Getting Shirty On Campus

Posted on April 10, 2014 by fitzjameshorse

Lets talk…Primary School.
In my day 1957-1963, primary school children did not wear uniform. Some kids were better dressed than others.
Nowadays primary school children wear uniform. Arguably a standardised uniform makes it more difficult to tell children from affluent and poor backgrounds apart. Arguably it is confidence building in children.
As I walk around the Shopping Centre/Mall I see those formal and informal uniforms, indicating that the 5 year old clutching Mammys hand is a pupil at one of the local Catholic schools. Or that the 10 year old breaking free from Mammys hand is a pupil at one of the local state schools.
A helpful guide for anthropologists is that the Catholic schools usually have the word “Saint” in the title and state schools usually have a place-name.

Lets talk …Secondary School.
In my day 1963-1970, secondary schools generally wore uniform. At my own catholic Grammar school, there was a short period of time, 1966-1968 when the rules were relaxed and everyone stopped wearing uniform and in 1968, when the school moved three miles to a new location, it was re-introduced.
Get on any bus or train after 3.30pm and see the loud teens and their uniforms. Of course post-primary teens,the uniform becomes a political or ethnic symbol as much as a school uniform.
School buses have been stoned.
The teens dont like the uniform.
Indeed school leavers traditional de-face their shorts with obscene autographs of their classmates on their last day. Neckties are burned.

Lets talk…University.
Obviously no uniform.
Or maybe not.
As students all over the world pack their bags to go and study at University of London, Texas State University, University of St Andrews, Cambridge University or Queens University Belfast, they pack comfortable and “comfort” clothing.
Nothing introduces a person quicker than the Ireland Football Shirt, the Detroit Lions Shirt, the Ulster Rugby Shirt, the Manchester United Shirt or the Armagh Shirt.
Indeed on my first day at QUB in 2005, I sat beside a guy with a Darlington FC Shirt, Darlington being his home town in North East England.
As I recall, Monday was the big day for football tops.
If Manchester United had a good weekend, the shirts get worn.
Likewise, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, Celtic, Rangers.
There is certainly an element of “in your face”.
Likewise the GAA shirts come out if the county had a good Sunday….Tyrone, Armagh, Down, Derry, Donegal.

GAA Shirts are arguably “different”.
The GAA is uniquely rooted in FAMILY, VILLAGE and COUNTY. And COUNTRY.
Thus up to fifty per cent of the county shirts to be seen in the Queens Cafeteria are worn by young women. Some village club shirts from deepest Fermanagh with a number like “7” or “11” indicate that the wearer is actually a PLAYER, who has actually earned the right to wear it.
And arguably GAA shirts are unique because they are collected as “holiday” souvenirs of visits to Wexford and Clare as much as fealty to the home county.
For example my 11 year old grandson has a closet full of GAA shirts.
But a Football (ie Soccer) fan is different. You just dont wear another shirt.

Of course at QUB (2005-2009) I rarely wore a football shirt. I certainly DID on the occasions when Manchester United won the League. But for a man in his mid-fifties, it is not age-appropriate. And I never would have felt totally comfortable wearing a GAA shirt on public transport.
In some of my classes…and the students were overwhelmingly nationalist, people occasionally wore football shirts, including GAA. There was one guy who ALWAYS wore a Rangers shirt. ALWAYS. Paradoxically he was advertising his unionism but I dont recall him ever actually speaking in a tutorial. He just sat there. His Rangers shirt was only statement for an entire semester. Which is pretty pathetic.
For a man of my age, for whom the Troubles was a recent memory, I DID worry about boys, the “culchies” (rednecks) as they would call themselves, who wore shirts a little too often and slightly off campus to be truly safe
And of course the student, about whom I worried most …was my son.

Thats how it goes.
Is it a “right” to wear sporting casual clothing to University?
Is it a “right” to wear political Tshirts to University?
Is it acceptable to wear a Seattle Seahawks Shirt in at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana?
Is it acceptable to wear a pro-Palestine Tshirt at Manhattan College in New York City?

Does Freedom of Expression trump the Academic Neutrality of a College Campus?
Are Sports Shirts …controversial?
Or is it a simple matter of an appropriate “Dress Code”?
Or is it the case that elite establishments like Oxford in England or Harvard in USA would frown on expressions of working class culture such as a shirt showing allegiance to a sports team?
But wasnt one of USAs top professional sports actually codified at an elite university?
And isnt “college sport” often the route to lucrative emplpyment in professional sport?

As always Norn Iron is different.
Catholics are more numerous at QUB.
But at the University of Ulster, a “university” spread over four sites, it is slightly different.
At Belfast and Jordanstown (about eight miles north of Belfast) catholics have a narrow majority.
At Derry (ninety miles from Belfast) Catholics are in a clear majority.
At Coleraine, there is a small Protestant majority?

But is the issue of GAA Shirts on a campus…an issue at all.
Or has it been made an issue by the sole TUV (Traditional Unionist Voice) MLA, Jim Allister.
A party to the right of the DUP is of course antagonistic to the idea of visible expressions of Irishness.
Allister claims that the mere sight of GAA shirts at the University of Ulster is producing a “chill factor” for Protestant students.
Is it actually “intimidating” ?
I doubt it.
Allister has asked the Minister for Employment and Learning, Dr Stephen Farry of the Alliance Party for a ruling.
Farry has referred it to the University itself.
They are involved in discussions with Students Union to talk about issues such as a “dress code” and general related issues.

