Fermanagh-South Tyrone: Sinn Féin Crisis

Posted on February 1, 2016 by fitzjameshorse

It is hard to see the Sinn Féin Convention in Fermanagh-South Tyrone as anything other than a disaster. I dont envy the SF Press Officer who has to spin this one.

To recap, last May, SF were confident that Michelle Gildernew would retain the seat at Westminster. Their trolls embarked on a particuarly nasty “social media” campaign against John Coyle, the SDLP candidate. And…Karma being Karma, Ms Gildernew lost the seat to Tom Elliott of UUP.

It was always likely that Ms Gildernew would seek election to the Assembly in May and as Bronwyn McGahon MLA announced she was standing down, the scene was set for Michelle Gildernews return.

But the scene was complicated by sitting MLA Phil Flanagan having an expensive little Twitter-related problem of his own.

So at a recent selection convention, Gildernew was duly selected along with Sean Lynch MLA and John Feeley,a local councillor. Flanagan lost out.

There was however a discrepancy in the figures and a second convention was called. This time Lynch, Feeley and Flanagan were selected and Gildernew and McGahon who changed her mind, lost out.

So this leaves Fermanagh-South Tyrone without a Sinn Féin female candidate. And more seriously for vote management it means all three candidates are based in County Fermanagh and the South Tyrone part of the constituency will be allocated to one of the Fermanagh men.

Does it matter? Yes. To maintain three seats, vote management is vital and committed Sinn Féin voters in Dungannon and along the Clogher Valley will feel aggrieved.

The position of SDLP looks the same…the sole candidate is Fermanagh man, Richie McPhillips but it is actually a very different situation. Committed SDLP voters thru the constituency will know that the best way SDLP can regain the seat lost to SF in 2011 is a single candidate.

SDLP will also feel that they lost the seat by around seventy votes in 2011 and will be confident at having a solid vote (2014) in all six DEAs in the constituency, Sinn Féin lost their aura of invincibiliity in 2015 and now in 2016, their reputation for good organisation is in tatters.

What happened? Well Michelle Gildernew may be at the Sinn Féin top table but she committed the cardinal sin of losing the totemic seat won by Bobby Sands in 1981. And Phil Flanagan may have tweeted an expensive libel about Tom Elliott of UUP but seemingly the Party at national level is more forgiving of Michelle Gildernew than the rank and file in Fermanagh-South Tyrone. And seemingly the rank and file is more forgiving of Phil Flanagan than Party HQ.

But it aint over yet. It might well be the story of another selection convention (a third one) and membership instructed by HQ to vote again until they get it right. Or more likely, one of the three selected men will be persuaded to stand down in the interests of sInn Féin and they can even claim a high moral ground that it is all about gender balance.

Last week, I was telling anyone who would listen that Michelle Gildernew would move to Mid Ulster but overnight she has made it clear that she is not so doing….and her “heart is in Fermanagh-South Tyrone”. I think Michelle Gildernew will be on the ticket. But the damage is done and the bad blood in the constituency and between national and local Sinn Féin is too obvious to ignore.

Of course….she could always take a seat in the “House of Lords”

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Wogan…RIP

Posted on January 31, 2016 by fitzjameshorse

So “Sir” Terry Wogan is the latest celeb to die.

I cant say that I ever liked him (in so far as it is possible to actually “like” or “dislike” a person that I have never actually met). Actually that pretty much defines “celebrity”.

The majority of people reading this will not be old enough to remember a life without Terry Wogan (he has died aged 77). But to a man of 63, I can actually recall a life before Wogan.

I have often joked that I remember Terry Wogan when he was called Eamonn Andrews. And actually that makes a bizarre kinda sense.

For in September 1959 when our first TV set was delivered, Eamonn Andrews was already a fixture on BBC…the host of “Whats My Line”, “This Is Your Life”, “Crackerjack” and presenter of the Saturday afternoon BBC radio sports programme.

The Andrews defection to ITV in mid 1960s was a big thing. He never really got the hang of the Sunday night chat show. Modelled too much on the new fangled American show, Johnny Carson it was simply too dependant on the ability of (too many) six guests on a sofa engaging with Andrews and each other. Notoriously Lee Marvin never uttered a word.

Andrews fared better with a revised “This Is Your Life” and a televised sports programme but ultimately his best years were in the 1950s and 1960s at the Beeb.

