Richard Dawkins: Creationism at Giant's Causeway 'is intellectual baboonism'

Richard Dawkins: Creationism at Giant's Causeway 'is intellectual baboonism'
7 July 2012

The National Trust should not have buckled to pressure from the “intellectual baboons of young Earth creationism”, one of the world’s leading evolutionists has told the Belfast Telegraph.

Professor Richard Dawkins said it was regrettable that the trust had “paid lip service to the ignorant bigotry” of fundamentalists who believe the world is just 6,000 years old after references to creationism were included in the Giant's Causeway visitors' centre.

TV science broadcaster Professor Brian Cox also waded into the row. He said: “The National Trust should be ashamed of themselves. I don't mind creation stories presented as mythology, but to suggest there is any debate that Earth is 4.54 billion years old is pure s***.”

The trust’s move was hailed by the Caleb Foundation — an evangelical Protestant lobby group whose members believe in the literal truth of the Bible — which said the gesture “respects and acknowledges an alternative viewpoint” on the origins of the Earth.

While it claims to be non-party political, its chairman is Wallace Thompson, a former adviser to DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds. The vice chair is DUP MLA Mervyn Storey, who represents North Antrim, where the Causeway centre was built. Mr Thompson said Caleb had “worked closely with the National Trust over many months” to ensure the creationist position was included and it was very pleased with the results.

Prof Dawkins said that while the trust exhibit presents the scientific view of the Earth’s age, the charity had also “paid lip service to the ignorant bigotry of ‘young Earth creationism’, a view which flies in the face not only of science, but of theology too”.

“The age of the Earth is a matter of scientific fact, not opinion, and balance and fairness do not enter into matters of fact.

“The National Trust should not have given any consideration whatsoever to the intellectual baboons of young Earth creationism,” he said.

But the trust said it had merely acknowledged such views. A spokesman said: “We reflect, in a small part of the exhibition, that the Causeway played a role in the historic debate about the formation of the Earth, and that for some this debate continues today.“

Background

Creationist theories have sparked controversy here in the past. Two years ago the then Culture Minister Nelson McCausland called for museums to give more recognition to creationism after meeting Caleb Foundation lobbyists. Mr McCausland later asked for alternative views on the universe’s origins to be represented in museum exhibitions here. Belfaarst Telegraaph

H/T Eddie Izzard

Related: The (US) Photo Galleries of Volker Dierks


Give yourself a visual treat, the causeway photo I found at: Weird and Strange Wonders of the World

Death in Derry

I had no idea things were as bad as this in Derry. But then, maybe what goes on in the north is outside my bubble. The Six Counties were never my favourite place, the atmosphere there is tangible, I was never comfortable on the occasions that I had to visit the place, I couldn't get back to the Republic quick enough.

Derry: fear and republican vigilantes stalk new city of culture

Exclusive: at least 85 people have been shot in escalating campaign of shooting and beatings
Henry McDonald
13 May 2012

Republican vigilantes conducting a campaign of shootings and beatings have in the past year forced more than 200 young men out of Derry, which will become Britain's City of Culture in 2013, the Guardian can reveal.

At least 85 men have been shot over the same period in "punishment" attacks by Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD), according to police figures.

In some instances those targeted, mostly in their teens or early 20s, have been forced to turn up with a parent or relative for a pre-arranged appointment to be wounded for alleged drug dealing and other supposed crimes.

Martin McGuinness, the Provisional IRA ex-chief of staff turned deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, made an unprecedented move calling on the public in his native city to inform on the republican paramilitaries responsible. Figures from community organisations in Derry mediating between RAAD, the Real IRA and the victims show up to four men are being forced out of the city every week.

As Derry prepares to be the UK's City of Culture, the families of those under attack, including the mother of a RAAD victim who was murdered in February, say they are existing "in a city of fear".

Derry-based John Lindsay, author of "No Dope Here", a new book on the violence, who has shown his research to the Guardian, said: "On average there are about four young men being forced out of the city by RAAD and other vigilante groups per week.

"The figures are being recorded by at least two community groups who are called into liaise between the organisations and the men.

"There are, on a conservative basis, more than 200 who were put out of Derry over the last 12 months. They are going to places as diverse as Belfast, Armagh, Dublin and of course England, anywhere where they have friends or relatives to flee to. And they are told if they don't leave they will be shot or even killed."

The vigilante campaign turned murderous last February when RAAD gunmen shot dead a former Derry boxer, Andrew Allen, 24, just across the border in a relative's house in Co Donegal. His family say hardline republicans were so affronted when he stood up to them that they decided to kill him. Allen's mother, Donna Smith, said the peace process no longer meant anything to her or her family.

"How can they call this the City of Culture when they (RAAD) are going around butchering children? Something has to be done, it has to be stopped before another family is sitting in the situation that we are in: me without a son, my other children without a brother and two small children without a father."

There have been several demonstrations against the attacks, including one last month. Just before, an 18-year-old was shot in both legs.

Although some RAAD members are ex-IRA members who supported the end of its "war" against Britain and declined to join the anti-peace process Real IRA, McGuinness has issued his sternest condemnation yet of the vigilante campaign.

He said: "I think it is quite obvious the community is beginning to rise up against this and as a result of that it is quite clear that RAAD are about to make the biggest mistake of their lives. They are about to bite off more than they can chew because if the community in Derry turns against you then you are going absolutely nowhere.

"And I think they (RAAD) do need to be going somewhere and they need to be going to prison. And I would hope as a result of the rise in opposition to the activities of RAAD that people will come forward to give all the information they have about this group."

McGuinness, the Provisional IRA's second-in-command in the city on Bloody Sunday, described the republican vigilantes as "the new oppressors of the people of Derry".

The police have vowed to prosecute those responsible. However, there have been no prosecutions for the "punishment" attacks" and no one has been charged in connection with Allen's murder. Guardian + 7min video

Assange and Others Would Be Safe Under Commonsense Irish Extradition Laws

Unlike us Brits, I guess the Irish don't enjoy a special relationship with the US.

Garland ruling may make extradition more difficult

Carol Coulter
March 8, 2012

ANALYSIS: Judge ruled offences carried out here, even if affecting other jurisdictions, should be prosecuted here

MR JUSTICE John Edwards ruled earlier this year that Seán Garland should not be extradited to the United States to face conspiracy charges in connection with the alleged forgery of US dollars.

While four main arguments were put forward by his legal team, the High Court judge just ruled on the first: that the offence involved was an offence in Ireland, and should be prosecuted here.

He stated that in this age of modern communications, where much serious fraud is transnational (the same could be said for internet crime), the common law must evolve to reflect the need to be able to prosecute in the jurisdiction where a substantial portion of the crime is committed.

Section 15 of the 1965 Extradition Act states: “Extradition shall not be granted where the offence for which it is requested is regarded under the law of the State as having been committed in the State.”

Mr Justice Edwards said it was necessary to combat procedural challenges to prosecutions with an extraterritorial element arguing that, for example, if money was lodged to an account abroad, the offence in fact took place there.

