The Basque children of 1937

This day, seventy nine years ago, the Condor Legion, Nazis,  bombed Guernica. One month later, financed by the British people, four thousand children, refugees of the bombing, arrived in Southampton. They were given homes all over the land.

In 2015 I was privileged to attend a talk at Shankill Public Library, organised by the International Brigade Commemoration Committee. The speaker was Manuel Moreno, one of those children. He has lived in Britain ever since.

Seventy five years on the Tories voted down a Labour motion to accept three thousand unaccompanied refugee children to the United Kingdom. No surprise there.

What is shocking to me is that my MP, Danny Kinahan voted with the Tories.

No doubt he will peddle the Tory party line that it will only encourage others.

So what? To do what? How does a child take advantage of such a concession?

Following the arrival of the Basque children, Britain gave a haven to many other refugees.

Northern Ireland has a tradition of accommodating refugees, from the Jews fleeing Russian pogroms to the victims of Idi Amin and onwards.

The action of my MP and his colleague Tom Elliott makes me ashamed.

Kinahan will not get my vote again.

I wonder what his party leader has to say?

 

My life in a banana republic:sports edition

Jambo Jambo!

Recently my friend , Dingle, took me to see my first rugger match at the fortress of Ravenhill.

There we met Dingle’s friend, called Alec Adoo, who is passionate about rugby union and  helps out at his club, removing the corner flags and clearing up vomit.

There were many people at this great venue and at the start they all sang “stand up for the Ulstermen”. This song has no more words than the one sung by the white men at Twickenham. Then a pretend person , called Sparky, danced. There is a rumour that inside is a retired judge.

The first half was most exciting and the crowd was especially  pleased when violence was at its peak. Alec Adoo shouted things like “get stuck into him” and “bury him”.

At half time we visited the Tent of Entertainment. The large and hearty men who were there all seemed to know each other. I asked Dingle to explain. He  said that they had been pupils at about six Ulster schools. I asked Dingle did that mean that they ruled the province. He said that while they were all the sons of great cattle owners and growers of crops, they preferred to be doctors, dentists, bankers , headmasters and such like. He  said that ruling was beneath them and very messy. It was left to quacks and witch doctors.

Many pints were drunk and spilled at half time.

In the second half, Alec was much quieter and the game was won by Ulster without his encouragement. Sparky clapped and the crowd sang their song again.

After the match, we went to Dingle’s favourite pub, named after Chelsea football team. There we met his lawyer friends.

What a sad bunch of fellows! They made no jokes and sang no songs. They were morose. Several told me that “it was all shite”. Many said that they can no longer afford homes in three lands and that their wives are displeased at the lack of new beads and have withdrawn conjugal permissions. It seems that a great economic drought has struck the lawyers, like a plague of locusts. It was a sorry sight to see these great legal warriors in such melancholy. But as I heard that immense  jurist Lord Justice Weir say; “the days of wine and roses are over at the Bar”.

I digress from my sporting theme. It was good to see that , as in my country, young males are blooded by watching such violent rituals. They are given a special place, by the pitch, so that they can observe the finer points up close. As they grow up, Dingle tells me, their mothers will come to observe them playing rugger and exhort them to do great violence to the opposite chaps.

This would have been great preparation for Empire, when they became officers in regiments which came and mowed down my ancestors  but was it relevant in the modern world I asked Dingle.

“No Surrender” , he said. This is the first time I have heard this expression.

“If you stay much longer it won’t be your last”, he said with a knowing smile.

Jambo Jambo!

 

The Bar Standards Board and Bart Simpson

The BSB does not believe in the presumption of innocence nor in the right to silence.

In the saga which is known as “Peter Sefton Q.C. and Carmen Mazo” they have denied both rights to me.

I’m sure it’s not because I’m a Paddy. I think.

Firstly, they produce an inaccurate article from the Daily Telegraph and ask me to explain myself.

Secondly, they tell me that if I don’t explain myself , it will be a further instance of professional misconduct.

So, while our clients charged with , say, fraud, can say “prove your case” and when allegations are put by police in interview can say nothing , no such benefit is offered to members of the English Bar.

