If You Are In A Sports Shop Today…

Posted on June 9, 2016 by fitzjameshorse

If you are in a Sports Shop in a shopping mall in Norn Iron today, I urge you to report any Norn Iron politician acting suspiciously. As the European Football Championships start tomorrow, I suspect our politicians will want to demonstrate that they are Men/Women of the People and getting themselves kitted out in Norn Iron shirts or Republic of Ireland shirts or….both.

BOTH????  Yes …some will give in to their inner LetsGetAlongerism and attempt to wear both shirts…though it will be difficult to wear two shirts at the same time. Look out for bewildered children being forced into a shirt they dont want to advance a parental career.

This is bad news for the Alliance child forced into a Republic of Ireland shirt. And bad news for a SDLP child forced into a Norn Iron shirt. Unionists dont do “cross community” so the fruit of DUP and UUP loins will be wearing Norn Iron shirts.

Sinn Féin….well Martin McGuinness (a Manchester United fan so he should know his stuff) says he wants to go see Norn Iron and Republic of Ireland play ….which is almost as bad as shaking hands with Mrs Windsor. But most SF people will know that he has to go thru the LetsGetAlongerist motions.

Meanwhile, out in County Tyrone, Sinn Féins court jester, Barry McElduff MLA will pretend that he has no idea what the European Football Championships and will get himself photographed in a Tyrone GAA shirt.

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“Mussolini and Lucretia Borgia”

Posted on June 8, 2016 by fitzjameshorse

Hard to believe that eight years ago, Europe was enjoying the race to the White House. We all favoured Obama. On the night of Obama’s election, I wrote a piece “Two Cheers for President Obama”…one cheer for being a History maker, one cheer for being a Democrat. I could not offer the third cheer because most of my fellow Europeans failed to realise that Obama would be President of the the United States of America and would act in American interests rather than mine….and rightly so. But in 2008, I saw no reason to give him a blank cheque. I dont buy into the American rhetoric that the Man/Woman in the White House is the “Leader of the Free World”.

For the record, a lot of praise is due to President Bush and Laura Bush…their finest moment seemed to be getting caught up in the History of it all. Shamefully the Republican Party and Fux News has not treated President Obama with due respect for the office he holds or his (economic) achievements.

Yet since 2008, American Politics has been on a downward spiral. I hold no brief for journalist Melanie Phillips but last night on SKY News she summed up the 2016 Presidential Election as a contest between Mussolini and Lucretia Borgia.

Mussolini is of course Donald Trump. His rise is entirely due to the incompetence of the Republican Party establishment. They attached their legitimate Conservative agenda to a raft of issues…angry white men with guns, anti-modernism, the Christian extreme, racism, anti-intellectualism.
They thought that they could lead that agenda…but that agenda has led them.
Genuine thoughtful Republicans will not support Trump. They will hope for a Trump defeat and the opportunity to re-group for 2020.
It seems in the last decade that an entire industry has sprung up…the Fact-Checking of claims made by politicians. Trump’s response is to spew out lies and his supporters love it.
We are now in a new age of Politics….Post-Fact.
“Facts” are now less important than an agenda.
For years all politicians have abused Statistics to the extent that nobody actually believes a word they say. It is not just Donald Trump. I dont believe a single “fact” spewed out by the LEAVE side in the EU Referendum Campaign but I will cheerfully vote LEAVE anyway. They tell bigger and better lies than the REMAIN campaign.

As you might expect, I am a big fan of Bernie Sanders.
As Hillary Clinton stands on a platform …wearing a $12,000 Armani jacket and talking about the concerns of struggling Americans, I detect bullshit. All that “for every little girl who dared to dream” is hypocritical nonsense.
Hillary is nothing more than a “machine Democrat” saying all the right things to get into the White House. With Bill Clinton as the “First Gentleman”. You have to laugh.

Hillary will of course play the History card. It is the only card she has.
The problem is that Barak Obama was authentic. Black people identified with him as authentic and aspirational.
In contrast, Hillary Clinton has no connexion to women …except Meryl Streep and the type of woman who wears a jacket costing $12,000.
Still …she is a Democrat and therefore better than Donald Trump. But she is lucky not to be facing a decent Republican like John Kasich or Jeb Bush.
Social Media and Fux News have gone after her…unfairly ….on Benghazi. But there is something uncomfortable about the “emails” affair but ultimately nothing criminal.
Genuine liberals and social democrats and opponents of the way campaigns are funded will hold their noses and vote for her. She is the best Democrat that money can buy.

