Over at Comment is Free I’ve argued that it may be time for Gerry Adams to take early retirement (or at the least make his post as party president contestable) to make room for newer voices, a refocusing of the party’s aims, and signal to its members and signal to the wider public the party’s determination to follow a path of genuine restructuring and renewal.
Great little review of Listening to Van Morrison by Griel Marcus… It’s a short book, not a biography or a career survey, but an attempt to follow those moments in Morrison’s music, as he’s made it from his first records with Them, from Belfast in 1965 to the present day, when something happens that breaks [...] read our review »
I’ve been catching up on some reading, recently. Most pleasantly surprised by John Drennan’s latest opus from Gill and Macmillan, Cute Hoors and Pious Protestors… It’s early days yet, but I was struck by this paragraph, part of a dissection of Fianna Fail near the beginning: One of the more fatal consequences of our colonial [...] read our review »
John Laird (Lord Laird of Artigarvan) is unionism’s jester. His memoir A Struggle To Be Heard ” by a True Ulster Liberal” (from Slugger’s shop on Amazon here) might serve more as a heavy stocking filler than anybody’s idea of a main present. In it he wears the masks of comedy and tragedy to turn the [...] read our review »
J Kelly
Do you really believe that the woman who led her people to stormont to complain about how conor murphy was dealing with his portfolio is a potential leader? She was that useless she did not realise the first person she was protesting against was her party colleuage. It is hillarious you suggest these people as being more capable than Dermot Ahern. People in North Dublin seem to suggest otherwise and as a former resident of Blanch I laughed out loud when I saw Mary lou was better qualified. I respect John O’Dowd, think he does quite a good job and thought he handled the killing of a policeman very well but that is the closest anybody in that list gets to leadership material.As much as I hate the man, Gregory is as capable as most of those you mentioned.
Peter Fyfe, you’re not too good at following context, are you? Try reading it again and observe that it rejects the socialist narrative that the higher social classes repress the lower social classes under the capitalist system, stating that it is the lower social classes which uses the language of rights to repress the higher social classes by seeking the place responsibility for the welfare of the lower classes onto the labour and enterprise of the higher social classes. They do this out of purely self-serving agenda, and not out of any bizarre Marxist desire to establish an equilibrium between an individual’s consumption and his labour. Redistribution of wealth is a policy that is supported by those who stand to gain from the redistribution. That desire for easy money is part of their popular culture, and it is reflected in fantasising about instant fame and fortune in areas where no particular effort is required on their part and in the celebration of those tiny few who have made this fantasy a reality. The fantasy does not extend to areas were hard work and effort is required (such as becoming a lawyer or a business person) since those who assume such responsibility are able to use the freedom of the capitalist system to rise to a level that is limited only by their own ability. It isn’t a footballer does not need to train, but it is a talent that is usually ‘discovered’ along with other ‘talents’ such as singing, acting, or dancing, and it that aspect that is so appealing to that underclass. The social mobility of that class is not beyond their control. That is why I said: “They need to work on their own flaws, rather than project those flaws onto a system that allows more capable people to prosper.” Millionaires don’t buy Lotto tickets – only those who want to be millionaires (bourgeoisie), i.e. the lower wealth groups. What would Marx have made of the Lotto? It would seem that everyone really wants to be petite bourgeoisie, doesn’t it?
“I also thought Arthur Griffiths was still a member of Sinn Fein after the name had been ‘stole’ by Collins and Dev. He must have been objecting so strongly to them about stealing the name.” – Peter Fyfe
Again, you’re not too good at following context, are you? The ‘Shinners’ refers to the sectarian murder gang who stole the defunct historial name, and not to Eamon de Valera who succeeded Griffith as president when it wasn’t a fringe communist movement with no elected representatives.
John, there are the beast and the Dragon and the former gets all his power from the latter. The Dragon is certainly Satan,who was Lucifer, at a time before the Earth’s creation. Lucifer was , at one time, the chief of Gods Angels who through pride rebelled against God along with a third of all the Angels.
Dave,
To the second point first, are you ok with Dev and Collins changing the objectives of Griffiths but opposed to Adams continuing what Dev and Collins argued for? Does Sinn Fein not have elcted representitives? Have we all been lied to? I honestly thought we had a Shinner MEP, a shinner deputy first minster and several MP’s or TD’s. When were Sinn Fein fringe communists? was it when they disagreed with the officials over their left wing direction they had taken? Was it with the sectarians principles on which the provisionals were formed? If you listen to their language you may be fooled but the provos were not communists. Oh and Dev became the figurehead when they were a fringe movement that britian blamed for the rising.
To the first point, I understand exactly what you say. I am disturbed you do not recognise the patronising way in which you type. Does it not take any intelligence to become a lawyer or business person? They are gifted in a different way but still gifted. What footballer has not got there with hard work? Only an ass would suggest they just got lucky. Do you realise intelligence is a gift that not everybody recieves, just like hand eye coordination or an ability to sing? Then again Dave I don’t know if you enjoy any of those gifts going by your posts.
One more thing, does everybody that is working class buy lotto tickets or was that just a crass generalisation?
He has not gone away