Slugger O'Toole

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Latest comments from grandimarkey (see all)

grandimarkey has commented 204 times (3 in the last month).

1. Comment on See that #fleg in Enniskillen? Well, now you don’t…
   on 8 June 2013 at 11:15 am

   A St George’s flag 365 days a year? That’s a bizarre fact I was completely unaware of. Both the regiments in question, the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons and the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers who were raised in 1689 were/are Irish regiments, seems odd to salute them with the English flag.

   Imagine trying to fly a St George’s flag 365 days a year in any of the historic castles in Scotland or Wales for their home-grown regiments (or for any reason for that matter), I doubt you’d get 1 day let alone 365.

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2. Comment on Lisburn City Council funds Unionist Forum meeting using Good Relations money
   on 23 May 2013 at 11:02 am

   At 15 seconds into this video of what, I take it, is the meeting highlighted in Chris’ post, the people speaking on the panel are introduced as “Members of the Unionist Forum”.

   So what you are trying to say, Paul Clissold, is that while this meeting consisted of ‘Members of the Unionist Forum’ it wasn’t in fact a meeting of the Unionist Forum?

   That does beg the question, what exactly constitutes a meeting of the Unionist Forum?

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3. Comment on Lisburn City Council funds Unionist Forum meeting using Good Relations money
   on 23 May 2013 at 10:24 am

   @Paul Clissold

   So is this video on the UPRG youtube page the event in question?

   If it is the event in question, it is labelled as a Unionist Forum Debate, can you confirm whether this is the Unionist Forum highlighted in Chris’ post?

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4. Comment on Scotland – will the Orange Order save the Union?
   on 27 April 2013 at 2:02 pm

   @Gef

   “Out of a Scottish population of over 5 million people, it claims only 50,000 members,”

   I think claim is the operative word…

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5. Comment on No parallels with Ireland as a pro-union strategy in Scotland begins to emerge at last
   on 26 April 2013 at 1:37 pm

   a pro-union strategy in Scotland begins to emerge at last

   I have seen absolutely no evidence of this whatsoever. All we have is more of the same.

   You can’t do this. You will not be able to do that. This won’t work. Never accurately of course.

   Has anyone actually got a positive reason for Scotland to remain in the union? I’ve not heard one.

   And if the unionist argument is going to emerge it better get its skates on, the reasons for Scottish independence have been laid out years ago.

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6. Comment on Scotland – will the Orange Order save the Union?
   on 26 April 2013 at 1:33 pm

   @GavBelfast

   Of course, if the long-run, the real winner might be … England – whatever about the rest of us.

   Not if Scotland votes for independence…

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7. Comment on Scotland – will the Orange Order save the Union?
   on 26 April 2013 at 1:26 pm

   @Barnshee

   Estimates of Scottish Orange Lodge membership range from 20,000-50,000. It’s generally considered that the lower end of this spectrum is the more accurate, but let’s call it 35,000 for the sake of argument. If we also assume that all of these members vote No, which is by no means a certainty, then that would put the Orange vote at 0.66%.

   Imagine it ran that close!

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8. Comment on Scotland – will the Orange Order save the Union?
   on 24 April 2013 at 2:27 pm

   @Harry

   The work of Steve Bruce is particularly telling in the discussion of sectarianism and violence. He is an academic at the University of Aberdeen and while I personally consider his work to be quite partisan*** (Scottish sectarianism? Let’s lay this myth to rest being a case in point) he is an authority in the topic of violence and sectarianism in Scotland.

   In the book “Sectarianism in Scotland” he discusses Old Firm related murders between 1984 and 2001. While certain sections of the national-debate would argue that 11 murders took place between these years Bruce et al in their book narrow that down to 6. They do this by looking at the context, police and judicial reports and provide a pretty convincing argument as to why the others aren’t of a sectarian nature. In context that would mean that only 0.3% of murders in those years were of a ‘sectarian’ nature.

   No don’t get me wrong, in 2012 Strathclyde Police Force had the largest amount of homicides to deal with compared with any other police force in the UK, however the level of sectarianism involved in each, while hard too gauge is certainly overestimated.

   ***I understand his partisanship, he is in Aberdeen, a city with virtually no history whatsoever of sectarianism be that in the form of the OO or football. It must be pretty frustrating for him to hear that Scotland has a problem with sectarianism when it patently doesn’t. I think however if the locale is changed from Scotland to Greater Glasgow then the issue takes a larger focus.

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9. Comment on Scotland – will the Orange Order save the Union?
   on 24 April 2013 at 12:56 pm

   Those forces account for about the same proportion of the Scottish population do they not?

   They account for 65% of the population.

   It does indeed come second, but not a close one. Northern Ireland is way, way above the rest.

   I don’t doubt either that there is a problem in the Greater Glasgow area (that’s why I’m studying here) but that is the locale, not Scotland as a whole. And what problem does exist is normally blown way out of proportion when discussed.

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10. Comment on Scotland – will the Orange Order save the Union?
    on 24 April 2013 at 12:35 pm

    @Harry Flashman

    Slightly off the point, but relevant I suppose to the way Scots like to present their country as a forward looking, “progressive” nation (as opposed to hide-bound old England presumably) and pretend sectarian and racist bigotry isn’t in fact endemic in Scotland.

    Oh Harry!

    Endemic? Scotland? I’m afraid that is perhaps a rather uninformed comment. Perhaps you are just in character and making a brash statement about the natives. Flashman is easily my favourite fictional character so I understand.

    First of all, the ‘problem’ whatever that may be is not Scotland wide. Three police forces (Strathclyde, Lothian and Borders, and Fife) are responsible for policing over 85% of all processions. So if indeed sectarianism is endemic then it certainly isn’t a Scotland wide problem.

    So lets, perhaps, merely look at the Central and Western Belt; that is where the huge majority of the marches take place. Is sectarianism endemic? The simple answer is No.

    The largest religion in the west of Scotland is that of ‘No religion.’ There is no clear evidence that being from one particular religion in Scotland will affect your employment prospects. There is no evidence that anyone of a religion is discriminated against in the distribution of social payments or housing. But of course the sectarianism you describe as ‘endemic’ is probably not institutional. That would be mad, it must of course be attitudinal. Let’s take a look?

    There are quite simply no areas of greater Glasgow that have a clear majority of Protestant and Catholic. Even areas like Bridgeton, which is associated as Rangers/Protestant area has a Catholic population of roughly 40%.

    Perhaps intermarriage is the key? Over 40% of Catholics in Glasgow have non-Catholic spouses. Well it ain’t there either.

    Perhaps a distinct politics between the two communities like in good old Norn Iron? Nope. The only party that is likely to receive an unfair advantage from a religion in Scotland is the Conservatives from Protestants and even that is feckin tiny.

    I’m afraid describing Scotland as ‘endemically’ sectarian based on witnessing one OO walk that was paid little heed to is ridiculous.

    While there is no doubt that in Greater Glasgow there are issues surrounding identity, football and violence there is little doubt that Scotland as a whole is unaffected by ‘sectarianism’ and what violence seen in Glasgow is much more grey an area than simple Prod vs Cath.

    Some would disagree of course but I’ve been researching the subject for a while now for a PhD and I think the facts, as they are above, speak for themselves…

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