Some people say that when they see Willie Frazer’s Love Ulster campaign and its plans, they don’t know whether to laugh or cry. That’s unfair, I think. There’s no need to present Willie’s plans in that light. Considering them carefully, you could both laugh and cry. In fact it’d be hard not to.
The crying bit might result when you consider Willie himself. He’s a former member of the Territorial Army and a member of Ian Paisley’s Free Presbyterian Church. His father, a member of the UDR, was killed by the IRA. Over a ten-year period other relatives of Willie’s, who were members of the RUC or the British Army, were killed by the IRA. Willie was strongly in favour of the Orange Order being permitted to march down Garvaghy Road. He ran a night-club in Tandaragee, which he closed down after the UVF stabbed to death two men in a loyalist disagreement. So to say Willie has seen his share of troubles is to say no more than the truth. During the Smithwick Tribunal, a number of gardaí alleged that Willie was part of the Red Hand Commando paramilitary organisation. When Willie applied for a weapon for his personal protection, he was turned down when a chief inspector said that intelligence indicated that Willie was known to associate with loyalist paramilitaries.
And the laughing part? Well it’s just that Willie always sounds slightly out of his depth, when he appears on TV. The words don’t flow, the explanations are muddy when questions are asked of him. And he has a strange view of the world. In 2006, he thought it would be a good idea to have his Love Ulster followers go down to Dublin and march through the main thoroughfares, complete with Union flags and other insignia. Predictably, this ended in major violence, with Willie’s group attacked with stones and building bricks and anything else locals could lay their hands on.
And now (you have three alternatives – laugh, cry or both), Willie is planning a re-run of 2006 later this month. The idea is to take hundreds of his Love Ulster followers on a march down O’Connell street towards Leinster House, on Kildare Street. Already one Dublin councillor has said this would not be a good idea. Councillor Jim O’Callaghan points to the fact that fourteen people were hospitalised the last time Willie’s group came to Dublin. “I don’t think we need another provocative Love Ulster march in the city. It’s going to eat into Garda resources, it’s going probably result in some violence in some streets, and as well as that, it’s going to damage some businesses in the centre of Dublin”.
My guess is that permission to march will be refused. But if it isn’t, it’ll help Dubliners understand how thousands of nationalists and republicans feel every summer, as around 4,000 marches, damaging some business and eating into PSNI resources, parade our streets and roads.
On RTE yesterday he spoke of Taoiseach “Kennedy”. The man is clueless.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result.
Poor Willie needs protecting from himself, and we need protecting from him.
Please find him a nice padded cell somewhere.
As far as the cost of policing 4,000 marches every year is concerned, as long as you can stick the label ‘its our heritage’ on it, however many millions it might cost, money doesn’t matter.
This being Feb 3,, Esteemed Blogmeister, the 56th anniversary of The Day the Music Died, one’s thoughts automatically turn to the Marching Song which that most loveable of Ulstermen, Willie Frazer, will lustily sing.
Even as he sashays down Sackville Street back again/ as ais aris at the head of his loyal followers in sashes and bowler hats and dashing old blades with fasces as long as Lurgan spades.
What a spectacle that will be: as the snaking regarders from Hollywood, County Wicklow with their furled copies of The Unionist Times under their oxters conjoin once more in the main drag of the Orange Free Stateen with their good buddies from Hollywood, County Down and their furled brollies (small b, go deo, Smoking Joe) in their simply red hands.
The choice of tunes will be an embarras de riches. Pardon one’s Kermit but as the House of Frazer originated in the landing strips of Normandy it does seem somehow not inappropriate.
‘Je suis Prest’ being also the motto on the family coat of arms.
Which is mischievously spelled betimes with an added letter ‘Je suis Priest’ and other times with a missing letter ‘Je suis Pest’. The Frazer who styles himself ‘Je suis Willie’ will remain stoically unimpressed and know better than to pay any attention to these sidewalk scoffers with ABC on their shins. As it says on the tin: ‘I am Ready’. (Derived, according to Phil the Philologist, from the Buckinhamshire term: ‘We are Readies’).
Surprisingly, strawberries rather than oranges feature in the family armorial crest, being a pun upon the Kermit word ‘fraisse’ for the fruit not an orange. The similarity and hilarity of cette parole with the family name was just too much pun for the fun-loving Frazers to ignore.