“The Irish courts should, as a matter of good sense in the times in which we live, be entitled to assert jurisdiction in respect of a conspiracy formed in Ireland to effect harm by means of an unlawful act or acts to be committed principally in, or against, another state, where it can be reasonably asserted that the conspiracy, if carried into effect, would be harmful, or potentially harmful, either directly or indirectly, to the interests of this State,” he said.

Yesterday, Garland’s lawyers were informed the State would not appeal this judgment to the Supreme Court.

In the case of the student hackers, the Fine Gael website was hosted in Arizona in the US, making the attack on it potentially an offence under US law. But it may also be an offence under Irish law.

According to an extradition law expert, the Garland ruling means a whole slew of offences cannot now be the basis for extradition to the US, where they are also an offence under Irish law.

“Julian Assange could not be extradited to the US from Ireland,” the expert said, referring to the controversial founder of WikiLeaks.

Two UK citizens are fighting extradition to the US for hacking and computer offences.

Hacker Gary McKinnon, who has Asperger’s syndrome, was arrested in 2002 after he hacked into military computers looking for evidence of UFOs. His case is still before the courts.

Richard O’Dwyer set up a website, TV Shack, which provided links to other websites where users could access content but did not host any of the content itself. This is a copyright offence in the US, but is not an offence in the UK. He was arrested in 2010 and took the site down, but earlier this year a magistrates’ court ruled his extradition could go ahead. This is likely to be appealed. Irish Times

Irish Trawler Tit Bonhomme C331 Lost Off Union Hall

I have a connection to this vessel and to Union Hall. I went to France to tow this boat back to Union Hall, which was also my drinking hole.

I even wrote a bit of a story about the trip: Towing a Yoke.

Although it wouldn't be the same skipper aboard, he sold it on and went back to New Zealand as far as I am aware. But she was a big powerful lump of a boat, and she was nearly home, perhaps just a mile from the pier at Union Hall. But blowing a strong South Easterly, the approaches to Glandore would have been quite nasty. Sad stuff, sad stuff indeed.

Tit Bonhomme under Irish registry.

At a guess this was taken somewhere near Glandore, about a quarter of a mile going left, would be Adam Island where the vessel foundered, about three quarters of a mile to the right would be Union Hall pier.

Over-markings not mine.

Fears for five-man crew after fishing trawler hits rocks
15/01/2012

Fears are growing for five people missing after a trawler went down off the west Cork coast.

One survivor was been pulled from the sea close to Union Hall Harbour, where the 21-metre (69ft) Tit Bonhomme was thought to have struck rocks in the early hours of this morning.

The Irish-registered fishing vessel was coming into shore when it got into difficulties beside the Adam and Eve islands, just outside the harbour.

The crew made a distress call to the Coast Guard at around 6am, but it was cut off and all radio contact was lost.

It is understood the captain is Irish.

Coast Guard helicopters from Shannon and Waterford were scrambled to the scene, while lifeboats from Courtmacsherry and Baltimore have been launched.

The survivor found in the water at around 8am has been taken to Cork University Hospital, while five other crew members are still missing.

Strong winds and heavy seas which were hampering the search and rescue mission have calmed.

Vincent O'Donovan, of Courtmacsherry Lifeboat station, said the Tit Bonhomme had taken a battering in the rough waters.

"Conditions had been bad all last night and this morning," he said. "It was force 7 to 8, and it was a south-east wind, which causes difficulties off that coast."

The lifeboat launched shortly after 6am and spotted debris in the water close to the mouth of Union Hall harbour, believed to be wreckage from the trawler, around an hour and a half later.

Initial reports suggested two more survivors had made it to onshore rocks, but confusion remains, and the Coast Guard - which is leading the operation - said five people remain missing.

It is understood the man who was pulled from the sea was an Egyptian national.

Local reports suggest one of those missing was a young student from west Cork, who had joined the crew on his first fishing trip as he was interested in a career at sea.

Just last month, three fishermen were rescued from a life raft after their trawler sank at the same spot.

The Jeanette Roberta was sailing out from Union Hall pier when it went down close to Adam Island, the larger of the two islands at the narrow entrance to the harbour. Mirror

As we picked her up in Dieppe.

Out on the town, Dieppe.

Geraldine Finucane To David Cameron: Shove It Up Your Ass

''Trust me I'm a British politician.''

''My fucking hole I will.''

That's a bit of Irish, for those that want an English lesson.

Finucane Family Angered By Cameron

The widow of murdered Northern Ireland solicitor Pat Finucane said today she felt “angry” and “insulted” after David Cameron told her he was proposing a barrister-led review of her husband’s case.

After meeting the prime minister in Downing Street, Geraldine Finucane told reporters the whole family was “very disappointed” and would not support the initiative.

The family wants a full independent inquiry into the loyalist shooting in 1989.

Mr Finucane was shot by the UDA as he sat eating a Sunday meal at home. His wife was wounded in the attack, which was witnessed by the couple’s three children.There were allegations that some members of the security forces collaborated with loyalist paramilitaries to the extent that they could have stopped the killing.

Speaking in Downing Street, Mrs Finucane said: “I am so angry and so insulted by being brought to Downing Street today to hear what the Prime Minister had on offer.

“He is offering a review. He wants a QC to read the papers in my husband’s case and that is how he expects to reach the truth. All of us are very upset and very disappointed.”

She added that she was “so angry with the prime minister that I actually called a halt to the meeting”.

Mr Finucane’s son Michael, who also attended today’s meeting with Mr Cameron and Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson, accused the prime minister of “reneging on a commitment that the previous government made to hold a public inquiry”.

He said Mr Cameron gave the “feeble” explanation that public inquiries had not worked in similar cases. “He seemed oblivious to the fact that the absence of participation by our family would mean we simply couldn’t support what he proposed,” he added. more

Background RUC Pat Finucane Rosemary Nelson Colm McCartney Sean Farmer

The current story.

Apology for 1989 Finucane murder

The British Government is "deeply sorry" following the murder of Belfast solicitor Patrick Finucane, Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson has said.

Making a statement in the Commons, he told MPs that Mr Finucane's killing in front of his family on February 12 1989 was "a terrible crime", adding that there have been long-standing allegations of security force collusion in his murder. more

Update:

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

PUBLIC STATEMENT
AI Index: EUR 45/017/2011
13 October 2011

United Kingdom/Northern Ireland: Deplorable government decision to renege on promise of public inquiry into Finucane killing

Amnesty International deplored yesterday’s announcement by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Owen Paterson, that there would be no public inquiry into the 1989 killing of Belfast solicitor Patrick Finucane as a failure to ensure full accountability. The Northern Ireland Secretary instead appeared before Parliament and stated that he had instructed a senior lawyer, Sir Desmond de Silva QC, to conduct a review of all the available documentation in relation to the case of Patrick Finucane in order “to produce a full public account of any involvement by the Army, the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the Security Service or other UK Government body in the murder of Patrick Finucane”.


