I want to love Peter Robinson. No, seriously. He’s the leader of the largest unionist group, he’s devoted his life to politics, he’s had to drag his bum behind Ian Paisley for decades, he endured an avalanche of embarrassment over the behaviour of his wife, he’s gone into government with his sworn enemy. All of that takes staying power, courage and tenacity. But then, just as I’m raising my arms to give him a (metaphorical) big hug, he does something that puts me right off him.
In today’s Belfast Telegraph, Victims’ Commissioner Catherine Stone is reported as suggesting a pension be given to all those hurt in the Troubles. Swifter than a pent-up Orangeman unzipping by a Catholic chapel, Peter has declared he’ll never agree to such a thing:
“Let’s be very clear, I am not in the business of providing any reward to those who have been involved in terrorism, so these are issues that we have to go into in great detail.”
Yes, yes, there’s an election, stupid; but even allowing for that, Peter really is sailing close to the hypocrisy wind. Wasn’t Peter the person arrested in Clontibret some decades back and handed a hefty fine (which he was happy to pay – there was a possibility he could have faced a prison term). Wasn’t Peter the person who posed in an embarrassing beret to show his support for the Third Force? You can probably add other instances of your own. So for Peter to imply that granting a pension to ‘terrorists’ – hundreds of whom have, with Peter’s agreement, been released from prison – for Peter to imply that a pension to include combatants damaged in the Troubles would turn his stomach, is risible. Also reminiscent of John Major’s declaration about the state of his digestive tract at the thought of talking to the IRA at the very time he was doing that thing.
Peter was caught red-handed (no pun intended) terrorising the people of Clontibret. He showed support for the notion, if not membership of, the Third Force. So please, Peter. You and I both know there are people in the British army who terrorised people, who didn’t lose their job, and who are now enjoying a pension. All without the smallest of peeps from you. So cool your moral jets, Mr Robinson. Freud called it projectionism: “ A defense mechanism that involves taking our own unacceptable qualities or feelings and ascribing them to other people”.
You know I want to love you but by doing this projectionism thing you’re making it so, so hard.
The DUP opposed the GFA and the release of Political prisoners, that said they reneged on the Maze site, the have NOT implemented any of the GFA/St Andrews agreement, they are playing second fiddle to the OO/UVF in parts of the country, least we forget what the late David Irvine said about the UVF being present in DUP councillors’ homes (or words to that effect), the simple reasoning behind all this is the latest census figures and the notion that the wee statelet is soon to be over ridden with Fenians, or more to the point less Prods, that coupled with the unprecedented rise in the growth of SF means peter and the DUP are more than ever likely to retreat into the back streets of East Belfast than embrace the new horizons opening in Ireland, sad really!
Did Peter not also pose for a pic in Israel carrying a machine gun??
yes he did
Thomas Russell on an earlier comment on this site got it spot on describing it as Unionist Exceptionalism.
Peter Robinson never strikes me as a particularly thoughtful fellow. He appears to have an extreme kneejerk reaction to anything that is put to him, seemingly without giving such matters much thought. His “steam coming out of my ears” comment with regard to the Haass talks seemed symptomatic of this. Despite both his career successes and his wealth, he just doesn’t seem like the most intelligent of men.
If we are ever to find a way through this moral maze in which we have found ourselves, we need better leaders than Mr Robinson. Whilst I am not a Unionist, Basil and Big John appear at least to be trying to find a way out. ‘No’ is not the answer.
Very depressing Jude! Is there anybody coming through in the DUP who has a moderate approach and genuinely listens to people holding opposing viewpoints?
Willie Hay in Derry used to strike me as being fair minded, probably not seen as a success criterion in the DUP!
Quite correct Pointis, I’m in full agreement, is there any one coming through in Sinn Fein with a moderate viewpoint?
Jude, I think there is an element of counter-projectionist in your traits, and is not a pleasant feature when one is so critical of others.
Jude:
i’ll give Peter his due.He is consistent.. He probably thinks of himself as quite a droll. As you said , he also has had his” fair share of abuse” { i think it was Bob Dylan who came up with that descriptive little open-ended phrase.} what with the errant wife and so on , so he should have some empathy with sorrow.
I imagine Peter feels he is quite a card…ironic, urbane…can take a joke…..not the stoney- faced intransigent right wing politician that we perceive him to be. In any other world he’d probably be a good old jolly Tory but here he is on the wrong side of a story where we have him cast as the villain. Well , let’s face it , he is saddled with a party that has been at the forefront when it comes to antagonising and holding back anyone who wants to make real social progress ,like that which our friends in the UK take for granted.I can’t imagine anyone with imagination voting for the DUP, other than out of fear for change.Any reasonable modern unionist would find more to offer in NI21 or Alliance than they would in the DUP or the OUP, but will they vote them in ? i wouldn’t bet on it…
That said , i too have mixed feelings myself, about paying out “pensions” to anyone hurt in the troubles….on either side.
