I was on the Nolan Show this morning, talking about the shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, John McDonnell, and the statement he made in 2003. What statement? Why, the one where he commended the courage of IRA men like Bobby Sands and said it was their part in the conflict that had brought the British government to the negotiating table, from which the Good Friday Agreement and the peace process were born. This of course has upset unionist politicians and others mightily, and so last night on the BBC’s Question Time, McDonnell apologised profusely for saying what he had.
But I thought another statement by McDonnell, made in 2003 also, was equally interesting:
“Irish republicans have to face the fact that the use of violence has resulted in unforgivable atrocities. No cause is worth the loss of a child’s life. No amount of political theory will justify what has been perpetrated on the victims of the bombing campaigns.”
Confusing, isn’t it? On the one hand McDonnell commended the courage of the IRA and said they contributed to the eventual negotiations and peace. On the other he says republicans must accept that they’ve done things, with guns and bombs, that are unforgivable.
As I said on Nolan, how strange that the statement McDonnell made about the courage of the IRA received full headlines attention, whereas the statement about IRA atrocities, made in the same year, got no space at all. In fact the media and politicians have acted as though the second statement didn’t exist. And it didn’t get a helluva lot of attention on Nolan either.
But that’s life and that’s politicians and that was the past, so we should look to the future. Right? OK. Let’s look, then, to this afternoon. That’s when the remains of Tom Ceannt will be laid to rest with his family members in Castlelyons, Co Cork. Ceannt was one of two men outside of Dublin (the other was Roger Casement) executed during the Easter Rising. The police came to the Ceannt family farm to arrest him and there was a gun-fight, during which an RIC Head Constable was killed. Ceannt was arrested, tried and executed within days, and his body buried at the prison.
But no more. Today he will receive a state funeral, and President Michael D Higgins will attend a solemn Requiem Mass for him. Taoiseach Enda Kenny will provide the graveside oration. Mr Kenny is on record about Ceannt: “Thomas Kent (sic) was one of many young men who, in pursuit of the goal of Irish freedom, paid the ultimate sacrifice”.
The reason McDonnell’s praising of the IRA received such criticism was that it ruptured the accepted narrative of the Troubles. Which is? That it was good guys vs bad guys, and the IRA were the bad guys. It’s a narrative embraced by all unionist politicians and by the major parties – Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Labour – down south. And yet while the IRA are damned as unforgiveable psychopaths, the southern government appears to see nothing contradictory about their pointing to the courage of Tom Ceannt as an inspiration. That’s Tom Ceannt that favoured violent revolution and was involved in killing a fellow-countryman serving in the RIC.
What it comes down to is: the violence committed in one set of circumstances is vile and unforgivable; virtually identical violence committed in another set of circumstances gets you a state funeral attended by the Taoiseach and the President. That’s because, in the words of my late and much-loved mother-in-law, “The old IRA were nice”.
It is an abomination amd a shame of shame that Kenny is giving the graveside oration. Kenny the man and leader of FG who has done so much to discredit the struggle and rewrite history to suit themselves. Ceannt is turning in his grave
admit murdering somebody in the early 90s get 2yrs jail,admit murdering somebody in yr 2000 get 25 yrs,maybe they were nicer murders,
It’s the 50 year rule. That’s when “terrorists” morph into heroic venerated patriots and freedom fighters.
My comment is awaiting ” moderation”? That’s a term embraced and advocated by the Buddha but not necessarairy by myself or the people under discussion.
If you’re not moderate we’ll make you moderate, Beachguy…
Billy, drop incendiaries on Dresden in 1945 and you are a brave RAF pilot, drop incendiaries on Dresden in 2015 and you are a psychopath. It`s called war. What don`t you get?
the dates i dont get..if kent kills a peeler after pearse n the lads say its over by your thinking hes a psychopath,same as whoever killed the brits in antrim were traitors,
I think if Tomas Ceannt and his likes were alive today they’d be disgusted at the hypocrisy of this southern ‘free state’
It’s a shame that a man who gave his life for irish freedom is being buried by traitors and the ultimate insult that the graveside oration is being given by the blueshirt westrit Kenny,
the family would have been better to have a private funeral and keep these parasites away from the funeral of a great Irishman.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anam
100% agree IrelandSoairse. Kenny, a FG/ Blueshirt giving an oration about a man who he has no common beleifs with . For what died the sons of Roisin?