Amnesty International said the decision reneged on past promises that the government would establish a public inquiry to investigate the killing of Patrick Finucane. The organization urged the government to honour its commitment to hold a public inquiry and set about its establishment without delay.


The proposed review falls far short of the requirements of international human rights law to ensure that there is an effective, independent, impartial and thorough investigation into the killing of Patrick Finucane. A review of documentation by Sir Desmond de Silva QC, regardless of how thorough it is, would remain an inadequate substitute for an inquiry held in public, with powers to compel witnesses and testimony, and conducted with the full participation of the family members. more

Background

An Phoblacht
February 2001
RUC handlers face prosecution

by Laura Friel

Two RUC Special Branch officers may face prosecution for their role in the killing of Belfast defence lawyer Pat Finucane. Papers have been sent by the Stevens team to the Director of Public Prosecutions, who will decide whether the RUC handlers of William Stobie will be prosecuted.

As an agent working for the RUC, William Stobie is currently awaiting trial for his role in the Finucane killing. As a UDA quartermaster, Stobie has already admitted supplying and disposing of the weapons used in the shooting. Crucially, Stobie has said that he warned his handlers on at least two occasions ``that a murder was about to be committed''.

At first, the RUC claimed that they could not act on the information they received because they did not know who was the intended target. Stobie has claimed that he too was unaware of the intended target but according to another witness, the former journalist Neil Mulholland, Stobie did know the target was Finucane and may have told his handlers.

other British agent, Brian Nelson, in his role within the UDA, supplied a photograph of Pat Finucane and his personal details to the loyalist gang that carried out the killing. Nelson says he alerted his British Army handlers that Finucane was being targeted.

Now, according to a senior source within the Stevens team, the two RUC handlers are claiming that no such conversation with Stobie took place. The handlers, known only as `Ian' and `Raymond', have been questioned by detectives working within the Stevens investigation.

News that the two RUC handlers may face prosecution came as legal insiders are predicting that the case against their agent is about to collapse. Judge Liam McCollum is expected to rule within days on whether Stobie's defence team is entitled to medical reports on the chief prosecution witness.

Last year, former journalist and present NIO press officer Neil Mulholland, at the centre of the case against Stobie, dramatically signed himself into a psychiatric unit. At the time, An Phoblacht warned that the case might collapse.

January 2007

An Phoblacht
April 2001
RUC to face charges over Finucane killing

BY LAURA FRIEL

Two RUC officers who knew a loyalist gang was about to kill but did nothing to thwart the death squad who shot dead Belfast defence lawyer Pat Finucane in 1989 are to be charged with withholding information. The two facing charges are believed to be the Special Branch handlers of William Stobie, the UDA quartermaster who supplied and disposed of the weapons used in the assassination.

The RUC were alerted to a pending loyalist attack by Stobie 1 hour and 40 minutes before the killing, but failed to intervene to prevent the fatal attack. It is understood that the Stevens team will recommend charges be brought against the RUC officers in a report prepared for RUC Chief Ronnie Flanagan.

News of the pending charges were leaked to the press as the case against the only other person charged in connection with the Finucane killing appeared about to collapse. William Stobie, a UDA quartermaster attached to a notorious loyalist gang based in North Belfast, was an agent working for RUC Special Branch at the time of the killing.

Stobie alerted his handlers when he was asked to supply weapons for a pending loyalist plot to target ``a top Provo''. A few days later, on Sunday 9 February, the day of the killing, Stobie made two calls to the RUC. The second call was made at 5.30pm. Stobie told his handler ``the team is out''.

The RUC knew the loyalist gang involved, they knew the area in which they operated and in the words of one commentator, ``as little as four vehicle check points could have thwarted this attack''. The RUC did nothing.

After the killing, Stobie alerted his RUC handlers when the principle weapon used in the shooting, a Browning automatic, was being moved. The RUC were given an opportunity to arrest the leading UDA gunman involved in the killing in possession of the murder weapon. The RUC did nothing.

Stobie claims that after the killing he was targeted for harassment by RUC Special Branch who planted weapons in his home. Stobie was arrested and charged with possession but the case against him was dropped after he threatened to reveal all he knew about the RUC Special Branch's culpability in the Finucane killing.

Stobie has also claimed that the RUC Special Branch were behind a plot to kill him in 1994 because they feared he would reveal their role. He claims that the UDA took him to a house and shot him six times. ``I was set up by RUC Special Branch because I was the only person who knew that they had done nothing to stop the murder,'' said Stobie.

The case against Stobie is on the verge of collapse after the chief prosecution witness withdrew his evidence. Former journalist Neil Mulholland, who is now employed as a NIO press officer, contacted the Director of Public Prosecutions last week to formally withdraw three statements implicating Stobie. Earlier in the year Mulholland had signed himself into a psychiatric hospital, effectively undermining his credibility as a witness.

During a court hearing last week, an attempt by Stobie's legal team to force disclosure of Mulholland's medical records was stalled when the proceedings were adjourned for another month at the request of the prosecution.

The news that two RUC officers are now facing charges does nothing to undermine the Finucane family's demand for an international independent public inquiry. As predicted, the Stevens inquiry has collapsed into what republicans and nationalists always suspected it was, a mechanism of damage limitation.

A campaign of vilification against Pat Finucane prior to his death began with RUC Special Branch. During an interrogation of a loyalist, RUC Special Branch officers suggested Finucane should be targeted. It was they who issued death threats against the solicitor through his clients. It was they who compiled a dossier and briefed British Minister Douglas Hogg, which promoted his House of Commons outburst about certain lawyers being too sympathetic to the IRA.

One of their agents, William Stobie, played a key role in the actual plot, a plot which the RUC Special Branch refused to thwart. In the aftermath, the RUC Special Branch ignored information which could have resulted in the arrest and prosecution of the gunmen.

They intervened to suppress evidence when a loyalist confessed his role in the killing to an RUC detective. And if Stobie can be believed, they tried to stitch up a loyalist who knew too much. Withholding information? Conspiracy to murder would be nearer the mark.





An Phoblacht
September 2003
RUC questioned over Rosemary Nelson killing

Two former RUC police members have been questioned over allegations that they threatened the life of the Lurgan defence lawyer Rosemary Nelson and may have colluded in her death.

Nelson died in a loyalist car bombing in March 1999. The circumstances of her death mirrored those accompanying that of Belfast solicitor Patrick Finucane ten years earlier. In both cases, death threats by members of the RUC Special Branch preceded the killings.

Information that two former RUC members had been questioned in connection with the killing surfaced as relatives of Rosemary Nelson were told that the inquiry was finished, despite the failure to secure any convictions.

It is understood that the two RUC suspects were questioned following claims by a convicted loyalist killer that two named RUC officers had asked him to have Rosemary Nelson shot dead.

Loyalist Trevor McKeown first made the claim to a newspaper earlier this year. McKeown said that, in 1997, during an interrogation regarding an unrelated sectarian killing, the RUC members questioning him offered to pass on the Lurgan solicitor's personal details to have her killed.

