A Tangled Web: July 2004

>> 31 Jul 2004

SINGALONGAPROVO

Nice to see that Folk singing Doyen, Francis Black, felt able to warble a few notes at the funeral of terrorist godfather, Joe Cahill. Suzanne Breen takes this moron to task in an excellent article here. I like Suzanne, I think she is one of the best local writers, and whilst I am ideologically opposed to her on almost every topic OUTSIDE of Northern Ireland, I think we have more in common - her from the hard left and me from the moderate centre (!) then many would imagine. Power to the people.

HANDBAGS AT DAWN.

I read this bit of nonsense in the Newsletter - it seems that Unionists (Vichy)Dermot Nesbitt and (pending Vichy?)Jeffrey Donaldson are arguing over who is, and who is not, socialising with IRA apologist Martin McGuinness in Donegal.

It strikes me that both men totally miss the point - they should be directing any ire or intelligence they may have (and that's a big IF) at McGuinness rather than behaving like a pair of spoilt children.

Why should a self-confessed IRA commander be having ANY input into political progression in Northern Ireland? The fact that a stupified section of nationalist opinion endorses McGuinness no more validates him than did the endorsement of the German people validate Hitler and his pals. I have noted some of Jeffrey's reported comments with alarm - it seems to me that the DUP are on a continual retreat from positions once held sancrosanct. Will they do a deal to suit the Provo's - my bet is YES.

PAPAL BULL?

I note that the Pope has issued a statement condemning much of what passes for radical feminism. This is most welcome, as far as I am concerned, and the fact that Erin Pizzey doesn't like it is even better news! Well done to the Vatican - you won't see the weeny apostate Anglican church finding the strength of character to speak out on this issue.

NUKING THE MAD MULLAHS.

Here's an interesting article from the always readable Rachel Neuwirth on the topic of the threat posed by a nuclear Iran led by the mad mullahs to Israel. I agree with much of what she says, and unlike whinging liberals, I would support effective US military action against Iran and North Korea. However if the West continues to wring its hands and Iran continues to develop nuclear weapons, then Israel may have little choice but to pre-empt and take out the Mad Mullah's weaponry. We always have tough choices.

Laudation from the Libidinal

Bill Clinton, with typical false optimism, expresses hope that the Young Turks now at the helm of DUP policy making will have to foresight to betray the Unionist electorate in ways comparable to Trimble's groupies, in the name of career advancement and the attainment of a false peace. He does not fear the emergence of the Democratic Unionists as the pre-eminent force in Ulster British politics, as he obviously believes Robinson and Co. are blessed with the same degree of morals as he would be in a locked room with Monica Lewinsky in puris naturalibus.

America would, quite rightly, completely repudiate conferring political legitimacy on any form of terrorism. The question is: why have successive administrations there sought to encourage and foster a system of governance for the democratic majority in Northern Ireland that they themselves would resile from in their own country?

Let me lay out a few points to try to put the American politico-demographic situation into perspective. Irish American activists like to pretend that every Irish American is virulently pro-republican and, ergo, anti-British. The United States is a country with 284,000,000 people (the third highest population in world). 56% of the population are Protestants (comprising, overwhelmingly, people of British and German descent. Only 28% of the US population are Catholics - 79.5 million: people of Irish Catholic descent comprise a mere 18 million (less than 23% of the Catholic population and a trifling 6.3% of the total American population). Of these 18 million, probably around 500,000 to 700,000 have any sympathy - no matter how residual - for the aims of Irish nationalism. For successive US governments to bend in favour of a lobby speaking for a pathetically small number of American people - especially when the result is the piecemeal legitimising of terrorism in an integral part of its oldest and closest ally - is contemptible in the extreme.

Kerry Should Go!!

I've added my name to the petition demanding John Kerry's resignation. If anybody else wishes to do so simply follow this link.

Thou Doth Protest Too Much!

I'm all for the power of protest. However, I would only join a protest against something that is worthwhile. Yesterday, for example, I intervened when a small group of young teenagers was verbally abusing an 80+ year old woman at a bus stop. I politely suggested they desist from their activities, otherwise I would have to resort to more drastic measures such as removing their knee-caps from the middle of their legs (I'm sure you can imagine the scene).

The episode set me thinking on how bad Britain's elderly population is treated by the rest of society. When they are not being physically or verbally abused by young urchins who, let's face it, owe their very freedom to the wartime actions of their victims, they are the subjects of disgusting State parsimony in the shape of a meagre pension. In short, the elderly of Britain are only appreciated by the powers-that-be every Remembrance Sunday, when politicians strain themselves to lavish sentences of insincere praise on the veterans marching down Whitehall.

When have we ever seen nationwide protests about that? When do we ever see protests about our congested roads, our third-world health service, our lack of sexual or matrimonial morals, the spread of STD's, spiralling crime rates, our ramshackle transport system, the 'rip-off' prices in our shops and supermarkets or the piles of litter on the streets? I'll tell you - never!! The only time the more emotionally idiotic members of this once great nation can ever get off their adiposal backsides is when 'the poor foreigners' are being allegedly ill-treated. Hence, the protests taking place today at various asylum centres around the UK.

Do the people involved in these ridiculous exercises not realise the level of provision this country affords those who, not only have paid absolutely nothing into the system, but more often than not are here under false pretences? Those of you who are more familiar with my background will know that I provide counselling to people afflicted by drug and alcohol addiction. I have just found out that, in certain parts of the country, people in need of psychiatric services are being forced to wait longer periods than originally envisaged because the Government has decreed that asylum seekers should be prioritised for psychiatric care due to the experiences they suffered in their countries of origin. You really couldn't write the script, could you!! I think I'll set up a one-man protest against this, though I'm sure I will protest alone as my concerns only relate to the 'natives'.

Fergie, Kerry and American Foreign Relations

With so much bilge being published by newspapers these days, it makes a refreshing change to read an article with a high degree of accuracy in its analysis. Today's contender for the title comes from Harvard historian, Niall Ferguson, and his expectations - or lack of them - for the realignment of US/EU relations under the aegis of (God forbid!!) a future President Kerry.

A common view is that, once the Democrats are haunting the corridors of American power, the US and hitherto hostile countries of the European Union will come together in a nerve-jangling rapprochement, where the wine will flow and merriment will pervade all corners of the venue. Ferguson takes a far more realistic line. He argues that the post war military alliance was a crucial necessity required to stave off any potential advances of Soviet communism. Now that the Cold War has been decisively won by the ideologies of Western democracy, there is no need for anywhere near the same degree of friendship or cooperation - even with the equally dangerous threat of Islamic terrorism.

I would go somewhat further than Ferguson when making judgements about American foreign policy under President Bush. The prevailing view of the Guardianistas on the liberal Left is that Bush's 'America First' stance on foreign relations is the cause of this trans-Atlantic fissure. On the contrary, I would contend Bush's approach is actually a consequence of a cooling of US/European relations which has its genesis at the end of the Cold War, and which has gradually gathered momentum in the intervening years - not least because of French aspirations for the military potential of an emerging EU superstate.

Summarily, the European Left are not anti-American because of the actions of its Commander-in-Chief. They would be anti-American notwithstanding the political bent of any Presidential incumbent. Why? Because the United States is now the only remaining superpower and, arguably, the only state with the clout to defend itself and its security interests unilaterally. That it will continue to do just that irrespective of who occupies the West Wing is beyond doubt. The only difference between Bush and Kerry in this sense is that the former will continue to defend America's security and international interests with far more zealousness and gusto than his Democratic counterpart. In an era when Uncle Sam cannot afford to allow international terrorism any leeway Bush is, therefore, the man to continue the fight against terrorism. I only hope the American people realise that come November.

>> 30 Jul 2004

Feeney Watch - 30.07.04

Welcome to my new weekly blog - 'Feeney Watch'. I have decided to devote a regular column on A Tangled Web to rebutting the opinions of a man I regard to be the most insulting, the most spiteful and the most cretinous columnist anywhere in the media circles of Northern Ireland newsprint. A man who has transmogrified from being a councillor in the SDLP to one of the most ardent defenders of militant republicanism.

