Advance Australia Fair?

Posted on January 25, 2015 by fitzjameshorse

G’day all you Bruces and Sheilas! Happy Australia Day!

I like Australians. They are allegedly Irish people with a criminal record or Irish people with a suntan.

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Not easy to pick an Australian Flag. I should have gone with the Aboriginal Flag or a Geeen/Gold “Southern Cross”. But I have gone with the Eureka Battle Flag from the 1850s…arguably the first Flag of Australia.

Eureka was a gold mining centre and the scene of a pitched battle between Australian Colonial Militia and miners…mostly Irish but with a surprisingly high number of other nationalities including a Scottish Jew and at least one ex-American slave from Maryland.

Eureka Stockade was a significant milestone in Australian History. Six Government militia or police were killed and an unknown number of rebels (lets say fifty) were killed during the fighting and subsequent massacre. The leading rebels were actually acquitted and some including Peter Lalor went on to have successful careers…although Lalor’s legacy is mixed.

For nearly a century, Aboriginals have been persecuted by Australian authprities and “official” Australia is a struggle between British loyalists with affection for the “Mother Country” and those of the “Wild Colonial Boy”/Ned Kelly faction.

Even in the 1960s, the repulsive Anglophile Robert Menzies was Australian Prime Minister. His sycophantic misty-eyed admiration for the young Mrs Elizabeth Windsor is embarrassing. More sinister was Australia’s policy of “white only” migration.

Rather like “white” South Africa was unable to deal with the fact that it was actually on the African continent, “white” Australia seemed incapable of dealing with the fact that it is in Oceania or more recently it seems to have positioned itself in South East Asia.

Australia has changed and is changing. It is assessible and there is migration from Greece, Croatia, Italy…Eastern Europe…Vietnam, Malaysia and Asia.

The Demographic has changed. But does that bring the dream of a Republic of Australia any closer? Modern Australia apologises for the treatment of Aboriginals, has annual competitions to find a new flag, recognises the historic links with England and finds its own version of multiculturalism with a nod to its stereotypical national identity…the Ocker culture of Les Patterson, Crocodile Dundee and good natured, vulgar sexism. (Can Sexism ever be good natured?). And swigging tinnies of Fosters endears Australians to many.Political correctness means it is no longer acceptable to “throw another Pom (Englishman) on the barbeque” but successive Australian sports teams manage a superiority over all things English.
Throw in “Advance Australia Fair”, its confident national anthem and carefully structured respect for Dominion history (ANZAC culture), allies with USA and Britain enduring beyond WW2 to Afghanistan in the 21st Century and the gerrymandered Referendums on Republicanism….and it all underscores change in Australia.
It is effectively Australian LetsGetAlongerism.
In Norn Iron, LetsGetAlongerism has a default unionist position.
In Australia, LetsGetAlongerism has a default monarchist position.

Of course the present “monarch” Mrs Windsor is personally popular.
As she is now in her mid 80s, Australian realists recognise it would be almost insulting to her to back Republicanism. How they would feel about “King Charles” and his lovely consort Camilla is of course a different question.

So…Advance Australia Fair…to a Republic…eventually.

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Gerry Conlon Memorial Lecture

Posted on January 25, 2015 by fitzjameshorse

Interesting Event last night. The Gerry Conlon Memorial Lecture in St Marys College, Falls Road in the heart of West Belfast.
Organised by SDLP and with Alex Attwood MLA presenting the event…it says a lot ABOUT SDLP and indeed FOR SDLP that words “SDLP” was not mentioned AT ANY STAGE during the two hour event. Nor was there any SDLP “signage”.
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Several SDLP people in the room but most people were not SDLP. Standing room only…and one of the folks who could not get a seat was Dr Alasdair McDonnell MP and SDLP Leader, who was standing at the back of the hall, a few feet from me. Numbers? Well two hundred seats had been set out…and I heard two figures mentioned, both in excess of three hundred.

Blogs are sometimes difficult to write. Essentially I have two readerships. Local and American. And I am conscious that some “footnotes” are required (and I  HEAR one reader laugh out loud at that). I have a good friend, an American who is interested in Irish History and Politics and been a constant source of support for me and this Blog.

Blogging is difficult. I am a technophobe. I am lazy. And last night, standing at the back of the hall was difficult. I had no means of writing notes. Brian O’Neil, one of the editors on Slugger O’Toole was there last night and I daresay that he will put up a full “audio” version of the two hours. I urge you all to read the Slugger version. Another difficulty with Blogging is that every blog on a conference, lecture and seminar is “mediated” by me…and really last night was one of those nights when ….”you had to be there”. Much better understood if the regular readers and myself had all been there and gone (with many attendees) for the drinks in the “John Hewitt” and/or “Duke of York” afterwards. It was an open invite…but with the last train out of Belfast was at 11 .10pm, I had to give it a miss.

So why was last night so …different? Well it was …personal. Gerry Conlon who died last year and I are much the same age. We lived a few hundred metres apart. I am not aware that I knew him.  But our fathers knew each other.

