Longkesh Inside Out

Just a few random thoughts on things currently out there..in the news..or otherwise.  Firstly, have you seen the hoo-haa going on over the Tweets from James McClean?  He, of will he, wont he, fame regarding whether to play for Northern Ireland or the Republic.  McClean tweeted that his favourite song was The Broad Black Brimmer–a Nationalist ditty.  He prefers the Wolftones version, apparently.  Personally it wouldnt get in my top three but sure. Predictably he was castigated for his choice by Gregory Campbell, who amongst his other vocations seems to have added that of censor of popular culture.  Gregory seemingly went as far as to contact McCleans football team, Sunderland to ask what they intended to do about the offensive tweet.  Offensive to Campbell of course.  Another Northern Ireland defector, Shane Duffy, chipped in on behalf of McClean–again predictable. It’s hard to say who out of the trio is worst.  McClean reinforces his childishness every time he goes to print.  Duffy should stay out of it and Campbell shoud stop acting like the stiff collared pedantic, control freak he is.

I came across a short letter in yesterdays Irish Daily Mail from a Sean Healy, a resident of Waterford town.  He is highlighting the fact that Sinn Fein have written legislation for a National holiday in memory of everybody who has fought for Irish independence.  Now I am surmising that this legislation is for Eire–the Republic of Ireland.  Although if they get the green light there it is a sure thing that they will be looking a repeat in this jurisdiction–the part of Britain known as Northern Irleland–where they administer UK rule.  So, are they serious suggesting that alongside individuals like Patrick Pearse–Wolfe Tone–Arthur Griffiths or James Connolly they aim to include Dominic McGlinchey–Dessie O’Hare–Gino Gallagher or Freddie Scappiticci.  Didnt they all claim to have fought for Irish independence at one stage or another?  It would be interesting to hear what the Politburo at Connolly House have to say on the matter.

Finally we await with baited breath to hear the name of the newly formed Unionist party comprising of Basil McCrea, and John McAllister.  Or maybe not.  It will be more difficult than you think because surely most of the acronyms consisting of the same three letters have been used up?  It is a fair bet that whatever the title it will have an “O” or a “U” in there somewhere.  No prizes given but what about a little competition to see who comes closest.  I will start the ball rolling with my own opinion.
SOUP…Socially Ostracised Unionist Party.  It has a nice ring to it.  And if Basil and John dont live up to the hype then they could also be in it.  The soup I mean–not the party.

Don’t let the facts stand …etc.

Now another ‘ace reporter’ Sullivan in the Weekly Liar has been taking liberties with the facts. Talking about the Loughisland pub shooting he says in paragraph 3 that Bobby Rodgers shot and killed Eileen Doherty.  Did he not read or just ignore what Judge Horner said?  I quote Judge Horner;

Although he (Rodgers) did not pull the trigger of the gun that shot her dead, he was an integral part of the joint enterprise.”  (BBC news 14.2.13) News of the trial and this quote were carried in a number of proper media sources. How vile and insidious that Sullivan now sets the ground work to say that Bobby actually shot the girl when the court and judge accept that he didn’t?

In the main body of the article (which is less than 500 words) he tries to say that here is a break in the Loughisland case which is related in some way to Bobby’s case. I have read the article several times looking for the break in the case. New eye witness? New fingerprints? New CCTV evidence? I only picked up that Michael Maguire will carry out a new investigation. Here we have classic examples of gutter press. Linking stories by insinuation.  Blurring the truth. However this is the best case of ‘churnalism’ i.e. regurgitation, I have seen in a while.  It is not news. It’s all been in the media before.  I also notice on line 5 of paragraph 1 that he has repeated the word ‘the’ twice in a row.  Does he not have a grammar spell checker on his laptop?