If the BSB had made the most cursory enquiry it would have found the answer to their question. Even the Irish News, minus Allison Morris, could solve the puzzle. How difficult could it be?

For my part, threatened with a further charge of professional misconduct, I resorted to that hero of our times, Bart Simpson.

“It wasn’t me, I didn’t do it.”

Let’s see what Chief Wiggum of the BSB has to say.

Gavin Robinson’s lost afternoon

On 24th March I attended a meeting, addressed by Tobias Ellwood and attended by , seemingly , a wide range of people , including victims of Libyan supplied Semtex.

Elwood, he who told the Commons that on a salary of almost £90,000, he was having to watch the pennies, tried to establish his bona fides with us by telling how his brother was killed in the Bali bombing and how he , Tobias, had served as a soldier in Northern Ireland and was almost shot.

The big message which his masters in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office had given him to deliver was that HMG had no intention of making any effort to access £9.4 billion of Libyan assets, held in the UK.

Speaker after speaker criticised this position and HMG’s lack of activity. Not one politician joined in the criticism, neither Robinson, Paisley, Elliott or Kinahan. Voters should be aware of that. At the end of the meeting they fell over themselves to thank Ellwood and have their photograph taken with him. [Organised by Frazer]

I asked Ellwood to go to the UN Security Council and have the resolution , freezing assets, amended. Toby is practising the Big Tory Putdown. He scoffed and asked me did I think that Russia and China would support that. Why not? Why not try?

The mood of the meeting was summed up by Jim Allister MLA who told Ellwood that he had no plan for victims and that his purpose in addressing us was to keep us under control in case we rocked the diplomatic boat and big business in the UK did not get lucrative contracts in the new Libya.

So where did Gav get his impression of “positive ministerial engagement” Assuming that Gav was not able to make up his own mind or was perhaps asleep throughout the meeting, he was relying on none other than Willie Frazer. Willie, who never misses an opportunity to witter, except when Martin McGuinness is in the room, told the meeting that he had had a private meeting with Ellwood and that it was the first meeting with a minister that he had not been thrown out of. This is classic Willie. Establish your credentials as a no nonsense man of the people. A rabble rouser who is a thorn in the side of the establishment. Do you remember Paisley doing that , while all the while negotiating behind backs?

It’s interesting that a man with terrorist connections can be afforded a private meeting with a British Government minister. Times have not changed. I wonder what was discussed?

Perhaps Robinson would like to tell us what he thought was positive. The suggestion that once a new UN backed, unelected government is imposed in Libya and all the militias are bribed or killed, a committee of the Libyan government will have a think about compensating us? How likely is that in the lifetime of any existing victim?

Perhaps it’s another example of the Unionists cosying up to the Tories. Perhaps some have aspirations to do business in Libya or have mates who want to do so. Perhaps Jeffrey, Her Majesty’s Trade Envoy to Egypt, has a hand in it. Who knows?

Will big Gav tell us or even make a really angry speech about it?

My life in a banana Republic, April

Jambo, Jambo!

You know that I live in the Religious Quarter of Belfast?

I have just emerged after much tribulation. On the day of Saint Patrick , all the nation’s leaders go to America and leave the streets to young people, the next generation of leaders. They are drinking  too much alcohol and eat fast food , then they vomit it all over my area. This is called a rite of passage. In my country a rite of passage is like hunting a lion or spending a weekend on top of a scary mountain. This may well be the reason your leaders are soft and the vomiters get jobs in call centres at minimum wage.

On Friday my friend, Dingle, took me to see the opening of a mural about the Battle of Jutland. In Belfast these things are known as “muriels” and sometimes have hidden meanings.

The Royal Navy got a fat lip from the Kreigsmarine at Jutland but it pretends that it won.

Anyway, I met the Great She Elephant, who was unveiling the plaque to the dead. She is a fine woman. Dingle  says that he would. I don’t know what he means by this and I’m afraid to ask. He says that she will pretend that she is not in government with terrorists, “for political reasons”. This is puzzling. In my country , everyone has been a terrorist at some time and jolly good say the people. The next day , Dingle pointed out Danny Kinahan canvassing on the Ballygomartin Road. I asked if he was part of the Dublin gang , involved in many shootings. Dingle said that he outranked him , so he could not say.