It is not only the what-ifs and the whiffs of history, Esteemed Blogmeister, which come to mind as the PM of the Free Southern Stateen, Enda Kenny, MP delivers his incantatory oration over the new grave to which the old M.O.V. has been moved.
(M.O.V. meaning,of course, Man of Violence).
The what-ifs and whiffs of geography also announce their arrival. The difference between history and geography is, as has been long noted: while one is about chaps, the other is about maps.
And if the pacific PM achieves nothing else this afternoon in the Re-bel County of Cork, he will have at the very least have put Castlelyons on the M.A.P. with his inflammatory harangue.
(M.A.P., of course,meaning Maguire and Patterson).
Maguire and Patterson for long were the unmatched company supplying sulphurous sticks to the Irish market. And the chap who first introduced the s-word into the constituency map of the upcoming General Election south of the Black Sow’s Dyke is none other than Himself, the Fine Gay Director of Propaganda,Dr. Darth Vader Varadkar..
-Sinn Fein comes with a whiff of sulphur.
So, how to explain the presence of Agony Aunt Enda the Cant-monger, more associated with Shoulder-crying Columns than the Flying variety, at the Republican Plot in Castlelyons? No probs. Like everything else in the Market Economy known as the Free Southern Stateen, it comes down to a simple if not indeed simplistic question of L.S.D.
(L.S.D. meaning, of course, Lucifer Satan Devil).
The Devil, or the Divil as he’s called in the DruidShakespeare, , when he wasn’t joining the British Army, answered to two names: first Lucifer and then, Satan.
And herein is to be found the crux of the matter, if not the crucifix: Lucifer was a harmless poor divil before the Fall or Fianna Fail, (think: the Old IRA) while his successors, those satanic terrorists still haven’t gone away, t’fhios agat / you know.
But.,,,,,,?
But, the Lucifer match, did it not, also involve a lot of friction, an initial violent reaction, an unsteady flame and above all, an unpleasant odour and fumes?
So?
So……..?
So, where’s the catch?
No catch, just a matter of time. And time being money (LSD – see above) with the passage of same, a safety catch was added and so, Lucifer became known as The Safety Match. Those satanic sinners, the Shinners, not being from Sunningdale were congenital slow learners, and so, never quite cottoned on to that basic bit of pyrotechnics. Even though Ballycotton is within a Re-bel yell of Castlelyons.
LSD, it goes without saying, is what makes the auction politics of an economy rather than a nation go round,particularly in the garden path leading up to an election.. And as Thomas Kent in the original leprechaun is Tomas Ceannt it is little surprise that Dame Enda Average was looking so above-average chuffed with himself.
For, ‘ceant’ in the leprechaun means, does it not, ‘auction’ and ‘ceannt’ means a highly profitable auction where the chap with the gavel can more than make ‘n’s’ meet. (One mentions ‘gavel’ for one thing the Blueshirt with the eternal Boyband looks, located in front of his mallet head, can never hope to attain is ‘gravitas’).
Those who hunger for power, a wise man once observed, quite likely Mr. Kipling no less, will not only eat humble pie but will gladly swallow what pride they’ve left in the process.
In the utterly irrational instance of Dame Enda Average indeed, more than one pie, but indeed, as Perkie’s inner number cruncher makes it, 3.1415926359 humble pies. Or, more specifically, pies without the e.
For, Tomas Ceannt is not the only infamous son of Castlelyons, Co. Cork: it was there also that the infamous mathematician, William,2nd Viscount Brouncker and future (gulp) first President of the Royal Society first saw the filtered light of day in 1620.
Among his mathematical achievements were the development of the number pi. Which he did not pluck from the sky but rather from the bakery of his brain. Pi, as hardly needs repeating, is a mathematical constant and refers to the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. Indeed, in this regard, pi bears a quite remarkable resemblance to the fixed smile on the rigid face of Dame Enda Average.
