The English press critic Roy Greenslade once coined the term “hierarchy of death” to describe the huge difference between British media coverage of different types of violence associated with the Troubles. There were he asserted four groups of victims as far as the media was concerned. Group 1 was made up of English people killed in England, i.e. victims of the IRA’s British bombing campaign. These victims dominated TV news bulletins for days and put a great strain on the Brazilian rainforest...
There is no conflict in the world which generates as much verbal diarrhoea as the Israel/Palestinian one. Biased, blatantly pro-Zionist phrases such as "period of calm", "no partner", and "window of opportunity" masquerade as neutral discourse. In fact these cliches serve to reinforce an Israel-centric view of the conflict. For example, there is a "period of calm" when Palestinians are being killed but when there are casualties on both sides it is a "cycle of violence". Dead Arabs makes f...
When the Israelis offered the PLO control of Gaza during peace negotiations in the early nineties, it is reported that one of the Palestinian delegation quiped: "Great, now what do we get in return?" Even for the Palestinians, Gaza - with its apocalyptic overcrowding, its suicidal birthrate and its epic poverty - is a problem rather than a prize. This is even more so for Israel. Successive governments in Tel Aviv have viewed the Strip as a burden rather than an opportunity. For a state o...
"A lot of it's got to do with age" said Paul Bew during a tutorial on Irish politics some years ago. "Running around shooting people and spending the night in a hedgerow - it's a young man's game. Adams, McGuinness, the lot of them: they're middle-aged now. If nothing else, the peace process is a great advert for the male menopause." As ever Bew was exaggerating slightly for effect, but his words had more than a little truth to them. A quarter century of constant physical danger takes it toll...
"It's only words, and words are all I have" as Ronan Keating once sang. If only real life was as simple as cheesy ballads would suggest. Yesterday's "historic" declaration by the IRA that it is abandoning violence after 35 years of bloodshed is very welcome. As were all those other "historic" declarations about a "total cessation" and "the war" being "over". Fine words indeed, but only words. Given the Provisional movement's long record of duplicity, words mean nothing. Only action, or in...
"Is increasing aid the solution to poverty in Africa" asks this week's online poll in the New Statesman (a sort of Islington chatter sheet). The result: 93%no, 7% yes; suprised me, given that NS readers tend to be of the hand-wringing "oh, isn't it terrible?" tendency. But what struck me more was the paucity of options on offer, with "yes" and "no" being the only alternatives. This is "opinion" polling of the crudest kind. My prefered answer: "I don't know" was not available, as if som...
I knew this would happen. I said this would happen: " Among those milling around Templemore Sports Complex after last Friday evening's count were figures such as Ian Doherty, a leading Derry businessman and long-time associate of Mark Durkan's well-heeled clan. Mr Doherty was one of those who signed Mr Durkan's nomination papers. Nearby stood Ivan Cooper, another prominent figure in Derry's business and political circles. Mr Cooper, a founding member of the SDLP, is well known for his b...
At times like these, one feels sorry for the owners of British off-licenses. I don't imagine that the champagne was flying off the shelves after last week's Westminster election. The Conservatives won more than 40 extra seats but couldn't shift their share of the vote from the lamentable 33% they won in 2001. The Lib Dems increased their overall vote but didn't gain significantly more MPs. Labour, although re-elected with an eminently respectable majority of 67, saw their share of the vote sl...
The voters of North Down are a contrary bunch, always prepared to buck the trend of unionist politics. For years, while other unionists voted for the DUP or UUP, the good people of Bangor sent Jim Kilfedder, of the laughably titled Popular Unionist Party, to represent them in the House of Commons. After his death, another one man band took over in the constituency, Bob McCartney's United Kingdom Unionist Party. Now, once again, the MP for North Down can hold meetings of her parliamentary ...
Even before I clicked on the election results on the BBC website, I knew it was good news. On the homepage was an electoral map of the UK. I paid no heed to the mess of red, yellow and blue in GB, but instead fixed my gaze on Northern Ireland (NI). And there they were, lime green splashes in the north-west and south-east of the six counties. On closer inspection, there was also a little green dot by the River Lagan. My party, the SDLP, had won three seats, holding Foyle and South Down, lo...
Often, when entering a house in northern Taiwan, I would notice an old photograph of a soldier hanging proudly on the wall. When I enquired who the man in question was, I would typically be told: "This is my grandfather, he fled to Taiwan in 1949." Most of the old men who take pride of place in Taiwanese homes have now passed away. I wonder what they would have made of this week's visit to China by Lien Chan, the head of the Kuomintang (KMT). There is, at last, a reconciliation of so...
For me, observing the governments of China and Japan squaring off recently is rather like watching Manchester United play Tottenham. Isn't there some way, I ask myself, that both of them could lose? I say this as someone who has spent several years living in two countries, Taiwan and South Korea, which toil in the shadows of the East Asian giants. Along the way, I've picked up a strong dislike of the right-wing regimes in Tokyo and Beijing. This part of the world is beset by conflict...
In the past, Westminster elections in Northern Ireland (NI) were dull affairs. In the 1992 and 1997 polls only one or two seats changed hands. However, since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, politics in the north have entered a period of great flux. In 2001, many seats changed hands and there were tight contests in many others. Once again in 2005, there are thrilling, down-to-the-wire fights right across NI. It's going to be great craic, I'm sorry that I'll miss it. Any t...
It was "China Week" a while ago on BBC World and I, as a fully paid-up Sino-phile, was looking forward to seven days of special programming on the Middle Kingdom. But I'm afraid to say that the Beeb's efforts were largely disappointing. There were some interesting reports, especially about the Muslim population of the far west, but too much of the coverage was of the highly cliched variety " Look! Some people in China are rich these days !" etc. The one programme that really rankled was t...
A few months ago, I came home from work and switched on the TV. On the screen were two men holding a photo opportunity, one Catholic, the other Protestant - His Holiness, Pope John Paul the Second and George Walker Bush, President of the United States. The Supreme Pontiff was trying to read a written statement to the press. I strained to listen to what the old man was saying. Was it Polish, Italian, Latin even? It was only after several moments that I realised that the leader of the world's C...