Keeping An Eye On the Czar of Russia

Which Constitutional Nationalist Party Stoops Down Lower?

Posted on March 29, 2012 by fitzjameshorse

Sammy McNally raised some interesting points in a comment on my earlier thread in which I suggested that the Decade of Centenaries…..and the Half Centenaries……provide an opportunity for SDLP and UUP.

I want to develop that point further, with particular reference to the SDLP of which I am a member.

I consistently voted for SDLP from 1970 (technically Gerry Fitt was still Republican Labour at that point) until 1993. I switched to voting Sinn Féin for localised personal reasons….although my wife a much more forgiving person than I am continued to vote SDLP. I suppose it was some time after 1998 Good Friday Agreement that I would have really got over that localised personal issue and voted on logical issues….my principles and self interest. There was of course a choice. The SDLP and belatedly Sinn Féin are two constitutional nationalist parties. They are therefore the only choice I make at the ballot box. I voted Sinn Féin because they seemed less likely to compromise on the basics. The SDLP……particuarly some leading members seemed too anxious to compromise. I think the fact that so many nationalist voters drained away from the SDLP as evidence that many felt the same way.

To some extent, the St Andrews Agreement in 2007 was a turning point. Sinn Féin were overly enjoying the trappings of power and had a rather arrogant streak. They were the Party I saw as overly anxious to hold the reins of power, almost for its own sake.

Therefore I voted SDLP in the 2009 Euro Elections, at Westminster 2010 and the Assembly 2011.

From my perspective:

1998: SDLP (constitutional) SF (almost constitutional) but personal issues made me vote Sinn Féin. And the more general nationalist population edged towards SDLP.

2003: A more “logical” choice but voted Sinn Féin. SDLP over-anxious to compromise. SF seen as standing up to unionism.

2007: Two constitutional parties but SF stronger on the basics.

2011: Two constitutional parties but as I saw it SF just too arrogant and the SDLP needed to be bolstered as nationalism needed a choice.

2015: Now much too early to say but as I have indicated they are both constiutional………but really which Party is more prepared to stand up to Unionism and the Alliance. Sinn Féin has after all promoted the Alliance gerrymander. Mainstream nationalist voters are bound to be confused. Having given Sinn Féin the benefit of the doubt over SDLP as the stronger constitutional nationalist party…….it might be logical to see SDLP as stronger next time round.

Now I dont deny that there are difficulties in becoming or seeming to become more stridently nationalist. SDLP fights Sinn Féin west of the Bann where Alliance only exists on paper. Sinn Féin has only one rival…….SDLP in all constituencies. But in the ring of constituencies around Belfast…….East Antrim, South Antrim, Lagan Valley, Strangford and North Down (this one unwinnable for any nationalist)…….the SDLP fights on two fronts (SF and Alliance). SDLP will however be helped by the Alliance Party’s drift to the “right”……..with Parsley, Bradshaw and Hamilton on board.

So the question is …..which constitutional nationalist party stoops further to accomodate unionism?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Alliance Party, decade of centenaries, SDLP, Sinn Féin | 10 Comments

The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner

Posted on March 29, 2012 by fitzjameshorse

My sister just phoned from London to ask if I was going over next month. The London Marathon passes her front door and I have watched it pass a few times. I used to run quite a lot ..even did a couple of Marathons and Half Marathons…..the great joy of running is that it clears your head. It was good “thinking” time. There is also the joy that I never came last.

Nowadays of course, I cannot run at all. I have arthritis in both knees and one knee can “go” at any time. But I still take an interest in Athletics. I was a spectator a the Moscow Olympics. Ignoring the issue of Drugs……and it is a big issue……there is something “pure” about Running. You just….run. OK I am being a bit naive, there are race tactics (I was never good enough to actually “race”) and issues about pacing……….but mostly the concept of running from Here to There is a very easy concept to grasp.