Eamonn Andrews was Irish. And unashamedly so. He wrote “thank you” cards in green ink to his guests and was one of the main forces behind the scenes when RTE (then Teilifís Éireann) was established around 1961. And seemingly a regular Mass-goer at Quax Road in Kilburn, the main church of London’s Irish community.

As Eamonn Andrews eased into retirement, Terry Wogan was getting to be the acceptable face of Irishness on the BBC. Originally a disc jockey on Radio One, he sensibly eased into TV with things like “Come Dancing” and “Blankety Blank” but essentially unscripted early morning radio was what he did best …the invention of “Wogan Towers” (his home), the “first Mrs Wogan” (actually his only wife) and an understanding that the listening audience had their own obsessions…notably the TV show “Dallas”.

I dont know if it was Talent or Greed but he never seemed to be off TV…he even made the Top 20 singing “The Floral Dance”nobody did BAD TELEVISION better than Terry Wogan. Indeed he rejoiced in bad television….which explains his long association with the Eurovision Song Contest….and in tackling a thrice-weekly chat show…he made the same mistake that Eamonn Andrews had made two decades before. For a chat show depends on the co-operation of the guests and notoriously Geoge Best was not helpful.

But compare and contrast Eamonn Andrews and Terry Wogan. Just how Irish was Wogan? Well his success depended on his accent and charm….yet he was rather too fond of the “United Kingdom” entries in the Eurovision Song Contest…and he was “TV Royalty”….golfing buddies with Jimmy Tarbuck and Ronnie Corbett…..and then there was that knighthood thing. “Sir” Terry Wogan was probably a Conservative voter. He had gone native.

Of course for the British viewing public in the 1970s, it cant have been easy to see Irish people like Andrews, Wogan, Val Doonican and Frank Carson and hear accents and maybe those who had the acceptable faces of Irishness are owed a debt. It is just that Wogan lost something along the way. Or maybe he just gave it up.

There is always a place on the BBC for an “Irishman” so long as the “Irishman” conforms to a certain profile. Thus twinkly Graham Norton is the logical successor to Andrews and Wogan. Right down to the Eurovision Song Contest and the “UK entry”.he has come a long way from being Father Noel Furlong.

Dara O’Briain…he may speak perfect Irish and be more intellectual than the rest but his “stand up” will eventually become full-time TV presentation. An Irishman for the 21st century.

For an Irish person to succeed in London….whether as a TV celebrity or a hospital nurse requires a degree of compromise.Those of us who considered leaving West Belfast for North London in the 1970s were often put off migration by the degree of compromise.

The notion of “Europe” has maybe undermined a sense of Irish citizenship and re-invented Irishness as a cute ethnicity. Thus Irish accents on BBC and ITN News as reporters or financial or medical experts is routine.

Should I mention Eamonn Holmes? In the mode of Wogan, he seems to spend every waking hour on TV. He dors not seem very selective. He has come a long way from Cavehill Road in nOrth Belfast via UTV studios to the increasingly pompous and irritating Sky News presenter every morning.

Still….Terry Wogan….RIP.

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SDLP: The Campaign Begins

Posted on January 30, 2016 by fitzjameshorse

Introducing the SDLP spokespersons in a two hour presentation was an interesting innovation.
Normally re-shuffling the “front bench” would have been handled by a simple press release sent along to journalists in the cafeteria in Stormont. So at least two things of note here….taking this outside Stormont and into the community and the opportunity to introduce the new Assembly candidates to a wider audience and indeed to promote new faces within constituencies. This is a story to be covered by local newspapers in Armagh, Newry, Derry and Enniskillen.
And of course this is the first shot in the SDLPs Assembly Election campaign. Therefore we can expect Sinead Bradley, Margaret Anne McKillop and Richie McPhillips and others…still relatively unknown outside their local areas to feature in the Irish News, Belfast Telegraph and News Letter as well as local TV programmes.

Involving the Party as a whole in the Presentation was a new innovation. “Party” is a very deliberate word. The extent that rank and file SDLP people can be involved outside their immediate local area is limited but over the past few years, there have been seminars on Health, Agriculture etc led by Spokespersons and necessarily a (say) Health Seminar will interest and involve SDLP people who are nurses, doctors, social workers or adminstrative staff in local hospitals…and by extension involves the BMA, Unison etc.
So this sense of “involvement” has been ongoing for some years but increasing in recent months. The Manifesto Launch in March will be a major conference and get-together in itself.
Necessarily these set-piece events…annual conferences, seminars etc are morale-boosting events in themselves. The “professionalism” at the heart of this cannot be overstated. It was by any measure a “Presentation” led by a recently retired senior journalist from BBC Norn Iron.