Of course Id like to see the attitude of Jim Allister to (say) outright neutrality such as British war memorials on campus, or the wearing of poppies, or an Ulster Rugby shirt or Tshirts with “Help For Heroes” (the British Army charity) or the (British) Officer Training Corps.
This is NOT a genuine attempt to be neutral.
Rather it is an attack on Irish “culture”.
And lets be frank…any LetsGetAlongerist approach to resolving this petty and invented conflict …will be unduly accepting of Britishness as a default position.

There is a Facebook Page in support of those students who wish to wear GAA shirts.
I urge people to support them.
And I daresay that any Allister-inspired attempt by the University of Ulster to legislate will be resisted by the Students.

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We Dont Need No Educashion!

Posted on April 10, 2014 by fitzjameshorse

Its almost a cliche that American academics who compare the American and Norn Iron Civil Rights struggles do not understand that Education (and access to it) was not a major issue here.
Catholics and Protestants had (in American terms) “segregated” education. But Catholics did rather well out of it. The ethos of Catholic schools in the North was that Catholic chidren were being trained for an unequal society.
It was not enough to have the same qualifications as Protestant school-leavers. It was necessary to have better qualifications.
Of course in the days when Belfast was a major industrial city, jobs were practically guaranteed in the Shipyard, Mackies, Sirocco and Belfast Corporation…if you were Protestant.
Frankly Protestant working class boys did not actually need an education.
And Unionists had a vested interest in keeping their voters “stupid”.

Of course in the bad old days, Queens University was a cold place to be a Catholic. Under -representation and an over-arching British tradition.
Graduations…where the British National Anthem was played and the RUC band entertained on the Quad…persisted until maybe two decades ago…despite the best “Rosa Parks” moments in the lives of Catholic graduates.
Things started to change. The Catholic students may not have achieved numerical equality but flexed their muscles in the Students Union. I was on a part-time course in 1992-93 when the nationalist-dominated Students Union had signage predominantly in Irish.
These were later ruled to be outside the “neutrality” concept.

Certainly, when I was at QUB 2005-2009 there was actually a majority of nationalists. Its been the case for many years now that Protestant and Unionist students go to…or are sent to universities in England, Wales and Scotland.
Whether this is defined as the “Brain Drain” or the “Chicken Run” is problematic. But the point is that a lot of these graduates will settle in Britain.
Their talents are lost to the Norn Iron Economy and Electoral Register of Voters.
With the Census showing figures of 48% Protestant and 45% Catholic and a majority of school children being “Catholic”…this demonstrates the need for LetsGetAlongerists to deal with the demographic time bomb and keep Norn Iron safe for liberal unionism.

But this graph probably demonstrates the situation. From a recent report from the Community Relations Council.
image

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Queens University (Catholics currently estimated at around 57% of Northern students) is that it is extremely egalitarian…much more so than any other Irish or British university. Perhaps as few as 5% of Irish and British QUB students have had private education and the vast majority would have received that private (and expensive) education in Republic of Ireland or in Britain.
Or arguably the most striking feature of QUB is that female students seem to outnumber the male students.
Or maybe it is that the students from Derry, Armagh, Tyrone and Fermanagh who live in and around the Holy Land (streets accomodating students) are stridently nationalist.

So we have Norn Iron where Primary Education to age 11 is Free.
And we have Norn Iron, where for the most part, secondary education is decided by Academic Selection and the scholarship winning students go on to Grammar Schools and those who fail are sent to Secondary Schools.
With “better”, facilities, teachers and pupils, the Grammar Schools perform better…and its from the Grammar Schools (mostly) that the university students come.
“Catholic” Grammar Schools attract a more (economically) diverse student body than their “State” (de facto Protestant) schools. Proportionately Catholic children are more likely to be entitled to free school meals than Protestants.

But the graph above shows actual performance with GCSEs…at usually age sixteen.
It divides schoolchildren into those who PAY for school meals and those who are subsidised. Traditionally, this is a convenient marker which shows Deprivation.

Among those who ARE NOT entitled to Free School Meals:
1 Catholic GIRLS perform best.
2 Protestant GIRLS perform second best.
3 Catholic BOYS.
4 Protrstant BOYS.
Among those who ARE entitled to Free School Meals:
5 Catholic GIRLS.
6 Catholic BOYS.
7 Protestant GIRLS.
8 Protestant BOYS.

And a recent report into Performance of “Grammar-Secondary” Education reveals the equally interesting statistic that the five leading schools in Norn Iron are Catholic Schools. (Indeed EIGHT of the TEN leading schools are Catholic).
The narrative is that after years of deliberate neglect, there is a sense of disenfranchisement among the Protestant-Unionist population.

Of course, those who previously celebrated their sense of Entitlement in unbalanced societies, always struggle to cope with EGALITARIANISM.
In England…under-educated (white) men go on radio phone-ins to plead their case that Migrants do better.
In USA… under-educated (white) men are encouraged by FUX (sic) News to believe that Society favours black people, migrants and of course…women.

The situation in Norn Iron is that generations of unionist politicians have encouraged generations of “their” people to believe that they had “Entitlement” born of a sense of Superiority.
That this has produced a sub-culture of sectarian, racist, knuckledraggers is hardly a surprise.

Yet there is an odd situation in Education.
Even those who have long since outgrown Catholicism, would probably agree that the Catholic system does allow for a certain questioning attitude to life,as well as producing an interest in (local and International) Social Justice. It produces a disproportionate amount of people who happily embrace the left-leaning politics of Sinn Fein and SDLP.
Perhaps even more surprising is that SF and SDLP policy (endorsed by their voters) is for the abolition of SELECTION at Secondary Level.