While I am on the subject of the London Marathon, a tip of the hat to Conall McDevitt MLA who is taking part and raising funds for a Diabetes Charity (a subject close to my fanily’s heart)

Ireland will have a full team of three runners in the Womens Marathon. Three runners have made the “A” standard….Linda Byrne, Ava Hutchinson and Maria McCambridge. They are not yet selected. Two reasons. There is always the issue of maintaining fitness and form and sometimes the issue of peaking to get a Qualification time in an event as demanding as running 26 miles can affect later performance.

Many in the political blogging community here will be aware that Gladys Ganiel, my favourite Conflict Resolutionist is an accomplished runner. A member of the North Belfast club, she runs under her married name of O’Neill. American born, she recently took out Irish citizenship and has the “B” standard. Hopefully she is targetting next months London event. It provides a great opportunity. Another Belfast person on the Irish Olympic team would be great news.

Gladys is an alumnus of Providence College in Rhode Island, which has excellent Irish connections. Many decent runners went there on scholarship. The most famous were the brothers John and Ray Treacy from Villierstown in County Waterford. I was in Bellahouston Park in Glasgow in 1978 when John won the World Cross Country Championship. He retained it in 1979 in Limerick. I was in the Olympic Stadium when John collapsed of heat exhaustion in the 10,000 metres heats but I was back home when he ran to sixth place in the 5,000 metres final. In 1984 John Treacy took silver in the Los Angeles Olympic Marathon.

Gladys Ganiel-O’Neill narrowly missed the “A” standard at the end of last year and again in Houston Texas in January 2012. But she does have the advantage of being Ireland’s most consistent performer. She topped the rankings in 2010. It would be nice to see her qualify.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Conall McDevitt, Gladys Ganiel, London Olympics, Marathon | Leave a comment

The Upcoming Decade…….Opportunity For SDLP And UUP

Posted on March 28, 2012 by fitzjameshorse

Memorably UUP Leader Tom Elliott would not attend a GAA match. To do so would have exposed the UUP to criticism from the purists in the DUP.

Memorably in November 2010, Margaret Ritchie, then SDLP Leader wore a poppy at the Downpatrick Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday.

I have been told by some SDLP members that this cost SDLP votes in the 2011 Election. Other SDLP members have told me that it did not cost any votes. Both may be right. It might have been patchy. From my own perspective in November 2010, I may not have voted SDLP in November 2010, had there been an immediate election. But in May 2011, I was more committed. I did not actually join the party until late August or early September 2011.

It might seem odd then that Carál Ní Chuilín the Sinn Féin Minister whose “Culture” brief includes Sport…..went to a “Northern Ireland” football match. Then, Peter Robinson goes to a Saturday night GAA match in Armagh. Then Martin McGuinness goes to Windsor Park.

The choreography is as clumsy as an entire series of “Strictly Come Dancing”.

Uber-Gers man Gregory Campbell grins and bears it. Uber-Gael Barry McElduff grins and bears it also. If they are uncomfortable, they are not showing it.

Yet ………I am uncomfortable………because I would never set foot inside Windsor Park. And yet I do not consider myself as “extreme” as Sinn Féin. I therefore expect many mainstream nationalists are a bit uncomfortable with that. People who vote Sinn Féin or SDLP.

Likewise I consider that many mainstream unionists (UUP and DUP) voters are not exactly thrilled with Robinson going to a GAA match.

Notwithstanding the fact that SDLP members and voters are………nationalists, republicans, socialists and moderates…….although not necessarily with the same proportions. They may or may not be tolerant of Sinn Féin……..but I like to consider my Auntie Sheila, fifty years in the Clonard Confraternity who prayed the Rosary for Peace every night. Never seen her violent except when she told the big Paratrooper that she had “every hair on that childs head counted” (that child was me…….I was about 22 at the time). But Auntie Sheila never allowed an English newspaper thru the front door and was very quick to get the TV switched off before “God Save The Queen” at the closedown……Like I say………mainstream.