But, mais revenons a nos moutons: let us return to our song of songs.
In a wonderfully in-depth lookback at the first score years of ‘Ireland’s Recall’ in last Saturnine’s Unionist Times the outlook was anything but gloomy for the future of this national tantrum of the eggchasing game.
Rather did the author stand shoulder to shoulder with o for ovoid and optimism. Reminding his readers that when the Coulter chorus first got a Captain’s run out and rang out around the HQ of the Alickadoos a try was worth a mere three points. Look at it now: a full fiver. ‘I am Ready’, one might say,having small changed into ‘We are Readies’ as the game has morphed from the shamateur to the street walking pro.
No more will those who have loyally stood up for the Ulsterman in the wee, glorious past have to stand up for Connie. The second last or penultimate line in the leprechaun version of The Soldiers’ Song / Amhran na bhFiann being,of course/ ar ndoigh: ‘Shoving Connie around the Green’.
No more will Oor Woolie or Wee Sommy himself have to humiliate himself on his trips south of the Boyne Water by first having to shove Connie around Stephen’s Green in order to cheer on the Boyz in Green in the Aviva.
-Stuff ’em, say SUFTUM.
It will be bye, bye, Miss United Oirland Pie in the Sky / BT even as the Prez’s Chevie get driven to the levie to find the levie dry and good ole boys wryly drinking up the headlines about the water charges and other divarsions.
It will be be bye, bye Peggy Sue agus Pegeen Mike and hello Mary LU.
No, not Mary Lou, Mary LU: as in Love Ulster.
Tiocfaidh ar LA / Our Lethal Allies will come !
All the way from the Glennane Peace Centre. Which as any Fianna Failler with an eye to regaining power will tell you, come averil,come April showers, when she’s not tellling you about ‘Sinn Fein/ IRA’ is Glen Fhionnain in the original leprechaun: The Valley of Fionnan and not, repeat not, the Valley of the Seventeenth Dail
Phew. Mine’s a wee bush and Mi Wadi.
Perkie, you say Willie sashays: does that mean walking while wearing his Orange sash?
Sort of like a cross between the Portrush tush push and the Portaferry version of the Chuck Berry duck walk, Sherdy.
Needs at the very least 10,000 hours of practice to perfect..
Hence the duration of the Marching season, from March to February.
I’m not sure when the next election in the republic is BUT this would just be manna from the heavens for SF if Willie could have a go just a few months before hand.
In fact, if I were a SF spin doctor I’d see about trying to manipulate the system to try and stave it off for as long as possible, wind-up Willie & co in the meantime and then ‘capitulate’ at the appropriate time and let them walk (with the accompanying false sense of ‘victory over the IRA) and watch as formerly indifferent people are enraged.
It would be a great shot in the arm for the Shinners.
Said it before manys a time: the greatest threat to the union is unionism….
I’m glad that Oor Wullie still loves Ulster and is preparing to spread that love around the Dublin capital. ,….he’s had a Road to Damascus conversion then ?.Now is the time to spread the love.He could have a John Lennon style bed-in on the street . He’s a great one for beds, I believe.That other wee skinny fella with the lisp could pretend to be Yoko Ono….. Peace and Love and all of that.He should invite all the citizens in Munster , Leinster and Connaught and make it an all -Ireland love -in . They could all bring their wee “Love” banners with a heart on them and sing “Kumbaya” together.
The man is unhinged however if I had lost my Dad and family members there is a good chance I would be unhinged as well.
As for the cost of policing for a republican to be complaining about this is a rich irony indeed.
Neill, many people lost relatives during the troubles but they did not end up as deranged as Willie – Willie is a dangerous extreme who does more damage to Unionism than anyone could dream off! He’s a mouthpiece for everything Catholic/Nationalist/Republic – often making purely sectarian sentiments, mainly unfounded – I can see why he would have a problem with the PIRA, but Willie goes leaps and bounds beyond this eg attacks GAA and those wearing GAA jerseys, labels a primary school in Tyrone as IRA training campaign because they fly the Italian flag – what connection does this have to his relatives being murdered?