And yet the Unionist politicians in DUP and UUP actually favour SELECTION. Their policy is to maintain the Grammar Schools.
Of course, it can be argued that non-church going Catholics do not send their children to Catholic Schools for a “Catholic” education. Rather, they send the chikdren to “Catholic” school for access to Republican values of Egalitarianism.
With most members of the DUP actually believing in the LITERAL Biblical explanation of the World…Creationism….then ot seems unionist politicians are condemning their own voters to a lifetime of Stupidity.

So ironically…politicians in SF and SDLP (whose voters benefit most from the system) are in favour of Egalitarian Change. And DUP and UUP cant overcome their enthusiasm for Elitism, even when their own voters are clearly suffering most).
People talk about Nationalism-Republicanism versus Unionism-Loyalism or even Irish versus British…..but we are really talking about Egalitarianism versus Elitism.
It is really Republican Enlightenment versus an Ancien Regime.

Integrated Education and LetsGetAlongerism.
Well, its little morre than an attempt to frustrate the Demographic Time Bomb.
And somewhat ironically the greatest advocates of Catholics and Protestants being educated together are occasionally the biggest advocates of SELECTION.

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At Last…An Answer For Carlos

Posted on April 8, 2014 by fitzjameshorse

Carlos has been on my mind a lot this past two weeks or so.
He was one of the post-graduate students I met at Texas State University in February last year.
I was lecturing on the Troubles with particular reference to Conflict Resolution.
I absolutely loved it.
Highlight of my life.
I am not a professional. When I speak publicly, i am usually introduced as “Father of The Groom”.
The post-grads made it easy for me. They were attentive.
And I think I could play off a smile, a raised eyebrow or nodded agreement.
Carlos was maybe the one I looked towards to see if I was getting thru.
I spoke for almost an hour and a half …some pretty good questions.
But Carlos asked the final question as we were breaking up the session and I was gathering up the reports, postcards and visual aids.
He asked.
“What do young people think?”
I was I think far too relaxed at that stage. Too flippant. I said “Im 60 years old…I dont understand anyone under 40”
But I have long thought that Carlos deserved a better answer than that.

So.
Well in the lecture I made reference to the Norn Iron Civil Rights Struggle circa 1966-69 and the American Civil Rights Struggle circa 1960-68.
There are similarities.
There are differences.
Certainly travelling thru Atlanta airport and listening to the welcoming voice of the Mayor of Atlanta…I was acutely aware that this was a city not unlike Belfast …re-inventing itself.
So for over a year I have thought that I short-changed Carlos with that answer.
And I think I would answer his question in “American Deep South” terms …from the perspective of a veteran of the Civil Rights campaign in Atlanta.

It seems to me that I hear young people saying two things.
One is that “nothing has changed”.
The other is “its ancient history…everything has changed”
I think BOTH are wrong.
It irritates me when an 18 year old presumes to tell me that everything in Norn Iron is just as it was before The Troubles. They havent a clue.
Likewise the 18 year old that tells me that EVERYTHING is so very different now. They havent a clue.
So if I was sitting on my porch in Selma, Alabama today….I just might hear young people say the same.

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Getting Shirty At The Shopping Centre

Posted on April 8, 2014 by fitzjameshorse

Walking around our local shopping centre(mall) on Sunday, I spied a large man wearing a blue Tshirt. Its not unusual to see folks wearing football “tops”. Many shopping centres and restaurants impose a dress code and I have often seen signs at pubs, which say “No Football Gear”.
Football Shirts are I guess,”smart casual” but I suppose bar owners are entitled to impose a dress code if they believe that a large number of people wearing partisan clothing can be confrontational and in the Norn Iron setting, where football shirts are often a sign of national and political allegiance, then the partisanship can be toxic and perhaps violent.

Certainly at our local shopping centre, I have seen all the popular football tops.
But the Man With The Blue Shirt last Sunday seemed a bit different.
I noticed that in smallish writing at the front it said “Aye To Freedom”.
And at the back “End London Rule”. There was a small Scotland Flag.

So this was actually NOT a football shirt at all. It was a campaign shirt in support of Scottish Independence. In less than six months, Scotland has a Referendum on Independence.
Does this mean that we will see more of these shirts during the summer months?
Or indeed Scottish “unionist” shirts?
For these are extremely overt POLITICAL Tshirts.

It goes without saying that I am in favour of Scottish Independence. It is logical…I am a Nationalist after all. And of course anything that weakens the so-called United Kingdom is something I can support.
The Man With The Blue Shirt was a large man. I would not have wanted to be the Security guy who said “sorry sir, I cannot allow you to come into the shopping mall wearing an overt political slogan”.
What exactly is the protocol?
We do have a kinda fascination with war by proxy.
Irish nationalists see Palestinians as kindred spirits. Unionists identify with the Israelis.
So a certain logic maybe that Tne Man In The Blue Shirt is an “Irish” nationalists also.
If the Tshirt had been Green and an Irish Flag on it, then he might well have been denied entry?

Is there already a protocol in place in Scotland….in Tesco in Aberdeen, Sainsburys in Glasgow and Marks and Spencers in Inverness?
Is a political Tshirt only “political” if it is relevant?
Thus that Che Guevara shirt can be accepted as a fashion statement rather than a political statement?

