A Lets Get Alongerist Writes….

Posted on January 15, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

It’s a strange thing that it is all going a bit wrong at the moment because clearly the two tribes….the sectarian nasty people….who are very different from me….have not read the script.

The Loyalists….who are out on the streets rioting think they are losing.

The Republicans who are smirking at their TV sets think they are winning.

They are of course…idiots. I am a letsgetalongerist and therefore more intelligent and morally superior to sectarian bigots.

The Good Friday Agreement…lets start there. Creative Ambiguity. Everybody thought they had won. Of course it was all wishful thinking. Everybody knew it was all a Big Lie. They went into the polling stations knowing that…but wishful thinking that it was all about Peace. But also a hope that the politicians had got it right. That it was all better for R-wuns than it was for Themmuns.

Of course it actually helped that nothing actually happened since the Good Friday Agreement. No Irish Language Act…well that doesn’t affect me cos I am a letsgetalongerists. And obviously there has been nothing done about Victims….so I am obviously far too posh to know any poor people who actually died…and even more obviously don’t know any police victims….and do I look like the kinda person who would know anybody in the Ulster Defence Regiment in County Armagh. Of course I am not completely insensitive…I love hearing stories from victims. I am a passionate believer in giving a voice to victims. Indeed I would like to be part of a highly paid group of people who sit around listening to victims.

But the past couple of months I seem to have lost …control. The Republicans are sucked into the process but have absolutely nothing to show for it..except of course some chauffeur driven Skodas. The Belfast Telegraph has been assuring me that everything was going in my direction. The Alliance Party is on a roll and the DUP and UUP are reaching out to Catholics and the Census has been brilliant.

The Republicans are not punching their weight in terms of votes or even in terms of designating themselves as IRISH. But something has gone wrong.

All the Republicans had left to them was to haul down the Flagg at the City Hall. and my friends in the Alliance Party got involved. The way I see it, that was purely symbolic because that was actually a sign of republican impotency but the loyalists who are equally stupid and actually thought it was a sign of power. And bizarrely the Alliance Party didn’t get any credit at all….in fact they got the blame. Which is of course very unfair because the Alliance Party are exactly like me…and obviously don’t deserve to get bricks thru their windows. That’s the kinda thing that happens to sectarian householders in the Short Strand…I have passed the Short Strand a few times on the bus to Holywood.

But let’s be frank here…nobody I know joined the Alliance Party in the expectation of getting a brick thru the front window.

So how exactly do we get back to the situation that puts me back on top. After all the Meek shall inherit the Earth…or at least Norn Iron.

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“Les Miserables Bastards”

Posted on January 14, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

I am not a big fan of the musical as a genre….and with the exception of a single song……I cant really get into Les Miserables.

Yet in an attempt to cash in I have decided to write a musical based on the East Belfast fleg riots. Finding actors to play the leading characters might be difficult. Hugh Jackman, Helena Bonham Carter, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway are busy people.

The role of FitzjamesHorse…a dashing young blogger will go to Johnny Depp (Brad Pitt being busy).

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Robert Kee RIP

Posted on January 14, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

I have two volumes of Robert Kee’s History of Ireland On my bookshelf. The third one loaned years ago to ….well I can’t actually remember.

Kee is not just famous for the TV series and linked book. He was also involved in campaigns treferee the Guildford Four. He was an ITN and BBC veteran. A great journalist but going with the Gang of Five (himself, Peter Jay, Anna Ford,David Frost and Angela Rippon) to GMTV exposed that he lacked the charisma for TV presentation.

Over on Slugger O’Toole, Dimbleby Walker thithat quite properly that his passing should be marked for the Slugger readership. As is often the case Dimbleby gets the “dead journalist obituary” gig…..which of course reminds me that nobody on Slugger O’Toole thought that the passing of James Kelly, 100 years old and a journalist for 82 years….shouLd be so noted. Wrong kinda journalist?

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St Patrick’s Day 2013

Posted on January 14, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

There appear to be signs that the Flegs riots are grinding to a halt. PUP Cllr John Kyle seems to be the latest to call for them to cease. As a general rule, politicians who might be thought to bee leaders of unionism don’t want to “call for” anything that won’t be delivered.

The clashes at the Short Strand interface are being blamed on loyalists who outflanked the PSNI on the route home. and too much adverse publicity over the weekend and the PSNI going in hard at the weekend…the media, police and people have lost patience. and perhaps the British media getting interested is long overdue.

But St Patrick’s Day could be extremely interesting. It is a designated “flag day”…..but the thought that a considerable number of nationalists coming into the city centre waving Irish Flags is something that unionists and police will be anxious to avoid.

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Morse Code?

Posted on January 14, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

One of the really great posts on Slugger. From Gerry Lynch, the former Alliance Party staffer/candidate in East Antrim.

It has attracted a lot ocomponent. Frankly too much….as I have pointed ouonion my  er ….own comment. It would not do justice to the the post to try and summarise it here. But I urge you to look at it.

Taking the Census figure of 48% Protestant and a maximum unionist potential of……an almost random figure of 60% …..it is clear that the future of the Union lies in the hands of non-Protestants….the so called middle ground.

Gerry Lynch nails his colours firmly to the mast …that he would likely vote for Irish Unity in any Referendum.

During the summer…Jubilee and Olympics, it was clear to the begrudging chagrin of committed nationalists like myself….the Best of British in all it’s multiethnicity was on view.

The Flegs rioters have shown the very worst of Britishness….in all it’s narrow minded, sectarian, racist awfulness. This…it is argued turns moderates to consider Irish Unity.

