I can but assume George must read Slugger as we elevate complaining to an art form here. Speaking to John Manley in the Irish News, he had this to say:
“I love Northern Ireland, and I really like the people here, but I think that they’re way too self critical. I think the comparisons people make here are not between Northern Ireland and some other society, but between Northern Ireland and some abstract notion of a perfect society that doesn’t exist.”
He said a “more realistic assessment” of the region is a “place of people with great energy, determination, great skill and an opportunity to meet the needs that people here have and people everywhere have.
“The same basic desires: a decent job, a decent home, and, most importantly, a chance to get your children off to a good start in life, good education, good health care, good learning; and I believe this is, and will increasingly be, a society of that kind.”
The former Democratic Party Senate majority leader’s latest visit coincides with the sod-cutting ceremony and fundraising campaign for new premises for the Senator George J Mitchell institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s.
Mind you, the rain and wind today in Belfast would scunder anyone.
I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism, I am not a member of any political party. Oddly for a member of the Slugger team, I am not that interested in daily politics, preferring to write about big ideas in society. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.
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