And purely by coincidence…Guisseppi Conlon (Gerrys father)….the 35th anniversary of his death was yesterday. Which made it all more poignant. Guisseppi died in prison and would not be exonerated until long after his death. A short video…a  compilation of video and still footage. And a note that the real perpetrators of the crimes that Gerry Conlon did not commit have never been brought to Justice.

The main speaker last night was London lawyer, Michael Mansfield QC. Now 73 years old, he is a liberal English lawyer famed for taking on the Establishment. Famed for representing the people who are without a voice.

Wiith his shock of white hair, he cuts an almost Biblical image. As one might expect from a lwayer, he is a powerful orator. He bookends his 45 minute speech with the beginning and end of a letter Gerry Conlon had written to the wife of an English detainee at Guantanomo Bay. And he talks about Gerry Conlon being the first of a kind…a man who fought the Establishment. His theme was thatDemocracy is Bankrupt. That politicians are unwilling or unable to address real issues.

People Power overturns Injustice. The Guildford Four and Birmingham Six (Gerry Conlon and Paddy Hill), the Stephen Lawrence Murder (Mr and Mrs Lawrence), Bloody Sunday (families), Iraq (families of soldiers), the Marchioness pleasure boat on the River Thames (families of victims).

Mansfield emphasised how difficult it is …the Chilcott Delays….the inability of Teresa May to even appoint a Chair to the Sex Abuse Inquiry. A note that friends of Leon Brittan (who died on 21st January) bemoan that he has been denied an opportunity to demonstate his innocence. But conversely the victims of abuse have been denied the opportunity to interrogate him.

Gerry Conlon, said Mansfield had dedicated his post-prison life to encouraging victims up to and including Guantanamo detainees.

After his address, Mansfield fielded several questions.

Paddy Hill spoke next. One of the Birmingham Six, he was imprisoned with Gerry Conlon. He told some prison stories, how innocent men try to cope in jail. And he spoke of the life after prison. The tours to Australia, USA etc. The stories were seriously inappropriate.

Patrick Corrigan (top man in local Amnesty International) and Margaret Walsh (a friend of Gerry Conlon) were due to speak but Alex Attwood invited questions instead.

Before the event, I discussed Corrigans presence with some people. There was some surprise that he had been invited as the general belief was that Amnesty had done little to help victims of British Injustice in the 1970s.

So interesting that the first question to Patrick Corrigan was from a representative of the “Craigavon Two” Campaign. This refers to the two men (allegedly Republican Dissidents) who are in prison for the murder of a PSNI Officer in Craigavon six years ago.

The questioner expressed surprise that Patrick Corrigan was at an event to commemorate Gerry Conlon when he had refused to meet Gerry Conlon to discuss the Craigavon Two. There was a murmer of approval from my part of the room.

Corrigan, usually a gifted orator stumbled out an incoherent attempt at justification. “Limited staff”, “Limited Resources”, “decisions about where to focus”. But he had been successfully ambushed and I dont think anyone was really sympathetic to him.

Corrigan was in the seat behind Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness when President Obama spoke at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast in summer of 2013. He will have heard Obama name-check Nobel Peace Prize Winners, John Hume and David Trimble. He will have noticed that Obama did not pay the same courtesy to his namesake (Mairead Corrigan) another Nobel Peace Prize winner who was outside Belfast City Hall protesting the Obama visit.

But Patrick Corrigan is a campaigner for Human Rights. At Belfast City Hall.He is photographed holding signs that say “Je Suis Charlie” (two weeks ago) and “Free Raif” (two nights ago). But Paris and Saudi Arabia are a long way from Craigavon.

Patrick Corrigan is a key member of the Golden Halo of LetsGetAlongerists, much respected by that kinda person. Odd to hear him so openly criticised in public.

As I noted the “SDLP” was never mentioned at any time during the evening. And yet all SDLP members that I spoke to considered the event a success. I did not recognise any Sinn Féin politicians at the event. Nor did I see any Alliance Party people. Frankly it was nnot their kind of event.

Take…Sinn Féin. The Birmingham and Guildford Bombings were carried out by the IRA. While they did state that the wrong men were convicted, they did little to free them. It was …lets be frank…in the interests of the IRA to have the wrong men imprisoned.

Contrast the indifference of Sinn Féin to Gerry Conlon with their reaction to the four day “wrongful arrest of Gerry Adams in May last year. They even had a Falls Road mural dedicated to it.

There is of course a lot of culpability on the British side. They arrested, tortured and convicted innocent people. To people in West Belfast, who lived and worked alongside people like Gerry Conlon and Paddy Hill, it would have been apparent that they were not IRA men. To the British, with their access to Intelligence Reports, Psych Tests and Profiling, it would have been obvious.

And….LetsGetAlongerists. The Alliance Party. Again lets be frank. The Alliance Party has never done anything that has advanced the cause of Justice.

And yet Sinn Féin and Alliance have done well out of the Peace Process. Together they squeeze the SDLP vote. There is a lazy narrative that SDLP is in terminal decline. I doubt that. But clearly the disappearance of SDLP is a key aim of both SF and Alliance. Take a look at their supporters. “what is SDLP for?” “How is SDLP relevant?” (Slugger O’Toole passim).