But really this has been a depressing campaign. Sanders deserves credit for raising real issues and bringing a new agenda which will maybe come to the fore in 2020. Most Democrats will content themselves that Hillary will be 69years old when she takes the Oath of Office in January 2017. And the search for a more credible Democrat will begin immediately.
Best case scenario is that Clinton defeats Trump but only serves one term as President.

Lucretia Borgia or Benito Mussolini….most Americans will go with Lucretia.

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EU Referendum: A Score Draw

Posted on June 7, 2016 by fitzjameshorse

Last week on SKY News, I saw an item which indicated that the Remain vote in Scotland, Wale, Norn Iron…and London would be  more than 60per cent…but the Remain vote in “middle England” will be much closer.

London is atypical of England.

There is a possibility that nationalists in Scotland, Wales and Norn Iron could actually swing the vote. It is unlikely that “middle England” will take it well. Likewise if the “UK” as a whole votes to leave, then it will not go down well outside England.

Effectively there are two Referendums. There is the vote taking place in the “UK” (England, Scotland, Wales, Norn Iron) and there is the vote taking place within Scotland, Wales and Norn Iron.

I suggest that these are two different dynamics. What is good for (say) Norn Iron is not necessarily good for the “UK”.

At the weekend, I completed a Lucid Talk survey. For the record, I declared that I would be voting LEAVE. This may not be good for Norn Iron or Ireland. But while I “get” that progressive nationalists should make Norn Iron work, I dont feel any obligation to make the “UK” work. I should add that the six adults in my family are committed or leaning to a LEAVE vote.

Effectively I have two votes in this Referendum and that is how I intend to play it. I dont think my LEAVE vote will influence the Norn Iron result…where the balance of probability indicates most will vote REMAIN.

But that single visit to the polling station on 23rd June means that my vote will be counted twice….and it might just influence things when the “UK” vote is counted.

I do not feel any obligation to take the Referendum seriously…in the sense of weighing up my economic interests (REMAIN) against my animosity to David Cameron, Tony B Liar and Peter Mandelson. Likewise I dont want to weigh up my antagonism to the European Union with the unlovely leaders of the LEAVE campaign (Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Nigel Farage and Kate Hoey).

Some will say this is an irresponsible approach. But I cannot imagine anything more irresponsible than Cameron promising a Referendum merely to halt the growth of UKIP and deal with Eurosceptics in his Conservative Party. I wont play ball…and I am not thrilled to see the British Labour Party bail out a Tory Government.

The Debate is already degraded beyond the point of Reason where we should listen to the two sides and reach some kinda decision.

This is not to say that I am not taking the Referendum seriously. I am taking it all very seriously. At 10pm on 23rd June, three News channels will report the exit polls.

If you could close your eyes now and imagine the announcement…

“Britain has voted overwhelmingly to remain in European Union”…”Britain is thrown into chaos as polls suggest a majority of people want to leave the EU”…..”Too close to call as England votes to leave EU but rest of UK votes to stay”…..”Constitutional Crisis and even the Government might fall”.

Lets be clear. This Referendum is an opportunity. It is not a single issue. Your agenda might well be different from mine but take the opportunity to maximise YOUR agenda.

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We CAN Handle The Truth

Posted on June 6, 2016 by fitzjameshorse

My Uncle Charlie was a country man. From Glenavy in County Antrim.  He liked to tell stories …some of which might have been true. To some extent..they were all true. Parables. Usually about the casual cruelty of rural poverty.

Take the story of the poor and inadequate hermit who was hired by a wealthy farmer to do some work. The payment would be a pair of new boots from a shoe shop in Lisburn.  As a gesture of good faith, the farmer measured the mans feet with a stick.

So….work done, the pair set off for Lisburn. But half way there the farmer told the man that he could not buy him the boots. The reason….the farmer had lost the stick. As Uncle Charlie told it the man said “Sir, I think you have tricked old Paddy but Paddy doesnt know how you tricked him”.

