I’ve met Arlene Foster on just two occasions. The first was about twenty or twenty-five years ago, when I was interviewing unionists about living the Fermanagh border area. The interview took place in her Enniskillen office, and she was unassuming and friendly. I recall nothing of what was said except that at one point, in response to a question, she laughed and said “Sure how would I know? I’m only a wee solicitor!”
The second time was about a year ago when I was in the green room, waiting to go on as part of the audience at Stephen Nolan’s TV show. I was watching her talking to a group of other people; as the conversation finished she turned and caught my eye. “Oh hello, Jude, how are you?” she said, stepping forward with extended hand. I reminded her that the last time we’d talked, she was only a slip of a girl down in Enniskillen. She was much tickled by this description.
I know it’s a small thing, even a superficial thing, but I find it hard not to warm to politicians who are open and friendly in their manner, regardless of their politics. Needless to say, there are a considerable number of unionist politicians who make it clear they’re not longing thinking of adopting me – Ian Paisley Jr and Sammy Wilson come to mind. But the ability to preserve the normal civilities goes a long way with me.
So how will Arlene be as leader of the DUP? Well, when I interviewed her back in the day she was in the UUP. She left and joined the DUP over, among other things, the release of paramilitary prisoners (for which read ‘republican paramilitary prisoners’). She did her famous ‘rogues and renegades’ description of nationalist and republican MLAs when temporarily replacing Peter Robinson. She’s made it clear she’ll have nothing to do with the commemoration of the Easter Rising, even though she’s nominally the First Minister of everyone living in this state, with nearly half of those people treating the Easter Rising with at worst respect and at best awe.
But keep in mind: the Assembly election looms. DUP supporters will be looking carefully at her every move. They will not be looking for signs of rapprochement with nationalists and republicans – they’ll be looking for someone who can bash the Shinners and SDLPers as hard as any man. So we may look forward to a period of Arlene’s DUP leadership where she’ll be showing Sammy Wilson and other such colleagues that she has the female equivalent of their backwoods cojones.
She will do whatever she has to do to win elections a common trait amongst Political leaders. Do I think she will do a good job yes I think she will be a lot more tactile than her predecessor more connected to the people on the ground. However the reality is time will only tell it always does.
doesnt really matter what she will be like as leader of her party it wont make any difference to us half who dont vote.
Why don’t you vote, billy?
i dont vote in british elections.cant see the point.
I kind of know what you mean, billy. But it’s like being ambitious at work. If you choose not to be, you’ve got to accept that you may find yourself taking orders from someone you consider a dolt. Likewise in voting – if you don’t, others will and you’ll have to accept what they like.
That isn’t a great argument as to why we should vote Jude.
I tend to agree with billy, we should demand the right to vote in Irish elections.
Why isn’t more done to assert this?
Half a million or more Irish citizens up the road who are denied the right to vote for who leads their own country?
Is that really what democracy means in Ireland?
If you don’t vote Billy then you cant complain about the politicians you end up with, more likely Unionist. Your more likely to get blood out of a stone before you will get a Unionist representative who will represent or even care about your views if your a nationalist.
In many ways Billy your the Unionists dream. Due to Nationalist parties vote splitting, nationalists not voting, etc that’s why so many nationalist majority areas for decades were represented by Unionists, many of them extremist unionists like Ken Maginnis and now today the people of Fermanagh/South Tyrone is stuck with a lanky drip Tom Elliot who everyone knows only represents one section of the community. The SDLP and low nationalist voter turn out is to blame for this but mostly the SDLP but Tom will more likely be out in 2020 but that’s a long wait.
Politics is like a game Billy, don’t take it personally. If you don’t play the game then how can you ever expect to win? Take my advice: Always use your vote.
billy
Would you vote in a referendum called by the British Secretary of State on the constitutional question?
no.
The half who don’t vote are making even less of a difference. It will be votes that will change the constitutional position of this place. You either want to be part of that or you don’t.
Your piece confirms my impressions from this distance, Jude. Her political relationship with the DFM will be pivotal for progress, I should imagine. Surprised to learn that Sammy, a fellow teacher, is distant. Perhaps you differ on climate change!
It’s a long time since Sammy (or I, come to think of it) has taught a class…
Sammy Wilson…..has been…..teaching children??….If he has I bet they are sticking pins into a doll of Gerry Adams even as I type…..
Leadership? Inspector Colombo might say,
“Can you help me out?”
