That usually trumps anything else they might have been up to."
@ Anna good points, but...
I'm not aware that a street name in India was named after him. That's not to say that it is not the case. However the Iranian government renamed Winston Churchill Boulevard, the location of the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Tehran, to Bobby Sands Street, prompting the British Embassy to move its entrance door to Ferdowsi Avenue to avoid using Bobby Sands Street on its letterhead.
In Le Mans in France too, I think they named a street after Bobby Sands.
Its interesting to know the above, but why exactly did Tehran Govt want to rename the street the British embassy was on after Bobby Sands, love of the Irish or hatred of the British Govt, and the west. Recent riots by millions there show the fear their own people live under. I just don’t see that the Tehran govt are any model for behaviour by an EU city. Can anyone really say what Bobby Sands sad and painful death achieved? Would he have done better to have come out of prison , and worked as youth worker in troubled parts of the north- there are many heroic people who spent years and years of their lives working for normality in communities many would regard as hell( I was not one of them- my home area was quite peaceful, I spent a few years in South Belfast, the most normal part of Belfast in the 80’s, and then decamped for England, Guernsey & Dublin- and I could not have lived the lives many in the north did , trying to create normal decent lives in hell.) Bobby Sands death was a tragedy and a waste of youth , and I don’t know why the republicans movement has always needed young people to become martyrs. He was not the only one who died. In the troubles- about 2,800 people did.
I certainly would be much happier to have SF work for renaming places Peace St or peace Sq.
Last yr Toiseana Ferris, SF councillor said’ People do not know what SF stands for, and That’s why they did not vote for us. We need to tell them” But no clarification followed. What kind of political party does not know what it stand for- All I can deduce is ‘United Irish speaking Ireland by 2016”’ Was that not some thing that happened nearly 100 yrs ago- and did it not take decades to show that such a plan needed a great deal of fine tuning, to say the least. How can I not be wary of parties with such severe amnesia.- and such a lack of real interest in what ordinary people need Anna
It is interesting (and good) that the blog has shifted on to Bobby Sands and what significance he and the other hunger strikers had. A few hundred years from now when the history of the last 50yrs in Ireland has to be condensed into 100 words or so, the words Bobby Sands will probably be two of them.
Sands is significant because he marks a turning point in attitudes, from characterising Irish republicanism as simply a party of self-interested thugs and criminals (Mrs Thatcher’s view) to men who at least in some cases embody a higher ideal (the view that Tony Blair took a leap of faith and embraced). This shift is important, as without it the British Govt. could never have justified eventually sitting down with SF and working out a peace deal.
Robert, NY
Power, Greed and Money. MR ADAMS (PLC)
What is all this United Ireland about? I have studied and worked in Dublin Cork and Belfast, Leeds and London, and I am puzzled about what all this fuss is about. Some Irish people are talking about being free, but free from what, and for what. How would any Irish person benefit from a united Ireland. Well on financial terms alone they would be worse off. Healthcare is worse pensions for the elderly are worse. The comparative cost of living is prohibitive.
So what is the purpose of a united Ireland? Is it that we can speak the Irish language, well what the hell for? I am being serious, what business or social advantage will speaking the Irish language bring to the Irish people? None whatsoever !!!
The present impasse in the negotiations in the North is about the orange parades. The Orange Order want to be able to march through the Catholic areas, beating drums and shouting insulting slogans at Roman Catholics and about the Pope. Who Bloody cares? !!
Anyway, the EU law does not allow any form of religious persecution or discrimination, so what is the big deal. What harm can a group of anarchic and archaic bigoted old men do, who are behaving like a sketch from Monty Python. They dress in silly sashes wear bowler hats and carry umbrellas to symbolise swords. They march with funny walks and are all right on 'the square'
The nationalists want to be able to walk through the Unionists areas and wave Irish Tricolour flags and sing rebel songs. Once again what is the big deal? It is all so idiotic because more Catholics fought for King Billy than for James II at The Battle of the Boyne ( this information can be verified in any university library). The intransigence on both sides is about power, greed and money. Sinn Fein (PLC) and DUP (PLC)
When Mr Adams wants to change the tyres on any of his cars, where will he buy them: North or South of the border? Guess?
I think in the next fifty years the words; "this is when they stopped murderering us in our beds for an unattainable political ideal" will be how it is summed up Rab. Why do a lot of Americans buy into all that romanticised garbage?
SF, DUP etc had huge significance for the peace process- but it does not look as if SF ever became a grown up party since - or how are they so out of tune people’s needs? Wasting public money on street renaming is only part of that; incidentally I did not know SF planned mono-lingual street signs on the north. Towns like Newry have bi-lingual street signs, and no one has a problem with those.