Indeed….the casual nature of Cruelty.

We are all a bit like Old Paddy. Sometimes we know there is a “con” going on. But we just dont know what the “con” is.
Last week, I blogged about the inquest into the Kingsmill Massacre. It happened over forty years ago. Ten Protestant workmen killed when their van was stopped by a local republican group. The IRA denied involvement but little happened in South Armagh without them knowing. And then this week the relatives are taken aside and told that the Police have a development….a palm print has been discovered in a getaway vehicle. Actually it was discovered at the time…but somehow missed in a review in the 1970s and 1980s.
You dont really have to be a conspiracy theorist to think that this is all a bit suspicious. Could it be that the “development” will lead to an arrest that would mean a postponement (again) of the Inquest.

It all makes me think of the Rich Farmer with his stick.

And just as curiously the Inquest into the Birmingham Pub Bombings has re-opened. The relatives are jubilant but I suspect they too are having their feet measured by the Establishment.
What exactly happened in Birmigham four decades ago? THe IRA murdered several people. The West Midlands police framed six Irishmen, forensic evidence was fabricated, the suspects were badly beaten by police and prison officers (nobody faced justice for that) and then several years later the six prisoners were found totally innocent.
Actually thats not all that happened in Birmingham.
With honourable exceptions the Irish Government and nationalist Ireland did little to help these innocent men. The campaign for Justice was long and difficult.
But what also happened at Birmingham is that more than twenty innocent Englishmen and women were blown to pieces by two IRA bombs. It was (depending on your viewpoint) a deliberate and callous act or a tragic error because telephoned warnings were either inadequate or could not be made because of telephone boxes were damaged.
IRA did…as they would for innocent or guilty men….say that the arrested and jailed men were innocent but nobody in IRA was ever going to walk into a West Midlands police station and say “I am Spartacus”.
Yet we are told that the names of the real Birmingham bombers are known. And in the unlikely event of them ever being arrested, there is the even more unlikely possibility of them being charged….witnesses have died, too much time has elapsed and of course no jail time is realistically possible for a crime committed before 1998. Sinn Féin would argue that it would be “damaging to the Peace Process”.

It makes me think of the Rich Farmer andhis stick.

Meanwhile the Kincora campaigners have suffered a set back. The scandal of young boys in care being abused will not be investigated by the London Inquiry into institutional abuse. It is downgraded to the Norn Iron Inquiry with fewer legal powers.
The allegation that MI5/MI6 had knowledge of the systematic abuse remains a very potent one. The British Security Services…the State…allegedly ran a child prostitution racket. If, true…it would be unlikely that the truth will emerge.
Likely as not, the whole promise of an Inquiry is little more than a promise to buy boots for Old Paddy.
We will never know ALL of the secrets in the vaults of British Intelligence.
They determine that it is not in the public interest to know the truth.
There are secrets held at Boston College.
Oddly, some people who demand that the British vaults be opened demand that the Boston vaults remain closed.
While Anthony McIntyres blog “The Pensive Quill” deserves credit for exposing some uncomfortable truths about (mostly) Sinn Féin hypocrisy, neither he or collaborator Ed Moloney are entitled to withold valid facts.
T

The British State does not want the Truth told.
Sinn Féin do not want the Truth told.
Loyalist “ex-prisoners” do not want the Truth told.

Maybe in 1998, some well-meaning people thought that the Truth could be told and that it would be told as part of the Peace Process. Actually, the Peace Process survives by witholding the Truth.
Is that a price worth paying?
We are all tainted by signing up to this.

The Rich Farmer (the British State, Sinn Féin, loyalist paramilitaries) make the promise about Truth. Old Paddy (the ordinary unionist and nationalist people) are being conned. And like Old Paddy…we know we are being conned. We expect nothing more than lies and deceit.

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Muhammed Ali RIP

Posted on June 4, 2016 by fitzjameshorse

Muhammed Ali RIP.

Aged 74…ten years older than me. And I think thats important because most of the tributes I see on TV News…Sky, BBC and even Fux News are recollections of people (men) in their 20s, 30s, 40s  ….and all tributes are complimentary ….even the 30 something woman on Fux News looks like she will start crying.