The Alliance Party is under a spotlight as never before. It has thrived in the shadows. as a Party it is declared agnostic on the constitution…but it is a broad church. Broadly but not exclusively it is Liberal Democrat in British terms but has some lefties and more conservatives. it contains a “churchy” ecumenical element and a secular liberal element. But increasingly there is a liberal unionist element with high profile figures …such as Harry Hamilton, Paula Bradshaw and Ian Parsley defecting from UUP. possibly more to come. Of course there is an element of networking letsgetalongerists.

I think the arrival of so many liberal unionists DOES change the dynamic within the Alliance Party. Whether it strengthens the Party is a different question.

And this is the thing I find most interesting aspect of Gerry Lynch’s post on Slugger O’Toole.Is Gerry Lynch sending a coded message ….Morse Code…perhaps to his own (still?) Party?…..that the Alliance Party needs to retain its broad appeal.

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Riot Anecdote

Posted on January 13, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

Weearlier had visitors from another shown today. Naturally tsub conversation turned to the Flegs rioting.

Yesterday my friend was thriving to the bookies to get his football bets on. Stopped by one of the PSNIs young women officers, monitoring the progress of a loyalist mob.

Asked where he was going, he replied that” I am just nipping in to the bookies to get this bet on”

“Well get in there quick” she sthese before them bastards get back”.

Hmmm….that’s not political policing. No sir rede.

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Toupe …Or Not Toupe?

Posted on January 13, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

A Sunday newspaper is suggesting that Mike Nesbitt (UUP Leader) has hair ……that is worth a second look.

Certainly the next time I see him on the TV News, I will have a good look.

 

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On Yer Bike….To Italy

Posted on January 13, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

So we have had the MTV Awards Show. We have had the Titanic Hoopla. We have DerryLondonderry (no to Hell with saying “Londonderry” City of Culture nonsense. The G8 (don’t ha just love it?) Summit later this year.

And seemingly we MIGHT have the start of the Tour of Italy (Giro) cycle race in 2014. Seemingly this is already being negotiated. By whom? Is anyone being paid a fee to do this?

This is the latest Circus.

But you see the funny side. Cycling…a sport trying to rehabilitate itself. Where better…than Norn Iron….a start outside Belfast City Hall….and the Prologue gets under way with the drop of the Italian flag. A flag that will concern Willie Frazer.

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Les Miserables (East Belfast Branch)

Posted on January 12, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

Personally I have not been to the Cinema in about fifteen years….and yes it was a Star Trek movie.

By an odd coincidence two of  my friends living in different places saw Les Miserables on Thursday night. I’m not a big fan of musicals…although my karaoke duet with Mrs FJH “Youre the One That I want” has often stunned people.

So I can’t really see myself going to see Les Miserables. The stage version is of coursroar massive success and all of us who have visited London can’t fail to be impressed by the iconic signage in Shaftsbury Avenue.

I don’t suppose tickets are cheap and I have to say that most audiences are probably well-heeled which begs the question why so many …presumably conservative voters…would sing along with the Parisian mob.

Two things perhaps. We are all familiar with Jean Valjean …it is a classic tale but maybe all  political philosophies identify rightly or wrongly with the revolutionaries. It Ewan’s after all a conflict with the obnoxious aristocracy.

Yet at some point in some lives we might have hearts that beat to the sound of the drum…1969 to 1971 perhaps and we might see an arc of events…1971 to 1972 which causes us to reflect….and we greater to a greater or lesser extent have mixed feelings about the whole sound of the drum thing….and perhaps it takes some longer than others to stop listening to the drum…while retaining a fondness for the memory and the whole revolutionary fervour. It’s odd that people will buy tickets to see Les Miserables and perhaps buy Abba’s Greatest Hits and wistfully sing a along to”Fernando”……not really reflecting about that fateful night we crossed the Rio Grande. Indeed pepeople some of the people ….me for example….who will play “Can You Hear The People Sing” and “Fernando” on YouTube are also likely to play “The Boys of the Old Brigade” because when it comes right down to it,we all prefer to be on the side of the revolutionaries than on the side of the”oppressor”.

Perhaps some would turn up their noses at “My Little Armalite” while happily singing songs from Les Miserables. Of course it helps that Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman are involved.

But I suspect that the Paris mob Moore little resemblance to Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman. Indeed they migh have been as boorish and brutish as the Flegs protestors in East Belfast. Of course that is the difference between History…romanticised History andPolitics.

And whether the History of the Victor or thE Balladeer, we tend to accept it.

Yet hard to see that the East Belfast mob will ever be celebrated in a 22nd century musical. There is little cultural about Loyalists. They Have little to offer beyond a kick- the-pope band….and a few plays about the Somme.

BUT MOSTLY THERE IS CULTURAL BANKRUPTCY.

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Commenting Policy

Posted on January 12, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

My “Commenting Policy” is fairly basic…I don’t actually have one.

I have only ever deleted four comments in almost eighteen months. I am wary of anything that would get me on a “libel” charge. And rather like the Judge in the 1961ish Lady Chatterleys Lover “decency case”my who advised the jury….”would you be happy if your wives or servants read this book.?”….I have a generational aversion to bad language.

But I will not rule anything out…..for being seemingly “off topic” or not relevant. I feel that should be YOUR choice not my choice. If YOU think a point is relevant then….it IS relevant.

But today I deleted a comment. I will not allow a comment that is racist, sexist, homophobic or sectarian. Nor will I allow any commentary on the PERSONAL LIFESTYLE CHOICES of any individual, particularly if the individual has been brave enough to talk candidly about his/her choices.

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