Picture by Conservative Party
Sometime you just want to tear off all your clothes and run shrieking down the street, don’t you? It may sound extreme but how else to respond to the discovery that you’re living in a society governed by Alice In Wonderland logic?
Today we had Theresa Villiers coming out with her much-anticipated statement. And? And she said some stuff about the UVF and the UDA which no one was listening to, because the UVF and the UDA got their retaliation in first and announced their solemn commitment to solving criminal and educational problems in working-class unionist communities a week ago. Don’t tell me the UDA and the UVF have killed 50 people since their ‘ceasefires’. Who cares? Certainly not unionist politicians, or they would have been storming out of Stormont years ago. No, the DUP waited until there was a whiff of republican violence and then they tumbled out.
Why the difference? Because the IRA are linked to Sinn Féin who share in government. And now Theresa Villiers has done a George Hamilton. The Chief Constable told us that the IRA killed Kevin McGuigan and in the same breath told us that the IRA was committed to exclusively peaceful methods. Theresa Villiers today tells us that there is evidence the IRA killed Kevin McGuigan (by the way, why are we not allowed to see this evidence?) and that Sinn Féin and the IRA are under the one umbrella of the IRA army council. At least I think that’s what she said. Oh, and that they’re committed to peaceful methods.
Villiers’s statement, we are assured, is going to cause problems for the DUP. Why? Because they can’t be seen to sit in government with a party that’s under the same umbrella as the IRA. Even if the IRA is committed to peaceful methods? Yes. Why? Because…because…Because we can’t have people in government cheek-by-jowl with a violent organization…Oh sorry, meant to say non-violent organization. But violent, non-violent, who cares. Stand by for DUP skirts to be pulled tight around them and smelling salts administered as they try to express their shock/disappointment/distaste/desire to nose-hold.
But didn’t the DUP know that several Sinn Féin MLAs were in the IRA – including the Deputy First Minister? Yes. Then how much closer to the IRA could you get than having been in the IRA? Yes, but the DUP can’t be seen to sit with people who are so closely linked to the IRA. Not even if the IRA is committed to solely peaceful methods? Not even then. Come ye forth from among them….
It’s as well the early Christians didn’t respond that way to Saul of Tarsus after he had that horse-fall-off thing on the road to Damascus. But then compared to the DUP, the early Christians were a bunch of raving libertines. Here, hold my clothes…..
We still don’t know who killed Jock Davison, allegedly the reason for the killing of Gerard McGuigan. Not only have the unionists forgotten him but so have the PSNI. Unless of course they already know who did it but they are beyond arrest
Our Chief Con Georgie Boy is so certain of the identity of the person/s who killed Kevin McGuigan that so far he has arrested about 20 different people, questioned them and released them unconditionally!
What with Jude threatening to run around starkers, it now seems that Georgie Boy is wearing the King’s New Clothes, and that he has no more idea of who the culprit is than who will win the Rugby World Cup.
But Teresa’s positive linking of Sinn Fein to the IRA, with the IRA being the dominant force, is not just a security assessment, right or wrong.
That is the Tory tactic of trying to put Sinn Fein in a weak negotiating position over the welfare reforms/cuts.
Now that the loyalist paramilitaries (who are inextricably linked to the unionist parties) have been fingered as being involved in all sorts of lawbreaking, can we expect Sinn Fein and the SDLP to walk out of Stormont in protest?
Aww now Jude..Even I know this is par for the course from the loyalist side of the board and I live in Texas…grin
Of no relevance whatever, Laura – but I’m sure you’re familiar with the ditty: “All mah ex-s are in Texas/That’ whay Ah’m in Tennessee”…
only a minority cares what any of them think,just close it up it cant work.
At least the blame will have shifted (slightly) from George Hamilton the First. Isn’t it an awful state of affairs when ‘democracy’ hangs by a thread and the man holding the thread is none other than an ex RUC man? We’ll see now how and if the Unionist parties can convert this statement from the Governor General to their advantage. If they want the colonial administration to fall,now’s their chance. We are assured that all parties want it to remain so where do we go from here. Contrary to popular belief, the IRA and Sinn Féin are not the same thing. Who holds the winning cards now?
The DUP just cant wait to get back into Stormont can they.
Peter is probably giving Martin a great big hug now and saying lets never split up again.
The visit of China’s President Mr Xi Jinping and Tata Steels decision to axe 1200 jobs throughout Scotland and England resulted in the proconsul delivering her comments in a virtually empty chamber. Justin Trudeau and Canada’s Liberal Party just ended the reign of a conservative administration and what is exercising the minds of some of our elected representatives, one more petition of concern and a Civil Rights mural in Derry. It’s a case of a red carpet in London but do not mention Red Sky in Belfast.
Perhaps now we can get back to a situation in which someone remains innocent until proven guilty on the basis of evidence presented in a court of law. Spooks and Special Forces on the streets and karaoke politics in Stormont are getting us nowhere fast.