What’s equally as frightening as Willie’s unhingement is the fact people follow him – his ludicrous ideas would have no substance if he didn’t have support – what’s the justification for these followers? No doubt a group of idiots will support him in his endeavour to march in Dublin, a city of a foreign country Willie has often reminded us! Even his campaign name “Love Ulster” illustrates he hasn’t a clue – Willie may need reminded that Ulster refers one of Ireland’s provinces – plus 3 counties outside his beloved Northern Ireland!
Don’t get me wrong Willie is completely unhinged and I am afraid he has allowed his heart to become filled with hate towards anything he perceives to be catholic/nationalist/republican.
The fact is though he doesn’t represent anybody because hasn’t been voted into anywhere now some of the more lunatic fringe may follow him but they are as representative of unionism as the man on the moon is to nationalism.
What Willie does represent is a sullen unease of how victims are being slowly pushed aside as collateral damage something to be talk about in the abstract and if that is the case how much poison are we storing up for the future?
Willie and his sometime sidekick Jamie Bryson are the modern equivalent of Ian Paisley and Major Bunting, sectarian dinosaurs who don`t realise how ludicrous they both look and sound. I think it`s time Willie was asked a few questions about the people he has, ahem, associated with over the years.It would make interesting listening.
It says something about the paucity of leadership within Unionism that the likes of Oor Wullie manages to find himself as one of its most publicly visible mouthpieces. The poor man clearly doesn’t have his belt through all the loops, and let us not forget that inoperable cancer he had which miraculously cleared up a few months back. You’d almost feel sorry for him were he not peddling such hate fuelled shite.
It seems that the death of David Ervine left a serious vacuum at a leadership level which has been filled by any old chancer including ‘Mad’ Willie, the barely literate Bryson, Sammy Wilson et al. It’s a tragedy for all of us really, as we are left to deal with the mess left by the continued failings of political Unionism. Protestant boys continue to underperform at secondary level; couple this with a lack of apprenticeships and quality employment, and the end result is bricks, burning cars and rioting in the streets. It’s all themmuns fault, of course…
Met Éireann – The Irish Meteorological Service Online will provide detailed gael warnings for Dublin given the prospect of changing atmospheric conditions during this month. A big red L, white precipitation and a blue norther over the north east of the country is being closely monitored. A deep depression remains unstable with some heavy showers forecast mainly in northern counties.
In a separate development, it is recommended that all road users adhere to advice contained in the Flagger’s Handbook.
Do not wear attire that could distract motorists. P.4
Do not mislead the public. P.6
Always plan and maintain an escape path. P.7
Willie should have been asked about the Glenanne gang and if any of his family members were involved in it.
It seems that the death of David Ervine left a serious vacuum at a leadership level which has been filled by any old chancer including ‘Mad’ Willie, the barely literate Bryson, Sammy Wilson et al. It’s a tragedy for all of us really, as we are left to deal with the mess left by the continued failings of political Unionism. Protestant boys continue to underperform at secondary level; couple this with a lack of apprenticeships and quality employment, and the end result is bricks, burning cars and rioting in the streets. It’s all themmuns fault, of course…
I maybe old fashioned but I believe that those who represent me should not have criminal convictions however it seems many people in the Republican community have no problems with this Martina Anderson Raymond McCartney Connor Murphy and Gerry Kelly to name but a few still you may be right afterall its so much better having convicted Felons running the country rather than numpties isnt it…isnt it?
Neill, Neill – I don’t like to see a man feel disgusted or fed totally up – honestly. And I suspect you are. I think if you can step back you’ll see that the idea of people who were imprisoned as ‘terrorists’ very often end up running the place. Nelson Mandela, for example. The GFA was a democratic vote – why can’t we just adhere to that and stop bashing ten bells out of each other? It keeps us stuck in the past, which most are agreed was not a nice place. Yes I write a blog that defends the Shinners pretty well all or certainly most of the time – but there are literally dozens of journalists out there, `north and south, who consistently stick it to them. So isn’t it reasonable that somebody should be allowed a contrary view? Nobody’s asking you to agree with me or other people on this site – just accept that they’re entitled to a viewpoint you don’t agree with. I think if we proceeded like that it’d be surprising maybe how many points we might also find agreement on.