All of our lives were derailed for the thirty odd years of the Troubles and we’re all damaged in some way…mentally or physically, simply by continuing to live in this topsy turvy place where morality is some nebulous made- up state of mind.From our teenage years in the 1960’s right through…
I can remember thinking as I had to drive in a twenty mile detour to get home from work ,at sometime after midnight,…. “Where do these guys who are out shooting, bombing, or variously terrorising their assorted “enemies”, on either side, find the time , energy and finances to do it while I’m schlepping through the early rain of the night/morning , knackered and trying to get home to my bed, safe..”
They certainly weren’t working the hours I was putting in….If i have a pension of any kind , I had to work through those same Troubles to get it , as had my wife…We hadn’t much time for anything else for many years after we’d set out to build a home and raise a family .That was our personal choice but we don’t expect any favours for it. We did it all ourselves , skipping through the turmoil as we went .anyone who has not experienced this from 1968 onwards has no real idea what that was like.
Do we all need recompence of some sort ?….Or do we say ..”That was then…this is now”….and get on with it ?
No matter what is done or suggested ….., someone is going to find fault anyway.
The “fair share of abuse” was actually Mick Jagger and Keith richards copying Mr Dylan…
And who could forget Peters insistence that UDA/UVF terrorists were not terrorists but “counter terrorists”. These “counter terrorists” deliberately embraced and put into practice a campaign of murder against, not the IRA, but innocent Catholic civilians. Theres of a video of Peter defending UVF/UDA terrorists available to view on youtube.
To be fair to Peter he is in a very difficult place, the track record on compromising Unionist leaders is just not great. Of course there is a group of considerate and compromising candidates in the stable of ministerial posts and senior party positions just over his shoulder in Dodds, McCausland, Campbell, Wilson, Paisley, Humphries and Morrow.
With these elections on, I have just put myself of an after dark evening walk!
Jude
What is your opinion on the pension idea?
It seems wrong headed to me, at first reading at least.
Those who were in state forces presumably are already in receipt of a pension plus compensation for any injuries in the line of duty.
Those who were part of paramilitary groups loyalist or republican should not get one brass penny for any injuries incurred as a direct result of their activities. And as they were presumably motivated by principle, why would they expect anything else?
Was that not (in the case of republicans) what the Northern Bank ‘fund’ was for anyway?
Only those victims injured through no fault of their own deserve this kind of recompense.
Not all such cases would be black and white but I suppose some tribunal or quango could be set uo to adjudicate on the difficult ones.
Why no pension for those who did not work? There is no money.
Yes that’s right …Peter and co used to call them counter -terrorists…I’d forgotten that one somehow. they weren’t really “real” terrorists..they were like “anti-matter terrorists” …See, I did say Peter might see himself as a bit of a droll…capable of a bit of raffish wit.
There was some nonsense too about them only reacting to those real bad boy “terrorists”. They never did that “Any taig will do ” thing..either.
Yes paddy something like any prod will do, ah sorry, I got that wrong didn’t i, the IRA were freedom fighters, and the hundreds of Catholics they murdered were collateral damage.
Subtle, succinct and straight to the point Jude. Peter needs to come into the real world, the present, not the past
Yes William….not all those IRA guys were high minded idealists… It goes without saying that some were on a revenge trip. These individuals were every bit the sociopaths that guys like the Shankhill Butchers and the like were.. This kind of conflict can and does unleash the very worst.Once it started up in the late 1960’s there was no easy way to get the cat back in the bag.It took many years of stop start wrangling and half truths to get to a place where we can all discuss it freely like this.
It also damaged everyone in some way….even those of us who do not realise the extent of that damage yet.
DUP tactics seemed to work for them.
Give nothing to Republicans tick. Take over from the UUP tick. Suffer very little during the troubles tick. All through the years of the troubles any time the DUP were on TV they were smiling eg Ian pasily and Willie McCrae. Also they all seem to be very well off eg peter Robinson.
PR is the ultimate hypocrite, when ever he speaks of democracy, I have to sneer. All sides committed atrocitiesand his party was part and parcel to many such acts.. This article hits many of the points I constantly raise about the FM, Clontibret, Third Force etc. THis man has done very well for himself financially( witness to his recent sale of a Florida vacation home). He seems to be immune from any criticism( and prosecution) about his past. As Paiseley’s right hand man, he was in the forefront of the maelstroms started by Dr ian