27 Responses to Periscope interview with Barry McElduff

  1. Sherdy June 1, 2015 at 8:02 pm #

    Jude, you queried Barry about the unionist reluctance to join others to campaign against Tory austerity.
    They may be in awe of their Westminster masters, but they happen to be pragmatic as well – sometimes.
    Unionists know that Cameron has only a handful of a majority, and as circumstances can change – such as illness or death among Tories – and Dave Boy might need help and support from either two UUPs or nine DUPs, or both.
    Ever hopeful, they think they will then be in a position to extract concessions, not for the people of NI, but for their own parties, and then they could boast to their followers that they have great influence in Westminster.
    Life’s ambition achieved!

    • neill June 2, 2015 at 8:31 am #

      Sherdy you still don’t get it do you believe the Conservatives will give us more money to give to the unemployed more than they counterparts on the mainland currently get?

      If you want to give the people on welfare more money what are you prepared to cut from the other departments like education the NHS?

      • Jude Collins June 2, 2015 at 3:43 pm #

        Defence maybe, neill??

        • neill June 2, 2015 at 4:45 pm #

          Stormont doesn’t control defence Jude so once again what are you prepared to lose from Education NHS Culture etc?

          • Jude Collins June 2, 2015 at 5:05 pm #

            So I’m paying tax and I don’t have any say in how it’s spent?Nice.

      • Sherdy June 2, 2015 at 4:21 pm #

        Neill, – Nowhere did I suggest that the Conservatives would act more humanely, I was just giving my thoughts on their thought process. A cabinet of millionaires are not the ones you would look to for Christian charity (is it okay to use the word Christian?).
        I assume when you say ‘counterparts on the mainland’ you mean England, Scotland or Wales. But I am happy living on the mainland of Ireland.

  2. paddykool June 2, 2015 at 1:29 pm #

    Hi Jude .I did n’t see the interview “live” but I enjoyed it later. Barry seems a personable fella and able conversationalist.A light humorous touch too. I still don’t know what was agreed before Christmas last, though and what happened to cause Sinn Fein to think again. I don’t think you know either , mind.Did they just agree to get out of that bloody room and by the time the Christmas dinner was long-digested and the heat was off, they just went back to square one …lots of drawn-out talking arriving at nothing in the end. The unionists, being largely conservative by nature, anyway, are going to find it hard agreeing with any kind of socialist / lefty ethos anyway.They are largely apparently happy with the Tories…they’d rather suck up to them than spar. As for the money …..well there’s always money when it’s needed to fund some military adventure. They’d simply rather make big noisy explosive bangs with all that money than spend it on “those plebs”. They are only useful to send abroad and kill people anyway.

  3. neill June 2, 2015 at 5:43 pm #

    So I’m paying tax and I don’t have any say in how it’s spent?Nice.

    If you live in an area were your MP goes to Parliament you will have a say if you live in an area represented by a SF Mp then no you will not have a say

    • Jude Collins June 2, 2015 at 6:23 pm #

      So when did an MP who sits in the H of Cs last raise the murderous scandal of nuclear weapons? (Let’s leave Iraq, Afghanistan etc for another day…)

      • giordanobruno June 2, 2015 at 10:29 pm #

        Jude
        Although I agree that nuclear weapons are a scandalous waste of money, as far as I know Britain has not used any to murder anyone.

        • Jude Collins June 3, 2015 at 10:56 am #

          True. But their very existence is like putting a gun to the head of millions of innocent people. Nuclear weapons, by definition, are aimed at civilians.

          • giordanobruno June 3, 2015 at 12:13 pm #

            Potentially murderous!

          • Jude Collins June 3, 2015 at 2:07 pm #

            Is there another way of describing weapons of mass destruction?

  4. ben madigan June 2, 2015 at 8:59 pm #

    eurofree3.wordpress.com has always believed NI should be scrapped!!

    here’s the first post in a series – https://eurofree3.wordpress.com/2013/10/23/scrap-the-stormont-assembly-its-not-fit-for-purpose1

    /Well said Barry!!