But for a person like myself, who watched the BBC News in the days before Ali (then Cassius Clay) fought Sonny Liston and listened to the fight on the radio (at about 3am), it seems that Ali’s life had distinct phases ….all of which have been diminished by the past thirty years….a long goodbye….where Ali  is totally rehabilitated as an elder statesman, civil rights activist and I think ….History has been re-written. The celebrities paying tribute on Twitter seem to be more familiar with the myth than the reality.

Certainly the “Cassius Clay” persona circa 1963 was amusing. Young, handsome and articulate…and the arrogance seemed like a faux arrogance. “Clay” seemed to enjoy it as much as the journalists.

“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” is how I remember him and the predictions of the round he would win. But there was a nastier side. “Clay”, the Olympic Gold medal winner could not get service in diners in the segregationalist South. Famously and understandably that Gold Medal is in the Mississippi River but it seems to me that he (initially) targetted the wrong people. Floyd Patterson was a blameless, well respected boxer….Sonny Liston was classical badass from Central Casting but he was as much a more a victim than his tormentor, in and out of the ring. Liston deserved better.

Yet that is not how I saw it in in 1963/64. Handsome Youth versus Ugly Middle Age. No Contest.

I was much too young to fully understand the name change from Clay to Ali but old enough to appreciate that nobody had a right to criticise. Nor….based on his political stance had any nominally “World” Body, the right to deprive Ali of his world title.

So Ali  deserves credit for the dignity of those wilderness years and his single-minded determination to win the Heavyweight title back. It was the time of Rumble in the Jungle, Thriller in Manilla….the years when Ali was claimed to be the most famous person in the world.

Yet while there was a lot to admire about Ali in the 1960s, I was young and unquestioning. Much of Ali in the 1970s is not admirable. Boxing is a unique sport, especially at Professional level. Very strong fit men hurt each other. The Dignity, the Ethics of the amateur game are sacrificed. Not only do people get hurt ….they get damaged. Certainly Ali was damaged and he damaged others. And too much of it had a cruelty attached. Yes it sold tickets and while “Rope A Dope” might be tactically justified, there were too many “Bums of the Week” in a career that included in Kinshasa and Phillipines.
But a good insight into 1970s Ali would be the hour long interview with Michael Parkinson. It was effectively a well-researched ambush. Ali clearly expected something more lightweight. At one stage, he looks like he might punch Parkinson….watch Parky retreat back into his chair.
For all his eloquence, Ali was barely literate and Parky embarrassed him. Much more importantly, Ali advocated a form of segregation…”blue birds fly with blue birds, red birds fly with red birds”. It was disappointing.
Just how Ali emerged as a credible spokesperson for Civil Rights has a lot to do with being an icon of Dignity thru his thirty year battle with debilitating illness.
But the Establishment’s respect for Muhammed Ali seems like a long and very belated apology.
There is an apology due to the 18year old Olympic medalist who found that his achievement was not enough to be allowed to buy a burger in a diner in Louisville, Kentucky. An apology is due to the young champion exploited by his white management. An apology is due to the man who lost his title due to political discrimination. An apology is due to the chat show guest, who was exploited as a man who could perform in TV studios all around the world.

Part of the apology should not be glossing over Muhammed Ali’s very public flaws.
His private flaws are not relevant.
Muhamed Ali…RIP.

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EU Referendum: Sophisticated Versus Unsophisticated

Posted on June 4, 2016 by fitzjameshorse

The EU Referendum Campaign has turned nasty.

Essentially it was always going to be HEAD (Remain) versus HEART (Leave), ECONOMICS (Remain) versus EMOTION (Leave). And lets be honest the Brexiteers do themselves few favours by coming across as a very odd mix of Wierdos….the Mad and the Bad……Michael Gove, George Galloway, Nigel Farage, Ian Duncan Smith, Kate Hoey, Boris Johnson, Theresa Villiers. And lets be even more honest and say that MIGRATION has never been far from the surface. And while it is clearly a legitimate issue …there is an element of “Dog Whistle” politics here….MIGRATION (a legitimate issue) is too often a respectable cover for RACE (nrever a legitimate issue).

While it is ironic for the Leavers to portray themselves as fighting unelected European “elites” and not seeming to notice the English Monarchy, the House of Lords and the Bullingdon Club..I have a certain amount of sympathy for self-styled mavericks taking on the BIg Batallions….the European institutions, big business, the City of London…the Establishment.