I have been reading that the Small Prosecutor has failed to nail a man who was charged with endangering the safety of an aircraft. When I first read of this , I imagined a crazy man. Running up and down the aisle, hammering on the cockpit door, striking hostesses, shouting at passengers. Perhaps I watch too many DVDs. This chap was an American, who was hungry and asked for a snack.

DO NOT DO THIS!

The flight attendants, who come from humble backgrounds, are able to act out their fantasies while at work. Mavis , from Michigan can be placed to save the Free World by bringing down a terrorist. Declan, from Delaware [all male hosties are gay, in my country this is illegal] would like it if a passenger was handcuffed and bound. None of these things happened on this flight. Instead , the captain sprayed the country with tons of aviation fuel , then landed at Aldergrove. Somebody had to pay. The Diminutive Director decided it was this man.  Your sensible countrymen and women saw through this ruse and acquitted him. Adding up the cost of fuel and the prosecution could have paid for many hip operations for your overweight people.

The moral of the story is that if you do not want to spend a year in a foreign country, do not upset the cabin crew. They have enough to do, worrying about their next stopover.

As what you call “Summer” approaches, my mind turns to finishing my dissertation and going outdoors.

Dingle suggested that we see one of the Great Wonders of the World. I thought he meant Martin McGuinness but he meant the Causeway for the Giants. This is a silly piece of rock , sticking out into the sea. Many otherwise intelligent people think that this was created just a few years ago, like the Orange Order. To keep them happy the National Trust has a bit about this. It’s like having a poster at Belsen saying that there is an argument that Hitler knew nothing about the Jews.

It was a nice day out. We dodged the excessive charge by walking through the right of way. I’m always impressed by your Common Law, it saves many pounds.

Now the students are back , so I’m minding my Ps and Qs. Elections are looming. Two good reasons for staying indoors. A woman called the other night. She was buxom and had big eyes. In my village she would have belonged to the Head Man. I was confused by her name. It was a selection of Little, Aardvark, Emma and Pengelly. Perhaps she has had many fathers. She said that she was the best candidate because other women were less effective. I wished to engage her in jovial banter but she was quickly gone to the next door, when she learned that I had no vote. Dingle says that my assessment of her “is not far off the mark”. Dingle often speaks in riddles.

Talking of handsome men, I watched the celebration of the Rising at Easter 1916. The Irish Government got a chap from central casting to read the Proclamation. He looked just like Liam Neeson, who looked just like Collins. Not Tim, the other one. I thought it was a fine display of the military. In my country we do this every year but usually before, not after the elections. Once all those tanks have trundled down the street, the election is a done deal, as they say in New York.

This is all for now. I must be polishing my dissertation. The Dingle is taking me to the Thompson Bridge in Victoria Park. It commemorates Belfast’s only socialist playwright.

Jambo Jambo!

Libya, who cares?

On the north coast of Africa, for five years, the inhabitants of a western constructed state, known as Libya, have been fighting each other.

This “state” was brought about by the Italians, during their colonial phase. The same phase that saw Britain steal lots of the world.

The response of the UK to the fighting in Libya was to try to second guess who might win. Why? Because Libya has lots of oil and lots of money as a result and lots of Tories and Blairites stand to gain from commercial ties.

First, Gadafy was our enemy. Understandably, given that he had armed Sin Fein/IRA. Then he was our friend. So we encouraged him to deposit huge amounts of money in the City of London. Money stolen from the people of Libya , of course, but when did the Establishment care about that?

Then , as the Arab Spring extended to Libya, we ceased to back Gadafy and we backed the rebels. The money which had been deposited was frozen.

Then the rebels were fighting Islam and IS.

Now a regime has arrived in Tripoli, backed by the UN. It has no authority. Nobody has voted for it. But the West , brainwashed by the British media, will think that it is a good thing.

Why? Not sure. But if they are doing this about a state that exists only in the minds of a few people, what would perfidious Britain do in NI?

The antics of the Foreign Office is performed on behalf of you and me.

Do you care?