Perhaps we could have the names of some of the journalists in the North who “consistently stick it” to the Shinners.I accept that the Sindo and many of its journalists do not hold back in this area!
Well that’s a good start, Argenta. I think you’ll find pretty much the same – with less spleen – in the paper of record. And of course the News Letter. And the Belfast Telegraph. And – with one exception I know of – the VO. Oops, nearly forgot the Irish Examiner. Soon mounts up, doesn’t it?
“Literally dozens of journalists ” was your quote and my suggestion was that you might name some of those in the North.If they are as biased as you assert,they will presumably rush to defend their reputations.Is it not a bit of a cop out to name newspers only?
Gimme a break, Argenta. I want to stay out of jail. Tell you what – why not point me towards a positive column in the Bel Tel, the News Letter, the Sindo, the Examiner or even the Irish Times. If it’s there, I’ll be happy to put up the link…
Mea culpa—-should have read “newspapers”.
Under no circumstances would I ever deny you or the anybody else to defend or promote what you believe I am a democrat that’s what I believe.
We signed the GFA does that mean we forget about everything that happened in the past would you tell the Pat Finucane campaign to stop because the GFA was signed of course not and I wouldn’t expect you to either.
However as you said if your site was filled with like minded people who agreed with everything you said it would be boring and in the end collapse. You ask for respect for your blog and its readers views this of course has to be a two way street if you don’t take in some of the unionist contributors to this site then how on earth will you ever be able to take on Unionist views en masse?
But I do, Neill. The only submissions I won’t ‘take on’ are those which are libellous or those which are purely invective. As a rule, this is not the case with you – or other posters.
Neill, you may have heard of the word ‘collusion’.
That’s where the so-called security forces: army, police, B Specials, UDR and Special Branch were all involved in the killing of mostly innocent Catholics – they didn’t even have to be republicans – and protected the activists in the UDA and UVF etc to keep them out of jail and prevent them from having records for terrorism.
That was wrong completely wrong and anybody involved in that should have been sent to prison.
Next point please
I don’t have to look past the name Willie Frazer to make me laugh, never mind any ideas he may have! Willie reminds me of the old TV show – Quantum Leap – instead of going back to put things right, Willie would be more content in going back and putting things wrong! Deluded and narrow minded off the rictor scale! I recall as a youngster Gerry Kelly used to run a Sunday talkback show – Willie was a regular contributor! As a kid I thought he was an idiot … As an adult, my childhood views have remained the same … As for his followers … I will let you work that one out …
I see Fiji is voting on whether to remove the Union flag section from their flag. New Zealand could be about to do the same.
I vaguely remember Willie standing for election. The election was for a seat in either Newry and Mourne or Newry and Armagh. Willie’s put up election posters with the wrong constituency name.
With a bit of luck, maybe Willie will end up in Dublin, Texas, Patrick? Though not necessarily for that inner pocket of the Lone Star State, dry town though it be.
(On my only visit there, the dry town was coming down in Wet-backs, illegal Mexicanos who had swum across El Rio Grande, which is sort of akin to the Boyne of Tex-Mex culture).
I can recall visiting the home of its most famous native there, one Ben Hogan and hearing the following story. Curiously enough, it involved Ben’s brush with elections on one occasion.
It was in 1956 when his fellow Texan General Dwight D. Eisenhower was running for the Presidency. His election literature highlighted the General’s skillsets (not the word used at the time).on the golf course.
Some enterprising Democrats in Texas stuck stickers on the back windows on the shark-finned automobilies popular at the time, along the lines of: ‘If you want a decent golfer in the White House, vote Ben Hogan’.
Once suspects Ben Hogan fairwayed and fared rather better than Willie Woebegone at the ballot box.
Jude
You seem to have little difficulty from time to time in dissecting Ruth Dudley Edwards columns in the Sindo..If there are ” literally dozens of journalists ” engaged in traducing Sinn Fein, it shouldn’t be difficult for a very literate wordsmith such as yourself to criticise the content (if not the author) of some of these.I have every faith in your ability to stay out of the courts!!
I’m flattered, Argenta. And busy. So you could save me time by fishing out one of the many complimentary pro-republican columns from said papers.
touche dead on correct Jude GRMA