Whereas Thomas Kent was a fractious faction fighter his townsman was more concerned with fractions. And as pi is an irrational number it can never, naturally enough, be expressed exactly as a fraction.
A member of the Pepys Generation, and both moved in the same, erm, circles. Indeed,Samuel, that noted diarist noted in his diary that ‘after his death, William Brouncker left nothing in his will to his detected brother Henry’ ‘for reasons I think not fit to mention’.
Which seems at this remove a remarkably rational course of action to have been followed by a fellow who dealt in irrational numbers.
Or course, as far as Dame Enda Average the most irrational number of all is (gasp) 1916.
A truly dazzling son et lumiere show, Perkin – maith thú aris! “The difference between history and geography is, as has been long noted: while one is about chaps, the other is about maps.” Love it.
Enjoyed, Esteemed Blogmeister, your latest impression of a calm, granite rock of uncommon sense on the Stephen Nolan Show. Even as the usual suspects from Planet Gannet attempted in vain to ruffle your imperturbability.by (gulp) dive-bombing with their long bills (very long bills in some cases, one imagines).
Hadn’t known of this particular wireless host till you brought him to one’s attention. Does he have a head for heights, one wonders? For Nolan seems to occupy his programme the way, say, the Israelis occupy the Golan Heights.
Didn’t quite catch the name of your main adversary – it sounded something like Newry al-Maliki from the Iraq, i.e., one of those in the endless q to get their ground-bound boot into the Ira and for whom there is always a welcome on the mat, in broadcasting studios on both sides of the Black Sow’s Dyke. And which q seems to grow even longer the shorter the time gets to an upcoming election.
(Thinks: must have misheard the Newry part: this adversary’s views were much more typical of the Middle East. That would be Middle East Belfast).
And while all this was happening over the airwaves of Norneverland, there was meanwhile much that was scrumptious to be savoured on the often rambunctious Radioland of the flatulent Free Southern Stateen. Where the emphasis was on humour, the most hilarious sort, the unintended sort. Designed to make the listener ‘larf till you barf’. ,
As this quick glance at the tasty menu will show:
1. Fresh from his most recent bellyup in Tellyland (cf. UTV) Pat Kenny showed he is no way downhearted and still retains his highly honed sense of humour when he introduced an item on a certain recent re-burial thus:
– ‘Was Thomas Kent the architect of his own execution?’..
2. Meanwhile over on RTE, Yawning Ireland always guarantees a thigh-slapper or three. This happened yesterday morning when its witty sit-down comedian in chief, The Woodman (who else?) whacked away at a UCC lecturer in history, Gabriel Doherty (no relation, see above).
Seeing he was getting nowhere The Woodman resorted to Plan Zee by reaching into his back pocket where, all else having failed, he keeps his sure-fire whackerooney of a looneytoons wisecrack guaranteed to make even a half-Sunni such as Mrs. George Clooney larf till she b.(see above).
Intoned a clearly exasperated Cathal Mac Coille (for it was he !):
– In a letter to (genuflect) The Unionist Times recently the (spreadeagle oneself on the altar in a display of abject subservience) the Professor Emeritus of Detritus Studies in your very own Queen’s College, Re-bel Cork, declared that the proposed reburial of T. Kent is an ‘ill-conceived and undignified project’. And that ‘we could do without another manifestation of this morbid,self-indulgent propensity of nationalism’.etc etc etc.
Alas,the outcome to this thigh-slapper was not quite what The Woodman intended. For, in a calm,measured tone, the academic interrogated one replied to the effect that his former, formidable colleague had erred.
Eh? Erred?
Seems like J. Augustine Murphy (for it was he !) had erred on the minor matter of, erm, fact.(F-A-C-T). Seems like He had got a former prison confused with a later army barracks sorta thingy.
Now, even The Woodman (a curious mix of Densa and Mensa)instantly recognised that the accurate recollection of FACTS are to historians what accurate FREE TAKING is to a designated place kicker, lapsed into speechlessness. Having taken a sudden oath of what the Cistercians call ‘a vow of silence’ (not to be confused, with a ‘sow of violence’).
