danny kinahan

Screwing over the Ulster working class

“Alastair?- it’s Danny.

Hello Danny…Danny who?

DeBurgh! Templepatrick- Can you  speak?

Sure, there’s  patients waiting but I’ve always time for an Official Unionist.

Good man. Has all that unpleasantness gone away? That stuff with Hart and the PSNI?

Oh yes, complainants under the bridge!

Well the thing is that the jolly old stately home is a bit of a bind, bit of a thingy round the neck, if you know what I mean….what’s the word…raven?

Albatross, Danny

Oh yes and I was wondering if we might join forces to create a lobby firm.

Jesus, Danny, if the Prods of south Antrim hear about that you’ll never be re-elected!

Yes, well OK but I’m not getting any younger and the MP thing was a bit of a surprise to me as well as everyone else.

Well, kiss goodbye Danny, when Paul gets wind of this , you’re toast!

Yes, well back to the business in hand…you up for it?

Of course I am, you know me-and you have a third player, is that right?

Yes, decent chap, media wallah..

Lets go for it- just one thing, you have a lot of people in your constituency who lost loved ones during the Troubles, isn’t that right?

Yup

Sefton , pain in the ass, former barrister, campaigns about his dead parents and Libya?

Yup

What will he think- are you going to lobby for him?

Don’t be daft Alistair- this is business, as my Jewish friends say..

So what if he rings up, looking for help?

We’ll tell him that this is a high profile firm “able to engage at the highest levels on behalf of clients”

Like the Blues and Royals?

Precisely -No working class unionist muck here  old boy.

But wasn’t one of your friends killed?

Yes, of course but we superior chaps have learned to live with that. Fortunes of war and all that. Stiff upper lip and all that.

Sefton  says that his ancestors fought for the Crown since 1605.

Maybe but canon fodder old chap, Like your MLAs . Stupid campaign re Libya. Doesn’t he know that there are fortunes to be made in oil? My old man made a fortune in lemonade- imagine what you could make in oil.

OK count me in- I miss London and the grub.

Splendid, lets meet in the Guards Club, they let Ulster  Nationalists in now.

 

Libya and Westminster-why democracy doesn’t work

See V and A Consultancy for my reaction to the NI Affairs Committee Report

V and A Consultancy

A shoddy piece of work , it could not even get the names of my parents correct. This has now been corrected and an apology issued by the committee.

People like Kinahan, Paisley and  Hoey should hang their heads for having been part of this charade.

As with  the antics of Frazer, the last two years has simply given victims and survivors of Libyan SF/IRA Semtex a false hope.

Like hundreds of other affected people, I will spend the day with my own thoughts.

 

 

 

 

Jack Straw’s Bum

Jack Straw’s bottom loomed large  [figuratively] at the House of Commons last week. Ten lines into his evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee he revealed that he had “suffered a small shard of glass in my behind” as the Old Bailey bomb exploded in 1973. In  a reversal of the Black Knight’s assurance “tis but a scratch ” Straw made much of his experience at the hands of Gerry Kelly MLA and others. [see also answer to question 490]

Some interesting evidence emerged.

He said that the issue of compensation for Semtex attacks had not been raised with the Libyans. He went on to speculate as to what the Libyan reply would have been. They would have said “we have owned up to  supplying Semtex but it was not we who planted it at the Old Bailey [that scratch again] or used it in different ways.”

He used the British lawyer’s remoteness of damage argument on behalf of an imaginary Libyan lawyer.

He said that as early as 1995 Libya had provided information to the UK about the material and financial support it had provided PIRA.

Therefore , twenty one years ago HMG was in possession of the quantities supplied and could calculate whether or not PIRA had really decommissioned. Further, no doubt the Libyans gave the names of the terrorists involved in the deals.

The real explanation for the failure of HMG to support victims of Libyan supplied Semtex is that, if asked the Libyans would have said “we supplied the Semtex, your MI6 knew that. They also knew who was picking it up and using it and many of them were British agents. So don’t blame us.” So over twenty years ago , the issue of compensation was binned, for the greater good of oil and the lesser good of the peace process.

The mildly scarred Straw’s mission was to come to the committee and waffle away the victims’ rights. Hinting that it was really all the fault of their political representatives.

A glimmer of hope was raised when he said that if it were up to him, he would try to implement any recommendation made by the committee. But then again he is retired , so he would say that.

The real flaw in his arguments is that if the Libyans are so opposed to paying compensation to the victims  of Libyan Semtex, why did they pay compensation to the non British victims, several years ago?

It’s over a year since this enquiry started and the consistent message from the Establishment is that HMG will not practically help the victims.

It’s time that the NIAC got a report out.

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?

 

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!

The EU calls the shots on terrorism

While the debate about Brexit rages, readers should be mindful of this.

The EU recently enacted fresh legislation, freezing Libyan funds. Despite a campaign which stretches back several years, neither of the ‘Unionist’ representatives in the EU, Diane Dodds or Jim Nicholson, seem to have been aware of it nor did any Unionist or member of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee. No representations were made to permit the unfreezing of funds for victims. I have tried to contact Nicholson in the past, but since I don’t farm, I’m of no interest to him.

It is an example of the EU enacting legislation which the “Mother of Parliaments” slavishly copies, although it is not obliged to.