What people need is a way out of economic disaster- and fairer lives for all in, with parties that are into fair taxation and distribution of wealth (not even communism- the way the rich thu their political friends have been allowed to Plunder this country is shocking) Therefore a lower cost of living* and good public services should flow from that .(* all Irish professional groups from lawyers to vets impose the highest fees in Europe)
Violence is a shocking problem- in the south as Government doesn’t give enough money for law enforcement- and blithely sees the fact that grossly unequal Ireland has a huge deprived criminal underclass as no problem, (don’t forget 2 yrs ago saw more murders in ROI then any year since the civil war) A fairer country just wouldn’t have this.
NI nationalists, who live in areas that are predominantly nationalist, need a police force that come from their own community – that s the only way to ensure trust. SF policies do nothing to change the composition of the police. And NI police of unionist background will not want to respond to call outs from catholic estates. Therefore an unwelcome aspect of the peace dividend in the north has been plenty of vandalism / anti social behaviour. Job creation, economic fairness, good public services, tackling violence and an underclass down south, and making an all inclusive totally supported police force in the north- if a party has these policies I will support them. Anna
To Robert NY
It would be interesting to know if you are an Irish person living in NY or an Irish American whose parents or grandparents were Irish; it does make a big difference in terms of Irish political ideology. Ireland is not like "The Quiet Man"
During the Bobby Sands era, I was a student at Queens University Belfast. My friends were Catholics and Protestants, and we were all puzzled about why a young man thought he could force the hand of the British Prime Minister to change her point of view.
Mrs Thatcher had already made her “Lady not for Turning” speech, so her attitude to Mr Sands was hardly new. Mr Humphrey Atkins Secretary for State for Northern Ireland, who was kind man made it clear in the early stages of the hunger strike that “Mrs Thatcher would not lose face”. However the Provisional IRA kept up the hunger strike momentum in order to incite further violence.
Sands was not very well educated and according to WHO classification of Mental disorder and psychiatric illness, probably had experienced some sort personality disorder in keeping with his disturbed upbringing in Belfast. Sands was a victim of mendacious and malevolent men like Gerry Adams.
The death of Sands was a great waste and it has achieved nothing and he will soon be forgotten. Have you asked why Mr Adams did not offer to die in the hunger strike? He is still alive and enjoys an opulent and privileged lifestyle.
It was not Tony Blair who took a leap of faith, it was John Major who began serious talks with all parties in NI. This is widely acknowledged by all politicians. Mr Blair's only leap of faith was to convert to Catholisism when he got married. He then renounced Catholisism in order to become the British Prime Minister. He is now a Catholic again ( a very rich catholic). What integrity this man has.
Why does Mr Adams not go on hunger strike now?
If he died, few Catholics would mourn his passing.
If Sinn fein ever did gain power in the North of Ireland it would be a very sad day for Martin McGuinness. We all know what happened between De'Valera and Michael Collins, he had him killed.
I deeply suspect that Mr Gerry Adams would do a De'Valera job on Martin McGuinness. He would not do it himself, but he would have it done nevertheless. Gerry Adams is a dispicable man.
I have just looked at Adams and "Always look on the Bright Side of Life". What a hypocritical, witless bastard. He probably rehearsed that for hours and it is as The Gombeen Man said: It is cringe-inducing.
Clearly a lot of the posts here don’t like Gerry Adams very much, and I don't think I'd vote for him myself, but to give him his due he has shown himself to be a very capable politician.
I was one of the many who laughed at the ‘Tiocfaidh Ar La’ mantra, but look at them now. From where I’m sitting their ‘La’ looks pretty Tiocfaidh-ed.
Max, London
Think it's more the Teletubbies' "La-La" at work if this capable politician's imagination is anything to go by.
Mr Gerry Adams a very capable politician??
Mr Adams is capable of anything. Dr Shipman in the UK was a very capable murderer; he was good at doing it. Being capable does not necessarily mean anything positive.
Al Capone was a very capable gangster whose slogan would suit Gerry Adams very well. Capone said: “A kind word and a gun is more persuasive that a kind word on it‘s own”. I can imagine Adams being very persuasive with his sickly sweet “Bright Side” smile, but with his finger on the trigger of a gun in his pocket or aimed at directly a child’s head as a person agrees to his terms. Mr Adams is very capable indeed !!
To repeat: MR ADAMS IS CAPABLE OF ANYTHING
Please explain: ‘Tiocfaidh Ar La’ mantra. What does it mean?
“Thou shall not kill”.