Did Perkie’s inner wrinkly ‘larf till he barfed’? More like -bearing in mind the advanced age of the quoted one, – calling out to his Home Help, Nurse Kathy Bates: ‘Nurse ! Nurse ! Where is that curse-of-God nurse? Take one out of one’s misery – a change of incontinence pad, puleeze !’.
3. Coincidentally, a similar fun-filled finale occurred a few short hours later on the same RTE when the Richard ‘The Rib-tickling’ Crowley growled at the recently appointed Labour Party spokesman on Norneverland, Vernon Croaker.
Timing, it is said, is the essence of all great comedy. And as an increasingly perturbed Perkie glanced anxiously at the grandmother clock in the equality-conscious Warbeck Towers, the interview was nearly over and STILL the sine qua non question had not yet been asked. Call it even the Shinner qua non question.
And that was when the Rib-tickling Dick showed his exquisite sense of comedic timing. After the briefest of melodramatic pauses, he finally posed it, in understated, almost whispered tones::
-And tell me, Vernon Croaker, do you believe Gerry Adams when he says he was never etc etc etc.
Such was the quality of Vern’s answer that the lad surely earned that most rare of all commodities this weekend (no, not even an original thought from the O’Toole called Fintan), but rather a (gasp) ticket to Croker. To witness Dem boys from Dublin in their ganseys of Our Lady’s blue kick the living g-ck out of the Yerras from Kerry.
4. The best whine, as always, till last.
That happened on a different station, Newstalk FM, where Ivan Yates (no relation), former hugely successful Blueshirt Minister of Agriculture (which included the Bloodstock Industry) and abject bankrupt bookie (he shudda known, so he shudda) had a military guest on his programme to discsuss the recent reburial (see above).
(Roll of drums, blow of trumpets): ……Brigadier General K. Myers of Kilamein, KG, GCB, BX, DSO,OM, GVCO, KCIE.
(The KG, ar ndoigh/ ca va sans dire,stands, rather than slips down, for Knight of the Order of the Garter. This honour was deservedly bestowed upon him after The Leicester Bigot appeared as the middle L in the Liz, Leices, Leeze troika at that never to be forgotten ceremony of bowed-bead remembrance at the WWW1 Memorial Gardens in Islandbridge during the historic visit of Liz the Lizard. This occurred after inadvertently missing the turn off for the Royal House of Reptiles in the nearby Zoological Gardens).
What is not often known is that the souvenir garter he was presented with was the actual (gulp) thigh garter the Queen Mum (she did like to tipple, she did, that ‘un) used to ‘store’ her bottle of every present babycham.
Say no more, Seymour.
Btw, Brigadier General Kev is known as The Leicester Bigot not in a derogatory way, Joxer, but rather as a mark of affection for this tireless seeker after the truth. For if Brigadier General Kev is not bigoted in favour of the truth, the whole t. and nothing but the historical truth, then Mary Harney did not invent the concept of Quantitative Easing.
True to form, The Leicester Bigot galloped into the studio of Newstalk FM with a trillion and three facts at his lingering fingertips – he’s a real divil entirely for the detail.
-Did you know, Ivan, that Head Constable Rowe who was coldbloodedly shot down even as he politely attempted to storm the Kent homestead, by one of the Kents inside, was a father of five and a native of Wexford to boot, just like you.’
Before Ivan’s inner Wexican could respond, Brig Gen Kev was in like a shot: ‘It is a matter of modest satisfaction to me that I was the ONLY member of the media to even give a mench to the gallant Head Constanble Rowe’.
Sadly, and it saddens Perkie no end to end on such a note, but as a historian who is primarily interested in chaps, The Leicester Bigot, not unlike J. Augustine Murphy (see above) is not quite so hot on maps.
The poor chap, despite 40 odd, very odd years dwelling amongst us croppies seems to still labour under the illusion that Cork, like Kent, is still one of the Home Counties..Perhaps he ought to get out more and mix with a different class of croppy, the vertical rather the horizontal kind?
Sad / Ni bron go dti e.
(PS That Mary Harney it was who first coined the phrase ‘Quantitative Easing’ has has now become a part of the politico-economic discourse, is incontrovetibe. Using body language, mind.
