Woodward playing a dangerous game with words…

One of the most interesting aspects of the shifting patterns of the game, has been the transference of terms like ‘criminal’ as the prime discriptor for the dissident Republican paramilitaries from Sinn Fein to the Secretary of State Shawn Woodward. It may have been co-opted in order to provide some cover/support for the Deputy First Minister and his party, but Malachi O’Doherty reckons it could end up making things a hell of a lot worse:

Those of us who remember the Troubles will recognise the tone of unction in the statements of condemnation of the Massereene murders. They will be wincing at the prospect of well intentioned people making things worse.

Secretary of State Shaun Woodward’s appraisal of the soldiers killed as fine young men who wanted to save lives serving in Afghanistan may have been perfectly true. But, if not, it makes no difference to the ghastliness of their murder and the scale of the political problems created by this ambush.
It does, however, have the potential to rattle a republican culture which doesn’t want to see endorsement of the army’s role in Afghanistan as part of the moral package it has bought into through the peace process.

In fact, to many it will smack of lines being drawn between those who revere that role and those who want to murder soldiers. It would be better to focus on the politics of Northern Ireland and leave Afghanistan out of it.

Woodward will achieve nothing by sounding off plummily as if he thinks he only needs to be heard in the Home Counties.

Does Woodward know, for instance, the resonance of the word ‘criminal’ in republican culture? Yet he uses the word so often you would think he was deliberately trying to echo Margaret Thatcher in his taunting of the dissidents.

These are hard times and a lot of people are going to have to try and think a little more like their old enemies if we are to get through them.

We are reader supported. Donate to keep Slugger lit!

For over 20 years, Slugger has been an independent place for debate and new ideas. We have published over 40,000 posts and over one and a half million comments on the site. Each month we have over 70,000 readers. All this we have accomplished with only volunteers we have never had any paid staff.

Slugger does not receive any funding, and we respect our readers, so we will never run intrusive ads or sponsored posts. Instead, we are reader-supported. Help us keep Slugger independent by becoming a friend of Slugger. While we run a tight ship and no one gets paid to write, we need money to help us cover our costs.

If you like what we do, we are asking you to consider giving a monthly donation of any amount, or you can give a one-off donation. Any amount is appreciated.