Friday, June 06, 2008
Up like a bird and high over the city
Up like a bird and high over the city
”Three men are Gerry Adams is missing” I heard the warder Deputy cry
“Sure it must have been a bird that flew into the prison Stormont
Or one of those new Ministers” - Wolfe Tones re-write of “The Helicopter Song”
An MLA it was, Gerry Adams in his Provo Birdie. The Irish News reports:
However, if the prescribed mood for the day was understated, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams mustn’t have got the memo. He stole the limelight and attracted a crowd by departing in fashion by helicopter bound for Cork.
Agriculture minister Michelle Gilder-new was on hand to wave her party leader goodbye but remained cagey over who the helicopter belonged to.
“This one belongs to a friend of the party in Fermanagh,” she said. From hilltop bellowing to a subdued final speech and from angry attacks on British army helicopters to leaving Stormont in a chopper, it is clear our political leaders have evolved to the point of being almost unrecognisable.
Quite.
Altogether now:
The screws were all astounded they knew not what to do
They just stood there dumbfounded as off our rebels flew
And in the gaol the traitors were shocked and quite aghast
As they looked up and noticed the Provos flying past.
O’Hagan, Twomey, Malan, God bless those gallant three
And Britain she is furious as off our rebels flee
But everywhere in Ireland wherever the news is heard
The people cheer the Provos and their marvellous flying bird.
PICTURE: Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker (Irish News)
Rusty Nail @ 08:26 AM
Was it from Lord Ashcroft? Or the Duke of Westminster?
Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 09:28 AMNothing Like the Common touch, eh Jerry ?
You have to feel sorry for all them oppressed wee ones in Ballymurphy who will never know the joy of rotary propelled aviation, while privilaged big ranchers like this one zip around, rather like they own the place.
Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 10:08 AMI suppose he could have travelled to Cork in a more traditional manner like donkey and cart but then that would have only raised the hackles of some contributors like Observer who fly into paroxysms of flem-flecked outrage at the first sign of anything that might be deemed symbolically “Oirish”.
Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 11:13 AMOld Lord Gortahork
He flew up in the air
And when he was up he was up
And when he was down, he was down.
But when he was only halfway up,
He was neither up nor down!Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 11:13 AM...or even “phlegm-flecked outrage” for those unaccustomed to the banalaties of text spelling.
Blushes.
Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 11:16 AMWhat’s more Irish than a helicopter these days Rory? You’ve been away too long! :-)
Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 11:39 AMI take it the driver is well insured?
Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 11:48 AM“by helicopter bound for Cork.”
Why the panic? Sure it’s only a ferry story - and there’s not even a whiff of Junior :)
Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 11:51 AMJeeez Aces High get a life
Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 11:53 AMthe good old lorry load of volunteers must have broke down on the way to Stormont…
Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 11:56 AMlol good one Rory.
One would have thought that a man who’s people are suffering the brutal occupation and negligence of the hostile British Empire would have been insensibly reduced to such humble means of transport.
It seems, however, that for a man labouring under an oppression so heinous it warranted foul murder and the total economic sabotage of his constituency, Gerry Adams is not to badly off under the occupation.
(why, it’s almost as if his earlier position was a contrivance to help sanitise public opinion on a grubby sectarian campaign of persecution)
And surely old boy, the sight of a millionaire British MP affecting the limited resource of a 15th century Irish peasant would hack at the heckles of those with the opposite form to the good Observer.....
Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 12:01 PMPerhaps it was the flighty Quinn, Mick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzQXf3WgJTA
Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 12:03 PMnever mind the driver being well insured,
more like was he well bugged as with most of gerry`s drivers.
As for changed times(not so)Gerry and marty are no strangers to british army helicopters having had lots of sneaky little trips on them without blindfolds or restraints.
A comfort not awarded to the hooded detainee`sPosted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 12:03 PMJeez Circles Dude, say something vapid for a change, I dare you.
Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 12:04 PM“Perhaps it was the flighty Quinn”
I hear the Fermanagh insurance man is considering buying the Viridian Group (which includes Northern Ireland Electricity).
Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 12:08 PMMichelle Gildernew: “This [helicopter] belongs to a friend of the party in Fermanagh”
Sean Quinn certainly owns a helicopter and I understand that Fermanagh isn’t exactly awash with such privately owned helicopters. I expect the media outlets will be contacting the Quinn brothers and asking for a statement. Oh I forgot .. the Nationalist/Republican bias in the media means they’re only interested in the business connections of Unionist politicians.
Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 12:10 PM“I expect the media outlets will be contacting the Quinn brothers and asking for a statement.”
Why should they make a statement? I don’t think we ever got to hear who paid for the private plane to take the DUP hierarchy down to Dublin for the meeting with the big money-men the other year.
Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 12:14 PMThe only question that would need answered in this instance (if it is so) is why is the head of a Socialist / Nationalist party accepting favours from an arch capitalist and captain of industry ?
Shouldn’t he be more concerned with the environmental impact of the groups operations and the welfare of their workers at home and abroad ?
Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 12:26 PMchampagne and helicopter socialist.
Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 12:29 PMGeez you guys don’t half look for any excuse do you?
If my friend offered me a helo ride you could bet your bottom dollar I would take it too.
How about you bunch of wagon jumpers would you turn down a free ride through the country side?
Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 12:34 PMAll I really want to know is if my pensioner’s travel pass will be valid for helicopter flights in the New Ireland. Mick’s allusion to how common this mode of transport already is in the ‘Oul Sod certainly raises my hopes.
The promise post-bellum in the former Confederacy was for “forty acres and a mule” might we yet after our war each hold out for “a wee bungalow, two acres and a whirlybird”?
Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 12:35 PMThe only serious question of probity is whether it has been declared at Westminster. I expect it has, but I guess we’ll find out in time.
Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 12:36 PMPlenty of Gerry’s associates got a free ride in a Lynx or Puma over the last 30 years I would imagine.
Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 12:39 PMIts a shame Bobby Sands died for a “Racially and culturally distinct 32 County Socialist Republic”, as a bird lover he would have, I suspect, loved to get up in the air along with them.
Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 12:39 PMSerious questions of ethics would remain valid,
given as well the gravity of the actions Gerry and co. took with said ethics as justification.confirmed integrity, under the standards of British law , is a very different thing from confirmed integrity by ones personal and political standards.
Declaring ones self a champion of the oppressed, then enjoying the excitements of the privileged raises question of probity quite apart from the goverments standards thereof.
Posted by on Jun 06, 2008 @ 12:53 PM
