I was listening to a British radio phone-in about al-Qaida last week. The rhetoric was embarrassingly clichéd. One gung-ho caller likened Bin Laden’s outfit to the Nazis, saying that they wished to destroy civilisation. The only solution, according to this particular hawk, was war to the end. Au contraire, retorted a left-leaning panellist, America with its “concentration camp” in Guantanamo, was the true heir to the Third Reich. Listening to this exchange, I couldn’t help but cringe. Ever...
The phrase “move on” has been very much in vogue in recent weeks. In some instances the term can have a positive connotation, as in to move on after the death of a loved one. In this case it articulates the need to get on with one’s life rather than wallow in the past. However, in the hands of some politicians, the phrase has taken on a negative undertone. When habitual liars like Gerry Adams or Tony Blair urge their opponents to “move on”, you know they’re in trouble. What they’re really sayi...
As we approach the tenth anniversary of the first IRA ceasefire, it’s easy to forget just how much things have changed over the past decade of relative peace. In particular the fortunes of Sinn Fein (SF) have improved dramatically in this period. It is strange to recall that, not so very long ago, the party was extremely isolated and unpopular. Back then, with their stablemates still at “war” (i.e. shooting people in their beds and blowing up high streets), SF was about as popular as George Bu...
Last week I wrote a blog urging American progressives to get behind John Kerry in spite of his right-wing tendencies. Should leftists hold their noses and vote for the unrepentant “new Democrat” from Massachussets in order to beat Dubya, or should they throw in their lot with some valiant no-hoper who better reflects their views? This has been a hotly-debated topic, especially since the great white hope of the anti-war movement started yelling out the states of the union in Iowa last month. ...
I must confess that I’ve always loved elections. I just can’t get enough of democracy in action: rallies, speeches, debates, knocking on doors, arguments, endless, endless arguments. Plonk me down in front of the TV when there’s an election on and I’ll be as happy as a junkie with a big bag of smack. Most of all though, I love Irish single transferable vote (STV) elections. The transfers, the intra-party battles, the tallymen, the recounts – this is political drama at its best. It’s best to be...
It was almost forty years ago when the Irish Cold War showed the first signs of thawing. Appropriately enough it was a snowy day in January 1965 when Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Sean Lemass’ limo made its way up the long drive of Stormont estate on the outskirts of Belfast. By going to the seat of power of the Northern Ireland government to meet Prime Minister Terence O’Neill, Lemass entered the history books. It was the first ever official visit to the North by a southern premier. In its...
I’ve been strongly opposed to the war in Iraq from the outset. As each day passes Paul Bremer’s optimism gets more laughable, Tony Blair’s lies become more apparent and more people, mostly Iraqis, are killed. Each new day brings no news of those mysterious WMD. And each day I grow more convinced that this war was wrong. Having said this, I don’t pretend to possess the absolute truth in any scenario. There are some good pro-war arguments, I just happen to think that there are many more goo...
It’s easy to forget how much we rely on stability. So much of our daily activity depends on the proper functioning of government and business. When you press the light switch, you expect the room to be illuminated. When you go to the supermarket, you expect there to be food on the shelves. When you post a letter, you expect it to arrive at its destination. When you wait for a bus, you expect it to come. These thousands of predictable outcomes contribute to the “quality of life” which we in th...
They mustn’t have had corn syrup in Hollywood back in the 50s. In the era of John Wayne westerns, the idea that a person bleeds when they’re shot was not accepted. In those days the Duke would plug the bad guy who’d go down clutching his miraculously blood-free chest. Either he’d be dead as soon as he hit the dirt or he’d survive just long enough to mutter a few last words before dying. He certainly wouldn’t cling to life for several minutes, coughing up blood and screaming for his mother. ...
We Irish pride ourselves on our hospitality. In a smug way, we convince ourselves that we’re better than less welcoming nations (perhaps starting with the letter “E”) who refuse to get out the nice biscuits when company comes round. This June however, when a former Texan oil man comes to town, he is unlikely to get a warm reception. George W. Bush is due to visit Ireland for the annual EU/US summit. Put bluntly, he will not be welcome. After the Madrid bombing, this year’s summit went from...
Well, it must have seemed like a good idea at the time. The bright spark who came up with Bush’s WMD hide-and-seek gag must be regretting it now. Dubya’s joke at the Radio and Television Correspondents Association last week has stirred up a maelstrom. He has been lambasted for his poor taste in laughing about a war in which more than 500 US soldiers have died. Even Nancy Pelosi, pictured laughing at the time, is now apparently unhappy. Personally, I was delighted by Dubya’s attempt to make...
Hands are very much in the news today. Much of the coverage of Tony Blair’s visit to Tripoli today has focussed on the fact that he shook hands with Muammar Gaddafi. Metaphorically, the Libyan leader’s hands drip with the blood of innocents. According to some, the British Prime Minister should have a bar of soap ready. Some, especially on the British right, have been sharply critical of Blair’s visit to Libya. They are, so they say, appalled that Blair should meet a man whose name is syno...
Sydney Elliot, the leading psephologist, used to present the electoral history of Northern Ireland (NI) in three distinct phases. In the first stage, from NI’s formation until the outbreak of the Troubles, elections were dull affairs. On the unionist side there was one party, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), for whom all unionists dutifully voted, election after election. In power for fifty years, the party was the epitome of a monolith. No credible unionist alternative emerged in this period...
By all accounts David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), is a hard man to like. Cold, pedantic and distant, the Bangor man is not the type to attract a large personal following. In spite of this, and of my political differences with him, I can’t help but admire the man. I count myself as a stubborn person but even I must doff my cap to Trimble when it comes to bloody-mindedness. Trimble was once seen as a hard-line unionist. He won the leadership of his party in 1995 on t...
Bold Robert Emmet, the darling of Eireann. Bold Robert Emmet, he died with a smile. Farewell companions, both loyal and daring. He lay down his life, for the Emerald Isle. So goes the chorus of “Bold Robert Emmet” a tribute to the leader of the 1803 Irish rebellion against British rule. “Rebellion” is perhaps the wrong word in this context since Emmet’s uprising was little more than a riot. However, it’s not for his ineptitude that Emmet is remembered. The decision of the British ...