The Chinese have a saying,
“He who reckons without his host, must reckon again.”
” another day of made to measure history”
Well Jude…so Our Theresa having virtually repeated word for word what the Chief Constable said a short while back while producing no evidence , seems to have condemned both the UUP and the DUP to political exile forever…if you follow the illogic/ er logic …er whatever we use as a reckoning stick in the Magic Land of Norneverland. That would be right/wrong …wouldn’t it? She has said that nothing has really changed at all since the Chief Constable emoted last, so the DUP will surely have to conrinue doing their Hokey Cokey , in/out dance forever …right ? Better get those dancing shoes re-soled and heeled , I would imagine …unless they are going to do the unthinkable and do a turnaround {what is the terminology on “Strictly come Dancing”?….aw that’s right….”spotting” ., I believe it’s called …it reduces dizzyness as the dancers spin}…..watch out for a lot of dizzy dancing and balancing on the heads of pins…..
Seems they have got enough to go back. Don’t know about TV Mike. What has changed, Peter? Er…um
I think the re-entry was decided, fiosrach, before Theresa opened her ventriloquist’s-dummy mouth…
Of course it was, jude. It was decided before.they came out. A plan between RUC+PSNI, the DUP and the colonial ‘authorities’.
What about an election? Maybe that will clear up the whole issue. We might even end up with Martin as First and Jim Alister as Deputy!!!! At least Jim is an unapologetic Bigot!!!
The Wonderland words of T.V.’s latest laboured lecture in high Tory tones, Esteemed Blogmeister, was not the only passage of back-passage prose today which one was compelled to wipe not once but twice.
The other example was (gasp) the editorial of The Unionist Times. Under the heading ‘Ireland’s exit from the Rugby World Cup: Time to look beyond the hype’ one read it with an even more empty feeling than normal. What then was missing.?
Nothing for it but to gawk the gawk – a second time. Time to look beyond the wipe. And sure enough the missing link was discovered. (And is not rugga the A-game for missing links these days?). From the following phrase: ‘the loss of injured players like Paul O’Connell, Jonathan Sexton and Peter O’ Mahoney was quite significant’.
Ah, yes: the missing link in this instance is Seanie. That would be Sean Seanie O’Brien (or S.O’B for short)..The Carlow man whom one was compelled to follow up. One, of course, cannot be entirely certain of the reason why he wasn’t mentioned in the august editorial of TUT this balmy October day.
But, as conjecture is free, one feels free to conject.
Confucius say: a shot in the dark never do nobody no harm in the bload dayright.
Now, Seanie (like Cecil, this breed of legendary Lions do not a surname need) was marked absent on Sunday against Los Pumas because he had been (gasp) suspended for an, erm, indiscretion committed during the previous game against Les Bleus.
Did what a bogballer might do: pucked a frog in the guttural gut so he did. Not cricket, Seanie, old chap, nor rugga itself. Tactic: don’t even mention the warrior ! The game of the egg-shaped ball is the game of gentlemen. Whatever you say, say Sweet Fanny Adams.
One anticipates, and not perhaps without reason, that tomorrow’s janitorial editorial in reaction to the Pro-consul’s perfectly obscure homily on the PIRA through her perfectly aligned piranha choppers, will adopt a similar tactic. D for Defence.
Defend the UDA and udda’s on that centrally heated side of the house. The type of defence will depend upon the slightly legal organisation in q. Thus, determined by whether it is the UVF or the RHC or the UDA, it could be a rushed defence, even a passive defense, perhaps a narrow defence , not to mention the drift defence itself.
To borrow in this instance some felicitous phrases from the flossy glossary of the game of the Boss Class.
It is possible then that the odds are that the janitorial aspect of the editorial in tomorrow.s TUT will focus and focus entirely upon the mucky-booted Chucky-heads who wouldn’t (gulp) know a ruck from an aria in Orfeo y Eridyce by Gluck.
The symphony of sound one hears emanating from the eyrie of the eerie editor of The Unionist Times with his peaky green eye shade a-slant at the appropriate Anglo-Irish angle, is that of sink and toilet and washroom being scrubbed, swabbed and suction-pumped.
Plop.
Slop.
Mop.
.
I honestly care absolutely nothing about her ambivalent and incoherent pronouncements……Kim Jung-un’s fatuous rantings are as relevant to the situation here and the constant juggling with the truth. Auld Geordie Boy has fecked up ….his leopard spots are not so invisible now , no reassurances will convince me at present ,or for some considerable time ,that the RUC and their Special Branch cohorts are not at the helm of good ship “Perfidiousness” once again…..Twenty years of slowly developing trust obliterated almost instantly….Ah well ,back to the future
I thought the mass exodus of ministers when the speaker called the secretary of state for NI said a lot more than the content of this quite predictable report.
It warmed the cockles of my heart.