Well the Gerry Conlon Memorial Lecture is what SDLP is about.

And the SDLP is about the SDLP Event at An Féile 2013…Catherine McCartney from Short Strand whose brother was murdered post-Good Friday Agreement by people associated with IRA and Mrs Quinn whose son was beaten to death by people associated with IRA.

Curiously in 2014, An Féile denied SDLP an “event”. Seemingly the programme should not have events sponsored by political parties. Really? One event in the 2014 programme was the unveiling of a bust of Bobby Sands by Gerry Adams ….in the Felons Club.

And last year the SDLP held an event featuring Mairia Cahill, the victim of sex abuse by republicans.

Thats what SDLP is “for”.

A successful night? Yes.

Afterwards, a lot of attendees, including SDLP folks and Paddy Hill and I think Michael Mansfield headed off to the “John Hewitt” and “The Duke of York”. I am sorry I missed that. I am sorry that I wasnt at a table with some of the open-minded (republican and nationalist) readers of this Blog.

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Seán Lemass -Terence O’Neill Stamp

Posted on January 24, 2015 by fitzjameshorse

I was 12 years old when Seán Lemass travelled to Stormont to meet Terence O’Neill, the first meeting between an Irish Taoiseach and the “Prime Minister” (sic) of Norn Iron….a meeting which infuriated Norn Iron unionists …including Rev Ian Paisley who threw snowballs at the the Lemass car.
Earlier this week the Irish Post Office issued a commemorative stamp. In Dublin earlier this week so I posted some postcards of Stormont to myself…getting a neat First Day of Issue souvenir.
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The thing about the issue of postage stamps is that it says a lot about the History, Culture, Fauna, Spirituality, Sport etc of the Irish Nation.
But it also says a lot about the time …January 2015…that the stamp is issued. A practical exercise in Revisionism in History.
The current Decade of Centenaries provides such an opportunity for Revisionists. This is about faux “shared history”.

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“Tom Died For A Lie”

Posted on January 24, 2015 by fitzjameshorse

You dont have to be British to feel a certain sympathy for Reg Keys (the father of a British soldier who was killed in action in Iraq). Mr Keys has certain form. He stood against Tony Blair in the safe Labour constituency of Sedgefield in the 2005 British General Election. He got 4,000 votes.

Most bereaved military families have taken the deaths of their loved ones as an occupational hazard. Some like Reg Keys and Mrs Gentle have been vocal that their sons may have died in an illegal war.

After much delay (officially because British soldiers were still in a war zone), the Labour Government ofGordon Brown set up an Inquiry under “Sir” John Chilcott, a civil service mandarin to determine whether theBritish public and/or parliament were mis-informed by Tony Blair in 2003. Did he take his country to war, on false intelligence, to honour a private pledge to President George W Bush or to effect regime change in Iraq.

A previous Inquiry under “Lord” Hutton established (not entirely to everyones satisfaction) that the British Government had no hand in the suicide of weapons expert, Dr David Kelly, who had been briefing journalists.

It is largely believed that in presenting evidence to justify the war in Iraq, the British Government “spun” the Intelligence or “sexed up the dossier”. Newspapers were encouraged in the belief that Saddam Husseins weapons of mass destruction were just 45 minutes from Britain.

The British Government has a bad record with setting up an Inquiry to deal with problems. Hutton (on David Kelly), Levenson (on phone hacking by journalists), Taylor (on the Hillsborough Football Stadium Disaster) have all been set up to kick the ball “into the long grass” where it will be effectively forgotten about.

Hutton is now seen as a “whitewash”. Chilcott is effectively a second opinion.

Taylor is now been rubbished and a second Inquiry into the deaths of 96 Liverpool FC supporters is under way.

Levenson reported and it was anticipated that David Cameron would accept the recommendations …Cameron had been under pressure from public opinion and victims…but he back-tracked.

So….Chilcott….set up in 2009 heard its last witness in 2011. Nearly four years ago. Chilcott has still not published his Report. This week he has written to David Cameron and said that the Report cannot be published before the British General Election (May 2015). The British Media smells a rat.

But….who gains?

Well…Certainly David Cameron protests that the Report is long overdue. But if, as expected the Blair government is held responsible for misleading the British Parliament and the British People, then it has to be said that the Conservative Party was just as enthusiastic.
In fact, Labour backbenchers were vocal critics of the War. Possibly Ed Miliband can distance himself and his current generation of front benchers from the retired or retiring and rotten to the core generation of Blair, Straw, Beckett, Darling and the rest.
Nick Clegg’s Lib Dems have the only clean hands at Westminster. The Report will exonerate them. Unfortunately they have also to face their core supporters and explain how they sold out to go into Government with Cameron.

The real winners are the “Establishment”…the permanent government of civil service mandarins. The delay gets them off the hook. The strategy of delaying tactics has worked.