McKeown's allegations were initially believed to have been linked to a bid to overturn his current conviction, but Rosemary Nelson's family have recently discovered that the officers named by McKeown were two of a number of RUC personnel questioned six years ago, after the solicitor filed a complaint against RUC threats to her life.

An internal RUC investigation followed the complaint but was subsequently discredited. Later a team headed by London Metropolitan Commander Niall Mulvihill was sent to investigate the complaint.

Mulvihill's team questioned a number of RUC members, but his report was never made public. No action was taken, on the grounds of insufficient evidence.

Following McKeown's allegations, the two former RUC members agreed to be interviewed by the Port team, but denied the loyalist's claims.

Rosemary's sister Bernie said the family had first wondered if McKeown was "trying to tell a story for his own ends", but later, "when we heard that he named names which were in the Mulvihill report, we were concerned".

The family was recently informed that the Port investigation had ended. Commenting, a spokesperson for the family said that they were disappointed, but not surprised that it appeared that no one would be prosecuted for Nelson's murder.

"It had been the family's view for some time that the Port investigation was not going to expose collusion in the case, nor was it going to bring people to justice."

The family went on to say that, in their opinion, there is extensive evidence suggesting collusion in the murder and that they are placing their trust in the inquiry being undertaken by Judge Cory. The retired Canadian Supreme Court Judge is currently examining six controversial cases, to determine if there is evidence of collusion sufficient enough to lead a public inquiry.




An Phoblacht
September 2003
Court hears how PSNI interferes with forensic evidence

Sinn Féin's Pat Doherty MP said it is ``remarkable'' that the British Secretary of State Paul Murphy has not made any comment following revelations made last week in a Belfast Court the senior members of the PSNI police have attempted to interfere with the work of the Forensic Science Agency in order to wrongly convict people.

The claims came from one of the North's most senior forensic scientists, Ann Irwin, during a court case in Belfast last week.

On Tyesday, the case in which the revelations were originally made was dismissed because there was no evidence linking the man charged to the action. Despite this senior PSNI members attempted to secure his conviction based on false and flawed forensic evidence.

No statement has been made on the issue by PSNI chief Hugh Orde, his boss Paul Murphy or any member of the Policing Board.

Mr. Doherty said:

``In any other judicial system a revelation that senior members of the police force have over a period of years interfered in the work of a Forensic Science Agency in order to wrongfully convict people would spark outrage.

``It says much about public confidence in the system of justice in the six counties that most people are not surprised by the revelation.''

He demanded to know the identity of the senior officers involved.

``We can only assume they are Special Branch members and because of their seniority, close colleagues of the Chief Constable Hugh Orde.,,. From this silence are we to assume that the above individuals condone this practice or do not feel it important?''

``It is time for those who defend this force to tell us straight what they think of this scandal. It is time for the Secretary of State to speak on this matter and it is time for the many hundreds if not thousands of people convicted in the Diplock Courts on the basis of Forensic Evidence to seek a review of their convictions.''




An Phoblacht
November 2003
Stevens seeks prosecutions

London police chief John Stevens, who is heading an investigation into British Crown force collusion with loyalist killers, revealed today his inquiries have led to new breakthroughs.

He has already established ``shocking'' levels of colluson in the murders of Belfast defence lawyer Pat Finucane and another loyalist victim, Adam Lambert.

But in Belfast today he confirmed he has sent files on another eight to ten murders to the Director of Public Prosecutions in the North of Ireland, and more were on the way.

Brian Nelson, a British military agent who acted as the intelligence officer for a UDA death-squad, is at the centre of the allegations.

Nelson, operating for the British Army's murderous `Force Research Unit', directed the UDA to kill Mr Finucane in front of his family at their North Belfast home in February 1989.

Stevens also confirmed his 12-year-long investigation into claims that the RUC police Special Branch and British army units were involved in assassination plots is now centred on an alleged top informer inside the IRA, referred to as `Stakeknife'.

Stakeknife himself carried out killings on behalf of the British Army, it has been claimed.

It is also alleged that loyalist gunmen who planned to murder Stakeknife were re-directed by Nelson to kill a West Belfast pensioner, Francisco Notorantonio, in order to save the life of the British Army agent.

Mr Nelson died earlier this year in mysterious circumstances, but Stevens claimed his investigation ``know exactly what happened and why it happened.''

He said he intends to continue his investigations for another six months.

Meanwhile, the British Secretary of State, Paul Murphy, said yesterday that he hoped a decision on Canadian judge Peter Cory's report into alleged collusion would be made by the end of the year.

The Cory investigation, which was set up to recommend whether public inquiries are necessary into certain collusion cases, has been criticised as a delaying tactic by the families of Pat Finucane, Rosemary Nelson and Robert Hamill, who all died in controversial circumstances.

In an interview in New York, Mr Murphy said that Judge Cory would come to London and Dublin next week to discuss his reports with the governments, and ``as soon as possible after that we'd want to make them public.''




An Phoblacht
December 2003
FORMER RUC MAN BACKS COLLUSION CLAIM

A former RUC detective has claimed that police informers who carried out murders were later shielded from prosecution.

Speaking on a UTV documentary, Johnston Brown offers his support to Raymond McCord, who believes two men involved in the killing of his son worked for the RUC Special Branch.

Raymond Junior, a 22-year-old former RAF man, was battered to death in Newtownabbey six years ago.

His father believes he was killed by the unionist paramilitary UVF to cover up a drug deal.

``I know exactly what happened to him. he went to visit a friend in jail and after the jail visit he came home and was lured to his death by so-called friends,'' said the victim's father.

But Mr McCord's most serious allegation is that two men involved in the killing were working for the RUC Special Branch.

The allegation is now being investigated by the Police Ombudsman Nuala O`Loan.

``As a protestant from a unionist background, I always thought when I heard about this collusion it was republican propaganda. It`s not republican propaganda, its the truth.''

On tonights Insight show, he is backed by former detective Johnston Brown, who says members of the UVF in Mount Vernon appeared to be `above the law'.

Brown said: ``Could we have put the majority of them in jail in 1997, 1998, 1999? Absolutely. Lives would have been saved time and time again. There appeared to be no will to prosecute certain individuals.''

Meanwhile, Mr McCord is facing a campaign of intimidation by the paramilitaries.

`SPY' CIRCUS FOR HIGH COURT

Meanwhile, Freddie Scappaticci, who denies being the British Army agent and IRA informer `Stakeknife', has been summonsed by a senior British intelligence operative.

Sam Rosenfeld, who once worked undercover gathering intelligence on the IRA in both the Six and 26 Counties, has also summonsed London police chief John Stevens to appear at the High Court in London.

Outside the Royal Courts of Justice, Rosenfeld said: ``I want the truth. It's time the truth about all this collusion was known.''

The `Stakeknife' figure is accused of carrying out a series of killings of Republicans while working undercover in the IRA on behalf of the British Army's terrorist unit, the Force Research Unit (FRU).

Sinn Féin has backed Scappaticci in regard to the allegations made against him. Mr Scappaticci's Belfast lawyer said his client did not know Mr Rosenfeld.

