Profile for Mark
A rather old fashioned integrationist unionist with slightly left of centre political leanings, a socially liberal non-believer who thinks Britishness is for everyone, white, black, gay, straight, believer, non-believer, Roman Catholic, Muslim, Jew, Protestant............ whoever!
Latest comments from Mark (see all)
Mark has commented 52 times (0 in the last month).
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Books
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A poem for the day – Launching the Whaler Juan Peron
A Belfast epic, and one of my oldest poems, the opener of my first collection, Grub. The gist of the story was found in Moss & Hume’s Shipbuilders to the World: 125 Years of Harland and Wolff, Belfast, 1861-1986, which tells how Eva Peron was due to launch a huge whaling vessel in Belfast, built [...] read our review » -
Do Words Matter?: Book Review of Political Discourse and Conflict Resolution – Debating Peace in Northern Ireland
I share many of the concerns of Andy Pollak, whose recent post ‘My Response to the Slugger Begrudgers’ zeroed in on the ‘relentless flow of negativity’ of some Slugger commentators. Pollak’s post was largely concerned with the medium of the blog. Indeed, I think the anonymity of the online world encourages extreme discourse and allows [...] read our review »
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“You can see Newton’s mind at work…”
To add to the open access treasure trove at the Royal Society, Cambridge University Library is putting online some of its collection of books, maps, manuscripts and journals. We have called the first phase of our work on the Cambridge Digital Library the Foundations Project, which runs from mid-2010 to mid-2013 and has been made possible [...] read our review »
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Comment on Ian Paisley to retire as Free Presbyterian minister
on 15 November 2011 at 12:15 am
Comparisons to Radovan Karadžić, Goebbels, Kenny Dalglish and under-graduate humour – welcome to Northern Ireland political and religious debate!!
I should know better ………………….
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Comment on Ian Paisley to retire as Free Presbyterian minister
on 14 November 2011 at 11:09 pm
I have posted these thoughts elsewhere today but I hope I will be forgiven. Some people on Facebook and other web pages are today discussing the retirement from his ministry of Rev. Ian Paisley. There are some very extreme views being bandied about.
Do we really think that he was just a rabble rouser, do we think he was just a selfless patriot, do we think he was a true believer wanting to save people from sin or a controlling religious demagogue?
I fancy that the answer is none of those (or perhaps all of them) – I have heard stories about Dr. Ian Paisley from both sides of the community that lift the veil on the caricature and reveal a complex individual. Like all of us Dr Paisley is flawed but all good or all bad? I suggest we all look candidly at ourselves, how might those that have no empathy with us describe us, would that be accurate? Dr. Paisley made mistakes, no doubt but like every large figure in a country’s history – the larger the influence, the larger the mistakes appear.
However, I have heard tales of incredible generosity, kindness and love for people – I am reminded of an exchange from one of my favourite plays…
“What do you understand of the sum of a man’s life? You see him as a saint, and so he must be right in everything he says and does. And then you see him as a devil, and everything he says and does must be wrong. Well he’s neither a saint nor a devil. He’s just a human being, and he makes mistakes. I’m defending the forty years I’ve watched him carry the burdens of people like you! If he’s been wrong, at least he stood for something!”
I now live in Dorset. I moved here in 2001 but before that I was reasonably interested in politics and involved in some ways. I was a member of the Ulster Unionist Party and later was a press agent for the UKUP under Bob McCartney (notice how all my heroes are flawed?). I worked for the No campaign in 1998 and at the subsequent Assembly elections for UKUP.
So as for Dr. Paisley – I do not share his religious certainties or many of his political opinions but in the words of Dylan Thomas, I truly believe that “we are not wholly bad or good / who live our lives under Milk Wood”.
Just a thought!
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Comment on Young Unionist Chairman selected for East Antrim
on 12 May 2011 at 10:35 pm
@BeardyBoy – Young Beggs is from Ballyvernstown.
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Comment on Candidate selection and the lingering death of the UUP in Belfast…
on 11 May 2011 at 6:54 pm
I hear Mike Nesbitt’s (was he in the Monkees?) name mentioned – is he really considered a serious contender for leadership? From a distance, only knowing him from over ten years ago as a TV presenter and only having seen him on telly during the election coverage he seemed to be a bit of dead loss or is that a terrible misreading?
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Comment on Post election, the Ulster Unionist position is like…
on 8 May 2011 at 10:08 pm
A very interesting post – do you think that if there was a smaller assembly – say of 72 members – the end of the UUP (and I suppose the SDLP to a lesser extent) might be hastened?
I haven’t really looked into this but if the SF/DUP vote holds up will it prove even more difficult for the UUP to get elected?
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Comment on TUV: the end?
on 7 May 2010 at 5:34 pm
Turgon,
An elegant and gracious post – I wish you well.
I imagine you and I would share many of the same core unionist values but after the 1998 assembly elections iIdecided what you have perhaps just realised – the Union is on borrowed time, too many of our representatives are really Ulster nationalists, begging grants from Westminster and “Keeping Ulster Different!” not unionists and the GFA and St Andrew’s agreement are merely staging posts to unity.
It is said that David Trimble signed the GFA after being under “intolerable pressure” from a ruthless Blair led government and some of the stories of the threats put upon the UUP at that time would curdle your blood (if you believe them). So, perhaps, in the words of Arthur Miller “Nobody dast blame that man”
The DUP are probably just doing their best to manage the inevitable for their people but its not democracy and watching the overt displays of evangelical fervour at some of the counts last night I felt glad to be out of it all.
Where is the pluralist, inclusive Union that I dreamt of helping shape as a twenty-something? ………… now, what are the words of the doxology again?
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Comment on Robinson defeated by Long in East Belfast
on 7 May 2010 at 3:30 am
Yes, that’s right, very well handled.
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Comment on Robinson defeated by Long in East Belfast
on 7 May 2010 at 3:25 am
Absolutely right – time for Reg, Peter and Jim to clear space for Unionist Unity – don’t know who the leader might be or the structure but Unionists could have had two more seats if they had their act together.
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Comment on Robinson defeated by Long in East Belfast
on 7 May 2010 at 3:18 am
I want to come in honestly here and say ………. I was wrong – I could not believe that Naomi Long would get such a high vote.
There was clearly an anti-Robinson vote but well done to the Alliance team.
Unionists must learn though – we need clean united candidates – add up the Unionist votes, even with PR’s awful performance. The unionist vote also needs to be motivated to come out and vote, they need to have something to vote for.
Unionists could have had East and South Belfast.
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Comment on Turnout thread – 9pm
on 6 May 2010 at 10:04 pm
Agree – is there an NI exit poll?
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