Sometimes you see and hear things that make you want to despair of politics here. I was watching Peter Robinson on telly a few minutes ago, talking to Mark Carruthers. Mark asked him about the clip earlier, which had shown Gregory Campbell complete with a pot of yoghurt, speaking of using Sinn Féin demands as toilet paper and informing all and sundry that there would be no, repeat, NO Irish Language Act.
So what was the response of Peter, who is widely regarded as the reasonable face of the DUP? Peter said it was a bit of slapstick and urged Mark to lighten up. When Mark pressed him he moved from amused to angry. If Mark was going to spend his time talking about a light-hearted speech, he Peter had better things to do with his time and was off. Mark moved to something else.
Imagine if Sinn Féin’s annual conference had featured a speaker talking about using unionist concerns as toilet paper. Imagine a Sinn Féin conference where a speaker mocked the Ulster-Scots dialect. And then imagine Gerry Adams coming on and saying it was just a light-hearted speech, to loosen up or he was off?
I suggest the airwaves and the print columns would be bursting with indignation and anger at such a stance. Will we see that after Peter’s response, after Gregory’s speech. Don’t be silly. This is a DUP conference, not a Sinn Féin conference. And that, as the poet said, has made all the difference.
Well , Jude , it just goes to show how under-developed is the sense of “humour” in some Irishmen. It also shows how little political or social sophistication they have developed. God or the stars help us . We’re back to the asinine Curry my Yoghurt of Crooked Mouth again. This is not slapstick you silly berks . Stan Laurel was the master of slapstick and you lot don’t come close. This is simple truculent bigotry , , that’s all ..
just to keep in with fundamentalist religion i’ve drawn up the 10 commandments of the DUP!
In a week where the two Robinsons, Peter and Mary, have been to the fore, both north and south of the Black Dyke’s Pig, oops, Black Pig’s Dyke, a death occurred. Which may or may not have been purely coincidental: the death of Mike Nichols who directed ‘The Graduate’.
The theme song for which emblematic movie (oops, almost wrote, iconic) was, of course, ‘Mrs Robinson’. Perhaps Peter and Mary, sans Paul, not to mention Iris, might think of doing their cover version? They have much in common, not least in that they are both , erm, Graduates of the University of Easy Knocks. Cum laude, not least in the media, where both are guaranteed an Easy Ride.
Peter the Grate has just been given a gentle jaunt on RTE radio by a mild, suppliant interviewer who shall be nameless. Though PR’s PR adviser was heard to mutter after the ‘interrogation’ : T.G. for Tomm.ie Gorman.
Second Half:
Mind you, Esteemed Blogmeister, easy and all as Peter R got it by comparison with his namesake Mary, he was, to borrow a rugger term, positively ‘choke tackled’ .
For Mrs Robinson got off with not even a mench, never mind a penetrating grilling.
And here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson
RTE loves you more than you will know.
One is referring to the Decapitation of the RC Cross on top of Carauntoole over the weekend. Yes, the very same mountain which is a particular fav of Perkie’s inner social climber.
Not alleging for a nano-moment, of course, that Mrs. R had hand, act or part in said high profile dispaly of public vandalism: perish the v. unworthy thought. But some back story might be in order, nonetheless, in a Free Southern Stateen where the twin subjects of Back Story and Geography are both under threat and in imminent danger of, erm, decapiation from the school curriuculum.
Back in that golden era of her Goldfish Presidency Mary R showed her golden mettle and metal alike when she went bareheaded and barefaced into the presence of Ole Red Sox in Rome. Something which even those wimpy wimmin such as Elizabeth R and Mrs. President of the USA had chickened out of doing.
This was the summit to which the ruling class of the Free Southern Stateen had long aspired and upon which they have remained ever since. It might be said the Dworkin Class (of it is they !) have so consolidated their choke tackle on power that they have seen fit to scoff with impunity at the same Southern society (oops, one almost wrote ‘taken the mickey out of !’) ever since, going so far to to ironically conferring honorary member-ship on males,name of O’Toole.
Thus, in this morning’s edish of the Dame Marian Finucane show, which globetrotted from South Africa to West Paris and hotspots besides, there was ne’er a dicky b. about the Decaptiated RC Cross mentioned above. Ditto with all news bulletins acorss the board.
Koo-koo-ka-choo.
If the Ole Red Sox detox dodge was the distant context of the Decapitation in q. there was a more proximate context as recently as earlier this year when the Killarney Local Council nailed their true blue colours to the political mast when they protested in h. dudgeon against the nailing of an RC cross to the wall of the Council Chamber Walls, after first taking extreme umbrage. H. dudgeon and e. umbrage are part of the well rounded arsenal of the Dworkng Class.
