Matryoshka Dolls And Unionism

Posted on January 19, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

Wearing my other hat as Conspiracy Theorist, I have decided to explain Unionism by reference to Matryoshka/Babushka Dolls…and your spelling is probably better than mine because I am too lazy to look up Wikipedia. This set was bought by me in Moscow in 1980….and to be honest I was expecting more.001

Nesting dolls. Open one and another is revealed and …another.

Which is a bit like Unionism.

The nicest doll is Let’sGetAlongerism. a Golden Halo of Do Gooders in quangos, universities, discussion boards and lobbying companies. Seductively appealing, they do have a bottom line that parity of esteem is limited by the institutional supremacy of the Union…and they are a bit too “in your face” about that and think we maybe should all join British political parties and put all the unpleasantness behind us. Far too intelligent to be monarchists, they are likely to get surprisingly worked up if a young nationalist decides to play football for the Republic of Ireland.

Inside that doll is Liberal Unionism…always a risible concept going back to the days of Terence O ‘Neill and politically split along the fault line of the nastier elements in the Alliance Party and the nicer people in the UUP. Most likely to believe in the best of British such as the Jubilee and Olympics and saddened rather than angry that nationalists don’t see it that way.

Inside this doll is Traditional Unionism, angered rather than saddened by nationalism and ever ready to go into defensive mode. Some of their best friends are Catholics but Traditional Unionists are now to be found in the worst parts of the UUP and the more “enlightened” parts of the DUP.

Inside that doll is Religious Unionism….the worst elements of the DUP and the apolitical God botherers in Protestant gospel halls. Nutters who believe in the lost tribe of Israel and religious and ethnic supremacy. Mainstream Orange Order types.

Inside that doll is unapologetic Paramilitary Unionism. UVF, UDA…often critical of unionist politicians and not overtly religious but when Push comes to Shove, they row in behind political unionism. They know their place. It is a 1912 kinda thing.

And inside that doll is Scumbag Unionism…the culture of the Kick the Pope bands, the underclass and the fascism of the football hooligan. Not the sort to be brought home to tea by the better class of Unionist.

The curious thing about the last seven weeks is that all these dolls have been opened up and every aspect of unionism has been laid bare.The entire case is based on the Mob….always the bottom line in Unionism. yes there is a case to be made that we have laughed too long at Willie Fraser, we have photo-shopped too many images of Flegs and rioters and uploaded too many rap videos to You Tube.

We are being encouraged to give them a break….and in some ways all those Dolls from Let’s GetbAlongerist to Scumbag is calling for nationalists/republicans to cut them some slack. This would of course get the mob off the streets but it merely facilitates all these forms of Unionism to get their act together and pursue their anti-nationalist agenda.

Not on my watch.

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Snow Chipping Away At Loyalist Culture

Posted on January 18, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

Bad weather tonight.

The Snow has meant that the loyalist mobs have had to cancel their protests. A lack of commitment …if you ask me.

I think it sets a precedent. Loyalists don’t like bad weather. I am proposing that we move the 12th July to January. This should totally end all Orange marches within three years. I fully expect that the Alliance Party will table a compromise that the Twelfth be moved to February. While SDLP and Sinn Fein might agree to this compromise and the Alliance Party might stop congratulating themselves on their amazing political acumen if the loyalists find that the compromise isn’t so brilliant.

Protesting and Rioting seem to be loyalist “culture”. And it has been viciously attacked by….Snow.

How will loyalists react? Organise a mass picket of the Met Office….obviously.

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MLA….MIA

Posted on January 18, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

About I week ago I started to notice that I had not seen much of David Ford, the Alliance Leader over the past few weeks. He turned up again on Monday at Stormont. and indeed performed credibly in the zoo that was the Nolan Show on wednesday night.

But where was he until Monday? Well quite simply, like a lot of people on a longish break, he might have decided to take a well-earned holiday. Or simply as Minister for Justice, he might simply have thought that it would be inappropriate to be visible as Minister when his own Party was under disgusting attack from the knuckle-dragging loyalists in East Belfast. East Antrim and North Down. Visibility as the Policing Minister might well have made the situation worse.

Or he might simply have been standing aside to let Naomi Long, MP for East Belfast to make the running. She grew in stature during the worst of the attacks. And it will do her no harm when she takes on Stephen Farry for the Leadership of the Party. Or maybe Naomi has already effectively her placed Ford as Leader.

Naomi and Stewart Dickson have had a good Flegs Riots Campaign. But frankly Farry,Trevor Lunn and Kieran McCarthy have been invisible. And Anna Lo rarely shy when a TV camera is within a mile has also been keeping a low profile.