A leader is someone who can create an inspiring vision of the future combined with the ability to motivate and inspire people to engage with that vision.
The omens are not good. The political hobby horses are starting to rotate in predictable circles, with scheduled stops for trips to the White House. The green beer brigade with shamrocks, shillelaghs and leprechauns will no doubt exit the stage just in time for the annual pallet and tyre burning festivals.
Voters can stop the roundabout and dispense with the cake and circuses. Prior to voting, it is time to ask the vexed question,
“What is in it for me?”
I want to see people working and being as well paid as politicians. I want to see older people and children being cared for as if they were members of of a royal elite. I want to see children and young people being educated in facilities comparable to those in private educational institutions. I want to see young people educated without being burdened by debt before they even start to seek employment. I want to see hospitals without trolley waits and health care facilities on a par with private health care facilities. I want to see quality services for adults and children with disabilities. I want to see an end to people with mental health problems being incarcerated in prisons. I want to see arms manufacturers hosting coffee mornings, jumble sales and sponsored marathons in order to purchase weapons of mass destruction.
Now that is how I would measure effective leadership.
Arlene Alannah wasn’t the only one of her persuasion, Esteemed Blogmeister, to say she won’t be touching the Easter Rising Centenary Commemorations with the proverbial 16-foot barge pole.
On the Late, Late Show last Friday her co-religionist, one Ivan Yates, almost ate the head off the host, when he was asked to state how he would be marking the occasion.
Although he didn’t actually frame it in the following way -‘There’ll be no Failte Ui Cheallaigh* from me, I can guarantee you that !’ – the former Fine Failure Minister of Horse Manure meant the same thing. He could scarcely be described as ‘observing the civilities’. Hot under the blue shirt collar and all, he were.
(* That would be the Leprechaun for the warmest welcome there is: ‘Kelly’s Welcome’)
Unlike the civilized savaging of Patrick Pearse, RC, on religious grounds (see under B for Blasphemy) by the restrained Religious Affairs Correspondent of the Unionist Times earlier in the week, Ivan’s processed beef was primarily with Padraig Mac Piarais on a basis both linguistic and financial.
-I thank goodness that his vision of an insular Gaelic-speaking nation is dead in the water.
And:
-As the only English-speaking country (sic) in the Euro zone, financially this is the greatest trump card we can play !
One mentions the religion of Mr. Yates, incidentally, as it was he himself who dragged it into the debate, oops, conversation. This happened when a very incensed Big Ivan insisted on swinging his own particular brand of, erm, thurible thus:
-I was a seven-year old in a Protestant primary school in Wexford in 1966.
In Dineen’s Dictionary, the legendary Leprechaun-English one, the following definition is often panned in predictable quarters with the equivalent of an academic sauce pan over the head:
-Sasanach: an Englishman; a Saxon; a Protestant.
Not to mention:
-Gaire Sasanaigh, dranntan madra: an Englishman’s laugh, a dog’s snarl.
(And remember, Dineen wasn’t even a bog-oak Christian Brother, but a sophisticated (gulp) Jesuit itself).
Mr. Yates does rather insist on playing Mr. Jeckyll to the Dr. Hyde of Douglas Hyde.
Indeed, the manner in which Mr. Yates snarled at the word ‘Gaelic’ may give one some idea of what was going through the Leprechaun lexicographer’s mind at the time. Not to mention the Yatsian hip joining of the G-word with ‘insular’, a form of verbal ironmongery which surprisingly went uncontested by the sparsely-framed host, who is also surprisingly called Tubs.
At this point, Perkie’s inner peripatetic was vividly reminded of a trip he made in the not too distant past, to a truly pathetic and insular city which inexplicitly insists on making a language other than English its own. That would be the capital city of Slovenia for slow learners.
Thus, one found oneself eleven days ago listening to the chimes at midnight in Ljubljana amongst a peculiar lot who were inexplicably not falling around Preseren Square on a puce-coloured carpet of vomit and caterwauling:’ We are Ljubs, we are Ljubs, we are, we are, we are Ljubs’.
One knew one was is for an insular time on spotting in the airport a poster which featured the following: the back of a be-hatted cowboy wearing a long, black, ankle length cape-shaped coat and a six-gun in his raised hand, all in a snowy townscape. The poster boasted a title ‘Podlih Osem’ which turned out to be the (gasp) Slovenian for the latest Quentin Tarantino fillum ‘The Hateful Eight’.