This week, my response comes as Bigoted Bri (as he will henceforth be known) turns his poison pen to the integrity and remit of the International Monitoring Commission. His annoyance is of stratospheric proportions as he direct odious little projectiles of sarcasm at the IMC because, lo and behold, the commission has not equated - implicitly or explicitly - the lawful forces of the UK State with vile terrorist Mafiosi.

Bigoted Bri views every issue in Ulster through the dichotomous prism of Catholics vs Protestants. He conveniently forgets the role of the province's loyal Catholics in the RUC and the Army throughout the years. To him, the term 'Catholics' conjures up the image of the true Ulster ubermenschen: a tribe forced to live under eternal oppression from the wicked Protestants and the British State. Hence the following balderdash: 'Who lives where the army pollutes the environment with observation posts, helicopters, patrols and so on? Nationalists. Where has most of the violence come from since the Good Friday Agreement? Unionists.'

Let me put the flesh of reality on the bones of Bigoted Bri's tripe. Firstly, army patrols and helicopter flights occur in all parts of the province. The reason South Armagh is so heavily flooded with military paraphernalia is because it houses the biggest concentration of terrorist top brass in Northern Ireland: terrorists who continue to kill and maim civilians; smuggle contraband; refuse to pay their dues to the State (road fund licences and so on). However, it matters not because, in Bri's mind, the IRA are as pure as the driven snow - virginal white (with perhaps more than a hint of blood red).

Secondly, most of the violence since the signing of the BELFAST Agreement (to give it its lawful title) has not come from 'Unionists'. It has come from loyalist paramilitaries who, unlike their IRA counterparts, receive virtually no support from the broad Unionist communities, despite repeated government attempts and measures designed to entice them to do so. Bri is trapped on Planet Nationalist, a world of twisted ideologies where the citizens elevate terrorists and despise law and order. Sorry matey, one day you might find yourself back on Planet Reality: here we make no such mistakes.

Curtailing Extremism

I must confess I don't approve, in principle, of experiments on animals. That said, I also confess to not knowing enough about the intricacies of the situation to criticise the people who make their living from such practices. People who have watched loved ones deteriorating from cancer would, in all probability, approve of animal experiments if they knew any breakthroughs could cure their nearest and dearest. Thus, if experimentation is the means to a better end, then I'm prepared to give the scientists involved the benefit of the doubt.

In that regard I wholeheartedly approve of the Government's measure to crack down on the hooligans who have terrorised the employees of Huntingdon Life Sciences in Cambridgeshire. What talents do these morons possess, other than the ability to ask for their GIRO cheques to be paid out in £20 rather than £10 notes? Exposing employees who perform daily duties at HLS, not through any desire to wantonly hurt animals, but through a conviction that their work could, ultimately, save lives in the future, is a damn disgrace. Who are these 'animal rights activists', and for what 'rights' are they fighting??

INTRODUCING..JOHN KERRY!

Try this for insight from the wonderful Crush Kerry.

"His minions said Kerry had to "introduce himself" to America last night. Part of that is talking about your biography and accomplishments. So let's review how often he mentioned things he did in his life, and tell us what's missing:

Birth-1966: 6 mentions - Born in the "West Wing", a Cub Scout; Biking in East Berlin; Watching soldiers in Germany; seeing people live difft lives in the same cityhearing JFK's call to service

1966-1969 (Vietnam): 5 mentions - carrying an M-16; defended country as a young man; fighting with his "band of brothers; walking patrol in a dangerous place; writing letters home

1969-1976 (Anti War Activist): 0 mentions

1976-1979 (Prosecutor): 3 mentions: protected victims rights; saw kids abandoned; made prosecuting violence against women a priority

1983-1985 (Dukakis Lieut. Gov.): 0 mentions

1985-2004 (Senate): 3 mentions - put 100K cops on the street (a lie); working for a balanced budget (another lie); working with McCain on POW's.

Don't know about you all, but we think that's some selective memory."

Silly Jean Spin

Jean McBride (the only mother ever to have lost a son in the Troubles judging by her ridiculous hysteria) is deeply upset about a contract awarded by the US Government to the security firm managed by Lt Colonel Tim Spicer, to provide guard for US personnel stationed in Iraq. This is all because Lt Colonel Spicer defended the actions of soldiers Mark Wright and James Fisher when they shot McBride's son, Peter, under intense conditions whilst manning a checkpoint in West Belfast twelve years ago.

This blog is not principally about the defence of Fisher and Wright (though, for the record, I believe they never should have been convicted of murder). They are simply two soldiers subjected to a hate campaign by Irish republicans because, having served prison sentences, Irish republicanism has decreed that their soldiering days must be blighted and tainted from here to eternity. Need I add that Irish republicans - having supported, legitimised, voted and ensconced amoral terrorist third-raters, who killed far more people than Fisher and Wright ever did, without serving a fraction of the time in prison - are scarcely in a position to lecture the morality of anyone else!!

So, having demonised these two soldiers, the proponents of nationalism now seek to have Spicer's company blacklisted because he merely offered support to the soldiers' campaign. What next? Will the hysterical McBride clan go on to demand the closure of Hettie Wainwright's flower shop in Rawtenstall, because she is Lt Colonel Spicer's aunt three times removed?

Shooting from the Lip

John Dallat, the SDLP's most esteemed bigot, is vexated about the ongoing practice of the Ministry of Defence using Magilligan Beach in County Londonderry as a shooting range for HM Forces. He and a colleague are demanding immediate access to the area for 'holidaymakers' and 'locals' alike.

Now I know nationalists are absolutely fantastic at finding the most pathetic excuses imaginable to justify 'demilitarisation', but this article is amazing even by their warped standards. Magilligan Beach is a small stretch of sand lining the mouth of Lough Foyle. Its tourist trappings consist of a Martello Tower and a small, rather shabby pub. Between the beach and the main A2 coast road the area is largely salt marsh, dominated by the sinister monolith of Magilligan Prison. It is customary for the MoD to site shooting and/or missile testing ranges in sparsely populated areas throughout the United Kingdom. For example, Luce Bay in southern Scotland and Selker Bay in west Cumbria are two other places where this is in evidence. The tourist appeal of these two areas is in no way diminished by the presence of MoD facilities.

Whereas Magilligan Beach is small and compact, the neighbouring Benone Strand consists of a five-mile stretch of perhaps the best overall beach in Britain. Benone Strand is open to all and is far more attractive than its counterpart on the Foyle estuary. So why is Dallat et al so concerned about removing restrictions to an area with considerably less in the way of lure? The answer is simple!! Dallat's proposals have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with providing benefit to the tourist industry. They have everything to do with making Northern Ireland 'that little bit different' from the rest of the United Kingdom. Small, almost imperceptible changes are wholly designed to make the province much less like the rest of the Union, and much more like the hostile, supposedly neutral polity on its southern flank. Gradually reducing the Army's visible presence in the province goes some way to making this aspiration a reality. Elected representatives like Dallat would be far less of an insult to our intelligence if they were more open about the reasons for their invidious ideas.

MICHAEL MOORE ON O'REILLY.

Beardie behemoth Michael Moore was on with Bill O'Reilly the other night. You can read the transcript here. I think O'Reilly missed a chance to nail these bloated fantasist and am glad to see that Rush Limbaugh has picked up on the key point here. Moore veers, characteristically, into the lame-brain liberal zone that asserts President Bush sent "kids to die." Rush sets the record clear. I quite like Bill O'Reilly, and think he is on the side of the angels in general - but Rush really sorts out Moore. Best line from Rush as follows;

"Bush sends no one to die. The Palestinians send their kids to die. The Palestinians strap bombs on their kids and send them into civilian areas in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv with the express purpose of having those explosives blow up and kill not only the kids, but as many innocent civilians as possible nearby. That is "sending your kids off to die."

LABOUR MP'S BANNED FROM REPUBLICAN CONVENTION.