In 2005 George Galloway the maverick former Labour MP unseated Oona King, a fawning Blair Babe in East London. His criticism of the war resonated with several thousand Muslim voters in the constituency.
Yet this week, interviews conducted with local people suggested that the voters now regard the Iraq War is “old news”. It is “history”.
It is now almost safe to ignore Reg Keys and Mrs Gentle.
The British victims of the Iraq War can be forgotten.

But isnt this a familiar story. Promises involving the word “Justice” were made to the families of other victims. In Norn Iron, victims have been told their loved ones will not be forgotten.
It is of course a cruel lie.
These promises have been made since 1998 and still….nothing has been done.
Stalling. Playing for Time. Running Down the Clock.

 

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Britain….Pickled.

Posted on January 21, 2015 by fitzjameshorse

Eric Pickles is Member of Parlianent for Brentwood, Essex is the Minister forLocal Government and Communities in David Cameron’s Conservative-led Government.
At first sight he is an unlikely memberof Posh Boy Camerons Government.
But the sight of a bluff “say it like it is”, “man of the people” Yorkshireman like Pickles in the Tory Party is not that unusual. At one level the aristocratic Tories need a self proclaimed self-made man like Pickles as a token to distract voters from the Downtown Abbey image of the Tories.
Yet the more “self made men” I see….I am reminded of the importance of skilled labour.

There is no crime in being rich.
It might well be difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven…but at least some of them try.
Indeed …given a choice, I would prefer to be rich.
Tories are not necessarily RICH bstards. They are however GREEDY bastards. That is what defines them most.

So…Eric Pickles. There has always been a government post covering Local Government. And Pickles has a background in local government, keeping his native Bradford in the Tory fold…almost unique among major English cities. And to his credit, he courted the Bradfords large Asian and Muslim population.
Thw Department of the Communities is a 21st century Government Department.
A recognition that Britain is no longer a homogenous country. It is mu,ti-cultural. Pickles seems an unlikely advocate of multiculturalism. The Minister requires a certain diplomacy and indeed an awareness of political correctness, usually denounced as a liberal craziness by rank and file Conservatives.

Indeed two decades ago, British Prime Minister, John Major, a Conservative was procliming that British values included “warm beer and middle aged spinsters riding bicycles to Church”
All very homogenous and all very 1950s.
So what exactly changed in the 21st century? well the Twin Towers, Afghanistan, Iraq, ISIL, English-born jihadists in Syria.

It is always difficult to guage the truth in “terror alerts”. I am always reminded of The Boy Who Cried Wolf….But there are two lessons from that fairytale. The boy was lying is one lesson. The Wolf showed up (eventually) is the other lesson.

Europe…especially France is in a state of panic. I accept French jews are genuinely afraid (I am not so convinced about British jews).
Europe is increasingly sinking under the weight of its own contradictions.
Arguably the original six and maybe even extended nine Common Market countries have something in common. Lets call it the Holy Roman Empire or just Western Europe.
But bringing in Greece, Spain and Portugal….all three recovering from years of juntas and  fascism seemed a risk.
No real problem of course with the next expansion…Austria, Finland and Sweden.
But an expansion of ten countries with different histories…including Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia (part of the old USSR or Yugoslav totalitarianism was a bigger risk. Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania were even part of USSR.
Add Romania and Bulgaria and Balkan values are added. And Croatia …makes twenty eight.
And across the Boaphorus lies Turkey claiming the European credentials that the Ottoman Empire flught.
It makes no sense.

Of course, migration is a fact of British life. There have been waves of migration before…Eastern European jews, Irish, West Indians…but while they may have settled in their own communities in East End of London, Kilburn and Brixton…and while the Jewish Community had a religious difference with the native population and the West Indian Community had a colour difference and the Irish Community had a political difference…they were largely integrated.

As a regular visitor to London, it strikes me that the Muslim Community is in fact…TWO Communities. In and around the City of London young Muslim men and women, dress smartly in western suits and go to work in the banks and financial institutions. But two miles east in Limehouse, Muslims men and women wear traditional clothing. The ghettoisation, the clothing, the natural reserve, the silence of women is not in itself a form of social exclusion but it sends out a message of isolationism which people respect.

There is a….passivity….that maybe makes people uncomfortable. People who are visible and yet silent.

As a consequence of racism or indeed a form of political correctness (ie good manners) the traditional Muslim communities have been left to their own devices. For five decades, they have been regarded as non-threatening…and of course the vast majority are not in any way threatening.

Arguably, there is a third Muslim demographic. There might well be traditionalists who do not wish to integrate. There may well be modernists who want to live the yuppie dream. But the British Security Services seems to fear young second and third generation men…who are disconnect, ed from British Society. There seems no real means of policing their thoughts.

Necessarily in previous decades resources were spent looking at the Irish Community in England. Easy enough to do as skin colour, language and social custom were not much different. And resources were spent monotoring conversations in Eastern Europe, again a comparatively easy job for second generation Czechs and Poles …their parents who had settled in post-war Britain.

But…this week, Eric Pickles….Minister for Communities writes to every mosque in Britain. It is significant that his letter is co-signed by “Lord” Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon…Pickles’ junior Minister and a 46 yr old unelected member of the “House of Lords”. A prominent British-Pakistani businessman, he is the sort of Muslim that the British Conservatives understand.