We have been here before.
There were local headlines circa 2002, when American tourists were denied entry to places because of those “Remember 9-11”, “Kill Bin Laden”, “These Colours Dont Run” Tshirts.

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Sam McAughtry RIP

Posted on March 30, 2014 by fitzjameshorse

Many of the Tributes which will be published and broadcast for Sam McAughtry who has died aged 90 will mention his working class Belfast background, his service in the British “Royal” Air Force during World War Two,his career in the Norn Iron Civil Service, his trade unionism, his leftyness, his career in retirement as an author, journalist and broadcaster, the Peace Campaigner, the member of the Irish Senate.

These are of course publicly known facts. If you want to know more about that you must go elsewhere. This is kinda “personal” tribute which is ironic…and indeed difficult …because of the very PUBLIC nature of the Blog.
Sometimes a certain “secrecy” makes Truth easier.
Sometimes actual facts become a kinda “parable”…names and places changed to facilitate a Greater Truth.
Rarely is it just right to say it as it is…or was.
Because I knew Sam McAughtry.

In June 1972, I got a job in the Norn Iron Civil Service. The Troubles were at that stage getting worse on a daily basis. I had just turned twenty, and in this Blog, I have often written about the arc of events in 1971-72, which I think influenced my thinking in so many ways. At that stage Internment (August 1971), McGurks Bar (December 1971) and Bloody Sunday (January 1972). And there had been a major gun battle in and around Ballymurphy-Moyard.
I suppose a good sign that I got a job.
But…for a dazzling urbanite like myself, the Department of Agriculture (yes Agriculture!) seemed an unlikely place to have a career.
And a ten storey office block at Dundonald meant a serious logistical problem.
A bus when available from Upper Springfield into Belfast City Centre.
Another bus (#16 or #17 ) from Malcolmsons the Jewelers via the Queens or Albert Bridge, Newtownards Road…to Dundonald.
Not an appealing journey for a Ballymurphy youth…in the summer of 1972.

I took an instant dislike to the place and the job. The hierarchy was irritating.
An office of maybe twelve people.
A Staff Officer with a shock of white hair sat at the top of the room, school-master like.
He tended to stare absent-mindedly.
The Junior Staff Officer was a mousey spinster lady who seemed to have no real life.
Two Executive Officers…one, who was nearing retirement was Catholic and he marked the young Catholics card…identifying the “bastards” for me. The other Executive Officer was ambitious and just too nice to be credible.
And then there the rest of us ….the flirty 40 year old woman, the 45 year old ex-RAF man ( as was the Staff Officer), the lazy old English woman, the quiet lady with one arm, the flirty school leaver girl and the very funny guy who would later be convicted as a UVF bomber.
Outside…in the corridor were professional men (yes all men) who had their own offices and to whom we never spoke.
There was a general Civil Service resentment. A few months previously, the Stormont Government and parliament had been abolished and Direct Rule imposed from Westminster. It was almost as if civil servants felt personally humiliated.

A Hierarchy…and an alien environment and I hated it.
The Office was doing very mundane work but it seemed to tick by.
By the way, the Staff Officer with the shock of white hair was Sam McAughtry.

So Friday, 21st July 1972 seemed like just another day.
It wasnt of course.
It was Bloody Friday.
And from our viewpoint in the Dundonald Office Block, we heard the dull thuds and watched the rising plumes of smoke and people kept getting updates on the casualties and deaths.
We were all allowed to go home.
But with one of the bombs going off in Oxford Street Bus Centre, the public transport system was suspended. Not a major problem of course for those who lived in the east of the City. Inevitably the majority of staff lived in suburban East Belfast..and commuter towns like Newtownards, Bangor, Comber etc.
As my colleagues left the office, with barely a backward glance, it was clear I was being left to my own devices…a trek of maybe four or five miles thru “hostile” territory…past the Short Strand inter-face to the City Centre and the comparative safety of West Belfast.

At that point Sam McAughtry arranged a lift for me…from one of those “professionals” in the corridor. We passed the journey in total silence…the “professional” …and I will never forget his name….and his female passenger….pointedly did not speak to me at all.
He just dropped me at the Albert Clock in the City Centre and did not even acknowledge that I had thanked him.

God, I hated that office. In fairness, it was…and the Troubles were being played out against some late teen angst of the “Boy-Girl” kind.
But I just hated it.
One morning….I just had enough. I was given an audio typing tape (how quaint that expression sounds now) and told to bring it to the Typing Room downstairs.
And I left the tape…and just walked out of the building and walked to a bus stop and got a bus into Belfast City Centre and went to the Central Library.
Of course that was a very effective RESIGNATION.
Except that it wasnt one.
When I got home about 6pm, my mother told me to go and see our local priest. He had a message for me. Of course my mother did not know about my “resignation”. Nor did I tell her.

As it happened, the local priest had been a reference on my job application.
He had been told about the walkout.
And urged me to go back to work. Mr McAughtry wanted to talk to me.
Well I had no choice.
And the next morning I went and talked to Sam…who told me to take a few days off and they would sort out a transfer to an office in central Belfast.
In talking to me, Sam talked about the trauma and indeed the drama of flying over Germany in a bomber in the Second World War and coming home to the anti-climax of a clerical job in the Norn Iron Civil Service…his first job was actually in the old Labour Exchange…and how one day just working for arrogant bosses made him explode angrily at one of them.
He was lucky to keep his job.

