It was indeed a delight to watch the celebrations in Leicester when, thanks to an unlikely comeback from 2-0 by Chelsea, Leicester FC won the Premier Football League. Sometimes people grin and cheer and hug because they feel that’s what’s expected of them. Other times they just let go and join in the explosive community euphoria. The party at Jamie Vardy’s was so high-octane, all that could be seen was a jumble of blurred figures, people falling, people yelling, the odd glimpse of Vardy’s own thin little face, his smile almost splitting his head in two. Everybody loves an underdog, and how good to see a class act like their manager Ranieri fly back early from Italy to watch the Chelsea-Spurs game. He’d had lunch with his 96-year-old mother, but some things are even more important than Mamma.
We see the same kind of agony and ecstasy here at election counting centres. The roar that erupted – led, I suspect, by Danny Morrison – when Bobby Sands won in Fermanagh-South Tyrone could only be compared to Michelle Gildernew’s win in the same constituency, when she came home with five votes to spare. The agony of loss was caught equally well when Martin McGuinness defeated Willie McCrea in Mid-Ulster, prompting Willie to warn the constituents that if they lay down with dogs they would get up with fleas. Tom Elliott showed similar grace by referring to some Sinn Féin people in the audience as scum.
In those early days, Sinn Féin victories were greeted with yells and leps and yee-haws. More recently, that has muted. The people who would have walked over hot coals to get to the voting booth are now going there almost reluctantly and in some cases not at all. Sinn Féin’s political advances are made, north and south, with small wins, sometimes small losses. Republicans are famed for their willingness to play the long game – it’s taken thirty years and more to get to where they are now politically.
Achieving your goal is so much more satisfying if it comes in one glorious burst from 5,000-1 outsiders at the start of this football season to Premier League champions in one rip-roaring, odds-defying charge. But for those nationalist/republican voters yearning for sudden, overwhelming success, don’t forget that Leicester’s bedlam of delight came at the end of a miraculous season – but they’d been trying to be champions for 132 years.
To be politically active only on polling day is pretty minimal engagement with the issues that control your life. But to sit at home yawning and scratching is to turn yourself into a political corpse. So make sure on Thursday that no one can accuse you of giving off that smell.
maybe people wouldnt sit at home yawning and scratching if they added a box to tick on the ballot paper,none of the above.as for taking thiry yrs or more to get were we are,what big changes have happened.
As I said to fiosrach, billy, I understand the frustration. But I can’t think of a better form of total surrender than not voting.
surrender,is voting in a british election not the same.
maybe if the[none of the above box] was added surely thats counted as voting.
I know you’re a convinced abstainer, billy, but I still think you should be alert to who gains when we sit on our hands…
Pardon my language Billy but you are what could be called the Unionists “Wet Dream”. A Republican who advocates that other Republicans don’t vote so that Unionists can get in……yes…..yes I can really see this tactic ending in Irish Unity, Billy……
PS: the curious thing is I’ve caught out a Loyalist on twitter once pretending to be a Republican advocating exactly the same thing……of course I’m making no accusations of our Billy, I’m sure he’s a Republican to the core but…..it does prick my ears up a bit and my eyes narrow when I come across Republicans who advocate non-voting……
Billy, with respect, you do some amount of shouting for someone who doesn’t vote at all.
Those of us who at least try to get things changed and bother our hole would usually say that you really can’t complain. Complain all you want but you make no contribution so understand why no-one listens to the whinge.
An dtuigeann tú?
A good argument for compulsory voting, jude? Or not? Many people that I know that have voted Sinn Féin or some permutation thereof all their adult lives will not be voting this time. Reasons vary from the lack of principled republicans of the old school as candidates to unease over abortion and practices of moral turpitude for example giving fatcat global conglomerates a tax cut in the hope of a few hundred call centre jobs. Should we examine all the parties/candidates and find the best fit or should we ignore this neo colonial attempt to show the world that we are now comfortable in our northern irish skins and mature enough to vote for our own kapo-type government. What has changed on the streets since the 70s, since the taigs have allegedly got up off their knees? Some of us will take no sh*t from the pale orange administration but then some of us never did. If Sinn Féin can cutely play the long game then our colonial masters are adept at playing one twenty times as long and Tadhg always has lost in the past. What’s the quote about doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? Nothing will ever change here until the bony hand of malevolence is removed and the great land theft righted.
