So Jim Wells has been tweeting. Or warning might be more accurate.
Some people have professed to be shocked by Jim’s tweet. It’s not clear why. There have always been areas where Sinn Féin candidates are not welcome and I’m sure the same could be said of DUP candidates. It’s an unfortunate state of affairs but that’s how it is. Just as you wouldn’t wear a Celtic shirt for a stroll through Bushmills, you wouldn’t pull on your Rangers shirt before heading up the Falls. It shouldn’t be like that – witness the mingling of opposing fans at GAA matches – but that’s how it is.
Jim’s leader has chosen to speak out boldly against his tweet. OK, to speak out. At the launch of the DUP manifesto, Arlene Foster has said “We live in a free and open democracy. Everyone should be allowed to canvass where they want.”
Some people think Arlene Foster doesn’t have a sense of humour but there’s the proof she has. Did you know you were living “a free and open democracy”? I thought that crashed around 1912, when the Ulster Covenant was signed. Or maybe around 1921, when this little north-eastern state was established. But anyway, the second bit is what’s relevant to Rathfriland and Jim Wells: “Everyone should be allowed to canvass where they want.” But Arlene knows full well that there’s a difference between “should” and “want”. So she glides past Jim’s statement, which is probably accurate. Despite the fact that there’s a considerable nationalist/republican portion of the Rathfriland population, they are being told openly that there should be no Shinners here. Jim Wells said it, Arlene Foster accepts it. Sin é.
And then there’s the Sinn Féin councillor Naomi Bailie who has described Bangor as a “shithole”. At least I think it was a shithole – all the papers claim she said “****hole”, which is confusing, because then she could have said “finehole” or “dearhole” or even “chochole” or “drughole”. Anyway, I’m going with “shithole” as probably what Naomi said about Bangor – and later apologized for saying it.
I’ve mixed feelings. There are places that many of us find pretty shitty – Stormont could be a prime example. There’s nothing wrong with thinking highly of some places and lowly of others: the thing is, don’t say it out loud. It’s like being asked by your nearest and dearest if her bum looks big in this – truth would demand one answer, discretion another. To chose discretion isn’t really to indulge in lies and/or hypocrisy. If we all said exactly what we thought for a week, there’d be dead bodies everywhere, and that’s only within your own family.
So yes, Jim, you spoke the truth, and yes, Naomi, you spoke the truth as you saw it. But tact and good manners suggest you should in future bottle it and maintain a more civilized veneer. Think about what you say but pleeeease don’t say what you think.
The comment about Sinn Fein not being welcome is unsurprising, we all know Jim Wells and many Unionists despise Sinn Fein, and even the SDLP too, and of course we could say the same about the DUP/UUP when it comes to many Republicans/Nationalists. But what really struck me about Well’s comment was that he called Rathfriland a “Unionist Town”, despite it having a 40% Catholic population. That exposed his mentality, not that its anything we are surprised by or couldn’t have guessed.
The Unionist Town comment is basically about marking territory and we would be silly if we believed that that comment was only directed at Sinn Fein. It reminds me of these Unionists who put up Union flags in Nationalist majority towns in a vain attempt to somehow “reclaim” the town. The Loyalist Flag Protestors had the same mentality, demanding that a flag was flown. Why? because it was marking territory in their minds. It was about sending out a message: Belfast is a Unionist Town. Anyone who objects and says Unionists don’t use flags to mark territory are being silly. They do. That’s why its so important to many of them. Flags were maybe invented for that very purpose. When a nation conquers another nation its symbolic to rise the flag of the conquering nation, to mark their victory and dominance.
Jim Wells might not have raised a flag but he showed he has the mentality of many fleggers. Apparently Rathfriland is a “Unionist Town”. Thats as good as saying all nationalists, Catholics and non Unionists are not welcome, not just Sinn Fein. Its about excluding people, not including them.
Want a fleg and a fleg pole Jim?….
Jim is still the same apple cheeked boy who was running around Dundalk causing bother all those years ago. He has never tried to hide his loyalist mindset and with a Westminster election on the horizon he, like Gregory and co. has to throw some raw meat to the knuckle.draggers within the DUP. Which is probably about eighty per cent of the party. You can take the boy out of the third force but well you know the saying.