-Yerra, fot ish that thing doing here on de wall, at all, at all.
Perkie’s inner peaceloving and anything for a quiet lifer, is relieved rather that it was an RC Cross that was the b. of contention. Perish the v. thought if it had been, say, a Star of David or a burqa that had been the item at issue.
Why, one could have been confronted with Prime Time Specials on ‘the Killareny Pogrom’ .
PS The Burqa is the item of Islamic clothing which Difficult to Scary Mary Robinson wore when on a State Visit to a Middle Eastern County.
It beqame her.
I sometimes persuade myself that maybe NI Protestants don’t hold their Catholic/nationalist co-citizens in contempt but then Gregory or some equally fatuous unionist comes along to remind me. In Gregory’s eyes, my aspirations are toilet paper.
I consider myself justified in attributing Gregory’s views to the mass of NI Protestants because they still vote for the bigots. After all the years of bloodshed and makeshift peace, they still can’t see the beam in their own eye.
There you go using your logic when SF had 30 plus percent of the catholic vote a large number of catholics obviously all wanted to kill and force unionists into the sea that’s why generalisations never really work here
The difference is that as a nationalist I deplore Sinn Fein’s crimes and am grateful for the peace process which brough their depredations to an end. Has Peter or Gregory ever deplored loyalist violence? I seem to remember that they worked hand in glove with them from time to time.
Look what happened when the Shadow Attorney General tweeted a pic of some esoteric exterior decoration!
What’s new from the DUP nothing except all the swine are in the corral and when that happens you can hear the Grunts
“Qu’ils mangent de la brioche et yaourt”.
“Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the stomach…but what comes out of a person, that is what defiles.” (Mark 8:18-20)
Is Mr Givan endeavouring to curry favour with his current leader by raising issues concerning Equality Legislation and a conscience clause? It would appear that the gentleman will simply confirm that elected representatives can have their heavily subsidised cake and eat it as well. The electorate may dine on food for thought.
The Equality Commission and various other related Quangos have been rendered toothless. Given the amount of time members have spent sitting on the fence, enjoying tea and cake, it comes as no surprise that they have failed to make any lasting impression on the body politic. The cake mix is not fit for purpose, one bite of the cake leaves a bad taste all round.
Is it just a coincidence that all the party leaders in Stormont are men? In 1991 63% of the population in Belfast lived in areas that were either more than 90% Protestant or 90% Catholic. By 2001 this had risen to 66%, showing that segregation remains a significant problem. 50/50 recruitment of Catholics and Protestants to the PSNI ceased abruptly in 2011. An analysis of migration and unemployment figures confirms the fact that there are too many cooks in the kitchen.
It is time to prepare another cake, one that has the proper ingredients in the correct measures in order to ensure that the cake may be divided fairly with equal shares for all.
I dunno, Paddy. Most of Freud’s philosophies on psychology have been tossed out today — except Freud’s treatise on humour.
What passes for humour tells much of a person’s personality, character and social milieu.
An interesting thing would be to apply Freud’s theories to these truculites, and see what this tells us about their personalities and characters in a formal way.
The lady (for want of the other word) doth protest too much, in my layman’s view.
I wonder what he wears under his kilt?
Anthony, a kilt may be used to conceal a Freudian slip. Freudian theory would suggest that this is in fact common in anal-retentive personalities suggesting conflict with toilet training in early infancy with an ongoing “compulsion to repeat.” Post modern theorists on the Relief of Derry share a similar hypotheses.
lols lolar, I don’t think I’ve seen such a fine sequence (no, Vivien, not sequins) of punitive puns in my life!
Sadly they seem likely to go right over his head, but if he has an inkling it will show when he tries to bury his head in his kilt.
Then he’ll look a proper burqa too (let’s not insult Burke).
Peter and Gregory, what a pair eh? Mark Carruthers is a pretty good interviewer to be fair to him but it would take water boarding and white noise combined to get either of them to accept the right of the native tongue to exist in their little world. One thing has always puzzled me about PR, well, actually SEVERAL things have puzzled me about him, but how come he never wears dark glasses now? He and Andy Tyrie were (in) famous for their shades, worn day and night, good weather bad weather, marching with masked men or up a hill. Now, no more dark specs from Peter. Andy still wears them I think. I would love to ask him the reason he never sports them. Talking of sports, Castlereagh Council named a Leisure centre after Robinson many years ago, you know, when George Best was possibly slightly better known as a sportsman, and Robinson`s sense of importance meant he never even considered telling them, naw boys, seriously, attacking police stations in not the same as scoring a goal in the European Cup Final so thanks but no thanks.
