With Trump plodding, standing, jumping on human rights throughout the world, it’s difficult to know if local concerns matter. They seem sideshows to world events. But it’s worth checking out a few.
1. Casement Park. With the state of world events, matters like football pitches seem irrelevant, local, too small to deserve attention. But we should never forget the fact that soccer got its Windsor Park renewal for soccer, likewise Ravenhill for rugby. If you want a stadium that reflects the numbers and interests of nationalists, forget it. Casement Park is still a weedy, abandoned place,a perfect metaphor showing how much Britain cares about Northern nationalists. You should have developed Casement decades ago. Tough luck, suckers.
2. The Irish language. It’s never been better. Certainly not in the view of Irish people. There was a time when Irish was linked to old guys with no teeth mumbling or singing dreary songs over the open fireplace. How far from reality that is. Unionists might like to think its all mahogany gaspipe and can of coca cola, but it ain’t. Sorry, guys. There is a surge in interest in Irish, thanks to two events: the election of Gaeilgeoir Catherine Connolly and the meteoric success of Kneecap. President Connolly showed up Heather Humphries’ pretence that one of these years, she’d learn Irish. How? Because Catherine Connolly went back to Irish as an adult, and now her mastery of our native tongue is a joy to listen to. Kneecap have done a miraculoud job of joining politics and plain old rebellious high spirits. What was it that Bobby Sands predicted? Ah yes – ‘Our revenge will be the laughter of our children.’
3. The media.To say that Stephen Nolan and William Crawley (both, coincidentally, from loyalist working-class backgrounds) have lost much of their appeal in the past year or so would be a judgement without specific evidence to support it. If there is evidence one way or the other for the shows, both presenters are being untypically coy about revealing it. Yes, of course Virginia, Nolan does gulder periodically about his show being the ‘biggest show in the country,’ but I have never heard him cite any figures. We do know, however, that there are figures for Radio Ulster in general, and those show that over the past year, the station has lost more than 100,000 listeners, so it would be reasonable to conclude that Nolan and Crawley share a similar drop. Maybe if they showed more appetite for broadcasting that goes beyond the NEI borders, it might improve its sad ratings.And/Or if it changed its title, which suggests that this is a radio station for Ulster. Likewise Ulster University might consider if a seat of learning doesn’t damage its claim to pursuit of the truth when its title pretends to cater for nine Ulster counties when in fact it covers just six. As will become increasingly clear as the campaign for a border poll ramps up its demand.
Hardly surprising, the north eastern state was, after all, set up with an in built Protestant (actually non Catholic, anything but Catholic) majority. Hence, six counties rather than the nine, which would have been unmanageable. Political discussion programmes always have a built in bias against nationalism or God forbid republicanism. A Martian arriving here would think the demographics are the same as they were fifty years ago. Gaelic sports, language, culture in general, naw.
Casement Park had already funding put in place for redevelopment, but the GAA got greedy and sensed an opportunity for an even bigger stadium which could be built for free, so they changed the terms. But in turn the local residents objected because they didn’t want to live in the shadow of giant stands, and it’s been in limbo ever since.
Not everything is a conspiracy against the Irish by the British government, and it’s frankly self pitying to keep promoting it through your website Jude.
I note though you’re keeping shtum about the ongoing events in Iran, but that doesn’t surprise me.
Very good jude