29th September 1969. Seems a million years away.

My first job as a Clerical Officer with Belfast Corporation as it was then called. The new recruits were sitting in the Council Chamber and a lady called Sandra put a small piece of paper in front of us.

There was text on either side. Facing up was an oath to GOD but on the other side was a simple “promise”. Such was the dreaded oath of allegiance to “Her Majesty the Queen Her Heirs and Successors”.

The Catholics among us knew enough not to bring GOD into this nonsense, An oath made under dress or as an inducement is not a valid oath.

I do not think GOD will hold this against me.

Nor will GOD hold it against my two co-workers who later became prominent in the Republican Movement. Which makes it strange that one of them got a longer sentence in prison as he did not recognise the Court.

Sometimes you can take a principle too far.

Is there a time when Republicans would recognise the Court? Well yes…if a Republican is involved in a car accident and has some whiplash….he or she will break all records to get into the witness box. “Hand me down that Bible, your Honour”.

Famously Sinn Féin MPs when elected to Westminster, do not take an oath of allegiance and use this allegedly principled stand as a stick to beat the Social and Democratic Labour Party (SDLP)…..the (in Sinn Féin eyes) the Stoop Down Low Party.

I …a pan nationalist….am at ease with both Sinn Féin and SDLP stances.

I watched the swearing in of MPs to the new Parliament.

Claire Hanna did her party piece about Reconcilation and Peace. And she took the oath in Irish.

Colum Eastwood prefaced his swearing in by announcing that he was speaking this “empty formula”, “under protest” and that his loyalty is with “Derry” and “Ireland”.

All of this swearing in and oath of allegiance is a nonsense, Nothing to get worked up about. Yes Sinn Fein make a point of not taking an oath and Colum Eastwood scores better by standing in the Commons and telling them to their face that he does not give a tinkers curse.

But it is a farce. Only a few Labourites had the guts to say that they owed loyalty to the people who sent them to Westminster. Gavin Robinson spoke Ulster-Scots, some from Cornwall spoke in Cornish (as unconvincingly as me speaking Irish) and Plaid Cymru spoke in Welsh.

My wife and I played a game guessing who would take an oath and who would merely affirm their loyalty.

The Christians get to choose the Bible….King James (for the Protestants). Jerusalem (Catholic) and simply New Testament (usually liberal Catholic). They get the Bible handed to them.

Of course other people of Faith get to choose the Torah or the “different” Torah, Qoran, Gita, and so on. A lot of people seemed confused by the Holy Books spread over the Clerks table….it was like a sale table at Waterstones. Some seemed to have difficulty in remembering what religion they are supposed to be.

Interestingly the people from non-Christian faiths picked up their own Holy Book. Is there some kinda sensitivity that these books should be handled only by people from that faith,….

All good fun.