And I suspect there are a lot of Auntie Sheilas who vote SDLP and Sinn Féin who are a bit annoyed at the way Sinn Féin are rushing to the middle ground. And there might be someone reading this who has a very reasonable Auntie Bertha who is a moderate unionist but just a little uncomfortable at Peter Robinsons approach.

The point here is that Sinn Féin and DUP are being exposed. There is an opportunity I believe for SDLP and quite possibly UUP to exploit this feeling in mainstream republicanism and unionism.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged decade of centenaries, DUP, SDLP, Sinn Féin, UUP | 2 Comments

Reporting Norn Iron

Posted on March 28, 2012 by fitzjameshorse

Fascinating BBC Norn Iron documentary last night. Four journalists who had reported on Norn Iron for TV News returned to Belfast to talk about their time here.

Martin Bell………I have always regarded as a pompous ass. He was easily the most unpopular (with republican audiences) of the TV Newsmen who did a stint in Belfast in the 1970s. Too…….BBC. While he did a good job in defeating Neil Hamilton in the 1997 General Election……..his man in the white suit, only man in the world who has ethics routine……..wears a bit thin. Arguably the title of Most Unpopular London BBC Man With Ormeau Avenue Secretaries goes to a reporter they called “the poisoned carrot”.

In strictness Peter Taylor is a documentary reporter rather than a day-to-day BBC hack. Responsible for in depth programmes on loyalists and republicans, he was chatting (seperately) to old contacts Jackie McDonald and Danny Morrison about the old days and the new days.

Bill Neely of ITN now their Foreign Editor………spoke movingly about his first big assignment the bomb at the Droppin’Well bar in Ballykelly, where several were killed. His guilt at being …..”excited”. Neely is actually a local boy made good.

Star was undoubtedly Kate Adie. Long an irritant to the Establishment (ask Norman Tebbitt) she seems more like the fictional Murphy Browne than ever. I declare an interest. Kate once gave me her autograph (in a Chinese restaurant on the Dublin Road in Belfast). How to make Norn Iron of interest in the 1970s and 1980s to the English viewers. Not easy as Kate said. She did not really know what Norn Iron was about……..why people got so worked up about local government reform……until her first assignment when she checked into BBC Norn Iron and found how few Catholics there were in the newsroom.

Ah things are better now. They do let Catholics into the BBC Newsroom but of course nationalists and republicans are still a bit “iffy”. They make up 40 per cent of the votes cast.

Yet BBC Norn Iron journalists wax lyrical about the BBC ethos. Perhaps Kate was not part of the “wider freemasonry of journalism”.

Of course in BBC London, the British Intelligence Services had an office. The MI5 guy had files on BBC journos and curiously the files had a “Christmas tree” sticker to indicate that the journo was “one of us”. Of course Journalism is an ideal cover for “espionage” and no doubt some journos earn some extra dosh by filing reports to MI5/6 from Moscow or Belfast.

Did MI5/6 have on site office in Ormeau Avenue? I have no idea but it would have been odd if they did not have journalists on the payroll.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged BBC, Bill Neely, Journalists, Kate Adie, Martin Bell, Norn Iron, Peter Taylor | Leave a comment

Slugger O’Toole Nominated For An Award

Posted on March 28, 2012 by fitzjameshorse

Congratulations to the “independent” website Slugger O’Toole (partner of Stratagem which advises the Rowntree Foundation which has donated £98,000 to the Alliance Party since 2007). Slugger has been nominated for a blogging award. Alas, I am the George C Scott (he turned down an Oscar) of bloggers. I dont believe in awards, especially for anything as daft as blogging.

If I believed in awards, I would be devastated that “Keeping An Eye On the Czar of Russia” has not been nominated.

Nevertheless the peerless Mick Fealty thanks those who have contributed to Sluggers success…….or to put it another way Mick is thanking ME cos I cannot imagine anyone who has done more for Slugger.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Slugger O'Toole | 2 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Curragh Camp, East Belfast, Postcards, Social Media | Leave a comment

Sounding The Last Post?