Joe Devlin, John Hume Seamus Mallon Gerry Fitt were very capable North of Ireland politicians acting for the good of Ireland. They adhered to Christian teaching “Thou shall not kill”. Adams & Co have had no such scruples and resorted cold blooded murder.
The term “The Adams Family” could be applied to Irish organised crime like: The Gambino, Genovese, Bonano, Colombo and Lucchese families. The other crime organisations: UDA, UDF, and other IRA factions are all concerned with money, and nothing else.
It would be an economic advantage for Ireland to be re-united with the UK. Ireland is practically a failed state in keeping with it's growing greed and political corruption.
I've a lot of time for Hume, and his part in the process. He seems more or less forgotten now.
"Mr Blair's only leap of faith was to convert to Catholisism when he got married. He then renounced Catholisism in order to become the British Prime Minister. He is now a Catholic again ( a very rich catholic). What integrity this man has."
He has his own cult, the TBF or summat - true to form he was giving advice to the Pope after being one of us for 15 minutes.
The Pope decided, that after two thousand years and a billion present-day members, we were despite the frequently bad PR, morte or less holding our own.
TB is a bit like Gerry Adams - TB would send somebody out buy all the Sunday tribs as well. TB was also a bit distinctly naff on child protection. Anyway, the main thing is, the MLAs have loads of money.
Have you seen Alex Maskey's suits? You don't get that off the rack at ASDA. He is really well turned out, like a film producer or something, a credit to the auld homies, a figure of success.
What did he ask Jim Gamble at the interview for top PSNI plod, "what's your favorite color?" I'm just a Southie boy, I threw stones at buses, and I was impressed at the psycho-analytical wonder of that.
How silly it would be if BNP in the UK were allowed to parade through black and Asian areas and shout racial and religious abuse at them. Similarly that blacks and asians demonstrated in white residential areas. It would be most absurd and completely illegal.The same principle applies to The Irish Republic.
But that is what the Orange Order and the Republican organisation want to do in the North of Ireland. They want to be free to shout political and religious insults and denegrate the other side by having triumphal parades. What sort of freedom is that? In the mainland UK and in Ireland this sort of nonsense would not be tolerated. In fact it is illegal according to EU law.
Mr Adams and Sinn Fein are fighting for Catholic freedom to inflict abuse on Protestants. Mr Robinson and the DUP are fighting for Protestant freedom to insult Catholics. Both in God's name.
Both of these sinister political parties should be voted out of office by the electorate.
It is interesting to read some of the posts and how they persist in caricaturing SF as a bunch of mindless thugs, while others in their critical words let slip the very evidence the SF are far from this.
I stick by the view that said Gerry Adams is a capable politician and when I see him and Alex Maskey' in their sharp suits it tells me they understand how to manage their image. They have also managed to increase their vote and appear to be setting the agenda in Northern Ireland. Peter Mandleson eat your heart out!!
Many of the posters seek comfort in the notion that at least SF didn’t get a united Ireland and never will – well they didn’t get it the way they expected, but never is a long time.
When the dust settles Northern Ireland there is no getting away from the fact that it is economically unsustainable and that it will eventually have to work so hand-in glove with the Republic that it will be unity in all but name.
Max, London
Lunatics.
Mr Adams may have committed a criminal offence because he may have been an accessory after the fact regarding his brother’s alleged sexual offences.
Mr Robinson may also be in the same boat because he also may be an accessory after the fact in that he tried to conceal his wife’s alleged embezzlement.
How strange that both of these men’s chief concern is that the law allows them to march through the streets like football hooligans shouting abuse at the neighbours. This is like medieval insanity.
We have all heard about the hyena who ate the “OXO! Cubes and then became ‘a laughing stock’. In France we would kick them out, because it is most serious to cause the country to be a bloody laughing stock.
Should both of these men not be at home giving support to their families instead of acting like lunatics. Mr Robinson in particular should be caring for his wife who he has declared to be mentally ill.
Monsieur Guy Picardie
Nancy, France
'Tiofaidh ar la' was apparently the dying words of Bobbie Sands- it means Our day will come.
I don't want to say anyting much on a website, but it seems John Hume was diagnosed with a mild form of something which causes people to become forgetful as they get older...it is only a mild form, but means , I think, he is not active in public life, if you do the right thing people might not remember your name in years to come..but the legacy is in everyday life..ie , peace, likewise we don't remember early trade union leaders,...but we reap the benefits in our daily working lives...Anna
Oh! Christ, it gets worse. A little while ago, whilst poor Mrs Robinson was breathing her last after an overdose of drugs; Mr Robinson was making jokes in Parliament. This is very bizarre by any standards.