And I always worry when the Establishment tries to deny that it exists and yet it amuses me when assorted lefties, who normally complain about the power of the Establishment become part of it.

The “Elitist” argument is increasingly mirrored by a “Sophisticated” argument. All Logic…certainly Economic Logic….seems to be on the Remain side. Yet the closeness of the opinion pols suggests that the Remain side is not getting thru to the voters in the way that they feel they deserve.

I still think Remain will win on 23rd June…in the privacy of the polling booth, people will vote with their wallet. No doubt the Remain side would have preferred to win the European Debate based on the logic of it all. But Plan A is not working and Plan B is about FEAR….Project Fear worked in Scotland less than two years ago and now being rolled out too easily for the voters in England, Wales and Norn Iron. The closeness of the opinion polls, the prospect of a low turn-out and a Labour Party clearly unenthusiastic about bailing out the Cameron-Osborne wing of the Tory Party….not to mention some discredited New Labour figures like Mandelson, Darling and Tony B Liar himself, rising from the Dead…..has caused a nerves to fray.

The Remain side increasingly portray themselves as “sophisticated” and portray Leavers as “unsophisticated”. No doubt it is frustrating to believe that the Remain case should be winning more easily but it is difficult to dismiss the leaders of the Leave campaign as wierdos, without effectively saying the same about a large proprtion of the Electorate.

Here in Norn Iron, we have the amusing spectacle of Eddie Izzard, comedian….wearing a pink beret, eye make-up and lipstick debating Europe on TV  with Sammy Wilson of DUP. You couldnt make it up. But lets be clear that it was really little to do with Economics, Migration and Sovreignty and everything to do with Sophistication versus UnSophistication.

Likewise New Labour phoney “Lord” Peter Mandelson took time off from counting his pension (former Norn Iron Secretary of State and a European Commissioner) showed up in Belfast yesterday to rally the Remain troops. And they all looked suitably impressed because Mandelson might well be a phoney but he is a sophisticated phoney.

Likewise the decision of local public service trade union NIPSA to support the Leave Campaign has been roundly condemned by local Remain campaigners. The Remainers wonder aloud how this decision could possibly have been taken….they tell us that it cant be in the interests of the union members. This is the Arrogance at the heart of the Remain Campaign. The Remain folks know the interests of trade union members better than the officials elected by the membership.

The campaigns waged by both the Remain and Leave sides are pathetic. Neither deserves to win….and there IS a way to ensure that neither wins.

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“Gay Blood Ban” Ends

Posted on June 3, 2016 by fitzjameshorse

All sensible people will be glad that the first act of new Health Minister, Michelle O’Neill (Sinn Féin) has been to overturn the ban on Gay Men donating blood to the Blood Transfusion Service. Previous DUP Health Ministers have argued that the ban would end when the scientific evidence proved there was no risk…but with many fundamentalist Christians in the DUP ranks, it was clear that the ban was as much about a warped notion of Religion than Science.

Gay Men have as much right to serve the community and there are few better ways than serving the community than saving lives thru Blood Donation.

I have a mixed record on Blood Donation. I am something of a “lightweight” physically. And on one occasion when the Transfusion Service visited my workplace, I was teased by a colleague that I should ask them for some blood. I was so annoyed that I walked around the corner to the Blood Transfusion HQ and donated some prime Rhesus Negative. And I took great pleasure in going back to work and waving the green “pelican badge” and certificate in the nose of the co-worker.

To be honest, the Transfusion people should have asked more questions of me. At that point, weighed about 7stones 7 pounds but they never asked me my weight….they only asked if I had lost weight recently.

And so I gave blood every six months. Mostly colleagues could not believe I was a blood donor. Not even the senior officer who was particuarly nasty about it. But Karma was my friend. Half an hour after laughing at me, he fainted and was taken away in an ambulance.

Yes….Karma…..a couple of donations later, I had the misfortune to meet a nurse who had more chance of finding Lord Lucan riding Shergar than finding a vein in my arms. I probably should not mention this to all my gay friends who cant wait to have needles stuck in their arms….but the swelling and bruising in both arms did not go down for a month. And I said…..NEVER AGAIN. But dont let this put you off donating blood….that nurse is probably retired now.