In the minds of DUP politicians’ republicans do not warrant the civility or respect, which normal humans deserve.
In their minds Sinn Fein politicians are not seen as equals, but rather as a necessary inconvenience foisted on them by their British masters.
After all, republicans are not even close to being “house broken.”
Maybe Mr. Campbell should practice what his version of the bible preaches;
The Golden Rule
The verse that immediately comes to mind is the very basis of the concept of treating others the way you would want to be treated. It has come to be known as the Golden Rule, and it is found in Matthew 7:12. The best-known wording of it comes from the King James Version of the Bible: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” In the New Revised Standard Version, it reads, “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you…” Jesus goes on to say, “on this hangs all the law and the prophets.”__
The DUP are a vile, bigoted little party who manage to make UKIP look like a reasonable bunch of lads.
As Mary Jo says above’ I consider myself justified in attributing Gregory’s views to the mass of NI Protestants because they still vote for the bigots.’ With all the Unionist parties eager to occupy the same far-right ground one would hope that Alliance would hoover up a load of votes from the non-bigots. As this doesn’t ever appear to happen I’m not sure that Mary Jo’s assertion is so unreasonable.
I find it difficult to see Unionism as anything other than a right wing, bigoted ideology which goes hand in hand with religious fundamentalism. Thoroughly depressing.
It must be brilliant to be a Catholic so morally superfor than their protestant neighbors afterall they would never vote for ex terrorists would they surely not could never happen?
As for hiding rapists and disappearing people well we’re do you start….yep it’s brilliant be so morally superior I really am envious indeed
only Catholics did bad things back in the 70’s and 80’s eh Neill
it’s 2014 now – do you think Unionism’s largest party is serious about a reconciliation process ? we have reasons to doubt they are
The bottom line is sadly that neither the Dup or SF are really interested in reconciliation and did really think they were?
As for Campbells behavior on the Irish Language is beyond reprehensible until as a society we can start showing respect to other people’s cultures we will never move on sadly
I largely agree. I think Sinn Fein have made some efforts – though I understand when people say they aren’t enough. I do not think the D.U.P have made any effort all really – I cannot think of anything they have contributed to reconcilliation with nationalists /republicans
Theresa May wants answers to the ‘hiding rapists and disappearing people’ too. Sadly there’s no stampede by the great and good in demanding answers to her ‘tip of the iceberg’ claims……theres no stampede because the deep state make the rules for everyone else.
But the DUP don`t seem to realise the war is over, they are still in the trenches, Robinson`s outburst at the Conference was bizarre, he accused the Alliance Party of `lowering the flag` but surely he realises deep down they actually managed to wrangle a compromise. Would he prefer the tricolour to fly alongside the union jack? He then mentioned parades, well the problem isn`t caused by parades it is where the marchers want to parade that is the problem. I don`t understand how anyone from the Orange can`t see how daft their insistence on being able to march everywhere they want to is. Is this not a divided society, on a divided island? He then threw Ashers bakery into the mix (see what I did there?) just to reinforce a bit of anti sodomy, lest anyone makes the mistake of thinking the DUP are in favour of a bit of man love .I wouldn`t go down the road of sex abuse in military organisations Neill, because if it happened in the IRA then it happened in the loyalist groups and the British military. Kincora anyone?
Here is a direct quote from Robinson’s lengthy speech at the Saturday conference for those of you sensible enough not to have actually read most of as I did
”Making politics work means ensuring the peace we have is sustained. It means tapping into the potential for prosperity that has been building up for years. It means trying to achieve reconciliation between our communities. It means creating a shared society where the culture of every tradition is treated and respected and given tolerance.”
I just watched Carruthers’ interview with Peter.R and right enough he was very angry – I thought he was going to burst – loss his Christian beliefs momentarily and call Carruthers’ a wee f****** c***. How dare you ask me difficult questions was the general vibe from Robinson.
Mark Carruthers’ was asking if these comments about the need for tolerance he gave in his speech could be dismissed as not serious when Gregory Campbell says an Irish language act should be treated as toilet paper.
Robinson said Carruthers needed to move onto the serious stuff. Erm that is serious stuff Peter. You just can’t handle that Carruthers exposed you as a hypocrite.
The Protestant people of NI ( ie: DUP and Oup voters) have shown themselves to be positioned politically to the right of Ukip. They delusionally believe that they espouse British values. However, it is clear to all but the most myopic that their values are far from British. Even Kyle Paisley cringes. The British are generally tolerant of differing races, creeds, religious beliefs and sexual orientation. It would appear that our NI Protestant cousins are completely divorced from these basic tenets of decency.