He now says that the main sticking point in the NI negotiations is concerned with The Drumcree March, whereby the Orange Order who have traditionally marched through a Catholic housing estate to shout abuse and religious insults about the Pope. He wants this to continue, and cannot see his folly. In the 1940‘s, 1950‘s and 1960‘s they actually shot the Catholic residents at Drumcree and elsewhere.
It is Crazy, Crazy, Crazy that the DUP want to be able to continue to incite violence and hatred. It is little wonder that the people rebelled in 1969. The answer to the problem is to return to direct rule from London, and then hand over NI to the Republic and have a United Ireland that should have happened with Parnell.
Mr Robinson has not being educated at University and is very limited in his reasoning. He is very cunning but that is not intelligence. He portrays blind stupidity and it will ruin him.
Mr Robinson has a certificate in secretarial work, and that is all. That is the problem. Mr Robinson is performing a job beyond his ability.
He seems to have no concept of how foolish and bigoted he appears in the eyes on the world, and he still continues with his paranoid rhetoric.
It is pointless for anyone living outside the six counties to comment because they cannot fully understand the problem. The electoral system is controlled through gerrymandering. On the electoral roll there are people who have been dead for years and someone votes in their name. Even people (Catholics) who are alive go to vote, only to find that someone has already voted in their name. That is how an idiot like Mr Robinson remains in power. His slogan to his people is: Vote Early: Vote Often! Remember this man is a declared Christian but cannot see that to maintain political office through fraud is wrong. Mr Adams and Sinn Fein has bloody good reason to be angry.
The person is right, if you haven’t lived in the north you can’t understand. When they had their own Prime Minister Lord Brookborough it was almost like South Africa, and the British Government did nothing to stop it. The police were armed so that they could shoot Catholics, and they did quite often.
Sir Terence O’Neill decided to end injustice and to begin the “Orange and Green” talks with Sean Lemass. It was the Rev Ian Paisley who objected to any compromise with Catholics, and preached hatred and vitriol against ‘The South, Rome, Terence O’Neill and anybody else who disagreed with his blinkered concept of Christian teaching.
He managed to achieve the reaction he wanted, but he also caused Northern Ireland to lose it’s Prime Minister it’s Statehood and it’s power. Now his party, Mr Robinson and the DUP are on their last legs in terms of their blind bigotry.
It is not legal and it will never ever be legal again for the DUP and The Orangemen to provoke, insult and antagonise Catholics like at Drumcree. So! It’s goodbye to you Mr Robinson and Mrs Robinson. May your wealth not go with you.
DON'T BE STUPID
Don’t be bloody stupid!, can’t you see? Mr Robinson and the DUP have all been saved by the lord and saviour, and they are free to do anything they want without it being sinful. This is clever psychology!. It is not a sin to lie and steal if it is against Roman Catholics.
Lifted this from Slugger O'Toole.
The author is arguing why direct rule was good from an NI perspective, but it nicely illustrates why it was a raw deal for English tax payers.
[Under direct rule] Northern Ireland received £5,684 per head: 21 per cent above the UK average spend per head and £1,161 more per head than that spent in England Scotland received £5,676 per head: 21 per cent above the UK average and £1,153 more per head than that spent in England Wales received £5,050 per head: 8 per cent above the UK average and £527 more per head than that spent in England England received £4,523 per head: 3 per cent below the UK average.
http://sluggerotoole.com/index.php/weblog/comments/direct-rule-should-be-avoided-but-not-because-it-delivered-bad-government/
Max, London
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel: Samuel Johnson
If you’re innocently waving a symbol /flag/renaming streets in 1 language/after certain people, because you love your country and All who live there, fine.
If you’re doing it to cause fear, loathing, deep distress, even terror (as others with your symbol may have killed some of those you are distressing) you’re a scoundrel.
10 yrs ago, on Abbey St I noticed a recently erected monument & plaque. This commemorated 150 yrs of the Irish flag. It was invented by a bunch of idealists (Young Irelanders or something? Thomas Davis etc, go to Abbey St and see) green for nationalists , orange for unionists, white for peace. In marketing if your brand/ logo becomes tired/ imbued with negative associations, you re-brand.
As Fintan O’Toole interestingly said many countries rebrand- he’d like a 2nd Irish republic, as many EU countries are now on their 2nd or 3 rd republic.
I don’t know if the NI assembly ever got a flag- they debated this about 14 yrs ago & had to eliminate contentious colours. I’m not proposing to eliminate the Union Jack- it will always be a flag with meaning to a large no in the North & UK is after all the legal parent parliament.