That was several years ago.

The real point here is that the Norn Iron Blood Transfusion Service is ALWAYS short of Blood. The Hetereosexual Community is not exactly lining up to donate blood…so a chance for the Gay Community to shame the Straight people. Having agitated for the right to save lives thru donation, we should remember that like all of us they have a right to refuse or find excuses just like the rest of us.

Back in the 1970s the TV adverts to promote donation featured Liverpool folk group, The Spinners, well known as liberals and anti-racists. One scene had the three white members expressing surprise that the black member had RED blood.

White Blood. Black Blood. Unionist Blood. Nationalist Blood. Protestant Blood. Catholic Blood. Gay Blood. Straight Blood…..there is only BLOOD.

A good day…..for Gay people AND Straight people…..especially if you or your family happen to need a blood transfusion at some point in your life.

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Euros Football: There’s Only One Ireland

Posted on May 28, 2016 by fitzjameshorse

So the European Football Championships begin in two weeks time. In a not very radical move, I have decided to support Ireland…Republic of Ireland.

I will not be supporting Norn Iron. “Making Northern Ireland Work” can never be interpreted as “Supporting Norn Iron -at Football”.

Football in Norn Iron has always been pretty toxic. There is a myth that Football here united people behind Our Wee Country. I confess that I watched Norn Iron play a few times in the 1960s but Catholic players were never treated well. In the 1990s there was a pretty exclusive OWC culture and it seems to have improved markedly. The Norn Iron Football authorities are to be congratulated but being inclusive in Norn Iron includes the right to reject a Norn Iron identity in favour of a Republic of Ireland identity.

Football IS Football. If the “Big Two” Scottish clubs were playing in a European Champions League, I would expect Scottish First Minister, Nichola Sturgeon to dutifully say that all of Scotland is behind Celtic and Rangers….but that isnt really likely.

In England, it is not much different. Any Prime Minister saying all of England is behind Chelsea AND Liverpool AND Tottenham Hotspur just doesnt get it. Any Mayor of Manchester saying “we are ALL behind City AND United” …well its wishful thinking.

Of course all politicians have to do the political thing. …call it the LetsGetAlongerist thing. The rest of us dont have to bother.

It is good that there will be a big TV screen at Belfast City Hall and wonderful ifsupporters of Norn Iron and Republic of Ireland mix together. A sign of progress? Well lets see the Fleg policy first. The teams are unlikely  to have to play each other. And probably they wont be playing on the same day.

But it will be interesting to see how Norn Iron politicians perform. Unionists will be fully behind Our Wee Country. Republicans will row in behind Republic of Ireland ….but on the fringes there will be nationalist and/or LetsGetAlongerists who will have themselves posing in different colours on different “I support both teams” photo opportunities. And if a LetsGetAlongerist politician has ten children, then expect to find him investing in five Norn Iron shirts and five Republic of Ireland shirts.

I invite you all to join in my “Spot a Politician and Their Kids  in a Football Shirt on TV or Press During Euros” Competition. A few months ago I jokingly suggested a Tshirt indicating support for both teams.

Wearing a Norn Iron shirt is a sign of Football Support. LIkewise a Republic of Ireland shirt. And it is…obviously…. an indicator of national idendity much more than walking thru Tesco wearing a Liverpool top or wearing a Tottenham Hotspur shirt in Sainsburys. You can probably bet that some shopping malls will ban all football tops for the duration.

We should not be surprised that wearing football tops during a major tournament IS political …for British nationalists in Norn Iron, for Irish nationalists in Norn Iron. Nor should we forget the third tribe….the LetsGetAlongeriists. They are the ones who have to face the reality that LetsGetAlongerism is in practice “unionist”.

If politicians are intent on making statements about their Identity …Irish, British, Norn Irish or Both (and in reality only two of these four make sense)….then they have to be aware that the Facebook images WILL be held against them.

But wouldnt it be great if we had one football team representing Ireland. Well ….actually we do. It is called the Republic of Ireland, fully representative of our national identity. Do we really need a sanitised version ….with a non-flag and non-anthem?

Maybe this is a test for what the young politicians call “Progressive Nationalism” or maybe it will be exposed as a meaningless form of words.