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So the structure of the Presentation was carefully thought-thru….a speech by Party veteran Brid Rodgers….and then three of the newer faces….Claire Hanna (Finance), Daniel McCrossan (Infrastructure) and Nichola Mallon (Communities) took part in three ten-minute Q-A sessions.

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Alex Attwood, described later by Colum Eastwood as the “current and future MLA for West Belfast” spoke about his constituency…the poverty, the lack of opportunity and investment. He was clearly enjoying a major SDLP event in his constituency.

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And Colum Eastwood wound up the event in a set-piece speech that balanced Brid Rodgers talking about SDLP “history”. He talked about SDLP “future” and suggested a broader SDLP conversation before and after the Assembly Election.

 

The Cultúrlann…the venue …is in the heart of the Falls Road, only fifty metres from my grandparents family home from 1922 to their deaths in 1959 and 1961 and my aunt moving out in 1983.

A former Presbyterian Church , has been an Irish-language cultural centre for around thirty years. It is of course apolitical but in common with An Féile, community groups etc…Sinn Féin exercise a sense of entitlement.

To Sinn Féin…who have five of the six MLAs in West Belfast…the area is a one-party state. So interesting in itself, that SDLP hold an event there. There WILL be more.

Of course, there is no reason why West Belfast should be a “no go” area for SDLP so around 150 activists on the Falls Road should be no surprise to anyone.

I dont know how Andersonstown  News journalist, “Squinter” feels about all this. Earlier this week he wondered if SDLP twitterati were becoming more “aggressive”. What will he make of all this? Maybe Squinter has built himself a bunker and is stocking it with tins of spaghetti hoops and condensed milk.

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SDLP Spokespersons

Posted on January 28, 2016 by fitzjameshorse

Colum Eastwood re-shuffled his team of spokespersons today. This to reflect the retirement of Pat Ramsey and Joe Byrne and the co-option of Gerard Diver and Daniel McCrossan. With other MLAs Dominic Bradley, Alban Magennis and John Dallat also set to stand down, it is important that the Party have a new “team” in place before the Assembly elections. It will raise the profiles of lesser known people. These are the people you are likely to see on TV over the next few months

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Health: Fearghal McKinney MLA, Sinead Bradley (South Down candidate)
Justice: Alex Attwood MLA
Finance: Claire Hanna MLA
Education: Dolores Kelly MLA, Cllr Colin McGrath (South Down candidate)
Communities: Cllr Nichola Mallon(Cllr Roisin Lynch (South Antrim candidate)
& Justin McNulty (Newry & Armagh candidate)
Economy: Patsy McGlone MLA, Gerard Diver MLA, & Connor Duncan (North Antrim)
Agriculture, Environment: Sean Rogers MLA, Cllr Margaret Anne McKillop (East Antrim candidate).
Infrastructure: Daniel McCrossan MLA & Cllr Richie McPhillips (Fermanagh-South Tyrone candidate)

Minister for Environment: Mark H Durkan MLA
Assembly Whip: Karen McKevitt MLA.

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The SDLP Twitterati

Posted on January 27, 2016 by fitzjameshorse

“Squinter” from the Andytown News is a man who speaks his mind in his column. Of course sometimes he is reminded by Sinn Féin what his mind should be.
So it seems a bit odd that a seasoned journalist would be putting out a tweet like this one.

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I have to admit that I am not a big fan of Twitter.
In the early days of Internet, we used to have “flame wars” ….political arguments. Stupid waste of time. As you may know, I dont encourage “flame wars” here…and the best way to avoid problems is to encourage conversation/debate among like-minded people.
What is the point of Twitter?
I dont follow people I dont like. I see no point.

Twitter seems a good place for silliness and a bad place for politics.
Although I do have a Twitter account, I really dont care much for it all. It is a young persons medium.
I do not know if “Squinter” is a big fan of Twitter…but it is known that Sinn Féin supporters have used it to attack political opponents. …John Coyle, SDLP candidate in Fermanagh-South Tyrone last year and of course Mairia Cahill. Hard to think that “Squinter” is unaware of this.
Are SDLP twitterati becoming more aggressive of late?
i have certainly seen no evidence of it.
Nothing on the scale that John or Mairia suffered.
Maybe thats just how Sinn Féin trolls operate. There are one or two trolls who have shown up here….I think I might have a designated “troll” on average industrial wage from Connolly House.
They come…they go….they change their screen-name. Sometimes I publish their comments and sometimes I couldnt be arsed. They are too young to bother me.
It is easy enough to put a troll back in his box.
What “Squinter” (shrinking violet that he is) has probably noticed is a sense of purpose about SDLP. Assertive. And the trolls are on the look-out for soft targets….notably young women.