If a goodly part of the Flegs Fiasco has been about taking Naomi Long’s seat…then we can make no criticism of her because she is certainly fighting tooth and nail to keep it.

But if Naomi was the Alliance success story of 2010, surely  the success story of 2011 was Alliance taking two East Belfast seats in the Assembly Election. Chris Lyttle, actually co-opted to replace Naomi after her “promotion” has never impressed me. He still appears like a man who can’t believe his (good) luck. And Judith Cochrane…frankly I don’t even know what she sounds like. I don’t think I have ever seen her interviewed. She always strikes n me as a woman who can’t squire believe her (bad) luck.

It would be a mistake to think that Alliance and East Belfast is just about Naomi Long. It is also about defending two Assembly seats. Now of course it would be a mistake to think that being a MLA is all about being on the telly. a lot of good work is not done in public. But here’s a question? With all this happening in East Belfast…..have you actually seen Chris Lyttle or Judith Cochrane?

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Belfast City Centre Business

Posted on January 17, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

The hardest people to convince of the stunning success …as the Government Press Officers claim…of Belfast City Centre…seem to the city centre traders themselves. They even had a meeting last night about it. Did I see Michael Desn, the restaurant owner in attendance?

Busy night for him. Dean was in the Nolan audience Houston a few seats away from Jamie Bryson,  one of the alleged leaders of the Belfast Spring. dean was lamenting loss of trade. But surely a business opportunity was missed. Dean’s restaurant is about one hundred metres from the City Hall, scene of the Saturday protests by Jamie and his mates.

Surely Dean should have offered the protestors a deal. Or surely Bryson should have tried to negotiate a group booking for him and his mates.

Everyones a Winner.

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And Welcome To The Show…

Posted on January 17, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

A busy programme tonight but please speak one at a time and don’t all shout. I will be taking the first question from the spide on day release from Hydebank Young Offenders Centre. The second question from the Chav with LOVE and HATE tastefully tattooed on her fingers. The third question will be from the man with the cauliflower ear and the final question will be from you sir…the young man with acne,the ASBO order and the bottle of Buckfast.

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Alliance Party: Big Lads In The Big Picture?

Posted on January 17, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

Most Belfast people of a certain vintage will be familiar with the phrase “he is the big lad in the big picture”.It refers to someone rather publicly trying to punch above their weight.

I wonder if this is what the Alliance Party have actually been doing for nearly two years. In 2007, they got just seven seats in the Assembly…and had no seats on the Executive. In 2010, DUP and Sinn Fein appointed Alliance Leader, David Ford as the Minister for Justice. The Party got £97,000 …..chocolate money, innocent money, Quaker money from Rowntree with the expressed intention of winning extra Assembly seats in the 2011 Election. And they duly did…one extra Assembly seat.

Not a particularly good return for £97,000 but importantly it gave them a seat as of right on the Executive ….for Stephen Farry at Employment & Learning. And of course they retain the Justice seat for Ford, mandated to them….as Ford puts it….by the Assembly.

In the months prior to the 2011 Election, I was not a member of the SDLP but pointed out as often as possible that Alliance were Not quite the nice guys they claimed to be. The fact is that they are Norn Irons FIFTH political party. The UUP have 15 seats. The SDLP have 14 seats and just one Executive seat each. The nice guys in Alliance have slightly more than 50,000 votes, eight Assembly seats and two Executive seats.

Alas the Alliance Party got a bit uppity. big Lads in the Big Picture. They acted like they were the Third Party. And effected a curious swagger which started at the top with Ford and trickled down to their grassroots, including their Tinternet warriors.

From being cuddly fluffy kittens they revealed themselves to be pretty nasty. they have cried”foul” that Farry’s seat on the Executive might go due to entirely reasonable premise that there are too many Departments. The DUP and SF still can’t get rid of the Department of Employment & learning.

But it seems that they over-reached themselves at Belfast City Council last month. They believed their own hype that they are the Third Party…a genuine force and were cruelly exposed as amateurs.

What happens next? I expect they will be lobbying aggressively for that designated days at all council offices option which would get loyalist thugs off the streets with the victory they grave and get Alliance off the hook and back under the radar.

Of course the violence meted out to them is a total disgrace. a criminal disgrace. Hopefully the Minister for Justice…David Ford…can actually do something about that. But sometimes I wonder if the Germans have a word for “schadenfreude” but as they say in Belfast…what goes round comes around.

Theresa VillIers might send in the NIO cavalry to rescue the Alliance Party…Im sure the senior members of the Party have been on the phone to VillIers civil servants looking for help.