I was delighted to read today that "British Labour MPs are to be barred from the floor of the Republican Convention for the first time because the US governing party has ruled they are not conservative enough to attend. A cross-parliamentary delegation of one Labour and one Conservative MP traditionally visits the convention, but only Tory MPs will be given access to the floor in New York next month. Alan Williams, a Labour MP and the chairman of the British-American parliamentary group, said he and his colleagues were "far from pleased" at the development."I find it strange that Labour MPs can be welcomed on the floor of Congress but not at the Republican Convention," Mr Williams said President George Bush's party had been close to barring Labour at the 2000 Convention but the parliamentary group was able to get them to change their minds.

THE FRENCH TERROR ALERT SYSTEM - EXCLUSIVELY REVEALED!

Have you heard that the French have devised their own code for potential terror attacks?

Apparently it starts with "Run", then escalates to "Hide", next to "surrender" and - highest status of all "collaborate." :-)

I'M DAVID VANCE AND I'M REPORTING FOR DUTY....

Listening to BBC Radio 4 cover the John Kerry speech in Boston was, quite simply, all the evidence one needs for privatising this biased broadcaster. The simpering treatment handed out to Jean Francois's ridicolous speech was predictable. All the outrageous claims made by Kerry were swallowed whole by the BBC. There was no attempt made to balance his claims and to consider what his policies mean - in fact the BBC excelled itself by finding a "Republican" pollster who agreed that Kerry would charge into a massive two digit lead in the polls!

That the party of Jerry Springer lapped up every word spoken by the UN's preferred candidate is fair enough. They would do, wouldn't they? But are we being seriously asked to believe that no-one, anywhere, has issues with the flip-flop Kerry? Well, maybe not in the Bush-hating BBC.

John Hawkins, over on Right Wing News, provides a welcome reality check when he says,

"Meanwhile, outside of the fog bank that is the Kerry campaign, Al Gore is raving about "digital brownshirts", Michael Moore who sat beside of Jimmy Carter at the convention is accusing the President of invading Afghanistan for oil, Kerry's supporters at MoveOn are posting ads accusing the President of being a Nazi on the front page of their website, Whoopi Goldberg is making Bush jokes while pointing at her crotch during Kerry fund raisers, and 93% of the delegates at the DNC are against the war in Iraq.

In other words, John Kerry's campaign thus far -- the "Republican-lite" convention included -- has had very little to do with his voting record, with the Democratic Party he leads, or how even his own supporters believe he's going to govern if he's elected. And anyone with even a cursory knowledge of politics isn't going to have much trouble figuring that out once they start paying attention.

That's why I believe that when it gets right down to it, the American people, in a time of war, are not going to pull the lever for a cypher who's willing to portray himself as anything they want him to be to get their votes, especially when there's a strong, politically savvy, candidate on the other side and the economy's good."

HAS DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT A FUTURE?

I agree with Robert Bork that whilst the democratic principle is in rhetorical ascendency everywhere, it is worth asking whether this is a practise rather than an actuality.

He quotes Sir Henry Maine who made the point that the privileged classes in France never saw the Revoluton coming that was to overwhelm them. Unlike the French, it does seem that democracy in the US is being hollowed out from within as a result of the inexorable advance of modern liberalism, radical egalitarianism, and judicial decree.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY.

"The object of work is leisure" Aristotle.

Getting back into daily commercial work after my vacation I appreciate the Greek's wisdom!

>> 29 Jul 2004

SANDY'S PANTS (AND SOCKS)

One of the best laughs I got during my sojourn in the Great Satan was the strange tale of Sandy Berger and the disappearing top-secret documents he stuffed down his pants (and in his socks, according to the New York Post - great paper!)

Apart from the fact that Berger was caught with his pants up (now THAT makes a change for a Democrat), the big question must be - just how much room does Sandy have in these new legendary pants??? Anyone know his tailor?

SQUIDWIRT HOWARD?

Is it just me, or does SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANT'S pal, Squidwirt, bear an uncanny resemblance to British Conservative leader Michael Howard?

MARK MY WORDS!

I noticed on a recent comment thread on A TANGLED WEB that Mark McGregor of Slugger O'Toole renown has decided to revise history a little - so, in the interests of balance and fairness - and I do so hope Mark reads this - I thought I'd address his little jibes.

First off, Andrew McCann is particularly welcome on A TANGLED WEB because he offers terrific provocative comment. That these are pro-Union is great - he writes well, covers a range of political comment, and is a great asset to the pro-Union argument. The fact that Andrew felt his views were stymied by pro-Republican bias on Slugger should give Mark reason for thought - not more cheap comments.

Second, I would have thought that even my sternest critics accept the fact that I debate my corner! I do it in print, on air, wherever!! What I don't, and won't do, is to engage in circular argument that goes in pointless circles. I found that certain Slugger threads reached this debating nadir, and thus were, literally, pointless.

So Mark can think as he wishes - that is his right. Self-delusion is not a crime - but perhaps he should think twice before claiming it as a virtue?

Mark is always welcome here on A TANGLED WEB - but maybe he should leave petty prejudice at the door before entering.

HERMAN MUNSTER!

I was amused to see that Ken Summers over on Second breakfast compares Democrat contender John Kerry to Herman Munster. I thought I was the only one who sniggered at this botoxed oaf's similarity to the suave Monster!

SMOKING BAN DRIVES PEOPLE OUT OF IRELAND!

20 years after moving from France to Donegal in the Republic of Ireland, Paul Chatenoud has had enough. He's off - back to France - and all because of what he views as the draconian enforcement of the Smoking ban in the Republic.

With a maximum fine of €3,000, the freedom to smoke has...gone up in smoke!

A lorry driver is forbidden to smoke in his cab, even when alone! Worst of all, every establishment has to have a sign stating the name of the person to whom a complaint about smoking can be made; in short, Irish citizens are actually invited to inform on their neighbours. It's enough to drive you to drink.

SAVE THE SLUGS!!!

Gardeners who kill slugs may be liable for prosecution under the new Animal Welfare Bill, according to the Times of London. Seriously! This bill would introduce a maximum penalty of ONE year in prison or a £20,000 fine for causing an animal unnecessary suffering. Get this; Worms, slugs and snails will be covered if scientists prove that they feel pain. wacko PETA are to the fore in promoting this nonsense. Here's a thought - if killing Snails is going to be a crime, does this mean that we can turn the French nation into a vast jail?? And what about frogs?

WHY EU VOTERS STAYED AT HOME!

EU have to hand it to the vast corrupt bureaucracy that is the new home for Peter Mandelson, it always can produce new polling evidence to prove that deep down inside, the peoples of Europe just love it!

I read about a poll released by Brussels that claims the reason that the average turnout across the 25 nation European Union was down to 45.7% was "more to do with disenchantment with politics in general than the Euro-skepticism in particular." It explainss that two thirds of all people felt "attached to Europe" and believed membership of their country to the EU was a good thing!" Wow!

In fact, if the likes of Belgium and Italy did not have compulsory voting, the turn-out figures for the European elections would be below 40%. This is one more example of the looming menace of the Euro-zone, it seeks to rule us by minority votes, it seeks to destroy National sovereignty under the guise of harmonisation, and above all, it seeks to establish itself as the rising political challenger to the United States.

Of course these Euro-dreams can only be achieved if the EU uses the US to bail it out militarily. This is why the US should remove all forces from mainland Europe and let the Euro-weenies figure out that there is a CLEAR choice between their socialist utopianism and the preservation of an effective defense policy. With all due respect to the might of the Belgium army, I think they may have a problem that even rigged polls cannot overcome.

1000 YEARS OF SOCIALISM!!

Labour could remain in power for decades, according to one of Tony "trust me, I'm an honest guy" Blair's closest aides, Hazel Blears. The lovely Ms Blears talks of "driving a stake through the heart of Thatcherism if the PM wins the next election." She adds that "Our project needs a sustained period of Labour in power to move our society in a socialist direction."

Straight from the horses mouth, eh? For absolute clarity, she then spells out that it was "time to fundamentally change the underlying basis of British society."