And so it was.
A couple of days leave…and back to the office, where people like the flirty 40 year old woman and the ambitious Executive Officer tippy-toed around me. Until I got a transfer to another office…and its odd ensemble of strange people, like the woman who had been jilted at the altar and the man with the drink addiction.
It was like they had gathered together all the problem people in one office.
Thank GOD I left the Civil Service.

Of course Sam McAughtry, in retirement went on to a second career as broadcaster, writer, Peace Campaigner and even appointed to the Irish Senate.
A good writer…A good lefty kinda guy (who really had too much faith in that whole NI Labour stuff).

Two footnotes.
When I took the head staggers and walked out of the Stormont block and estate, nobody actually knew that I had done so voluntarily. When it was noticed, I was missing,…there was some very brief concern that I might have been abducted. Police on the Stormont estate were briefly involved.
That #16 #17 bus…in the 1970s UVF gunmen got on one of those buses and went straight upstairs and shot dead a Catholic coming home from Stormont. They knew exactly who to shoot.

Things were really thatbad.
Sam McAughtry RIP

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The Great Alliance Confidence Trick

Posted on March 26, 2014 by fitzjameshorse

If you get a reputation for getting up early…you can lie in bed all day.
And the Alliance Party has this peculiar reputation for Decency in Public Affairs. It likes to present itself as the small party of moderation, squeezed by the sectarian power blocks of DUP and Sinn Fein.
In fact they are owned by DUP and Sinn Fein.
They get away with the fiction that it is a Party for nationalists and unionists but in coming out as in favour of a United Ireland, Anna Lo has exposed the hypocrisy, albeit unwittingly.
The problem with “”dont ask, dont tell” and being “all things to all people” is that it only works until someone goes off-message…in this case Anna Lo.
In reaching out to soft nationalist voters with the “united Ireland” crap, she was being selfish, putting her own interests ahead of her Party.
Let is assume that 10,000 “SDLP voters” are persuaded to vote for Anna Lo, the Alliance “Euro” candidate. Most of those votes will be in places such as South Down, West Tyrone, Armagh, where SDLP has a significant presence and the Alliance Party none. “New” Alliance votes. There wont be enough “trickle down” votes to help any Alliance council candidates gain a seat.
Its also likely that in the suburban Belfast area where Alliance already outscores SDLP, those “soft nationalist” votes have been voting Alliance.
Frankly Anna Lo…held in (too) high esteem by the media …is a bit of a hypocrite.
Or maybe its normal to publicly announce that you believe in a United Ireland, nine weeks before an election.
The problem is not West Tyrone or South Down. Alliance dont actually need to set foot in those places to enjoy its gerrymandered position at Stormont
The problem is cementing its position in Belfast commuter territory. And Lo’s conversion to nationalism is unlikely to play well with the Alliance canvassers in Bangor, Castlreagh and Carrickfergus.
It makes no sense for any Alliance council candidate in those areas to be “nationalist”. Much better to be vague…or hide behind the “party for nationalists and unionists”, the Party is “agnostic on the Border” and other fictions.
It is …lets be frank…a unionist Party…which lies about its unionism.

We have to give some credit to Geraldine Rice, who sat on her arse and did not join in the traditional standing ovation for the Party candidate. The grinning party leadership…Ford, Long, Farry and the rest…they are the real villains of the piece…because even as they were cheering Lo to the rafters they were thinking “this bloody stupid woman has got us in a mess…and we have to make the best of it”.
Yeah keep clapping David.
Keep smiling Naomi.
Keep cheering Stephen.

You see…it surprises me that no newspaper like the Irish News or News Letter…or even the Alliance cheerleaders at the Belfast Telegraph have not actually tried to guage just how unionist and nationalist the Party membership is.
Or maybe it would be a good research project for Dr David McCann on the Alliance-supporting Slugger O’Toole site.
How about it David?
Why not send an email to all Alliance councillors and candidates asking a simple question “Do you want a United Ireland?”
I doubt you will get a straight answer.
Those honest enough to tick the YES or NO box will be few.
More likely that youd get a load of waffle about the Alliance Party being “agnostic” and the I dont narrowly define myself”. The usual LetsGetAlongerist shite.

The Alliance Party dont do straight answers.
The Alliance Party dont do honesty.
But they are bloody good at filling in an application form for a Quango.

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Musical Chairs In South Belfast

Posted on March 24, 2014 by fitzjameshorse

All Politics is local. And sometimes even a bit personal.
There are times when the “moderate” Alliance Party has had a reputation for in-fighting and shafting each other.
Thats an interesting dimension to the fall-out from Lo-Gate.
BBC News is reporting that Geraldine Rice, their second most prominent member in South Belfast has gone public expressing her shock that Anna Lo, MLA for South Belfast has expressed a desire however nuanced for a United Ireland.

I am inclined to think that this is more to do with Alliance in and around their South Belfast Constituency office in University Avenue, than it has to do with “big” politics.
Lets just consider that for a moment.
South Belfast is home territory for Alliance. They had two MLAs there in the 1970s, before local nationalists found the strength and organisation to vote SDLP.
But in years around the Good Friday Agreement, they could not get a MLA elected. They lost ground…a rising nationalist vote and the short-lived Womens Coalition…saw them without a MLA.
On more than one occasion, their flagbearer was …Geraldine Rice.
Ms Rice has never made it at Stormont level.
The Alliance revival in South Belfast is largely due to Anna Lo.
They have a safe seat.
And can legitimately target a second.