I agree with much of what you say, fiosrach – and yes, I’d be completely for compulsory voting. As to removing the bony hand – the question is, how is that to be achieved? SF seems to me the only party that may take us towards that devoutly-to-be-wished consummation. One thing’s sure: the SDLP won’t.
I agree with much of what you said Fiosrach, especially in reference to Sinn Fein’s stance on abortion.
The Shinners are definitely underestimating the Irish people’s opposition to abortion, both young and older people. One Republican I spoke to said Sinn Fein didn’t lose Fermanagh/ST because of the SDLP splitting the vote but due to their murky stance on abortion. I say “Murky” because Martin McGuinness said SF oppose abortion but yet there’s photos of Gerry Adams in Dublin at a Pro-Abortion Parade!
Sinn Fein, and many Republicans in general, think abortion is just ” a Woman’s right to choose”. Its not as simple and clear cut as that. There’s the effects this will have on our society and demographics. Europe at the minute is literally committing suicide and abortion of our nations. In order to sustain a population each woman MUST have at least 2 children. To INCREASE the population each woman MUST have 3 or more children. Hence why Germany in 40-50 years will have more migrants than Germans! Japan is in the same situation, in 40 years time its estimated that 1 half of all taxes will be paid to look after the elderly! Hence why Japan is seriously considering banning abortion to increase the population. One 5th of all pregnancies in England end in Abortion. Its not “Political Correct” to say that women leaving the household and joining the workforce is creating far smaller families or none at all. There is consequences to all these changes in our society. You must remember our society has never went though these changes before, it was founded on the stable platform of Marriage, Religion, Nationalism, etc.
And of course there’s the morality side of abortion: a child has the right to life, no one, not even the mother, has a right to end the life of a child.
The reason why Abortion is so supported across Europe/America isn’t due to the people’s opinions, its due to the Governments and Media of these countries being Pro-Abortion and influencing people. Most people are like blank canvasses, they are influenced and rarely think for themselves.
“Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas?” – Joseph Stalin
I have 2 votes Jude, one North and one South. So has the Mrs and 4 others. We take great pride in voting both sides. I look forward to the day of having the one vote though.
Wow. Nice trick, O27. Next best thing to one vote, as you say…
Sinn Féin seems to me to be taking us around the houses for a shortcut. They are now an establishment party – part of both FreeState and British establishments. There is no fire in their bellies and when the cordite generation shuffles off we will be left with the old Nationalist party doing party tricks in the once hated Stormont while feathering their own nests. They were only a step away from going into coalition with the southern partitionist parties this time. Hold that thought as the Yanks say.
In relation to:
“the bony hand of malevolence…”
some readers may be interested in Leonard Shlain’s work,
‘The Alphabet versus the Goddess’.
In relation to:
“Republicans are famed for their willingness to play the long game…”
how appropriate, given the day that is in it. Thomas Clarke, Patrick Pearse and Thomas MacDonagh were executed at Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin on 3 May 1916. Prior to his death MacDonagh wrote:
“In all my acts, all the acts for which I have been arraigned, I have been actuated by one motive only, the love of my country, the desire to make her a sovereign and independent state.”
As the horse trading continues to establish an administration in Dublin, Independent TDs should ponder the use of the term ‘independent’. Theirs is a mandate to be ‘independent’, not to prop up a regime that visited austerity measures on people who are obliged to work for a living courtesy of bureaucrats in Brussels.
“What’s the quote about doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?”
Independents should take note, given Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the PDs, The Green Party, Renua and the Irish Labour Party assumed they knew better than the Irish electorate, yet some still continue to talk about, “the country” and “the national interest.” What was that quote about, “Fools?”
Compulsory voting is the only real way to achieve real democracy.