You gotta love the unionist mentality and appreciate their resolve to ensure that the farce that is Northern Ireland causes embarrassment right to the echelons of Westminster.
Similar scatterings happen on a multitude of topics raised at Westminster. The green benches are more empty than full when matters relating to Wales and Scotland are discussed. This must make them farces of countries too.
“Similar scatterings happen on a multitude of topics raised at Westminster. The green benches are more empty than full when matters relating to Wales and Scotland are discussed. This must make them farces of countries too.”
Yes, ones that the english have little interest in. That is the point exactly that I was making regarding northern ireland.
Oh it is not only me that thinks northern ireland is a farce.
Imagine going to court accused of murder only to find there is no evidence and the judge turns around and says, but the word on the street is it was you did it.
I imagine some EU countries will have raised eyebrows to say the least.
Well said Jessica. It is completely farcical that the imperial power that governs you openly says we don’t really give a crap about you as well.
Here’s a sobering thought for unionism….get down to busy and make your enemies your friends, because you’re going to need them in the not too distant future. Why? Because the demographics tell the story. It would be political sucicide to ignore the fact that unionism will soon be in the minority in the north of Ireland.
I suppose unionism/loyalism/royalism/imperialism/colonialism has one saving grace, they know nationalism/republicanism would never do on to them what unionism/loyalism/royalism/imperialism/colonialism done on to nationalism/republicanism during a period of discrimination and sectarian bigotry staged in Ireland for decades.
You have used a lot a adjectives in your comment but you’ve missed out the two biggies, the Catholic and Protestant elephants sitting in the room. Sectarianism thrives when it’s given a good dose of religion to feed off.
“You have used a lot a adjectives in your comment but you’ve missed out the two biggies, the Catholic and Protestant elephants sitting in the room. Sectarianism thrives when it’s given a good dose of religion to feed off.”
I dont think there is any issues between catholic and protestants here, I certainly hope not.
The only religious issue recently has been some ministers both pastoral and poltical now having issues with islam.
There is a sectarian divide between british and irish and that needs to end along with british rule in ireland.
Unfortunately you hope wrong, under the banner of Unionists/Loyalists/Royalist/Imperialist/Colonialist the word Protestant can also be added. Ditto Republican/Nationalist and Catholic. In an idealistic world Catholic/Protestant/British/Irish/Unionist/Republican prejudices would come to and end, but as you are probably aware, this is easier said than done.
I am not aware of any religious issues.
Not all catholics are nationalist, not all protestants are unionist.
Lets agree to disagree on that
What’s people’s consenses on what’s really going on here, I agree entirely about what you post Jude, I always do… But spades need to be called spades here. Politial Republicanism needs walk away from the entire thing here, the system couldn’t be any more flawed. London now playing to the tune of unionism. Have we ever really been an equil at the negotiation tables… We have give every inch with a honest approch for a better future and we get nothing but circus after circus in return… we do have relative peace and it great and long it continue and improve. But how long can you go forth in this constant blaming and framing.. The Republican community really needs to get behind Sinn fein and back them to walk away from this false government. Boycott any involvement in the corrupt system.. we were here and are here for a genuine better future by no other means but peaceful, if they dont even take that serious then why take them serious. Just don’t take part, don’t sit in government, don’t vote, don’t protest, don’t argue.. walk away on til some sense prevails.. wouldn’t expect to see it coming from close to home but hopefully somewhere on the planet will take notice.
Full moon was it last night Gavin?
I agree with a lot of what you say Gavin. We should be demanding that the full extent of Britain’s dirty tricks are revealed (past and present). All state agents should be unmasked. The truth should come out about everything. MI5 have too much influence though to rely on one political party to do all the work. I fear even the people who want to stand up to MI5 can’t because they have too much on them. The only hope on the horizon is a labour government. But I fear MI5 won’t let that happen as long as Corbyn has a chance to become PM.
I agree with you Gavin: we can chatter here til the cows come home. Why are Sinn fein bending over backwards to accommodate this nonsense ?
One thing I don’t get, why is it surprising that a unionist politician would object to the presence of the IRA (in any form) and not make the same amount of fuss about a loyalist paramilitary organisation.
The IRA wanted to do away with everything unionism stood for (clues in the names there) and even if loyalists likely shaved many years off the existence of N Ireland through their own actions, it’s easy to see why the DUP got more uppity about the IRA than them.
You do get pretty much what you expect, but we have to pretend to be horrified and so offended at the thought.
Peter, Loyalist paramilitaries were armed by and instructed by the british state forces.
It was the british that told loyalists to kill innocent Catholics to starve off support in their communities.
Jackson died with the most info on the true extent of their involvement, his prodigy Billy wright bragged about being escorted in the back of RUC land rovers to get away from murders he committed but even in jail was taken out.
After the initial ceasefires, loyalist feuding wiped out just about everyone involved in the murders of pat finucine and other state planned assassinations.
Do you think that was all coincidence?
The british state has more blood on its hands than any of our politicians.