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From Busby To Mourinho

Posted on May 28, 2016 by fitzjameshorse

Yesterday Mr Bangor Dub, fellow Blogger and decent enough guy for a Gooner (a fan of Arsenal FC)  challenged me to write a post about Jose Mourinho becoming manager at Manchester United.

Ya know its a strange thing. I find it hard to get motivated about Football these days. Of course, I still watch when Manchester United are on TV but what can I say …it isnt the same. There is always a Golden Age.

For me, the Golden Age was 1958-1970. Schooldays. Things are never the same after that. And I can confirm this because I have seen my two sons go thru the Golden Age. And I have two grandsons going thru it.

Football is bigger now than ever. So really hard to describe that I was once a 4 year old boy who went with my father to Uncle Jackies house to see the 1956 Cup Final. Auntie Mary, an amateur soprano came out of the tiny kitchen to sing “Keep Right On To The End of the Road” and “Abide With Me”.

That Cup Final is famous. Manchester City beat Birmingham City but City’s goalie Bert Trautmann, a former German POW played with a broken neck. To be honest I barely remember the 1957 FA Cup Final when Aston Villa beat Manchester United except that Auntie Mary sang again.

But…6th February 1958….my grandparents  house…they now had a TV and there was a news item that made my father say “oh my GOD” and a plane had crashed. I was 6 years old and I asked my father what colours they played in when he said red, I said “thats my team daddy”.I can actually remember that very moment, in part because the innocence, the childishness of it all..it was one of those things that parents, grandparents remember and remind children about. Even into the 1990s, Auntie Sheila would just say it when watching the football results come thru….”Everton 2…Manchester United 0… thats my team daddy”…”Manchester United 4….Arsenal 0…thats my team daddy”.

For some reason, I can recall Man Utd playing Fulham in the 1958 FA Cup Semi Final Replay. Was it a news item, highlights or live? I dont know. And my grannys house again for the Final were the recovering Man Utd (eight players had died in the Munich Air Crash) lost to Bolton but the Legend had been born.

Really very young children are incapable of having favourite football teams without the loving input of parents or an “Auntie Sheila”. So my father taught me to read thru the Manhester United reports by James Mossop in the Sunday Express and syndicated match previews in the Irish News. The English Catholic newspaper The Universe often mentioned Manchester. United ….Salford was a big anglo-Irish diocese and United were the “Catholic-supported” team. So things like United players getting married or christenings were big stories. Most Catholic priests (including my cousin) in the Diocese of Salford had complimentary tickets to Old Trafford.

Every summer in the early 1960s my cousin would talk about Matt Busby, Joe Murphy, Shay Brennan, Wilf McGuinness, Nobby Stiles, Tony Dunne etc.

There was no live Football on TV in those days. Probably the reason why I can recall hazy images from 1957 and 1958. We only ever got to see FA Cup Finals and hoghlight programmes years before Match of The Day seemed to formalise it all. There was of course chewing gum cards

So after the difficult post Munich years, Manchester United reached the 1963 Cup Final beating Leicester City, which was the beginning of a great team whiich won two league titles and a European Cup.

But of course in those days, there were no substitures and teams rarely used more than twenty players in a season. Just a few weeks ago, I used a website to make up a spread sheet…67 players were used by Manchester United from 1958 to 1970. And I recognised 65 names. Like I say….a Golden Age.

it is not unusual. My sons can rhyme off names from Giggs, Scholes, Schmeichel thru Djemba Djemba to Rashford. Likewise my grandsons can rhyme off names with Janujaz, Rojo, de Gea ….and as for me, I am just more familiar with the 1963 FA Cup. Winners than the 2016 FA Cup Winners. Strange….the United team that won the 1968 European Cup is engraved in my heart. Not so the names of the teams that won it two more times.

Thee Matt Busby Years. But for my contemporaies there were the Shankley Years at Liverpool, the Revie Years (Leeds), the Nicholson Years (Spurs) the Greenwood Years (West Ham)…because Football Clubs were more constant then. Brand loyalty at its best.

After Busby…. McGuinness, O’Farrell, Docherty, Sexton, Atkinson  all failed to really make an impact. The glory of the Ferguson Years warms me but only thru my sons and grandsons. Moyes and Van Gaal failed.