S F is the only party to represent the whole Island.Sharing power in the Six Counties and putting manners on the Unionists. Becoming the only Opposition in the 26 Counties will show that they too will get the same message and maybe get a lesson on manners as well.
The so called Independants are so useless it is shameful.
Already 3 of them are aligning with Fine Gael. People before Profit my arse, in West Belfast they are only against SF and for nothing else. Tony Gregory would turn in his grave at the behavour of this crowd of renegades. It is worth noting that PBP is strongly supported by dissident groups, that in itself tells the story
You have to vote with a certain amount of pragmatism which means voting for the best of a bad bunch and voting for what comes closest to your current aspirations. Nobody said it was easy and nobody said we live in a perfect world either. There are always hard choices to make in every aspect of life.So we have a system which is flawed in many ways , at present…just like it is in every other country on the planet…who to vote for in the UK …who to vote for in the USA…who to vote for in the Republic of Ireland ….who to vote for in Norneverland?
The facts are that we have a whole lot more than everyone had a century ago.Each one of us has a hard -won vote which generations of men and women fought for. It’s up to us to use it as best we can …..flawed and all as the system is .The only thing we have in terms of personal power is use that one vote.We can choose to use it or tear it up .If we tear it up then there’s no point even talking about any of this because there is nothing else on offer for anyone.All of us are only as good as the people we choose to follow. We can all be anarchists or we can play the system as it is . In terms of who comes closest to your envisioned future …vote for him or her. If none of them come close, well maybe it’s time to put up , shut up or set off to live like a hermit in the wilds, because there’s nothing else for you and not much else you can do.
The decline in Nationalists coming out to vote is due to a few reasons, in my opinion:
1. Elections in the North are no longer exciting. Its not like in the 1990’s, we had more “colourful” characters then, like Big Ian Paisley (RIP….oh no, Rest In Peace is a Catholic motto, he wouldn’t like that….), we had more political parties too, like that Women’s Coalition Group, the UDA’s Ulster Democratic Party and I believe Republican Sinn Fein contested elections then too. We had events like Drumcree. Yes they were terrible but one thing that couldn’t be said was that they were boring. Back then as well many seats were up for grabs, as Martin McGuinness proved when he took Mid Ulster in 1997.
2. We all roughly know the result before the votes are even cast. Assembly Elections were always boring, its not like the British General Election or the Irish General Election when every vote matters. In Assembly Elections votes can be transferred. So if every Unionist or Nationalist transfers, a Nationalist/Unionist majority area will always have a Unionist or Nationalist representative.
3. Many Nationalists see Sinn Fein as going “too far” or being “fools” when it comes to its approach of reconciliation with Unionists, hence why they wont bother to come out and vote. They see Unionism not reciprocating and consider Sinn Fein, as one Republican put it to me: “Arse lickers”. Many of Sinn Feins policies like in regard to Abortion has also turned a lot of voters off too. Sinn Feins failure to get an Irish Language Act, to increase job creation and investment in areas like West Belfast, etc are also putting off a lot of Nationalists voting, they think “What’s the point?”. A lot of Nationalists also consider Stormont a failure anyway, so why bother voting in the first place?
Sinn Fein, and especially the SDLP, need to tackle the low voter turnout in Nationalism and urgently.
Will Compulsory voting work? I don’t know but how would that work? Can you really force people out to vote? How would that be implemented? And if people who clearly don’t want to vote are FORCED to vote they may just end up spoiling their vote anyway.
The linking of Leicester with ‘Lections in Norneverland, Esteemed Blogmeister, has a particular relevance for the Londonderry lovely Londonderry Constituency on the Foyle.
This vividly came to mind while one was perusing the fair and fairly unbalanced report on that electoral district as seen through the partially impartial eyes of the Nor Pol Cor of that paper of record, The Unionist Times.
With the forensic thoroughness for which his reporting has become a byeword, Gerry Mo (for it is he !) managed to inject intravenously into his copy not one but two quotes from the electorate, both of which, curiously enough, diss the Shinners: one from a SDLP fan, the other from a PBP supporter .