  5. ben madigan June 2, 2015 at 9:11 pm #

    sinn fein and average industrial wage. the rest goes into the party .. .

    Why doesn’t sinn fein use the extra money to create a “micro-credit” fund to set up small industries?

    The 5 star movement has done so in italy – 2 years savings of excess salaries from their MPs in the Italian parliament and today they started distributing 25,000 euros to individuals as start-up money for local enterprises.
    Worth thinking about it – Sinn fein?

    • neill June 3, 2015 at 9:32 am #

      Do you seriously belief they would ever do that?

      They care for themselves first surely you should know that.

  6. neill June 3, 2015 at 9:27 am #

    It truly depresses me when somebody like Barry gets elected still I am sure he has some worth probably entertainment value for the good people of West Tyrone.

    • Jude Collins June 3, 2015 at 10:54 am #

      Why does Barry depress you, neill?

      • neill June 3, 2015 at 11:02 am #

        Its his some town parochial attitude with no real life experience beyond going to Queens that annoys me added to that its his small stature that annoys me he strikes you as a fella who would have had his head flushed down the toilet when he was at school you know what he strikes me he could be the republican equal of William McCrea….

        • Jude Collins June 3, 2015 at 11:21 am #

          Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear oh dear. Really, neill. I’ve heard of pre-judging and I’ve heard of prejudice and I’ve heard of fantasy…
          I don’t know Barry that well but there are tens of thousands of people who have “no real life experience beyond going to Queen’s’, if that’s your judgement on Barry. Do you think life experience stops at Glengormley? Or West of the Bann? As to having his head flushed down a toilet – I do know that Barry was a formidable Gaelic footballer in his day: I’ve a feeling it’d have been a sturdy soul who’d have tried any such thing. (And why would any civilized person want to do that to anyone?) And to compare him to Willie McCrea – I think he’d have grounds for libel on that one…

          • Argenta June 3, 2015 at 10:39 pm #

            “I do know that Barry was a formidable Gaelic footballer in his day”——-Really?And your evidence is?Hardly in the Peter Canavan /Brian Dooher/Stephen O’Neill category!

          • Jude Collins June 4, 2015 at 9:28 am #

            Agree completely on the Canavan/Dooher/O’Neill front. I can’t recall my source but I’m 90% sure Barry played for a local club in defence and was a doughty performer. Maybe I’ll tweet him and ask? Or you could, since you’re particularly interested in that point?

  7. dev32 June 3, 2015 at 11:32 am #

    I find SF’s position on the “cuts” as totally inconsistent. They dont recognize the British Government in Westminster but at the same time are demanding more money for Ireland / N Ireland. Either they represent or they don’t. If you dont recognize the government then how can you legitimately ask it to give you more funds on behalf of your constituents? Ultimately being a party of protest North and South is easy, as it doesn’t require real leadership and real decisions. The Tories may be a party of “the South of England” but the reality is also that without the tax revenues from that part of the world the “flawed statelet” would be even more broke. Are SinnFein suggesting that we run cap in hand to Enda Kenny? I think most people in the South would say that taxation in the South is already high enough without the burden of the North,

    Barry is eloquent and passionate but his party’s logic is flawed and out-dated. Take up your seats Sinn Fein and argue your case in the chamber of government to which you have been elected rather than on You Tube.

  8. neill June 3, 2015 at 12:38 pm #

    For Barry going to Queens was as good as it gets for him and as of Willie McCrea sure Barry would be proud to be just like him….

    • Jude Collins June 3, 2015 at 2:07 pm #

      How do you know that, neill?

  9. Argenta June 4, 2015 at 3:16 pm #

    I think Barry’s relative importance on the football field seems to increase as he grows older.If one believes his blogs,he seems to have been a useful corner forward for Carrickmore .But who are we to disbelieve the legend?!!

    • Jude Collins June 4, 2015 at 4:57 pm #

      Ha ha – very good, Argenta. But then we all remember the past as so much better than it was. Why, I know people who’ll tell you this was a grand little country pre-civil rights agitation, when everyone got on and Catholics lined the streets to hear and watch the happy Orange marches…