The case is due to be heard on December 17.

Stevens, who is continuing his inquiry into allegations of collusion between the British forces and paramilitary asssasins, has confirmed he is to question an agent known as Stakeknife. They have yet to meet.

Rosenfeld, a building contractor, worked for the FRU between 1990 and 1993. British Defence chiefs are attempting to gag him to prevent damaging details being revealed about its `dirty war' in Ireland.

A former intelligence agent known as Kevin Fulton and Martin Ingram, once a FRU handler turned whistle-blower have been summonsed as well. Fulton has confirmed he will be attending.

Mr Rosenfeld claimed his partner lost their baby daughter a month before she was due to be born after a police raid on their home in Irvinestown, County Fermanagh in June 1992. He was not there at the time and is understood to blame bungling by the security forces for the loss of his unborn child.

He and Mr Fulton have also claimed their military bosses reneged on an agreement to re-settle them with a pension after their links with the intelligence agencies ended.

The the 1989 murder of Belfast lawyer Pat Finucane is one of a number of killings involving alleged collusion which is under investigation by Sir John`s team.

Mr Rosenfeld claimed this week that the British Ministry of Defence would attempt a cover up of details of their operations in Northern Ireland in the years before the IRA`s first ceasefire in August 1994.

He also said he had suffered British harassment for a decade.

He added: ``Everyone has suffered, particularly families who have had relatives murdered in disputed circumstances. They need closure in the same way I do.

``Sir John Stevens who has been investigating collusion for the last 14 years is in a position to answer important questions.''




Daily Ireland
May 24 2006

PAID FOR SILENCE - Finucane killer serves three years of 22-year term

Barrett’s generous relocation package for silence on state collusion

The killer of Belfast lawyer Pat Finucane has been given a generous relocation package by the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) in return for his silence on the extent of state collusion, one of his would-be victims claimed last night.

UDA gunman and British agent Ken Barrett was freed by the Sentence Review Commission yesterday after applying for early release under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

It is understood he has been relocated to begin a new life in Britain.

Barrett had served nearly three years in Maghaberry prison after pleading guilty to murdering Mr Finucane, who was shot 14 times in his family home in north Belfast by a gang of UDA gunmen.

An investigation by metropolitan police commissioner, John Stevens, confirmed that several gang members were paid agents of British intelligence agencies, including the notorious Force Research Unit.

Barrett dramatically changed his plea to guilty during the last week of his trial at Belfast Crown Court in September 2004. He was jailed for a minimum of 22 years for a series of offences, including murder and attempted murder.
Belfast Sinn Féin councillor Alex Maskey was targeted by the UDA triggerman in June 1988 while he was having a meal at an Antrim Road hotel – one year before Mr Finucane’s murder.

Another British agent – Shankill Road intelligence officer Brian Nelson – contacted Barrett and told him of the Sinn Féin man’s location. By the time Barrett arrived at the hotel, Mr Maskey had already left.

In 1992 Nelson pleaded guilty to five counts of conspiracy to murder and was sentenced to ten years, after being exposed as a British agent by the Steven’s inquiry team in 1990.

Mr Maskey said Nelson – who was also involved in Mr Finucane’s murder – had been released under similar circumstances to Barrett. He told Daily Ireland that Barrett’s release had been a “further act of collusion” and that the British agent had been given a generous relocation package in exchange for his silence on the extent of the state’s nefarious activities.

Mr Maskey said: “Nelson had also changed his plea to guilty in the last stages of his trial and was released during the late 1990s. He was relocated and was given a substantial financial package.

“There is no reason to believe that Barrett hasn’t been given the same treatment.”




An Phoblacht
November 1999
Families seek truth after 25 years

RUC implicated in double killing

by Laura Friel

WHY DID RUC officers who recognised the UDR checkpoint as a ``fake'' when they were illegally stopped by loyalists 45 minutes before a double sectarian murder do nothing to challenge the masquerading gang?

That's the question which Sean McCartney, the brother of one of two GAA fans who were killed at a bogus UDR roadblock almost 25 years ago, wants answering now.

Colm McCartney and Sean Farmer were travelling from Dublin back to Derry after attending a GAA football semi final in August 1975. Their bodies were found, riddled with bullets, just before midnight, a few hundred yards north of the border in Tullyvallen, near Newtownhamilton.

``We always suspected collusion by the RUC or UDR,'' says Sean. The family's suspicions were raised after the bodies of the two men were found outside their car. They were later told by the RUC that there had been a ``fake'' UDR patrol in the vicinity just prior to the killings.

``Over the years, a number of people who also drove through that bogus checkpoint have spoken to us,'' says Sean. Why Sean and Colm were specifically selected for murder might never be known. ``Obviously they were easily identified as Catholics,'' says Sean. ``Perhaps they also drove into the checkpoint alone.''

Confirmation of an RUC patrol also being stopped at the bogus checkpoint recently came to light via a copy of inquest affadavits in which three RUC officers - Sergeant F. Bartholomew and Constables Robert Harvey Gibson and Mervyn Coleman - described the incident.

According to the documents, an armed RUC patrol ``in uniform, with a civilian jacket over tunics'' and travelling in a ``hired'' car, was heading towards the border on the main Newtownhamilton to Castleblayney Road when they were stopped by a man dressed in ``full military combat uniform'' and waving a red torch. The RUC patrol also saw a second man, dressed in a similar uniform and carrying an SLR rifle, lying in a ditch.

The RUC officers describe how one of the uniformed men approached their vehicle and asked for the driver's licence before realising that the three men in the car were members of the RUC. ``Realising something was wrong,'' says RUC Sergeant Bartholomew, ``I told Constable Gibson to drive on.''

After the incident, the RUC patrol drove back to their barracks. On the way, they radioed ahead to check that there were no authorised UDR patrols in the area. It was confirmed. The RUC patrol was stopped at 10.45pm. The inquest puts the time of the two deaths at 11.30pm. ``The RUC had 45 minutes to do something and they did nothing,'' says Sean.

But the questions don't stop there.

Presumably, after the killings, the RUC patrol would have been able to provide vital identification evidence for the ongoing murder investigation. Yet, to date, no one has been questioned about the killings by the RUC.

In a recent affidavit by former RUC Sergeant John Weir, Weir names those involved in the Farmer/McCartney murders. He names UDR Sergeant Robert McConnell, Portadown UVF killer Robin Jackson, and an RUC Reservist. ``The RUC Reservist named by Weir is still alive,'' says Sean, ``but as far as we know, he has never been questioned about the killings. For all we know he may still be a serving member of the RUC.''




An Phoblacht
January 1999
'We are Special Branch'

A republican ex-prisoner is in fear of his life after four men dressed in civilian clothing, claiming to be RUC officers, tried to abduct him.

The incident happened on Monday evening at about 5.15pm as the man, a first year student at Queen's Univerity, was leaving an exam centre in the univerity's leisure complex. He told An Phoblacht that he noticed two men acting suspiciously, and apparently watching him, at the front of the building.