But Pickles and Ahmad tell the British Muslim spiritual leaders that “British values are Muslim values” and that the spiritual leaders should be more pro-active in leading young Muslims away from hate speech and potential jihadi violence and report suspicions to the authorities.

Lets look at that. British Values are Muslim Values? Well clearly its not about warm beer. But is it about Democracy? Is it about British support for Israel? Is it about the complex alliances and wars that Britain is waging in Saudi Arabia…Syria….Iraq….Afghanistan…Egypt….Pakistan.?

Or to look at it another way. Muslim values are British Values? Is it about arranged/forced marriages, alternative banking, no rights for women, the tribalism where Labour Party (yes Labour!!!) do shabby deals to buy votes from tribal leaders who can influence a community? Is it about anti-Semitism? is it about the excesses of beheadings and floggings in Saudi Arabia?

It seems Pickles is clutching at straws. The precedents are not good. It is not so very different from British politicians visiting West Belfast and telling Catholic Churchmen or the Catholic residents that British values and their values are the same.

I am not a big fan of Dr David Starkey, the snob and controversial historian. But he argues that to the Muslim World, Europe is a side-show. The real action is Muslim-on-Muslim violence in the Gulf, North Africa and the Pashtan regions. He argues that Islam is six hundred years younger than Christianity and going thru a Reformation just like Europe did in the late middle ages.

Ultimately Blood is thicker than Water.

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The Second Draft Of History?

Posted on January 19, 2015 by fitzjameshorse

Reflecting on the the three part series on “Charlie” (Charlie Haughey), it is hard to resist the fact cliché that Journalism is the First Draft of History.
All History students agonise about movies that are described as “historical drama”. My favourite film director, John Ford summed it up nicely…”this is the West sir, when faced with History and Legend…we choose the Legend”.
Thus, what we know about the Alamo is based on John Wayne. What we know about Braveheat William Wallace is based on Mel Gibson. And what we know of the Titanic is based on Leonardo Di Caprio.
I must emphasise that these movies were produced a long time after tbe actual events happened. So the “history” is well known.
We can of course all nit-pick about how a complex historical event can be condensed into a two hour movie. It is after all a form of Entertainment rather than a History Lecture. And I dont think that Errol Flynn portraying General George Custer seriously distorts the actual Battle of Little Big Horn.

But the drama-documentary or bio-pic is often a pop-up history. Movies produced before serious academic research. Is that “different”? And when does History begin? My own view is that History begins a few years before we are really conscious of it. So being born in 1952, I tend to think that History is anything prior to (around) 1966. In other words the Israeli-Arab War of 1967 is NOT History to me. Nor is the Troubles beginning in 1969. And figures such as Harold Wilson, Richard Nixon, Margaret Thatcher and Jimmy Carter are not historic…at least NOT to me.

Thus the TV mini series produced in the early 1970s…”Washington…Behind Closed Doors” is an almost instant reference to Watergate. And the movie “All the Presidents Men” with Hoffmann and Redford as Bernstein and Woodward is an instant “history”.
Oddly Jason Robards is the Nixon-esque President in one and Ben Bradlee in the other.

But take for example, Dr Stephen Hawking. He seems like a light-hearted kinda man who is willing to play exaggerated versions of himself in “The Big Bang Theory” and “The Simpsons” but I wonder if he is not in some way, setting the agenda for his historical legacy. A bio-pic on his life is now Oscar-nominated.
It will, I submit be difficult for a historian to get thru the public perception of Hawking.

Ultimately the performance of the actor playing the subject of a bio pic is crucial.

Anthony Hopkins made Hitler credible.

But Ben Kingsley as Ghandi???? I just wanted to punch Ghandi in the face.

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Charlie (Haughey)…Is Mise Charlie

Posted on January 19, 2015 by fitzjameshorse

So a three part drama series on RTE on Charlie Haughey.The name is associated with political graft and corruption. Former Taoiseach Haughey is dead. Libel laws only apply to the living so it is obvious that this is a hatchet job. Safe enough in 2015. But a slightly uncomfortable feeling that RTE bravery in tackling the subject is tempered by the fact that Haighey was never really tackled when he was alive…and he had enough cronies around him to ensure that he remained untouchable.
There is a narrative in Irish Politics. Fine Gael is sophisticated (metropolitan) and honest. Fianna Fáil is unsophisticated (rural) and dishonest.
FG is a party driven by “policy”. FF is a party driven by “populism”.
All this is underscored by “civil war politics” FF (anti-Treaty) is more ruthless than FG (pro-Treaty).
And of course the most honest and sophisticated people in Ireland are the intellectuals, academics, journalists and the “creatives”.
Well at least thats the narrative.
Gerry Adams is the Charles Haughey of 2015
In twenty years time, there will be a drama called “Gerry”. It will be the revenge of the “creatives”.
All these bio-pics depend to a certain degree on the ability of the lead actor to convince us.
Patricia Hodge was in “Maggie” (Thatcher)…convincing. Julie Walters was in “Mo” (Mowlam)….unconvincing. Liam Neeson was in “Michael Collins” and aided of course by the passage of time was convincing.
So Aidan Gillen as “Charlie”? There seemed little physical resemblance. But the mannerisms and speech pattern seemed right.

