Dean Godson had an interesting line on Denis Faul last week, in which he notes the consistency in his anti British and then anti IRA stance on Human Rights. He also recalls Faul’s words on how the British love of cricket reflected their approach to deal with armed insurrection by the IRA:
“One thing about the Brits,” he would say. “Just remember, they play cricket. Nice and long and slow.” This observation brought him little pleasure: he felt that though the British State was clever, it had cynically sold out the ordinary decent Catholics for sake of an accommodation with republican fascists. Faul believed that the British State, by unthinkingly accepting trendy narratives of British “oppression”, had actually underrated its own reformist achievements in Northern Ireland. Justice mattered as much, if not more, than Irish unity.
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