I suppose I’m a generic Sin Feiner, as I believe in a sovereign independent democratic Ireland. It’s a belief long held by most Irish people irrespective of party sympathies.And any reservations I’ve had about the Sinn Fein party have been minor ones, As every humbug in these islands hates Sinn Fein I’d rather not join in their chorus.
But it seems Sinn Fein, when tempted to join trendy bandwagons doesn’t do Ireland, or itself, any favours.
During the Second World War when North Eastern Ireland was still occupied by troops of one set of belligerents and the rest of the country was threatened by those same belligerents and their German opponents, some Irish troops, volunteers pledged to defend the state against all comers, deserted and joined the British Army.
I don’t know the motives of the deserters. Irish Army pay was pitifully low. Perhaps British pay was appreciably better to support the deserter’s families, though hardly generous.
At War’s end some of the soldiers returned, to an Ireland where jobs were scarce. The deserters could have been fined or otherwise punished, by courts martial or other courts.
Ex-soldiers might have been required to produce certificates of honourable discharge particularly when looking for jobs in the public service, in any normal country. And deserters in some would have been stood against a wall and shot.
But Ireland was a forgiving country in 1945. It was decided that no deserter would be re-employed in the public service for seven years. A disgraceful dishonest campaign, depicting the deserters as victims of injustice was launched and Sinn Fein joined the humbug TDs of other parties in praising the renegades as victimised heroes.
During the last Presidential Election I watched all the candidates doing their pitch on TV. I knew nothing about the Sinn Fein candidate, but as she is the daughter of the late Sean O’Riada I was well disposed to her. And I remembered the grace with which Martin McGuinness conducted his candidacy seven years previously. But Liadh Ni Riada treated President Higgins as if he were a simpleton in his dotage, patronising him and manhandling him. If a female candidate were to be treated similarly by a male there would be riots in the streets and square miles of Irish Times columns demanding that we all be neutered.
My Blog “LARKIN ABOUT: MUSINGS FOR ST VALENTINE’S DAY” draws on “An English Affair – Sex, Class and Power in the Age of Profumo” by Richard Davenport Hines. It depicts the hypocrisy, cruelty, snobbery and corruption of judiciary, media, police,and politicians and educators. Profumo, Christine Keeler, Mandy Rice Davies and Stephen Ward emerge as innocents abroad in a rotten self-righteous world.
Historically irrefutable and hysterically funny, it should be force-fed, if necessary, to anyone writing on Hibernian imperfections, or throwing stones at the Catholic Church.
I see that Mary Lou has been joining the monstrous regiment attacking convent education, I’ve laughed, loved, worked and partied with girls and women from many countries and of many religions who were taught by nuns and they’ve been none the worse for their upbringing. I suspect that many in Sinn Fein have swallowed the garbage spewed by THE IRISH TIMES an organ of the British State.
THE TIMES OF LONDON today (Wednesday 24 June) has a letter from an Old Boy from a prep school, who was flogged by its Headmaster for using the Old School Tie as a sling to cast stones at pigeons. Not because the flogger had any objection to stoning pigeons but for abusing the neckwear. Anyone who knows anything about private education in England can tell you of appalling cruelty thee until very lately.
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