At the end of the day….the Sinn Féin trolls are a waste of space. I bet their daddys were touts.

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SDLP: The Case For Opposition

Posted on January 24, 2016 by fitzjameshorse

It is certainly possible to have a very academic debate in SDLP…should the Party play a role in the Norn Iron Executive. I could present a case either way.

But really it boils down to a single photograph. Earlier this week the “new” Executive met for the first time with Arlene Foster (DUP) as First Minister and Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin) as Deputy First Minister. And behind them the two senior civil servants and behind them their Ministers….six DUP, four Sinn Féin, two Alliance and one SDLP (Mark H Durkan…Minister ffor Environment). ….Fifteen politicians around the Cabinet table and only one SDLP voice.

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There is no real way that SDLP can influence Executive decisions. The smugness on the DUP and Sinn Féin faces show that this is a DUP-SF coalition propped up by the undemocrat Alliance Party.

There is no way that this can be claimed to be the wishes of the Electorate. SDLP voters (94,000) sent fourteen MLAs to STormont in 2011 and Alliance Party voters (52,000) sent MLAs to Stormont in 2011. The Alliance Party takes one of its two Executive seats  (Justice) as a gift from their masters in DUP and Sinn Féin.

SDLP should have walked away from this farce five years ago. There is…we are told…no place for Opposition within The power-sharing arrangements agreed on Good Friday 1998.But UUP entitled to one seat in the Cabinet Room have already walked some months ago.

There or may not be a place for Opposition. There is always a place for Dignity.

SDLP will produce a manifesto before the elections in May but it is only a wish list if there is no real way of implementing policy. Of course it is the role of a political party to seek a mandate but Colum Eastwood must make it clear that the mandate SDLP gets will be for Government or Opposition….not this farce.

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Stamps …1916-2016

Posted on January 22, 2016 by fitzjameshorse

So I picked up the “Easter” stamps in Dublin.

In strict terms there are two kinds of postage stamp. A “definitive” stamp is in everyday use, often for several years. A “commemorative” stamp is intended to mark a special person, event or theme and is generally only available (if at all) for a limited period.

My previous posts suggested that there was (almost) a media blackout on the “Easter” stamps. While it has been known for some weeks that the first issue in 2016 would be on 21st January, it was only last week that I learned it would be a “definitive” issue of sixteen stamps so I did not think it would be specific to 1916. The grapevine suggested that it WAS Easter but the failure of the online edition of the quarterly bulletin from An Post suggested an unusual degree of secrecy. Oddly the programme for the year was released and I have already blogged about this. The first issue would be Definitives themed for 1916. This is quite unusual…definitiives are usually more bland….Birds, Animals, Fauna. But the secrecy did worry me a little. Was there something controversial?

Well…no. While An Post marketing section have been very slow to advise nerds like myself, all information was already in giveaway calendars distributed in the GPO before Christmas ….so no conspiracy theory.

The thing about the issue of stamps to commemorate the 1798 Rebellion, Robert Emmet and Easter Rising is that it says as much about Ireland in 1948, 1998, 1953, 2003, 1941, 1966 and 2016 as it does about 1798, 1803 and 1916.

Last night, I was emailed a link to photographs of the stamps. sHould I have been concerned?

Well the Irish readers of this Blog are members of the pan-nationalist family. So your opinion is as valid as mine.

The fact that these are “definitive” stamps is in itself a very definitive (pun intended) statement. These stamps will be available in every post office for a long period of time, possibly beyond the end of the year. That will ensure a lot of use. And in producing sixteen designs, it makes Easter Rising a much more potent symbol of the Irish Nation than the single commemorative due to commemorate the Battle of the Somme in July.

There is no equal billing. The Somme is a dutiful footnote.

The sixteen stamps are printed thru computer terminals. Called , SOAR (Stamps on A Roll) the design at #1 will appear again as #17,#33 and so on until the end of the roll. For convenience, the Philatelic Shop in the GPO will sell them as strips of four, divided into four themes…the Leaders and Icons, the Participants, Easter Week and the Aftermath.