But where exactly does this leave David Ford? He has been invisible until this weeks resumption of Stormont business but frankly I don’t expect him to be Alliance Leader at Christmas.

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Nolan…Just Say No

Posted on January 17, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

Let me make this clear. The Stephen Nolan Radio Show is the lowest form of political discourse. Nolan transferring his “act”….and make no mistake…it is an act…of playing the Reasonable Exasperated Everyman forced to deal with lesser people who just happen to be politicians…grates on me.

There is no way tonight’s show can be discussed without using the words “car crash television”. Nolan of course be delighted. His raison d’être is to be controversial and…get the ratings.

The audience was the very dregs of loyalist low life. Most looked like they had been dragged fresh from a Flegs riot. Or an ID Parade at Donegall Pass PSNI Station. Or maybe they were threatened with losing Jobseekers Allowance if they were not in the audience.

They were boorish and thuggish and intimidating to the panel.

Stephen Nolan either facilitated this. Or simply lost control. Either way the BBC should investigate the programme. Credit to Gerry Kelly, Conall McDevitt and David Ford for standing up for Decency.

As I mentioned in another thread, Gerry Lynch (who also deserves some credit) noted thwart Basil McCrea had been suggesting an alleged solution to the crisis which involves the British flag flying from ALL council area headquarters on designated days.

Some months ago, I blogged that politicians should simply boycott the Nolan Show. They are doing themselves…and us …any favours by taking part in this nonsense.

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I Hate To Say “I Told You So…”

Posted on January 16, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

I hate to say “I told you so” but er……….I told you so.

In a comment on Slugger O’Toole on 10th January 2013 (4.17pm) I suggested that the “bold move” that Theresa Villiers was looking for would involve the flying of the British flag on designated days from ALL council buildings, right across the six counties…This would include town halls (eg Omagh, Newry and Derry) where the British flag currently does not fly.

This would give the loyalist mob the necessary “victory” to get them off the streets. It would also be the necessary “defeat” for nationalists. And it would get the unionist parties and more importantly the Alliance Party (the NIOs favourite party) off the hook and allow them to go get out of the spotlight and into the shadows where they like to be.

Readers of this Blog will know that I elaborated on this in a post (11th January 2013) entitled “Flags: The Way Out””.

Interestingly on tonights Nolan Show and what a sad depressing show it was…Gerry Lynch (in the audience) spoke of this very “solution” is being advocated by St Basil McCrea himself.

Now I do not advocate this solution. Indeed I totally oppose it. I merely suggest tonight as I did last week that this is the “solution” that Theresa Villiers wants to see. So do unionists. So does the Alliance.

Look out for the choreography and the mood being set (on lets getalongerist websites???) to push that.

 

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Guest Post: Mr James FitzjamesHorse

Posted on January 16, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

A post from Mr James FitzjamesHorse, related to Mrs FJH and myself…thru being born.

Well Alex Maskey has got a bit tongue tied on live tv, sadly not for the first time.

I immediately recall the situation of the “Columbia three” who by Alex’s reckoning could have conceivably “been just on holidays” in the popular tourist destination of the Columbian jungle.

Alex has now made the comment that if he were a resident of Short Strand whose home was under sustained attack he too would be “out throwing stones” at the attackers.

Now a reasonable person would probably think to defend ones home is a right anyone should have. Except this part of the world isn’t known for its abundance of reasonable thinkers.

Alex has done what no nationalist should have done at this moment- shifted the focus. Unionism was in the midst of an internal battle and Maskey has in effect thrown them a bone.

I have to hand it to Sinn Fein over the weekend who have performed well on the whole. Gerry Adams appearance at Short Strand over the weekend and defence of residents against claims of violence from RTE northern correspondent Tommy Gorman was both timely and more importantly seemed genuine.

Maskey’s comments were irresponsible NOT a disgrace as Willie Fr…I mean Mike Nesbitt would have us believe. Don’t get me wrong however the image of an elected representative throwing stones probably isn’t the best image to promote a cause.

What’s increasingly clear is that unionism has a short memory. Alex Maskey commented on what he would do if his home was under attack. Perhaps most of us would actually do more than throw stones. But didn’t unionists produce 40,000 leaflets encouraging unionists/loyalists to take to the streets in the first place?

Its the hypocrisy of unionism that is just so hard to stomach at this moment. They have claimed that this comment from Alex Maskey will further increase tensions in East Belfast, yet their unapologetic and successful attempt to rile up the even more unseemly elements of unionism has only been a aided by the DUP/UUPs age old ability to wash their hands of any responsibility for the inevitable violence that followed.

