“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? “
I thought of this verse from the Bible as I saw the cheerful photograph of Paul Givan and Edwin Poots, both pillars of the DUP. They were attending a bit of marching bands stuff, as you do when you’ve got too much time on your hands.
The bands in Lisburn tooted and thumped out the ‘No Pope of Rome’ song (yes,Virginia, of course it was on the day Pope Francis died). With cheerful onlookers joining in we got lines like “No, no Pope of Rome, no chapels to sadden my eyes, no nuns and no priests, no Rosary beads, every day is the Twelfth of July”.
And as a follow-up: ‘Oh give me a home where there’s no Pope of Rome, where there’s nothing but Protestants stay, where seldom is heard a discouraging word and flute bands play The Sash every day’.
Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart, who was also present in Lisburn, and Mr Givan later described the atmosphere in the city as “first class”, while Mr Poots, a former Stormont minister, wrote of “super crowds and a great atmosphere”.
You can see why the DUP leader Gavin Robinson was so upset by that Kneecap thing. You can’t have people running around isaying or singing anything they want to. What’s that,Virginia? The marching season for such bands runs for months and months? Nah, that can’t be right. Messrs Robinson,Givan, Poots et al would be horrified. Outraged.
Then again, maybe they’d have a whole lot of great days with great atmosphere.
Loyalist politicians of all shades of Orange have never put tongue nor teeth in it when it comes to their opinions on the things that divide us here. Loyalist bands, songs, parades, armed groups, killings……..good. Republican bands, songs, parades, armed groups killings, killings……..bad. The reverse is true for Nationalists. That is why we had a conflict for over thirty years. Admittedly the hypocrisy levels on the unionist side are much higher as can be seen in the way they constantly bang on about how their brave soldiers and policemen could possibly face trials. Never mentioning the fact they were given a pass back in the day which means they were never even arrested in the first place.
Very good Jude
Nail on head Jude.
Funny I mentioned this scenario in a recent post on your first Kneecap blog – and hey, 3 days later, here we go. Some people really have no concept of double standards.
I hope Sharon Osborne writes to the the great and the good demanding that these bands are severely reprimanded – and Willie McCrea is banned from performing any future dates.
See my earlier post on this K;
http://www.judecollins.com/2025/04/words-words-words/#comments
I think you’re missing the point here. People are getting on their high horses about Kneecap when really the issue is the slaughter of circa 75,000 human beings (about 30,000 children), and then complaining about a group of artists performing and using undesirable language.
When it suits – or there’s an agenda. Nobody complained about the Smiths or Primal Scream, or when athe Mail called on Labour to ‘kill this vampire Corbyn’.
And as for the DUP and their double standards – people are so used to them it nearly goes unchallenged now. Thankfully there’s a few of us still about to highlight it.
Yours in peace,
Another K
An outstanding job once again Jude, of demonising an entire community.
The first thing I wish to say is that I have huge admiration for the late Pope Francis and detest sectarianism, be it Orange or Green. Singing that dirge was a disgrace.
The second thing I wish to say is that I am not in the Orange Order or the marching band scene nor could I be in the Orange Order as I see great merit in all the Abrahamic faiths and in particular in the Orthodox, Non-Chalcedonian, and our divided Latin Catholic branches.
The third thing I wish to say is that I enjoy watching Gaelic football, learning Irish words and attending marches organised by the ABoD and OO. I have rarely witnessed this sort of appalling behaviour but I know that sectarianism is rampant across the board.
It is easy to be critical, but growing up in Derry I know how much the ABoD means to many marginalised working class Protestants in areas like the Clooney estate, Tullyalley, Irish Street, Nelson Drive and the Fountain. I also know how important a local Orange lodge is in my area to the farming community around it, lending out its premises to different community groups and helping with rural mental health and well-being. I am also proud of the global recognition of many marching bands. In Derry, for example, Churchill, Britannia and Caw. They have performed in cross-community events across Ireland.
Now as regards Kneecap, answer me this. If a rap band came out of Tullyalley with songs like Get Your Gaels Out and words on stage like Kill All Shinner MPs, how would you react?
It is the hypocrisy of the DUP that is so annoying. Standing and smiling as people curse the leader of the Catholic Church, spitting out centuries old venom and superstitious claptrap. As for the scenario of a rap band from Tullyalley singing sectarian songs, you are quite correct. It would be regarded as hateful.
So, as an educationalist who taught both Protestants and Catholics in Coleraine, can I assume that you also consider the aforementioned actions of Kneecap to be ‘hateful’, or does this only apply to Protestants?
If anybody publicly insults or calls for their political enemies to be murdered then that is hateful definitely. There are zero Tory MPs in the north. However there are thousands of Fenians, the people referred to in the presence of DUP hypocrites attending a loyalist “band” parade.