It’s amazing what you can learn before nine in the morning, if you stay alert.
I was idly listening to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme as I showered, and Nick Robinson was interviewing an Anglican bishop about turning godless Britain back to God. She said (yes, Virginia, she said) that they found godless/non-Anglican people weren’t persuaded to change their ways by the godly preaching at them. What convinced people was if they saw Christians leading lives that were …I was going to say ‘commendable’, but maybe just ‘Christian’ will do.
Later in the morning I read an Irish Times article by Newton Emerson. I enjoy Newt’s articles because you can depend on them (i) to bash the Shinners; (ii) to miss the point. In this case, Newt was using recent polls to point out that Sinn Féin had peaked electorally. The last time I heard that peaked theory was from the mouth of Eoghan Harris, which prompted me to place a wager and earn some nice money. So if you’re reading, dear Newt, I have a £100 note that says Sinn Féin will do better in the south’s next election than they did in the last – in short, they haven’t peaked. You can suggest the odds, in line with how much you believe what you’re saying. Newt also pointed out that the famous 200-signatories letter to the Taoiseach showed that Sinn Féin were finding that northern nationalists were by-passing them and that Fine Gael were the party northern nationalists would be looking to, not the Shinners. (I hope I’ve got that right. I’d check, only the Irish Times tells me I’ve had my free online reading ration for the week.)
Which got me to thinking: have Fine Gael served the north well in the recent Brexit bust-up? I’d say unequivocally yes. It’s a long time since I’ve heard a major southern party speak out with that degree of dignity and firmness against British condescension.
But then I got to thinking: are southern parties like Fine Gael and Fianna Fail really republican parties? They claim they are, and you might point to the Fine Gael stand-firm attitude on Brexit as proof. But there’s a better proof, and one which neither the FGers nor the FFers have chosen to pursue: fielding candidates in northern elections.
I’m not sure what Sinn Féin’s attitude would be, should the major southern parties extend north. But I know what mine would be: at last they’d decided to put their money where their mouths have been. If you’re really serious about Ireland as a 32-county republic, if you’re even serious about establishing a working Executive, you won’t settle for the occasional exhortation that the parties up north should compromise and get a functioning devolved government in place asap. That’s like the Anglican bishop exhorting people to turn away from the world’s flesh-pots and find the Lord. What’s needed is the sight of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail actually taking off their coats and getting into the electoral fray in our NEN.
The Tories have found out how stress-inducing it is, working with the DUP. Maybe Fine Gael/Fianna Fail would like to give it a go?
Meanwhile pssst – Newt. That bet’s still open.
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