How insular can one get? And how hateful it would have seemed to the cospomolitatn Mr. Y8s.
But, wait, even worser was to follow.
The following day, New Year’s Twenty Hundred and Sixteen, as Fat Pat might have put it, Perkie found himself walking in front of a noisy group of insular teenagers who had just emerged from a downtown cinema showing Michael Fassbender of Killarney as (och, aye) Macbeth.
Their conversation for the length of an overhead block consisted of insular Slovenian being continually interrupted by one sentence in Anglo-Scot which seemed to have tickled their fancy, Jock sae much that it warranted, erm, repeated repetition;
-If it were done, when tis done, then twere well it were done quickly.
Apart from demonstrating what Perkie had long suspected, i.e., that the Yerra patois of Kerry is in fact a dialect of Slovenian, it also underlined how the insular slow-learner speakers of that mother language are truly, in Yatsian terms, ‘a petty people’.
Why, oh why, didn’t they just roll over and extend a Failte Ui Cheallaigh / Kelly’s Welcome to the greatgrand mother tongue of Hausfrau Saxe-Coburg Gotha?.
Mo lean, gach seans nach mbeidh fuascailt an sceil sin againn riamh / Perhaps, alas, we shall never know.
–
Yates (not Yeats) was only articulating what Tubs and his like believe: that yerrah Pearse was an idiot in the literal sense of the word. Having viewed two episodes of ‘Rebellion’ on RTÉ (‘Home-grown drama’), I’m beginning to think the national broadcaster is part of the drive to make bowsies of one kind or another of the men and women of 2016…
Nothing was left to the imagination about the penetration of Ireland by the colonial power. There was a substantial military and police presence complete with middle-class aristocrats, all the forces that contributed to the stagnant nature of Irish life prior to 1916.
As usual, Esteemed Blogmeister, you find yourself in excellent company on this 16 mark question of ‘Rebellion’ on RTE.
That would be Bobby Ballagh the Brilliant who was the token dissenting voice on that panel of 4 on the Late, Late Show last Friday.
Not only did he describe the high-cost, low-grade series in terms that even the sophisticated I, Yates might understand – a 4 letter word in Anglo Saxon – ‘crap’ – but he also stuck the same blunt verdict on the proposed Wall of Remembrance.
That was to be the all inclusive wall which would remember the inscribed names of all the fallen – from James Connolly to Alf Anonymous who plugged him where he sat in his wheelchair – and which wall The Thin Host called Tubs described as (gulp) ‘an exercise in reconciliation’.
The same host also opined that VW3 (the Vietnam War Wall in Washington) is (gulp) ‘diminished’ by not having the names of the Vietnamese fallen on the wall as well. By Perkie’s reckoning that would mean having said wall extend from Washington, DC to Washington State.
This is the same ghostly host who has wheelbarrowed home millions of squids from the public coffins, oops, coffers during the course of his short but stellar career. Though this Lowry Matchstick Man Look Alike obviously hires a brawnier gym bunny type to do the dosh push for him.
And naive folk wonder at the devaluing of the Euro.
Such are the convoluted conclusions of the RTE take on logic. Which in all fairness, going, f., showed itself to be truly ‘reconciliatory’ by having I, Yates as a guest. What other station would be so inclusive as to invite along a, erm, Personality from a Rival Station which promulgates a world view which is diametrically the same as RTE itself.
Bobby Ballagh, of course, is someone who knows a thing or two about walls and crap. Last year the National Gallery of Ireland (sic) opted to honour Sean Scully on his 70th birthday with a retrospective of his works, entitled, The Wall of – better be careful here – Light.
No such honour was accorded to the incomparably superior Bobby Ballagh. But there may well be a sound artistic reason for that. In 1991, as co-organiser of the 75th Anniversary of the Rising, the Special Branch of An Garda Siochana showed a heightened interest in the work of BB.
Not the greatest of recommendations, perhaps, for artistic approval. Certainly, Sean Rainbird (sic) Director of the National Galley (sic) thought this was one branch he would choose not to perch upon. And so, Sean Scully’s fatuous but uncontroversial wall crap duly got the nod.
What is not to like about the Free Southern Stateen in the eyes of Arlene Alannah?, She is one of two Party Leaders on the No Man of Ireland who, like her father before her, has survived an assassination attempt,. As the reverential Tomm.ie Gorman whispered in vivid detail this morning on RTE.