Former Quangocrat and Conflict Resoution enthusiast Duncan Morrow is Alliance Royalty. His family have served that party well…including his Uncle Addie, a former Deputy Leader.
I have to declare a slight interest here…Duncans parents (Rev John Morrow and his wife) were guests at our wedding and a few years ago, he was a mourner at my mother-in-laws funeral.
But it is clear that Duncan, now showing as an Alliance “representative” on the Alliance web site and a highly visible presence (not just because he is about 6ft 6inches tall) at yesterdays Conference, is being groomed to take a Stormont seat in 2016.
Even when heading the Community. Relations Council, it was pretty obvious that Big Duncan was “close to the thinking” of the Alliance Party.
He actually took part in a panel discussion at the SDLP Party Conference in 2010. As I wrote then, I found it difficult that SDLP had an almost suicidal obsession with promoting every voice but their own.
After a short time in Academia, Duncan has opted for politics. While an almost certain election to Belfast City Council only pays £14,000 per year, it is pretty obvious that Duncan has his eyes firmly set on the Big Prize.
He will be transfer-friendly. And could not be a better fit for the South Belfast constituency.
He is a big prize for Alliance.

In 2016, Alliance Party will be in the position of seriously challenging for two Assembly seats in South Belfast.
It is unlikely that Geraldine Rice will be on the ticket.
Yet it has always been assumed that Cathy Curran, who is Anna Lo’s constituency worker and (since 2011) a Belfast City Councillor, was being groomed to take over from Lo, who is now in her sixties.
Surprisingly Cathy Curran is not seeking re-election to the City Council. It looks like her political career is over.
Elsewhere in South Belfast, Alliance Party will be running Paula Bradshaw (Mrs Parsley) for the City.
Paula Bradshaw is ambitious but I have seen no evidence that her portfolio of skills matches her ambition. Bradshaw stood for the ill-fated Tory-UUP coalition at the 2010 Westminster Election, a few months before defecting to Alliance. Its hard to know just what Alliance foot-soldiers make of Bradshaw.
They might well be tolerant…even welcoming.
She is already on the Alliance Party Executive…not bad for a new girl.
But what Alliance think of Bradshaw might be influenced by what they think of hubby, Ian.
Ian Parsley is a former councillor in North Down. A one term councillor elected on the final count.
Oddly, he was Alliance Party candidate in the 2009 European Elections, before defecting to be Tory-UUP man in 2010 Westminster Election (Nortb Down) …his wife was standing in South Belfast.
Bradshaw joined Alliance in late 2010.
Parsley re-joined them in 2011.
The problem is that when you get Bradshaw, you also get Parsley, a man who has said (on his Blog) that the real currency of politics is not votes…its influence.

So from my perspective, the Anna Lo story and how its played out is actually more about South Belfast than it is about the Border.
Its “musical chairs”, jockeying for position as Anna Lo enters her mid 60s.
Duncan Morrow and Paula Bradshaw…winners.
Geraldine Rice and Cathy Curran…losers.

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Making Up

Posted on March 21, 2014 by fitzjameshorse

Raising £2 million for Cancer Treatment ….in just a few days is a brilliant achievement and am pleased to say that so many female friends were involved. Taking “selfies” without make-up…an excellent idea.
I declare an interest here. My wife of 31 years has never EVER worn make-up.
I have never had to sit patiently while my wife “puts on her face”.
Make-Up …lippy, mascara…have never been on the Tesco bill.

In part, its generational and I suppose even environmental.
Good wee Clonard Girls didnt wear make up.
Of course Men are NOT ALLOWED to say anything nice about a Thoroughly Modern Woman of the 21st Century. Because its patronising.
But I am almost 62 years old and I honestly dont care what anybody thinks of me.

So I will say this as plainly as I can.
Not only did you prove your generosity in raising money and awareness about Cancer, each and every one of the pics I saw proved that my friends look a helluva lot better without make up than they do with make up.

Cosmetics is probably the second biggest Consumer Confidence Trick. (Insurance is the Biggest).
Nobody actually NEEDS make up.
It strikes me that even more money could be raised and indeed money saved by women NOT splashing chemicals on themselves.
YOU KNOW I AM TALKING SENSE.

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# Tiochfaidh Ar Lo

Posted on March 21, 2014 by fitzjameshorse

As hashtags go…its pretty effective.
Aliance Anna Lo MLA for South Belfast and the Party candidate in the European Election has grabbed the political headlines by saying that a United Ireland would be a pretty good idea.
Thats a surprise.
Was it some kinda mistake? Well as Alex Kane notes, Anna Lo is not the kinda person that says things “accidently”.

Lets look at a few things. This was the lead story in todays “Irish News”, the chosen newspaper of Norn Irons nationalist community…and not likely to vote Alliance in a fit.
So how did the interview come about?
I think it is extremely unlikely that the Irish News contacted Alliance Party HQ and said “we really want an interview”.
Surely much more likely that Alliance Party Press Officer or Anna Lo’s designated Campaign Press Officer contacted the Irish News.
Maybe it was even suggested that the reaction to the interview would set the political agenda for a few days.
How exactly does this kinda thing work?

The story keeps evolving…No accident surely that the interview was splashed all over The Irish News on a Thursday morning…being newsworthy on the day that the BBC Norn Iron broadcast the thirty minute political programme “The View” is what every Press Officer at Stormont wants.
And of course Alliance are newsworthy for another reason…the Annual Party Conference takes place tomorrow.
So the BIG story last night …the big set piece studio discussion was about Anna Lo. David Ford, the Alliance Party Leader looked distinctly uncomfortable.
As for Anna Lo herself…well she seems to have gone “On The Run” in a safe house in South Belfast or taken a vow of silence and joined a convent.
Either way she lit the fuse and disappeared…or was disappeared by Ford.