I am a man of 62 years of age. In my middle years, Charlie was in his prime. In the eraly 1970s and in the heady days after the Troubles broke out in 1969, he was an Irish Government minister, put on trial by his own government for arms smuggling into the North of Ireland. He was acquitted but understandably for the rest of his life (and a lot of other lives) there was bad blood between Haughey and the party colleagues, who put him on trial. Fianna Fáil never really regai its former dominance of Irish politics. In the 1970s, Charlie was in the wilderness of Opposition or middle ranking in government. So the TV mini -series begins in 1979 as he plots successfully to become Taoiseach …a revolt from the back benches sees him to victory.

At the heart of Charlie Haughey is a contradiction. He is the Irish equivelant of an Irish-American big city boss. For Charlie, Ireland is to be run for the benefit of his people. And especially for those people close to him.

It was strangely uneven. By RTE standards it was lavish…but only in parts. The series concentrated on his relationship with his senior Fianna Fáil colleagues…George Colley, Des O”Malley, Brian Lenihan, Sean Doherty, Albert Reynolds, Bertie Ahearn….and his PR Guru (O’Meara). Oddly it showed Haughey with senior Europeans like Helmut Kohl and Francois Mitterand. His long time mistress Terri Keane featured strongly.

But strangely absent was Haugheys wife. And indeed his children.

His own financial corruption was clear enough. The corruption of others was hinted at, rather than overtly stated. Yes signed cheques and cash in brown paper envelopes.

Also absent were Fine Gael politicians. While there were robust exchanges between Haughey and his Fianna Fáil parliamentary party, it would have been interesting to see some exchanges between Haughey and his real enemies.

What did we learn about Charlie?

Well circa 1973, I was in Dublin and a taxi driver told me all about Charlie Haughey and Terri Keane (then a journalist and gossip columnist with a Dublin Sunday newspaper). Seemingly everybody knew. How this never became officially public or used by his enemies to discredit Haughey seems strange. But the TV series reveals that Haughey had Keane had a private room constantly available at a leading Dublin hotel.

And oddly Fianna Fáil members routinely referred to the Fine Gael party as “the Blueshirts” a reference to that party’s brief flirtation with fascism in the 1930s. Of course the “nice” FF people like Colley and O’Malley didnt do this. Only the “nastier” element like Haughey.

Haughey….well what can we say. He had endearing qualities such as hating the Brits and distrusting the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs. He wanted “patriots with balls”.  And he hated the Blueshirts in Fine Gael. And he firmly believed that Britains difficulty is Irelands opportunity…the Malvinas (Falklands) for example.

On the plus side he loved his mammy and looked after his constituency and genuinely slipping some cash to the distressed. And his political achievements such as decent old age pensions, free transport for pensioners and free TV licences for the elderly….stand the test of time.

So….on the minus side, he was ….a bit….ya know…..corrupt.

 

 

 

 

 

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The First National Hypocrisy

Posted on January 19, 2015 by fitzjameshorse

The First National Language is of course the First National Hypocrisy.
In September 2011, I attended the launch of An Liofa initiative. All very wonderful to have senior And junior PSNI members in attendance but on signing up all Liofa turned out to be was a list of resources in my area. It was really no better that just going along to the local “Tech” and asking for a guide to courses.
They still send me an online newsletter but I never bothered. Hopefully the Online survey will show that it is a complete disaster.
It was a farce that brings little credit to the Department of Culture.
I would really like to improve my status beyond being constantly “ag foghlaim” (learning).
I would have thought the most obvious route would have been dead air on TG4, the Irish language TV channel.
Seems to me it would be cost effective to have a “focloir” (vocabulary) played on a constant loop.

The Irish Language lobby does itself few favours.
In September, I approached a minibus driver on the Aran Islands. Alas he was picking up a wedding party but kindly phoned his friend to pick us up for a tour of the island. One would have expected that their conversation…two islanders ….would have been in Irish…but they spoke in English. I asked the second minibus driver if Irish was spoken on the island “all the time” he said “we speak in among ourselves”. Well….no they dont.
Actually that time in Connemara in the autumn was a bit disappointing.
For over thirty years, I have heard B & B owners in Galway City bemoan the fact that their competitors down the road get the Gaeltacht grants that they dont get in Galway City.
There is a certain buzz heading west from Galway and seeing the Gaeltacht sign. But in a post office in the area, business was being conducted in English and indeed the two pensioners on the Aran Islands picking up their pension were doing so in English.
Road signs are problematical. As I recall a few years ago activists objected to bi-lingual signs but certainly in Roundstone in 2014, there were bilingual road signs in Gaeilige and …..German.
But in among the Connemara scenery, there is the reality of TG4 headquarters, Udaras HQ, Radio na Gaeltacha….the assorted “ceol” tigh (music pubs) and craft stores. Disappointingly Connemara is a reservation performing music and dance and selling trinkets to tourists. It might as well be the Choctaw in Oklahoma.
I suspect the locals dont actually want the Irish language to flourish. Yes, the scenery will always be there. But all those Irish language schools would have to close down if Irish was widely spoken in Dublin…all those middle class kids worrying about university entrance would not have to go.
The Irish language activists in Connemara know where their “aran” (bread) is “immed” (er buttered).
Yes its little more than a middle class obsession outside the places where it is a business.
Nobody in RTE or civil service or a semi state body ever became impoverished thru using the Irish version of their name.
How to make Irish succeed?
Well two ways….Honesty….and making it illegal.
If they made it illegal tomorrow, Id be the first person down at the Culturlann to sign up.
If it was illegal….they would make more of an effort.