``One was talking on a mobile phone, the other was standing near the door. I went back and made a phone call then left by a side door, but I had to go past the front entrance and the pair spotted me and came after me. At the end of the street, at the Stranmillis Road junction, another two were standing about. I went to a bus stop but they came toward me and I moved away. Further up the street I made my way to a public phone box and two of the men approached me, one got in front of me and the other grabbed me''.

It was then that one of the men addressed the man by name and said, `come with us, we are Special Branch, and we want to talk to you for ten minutes'.

The man broke away and ran into a nearby bakery.

``At this point I was really freaking out, I didn't know who these guys were and thought I was going to be abducted and shot. I kept telling a bakery assistant that I thought I was going to be shot but she didn't take me seriously. Eventually I got her to ask the men for ID, which they produced''.

The ex-POW then left the shop and pushed his way through the second pair of men who were at the door and went to the phone box and called his family to arrange a lift home.

``As I was making the call the four tried to pull me out of the box and when I asked them if they were going to arrest me they threatened to `kick the fuck out of me'. They warned me that they would `be on my back any time I was out of West Belfast'''.

The man said that because of the row he had in the shop, which made their approach so public, the men left him alone to wait for his family to pick him up.

``I am fearful of my life,'' said the man, ``this incident was very frightening and then to be threatened in the way I was makes me believe these men were up to something sinister''.

Phoblacht phoned the bakery into which the man fled and a manager confirmed that the incidnet had occurred. He also confirmed that he phoned the RUC about a second incident which occurred later that night and they admitted that it was RUC members who followed the West Belfastman.


Related:
Jim Gamble: Looking Back (Operation Ballast - RUC collusion)

Trust us, we're the BBC. Shurely Shome Mishtake (Ronnie Flanagan/Rosemary Nelson murder/Shameful BBC bias)

Trust us, we're the BBC. Shurely Shome Mishtake?

Posted in conjunction with the article above, that centres on the bias displayed by the BBC: The BBC Once a Whore Always a Whore

Trust us, we're the BBC.Shurely Shome Mishtake?
First posted 21 April 2010

Although the articles in question are centred on Flanagan's collusion with the Loyalist death squads, collusion being a polite word for conspiracy to murder it must be said, it is not that involvement that is crux of this particular article. The essential part of this post is the BBC, or more precisely, it's manner of reporting, and it is that manner of reporting that interests us.

That the once mighty broadcasting corporation, renowned as the beacon of truth, for unbiased and honest reporting, (forgive me) that the BBC is ethically bankrupt, it's worth now equal to that of the rest of the main stream media, is epitomised in this shameful example below.

Little wonder then that this reporter for IndyMedia is pissed, mightily so in fact. So firstly let us read what Shane O'Curry has to say, and then move on to the article that causes him so much offence.

BBC off to a flying start on Flanagan's evidence to Rosemary Nelson Inquiry
by Shane OCurry

The information branch of the British State does an excellent job

It reads more like the adoring parish gazette piece about the bell ringer retiring after 30 years of good Christian service, than objective reporting about the significant, and highly unusual development of a Chief Constable being called to give evidence before an Inquiry into the murder of a solicitor in circumstances that are suggestive of a security force cover-up, if not actual collusion in the murder. It is hard to imagine how anyone could have heaped more praise onto the north of Ireland's former security top-dog.

This was the second murder of a high profile solicitor while Sir Ronnie was a senior officer in the paramilitary Royal Ulster Constabulary. The first, that of Pat Finucane, was when he was in charge of Special Branch, whose finger prints are all over the latter's murder. It is also umpteenth case where there are allegations of outright RUC collusion, criminal neglect of duty and cover-up involving some of Northern Ireland's most heinous terrorist crimes.

Yet the piece only makes the most oblique of references to one of these other cases, that of Omagh, and buries these references in one of the most highly-polished and sycophantic hagiographies seen in modern western journalism. Here, journalist Mark Simpson's blind assertion that "He did not even know that Special Branch had a file on [Rosemary Nelson]" makes one wonder whether he did his journalistic training in Albania, pre-1989. As for the rest of the piece, Sir Ronnie's PR team couldn't have written a better piece about him.

If.Sir.Ronnie.deserves.an.Oscar.for.his.performance at the Rosemary Nelson Inquiry, Mark Simpson deserves a Pulitzer prize for fiction for his coverage of it. Sir Ronnie is moving-on to greener fields as security adviser to the Interior Minister at the United Arab Emirates. Meanwhile, things are really progressing in the north of Ireland. indymedia.ie/article/90716

And the offending piece who's style we are so becoming accustomed to in other matters.

Sir Ronnie Flanagan faces inquiry

By Mark Simpson
BBC Ireland correspondent

As Sir Ronnie Flanagan gives evidence at the public inquiry into the controversial killing of solicitor Rosemary Nelson, what is the background of the former Northern Ireland Chief Constable?

Like all experienced police officers, Sir Ronnie Flanagan is more used to asking the questions than answering them.

He spent more than 30 years at the sharp end of policing in Northern Ireland, before moving to England to the prestigious job as head of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary.

He went back to Belfast to answer a series of questions about the death of solicitor Rosemary Nelson.

His evidence was summed up in one sentence from his detailed statement: "My impressions at the time were that Rosemary Nelson was a lawyer doing her job."

He insisted he did not regard her as a terrorist sympathiser, and rejected claims that the police deliberately failed to protect her from attack.

In charge

Rosemary Nelson was killed just before St Patrick's Day in 1999, when an under-car booby-trap bomb exploded as she was driving her car. The loyalist terror group, the Red Hand Defenders, later said they were behind the attack.

Ms Nelson's legal clients included a number of republicans, and her friends and family suspect that elements of the security forces colluded with loyalist paramilitaries in her death.

They also believe that police could have done more to ensure her personal security in the months before she was murdered.

At the time, Sir Ronnie was the man in charge of policing in Northern Ireland.

Although he was seen by some as a "hands on" chief constable, he told the inquiry he was not involved in day-to-day matters surrounding Ms Nelson.

He did not even know that Special Branch had a file on her.

He has already faced four hours of questioning about exactly what he knew - and what he didn't know. Two more days have been set aside for his evidence.

Although he is being asked to remember events from 10 years ago in precise detail, and his every word is being scrutinised, Sir Ronnie has appeared calm and measured throughout.

It is all part of the legacy of the Troubles for the former chief constable, even though he has moved on to other duties outside the UK.

Communication skills

He recently landed a major policing post in the Middle East, as strategic adviser to the Minister of Interior of the United Arab Emirates.

His name was initially mentioned as a possible candidate for the top job at the Metropolitan Police after Sir Ian Blair announced his intention to step down, but it all came too late for Sir Ronnie, 59.

Although he is held in the highest esteem in Downing Street and beyond, his time in Northern Ireland was not without controversy, most notably over his handling of the Omagh bomb investigation.

He was severely criticised in an independent report into the matter.

He rejected the criticism by saying that if he believed it was true: "I would not only resign - I would go and publicly commit suicide."