Now whilst I naturally recoil from the power-hungry arrogance of this New Labour harpie, I do think she has a point! Labour is all about destroying British society, it is all about substituting a multicultural socialist republic that will make a mockery of that which made Britain great. The only way to stop this is if the British people rise up and throw these goons out of office. It seems to me that the Tories offer little substantive alternative to Blair's "project" and that it takes the likes of the UKIP to show some resistance.

Britain has always been a conservative with a small-c nation but that is now under serious threat. With a tragically dumbed down education system, a broken down religious order, and a washed out moral climate, one sees why Labour prospers.

WIT AND WISDOM.

"The freedom of the press works in such a way that there is not much freedom from it."

Grace Kelly.

Wilf Ball RIP

I was saddened to hear of the news of the death of Wilf Ball. He was the 69-year old father of IRA victim, Jonathan Ball, who was killed in a bomb attack along with Tim Parry in Warrington, Cheshire eleven years ago. My thoughts at this time go to other members of his family who will be still struggling with the legacy of that terrible date - 20th March 1993.

I remember the date as if it was yesterday. It was not long after I had returned to live in Yorkshire after spending a good deal of my childhood in South East London. I knew Warrington well: it is only 40 minutes away down the M62. I could not believe the barbarity of the acts committed against two young children. Although my paternal family roots come from the heart of Protestant Co Antrim, I had never taken a great deal of interest in Ulster's politics (save for my attendance at a rally against the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985). It was the events of that Saturday - the day before Mother's Day - that first aroused my intensive interest in the situation on the periphery of my country, and convinced me that only the comprehensive defeat of terrorism by the forces of the British State would ever guarantee a real, permanent peace in Northern Ireland.

Tim Parry was 12; Jonathan Ball was a mere three years of age. They were killed by an IRA bomb placed in a litter bin in the town centre. You see, in the malefeasant doctrine of Irish republicanism, that's what 'freedom fighters' do: they plant bombs in areas populated by civilians in the hope of maiming or killing as many as possible. Maybe IRA 'volunteers' will attempt to convince us all that a 3-year old child was somehow an informer for the British State. I earnestly pray that the soul of Mr Ball is now reunited with his son. It is so sad to hear of a death in these circumstances - especially when one has died alone.

Wilf Ball - 1935-2004

TOUGH ON SECURITY.

Interesting to see that Al Jazeera, that most nauseating propogandist for the Jihadi, has taken a skybox at the Democrat convention in Boston. I guess they know who their real friends are. All that tough talk from John Edwards must have them quaking in their boots.

Speaka de Lingo!?

Can there be anything more embarrassing than observing the habits of British people abroad? If the caveman elements are not storming up and down the streets of Spanish resorts gorging themselves on fish and chips wrapped in greaseproof paper, the supposedly more sophisticated examples of British society are shouting at the locals - apparently believing that increasing the vocal volume by several decibels will help the natives improve their understanding of the English language.

When I was travelling in North Africa earlier this year, myself and my friends continued our age old tradition of crossing the street if we thought we were going to be approached by a fellow countryman. As the countries we visited tended to use French as their second language, we took the opportunity to brush up on our limited Francophonic skills. There is no substitute for the look of appreciation on a person's face when you, as a holidaymaker, have done them the courtesy of addressing them in a native tongue.

To this end, I have highlighted the latest BBC survey, which confirms the very sad fact that most Britons are appallingly slow when it comes to learning a foreign dialect. We all know English is the most widely spoken language in the world (the principal language of 27 countries, and the second language of a good deal more). However, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish are actually spoken by more people. Spanish overtook English as the second most used language in 1999 due to the rapid demographic growth in many Latin American countries. The United Kingdom is situated on the periphery of a continent with over 30 languages. Isn't it about time we Britons went beyond examples of Del Boy phrases such as: 'Garcon la petit pois. Danke schon.'?

>> 28 Jul 2004

FAIR's Fair

Whilst the spotlight this week was again focused on the Republican Movement as they buried Don Cahilleone, I thought I'd draw your attention to the numerous victims - Catholic and Protestant alike - of the IRA war machine in just one corner of Northern Ireland. If Albert Reynolds is reading this, perhaps he will contact FAIR to ask if he could offer his condolences to the families of Samuel Donaldson, Ruby Johnston, Patrick Murphy, Anthony Shields and Kenneth Acheson to name but a few. I seriously doubt it!!

Reynolds' Disgusting Flattery

Stop Press!! 'Today, representatives of nationalist Ireland were up in arms after former British Prime Minister, John Major, praised prominent loyalist terrorists, Johnny 'Mad Dog' Adair and Michael Stone. Mr Major also said what an angelic figure Billy Wright had proven to be and that, following a brief handshake with the former leader of the LVF back in 1996, confessed to not washing his hands for a week. He said it was a great pity that a superstar such as Billy Wright had been taken in a cruel, premature way - adding that "our loss was heaven's gain."'

There is, thankfully, no such article. British Prime Ministers (past and present) are not in the habit of lionising foul terrorist murderers for the purposes of cheap publicity. The same, self-evidently, cannot be said for prominent ex-leaders of the Irish Republic. Yesterday, as one of the most evil men of 20th Century British society was sent packing to the conflagrating Hades where he will, hopefully, languish for a long time, former Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds, heaped praise on Joe Cahill at his West Belfast funeral. Reynolds opined 'he was a remarkable man and he played a major part.'

He was indeed a remarkable man, Albert. He dedicated much of his woefully long life to ensuring that decent, innocent men, women and children had comparatively short lives. He helped to establish, unarguably, the most prolific murder machine in western Europe: a machine well oiled by its evil, its obsession with an erroneous take on history, and its determination to wreak as much havoc as possible. Will Albert now be rushing to atone for his revolting flattery by speaking to the living relatives of victims cut down in their prime thanks to the 'remarkable' Cahill? Don't be silly, of course he won't. We couldn't expect any measure of rectitude from a man who had to resign his position as Fianna Fail party leader over a political cover-up involving a known paedophile priest.

One distant day, the ever-dwindling constitutionally-minded proponents of Irish nationalism, their supporters, and the idiotic Irish American lobby will wake up to the fact that people who perpetrate acts such as this are no different from the people who perpetrated acts such as this.

BACK - WITH A VENGEANCE!

I'm just back from holidays - been over to Miami in the Great Satan for the past three weeks and had a great time! What a great country.

I want to thank Andrew McCann for all his blogging in July - I'm still going through some of the topics discussed. Thanks to all for their contribution during my absence.

I've been following the Democrat convention in Boston with great interest - kinda out of touch with UK matters (some might say I'm always out of touch with UK matters!).

Hope everyone on A TANGLED WEB is fine. I'll be up to speed in a day or so.

>> 27 Jul 2004

Everybody's Talkin'

The day after Osama Bin Cahill was laid to rest in a plot inhabited by similar crawling low-life, HM Government (and its interfering Irish counterpart) have announced a date for a new round of 'all party talks' where efforts will be made to force democratic, constitutionally minded parties to share power with people who, not only wish to destroy the same state they are entrusted to govern, but wish to destroy it by threat or implementation of violence.

Yesterday, we were treated to classic republican threats nuanced as eulogising drivel as the bearded wonder (Gerry Adams) gave an oration at Osama's graveside. He told the baying crowd that, in his final days, Osama Joe (whilst hopefully writhing in the same agony his terrorist activities inflicted on his innocent victims) had said to him 'that the British Government is failing the peace process.' Gerry then added his customary supplementary menace by saying: 'If an 84 year old veteran activist, with a knowledge of all the difficulties of struggle, if someone who's been through it all, believes that a British government is failing the peace process then what must an 18 or 19 year old think?'

In layman's terms, Gerry is basically saying that, in spite of the massive raft of concessions given to violent, insurrectionist Irish republicanism at the expense of the principles of democracy, young and impressionable teenagers who have been brainwashed with anti-Britishness since the breast will be actively seeking to replicate the murdering tallies of their forefathers if further compromises of democracy are not forthcoming. Taking into account this latest sickening saga in republican propaganda, it would be wise if all pro-Union parties simply boycotted any future meetings save for the absolute obsolescence of the IRA.