Posted on March 27, 2012 by fitzjameshorse

News that the price of a “first” class postage stamp is going up from 46 pence to 60 pence has shocked many people. The thought persists that this is a means of “fattening up” the Royal Mail to make it more attractive for Privatisation. Governments have always held a monopoly on the mail…….originally in seventeenth century England………as a counter against treason, conspiracy and espionage. In more benign times, it has always been assumed that a regulated postal system is a force for social good. The real cost of delivering a letter from (say) rural Wales to a small island off the Scottish coast is much greater than the delivery of a letter from one major London bank to another.

It has been deemed that the “Social Cost” of paying (say) 10 pence to post a letter within London and paying (say) £1 to post the same letter to Scotland would be simply too high. I am not sure that a privatised Post Office would take the same view.

Yet mail priced “realistically” at 60 pence is a culture shock. To make a comparison 60 pence is (in old currency) twelve shillings or 120 “old” pennies. But the first British postage stamp was the Penny Black………so thats a mark up of 120 times the original price.

To make the comparison with the Edwardian era……….say 1908………it still cost just one penny to send a letter. People like myself who wander around Postcard Fairs will notice that there are still (literally) millions of Edwardian postcards out there. Postcards were actually the social media of their day. And the messages on postcards are often very interesting. Postcards and Facebook have a lot in common.

As I recall in the 1960s, my mother used to write letters to her sisters. We got letters and Christmas cards. But do we really get REAL letters now?……..letters that are not bank statements? I cannot remember when I last got a letter. And as I get older, I get fewer Christmas cards.

Social media………..has a lot to answer for.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Facebook, Mail, Postcards, Social Media | Leave a comment

The Fiftieth Anniversary Of The Fiftieth Anniversary Of The Easter Rising

Posted on March 27, 2012 by fitzjameshorse

You have not misread the Headline. I have chosen my words quite deliberately.

The year 2016 will mark not merely the Centenary of the Easter Rising. It will also be the fiftieth anniversary of the fiftieth anniversary in 1966. I was almost fourteen years old then, living in West Belfast and I remember it quite well.

I recall a teacher at our West Belfast Grammar School …we regarded him as an old man but he was probably around the age that I am now….tell us that he was in Sackville Street (now O’Connell Street) in Dublin when a British Lancer was shot and fell from his horse. I remember believing him……….before deciding a few years later that he was exaggerating. Now I am not so sure. If the Troubles taught me one thing, it is that we all got to see things at close quarters. We all have an anecdote. Or several anecdotes. On reflection, I think he was telling the truth in 1966.

The year 1966 was a turning point. The Republic of Ireland had grown up. It is true to say that Ireland was never the same again after joining the Common Market in 1973. Arguably it is true to say that it will never be the same again after Mrs Windsor visited in 2011. But I tend to consider that 1966 exorcised the ghosts of 1916.

Official commemorations in the Republic of Ireland. Illegal ones in the North of Ireland. West Belfast, where I lived was not exactly as typically nationalist as South Armagh but it was the spiritual capital of “Northern Nationalism”, the alternative State in which we lived. Casement Park…the Falls Road…Gerry Fitt would soon be MP at Westminster……..one of the turning points.

I recall that Easter Sunday Parade. Watched it with my family outside the Royal Victoria Hospital. The odd thing was that some of my school friends took part in it. It was on reflection….a peek into the semi-clandestine world of West Belfast Republicanism. I might have been aware that some guys were more overtly “Irish” than the rest of us. Had fathers who were “1950s men” and grandfathers who were “1920s men”. Many of my school friends would become “1970s men”. But it seemed a closed world. I watched the Parade. They were in the Parade.

The Police as I recall stayed away. A few weeks later, a man (John Scullion) from the Clonard area was shot dead, allegedly because his loyalist killers could not locate the intended target, the main organiser of the 1916 Commemoration. Bizarrely it was not known that Mr Scullion was shot dead until his body was exhumed.

