“Twaddle”:
meaning : balderdash,baloney,silly idle talk, insignificant, worthless, nonsense,untrue, prating, tedious, feeble…etcetera , etcetera..ad finitum…….
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Twaddell :
A roundabout seemingly named after William John Twaddell (1884 – 22 May 1922) who was a Unionist politician from Belfast.William Twaddell worked as a draper in Belfast city where he attended and was educated to primary school standard in Belfast city.He became a Member of the Belfast City Council in 1910 and sat as an Ulster Unionist Party member. In November 1921, He and a man called Robert Boyd apparently organised the rather pompously and portentiously named “Ulster Imperial Guards” as a paramilitary force of 21,000 unionist men.He became a member of Parliament of Northern Ireland for Belfast West in the general election of 1921. He was murdered on 22 nd May 1922 by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) while he was walking in Garfield Street, to his shop.After his death 350 IRA members were rounded up by James Craig’s government and interned.He was buried at Drumcree Church, another scene of recent unrest.Apparently the roundabout was named to honour him ,or at least to remember him after death.His spirit, if such things exist, still appears to be a restless presence.Protesters supporting the Orange Order’s desire to walk through a nationalist part of Belfast where their presence was not desired, decided to camp out at the roundabout for three years as a protest in support of their action. Their policing bill for this encampment has been some £330,000 per month for these past three years.We are all paying for it.
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The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has just been re-elected by a huge majority of members , after much hoohah in the UK. They’re bombing the bejasus out of Aleppo in Syria and on television the two contenders for the most important job on the planet (if you are an American) are getting down to their final arguments . Meanwhile in Norneverland , Ireland , while the NAMA financial scandal is quietly being buried as far down the agenda as is possible, the main news story is about the Orange Order saving -face. “What’s is this twaddle about this Twaddell roundabout , now?” ,asks the good wife , who generally hasn’t got a whole lot of interest in roundabouts at all or the Orange Order ,specifically.Well there was that diversion on the way to work last night that had her going round every roundabout she could find for an hour. Needless to say she was late for duty by a half hour.”Roadworks and diversion signs!” .No she wasn’t best pleased at all.
Meanwhile the campers at Twaddell Roundabout , who obviously have no notion of such temporal concerns ,are apparently about to be released from their self-imposed exile.
They’ve been camping out at this roundabout because they were huffing about the fact that an Orange Order parade wasn’t allowed to march near a neighbourhood where the residents did not want them to go.Why the residents did not want them to go there is a very long story , but it is mostly to do with fear, and received insult from members of this marching group in previous times. It can be easily researched.
So what’s different today that wasn’t in place three years ago ?To tell you the truth I have no real notion because the reportage on both the two local television channels is actually very vague. This is not unusual in Norneverland .As Bob Dylan would say in “All Along The Watchtower”….”nothing is revealed”.
The Orange Order has decided now that it is time to suspend the roundabout demonstration but also states that the protest isn’t actually over.Two lodges of the Orange Order will continue their protest somehow,apparently and the “County Grand Master”, a small be-spectacled man, actually,… called George Chiddick, in “real life” , insisted that the protest will continue until a resolution can be found. So in his view the Twaddell Roundabout camping ground will still remain open.What this actually means has not been explained in any way because other reports remark that the camp is about to be broken up and talks aimed at resolving the dispute are due to resume with the two aforementioned Orange lodges and the nationalist resident groups who oppose the march.
On 1st October there is to be a march past some local shops with three Orange lodges participating and two bands playing only hymns and none of the usual Orange battle -tunes and, unusually, without any specific anti-Catholic antics. It appears that some sort of resolution has been found at last .I’m not really too sure what exactly it is as yet and I’m even less sure why all these people have wasted so much time and energy on getting to this .In the end I’m not too sure either whether it was worth the cost to the taxpayer of some £20 million of their hard-earned cash.Is everyone happy now?Letters on a postcard , please…..
Okay…..Can we have our money back, now?
except it isn’t really….its along the main road in front of a parade of shops about 100 yards long that would take 3mins to pass.
A weeks a long time in politics. 3 mins is plenty of time if you want to impose your sectarian message upon others. It will take zero minutes if you decide not to impose your sectarian message. What’s it gonna be? Obviously the need to impose is too great an urge for some.
Harry, reference Allepo, the US accused Russia of supporting “barbarism” over the bombing of the Syrian city during an emergency UN Security Council meeting that produced some of the most bitter diplomatic accusations heard in recent years. In contrast there has been silence over circumstances pertaining in Gaza.
Leave it to the women though, two vessels with all-female crews have set sail for Gaza in an attempt to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Gaza is home to 1.8 million Palestinians and their Human Rights are abused on a daily basis, meanwhile refugees regularly drown in the Mediterranean Sea.
Events in Belfast beg questions, given the millions of pounds spent while thousands remain homeless in the Middle East.
There is a distinct lack of perspective In some quarters of Norneverland society, Antaine .People here have a tendency towards insularity.Generally they don’t care too much about the rest of the world at all.They’ve all this other very important stuff to keep them endlessly occupied instead….
The £20m came from the RUC budget (the name change from Long Kesh to the prison belonging to Hausfrau Saxe Coburg Gotha doesn’t fool me). Think of how many rapes, thefts and hate crimes could have been solved with that money. Still, it’s an ill wind ……. Harry, you seem to slyly suggest that there was something vaguely wrong with some unionist puffball organizing a third force to protect the province. Is this not how things are done here? To quote” if an IRA man comes to a Protestant house and my men are there, they will shoot him dead”. Two bottles of Malbec for the owner of that quote. Only joking.
Aye fiosrach , I was thinking more along the lines of this “Wizard Of Oz” style propensity to lather on some “exotic” other worldly “title” onto some little pedestrian pipsqueak mafia with airs and graces …well above their otherwise worldly, pedestrian station . The man ran a bloody shop ,for chrissakes!! Of course they’ve always loved that kind of thing here …they go into raptures over titles and wonderful sounding names ..the “Ulster Imperial Guards ” indeed ….dear sufferin’ sassafras!
I’m rereading Susan McKays landmark book and highly recommend it to anyone seeking some kind of an insight into the psyche and thought processes of the Protestant part of the population.
To me there is no clear picture that emerges. No unifying themes except distrust and antipathy to RCs. This is seemingly true even though many Protestants have never spoken to or met a Catholic. On the rare occasions when there are interactions they are invariably favorable although these are met with surprise.
They perceive themselves as being a besieged , misunderstood and marginalized people. Their Ulster culture unappreciated by everyone including the mainlanders , the police, the south and of course the taigs.
IMHO the ultimate answer to it all is a combination of the demographic process combined with rigid application of the Golden Rule by the emerging majority.
There is no roundabout named after W. J. Twaddell.
The writer presumably wishes to refer to Twaddell Avenue.
Absolutely my pedantic buddy, MT . but pedantry bedamned….it is already passing into legend as the “Twaddell Roundabout”…and you know what they say in the good Book….”Never mind the bollocks, print the legend!”…close quotes …or was it ….”This is the West, sir, “…. the reporter explains quietly…. “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” , from “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” …yes one of the great movies, indeed!
It’s revisionism 101: who cares about the truth as long as it rhymes…
Twaddle-DEE-dum and Twaddell-DEE-dee.