It was an uncharacteristically extreme outburst by a man whose communication skills are usually second to none.

Having spent so much time in the media spotlight, his appearance at the Rosemary Nelson inquiry has attracted a large amount of interest.

The police have always denied any wrongdoing in the Nelson case, and this has been repeated in person by Sir Ronnie.

Nonetheless, exactly what he says is significant, especially as it is all being said in public.

Numerous allegations and accusations have been made against the police about what they did before and after the murder in 1999.

Now the man who was in charge of the force is having his say.

Seems like a nice man, don't you think?

From, to borrow a phrase, The information branch of the British State

My original article here.



And just to round off, the original source of my oft used misquote.

As I Please
in Tribune
1 September 1944
George Orwell

IT IS not my primary job to discuss the details of contemporary politics, but this week there is something that cries out to be said. Since, it seems, nobody else will do so, I want to protest against the mean and cowardly attitude adopted by the British press towards the recent rising in Warsaw..............

........I cannot discuss here why it is that the British intelligentsia, with few exceptions, have developed a nationalistic loyalty towards the U.S.S.R. and are dishonestly uncritical of its policies. In any case, I have discussed it elsewhere. But I would like to close with two considerations which are worth thinking over.

First of all, a message to English left-wing journalists and intellectuals generally: ‘Do remember that dishonesty and cowardice always have to be paid for. Don’t imagine that for years on end you can make yourself the boot-licking propagandist of the Soviet régime, or any other régime, and then suddenly return to mental decency. Once a whore, always a whore.’ more: As I Please

Go On Home British Soldier Go On Home

Go on home British Soldiers Go on home
Have you got no fucking homes of your own
For 800 years we've fought you without fear
And we will fight you for 800 more

If you stay British Soldiers If you stay
You'll never ever beat the IRA
For the 14 men in Derry
Are the last that you will bury
So take a tip And leave us bloody be

So Go on home British Soldiers Go on home
Have you got no fucking homes of your own
For 800 years we've fought you without fear
And we will fight you for 800 more

We're not British, we're not Saxon we're not English
We're Irish and proud we are to be
So fuck your Union Jack We want our country back
We want to see old Ireland free once more

So Go on home British Soldiers Go on home
Have you got no fucking homes of your own
For 800 years we've fought you without fear
And we will fight you for 800 more

We'll fight them British Soldiers for the cause
We'll never bow to Soldiers because
Troughout our history We were born to be free
So geo out British bastards leave us be

So Go on home British Soldiers Go on home
Have you got no fucking homes of your own
For 800 years we've fought you without fear
And we will fight you for 800 more

Go on home British Soldiers Go on home
Have you got no fucking homes of your own
For 800 years we've fought you without fear
And we will fight you for 800 more

Listen/watch to this spliced clip.
(Irish Republican Army) - Go On Home British Soldiers

After thirty eight years British Army operations ended in the Six Counties last night.

What seems to be the best report (no spin) comes from Spiegel .

Operation Banner began in 1969 with the arrival of British troops in the six counties of the north of Ireland, two five minute archival films charting the arrival of British troops and how it went to hell in a hand basket in very short order.

Banner part one. Watch Broadband
Banner part two. Watch Broadband
Give it time to load.

Whodathunk troops kicking in front doors and trashing houses didn't exactly do much for good relations between civilians and occupying forces. Deja Vous anybody?

British Army report, IRA never defeated.

“What Are We Supposed To Do With Our Dead”

Prolific author Mike Whitney Gives us his views on eleven unrelated contemporary topics.
He touches on a few items that I myself have covered recently, (always nice to know) will you trust me to recommend this eclectic mix of stories without giving you previews? if so read on .


Trivia: The number Eleven evokes the memory of a lady who I once shared pleasures with, she was telling faerie stories to a little munchkin and included was just how magical the number Eleven was. Upside down, back to front, reflected in a mirror or any which way the number always remains the same. Sweet tale, sweet lady, sweet memories.


How magic is that.
And no it doesn't Google.

Sisters of Mercy: Magdalene Laundries

Please take the time to study this updated post for I would like to introduce you to a documentary at the end of this that sheds further light on the shameful goings on in the Magdalene Laundries, the rank hypocrisy of the Catholic Church and the dangers of the unholy alliance of church and state.


Film: The Magdalene Sisters.

Before I elaborate let me give you the opinion of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property. needless to say a Catholic organisation.

From their webpage concerning the film

In the supercharged atmosphere of the abuse scandals, Peter Mullan’s film The Magdalene Sisters is a sensationalist melodrama that only adds fuel to the fire.

Through the use of pungent emotionalism and hyperbole, the movie develops a style that becomes hard to classify. It is called a semi-fictionalized true account but the distinction between fiction and reality appear constantly blurred. It is billed as a scathing social commentary but it is laden with stereotyped depictions devoid of any nuance. Its shoddy theology ignores the basics of any kind of Catholic spirituality.

Indeed Mr. Mullan’s portrayal of the Catholic reformatory could not be more merciless. He treats the sisters with all the cruelty that he imagines they treated the girls under their care. The convent becomes a ruthless slave labor camp complete with its evil warden, sadistic guards and wronged convicts. The Mother Superior is a greedy fiend counting piles of money made from the toil of the unfortunate girls. It is easy to see why Vatican radio characterized the film as an “angry and rancorous provocation.”

“I was appalled to read how every nun, priest or person in authority was presented as evil,” commented America Needs Fatima director Robert Ritchie who is coordinating the protest. “It seems to ignore all the good that nuns have done throughout the centuries.”

I am aware that neither the movie nor the link is exactly hot off the press but the subject matter of the dark days of Irish Catholicism and it's lasting effects is not something that is a stranger to me.

If you have never watched the film you could do worse than to try and seek it out at the video store. Rather than me try to explain the goings on in the Magdalene Laundries, that task is already done in this flash. The text accompanying the images will give you a good insight into the long shameful history of Ireland and the accepted institute of the Laundries.

Although there still exists great pockets of piety in Irish society, Ireland as a whole has done more to enlighten itself over the last three decades than it has over the last three centuries, helped in doing so, more by those that would try to maintain the status quo and their grasp on power and influence, the boy buggerers, the Catholic Church.

I have talked to numerous people who, though outwardly might continue to go through the motions expected of them in a Catholic society, now reject all the influence and control that the church would have previously held over their lives, the rejection almost universally resulting in the making public the decades of sexual abuse by the priesthood.

There is short footage from the film here,

So now having a small insight to the Laundries dark history and read how an American Catholic organisation goes about attacking the film and defending the good Sisters of Mercy, (this post was originally entitled "Idolaters And Boy Buggerers Defend The Indefensible") OK non too subtle I will grant you, let me then introduce this fifty minute documentary based solely on the first hand experiences of the participants. There is a lot of original footage of mid Twentieth Century Ireland and the Laundry institutions themselves.

Update: Links re-upped and Part One of The Magdalene Laundries here. (posted by elfgirl12)

Sex In a Cold Climate.