Oddly, no voter quoter , seemingly, could be found to blow a kiss in the direction of the Dust Binners.
Reading between the lines here, does one detect the potential for the P-word, as in the Pulitzer Prize in this pitch-perfect prose? Does one see pitchers of celebratory Spritzers being downed in copious but discreet amounts in the hallowed halls of TUT on Tara Street, Dublin 2 ?
Spritzer , of course, being the only possible tall, chilled drink for such an auspicious occasion, its derivation bearing a remarkable resemblance to the writing style of the putative prize winner of the Pulitzer: ‘ spatter, squirt, spray, sprinkle’.
The Homeric evenhandedness of the report is evidenced from this quotation from a supporter of the PBP candidate:
-What I like about him is that he can be strident, but in an interesting way.
Never was the McCanndidate for the PBP which are non-orange as well as being non-green, more interestingly strident than when Eamonn (for it is he !) wrote in his weekly column in (gasp) The Unionist Times (and from which he is on a principled Sabbatical, unwaged, no doubt, for the duration of the hustle on the hustings) on the very last day of last year;
-Against a background of major clubs paying non-triers a million a month Arsene Wenger stands out as a beacon of integrity, an indomitable true believer in the spirit of the game. He has that very, very rare thing in top-flight football – ordinary decency. All true lovers of football will wish this to be Arsenal’s year.
Scarcely can there ever have been, in the long and occasionally fractious backstory of true religion, a more compelling case made for the McCannonisation of an upholder of ordinary decency than this. And all done in a strident yet (gasp) interesting way.
This particular piece deserves to be read and re-read, even if one is not a supporter of the red ganseys of The Arsenal , for truly is The Arsene worthy of a Sainthood, much, as say, the author of the above disinteterested report if of, say, the Pulitzer.
For in the wake of the Leicester victory in the League, (Premier, British) the atmosphere in the PBP campaign HQ on Foyleside can only be as (understandably) downbeat as a wake,.
While the bubbliness normally associated with the popping of corks from the bottles of champagne must seem as far away as pork barrels in Cork, York, Glenamaddy or New York itself. Spare a thought therefore for the McCanndidate who must be mired in the Trough of Despond itself.
Let us hope that the defeat of decency (ordinary) and the quenching of a beacon (integrity’s) have run their course for this week, in the UK, at least. And that those very, very rare things in politics (top-flight) are given the reward they truly deserve, at the polling booths.
Go ye therefore, and cast your vote for The Man who is Thursday (in The Unionist Times) this, erm, Thursday in the city of Columnist Cille.
To conclude by tying up a loose end: the proof positive of the performance of a miracle which is a mandatory element of the solemn process of McCannonisation.
No probs. Would the clerk of the court kindly bring forward Exhibit A.
Gentlemen and Ladies of the Jury, please direct your attention at the screens in front of you. There you will see a compendium of post match interviews given by the candidate (for Sainthood). In each and every one of them you may observed that Arsene Wenger looks every bit as charismatic as your average cold-blooded creature which dwells in the darkest depths of a Slovenian cave system. Not for nothing is he known – by friend and former foe alike – as The Salamander Man.
The Miracle resides in the following rhetorical question: how can somebody who is on 9 million squids a year contrive to look so relentlessly miserable ?
The Chairman of the Jury has a question?
How did the McCanndidate / Thursday columnist of The Unionist Times omit that trivial matter of 9 million squids?
A doddle of a question, easily dealt with: it’s not easy, after all, for a preternaturally industrious person such as the McCanndidate to remember everything.
Considering he also pens a column (respected, widely) for the Bel Tel, Hot Press and Derry Journal in between being a perennial radio and telly studio tourist in his driven efforts to maintain his treasured status as the Hissiest of all Sinn Fein Dissers for the umpteenth year on the, erm, trot.
May the newly beatified Arsene , the Prophet of People before Profit, preside, guide and decide the electorate to vote for the McCanndidate.
Amen / Apersons.