And just while we are on the weekly liar, what about page 2. ‘We don’t  bum about it’ yet go on to bum and blow that they have a great circulation. Of course we are not told who actually verifies the ABC circulation figures. Would it be the World by any chance? And we learn that the Slippery World has a million readers (are you serious?) after an official readership survey. Official? Who by? Fancy giving some details about that? Who paid for it? Any independent view on that? Have you ever been asked to do a survey on the Sunday world?

Finally we are greeted with the fact (?) that 54,938 copies were bought in Northern Ireland over the last six months of 2012. Is that so? On the positive side that means the vast majority of adults in Northern Ireland did not buy the rag.

“According to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, the average circulation of the Sunday World, for the period January 2012 to June 2012, was 246,875. This represented an 8% decline on a year-on-year basis. “Wikipedia.  And given that on page2 they say that they sold 217,141 on both sides of the border then that represents another drop in circulation. In fact there has been an on-going drop in circulation generally of newspapers due to factors such as the rise of the internet, etc. Some people have suggested that the newspaper will disappear. I feel sad at this losing the good newspapers and journalists like the great Hugh Mc Ilvanney    However that is tempered by the hope that maybe just maybe someday the Sunday World and the gutter writers will go the way of the glorious News of the World.

Gaudeamus Igitur

Don’t let the facts stand ….

Billy’s Weekly liar (10.2.13, page 5) is at its usual tactics of smear, spin and outright lies from its many mysterious sources. However I am intrigued by the rather lax adherence to fact in the recent article “I’m out of here”.  The Hateful World, in its northern edition (how many loyalists know that the money for this rag goes straight down to Dublin into pockets of some dubious and unnamed people?)

As per the scurrilous tactic of picking someone they hate and then running a never ending campaign of vilification they picked on a man with cancer, in this case Jimmy Campbell, who was the only man convicted of the Mc Gurks bombing.  And obviously it didn’t bother the rag to talk about Jimmy only days after he had died. Having been incarcerated with Jimmy and knowing him well I’m glad to say, I’m proud to have known him.

The article by the chief ‘rent a lie’ says correctly that Jimmy was sentenced in 1978 having been arrested in 1977. In the latter paragraphs Irelands own ‘Josef Goebbels’ says that Jimmy served less than 15 years. So, if arrested in 1977 and he served 15 years then I calculate that he would have got out in 1992, which is true. How then could Jimmy be released under the Good Friday Agreement in 1998? (see second last paragraph)  A further 6 years after he had left prison?

Which leaves me to ask just how accurate is the rest of the guff he churns out?  How could he get something so simple, so wrong?  Maybe in Mc Dowell’s eagerness to smear and discredit he forgot to get the calculator out?  So go ahead Billy Liar, how do you explain this away?  Or just ignore it like so many times before?  Of course that is the shameful prerogative of the gutless and non-responsible gutter press.

Gaudeamus Igitur

Just a short mention for the valuable and sterling work being done around the Donegall Road and Pass areas recently. This area has produced one of the more active and forward thinking ACT initiatives.  The latest venture is to establish their own blog..let’s all give a bit of help for a really worthwhile project……………….sbact.wordpress.com

Justice or Political Expediency?

The recent sentencing of Bobby Rodgers for the 1973 shooting of a young catholic girl brings many important issues to the fore again. Firstly it is an absolute tragedy and horrific loss for a young person to die in such circumstances. It should not have happened but this was the society that was bequeathed to all of the young people who like myself grew up in the troubles. And like young Eileen  Doherty there was   17 year old Vivienne Gibney shot dead by the IRA on 1.12.1971. Or 12 year old Joan Scott shot dead by republicans on May 30th 1972. And so on. To date none of the republicans who killed these young Protestants have not been arrested, charged or sentenced.

This conviction and continued work of the HET highlights the paucity of thought and the weakness and sadness of the situation we find ourselves in. The failure to move on is a reflection of the lack of courage. I accept the pain that exists from all sections– the widows of the policemen, the mothers of the young men who joined paramilitaries and then died. And not to forget the hundreds if not thousands of bereaved people from England, Scotland and Wales whose sons and husbands came here and were killed.