But…six or seven years ago, I stopped off at Ballaghadereen in County Roscommon to get directions to Frenchpark and the Douglas Hyde Heritage Centre which is maybe five miles away. The signpost in Ballagaderreen was a bit misleading. The man in the street didnt know. From his accent he was Eastern European. But he did suggest a local shop. There the girl pointed me in the right direction. She was from (as I recall) Slovakia.
This irony will not be lost on those who know tne Irish language mythology. It was in this town that Douglas Hyde allegedly heard the young market trader speaking English on market day.
“Cant you speak Irish” said Hyde.
“Sure isnt it Irish Im speaking” said the boy.
Which is of course a whole different problem. Is Gaeilge THE Irish language or more honestly ONE of TWO Irish languages.

NOTE….this is my contribution to a thread by Dimbleby Walker on Slugger O’Toole

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This “Dis-United” Kingdom General Election

Posted on January 15, 2015 by fitzjameshorse

Four months to go to the British General Election and the only certainty is the uncertainty.

The 2010 Election produced a strange result…a hung parliament. Arguably the worst possible result if you care about cohesion within the “United Kingdom”. If, on the other hand, you hate, loathe and despise everything about the “United Kingdom”, a hung parliament is at least possibly another good result.

The basic duty of a (global) republican is to undermine the “United Kingdom”.

The basic duty of an (Irish) nationalist is to undermine the ” United Kingdom”.

I have been a student of politics for nearly five decades. I actually formally began to study Politics…actually an A Level subject called “Economics and Political Studies” (EPS) in September 1968. So much different then of course. Pre-Troubles but we could see them evolve. Civil Rights activists had just begun to march the previous month and the big adventure for the two classes of EPS boys was taking part in our first Civil Rights March on 7th October 1968.

Yes …we thought it was an adventure…to be led by those QUB students, who we had only seen on the TV News.

Yes…Politics was “British Politics” which was a fairly static thing. Labour were in power in Britain. Tories in Opposition. And Liberals maybe had less than ten seats in the “UK Parliament”. Only a couple of nationalists in Scotland and Wales. And eleven of twelve Norn Iron seats held by Unionist Party who were an integral part of the British Conservative Party.

All very static because for fifty years, power had been in the hands of the Tory and Labour parties. Pre-Scottish and Welsh Devolution. Pre-Troubles. Pre-European Union. Pre-Multiculturalism. Pre-the collapse of Trade Unions. Pre-Internet. Pre-the End of Deference.

It is not for Nationalists and Republicans to have angst about “UK” having problems. I have been studying History for even longer than I have been studying Politics and as every schoolboy in an Irish Christian Brothers classroom knows…England’s Difficulty is Irelan  d’s Opportunity.

That is simply a fact of life. Spanish Armada 1588 to Malvinas 1982. And even to the fragmentation of Greater England thru Scottish and Welsh devolution or Europe or multiculturalism. Simply put Britain is no longer a homogenous country.

Yet in British politics, there is an ongoing narrative where the system becomes less based on a Parliamentary system and more a Presidential system. With an envious glance across the Atlantic Ocean, in 2010, Britain’s broadcasters, BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky persuaded the the leaders of the three main parties to agree to TV Debates, not unlike the traditional American model.

From the perspective of the British (unwritten) Constitution, this was a grave error. It set a precedent and it is reasonably expected that there should be a series of TV Debates. But who exactly should be taking part.

Well a look at the 2010 Election Results provides the first clue.

Conservative 306.  Labour 258. Liberal Democrat 57. Scottish Nationalist Party 6. Welsh Nationalists (PC) 3. Green 1.

Norn Iron’s 18 seats hard,y count. DUP 8. Independent Unionist 1. Alliance 1. SDLP 3. Sinn Féin (who dont go to Westminster) 5. While DUP and SDLP tend to vote with Conservatives and Labour respectively, they cannot be relied upon. The notion that the 2015 Election Results will give some leverage to Norn Iron parties is certainly possible but it seems a long shot because there has been a change in British politics.

The Liberal Democrats (57 seats in 2010) are believed to be in melt-down. Traditionally the third Party, they are suffering thru their decision to go into Coalition government with David Cameron’s Conservative Party. Their opinion poll numbers and performance in the European and Local Elections in 2013 look bad. Traditionally they attract tactical votes. Labour and Conservative voters in “unwinnable seats” often vote Lib Dem the lesser of two evils. They are also the traditional beneficiaries of “protest votes”.