During the Summer of 1966, Peter Ward, a West Belfast Catholic was also shot dead. Rising tensions in part due to Easter 1966 were blamed…..which I think lets the nakedly sectarian murderer Gusty Spence off the hook too easily. Again this event is one I recall well. I first heard of it on the Sunday morning that I got ready to go on a Church outing to Bray in County Wicklow. Later that afternoon in Bray, a market stall holder told us all that it must be awful to live in Belfast.

July 1966, I saw Rev Ian Paisley, just becoming familiar on TV news as he led a parade…..actually a loyalist mob down North Street from the Shankill Road.

The thing about commemorations is that they tell us as much about the year in which the commemoration takes place (1966 or 2016) than it does about the actual event in 1916.

I am no great fan of a manufactured “shared history” and I hold in total contempt the historians who have allowed themselves to be manipulated into organising “shared history” for the perceived Common Good rather than Historical Truth. Anyone who has a History degree has an obligation to tell the Truth.

But I believe that the present obsession with the Decade of Centenaries……..Ulster Covenant (1912), Easter (1916), Somme (1916), Partition (1922)………deflects from a Decade of Half-Centenaries…….the O’Neill Years (1963-70), the first murders of the modern Troubles (John Scullion and Peter Ward in 1966), the first Civil Rights march (Coalisland 1968), the Battle of the Bogside (1969), formation of SDLP (1970), Internment (1971),Bloody Sunday (1972) and Bloody Friday (1972). Too many to mention.

But realistically the decade of the half century commemorations are potentially more toxic than the decade of centenaries.

People will talk about dealing with……or handling the Past. I do not believe that we should try.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged commemorations, decade of centenaries, History, letsgetalongerism | 4 Comments

Donorgate

Posted on March 27, 2012 by fitzjameshorse

So a Conservative Party treasurer (and millionaire) got on the wrong end of a newspaper sting……..and was secretly filmed (will they ever learn?) negotiating a Premiership type donation to the Conservative Party. Apparently for £250,000 Peter Cruddas was offering dinner with David and Samantha Cameron in their Downing Street appartment. And any good ideas that Cameron hears will be discussed by a Cabinet committee.

Except of course Peter Cruddas was offering no such thing. His resignation statement two hours after his indiscretion was made public apologised for his “bluster” ……..basically he now claims that he was over-selling the degree of access and influence a millionaire donor would have.

Political Parties are notoriously financially insecure and always looking for donations. The Tories are bankrolled by donations from millionaires and big business. Labour is backed by Trade Unions. In Norn Iron we rely on small donations…..although the Alliance Party has been funded to the tune of £98,000 by Rowntree Foundation. The Foundation is advised by Quintin Oliver of Stratagem. Stratagem is a partner of Slugger O’Toole.

Curiously when raising the issue of DonorGate on Slugger, Mick Fealty fails to mention this little local funding issue.

The apology issued by Cruddas relates to the “impression” that his “bluster” might have caused. It is a non-apology. But I wonder if we can think of the issue of political funding as Objective and not get caught up in the Subjective case.

There is financial support……..access………influence…….and in the case of Fianna Fáil downright corruption.

Membership of a political party in Norn Iron costs between £20-£40 yearly. Less for the “unwaged”. Not exactly big bucks. Certainly most members of a political party will be part of fundraising activities. At the weekend I was at a fundraiser for SDLP Youth…..a table quiz. Golf Days, “Nights at the Races”, Poker Nights, Coffee Mornings are all part of the fabric of political membership.

Access? Well almost inevitably most fund raising events have a degree of access. The local MLA or possibly others will attend a local fundraiser. An photo opportunity. Post on Facebook. It is how things are.

Influence? Well we start to get into dangerous territory. I think if most members of political parties won the Lottery……they might donate a few extra pounds to their Party of choice.

Yet I think “the opportunity to meet” tactic is really a bit over-played.

