On 7th April 2016 I had a BLOG here, which you can easily access :-
“JOYCE’S MARTELLO TOWER REVISITED (BY THE TIMES)”
The Joyce in question had written a book whose first pages had introduced us to Haines, a young
Englishman with money (reputedly extracted by his father from Zulus in exchange for Jalap, a cure for constipation.
James Joyce and Oliver St John Gogarty ( Stephen Daedalus and Buck Mulligan in the book) were staying in the tower (rented from the British War Office) and hoped to relieve the opinionated Haines
from some of the Zulu money and use it for drink.
Haines lectured them on Anglo-Irish relations, blaming all Ireland’s tribulations on England.
The Times man, David Aaronvitch, visited Joyce’s Tower just before Easter 2016, the Centenary of the Insurrection.
No less opinionated than Haines, Aaronovitch held his opinions to himself like a Zulu who had
over indulged in Jalap. They were the antithesis of those of the other gobshite. I dealt with them
in the BLOG mentioned.
It must be said of Aaronovitch that he is an ideal man of the times. He moves with them. On the
fiftieth anniversary of the Insurrection the British Media, from the BBC to the Sunday and Daily Telegraph were unanimous in praise of the 1916 Insurgents’ gallantry, and the achievements of
the veterans in establishing a democratic republic at peace with itself and the world. President
De Valera had as his guest the British Officer who had arrested him.
But between the 1966 Jubilee and the Centenary there had been a near 30 year War in Ireland
arising from Britain’s failure to deal with demands for equal rights for those living in the North East.
There was no gallantry and no beauty in Lord Carrington’s allowing his troops to torture prisoners.
One such prisoner was tortured by “waterboarding” by men of the paratroop regiment. Under torture he confessed to killing a soldier. He was sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted and he was imprisoned for 17 years. His conviction was overturned and he died a few weeks ago without compensation.
David Aaronovitch wrote last year on “an ingrained Russian belief in casual brutality.”
Smearing hundreds of millions of people as unfit to be judged as individuals.
Last week 93-year- old Hugh Callaghan died. The brutality he suffered was calculatedly evil.
East Midland Police left an angry Alsatian dog in his cell, after repeatedly torturing him.
Eventually he signed a false confession and was sentenced to life Imprisonment.
He spent 16 years in prison for something he did not do.
He did not complain of the ingrained casual brutality of English people. Bigotry and
national hatreds have no place in rational people.
David Aaronovitch’s smear was supported by four Times readers. I doubt they were
representative of TIMES readers.
One of those readers cited the 1939 Molotov -Ribbentrop Pact as evidence of Soviet perfidy.
That’s a favourite trick of Ursula Von Der Leyen, a very unreliable guide to history.
He failed to mention the 1934 Ten Year Non-Aggression Pact between Poland and Nazi Germany
nor the joint Polish and Nazi grab of Czech Territory in 1938.
But Winston Churchill did, on 5 October 1938 in the House of Commons following Chamberlain’s
Munich Agreement.
Aaronovich and THE TIMES cannot be said to be disciples of Goebbels.
Goebbels admired British Propaganda as Hitler admired the British subjugation of India.
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