And Jose Mourinho? He will come, negotiate his image rights install his own backroom team and the whole hype of 21st Century Football will start. Not really looking forward to it. Great coach of course. Unique character….but there is that cliché that nobody is bigger than the club. One thing Id like to see is a Womans team at Manchester United. It is frankly inexcusable that United are the only major club that neglects Womens Football.

Mourinho has something to prove. He lost his touch this season. No Premiership title will be won in the first six games of a season but it can be lost.

Me….I am not as enthused at 64 as I was at 14. But supporting MAnchester United has been a very fundamental part of who I am. I got to go to Old Trafford, in the 1960s and I even got to bring my father in 1976. Having been critically ill for years, he told me it was the first time he had felt normal in years. And in the 1990s, I got to bring my sons to Old Trafford….and in the 21st century my sons bring my grandsons….and occasionally they bring me. But its not the same.

There is no Golden Age of Football as such…just Golden Ages in our own lives.

Football is essentially FOR children. But in the spirit that Men have some kinda need to hand on a football team as much as a political party or religion to our male chilldren…then I maintain an interest. I would really look up obscure internet articles about Manchester United 1958-1970 and buy histories of the Club than worry about 2016/17. I need Auntie Sheila to encourage me.

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EU Referendum: A Voter’s Guide

Posted on May 26, 2016 by fitzjameshorse

1…This whole referendum was little more than a tactic to keep the Conservative Party united and to stop defections of voters and Tory members to UKIP.

Yes ….so I should probably abstain.

2…Cameron won the 2015 Election on the basis he would re-negotiate the relationship between Britain and EU. The negotiations and the result were a total sham.

Yes…I should abstain.

3…But the EU is a good thing economically and politically.

Yes to the first part. I should vote to REMAIN. But a bad thing politically. I should vote to LEAVE.

4….But you are a European citizen.

Bollox. I should vote to LEAVE …and go to the European Commission, ask for a EU flag….and burn it.

5 Have you no affection or loyalty for Europe?

Absolutely none. I should vote to LEAVE.

6 But a LEAVE vote could lead to the break up of the United Kingdom.

I certainly hope so. I will persuade my friends to vote to LEAVE.

7 Isnt it important that British Labour are supporting the Tory Government?

A responsible Opposition should act in accordance with its conscience and if Labour support Cameron…so be it. But on the other hand, Tories are Tories….and screwing them is always a good choice. Either way Cameron is toast. REMAIN OR LEAVE is irrelevant….but bringing down a government before its term is tempting.

8 But you cant support Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage, Michael Gove….

No…I should vote REMAIN. And dont forget Kate Hoey.

9 and two hundred celebrities have written to the Guardian urging people to vote REMAIN….and Jess Phillips.

yes and it convinces me to vote to LEAVE.

10 but seriously the Norn Iron Independent Retailers Association  say REMAIN.

yes and seriously that convinces me to vote LEAVE.

11 but if theres a LEAVE vote….World War Three would break out.

well then I should definitely vote REMAIN.

12  And arent you looking forward to being in a political union with Turkey??

Strangely no….their Human Rights record is bad. IM voting LEAVE

13 But Turkey is a major trading partner?

then I should vote REMAIN.

14on the other hand the major trade is Migrants and Refugees.

yes ….Europe has made People Trafficking a respjectable industry. VOte LEAVE, I think.

15…but Greece was bailed out by Europe.

actually Europe made German Inmperilaism respectable for the first time since 1945. I will vote LEAVE.

16 Dont mention Hitler …

OK….Angela Merkel.

17 what is best for Ireland?

ah now youre talking…I actually care about Ireland. I should vote REMAIN.

18 ah now you have joined the Establishment?

If I thought that Id vote to LEAVE. The Establishment always win. Look at the Scotland Referendum. THe Establishment will lie thru their teeth.

19 a REMAINvote will settle the issue?

probably not. The anti EU people will strike again. And the REMAIN side are as bad.

20 Wont someone think of the children?

actually I do…MY children. MY grandchildren. My vote is not about what is best for me…because I dont give a tinkers curse either way. I am inclined to vote IN SPITE OF rather than BECAUSE of the stances taken up by public people…all in search of an OBE.

 

 

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