Members of the Belfast Chamber of Commerce recently paid £35 to hear a “briefing” from Stephen Farry Minister for Employment & Learning. But it makes no sense that Farry would actually tell the diners something he had not already said in the Assembly Chamber, in the DEL Committee, to journalists or to his Alliance-Rowntree colleagues. Of course I cannot say this for sure because the briefing was “in camera”…..diners were forewarned that nothing said at the dinner could be reported. But I think any diner who went to the dinner hoping to hear something interesting would have been disappointed.

It was not REAL access. Rather it was an event staged to make the Chamber of Commerce members seem important. The “in camera” briefing was really just a way of making them feel conspiratorial.

Politics is a bit like Football but maybe NOT in the way that Peter Cruddas meant.

There are effectively two types of football supporter. My son and his nephew (my grandson) are on their way back from Manchester where they just watched Manchester United beat Fulham 1-0. They left Manchester at 10.30pm and as I type this more than two hours later, they are probably near the ferry port at Holyhead. A sea crossing to Dublin and they should be home in about eight hours. Football supporters……yes. But some years ago Roy Keane spoke about the “prawn sandwich” supporter…….in corporate hospitality. No doubt getting the full treatment in a private box at Old Trafford.

Really the corporate or simply well-off political supporter is more valued than the rank and file member of a Party. If I telephoned the treasurers of Norn Irons political parties tomorrow, offering £500 to the Party if I got a dinner with the Party Leader, they would be delighted. No big deal. Id be conning myself if I thought it gave me any influence. But ……the photograph would look good on Facebook.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Alliance Party, Belfast Chamber of Commerce, Peter Cruddas, Political Funding, Slugger O'Toole, Stephen Farry | Leave a comment

Trayvon Martin RIP

Posted on March 26, 2012 by fitzjameshorse

One of the hardest things for Europeans to understand about United States is the Gun Culture…the right to bear arms….the National Rifle Association and all that.

I thought that United States had changed. I am old enough to barely remember politicians and police from the “Deep South” stand in the entrances of coleges to prevent black students going inside. I am old enough to have watched “Guess Who Is Coming To Dinner” and “In The Heat of The Night” in the cinema. And old enough to watch “Ironside” on TV in 1967 and be amazed that there was a back member of the cast.

And I have seen Sidney Potier , Eddie Murphy and Will Smith become stars of the silver screen. And Mohammed Ali and Michael Jordan become sports stars. I have seen Rodney King beaten up and Michael Jackson acquitted. And I have seen President Obama in the White House.

The story of Trayvon Martin is so sad that it almost hurts to watch the TV News.

A 17 year old black guy in a “gated community” was deemed to be “suspicious”, maybe “on drugs”. In the opinion of George Zimmermann, “Captain” of the Neighbourhood Watch. Advised to avoid confrontation Zimmermann shot dead Mr Taylor. He has not been charged with any crime. Florida has a “stand your ground” law. Zimmermann is deemed to be within his rights.

Thanks to social network sites such as Facebook, this local story has become a major American issue. Indeed the eyes of the world are on the United States. The local police chief has resigned. President Obama has spoken on the issue. Black ……..AND White people have stood up and said that this is a grave miscarriage of Justice.

The very least that Trayvon Martin deserves is that the facts be heard in open court. He has been denied Justice. I want to see George Zimmermann receive the Justice denied to Trayvon Taylor. He should be investigated……if necessary charged……if necessary convicted or acquitted.

I urge people to sign the petition in support of Trayvon Taylor’s family.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged George Zimmerman, Guns, Racism, Trayvon Martin, United States | Leave a comment

Keeping An Eye On the Czar of Russia

Which Constitutional Nationalist Party Stoops Down Lower?

The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner

The Upcoming Decade…….Opportunity For SDLP And UUP

Reporting Norn Iron

Slugger O’Toole Nominated For An Award

The Fiftieth Anniversary Of The Fiftieth Anniversary Of The Easter Rising

Donorgate

Trayvon Martin RIP

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