The Alliance Party is publicly “agnostic” on the issue of the Border. It can therefore claim to be all things to all people. Staying under the radar enables it to the preferred Party of the Norn Iron Office (regardless of whether there is a Conservative or Labour Government at Westminster) and theres all those lovely high salaries to be earned from being appointed to a Quango…as “politically neutral”.
Real or Pretend Neutrality has served Alliance well.
Its the nature of a Party that is itself a COALITION not to dwell on the fault lines.
Alliance claims it is centrist but has members that are left-leaning and others right-leaning. Indeed with Parsley, Bradshaw and Hamilton all Tory candidates in 2010 defecting to Alliance, the Party’s left and centre credentials look thin. Admittedly Parsley, Bradshaw and Hamilton are not serious political figures…except possibly in their own minds.
A coalition of Catholics and Protestants…yes but never really (as claimed) a coalition of Nationalists and Unionists.
Hence the shock in Alliance Party that Lo has gone “rogue”.

A coalition of liberal unionists and letsgetalongerists.
Clearly I use “letsgetalongerism” as a form of abuse but there are genuinely decent people in Alliance (and indeed across the political spectrum) who want to get along with people.
There is a heavy Church presence in Alliance…McCarthy is certainly Catholic (maybe Farry is also). Lo is Taoist. Ford, Lunn, Dickson, Lyttle and Cochrane and probably Long are churchy.
I dont say that as a bad thing.
Norn Iron is a religious and post-religous society.
Values learned in the family, at school or at a weekly church service inform thinking. The fact that a politician is known to be “secular” (Farry is probably with Lo the leading secular figure in Alliance) does not necessarily imply that they are anti-religion.
It would be wrong to regard the religious politicians as necessarily “conservative” or “traditionalists”.
The “liberal” Christian will not necessarily have a problem with Abortion, Gay Rights, Equal Marriage or Stem Cell Research.
Indeed Equal Marriage is an Alliance Party policy. It befits a “liberal” party and I dont have a problem with anyone voting their “conscience” …but the problem with Alliance is that too many of their churchy types, Lunn, Dickson, McCarthy, Lyttle and Cochrane could not support their own policy.
Nor can Lo…the only real advocate for abortion rights to be the same as in England can make any headway with her own party.
The Alliance Party agnostic approach to the Border is a fraud.
Believing in the status quo and working within it…is unionism.
There were no eyebrows raised when Parsley, Bradshaw and Hamilton…avowedly unionist signed up.
Why turn the heat on Lo?

Of course we are entitled to ask how sincere Anna Lo is.
Is it just a pitch for nationalist SDLP votes?
On the plus side, the political landscape has changed. Catholicism is not the force it was. But certainly Sinn Fein and more so SDLP cannot afford to alienate a large section of their own voters.
While the Catholic Church is still shell-shocked by two decades of scandal there has never ben a better opportunity for Republicans (ie all parties in the Republic and SF and SDLP in north to assert the primacy of the Republic over the Catholic Church.
Can Republicanism …a product of the Enlightenment live side by side with Catholicism? Of course it can. The relationship is being re-calibrated in the daily lives of Irish Catholics.
A look across the Stormont Chamber to the DUP ranks of people who seriously believe the Giants Causeway was only “created” six thousand years ago, should convince any serious liberal that the Republic of Ireland is already a more tolerant society than any society created by the DUP Jihadists.
So for Anna Lo, the Republic is perhaps a more realistic option.

Anna Lo merely speaks the truth when she talks of Ireland as a consequence of colonialisation. She feels a certain empathy, being from Hong Kong. If unionists disagree with this …well they are denying their own history.
Thats how it is with “colonists”. Unionists are the kinda people who usually celebrate colonising, land grabs, imperialism, slavery, conquest, colonial rule and recreational genocide as part of their glorious history…so getting a bit snippy about Ulster or Ireland is a bit of a nonsense.
But on another level, Anna Lo is an unlikely defender of the victims of colonisation.
Not withstanding being born in the colony of Hong Kong, she is in fact “ANNA LO MBE”….she is actually a “Member of the British Empire”.
Like I said, the Alliance Party love having their colonial cake and eating it.

Victimhood…like Entitlement…is deep within the Alliance DNA.
They were certainly attacked and abused because of their inept handling of the Flegs issue in the months after December 2012. But foolish of them to think that community disgust at the attacks on their offices and threats against their members would translate into support at the ballot box. A derisory 1.5% in the Mid Ulster by-election in March 2013 proves the point.
Anna Lo herself has been the victim of vile racist abuse from loyalists.
Indeed a campaign to “stand with Anna” has been launched which deserves the support of all decent people, regardless of political affiliation.
But I think there is a certain suspicion that Alliance want to use the racism as a vote gathering target.
Its hard to see how her interview expressing her belief in a United Ireland is going to help her relations with loyalist thugs.

But lets be clear about one thing.
The Alliance Party has screwed the Norn Iron Electorate ….devaluing the votes for UUP and SDLP.
They have been f##ked by DUP and Sinn Fein.
They are pimped out by invisible political fixers, including the Norn Iron Office.
A promiscuous Party without principle.
Political Whores.
Thats their History. That will be their legacy.

