A Tangled Web

Commission Idiocy



Well I never!!! I am completely flabbergasted by the decision of the Parades Commission to ban next week's Apprentice Boys feeder march on the periphery of Ardoyne. Even I, as a seasoned cynic who believes virtually everything spawned in the name of the 'peace process' is basically designed to embolden the 'Jim Crow laws' of republican intolerance, am surprised by the obvious cowardice at work here.



Once again, as Tommy Cheevers quite correctly claims, the authorities have bolted in the face of republican threats of violence. The parade was not due to 'go through a nationalist area' (the Apprentice Boys would have had to wash the soles of their shoes afterwards), it was due to skirt around the periphery of Ardoyne, where only a handful of houses are located along the chosen route. But no, nothing must be done to upset the great unwashed proletarian acoluthus of republican ideology. They have to be placated at every turn thanks to the negotiating skills of the fools who first thought giving endless 'rights' and 'concessions' to Irish nationalists would endear them to show some reciprocity.



And what of the forthcoming September negotiations, when those Unionists - by their very presence - will be displaying a tolerance of Irish nationalism no Unionist must, or indeed can, afford to give at this time? Will the 'progressive forces' in the DUP sacrifice all for forty pieces of adulation? For the republican troublemakers of Ardoyne and Londonderry, at least they can now spend their GIRO cheques in the shops, a prospect which wouldn't have been available to them had they resorted to their usual tactics of looting and burning every time they do not get their way. The next time the Ancient Order of Hibernians are granted permission to march through Unionist towns such as Desertmartin and Kilkeel, the locals could respond by putting sheets of newspaper down on the road. How fitting!!!