Fifty minutes

Ireland Abortion Church and State

Ireland has come an awful long way in the last two decades but the unholy alliance of church and state still keeps certain aspects of Irish life firmly entrenched in the bog. The infringement on civil rights regarding travel is mind blowing.story

Update: I should think so.

Riverbend to Leave Iraq

Safe journey.

Fastnet Rock Southern Ireland, known locally as the Rock of Tears, the very last bit of Ireland that migrants to America cast eyes upon. This from my own camera.

TOWING A YOKE

Light pollution, sure their wasn't a hint of it, somewhere near midway 'twixt France and Ireland.
There was just the one colour, black. A perfect black canvas that played its part in the creation of the few lines at the end this piece of prose; originally being writ as a stand alone few lines.

Some two or three years after the creation of those few lines, I joined for a brief spell, a little circle of writers who would meet every two weeks and read out whatever we had written on a subject chosen at the prior meeting, in this case "A starry night"
So then I composed the long intro of events leading up to the birth of those few lines. And here I cannot stress enough just how magnificent a sight it was.
I hope you can get a feel for the moment.
I employ a hybrid of Northern English vernacular with a biteen of Irish thrown in to add a little flavour, I hope you enjoy.



TOWING A YOKE

I got the job where most all jobs is got; in the pub.
Would I ship aboard a trawler going to France, and tow a boat back.
Giving it a bitteen of thought, and not wanting the sole company of two other men, I says “If Herself can come, you’re on”
“It’s a bit rough on board” says the skipper.
“Sure she’ll grand, not a problem”
So off we sets; it were fair lumpy day; thought to me self, I’m glad Herself’s with me, at least we can keep the bunk warm.
There’s nothing much to do on those kind of jobs, it’s all steaming.
Skipper weren’t up to much, he were a Kiwi, I think he’d been to one of them antipodean charm schools, but that’s another story.
Next day, it were glorious, so we thought we’d soak up some rays.
We dragged the mattresses up onto the foredeck, just in front of the wheelhouse, it were the only place you could sunbathe.
True to form, Herself, not bein’ one for false modesty or bikini tops, gets ragged off, and its tits out for the lads.
Now you can call me biased, but she’s a fair bonny lass, and I’m sure lads in wheelhouse agreed wi’ me.
It must have made watch keeping a bit more interesting.
In fact if it weren’t for autopilot, I don’t think boat would have ever got where it were s’posed to.
But got there we did, and made ready the tow for next day.
Well Herself had brought her glad rags, so we hit the town and got her lit.
Herself with her long tanned legs n all glittery, she looked a million dollars, and I felt like one.
What’s all this got to wi’ stars? Well as the Manx say, “Traa-dy-Liooar” it’s a bit like manyana, only nowhere near as urgent, “Time enough”
So off we sets back with this yoke in tow. Now for them of you that don’t know what a yoke is, well it’s a grand Irish word, and if you does a bit of writing , then it’s a right handy one to have.
A yoke is anything, a big yoke, a small yoke, a grand yoke altogether, you gets the idea.
One crystal clear night, there’s Herself and Himself, that’s me, sat on a couple of fish boxes on the blunt end off this old yoke we were sailing on.
And there it were, in all it’s glory, the Milky Way. It just blew us away, I just haven’t got the words in me to describe it.
It were like we were little atoms, no them little things inside ‘em, them neutrons or protons or whatever they're called.
We were speechless, it were a wonder we’ll never forget.
It were some time later, I couldn’t get this sight out of me head, and then didn’t a few little lines appear, just like magic, and them lines were these.


Delight the night
For hidden by day
Delight the night
We sailed the Milky Way
Our chariot of rust and rattles
Our space ship on the sea.
.

The Best Tax Ever

This was a great move by the Irish, why more governments don't adopt it I really don't know, the figures are staggering.

2002 saw a drop in annual plastic bag consumption drop from 328 per head to just 21.

Five years on, I still have, and use, my permanent shopping bags, I think a post or two less on the blog and spend the time lobbying for the introduction in this country would make a great deal of sense.

Anybody out there fancy joining me in setting up a pressure group? email me if you do. (email in profile)

North Or South?

North or South?
There's only one.
You did say Ireland?
I did.
North or South?
There's still only one.

Some would cotton on, some would look at me all queer like. For the latter, I would tell them I didn't want to send me parcel to "the North of Ireland."

So you want to send it to Southern Ireland?
Well I want to send it to the South of Ireland.
So it's going to Southern Ireland?
There's only one.
Where is you want to send the parcel to?
The South of Ireland, County Cork to be exact.
Right, County Cork Southern Ireland.
No, County Cork in the South of Ireland.
First or second?
First.
That'll be three pounds sixty five.

And all the time yer man behind the counter, for I can see it in his eyes, is thinking 'I've got a right idiot here' when all the time, given the conversation we've just been having, should be thinking, 'What kind of eejit is it that I'm serving here?'  but he's not; what harm?

And it's a lie I would be telling ye if that's not the game I would be playing every time I was sending a bit of something to Ireland, for there's still only one.
There'd be the six counties in the North of Ireland, that still fly that much reviled flag of empire, but geographically and morally, if not politically, there's still only one.

Now I'd be hoping that there'd be no whore mad enough to be waving one this Saturday, for there's something a bit special going to be going off at Croke Park this Saturday, yer see the English are going to be there, though it's invited that they are, there be a lot of folk remembering the last time they came team handed there'd be no such invitation at all at all.

Now leaving mad whore's out of it, there going to be at least one flag of empire, and sure that'd be one more than a lot folk would be wanting, and if the flag is as welcome as a bag o'spuds gone bad, then what's folk going to be feeling when the English start singing about the owd bitch who's previous family members reigned over the Irish far too long, and far too victorious for anybodies liking, in fact I would say there going to be vexed, fierce vexed in fact.

Then there be the Hill, now I can't see the GAA allocating Hill tickets to the English, but why do I have this little vision of some cute whore touting a bunch of Hill tickets to a bunch of locked English fans just for devilment.

For haven't I stood on that hallowed Hill meself, and the view is mighty, and the craic it's ninety. But then isn't it a frustrated Irishman that I am? I just happened to be born in England of English parents. Not so very much unlike the fellow I'd be knowing, the staunchest of Republicans that was born this side of the water and he adopted the philosophy, that being born in a stable doesn't make ye a donkey. Well he would have to now wouldn't he?

So what was I doing on the Hill meself? Watching me first Hurling match, and at the intervals it was watching the sunlight shine through the flimsiest of skirts that the young creature in front of me was wearing, a home-made bit of thing in the Offlay colours, sure to this day I don't know how I stopped meself from taking huge bites at her arse, she was a treasure.

Now where was it that I was? ah the Hurley, if you're going to watch a match what better than
the All Ireland Final, Offlay versus Kilkenny, Sure it was a grand day altogether, it was "The Finesht"

Well what started out to be a political rant seems to have turned into, I don't know what, a bit of a story I suppose, that's the land of the faeries for ye, that's Ireland, and there's still only one.

Well nearly. Tiocfaidh ár lá