TG for TG !
For whatever reason, one expects to hear rather more of these shocking events and in even more detailed vividness in the. run. up. to. the. General Election. And what better platform than that of the (gasp) Late, Late Show.
And what better guide could Arlene Alannah get (if indeed she is to be the, as it were, the Sean Scully of Party Leaders who have Survived an Assassination Attempt) than One who Knows her Way around the studios of said programme Better than Most.
A certain Senator whose identity must remain a secret for fear of a Spoiler Alert.
Perky, – Your description of Ivan Yates as the former minister for horse manure promotes him way beyond his capabilities.
great.stuff.jude.God.bless.
Grma.Jim.And.You.Too…
It says a lot about the DUP (and increasingly the UUP under MikeTV) and maybe the Unionist electorate in general that bashing Sinn Fein and nationalists in general is what wins votes but we have debated this before on many occasions, most recently in Jessica’s article.
Can we expect much change from the DUP under Arlene Foster? I seriously doubt it. It will be interesting to see what her working relationship with Martin McGuinness will be like. The Assembly Elections is just 4 months away and I strongly agree with many political commentators that the DUP has reached their peak, I don’t think they will gain anymore MLA’s and there’s a good chance of them losing MLA’s to the UUP.
The UUP is lurching more towards hard line politics under MikeTV. MikeTV has made clear he will be only commemorating the British soldiers who died at the Easter Rising, from what I hear they want to lay a wreath in Dublin in their memory. That’s a nice way of reaching out to nationalists, isn’t it? That’s like Martin McGuinness remembering and laying a wreath to just the German forces of WW1 that lost their lives. That isn’t respectful, its actually going out of their way to be disrespectful but what’s new with political Unionism? The media try to portray Nationalism and Unionism as “they are as bad as each other” but that is absolute tripe and the actions of senior members of SF in showing respect in contrast to Unionist senior politicians is stark.
Arlene might be civil and nice in private but her politics can take a nasty streak as her comment on “rogue nationalists” showed. One thing is for sure, she is a First Minister for only 50% of the people here, not all of us.
Mike Nesbitt has been very canny, he has allowed his party to attend the event while at the same time giving a perfectly acceptable and plausible reason that will satisfy a wider spectrum of his electorate.
Arlene will have to be on her toes, Mike seems to be running rings around the DUP in recent times what with all the in out hokey cokey and holding off noses.
Agreed Jessica, Miketv is a canny character. I was fooled into believing he was genuine when he first became UUP leader then his later actions and carry on revealed he was anything but.
I honestly don’t believe Arlene Foster is going to be a good leader for the DUP. I’m not saying Arlene isn’t intelligent or capable, I’m sure she is, I just think that the DUP has reached its limit and its downhill from here on for the party, much like the SDLP.
I watched Arlene’s interview on UTV earlier and she was asked about a single Unionist party, aka the UUP and DUP merging together. I think that’s what will happen sooner or later, Arlene could even be the last leader of the DUP. I cant see either the DUP or UUP just sitting by and seeing a SF First Minister being installed at Stormont. They would join together to keep “them’uns” out and prevent a Catholic becoming the FM, even though the Deputy FM and FM have exactly the same powers, it would be very symbolic if there was a Nationalist FM, especially a Sinn Fein FM but I don’t see it happening this Assembly election, maybe the next one? who knows….
“she was asked about a single Unionist party, aka the UUP and DUP merging together. I think that’s what will happen sooner or later,”
It will never happen Ryan, they genuinely hate each other.
Unionism is more likely to split again when Britain makes it clear what they want and that they will no longer cough up the 10 billion it costs to keep this place running. We are already bankrupt and had to borrow 2 billion to hide it from the electorate a little longer.
There will be dramatic changes over the next few years.
tend to agree with billy, we should demand the right to vote in Irish elections.
Why isn’t more done to assert this?
Half a million or more Irish citizens up the road who are denied the right to vote for who leads their own country?
Is that really what democracy means in Ireland?
So are you prepared to pay Irish taxes and not pay British taxes then exclude yourself from the NHS and the benefits system is that what you are saying?
actually neill I don’t see why people can’t decide for themselves –
if a young starting out worker wants to enroll in the republic of ireland national contributions scheme why not?
if a middle-aged worker whats to switch schemes, why not? S/He will accrue a smallish pension from each upon retirement.
Older workers will probably prefer to remain within the UK contributions scheme.
