A life less ordinary…
LAST October, Conor Cruise O’Brien told the Irish Independent: “I hope to die with a pen in my hand, but I am in no rush.” Now the writing is done. Love him or loathe him, the life of Conor Cruise O’Brien is one that had a profound influence on Irish politics – north and south – over the past half century. From his ill-fated UN diplomatic service in the Congo, to becoming a Labour TD and a minister, to his vigorous censorship of Sinn Fein, his journalism and writing, sympathy for Zionism, hatred of Irish republican paramilitarism and Charles Haughey, and even membership of the now-defunct UK Unionist Party in Northern Ireland, his life was as diverse as it was controversial. The Cruiser was also the man who gave us GUBU, short for “grotesque, unusual, bizarre and unprecedented”, and as Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said: “He was never afraid to take up unpopular positions, with the result that few ever agreed with him all the time.” How true. When the power-sharing government here fell apart in 2002, he remarked: “I’m glad to see this bloody thing crash. It’s been a horrible fraud.” And he argued that Unionists could defeat republicanism by taking their place in a united Ireland, leading to his departure from the UKUP. You can read his Wikipedia biography here, and obituaries from the BBC and Irish Times.
Andy,
I didn’t say I condoned it, rather that I wasn’t surprised by it. It’s not the same thing. An employee of the State should not be working for a foreign government, friendly or otherwise.
I agree with you that his support in later years for Zionism was inconsistent with his otherwise consistent opposition to nationalism.
too true!!!
A popular chap it seems
http://www.anfearrua.ie/db.asp?a=topicdisplay&tid=579005
RIP – he thought about stuff.
On a side note, obits for controversial characters regularly produces the kind of terse remarks that little what is a times an erudite conversation.
I think the answer is not that people should not speak ill of the dead, but that people say something of value about them. Whether in praise or criticism of them, their work and their lives.
Horse, you got clipped because by your own admission you were not commenting on the subject in hand. Trow, I clipped yours because frankly it contained nothing but poor taste. Everything else (even your speculative reconstructions of history) stays.
Night all…
Nos Da Mick – and Nos Da CCOB – he lived his own life.
“I am cutting the rest.”
The spirit of Section 31.
A fitting tribute Mick.
The guy who attacked Haughey was also a tax cheat refusing to pay tax on his journalism.
the ironing is delicious
A couple of Critical O’Brien obits:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/20/conor-cruise-obrien
http://www.counterpunch.org/meehan12222008.html
A controversial contradictory character
Did he buy obsolete Telephone exchanges from BT so that GCHQ could eavesdrop?
In the Gerry Fitt biography Eamonn McCann is described as an intellectual and mad as a brush.
A bit like the Cruiser.