>> 26 Jul 2004

Wild Bill and the Democrats

No, this is not the name of the latest act to score in the UK Top Ten. Ir refers to the sight of Bill Clinton wooing the Democrats Convention in Boston as he championed Kerry with a speech riddled with cheap spin and comical one-liners. By allowing Clinton, who became only the second President in US history to be impeached (over lies told in the Paula Jones scandal), and a man possessing the same level of sexual morals as a Harlem hustler, to bolster Kerry's lacklustre campaign the Democrats have shown conservative Americans just how little they have in the way of integrity and common decency.

Soulless Vultures

Do you all remember the massive crowds who came out to line the streets of West Belfast during the funeral of Jean McConville? No, neither do I! That was because this brave woman was taken to her final resting place along largely empty streets as the republican disciples of West Belfast's suburbia hid in their hovels - well away from the media glare.

Jean McConville was a Catholic mother-of-ten who came to the aid of a dying British soldier in an IRA terrorist attack in December 1972. For offering comfort to a dying servant of HM Forces, she was abducted and taken to the Beechmount area of West Belfast where she was tortured and murdered before being secretly buried on an isolated stretch of beach across the border in Co Louth. The Provisionals offered a sickeningly insincere apology wholly for propaganda purposes, providing vague indications as to the whereabouts of her remains. Her body was eventually exhumed some 28 years later.

Why do I resurrect the story of McConville today? The answer is simple. It is due to the fact that, in a few hours time, the streets which were silent at the time of her funeral will be literally heaving with the cerebrally challenged, the sick of mind, and those for whom terrorist lickspittling provides some sort of perverted gratification, as Joe Cahill, the IRA Chief of Staff at the time of Mrs McConville's abduction, is taken to Milltown Cemetery following his long-overdue death last week. Mark 'A Legend in His Own Mind' McGregor from Slugger O'Toole even hopes to be there in his capacity as Sinn Fein/IRA party member (I don't remember Mr McGregor stating that he paid his respects to Jean McConville).

The crowds expected to line the streets today only embolden my opinion that people who vote for Sinn Fein/IRA (and the miniscule number who endorse the proxies of loyalist terrorism) are not voting for terrorists because of the political dividends they bring to their respective communities. They do so because they themselves are so utterly repulsive in their beliefs, they see absolutely nothing wrong in cheering on murderers, torturers, extortionists, drug dealers, smugglers, child beaters and the like. For them, any form of evil is justified on the basis that it can be justified in the name of a contorted, historically erroneous ideology. Only people with principles so low could use a myriad of patently transparent lies to excuse their electoral preferences. It is they who will have their Warholian 15 minutes of fame this afternoon. The crowds will, in all likelihood, mill around Cahill's coffin like bacteria, for they have about as much in the way of conscience as bacteria.

A Poor Guardian

The Guardian, the bible of Left liberal English opinion, has an editorial today purporting to show the Republic of Ireland as being wealthier than the UK. Doubtless the paper will use its bias to attempt to convince Ulster's pro-Union majority that they were, in fact, 'Oirish' all along; irrespective of long-established Unionist preferences on the constitutional and nationality fronts.

Of course, no statistics on prosperity have much effect on the average voter except the figures dealing with 'gross annual income'. Of the principal international financial institutions, the World Bank is one of the few which prefers to use indicators of average yearly income than statistics relating to either GDP or GNP. As we can see from the 2002 results (the most contemporary available figures) the average annual income in the United Kingdom is over $2,000 higher than that of the Irish Republic. Indeed, the British level of GNI is the fourth highest in the EU (surpassed only by Luxembourg, Sweden and Denmark). Using GNP or GDP indicators fails to take sufficient consideration of transnational monetary flows: the GNI method is the best calculation for measuring the wealth of average citizens. On this score, the Irish Republic is still a long way behind. The Guardian will have to do better than that!!

Cataloguing Failure

Melanie Phillips has a fine article on the debacle over the repeated closure of the Diana Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park. This 'fountain', which actually looks more like a partial exhumation of a section of the Great Northern and Metropolitan Sewerage System, has been bedevilled by mishaps since it opened earlier this year, and it is now surrounded by a mesh fence to keep people away temporarily.

It would not be so disastrous if the fountain was an exception rather than the rule. However, as Phillips points out, this is yet another in the prominent series of catastrophes which have destroyed the UK's reputation for proficiency in designing and marketing large scale structures. Moreover, this rapid decline in our image has predominantly occurred under the aegis of a government paradoxically obsessed with the concept of 'image' as opposed to substance. Firstly, we had the Millennium Dome: an unmitigated failure which now sits empty in London's Docklands looking not unlike an upturned anaemic nipple. Then we had the protracted closure of the Thames Walkway after it wobbled violently on its first day of opening. Today we have the Diana Drainage Ditch.

In some respects, these structures are inanimate evincements of the government which supervised much of their respective creations: they look fine on the surface but are dogged by poor quality craftsmanship, administrative errors and subliminal lack of appeal. What a pity it is then that the British people still wish to see Blair (a man for whom image is everything) in power after the forthcoming General Election.

From Derry to Kerry

I see two SDLP munchkins, Mark Durkan and Dr Alisdair McDonnell, were quick off the mark to venture State-side to garner as much partisan support as they could from an already partisan political force in the shape of the US Democrats. People familiar with my opinions will know I view nationalist-inclined members of the Irish American community as a stain on Anglo-US relations. The fact that the Democratic Party has been in the pockets of powerful members of this community (who, in any event, wield far more power than their demographic numbers entitle them to) does nothing to engender a feeling a well-being from Unionists and their supporters.

So, what has old JFK had to say about events in an integral part of what is America's closest and most consistent ally? Firstly, he went through the pathetic motions of demanding IRA and loyalist decommissioning. He must have forgotten it was the Democrats (under Bill 'Oversexed' Clinton) who first conferred legitimacy on the apologists of those Kerry now requests make the transition to peace and democracy. There is, worryingly, nothing about applying sanctions on Irish republican interest groups in the USA should the IRA fail - as it certainly will do - to complete the decommissioning process.

He then issues forth with the cheapest 'shot across the bows' he could possibly conjure up by castigating the DUP - a constitutional party - for refusing to share power with the representatives of unrepentant terror. Given the combination of Kerry's friendship with Ted 'Chappaquiddick' Kennedy, and his obscenely liberal voting record (Kerry would probably vote to legalise chicken molesting if a bill came before the Senate), it is likely that JFK would see nothing wrong in sticking his metaphoric nose into the affairs of Northern Ireland and, thus, seeking to make a further distinction between terrorists of the Irish and Islamic varieties.

I know who I'll be cheering on come the US presidential poll in November.....and it definitely won't be John Forbes Kerry!!

>> 25 Jul 2004

Detestable Deification

Democrats and peacemakers beware! If you are of a sensitive disposition you will probably have to reach for the sick bag when you read the messages of support for terrorist, Joe Cahill on UTV's news website. Half of the contributors are fully versed as to Cahill's true character. Others, principally the people who cry the loudest about being regarded as 'equal citizens', prefer to see Cahill as some sort of Irish incarnation of John the Baptist. Looking through the ever-expanding message board on that thread may give readers from outside the British Isles a small insight into just what kind of terrorist-loving, morally-bereft filth the democrats of Northern Ireland have to share their province with.

The Al-Muhaji.. Goon Show

Proponents of radical Islam were about to add breaking public order rulings to their evil talents of attacking 'infidels' and bombing Jews. Up to 800 members of the Al-Muhajiroun movement were due to stage a rally this afternoon in London's Trafalgar Square. Aside from campaigning for the destruction of Israel and the endorsement of attacks on various Western democracies, Al-Muhajiroun also advocates the long-term aim of transforming every country in the world into an Islamic state.