Perkie can attest to this: for often he was an attentive observer in the VIP section of the Gallery in the Irish Parliament- say no more, Seymour. Yes, even before it became a sacred chamber of the Cahillphat, he eye- witnessed the coining of this iconic phrase.
Like, every time the then Tonaiste moved her seated position in the confined space of the Goverment Front bench.
The better to switch the onus of support from one behemoth of a buttock to the other.
Seans gur leor sin, go nuige seo.)
Perkin- Still they gazed and still the wonder grew/That one small head could carry all he knew….
My fav by a nose: “This occurred after inadvertently missing the turn off for the Royal House of Reptiles in the nearby Zoological Gardens” – although run close, very close by [Quantitave Easing]”Like, every time the then Tonaiste moved her seated position in the confined space of the Goverment Front bench.
The better to switch the onus of support from one behemoth of a buttock to the other.” My God, man – have you no respect for a woman’s rearguard action??
John McDonnell`s weasel words on the BBC QT does not augur well, why would someone apologise for their beliefs, unless it is to curry favour with a rabidly pro British audience, an audience drawn from a population that will not hear one negative comment about their beloved military. You have to toe the line, whether it is regarding Iraq, Afghanistan or Ireland.
All hypocrites, there only to be seen. With all their parading around looking for filthy votes it’s no wonder the country is in a mess.
Is the blatantly exposed hypocrisy of the gombeens in the 26 any worse than that of Unionism….two sides of the one coin….the cosy little ,money -spinning empires that they set up dare not be ,at any cost,( and that includes the irrelevancies of human lives) , be disrupted…Kenny,in my opinion a pathetic and feeble man , is going to deliver an oration for a republican who gave the ultimate sacrifice. Kenny , a man from a party that from it’s conception ,has tried to destroy any idea of a re-united Ireland ,a fascist party that gave birth to the Blueshirts , a party that climbed on the back of the horrors of1916 to compound and destroy those noble ideals….God give me strength !!
The media are pursuing the agenda set by their masters. The Press/media is far from “free”. Sure everyone will get airtime to express to their views but you’ll notice some people get far more airtime than others, depending on your opinion.
The narrative of the Troubles pushed by Unionism and the British Government is: IRA = Bad. British = Good. That couldn’t be further from the truth when you take into account the facts concerning systematic collusion, political Unionisms involvement/cosying up to Unionist terrorists, British Army murders of men, women and children, etc
Have Unionism ever apologized for running a sectarian state and discriminating against Catholics for over 50 years? No, many refuse to acknowledge that it even happened and some even go as far as to JUSTIFY it.
Has the British Government apologized for all its crimes in Ireland? That literally stretches back centuries? Those crimes include systematic theft, slavery, genocide, ethnic cleansing, etc? No, the policy of the British Government is to ignore and try to force people to forget. And they have some strong supporters in the South, many of whom are Journalists or work in the media (some of whom even hold British citizenship…)
The hypocrisy is outstanding but it certainly doesn’t go unnoticed nor will it be tolerated.
I was reading an article quoting UUP Leader Mike Nesbitt last month where he states “we should try to respect each others views, heritages and traditions”. Mike, in the very same article, then goes on to call the Easter Rising “murderous”. I think we can all see how sincere Mike is when he calls for everyone to respect each others views….or is it just respect for the Orange Order that he wants? the same Orange Order that hates Catholics and has an awful history proving it.
Then just today I read an article in the Belfast Telegraph (no, I don’t buy it, I certainly wouldn’t waste my money. I read it online) by UUP’s Tom “Dopey” Elliot MP. He goes on to attack the Irish Government for having a state funeral for Thomas Ceannt. Is this the respect that the UUP talks of when it speaks of respecting each others traditions/views?
Its little wonder there’s no genuine peace here with the likes of Unionism and the British Government pursuing their agenda of revisionism and downright lies.
The bit that puzzles me is why Ceannt was left buried in a prison yard for 99 years. Diplomats worked for years to bring home Roger Casement whose first burial was in a British prison yard. How come no politician saw the opportunity to prove his republican credentials with a Ceannt re-burial?
Maybe they just didn’t need to. It’s a different matter now since Sinn Fein has become an electoral threat.
Nailed it, Mary Jo…