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When Bloggers Meet…

Posted on March 18, 2014 by fitzjameshorse

The Big Tweet Up…a meeting of Bloggers on the Belfast “blogging scene”….the MetroTextuals….took place last Thursday night in McHughs Bar in Custom House Square.
It was a fitting venue, just across the square from The steps at tne Custom House, where political and religious speakers used to harangue, educate and amuse the good people of Belfast.
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A statue (sculptor Gareth Knowles) called “The Speaker” now stands at the Custom House. It has always struck me that the “The Speaker” and his colleagues on the steps were actually the bloggers of the late Victorian and Edwardian era.
Back then they were keeping an eye on the Czar of Russia, the German Kaiser and of course local poiticians.
And thats what 21st century bloggers do…Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel and local politicians.
Many of you will note that I use a photograph of “The Speaker” as the avator (whatever that is) for this Blog.
The Big Tweet Up…and I am not a big fan of that “insider” term was much trailed on Slugger O’Toole. The brainchild of David McCann. So …it is surprising that there has been no report or follow up in the last few days.
Hence …THIS Blog.
I was certainly skeptical.

Did it work? Very much so. And David is to be congratulated on that.
There is a problem with Bloggers.
We have a reputation of being anti-social. Curiously I think we NEED to be anti-social. Being anti-social is in fact a form of protection for a keyboard warrior.
Being a keyboard warrior…political “Comic Book Guys”…is of course an absurdity that I celebrate. I celebrate my pomposity…”keeping an eye on the Czar of Russia” is of course a form of words to point up our self-importance. Or my take on the self-importance of the broader community.
You are probably all familiar with the movie “The Wizard of Oz” …and you will know that when Dorothy and her friends reach the Emerald City…and Toto pulls away the curtain and reveals the all-powerful Wizard to be a little old man with a big microphone.
Thats what a keyboard warrior is.
Thats the awful truth about Fitzjames Horse. Take away the computer screen and…I am a little old man.
At McHughs, I was told on three occasions that I am “much nicer in real life”. Well of course I am…I am downright adorable.
And on one occasion, a fellow blogger told me that I was “much more laid back” than my internet persona. Well yes…of course I am. I am 61 years of age, retired and I have outlived all my fears. I have a lot to be laid back about.
And the only thing that really irritates me is…Hypocrisy…especially my own.

I had no real opinion on whether the Big Tweet Up was a good idea.
See…the more events like this I go to…the more I realise that a lot of it is about “networking” and I dont do “networking”. I dont have a career so nobody can enhance my CV. Likewise, nobody will find me a useful contact.
But it is more than “networking”. Blogging is not actually about typing stuff on a computer. It is as much about finding out things to store in the filing cabinet in your brain, until it is actually important.
Nobody seems to be rushing to publish about Thursday night.
What did they learn? Well…apparently that I am a laid back, pretty nice guy. But they all have the grace not to mention it and blow my reputation as a cantankerous aul lad.
What did I learn about them?
Well…with the caveat that I did not mingle very much…or at all, I learned that the people I met are pretty decent guys.

Thats actually how Life is. And particuuarly in Belfast.
The real divisions are not nationalist and unionist…men and women…socialist and capitalist.
The real division is between Decent People and Not-So-Decent People.
And its heartening that Belfast continues to be the kinda place, where Decency abounds in spite of…or even BECAUSE of Division.

It was always thus.
Those of us who work or worked…will know that Office Politics is beyond Ordinary Politics.
We are all familiar with the phrase “Your Owns The worst”…meaning your co-religious boss or fellow-nationalist colleague will be a bastard…and that the people you might expect not to be on your “side” will happily stick a knife between your shoulders.
And likewise the Hobbyist…the angler, the pigeon racer and the postcard collector knows that the friendliest and most supportive people are from the other side of the sectarian divide.
So never let Politics and Religion come into the Workplace, University or Sports Club.

But the world of Blogging is the exact opposite. And Politics. And Political Blogging.
While sectarianism dilutes our humanity…friendship (arguably) dilutes political blogging.
Putting a face to a keyboard adversary is…very human.
Computers arent human.
Of course I am a CONVICTION Blogger.
I am a Socialist, I am a Republican, I am a Nationalist.
And really there are two distinct types of Blogger.
Those of us who are committed to Politics…to advance the cause of a set of principles and self-interests and there are those attracted to the non-science of Politics.

About the event itself. A short speech by a guy from the Local Government Association. A stand up Comedian.

Perhaps the “flat beer” moment was Belfast Mayor, Mairtin O’Muiileoir.
When he came into the Basement Bar, he went round every table shaking hands …but it was without any eye contact…and very very quickly.
He made a short speech, noting that his Buddhist chaplain (he has ten chaplains) …a Guy from Andytown who lives in San Francisco had cautioned him to delete any Twitter followers who are “negative”.
image
Hmmm….does he mean people like me? or am I paranoid?
Or maybe its the mayor who is paranoid?
I must check my 140 Twitter followers to see if he is still there.
The irony is that I have actually warmed to Mairtin and his endless feel good stuff in the Ulster Tatler. Although I should point out that David McCann introduced him as “someone we like on Slugger O’Toole” …I think that was the gist of it.
Anyway, I was a bit disappointed that the Mayor didnt hang around long enough for me to get a “selfie” with him.

But most of the night was very pleasant.
Congrats to David McCann for organising it.

Let Normal Hostilities Resume!

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