Modern computer programmes make it easy for the smallest of firms to run two payrolll systems.
“Modern computer programmes make it easy for the smallest of firms to run two payrolll systems.”
Now were talking Ben
I would sign up for that, and will even pay the health insurance for those I employ when it happens
Fair enough as long as non Britain tax payers are excluded from anything that the state provides as they would be accessing funds they hadn’t contributed to. Of course if they had a vote down south they would lose their vote her afterall you have a vote in two jurisdictions as that would hardly be fair would it?
“Fair enough as long as non Britain tax payers are excluded from anything that the state provides as they would be accessing funds they hadn’t contributed to. Of course if they had a vote down south they would lose their vote her afterall you have a vote in two jurisdictions as that would hardly be fair would it?”
Neill, I would be quite happy with that arrangement, to pay my taxes to the south. I have never claimed benefits in my life, not once, I would have been dead had I not had private health care and relied on the NHS, I had a heart issue 15 years ago and the MRI scanner was not going to be available for 6 weeks in the NHS, fortunately I had private health care through work and was able to get a scan next day, and ended up in hospital within hours. I now know I would not have survived 6 weeks having had to have major surgery. The NHS is an inferior health service but I agree better than none at all.
Unification would be an opportunity to tailor a better service more fitting for Ireland.
I would also be quite happy to forfeit my vote in the north and leave Stormont to unionism. To me Ireland is united in people already and I have been ignoring unionism all my life anyway, what difference would it make?
As I said, I now own my own business and every employee who also switched over I would give free health care service for.
“So are you prepared to pay Irish taxes and not pay British taxes then exclude yourself from the NHS and the benefits system is that what you are saying?”
So much it hurts neill
“So are you prepared to pay Irish taxes and not pay British taxes then exclude yourself from the NHS and the benefits system is that what you are saying?”
Yep Neill, that’s what all nationalists want, though I think there will be an Irish NHS in time, the shinners certainly want to make an Irish NHS if they ever got into Government in the South.
When it comes to the benefits system I believe the Irish system is joint 1st in Europe with Denmark on giving the most generous benefits. The British benefits system ranks one of the lowest. Again, I could be wrong on some points there, its been a while since I’ve read up on the topic and figures.
We really have two first ministers so I have no problem that she won’t attend the 1916 rising. Her father was killed by the IRA so I don’t think anyone could really expect her to turn up. On a personal level it is not an option and on a professional level it would be the end of her career.
I don’t think her father was killed by the IRA emmet, I think he was shot in the head but survived but I’m not sure.
There’s families who had relatives who were murdered by the RUC and UDR/British Army, who hear day in and day out about the so called “proud” and “honourable” RUC/UDR on Radio/TV and who have go by memorials to the UDR/RUC, especially in places like Lisburn but elsewhere too. There’s even a memorial to the British Army at Belfast City Hall. Then there’s Orange parades who parade by or near areas where they are displaying banners of UVF/UDA terrorists who murdered Catholics in the community they are passing or trying to go through.
Arlene is part of, and now leader of, a party which is renowned for supporting (or turning the blind eye) such memorials, Orange parades and commemorations for the UDR/RUC/Orange Order and as we seen with Ruth Patterson and Luke Poots, even attending commemorations of sectarian serial killers within the UDA, not to mention the likes of Sammy Wilson and Peter Robinson carrying the very coffins of UDA Leaders who murdered many Catholics.
I understand where your coming from Emmet but as usual with Unionists, I doubt very much your understanding and thoughtfulness would be reciprocated if you were to ask for sensitivities from the Catholic community to be respected.
The progress/modernisation of the UUP and DUP depends of the willingness of their most recalcitrant backwoodsman/woman, so the likelihood of any generosity of spirit from Nesbitt or Foster is very remote.
It is unfortunate that people on the other side of the political fence seem to accept the vile bigotry spouted by unionist politicians, and excuse it by saying it is only happening because it is electioneering.
Nothing excuses bigotry and hatred!
Whatever about Arlene’s politics she was the first unionist politician I ever heard speak respectfully to a Sinn Féin spokesperson (namely Mitchel McLoughlin) using their Christian name. Which suggests innate warmth and decency.
Jude, on her refusal to attend commerations respecting the sacrifice of 1916, et seq.
Arlene, whose name was Kelly, is clearly more historically Irish than certain Fine Gael politicians organising such commerations, I hope the soup tasted good, however, will we miss her?