Anyway here are some flag proposals ( …remember I ‘m no artist & have limited colours for obvious reasons)
1) ROI flag- Shape of Ireland in Dark green (not the bright green currently on tricolour) on gold back ground with white dove/ rising sun above.
2) 2) NI flag- **exactly the same with different colour background, maybe dark yellow, colour of old Ulster flag.
3) Design two: ROI; A changeable flag with well known people on it: Background : Dark green, large black silhouette of Jedward & a small one of George Best
4) NI flag- same as 3 with image sizes reversed.
(**Reasons for dual purpose design- Scandinavian countries have broadly similar populations- they all use the same basic flag template)
Is this nonsense? Isn’t it nonsense to continue to allow scoundrels to wave flags/ symbols/ names about to provoke fear. Even if those symbols themselves were innocently designed , EG Irish flag was designed with harmony in mind.
Symbols of generations past are not as important as the people who are alive now.
All NI/ Southern Irish people should look on their flags with pride- not fear and loathing- Anna
Re post above: Here is the anthem of a great little island , just off the Northerly coast of Europe :
( NOTE 1)Sarnia; dear Homeland, Gem of the sea.
Island of beauty, my heart longs for thee.
Thy voice calls me ever, in waking, or sleep,
(*NOTE 2 )Till my soul cries with anguish, my eyes ache to weep.
In fancy I see thee, again as of yore,
Thy verdure clad hills and thy wave beaten shore.
Thy rock sheltered bays, ah; of all thou art best,
I'm returning to greet thee, dear island of rest.
CHORUS
Sarnia Cherie. Gem of the sea.
Home of my childhood, my heart longs for thee.
Thy voice calls me ever, forget thee I'll never,
Island of beauty. Sarnia Cherie.
I left thee in anger, I knew not thy worth.
Journeyed afar, to the ends of the earth.
Was told of far countries, the heav'n of the bold,
Where the soil gave up diamonds, silver and gold.
The sun always shone, and "race" took no part,(NOTE 3)
(*NOTE 1 )-Sarnia is Latin for Guernsey
(*NOTE 2 )- Guernsey Really is that beautiful, yes it would have that effect – most beautiful place I ever lived …but it wasn’t so much anguish I felt on leaving…I feel that at time on returning here.
(NOTE 3), needs to mention people more, eg family friends etc,a little impersonal
( NOTE4) Written as poem in 1911, soon after adopted as Guernsey national anthem. Local parliament proposed a change in wording in 2005- proposal resoundingly defeated- even though they then would have had a chance to insert a few swipes at the Germans who were there for a spell in the ‘40s. You can love your country after all without singing of hatred for others- a natioanl anthem is not an early verison of a rap song.
Great isn’t it? Just needs a few Irish place names inserted etc, and there you are- Anna
I am puzzled by comment re gerrymandering- thought this was cleaned up years ago- as NI election results can be tight and contentious, it is in the interests of all parties to see no impersonation takes place. For years voters were asked for stringent ID- my sister can turn up with just a voting card in England- you'd never do that in NI, passport , birth cert would be needed. I am hardly asked for ID at polling stations in DUN L- I changed address 3 times as well, in the years I lived in dun L - and eventually I had 3 votes( only used 1) - despite me writng a no of times for them to change me to just my current address
I Never experienced this in NI- I just always appeared once on the register- at whatever my current address was. People vote for DUP/SF simply out of fear- the more the peace goes on, the more those fears will go down- Anna
Enough about bloody Gerry Adams and Irish Politics. The way they speak in Ulster is enough to make anyone sick. Let us give this a rest.
Why can't the orange men be called the banana men, because they will soon fall on their black arses when they trip on banana skins during the 'black walk'. They could be called 'The Banans Shits'.
A lot of fucking Eejits, walking backwards in time.
It is 28:1'2010. The time is 16: 48.
By this time tomorrow, there will not be an assembly in The North. This is because it will be impossible for the DUP to give one inch of power to Sinn Fein. The very idea that any Catholic might ever be in power would be so abhorrent to them. Poor backward Bastards!
Bloody Ignoramus!!
This has turned out to be a most interesting topic. First it was all about Bad Gerry Adams, but then things have moved in cathartic terms to the topical injustices in the North of Ireland and the blindness of Peter Robinson and the DUP. An earlier post addressed the matter that Mr Robinson ought to be at home caring for his sick wife, checking her will, and counting her money. However he presently is on the world stage making an even bigger “eejit” of himself than he usually does. God Help Ireland !!
Mr Adams. You were wrong not to report your brother and bring him to justice, and you still must. But you are not an bloody uneducated ignoramus, like Robinson.
Post a Comment