This came from reader Seamus. It’s about the controversy over a PSNI recruit who chose to wear his family’s old IRA medal from the War of Independence. In his email to Slugger, he goes on to write:
Unionists seem to think that the Northern State should cherish, institutionalise and propagate only their ideology and employ only suitably unionist people in state jobs. (It is notable here that up to 60% per cent of Six County jobs are state jobs, as compared to less than 40% in the more vibrant economy south of the border). Moreover, they have been molly-coddled by the British into thinking that they have some inalienable right to ‘work’ in high-paid statutory jobs that involve a minimum of effort and that are skewed towards the preservation of unionist values.
That republicans have stretched themselves to engaging in the ceremonial laying of wreaths for the WWI dead is something I for one believe to be political apostasy, but it does convey a willingness (even enthusiasm) on the part of nationalists to respect parity of esteem. What a shock unionism will get when powers are devolved to the north and nationalists begin to engage in all the forces of the state, and at the highest levels, with a PSNI gun in the one hand and a ballot box in the other.
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
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