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So the first strip features Thomas Clarke, Sean MacDiarmada and  Eamonn Ceannt on one stamp, Padraig Pearse, Joseph Plunkett and Thomas MacDonagh on the second stamp, James Connolly on the third stamp and the battle-scarred “Irish Republic” flag on the fourth stamp. It is stressed in the information I have received tha this does not show any prededence of any signatory of the Proclamation. It is intended to show the three organisations that led the Rising. …the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army. I am not entirely convinced by this as Ceantt was also a Volunteer and all were IRB men. But this is a quibble rather than a major point.

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Participants…it was always assumed that the Dublin Metropolitan Police would be honoured and that this would be controversial but effectively the decision to include James O’Brien, the constable who would be the first fatality of Easter Week is balanced by Captain Sean Connolly of the Irish Citizen Army on the same stamp. Captain Connolly shot and killed Constable O’Brien at Dublin Castle and was himself killed shortly afterwards at the City Hall. So this stamp is a major surprise.

Lt Michael Malone led the Volunteer unit at Mount Street Bridge which inflicted heavy casualties on the Sherwood Foresters. He was killed in this heroic action.  He shares a stamp with his brother William who was killed in Belgium in 1915 fighting with the Dublin Fusiliers.

Dr Katheen Lynn , an officer in the Irish Citizen Army was second in command to Captain Connolly at Dublin Castle/City Hall and took over the command when he was killed. She shares a stampwith Nurse Elizabeth O’Farrell who served in the GPO and brought the messages of the surrender. Again it was always anticipated that the role of the “1916 Women” would be recognised and two worthy candidates.

The fourth stamp features Volunteers Jack Doyle and Tom McGrath. Representing the rank and file, it is an iconic photograph, one of only two known to have been taken inside the GPO during Easter Week.

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The theme of third strip is the Week itself and appropriately the first stamp is the Proclamation itself. It was also known that Civilian casualties would be acknowledged and the child on the second stamp is Sean Foster, one of the youngest people to be killed during the Rising.Although most civilian casualties were inflicted thru British callousness or intent, I will not be looking up indices and internet to establish the precise circumstances. The only relevance is that he was a child…and one of the most innocent person to die.

Louisa Nolan was a civilian who attended to the wounded at Mount Street.Heroic of course and should it make a difference that ahe was awarded an honour by “King” George V.

The biggest surprise of the sixteen stamps is the final stamp in this strip. Most Irish people will be familiar with Francis Sheehy Skeffington, the pacifist, socialist and advocate of womens rights who was the highest profile civilian casualty. He was shot by an unofficial firing squad on the orders of Captain Bowen-Colthurst, who had lost control and was having completely innocent people in cold blood. But Sheehy-Skeffington shares the stamp with the British officer who reported the series of attrocities, Sir Francis Fletcher-Vane. In modern terms he was a whistleblower. The war criminal Bowen-Colthurst spent just over a year in a mental hospital before being released and Fletcher-Vane was dismissed from the British Army.

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The theme of the fourth strip is the Aftermath of the Rising. The first stamp shows the burnt-out shell of the GPO. The second stamp shows children gathering firewood. The third stamp shows prisoners in detention. The final stamp is Roger Casement, the rebel agent who was hanged in London a few months after the Rising had collapsed. He had been arrested in County Kerry a few days before Easter Monday.

Am I happy? Yes…I think a story has been told thru the medium of stamps. The Easter 1916 story is a story that is worth telling. No need to compromise on the facts. The credit is due to Dr Fearghal McGarry of Queens University, Belfast and Lar Joye, who is still (I assume) at the National Military History Museum at Arbour Hill Museum.

Is anything missing here? Well, all people interested in the history of 1916 will know of the Forgotten Seven….Willie Pearse, Sean Heuston, Con Colbert, John McBride, Ned Daly, Michael O’Hanrahan and Michael Mallin who were executed but are not as well honoured as the signatories of the Proclamation. It would I think be unfair if they were overlooked for yet another generation. I think we owe them.

But I think there is scope to develop this theme, as started with sixteen stamps. I can certainly see supplementary issues during this year. But maybe we are seeing a pattern as to how the rest of the Decade will be commemorated….thinking at random, there are a lot of other names we will recognise over the next few years….Constance Markievicz, Cathal Brugha, Michael Collins, Terence McSwiney, Thomas MacCurtain, Kevin Barry.

There is still a lot of mileage in the Decade of Centenaries.

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Stamp Issuing Programme 2016

Posted on January 18, 2016 by fitzjameshorse

This is Ireland’s Stamp Programme for 2016. It is probably very provisional. For example, there is no mention of a stamp or stamps to commemorate the Olympic Games.