It is somewhat repellent that a square dominated by the statue of a man who holds an iconic status in British history should be contaminated by the presence of people who loathe everything this counry stands for (except its generous national assistance schemes). We are now informed that Al-Muhajiroun has decided to postpone today's rally: preferring, instead, to hold a future gathering at an undisclosed location in Essex.

My question is simple: why don't the authorities proactively seek the deportation of every known goon in this pernicious outfit? Why is Britain allowing itself to be a receptacle for the world's terrorist human garbage? There are proportionately more radical Islamic groups based in the capital than in just about any other Western city. If Blair and his cronies are sincere in rooting out terrorism, weeding out the scum of Al-Muhajiron would be a promising start.

>> 24 Jul 2004

Welcome Solidarity

I was very pleased with the messages of support offered to Belfast man, Mohammad Hossain, following a spate of appalling racially-motivated attacks on himself and his family. I hope he decides to continue to live and work in Northern Ireland, thereby showing the thugs who attacked him that ethnic minority communities in the Province will not be intimidated.

Recently, I opined that London was an example of too much multiculturalism. Northern Ireland is an example of too little. I don't think it has occurred to the thuggish prols who attacked Mr Hossain that the vast bulk of ethnic minority members are, like themselves, citizens of the United Kingdom and wish to be considered as such.

Ethnic minorities are now the fastest growing demographic in Northern Ireland: a statistic which I welcome. They doubled in size between 1991 and 2001 (even though they still only constitute 0.5% of the total populace) and look set to double in size again by the next census in 2011 - to approximately 22,000. Longer term projections put the ethnic community at 40,000+ by 2030. That's an extra 40,000 potential pro-Union votes. However, they won't be enticed towards Unionist politics if they believe members of the pro-Union community seek to target them on the basis of their skin colour and ethnic origins. Not only are these racist idiots blind to the concept of diversity, they are also found wanting when it comes to political long-term planning.

Slugger Scrapes the Barrel

Those of you familiar with websites on Northern Irish politics will know I was a regular contributor to Slugger O'Toole for a long time. I decided to leave when I became of the view that, whilst Sinn Fein bootlickers were able to get away with just about any nauseating messages on behalf of their homicidal heroes, unapologetic Unionists were finding the site slightly on the chilly side. I am of the opinion that Slugger O'Toole cannot be classed as an impartial website when it comes to airing the grievances of stridently anti-agreement Unionists.

In spite of the above, I do not hold any ill-feeling towards most of the people who contribute to that site. It has, after all, achieved the kind of fame I wish A Tangled Web to emulate in the coming years. Nonetheless, I think Slugger has tainted its reputation by permitting Mark McGregor (a self-confessed Sinn Fein/IRA voter, and frequent contributor to the site) to create what is effectively a slanted and highly expurgated tribute to IRA terrorist, Joe Cahill. Nowhere does Mr McGregor even hint at Cahill's brutal past. He does not mention the murder of of the Catholic RUC officer carried out by Cahill. His only links are those which give an obeisant interpretation of the life of this foul individual.

If Slugger tends to lean more towards an Irish nationalist perspective then that is a matter for its moderators. The basic philosophy of Irish nationalism if, of course, entitled to be heard in a democratic society. But, on this occasion, Mr McGregor's attempts at a character whitewash have done nothing to entice Unionists back to the site. Indeed, some of the non-nationalist messages allude to the negativity of his partisanship. Here on A Tangled Web we make no pretence of impartiality: we are firmly pro-Union. On the other hand, we would never publish an obituary of loyalist paramilitary murderers without illustrating the despicable consequences of their crimes. The fact that Mr McGregor has not done likewise - on a site which claims to be politically neutral and accommodating to all - is shameful.

About Time, Too

I've recently had a custom made transfer printed on a plain black T-shirt. It says: 'Halifax. Two million pubs, not one cinema. What a pathetic indictment of the locals!'   My friends have asked me not to wear it in their company as they think I will become a sitting target for the kind of cavemen who have given my home town (and countless more towns throughout the UK) such a bad reputation.

Halifax is the largest town in the UK without a cinema. Its modest population of 97,000 was insufficient to keep afloat a small 3-screen picture house.   At the same time, it boasts the highest proportion of drinking dens per population in the country. Although this town has many good things going for it: impressive Victorian architecture; spectacular scenery (William Blake was inspired to write 'Jerusalem' whilst looking down on the town from Beacon Hill); and good links to nearby centres of good repute, it is not easy finding opportunities for social outlet here when one is a tee-totaller. I have nothing against moderate drinking in others. However, when one works in a job where the evils of alcohol over-indulgence are shockingly apparent, one is disinclined to have so much as a shandy.

For years I have complained that my town centre has become a weekend preserve for lunatics who honestly equate 'getting rat arsed' (as they so eloquently call it) with enjoyment. These are the same people who insist in wearing short-sleeved shirts in minus 40 degree temperatures, and crowing their interpretation of a hedonistic night on the town by firing short, sharp, vomitus remnants of a kebab and 14 pints of lager into the nearest municipal grate.

Now it seems the local police are about to strike a blow for we cultured types who have been effectively banished from our town and city centres during the explosion in binge drinking culture over the last decade or so. One of the great pleasures in holidaying abroad is the enjoyment of walking around local towns at midnight and observing sober, cultured, intellectual people fulfilling their social lives without the excesses of alcohol.   It is high time we should be able to do that in our own country.

It's 'Londonderry'!!

If you give Irish nationalists the entire cake, they will reciprocate with a few meaningless crumbs of comfort. This habit is best illustrated in a piece penned by Seamus McKinney for the Irish News. Nationalist councillors on Derry City Council have said they will respond generously (oh, how big of them!! My cup runneth over!!) once the High Court 'confirms the 'official name of the city is Derry and not Londonderry'.

However, the High Court is unlikely to make any such ruling. I believe the nefarious Sinn Fein/SDLP alliance on the council is being disingenuous with its own supporters. Under United Kingdom law a town becomes a city once it has received a Royal Charter, which can only be conferred by the sovereign of the day. Ergo, the repeal of that charter can only be made by the Queen on a recommendation from HM Government, the implementation of which would require an Act of Parliament.

How does this affect the titular controversy of Ulster's second city?, I hear you ask. Well, the 'London' appendage was added by Royal Charter in 1613 under King James I, when the city was granted to the London companies who had been instrumental in its economic and trading growth. Obliterating the official title would be tantamount to denying the city's proud history and strategic origins. Towns dominated by Unionists do not see the need to adopt Anglo-Saxon names. Unionists on Ballymena District Council, for example, have not suggested the town's name be changed to 'Norwich' or 'Colchester'. Nationalists, very much to the contrary, simply cannot bear something that might exemplify British historical connections with any part of the island of Ireland. Attempting to shorten the title of Londonderry to suit Irish sensibilities is nothing more than a cognominal comparison with kristelnacht.

Underneath this insult to Unionism there lurks a darker objective motivated by spin and the illusion of nationalist victory. As aforementioned, the status of a city can only be conferred by the Sovereign. Nonetheless, the title of a borough or district in which a named settlement is located is vested in the council's powers. I believe Sinn Fein and the SDLP are attempting to simply legally validate their senseless decision to rename the council area back in the 1980's, and then pass off such a declaration as proof that the city's official title is 'Derry'. Watch this space.

Good Riddance!

One less terrorist in the world makes it that little bit cleaner for the rest of us. Thus, I was overjoyed this morning to wake up to the news that 'veteran republican' (a euphemism for an advocate of murder), Joe Cahill, has shuffled off this mortal coil (hopefully to a plain significantly hotter). In an obsequious, nay, hagiographic obituary provided on the Sinn Fein website, the present leader pays homage to a man 'who fought when he felt that was the only option.'

For the readers of A Tangled Web unfamiliar with the nuances of republican-speak, Adams is simply excusing the man who led the IRA in the early 1970's when it was engaged in its most devastating killing campaign of innocent men, women, children and servants of the Crown. Cahill was IRA Chief of Staff at the time of Bloody Friday; though I would guess Mr Adams would find some sort of weasel excuse to justify the holocaust which took place in Belfast during that fateful July day in 1972.