The Green Party (just 1 seat…itself a breakthru) overtook the Lib Dems in the European Elections. And seem to have inherited the protest vote and seemingly …positioned to the left of Labour (always too cautious in elections), they can claim the mantle of the de-facto fourth Party …in England.

The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) is the third Party, according to opinion polls and European elections. They cant shake off the mantle of being Europhobes and  anti-migration but although they did not get a seat in 2010, they have gained two defectors from the Conservative Party (the unpleasant right-wing). They are not unlike the American Tea Party, predominantly white and out of step with the modern world.

Also easy to overlook the Respect Party (no seats in 2010 but a subsequent bye-election victory) which can take a lot of votes in Muslim areas of Britain. Probably at most one seat but certainly enough to influence results.

So what about the Debates? Well the suggested formula….one debate a head-to-head between Cameron and Ed Miliband as the only two people who can aspire to be British Prime Minister….a second Debate featuring the traditional three Parties, Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem (this seems to ignore the reality of Politics 2015).

The third Debate….Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem and UKIP….has angered Conservatives because it does not include the Greens. David Cameron, who as Prime Minister has most to lose by participation, has threatened to boycott the Debates which means they either cannot proceed or go ahead without a Conservative.

But what about the Scottish Nationalist Party. Devolution and the 2014 Referendum has changed Scotland. The SNP only picked up 6 seats but expected to gain a lot in 2015. As the Party are …by definition “Scottish”, SNP will only be standing in 59 seats so obviously wont be competing to be part of the “UK” government.

But of course, Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem will be competing in Scottish constituencies.. The three pro-Union parties formed an unholy coalition to defeat Scottish Independence 55-45. The unionist tactics of Fear, Threats and Promises has left a bitter taste in Scottish mouths.

As I have often said, nationalism feeds off Resentment. And the bitterness from the Referendum in September 2014 will certainly last until May 2015. Labour are set to lose seats. The only question is how  many.

So should the SNP get a place in the Debates. They of course say that they should. They have more seats than (say) UKIP and will likely have more than UKIP, Greens and even the Lib Dems. Although they wont be part of the “UK ” Government, their numbers should ensure a solid voting block which would caucus (at a price) with Labour. These Debates will be shown inScotland…and a Debate featiring Cameron, Miliband and Clegg and not showing Salmond (SNP Leader) would be grossly unfair to the Scottish electorate.

Of course British TV channels are…British. BBC, ITN, Sky and Channel 4 were not exactly even-handed during the Referendum Campaign. The British Media is pro-union. It is an article of faith with the London metropolitan elite that the “union” is a good thing.

The Controversy about Debates is just one more example of the self-inflicted chaos within British politics.

Dontcha just love it?

 

 

 

 

 

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BBC Norn Iron Comedy Hits New Low

Posted on January 13, 2015 by fitzjameshorse

It was probably a bad idea to name BBC Norn Irons new sitcom. …NUMBER TWOS.
It is a hostage to fortune.
Clearly the idea was to imply that politicians at Stormont were “shite” but all it did was prove that the quality of comedy writing in Norn Iron is complete and utter “shite”.

The show is written by Tim McGarry, Damon Quinn and Michael McDowell. Collectively they are known as The Hole in The Wall Gang.
In the 1990s, they were three Belfast barristers (attorneys) with an above average sense of humour and they wrote some sketches for local radio and TV and they wrote a pretty good one-off comedy “Three Ceasefires And A Wedding”.. a parody not just of the Peace Process but of the TV dramas and movies which dealt with the Troubles.
This led to a sketch show whoch was I thought very good and introduced characters like “Mickeys Mammy” and “The All Too Nice Couple from Cultra”.
Several series of a comedy show “Give My Head Peace” lost their edge progressively as the Peace Process became a bigger farce than any comedy programme lampooning it.
The Show also lost their best asset when actress Nuala McKeever left the group to go solo and be a leading member of LetsGetAlongerist group of activists (Platform for Change).

They never really recovered. But a serious drama by McGarry, Quinn and McDowell on the Father Brendan Smyth Affair (Smyth was the first Catholic priest revealed as an abuser) was very good.

Tim McGarry hosts an occasional comedy panel show “The Blame Game” which seeks to satirise life in Norn Iron.

The big problem with new show “Number Twos” is that political life in Norn Iron is beyond satire. There ia an elite Overclass of people who think they are better than the 108 MLAs at Stormont. But the MLAs are actually elected.

So what is the plot (wafer-thin) of NUMBER TWOS.
Well Ricky a young Protestant and Sinead a young Catholic are Special Advisors to a Sinn Féin and DUP Minister in the same Department….well the rest of the plot doesnt mean anything at all except its about young apolitical Overclass working with two sectarian dinosaurs.

It re-inforces the narrative that we have a lousy wasteful political system which is generously financed by the Taxpayer.
But for me it emphasises the fact that we have a lousy cmedians who in the BBC are lavishly funded by the TV Licence Payer.
Now that IS Irony.

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