The DUP/UUP want Maskey to retract his comments, will they retract the 40,000 leaflets they sent around loyalist areas? Sometimes I despair, but then I remember Rory is due another major and all will be ok again!

EDIT: ….Would like to add to the comments of young MrFJH. Unionists might do well to remember that Minister of Health, Edwin Poots seemed prepared to defend his life and property with a shotgun.

I would also add that some have said that defending your home with stones is illegal but I understand from an impeccable legal source that this is not necessarily the case. Reasonable force is the key. And Maskey did preface his remarks by stating if police were not there. And probably worthwhile noting that Mr Maskey has himself been shot in the stomache some years ago, earning him the nickname Leadbelly….from those wonderfully cuddly DUP colleagues on the Council.

Would the PSNI really arrest a householder…homeowner whose residence was under attack? Would they seriously not distinguish between a resident in front of his home with a broken window and a balaclava wearing rioter? Would they seriously expect the Prosecution Service to bring it to court? Would they seriously expect a conviction?

If you were on the Jury….just how would that go?

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Reporters, Journalists and Mickey’s Mammy

Posted on January 15, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

On Slugger O’Toole, Mick Fealty references a piece by Nuala McKeever in the Belfast Telegraph. I think it is now nine weeks since I actually bought a newspaper. Not buying one is as habit forming as buying one. The real challenge to my Leveson inspired boycott will be when I am on a bus or train journey. Nothing would ever induce me to buy the Belfast Telegraph anyway.

But here’s a thing. Wikipedia have fairly extensive articles on the backgrounds of a lot of journos..I literally hundreds at the BBC. Take a look at John Simpson, Jeremy Bowen, Huw Edwards….literally hundreds. Typiically grammar school or minor public school boys and girls and not untypically Oxford and Cambridge. Not untypically History.

While I deplore elitism…the BBC apologists would say this is the right balance of classical education and superior gravitas which maketh the BBC man…or woman. I am not sure if the Belfast Metro College still runs its (pretty expensive) journalism class….but a year learning libel laws and of month long work experience with a provincial newspaper plus a trip to Stormont Thor a Q &A session with Mark Devenport is play be not as influential.

As you may have gathered I know rather more about the Metro Class than is strictly necessary.

Thirty years ago, I used to enjoy buying the Guardian and Irish Times. I think Ian Aiken, Hugo Young and Conor O’Clery confirmed my view of the world….in a way that George Monbiot, Timothy Garton Ash and Miriam Lord can no longer do. Besides my world view is settled.

I don’t know how Journalism on broadsheets works anymore. Do they go from Oxford straight to the Guardian or do they have year spend ten years covering village fetes in Somerset and court cases in Rotherham. And why are they all so young? Like that young fella Jones who is always on Question Time.

I totally understand reporters like Mark Simpson reporting as BBC Ireland Correspondent and Fiona Trott, BBC North of England Correspondent. In the food chain, they are Reporters who report on the latest Belfast riot or the latest missing child in Lancashire. And I gender stand that Middle East BBC man Jeremy Bowen and Channel 4s Michael Crick are journalists. They analyse and comment in a way that reporters don’t.

Reporters…Journalists and that brings me to Mickey’ s Mammy…..Nuala McKeever.Who exactly is she and why does she have a column in the Belfast Telegraph? I declare a slight interest. She used to live quite near a friend in West Belfast. She went to QUB…studied French and got a job as a BBC researcher and drifted into the Hole in the Wall Gang. She became famous for two characters…a West Belfast housewife with an errant son “Mickey” and the Cultra letsgetalongerist, Mrs AllTooNice.

Leaving the Hole In The Wall Gang….she had a chat show on UTV but frankly she disappeared off the radar. I don’t wish to be unkind but her career seemed to have petered out. About three years ago, I saw her present a Platform for Change event.She is signatory to PFC and is now real-life LetsGetAlongerist.

Of course many rank and file citizens sign up to Platform for Change. They are not all pretentious networkersin the Metro-Textual world off South East Belfast.Nuala McKeever is an interesting and intelligent woman but are her thoughts more relevant than yours or mine. What entitles her to a Belfast Telegraph platform.Is she a professional journalist. Well of course…I am also one…did I tell you that I earned £17 after currency conversion….so obviously I am not jealous…much.

But why exactly does Ms McKeever have a Belfast Telegraph column? Does she have more insight, expertise or gravitas than say the top ten per cent of Norn Iron bloggers? Which I think defines the non existent difference between Blogging and Journalism A Blogger is at heart a frustrated Journalist who can’t catch a break.And A Journalist is a Blogger who got lucky.

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