I disagree with the HET and their work and would clearly want a line drawn in the sand. Anything before the Good Friday Agreement should be left alone. By selecting the Loyalists for this special treatment raises issues of un fairness. An unfairness, that may have consequences in the future. Let me also be clear. I do want any return to violence from Loyalists. I do not want any reaction to the dissident violence that kills decent people like Ronan Kerr,  Mc Carroll, the sappers, etc.  However there are astounding and nauseous hypocrisy’s occurring here. While past combatants have served out time for historical offences we will not forget the case of the priest James Chesney, involved in the indiscriminate slaughter of 8 people in Claudy on 31^st July 1972. Remember also that the victims included two children. Kathryn Eakin aged 9, and William Temple aged 16. The judges words ring hollow. i.e. the passage of time in no way dilutes the seriousness of such a crime. If that is so then why was the priest allowed to remain free for so long until his death?

Another worry for anybody who has lived with the troubles is when does this work finish? Do we have to look forward to the day when an 80 year old is arrested for a 1970s offence? When that person may die in prison and young extremists from any community want a cause to follow will the rest of us be happy? Unless you are completely blinkered there is a realisation that members of the security forces committed offences linked to the troubles. When would members  of the  police, army, prison service, etc. be arrested, questioned, charged, tried (still in a Diplock Court) and sentenced?

The other more worrying issue for the Loyalist working class is the complete and utter discrimination between Loyalist and Republican ex combatants. Whereas the Loyalists from the 1970s went about they lives upon release and had little protection from their elected representatives the Republicans had the giant of Sinn Fein to defend them. Again, only if you are naïve and a little un street wise there are many top Sinn Feinners  who are in government or just behind, that were involved in serious violence. They cannot be touched because they are integral to the peace movement and if arrested then there is serious repercussion for the assembly,  peace process,  etc . For this read;  if you arrest them you risk us going back to war. This also means that Loyalist ex-prisoners are expendable and of not much worth.  Has someone forgot that  28% of all fatalities were inflicted by Loyalists? Given that Irish Republicans killed some 60% of the total fatalities should there not be twice as many Republicans coming to the attention of the HET than Loyalists? If Sinn Fein where never going back to war then those people could be convicted without consequences on the streets? However, again let me say that I don’t want to see those Republicans ( or security forces) dragged back to courts for the 1970 and 1980s. Draw a line and look forward.

Another amazing issue not publicised by judges,  courts, etc, is that of people like, say Freddie Scappaticci and Ken Barrett. We now know a lot more about the methods and strategy of the hidden forces at work in the troubles. Again I admit that they were integral to achieving peace however unpleasant people feel about their tactics. So if Rodgers can be arrested and brought back to prison what about these men?  Is the murders they were directly involved in OK? Were they qualitatively different from what others did in the 70s?

And what did Rodgers do since his release in the 1990s? He’s friend of mine so I feel I can say what he had been doing. He has worked hard. He has worked with many young Prods to keep them from a life of crime or sectarianism. He has raised his family. He has consistently said that resorting to violence is not the way to go.  He has supported the peace process.  He has never, like many of us ‘dinosaurs’, been involved or supportive of illegal drugs.  Bobby has also had dialogue with Republicans in order to foster understanding and explain the true feelings of working class Prods.

There are many complex issues here. One that is possibly unanswerable is what the difference between justice and revenge? Or is court justice a form of society revenge?  I may have a strange outlook on this issue because of my experiences through the troubles. I had friends killed by Republicans, by  Loyalists and security forces. Do I want them all dragged back to court? No. But, if some are to be dragged back then all should be. That is fair.

Of course one huge lesson for us all in that nothing is simple in N. Ireland.  This issue of the HET is going to remain a thorn in the side of moving on. It has also has the potential to set a small flame alight that is going, sometime, to put us back in the times where we should be forgetting about.

Gaudeamus Igitur