Moreover, Cahill was not averse to terminating human life himself. In 1942 he killed a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and was only granted a reprieve from the death penalty on the intervention of the Vatican: a church which became talented a few years later by helping prominent Nazis escape to Argentina. I have yet to find out the name of the officer who was murdered. It certainly does not appear on any republican website I have trawled through. Then again, releasing his name might have made the murdering bastards realise that he was a person, as opposed to a target to be slain in the name of the IRA's bloodthirsty lustings.

Doubtless the streets of Belfast's republican ghettos will be thronged with well-wishers as the Godfather is wheeled to his final resting place. The republican guard will have dug deep into their pockets to fund a funeral led by a stately hearse. Given Cahill's morals, I think it would be more fitting if the coffin was placed in a garbage cart.

>> 23 Jul 2004

Dr Hook and the Magisterial Show

Here is some good news to start the weekend with. Radical Islam's very own optically-challenged Captain Hook, Abu Hamza (Lieutenant Columbo with a turban), is facing a renewed onslaught from legal representatives of the US Government in an attempt to expedite his extradition across The Pond.

Hamza is the lowest common denominator in human evolution. He has preached vile, insurrectionist bilge against his country of residence; he has spoken in defence of Al Queda; he advocates acts of terrorism against the United States; and has supported actions against the Jews which would put him in the Josef Mengele league of anti-Semitism. He deserves nothing less than the death sentence if and when he arrives in the land he regards as the Great Satan. I only hope and pray the American legal system puts him slightly nearer the real Great Satan, notwithstanding ostensible overtures made to the British Government on the likelihood of prolonged incarceration.

Always the Shilling, Never the Crown

Stephen Glover has a fantastic article in this week's Spectator centred on the repulsive hypocrisy of the Andersonstown News Group in West Belfast. A media group dedicated to the severing of the Union, and the support of a party adept at using violent means to bring about such an eventuality, is seeking £3 million from the Northern Ireland Office to help with the launch of another IRA-cheerleading rag.

In all the time I spent in Northern Ireland it never ceased to astonish me just how eager Irish nationalists were to suck every conceivable penny out of the same British State they all professed to loathe so much. If funds were available from, say, the National Lottery or central government, nationalist representatives were there like blowflies on a stool - with their greedy, grabbing digits ready to denude any monetary resources they could. This of course never prevented them from defiling the United Kingdom, or the character of people in Northern Ireland who professed loyalty to that same polity.

Glover correctly points out the fact that governments do not fund newsprint in Western democracies. Still, I don't suppose the trifling issues of rank hypocrisy and attempts at ignominious begging will deflect execrable characters like Mairtin O'Muilleoir and Peter Quinn from their goal of fleecing the NIO.

Crony M

Like the eternal odour of coproliths in an elephant house, Peter Mandelson hangs around this New Labour government like a bad smell. After having to resign twice over dubious practices whilst in the Cabinet, his latest appointment as Britain's sole EU Commissioner on the recommendation of close chum, Tony Blair, only seeks to confirm that no acts of stomach-churning deceit are barriers to career glory when you have Phony Tony to rely on.

Let's look at the man's curriculum vitae. He had to resign as Trade and Industry Secretary in 1998 after revelations of a secret loan from ministerial colleague, the millionaire Geoffrey Robinson, used to purchase a house in West London. After the sanitisation of spin convinced Blair to resurrect his career, he was ensconced as Northern Ireland Secretary in 1999. Here, his record is of continued appeasement of nationalist Ireland and the obliteration of the proud name of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. He had to quit office again in 2001 over a passport scandal involving the Hinduja brothers. This Mandy, unlike the character title of Barry Manilow's 1975 hit, certainly did not 'come and give without taking' in these circumstances. Anyone would think that being publicly disgraced on two separate occasions would be sufficient to lay to rest a person's career. Not so in the Labour Party, ladies and gentlemen.

So now Mandy is off to Brussels to swell the growing number of EU sinecures. His rabid pro-European stance, conjoined with his mastery of spin, will doubtless be used by Labour to brainwash a sceptical British electorate of the benefits of being members of a putative superstate. Me thinks this time his pseudo-nepotistic rise to the corridors of European power will have exactly the opposite effect on people's view of Europe.

>> 22 Jul 2004

Feeney's Prattle

The ne plus ultra of journalistic bitchiness this week turns his attention to the ongoing controversy over the rights of a few Orangemen, and their supporters, to parade along a publicly funded thoroughfare in their own United Kingdom. His amphigorical spite is used in support of the poor, subjugated 'Fenians' (his word, not mine) who came close to taking in the lives of soldiers administering the policing of the parade in North Belfast; whilst his deprecatory bile is targeted at the members of the Orange Order who, in the twisted mind of Dr Bri, are basically part of a weirdo marching sect' less than a 'cigarette paper's' width away from 'loyalist terrorists.'

Mmm, unusual slant Bri. And there's you constantly and consistently cheering on the party which is very definitely less than the width of an atomic nucleus away from the most dedicated killing machine in Western Europe, with the most uberous quantity of weapons: armaments which, six years after the commencement of a 'peace' agreement dedicated to bestowing political legitimacy on IRA terrorists, are still no closer to being decommissioned. Let's face it, only the draconian curtailment of all manifestations of pro-Union culture in Northern Ireland would be enough to satisfy the likes of Feeney.

As for the 'Trojan horse' analogy, my mind recalls Helen of Tory. Hers was the face that 'launched a thousand ships.' When one sits back and realises that Brian Feeney is the critic whose pen launched a thousand bigots, you are very much closer to the correct invocation of a Trojan analogy.

Happiness is a Province Called Ulster

It's official!! People in Northern Ireland are significantly happier than their Southern counterparts. They are more contented with family life, emotional stability, job satisfaction and a greater commitment to a strong work ethic. When one looks at the magnitude of the findings, the results are incredible. After all, the Irish Republic did not experience a thirty-year campaign of terrorism and genocide (though it did virtually nothing to curtail the terrorist threat, either); it has experienced an impressive economic rate of growth; and it is not infested with a sizeable proportion of the population who will stop at nothing to deride and destroy its constitutional legitimacy.

We have been fed the nonsense for years from nationalists that Northern Ireland was a 'failed entity.' Judging by the general levels of satisfaction found in the Diageo Ireland survey, it is considerably less of a failure than the independent, sovereign entity on its southern flank. Maybe when republican commentators are drowning in their venom of self-induced MOPEry, they will stop to ponder just how much rubbish they are spouting.

>> 21 Jul 2004

Conflicting Aims

Sinn Fein/IRA's Mary Lou McDonald has gone on the record at the European Parliament to stipulate republican opposition to a 'European superstate.' How peculiar it still sounds, therefore, for the Provisionals' two Homecoming Queens to persist in their advocacy of an Irish superstate contrary to history, public will and international law.

A Terrorist on a Soapbox

Shame on the Irish News for allowing IRA Army Council member (and sometime politician), Gerry Adams a media column to spew out still more of his vile propaganda. He may the leader of Northern Ireland's largest nationalist party (thanks to the cretinous elements in that community) but his status as a terrorist apologist should render him persona non grata from any propagandistic forum until such time as his chums decide to decommission and disband.

In the gospel according to Gerry, it is now the issues of policing and contentious parades which are delaying the prospects for peace. Apparently it has sod all to do with the 100 tonnes of IRA weaponry (and assorted arsenals held by loyalist paramilitary murderers) lying buried in bunkers across the island. Nowhere does the bearded wonder allude to the possibility of illegally held armaments indefinitely postponing the transition to a peaceful, stable society. On the contrary, he believes the question over support for the police (something Sinn Fein will never do as the PSNI are a legal arm of the British State - an entity murderous republicans refuse to recognise) and the question of Loyal Order parades (which seldom caused trouble before Sinn Fein's provocative bandwagons rolled on to the scene in the guise of 'residents groups') are the primary subjects to resolve.