It is possible for a member of parliament to object to the new delegated legislation and you might think that, given the public outrage about terrorists being compensated by HMG , our “unionist” politicians would be alert to this legislation.

Sadly not. Big business, farming, the International Airport , Gallaghers etc., are more important , it would seem, than human rights.

I’m sure no victim of Sinn Fein/IRA  violence was the beneficiary of corporate hospitality during the Rugby World Cup.

From my perspective, not much has changed since the 1950s. Big House, Big Business and Farming Unionists plough on. The man in the street, be he RUC, UDR or British Army counts for nothing. The Unionist parties play the orange card and the stupid masses vote for them.

The words that the DUP and the UU spout are flim flam.

Even worse, Diane Dodds makes a speech in the European Parliament, parroting the British Government line, completely missing the real issue and then publishes it , as if she is proud of her input

Meanwhile Jim Allister , that champion of the loyalists shows no interest.

We are alone in this fight , without any political support.

Oh and by the way, don’t count on Willy Frazer , he has ‘served writs’  on more republicans than you could shake a stick at. He also was going to sort out the disclosure from the ROI re Kingsmills. That didn’t happen either. One wonders where he gets his funding from and what happened to the march in Dublin.

The moral of this blog is that the experts are correct. I am not going to shoot someone or plant a bomb. I don’t count. When Sinn Fein/IRA make noises HMG listens. If the state was complicit in keeping sinn fein/ira crimes away from Alan McQuillan, what else have they done and are they currently doing?

There is no chance of any justice for anyone while this Satanic Alliance continues.

Politicians, what are they good for?

Without any notice and without the active consent of any elected representative the United Kingdom has re-enacted legislation , freezing the assets of the terrorist state of Libya and its gangsters.

See The Libya (European Union Financial Sanctions) Regulations 2016, made on 19th January 2016. The day before Nigel Dodds’ jingoistic defence of the Falkland Islands.

Despite much criticism , legal action and lobbying by victims’ groups and despite an inquiry being carried on by the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, the new legislation, never voted on in the House of Commons but passed through as secondary legislation, makes no provision for the unfreezing of assets in order to make reparations for those killed or injured by Semtex supplied by Libya to Sinn Fein/IRA.

This also , despite UN Rapporteur, Pablo de Grief’s criticism of the lack of reparations for victims.

Despite much posturing by Unionist politicians and grandstanding in the Commons about terrorism and the Falklands, nothing has been achieved for the victims.

What a disgrace.

The past

 

My attention turns towards Christmas Past. Who can avoid such stuff?

Thousands contemplate the empty place at the table , the gift not bought.

“the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to” comes to all our doors.

Christmas is especially burdensome for those who have lost relatives or friends at the hands of terrorists. Much worse again if the crime was committed by the State.

As time moves on ,those OxBridge boys and girls in Whitehall look for ever more cunning ways to disengage GB  from the disaster which is Northern Ireland.

The Army is perplexed as  to why its squaddies might be prosecuted. I’d be happier if an officer or two was in the frame but what do you think is the likelihood of that?

Here, George Hamilton, the somewhat sturdy leader of the Constabulary calls the murders of my parents, in June 1990, a ” legacy issue”. Extraordinary for a policeman. More and more as he manoeuvres at the behest of his paymasters [those OxBridge ones again]  he wants nothing more to do with old crimes.

Only in the fantasy world of Northern Ireland would the most senior police officer suggest such a course.He is pretending that this all came as a terrible shock when he became Chief Constable. What a jolly jape!

Nothing to do with me Guv!

But there is worse.

In November 2015 Pablo de Grieff , the UN rapporteur on transitional justice , published a preliminary report on us.

He says that there are four pillars in a transitional justice policy;  truth , justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence.

On all of these the Northern Ireland vehicle is running on empty.

During his ten day visit he met [apparently] with a wide range of people. It didn’t take him long to spot our segregated education system as being a major problem.

Nor did the Spooks pass him by. Here is what he said about that:

“Although everyone must acknowledge the significance of national security concerns, it must also be acknowledged that particularly in the days we are living in , it is easy to use ‘national security’ as a blanket term.”

For those who have been bereaved, the sting is in the tail.

He says: “the issue of reparations for victims will need to be tacked in a serious and systematic way.  Here it may be important to bear in mind the many international experiences that have established reparations programmes on the basis of broad acknowledgement of responsibility distinct from acknowledgements of criminal guilt.”

In this jurisdiction no organisation has remotely come near  this standard.

It is facile and useless to expect the Northern Ireland Executive might so do. Might our Westminster MPs? Might the Victims’ Commissioner?

Nine point four billion pounds

This is the value of frozen assets held in the UK and related to Gadafy, his family, his government officials and various Libyan institutions.

It does not reflect the additional  amount of money Gadafy gave Sinn Fein/IRA or the value of the arms, ammunition and Semtex he gave them.

Hundreds of people were killed as a result of this terrorism. No-one in Libya  and none of the SF/IRA leaders ,such as Martin McGuinness have been prosecuted for this.

Not one of the UK victims has been compensated , while citizens of USA, France and Germany have been paid long ago.

The lesson that Britain sends is that terrorism pays. In fact Blair kissed Gadafy in a tent and the FCO forgave Libya.

Relatives of the Tunisian atrocity should take note. Your government will not help you and that’s official.