The new “definitive” (ie stamps issued for a prolonged period rather than stamps to mark special events will likely be 1916-2016 related. I have not yet seen photographs but they will be issued on Thursday.

21st January ….New Definitive Series 1916-2016 (16 stamps)
28th January….Irish Heart Foundation (1)
11th February….Love And Marriage (1)
25th February..St Patricks Day (1)
10th March ……Dogs (4)
7th April ………..Charles Gavan Duffy (1)
12th May………..Europa (2)
16th June………Wild Atlantic Way (4)
7th July…………Battle of the Somme (1)
18th August…..Irish Shop Fronts (4)
15th September…Cycling in Ireland (4)
6th October……Commissioner of Irish Lights (4)
3rd November..Christmas (3)

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SDLP Candidates: The Story So Far

Posted on January 14, 2016 by fitzjameshorse

All the pieces are coming together ahead of the 2016 Assembly Election. The selection of Patsy McGlone and Nichola Mallon tonight means there are only four (at most) constituencies to name a candidate(s).

So far:

Foyle: Colum Eastwood. Mark H Durkan. Gerard Diver.

South Belfast: Fearghal McKinney. Claire Hanna.

Upper Bann: Dolores Kelly.

South Antrim: Roisin Lynch.

East Antrim: Margaret Anne McKillop.

North Antrim: Connor Duncan.

South Down: Sean Rogers. Colin McGrath. Sinead Challinor.

Armagh-Newry: Karen McKevitt. Justin McNulty.

Fermanagh-South Tyrone: Richie McPhillips.

West Tyrone: Danie Wray McCrossan.

Mid Ulster: Patsy McGlone.

North Belfast: Nichola Mallon.

Lagan Valley: Pat Catney.

Strangford: Joe Boyle and/or Terry Andrews***

East Derry: not yet decided (as far as I know) but likely to be two candidates …possibly both women.

West Belfast: not yet decided (as far as I know) and that might mean a surprise.

East Belfast: obviously not a natural SDLP stronghold and while I have a hunch, it would be unfair to say.

North Down: same situation. Unfair to name my hunch.

***Strangford ….the SDLP Annual Report at Conference named both Joe and Terry. But my understanding is that only one will be on paper.

THIS IS NOT A POST THAT INVITES SPECULATION ON ELECTORAL PROSPECTS.

 

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Random Sentences

Posted on January 12, 2016 by fitzjameshorse

in an effort to be hailed as a genius, I have decided to change the way I publish posts on this Blog.

Rather than carefully choosing ideas and words, I will be cutting up magazines and newspapers and choosing random sentences. Until yesterday, I had no idea that this is how David Bowie wrote his songs. And David Bowie was a genius.

It sounds like a joke. Random sentences. But who knows? It might explain Sinn Féin and Alliance Party manifestos.

I am sorry to labour the point. I wish I actually got Bowie. All I know of him was “Space Oddity”. “Starman”, “Ashes to Ashes”, “Gene Genie” and “The Laughing Gnome”. There is the video featuring a Chinese girl which was almost banned and the best thing he ever did was “Dancing In The Streets” with Mick Jagger.

But I an a man who was never into concept albums. There are few good songs that dont involve only lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar and drums. And few good songs last longer than three minutes.

They tell me that David Bowie was a great lyricist but I dont know any of his lyrics and I cant get my head around the fact that great songs are composed at random.

Are great paintings produced at random. I cant believe that Michaelangelo had no idea how the Cistine Chapel would turn out or that Leonardo da Vinci looked at the finished portrait of Mona Lisa and said “sheesh its a woman smiling”.

I did know that Bowie created the Ziggy Stardust persona but the Thin White Duke is a new one to me.

Have I been living under a rock for forty years? Seemingly…in musical terms I have.

But while I would have appreciated that Bowie was a major figure, I find the outpouring of grief to be a kinda Lady Diana type thing. Thoughtless.

It seems strange that Bowie was appreciated as an “individual” yet his followers are curiously tribal. If Art is meant to be controversial, then surely I should expect some kinda TV studio discussions that might reflect Bowie’s appeal to be not so universal.

Surely those hailed as a genius…from Charlie Chaplins Little Tramp to Monty Python and from Damien Hirst’s Cows to Tracy Emins Bed…we might get rival experts into a studio to make the rival cases…genius or crap.

But seemingly nobody has gone into a TV studio to make the case that David Bowie was total crap….there is a curious group-think.I really dont get it. I just dont get it.

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