Slugger O'Toole

Latest comments from Seymour Major (see all)

Seymour Major has commented 766 times (5 in the last month).

1. Comment on Gerry Adams (and Sammy Wilson) putting on a Poor Mouth over £4 Billion of ‘elusive’ cuts?
   on 19 May 2013 at 8:32 am

   It is no secret that Sinn Fein politicians frequently make false statements of fact in public which they know to be untrue. Political dishonesty is not, of course, unique to Sinn Fein. Remember the “sexed up” dossier and the 45 minute claim relating to Weapons of Mass Destruction before the Iraq war later spun out as misinterpretation by the intelligence services?

   The difference, of course, is that provable lies made by politicians in Northern Ireland never seem to undermine their political support.

   So here is my advice to Sinn Fein. Martin can continue to tell porkies at Stormont but tell Gerry to keep his trap shut when he attends the Dail.

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2. Comment on PSNI responsible for “persecution of the Protestant people” – DUP
   on 6 May 2013 at 11:52 pm

   I just looked at that video clip.

   It is very hard to avoid a conclusion that this is one of the most repulsive politicians that I have ever listened to. She is the unacceptable face of unionism.

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3. Comment on Open thread for the holiday weekend (usual rules doubly apply)…
   on 4 May 2013 at 12:10 pm

   Generally, I would like to see a much greater representation of science – with the exception of astronomy which is excellent – and sport on Slugger.

   You have tabs for Northern Ireland, Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. It therefore beggars belief that a news item which is of great common interest to all of the constituent parts of the British Isles should disappear under the radar. I am referring, of course, to Warren Gatland’s selection of the players for the Rugby Union Lions tour of Australia. There are a number of controversial strands to the selection. I refer to a couple of them here.

   Gatland has selected Sam Warburton as the Captain. Is he the right man for the job?

   I am not convinced. His record as Captain of Wales is not particularly good. He seems to be a much better player when he is not captain as we saw in the most recent six nations match between England and Wales. In the tour of Australia last year, his Wales team failed to beat Australia. His rival for captain, Chris Robshaw, who was a front runner until that match, did captain a side which beat New Zealand with a less experienced, less capable, team than Wales.

   I am sure others would like to contribute to that debate

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4. Comment on “Win a weekend break for two in Londonderry”
   on 4 May 2013 at 11:26 am

   So what?

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5. Comment on Presbyterian Church Punishes Ford for Marriage Equality Vote
   on 25 April 2013 at 9:33 am

   This is utterly appalling. It reminds me of when Lord McKay, as Lord Chancellor was disciplined by the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland for attending the funeral of a Catholic Judge.

   I am not sure if the Presbyterian officials have thought this through properly. I can not believe that all Presbyterians hold a similar viewpoint. Like members of any religion, there will be a libertarian wing whilst others who are sympathetic to the traditional viewpoint will be appalled that the Church has used its power in this way to exert political influence. I imagine this will generate huge heat within the Presbyterian Church.

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6. Comment on #Thatcher: Ten Children Dead
   on 17 April 2013 at 2:09 pm

   Much ink has been spilt over things that happened during the time of the troubles, particularly on this website. But is there anybody who has said that Ted Heath was responsible for the Bloody Sunday killings?

   Perhaps there are a few but I have not heard it.
   There is something about Margaret Thatcher that brings out the bile from people and I suspect that it has filtered into the thought process behind the decision to write the headline of this post immediately after her death.

   If you want to say that the killings are the responsibility of the State, that is fairer comment and less likely to lead to ridiculous diversions and side issues. I don’t actually have the knowledge to comment on the individual cases referred to but remain open-minded.

   As to the conduct of security forces, I totally agree with Malcolm Redfellow. There were some bad incidents. Some of them were mistakes. Others were mischievous and carried out by a few rotten eggs in the basket. Those incidents should be the responsibility of the authorities and the victims of such incidents their families should be compensated

   Unfortunately, such incidents are used time and again to demonise and re-inforce prejudice. Let it be said that during the troubles, overwhelmingly, the conduct of the security forces was carried out professionally and in the best interest of protecting people in Northern Ireland.

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7. Comment on Sir Stirling Moss: Cretin
   on 16 April 2013 at 3:58 pm

   “Before Lewis Hamilton would you have applied that logic to the lack of black drivers”

   I don’t think that comment is particularly fair. I do not profess to be an expert on human brain wiring but I have read a couple of books on the subject. One of them was by Alan and Barbara Pease called – ‘Why men don’t listen and why women can’t read maps’

   It is said that men in general have better visual spatial ability than women. That is a particularly important ability in motor racing. Strength is unlikely to be an issue. Those same scientists also say women have a greater ability than men when it comes to communication.

   If anybody has doubts about that point, they should ask why men are generally better than women at sports where strength is not particularly important (e.g. snooker and darts) and why girls do so much better than boys at languages in the schools.

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8. Comment on Can the slow death of Irish Nationalism be averted?
   on 1 April 2013 at 11:14 am

   Why would an Irish or Scottish nationalist not want the Tories’ rampant vandalism towards the social democratic fabric of the UK? The current Tory attempts to simultaneously cut working people loose, transfer wealth from them and then blame them and demonize them for their lot is manna from heaven for those keen to persuade others of leaving the UK

   I am not defending the UK Government here but I think a lot of these words are rather out of place. Assuming that you are referring to current Government policies geared towards eliminating the budget deficit, you really need to ask yourself if there is anything ideologically Conservative about those policies at all. Words such as “rampant vandalism” do not sit very well with people who understand the bigger picture. As to who gets the blame for the accumulation of debt, I would not put all of it on the last Labour Government, let alone blame “working people.” Whoever runs the country will have the problem and will have to make very painful choices for years to come.

   That aside, some of the reasons why Nationalism has become largely decoupled from any drive towards a new sovereign objective are not difficult to identify. Human rights issues are no longer a Catholic grievance. Sectarianism is weakening. As for economics, the “Celtic tiger” has gone and the Republic of Ireland is stuck in a Euro debtors’ prison.

   Contrast the Scots perspective. Their entire population has a complete regional identity which matches its polity and its border. As a region, the Scottish fiscal deficit is nothing like as bad as (say) northern parts of England, Wales or Northern Ireland. They would also be entitled to about 90% of the yields from North Sea energy.

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9. Comment on So what went wrong in the first half against Ireland?
   on 17 March 2013 at 1:09 pm

   Firstly, its good to see you back doing Rugby blogs. I hope you managed to continue this into the Lions tour.

   Congratulations to Wales. They outclassed England big time. As for England, I think they will benefit from that match and continue to get better.

   As to the question posed in the headline, I think this is connected with their perrformances during the Summer and Autumn of last year. Ireland beat Argentina in the Autumn. By contrast, Wales were badly beaten by Argentina and Samoa. Why?

   For all that can be said about their achievements yesterday, something is still not entirely right with the Wales set up.

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10. Comment on Catholic Church is struggling with serial exposure of its private values more than homosexuality
    on 5 March 2013 at 12:11 pm

    I’m not an Anglican but I would like to have one snigger. By banning tweeting from the conclave the Pope has just declared a new form of cardinal sin.

    On a more serious note, hypocrisy is one of those sins that depend upon a person’s status as a leader. The higher up the leadership ladder you go, the more of a sin hypocrisy becomes. I fear that the Churches (not just the Catholic Church) are so badly infected with scandal and the hypocrisy that goes with it that it is virtually impossible, in today’s climate to project any kind of moral leadership.

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