Articles such as this have a heavy feeling of deja vu about them. Adams and his ilk will seek to muddy the waters with a panoply of contrived grievances to distract attention away from IRA cohorts. Why the government of this United Kingdom should continue to treat with those who hold such a shallow appreciation of real democracy is beyond me.

>> 20 Jul 2004

Lunatics Take Over the Asylum

Independent Television News gives a graphic account of the damage caused by failed asylum seekers at the Harmondsworth Detention Centre in West London. This state-of-the-art complex does not house genuine refugees who are truthful about the reasons for travelling to the United Kingdom. It actually accommodates people who have been disingenuous when giving their reasons for coming here: lies tailored to disguise the probability that their paramount priority was to fleece our appallingly generous benefits system.

When other countries enact steps to remove economic migrants from the national territory, they don't spend months procrastinating about the legal mechanisms required. Why should the United Kingdom be any different? When an asylum application has been rejected, the person should be returned to their country of origin without further delay. Due to the bureaucratic incompetence of the Home Office, British taxpayers will now be forced to rectify the damage caused by this spongers Mardi gras.

Did you know the Harmondsworth Detention Centre had a mosque built recently? Marvellous, isn't it!! When our local church committee made a submission to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a renovation grant for our 300-year old nave, we were rejected. Yet, and at the same time, powers-that-be can provide all the money needed for a brand new mosque - a place of worship which will be utilised by people who have paid not one penny into this country. How sickening can our ruling panjandrums get?

Hitting Back at Nationalists

In the period when large numbers of Ulster Protestants have been celebrating their culture, nationalist commentators - ranging from the odious Brian Feeney, to the sanctimonious James Kelly, to the pseudo-American Niall O'Dowd - who have been busily spitting poison at the Loyal Orders in general, have conveniently forgotten the bigotry and hatred dished out by their own 'Oirish' brethren.

Thanks to Parity of Esteem from Portadown, the vile spectacle of Hibernian intolerance was re-told to readers of the Belfast Telegraph today. I wonder what Feeney et al have to say about this behaviour? Nothing, I suspect.

Guff from McElduff

Another republican example of the refusal to see the blindingly obvious is provided today by the Brownshirt spokesman on 'All-Ireland integration, Barry McElduff. He castigates former Taoiseach, Dr Garrett Fitzgerald for stating that the general economic disparities between the two parts of Ireland prohibit 'Irish' unity for a future period of indefinite length.

Ulster is subsidised by the UK Exchequer to the tune of £3.5 billion per annum (the difference between taxation raised and the funds needed to sustain standards of living). This subvention is provided thanks to a healthy economy of 29 million taxpayers and, consequently, the individual tax burden is negligible. Should the province be constitutionally transferred to the Irish Republic, a comparable subvention would have to be raised with funds accrued from less than 3 million taxpayers. It does not take a fiscal Svengali to realise that any degree of unification would place an exorbitant strain on Irish taxpayers. The former West Germany is still extricating itself from the economic malaise of unification fourteen years after the event. And, whatever gloss is placed on the figures for Irish GDP (swollen significantly by the fact that Irish-based multi-national corporations declare their trading profits in the Republic to take advantage of the low corporation tax brackets), there can be no doubt that the economic health of the Republic (or indeed the United Kingdom) is not proportionately as chipper as that of the former Federal Republic of Germany prior to 1990.

Every prosperous democracy has both rich and 'poor' regions. The UK and the Irish Republic are no exception. Most countries have in place a system of regional aid to fund regions located in their territorial or economic peripheries. Northern Ireland would be as peripheral in an all-Ireland context as it currently is in the UK. This fact, coupled with a real danger of incomprehensible civil strife emanating from nearly 1 million Unionists at the termination of the Union, should be enough to convince anyone of the dangers of ending British sovereignty. On the other hand Sinn Fein, I fear, will simply persist with Pollyanna economics.

A Measure of Glee with the IMC

Northern Ireland's Independent Monitoring Commission has published its second report. Whereas the last report focused primarily on the weapons decommissioned by murdering terrorists (bugger all!), this report centres on the reduction in troop numbers by HM Armed Forces presently stationed in the province.

I did not favour the establishment of the IMC because it implies some sort of moral equivalence between the legal defence forces of the State, and unlawful Mafioso militias. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the tone of its first submission, and I find little to criticise this time around. Army personnel levels may be 'three times the envisaged level for peace time activities', but the Commission is careful to avoid any reference to a peaceful Northern Ireland (which certainly does not exist at the moment).

Instead, the province labours under a corrupted veneer of a false peace whereby loyalist and republican thugs can effectively police and terrorise their own communities. People continue to be murdered, exiled and intimidated from many, many areas of Ulster; paramilitaries continue to rule their fiefdoms with all the power and precision of seasoned fascists; and Ulster's nationalist minority is now so extreme and radicalised, it sees nothing contradictory in, on the one hand, pretending to be a victimised and, on the other, voting en masse for the cheerleaders of terrorist filth.

When the IRA and loyalist paramilitaries decide to decommission, disband and actively contemplate mass suicide is the time to reduce the Army's presence to the levels stipulated. Until then, the whinging of cretins like Alex Maskey and David Ervine should be treated with the contempt they deserve.

>> 19 Jul 2004

Taking Their (Baseball) Bat Home

Party politics is, by definition, an adversarial game whereby rival parties attack the policies of their opponents. It has been going on for generations and, notwithstanding the combative stances of party spokesmen, seasoned politicians accept criticism as an essential part of a healthy democracy.

All parties, that is, except Sinn Fein/IRA. They think exposing any part of republican policy to public scrutiny is tantamount to an illiterate pissing on Shakespeare's tomb. For them, any measure designed to underscore the consequences of electorally emboldening Irish fascism, is nothing more than smear campaign geared to, among other things, 'marginalise its voters' (as if people who express pleasure in voting for murderers don't deserve to be marginalised in the first place!!).

Sinn Fein is a Marxist party with virulently left-wing economic philosophies. Putting its representatives in government would indeed mean punitive tax rises in the Irish Republic. I see nothing wrong in simply informing the Irish voters of that fact. If a potential government partner espouses policies which would denude Irish wallets the length and breadth of the State (on top of the already massive tax rises they would need to fund any form of 'Irish' unity), the electorate has the right to be informed. I know Sinn Fein/IRA are more used to silencing critics with Semtex and baseball bats but, on this occasion, they will simply have to take their bats home and continue to display juvenile behaviour from the comfort of propaganda HQ.

Crime and Punishment, and the Idiot

These are two titles by Fyodor Dostoevsky, I hear you cry. Well, yes they are, but they are also suitable titles dealing with a thread concentrating on the new proposals put forward by Phony Tony to deal with a crime rate currently spiralling out of control here in the United Kingdom. Blair apparently wants an end to the 1960's 'liberal consensus' (what will Cherie make of that?) he blames for creating a underclass of young people who have grown up without any form of parental discipline.

One must remember all this baloney comes from the same government which has just curtailed a parent's right to physically chastise children to such an extent, any consequent pain greater than the feeling of being tickled by a feather duster will be classed as 'child abuse.' It is a government that would balk at the merest suggestion of re-introducing corporal punishment in schools, and a government which believes advocates of capital punishment (such as myself and 80% of the British population) are little better than cerebrally-challenged Neanderthals.

On the train coming back fom London, I was reading an article examining punishment methods in Singapore. This is not some primitive banana republic, but a modern, stable democracy with a quality of life and levels of income comparable to those found in the West. However, it is a country with a very low crime rate. Serious crimes like murder and kidnapping are dealt with - appropriately - by the death sentence. Lesser crimes (minor drug trafficking, mugging, vandalism, burglary, etc.) are punishable by rotan cane. Mr Blair, I put it to you that serious crimes should incur a serious penalty. Tinkering around the edges with ASBOs and the like will not solve the real and rising crisis of crime in Britain today. Aping the Singaporean attitudes to justice might just do the trick.

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