The three big threats
to mankind are about
to happen simultaneously
The Cafe 2
Let them exchange shirts
What are we to make
of the Not Proven verdict
in the Wilson case?
The Cafe 3
Jeanette and me
The heroic sculptor
who refused to move
to London
John Cameron
Can’t Add, Doesn’t Even Try
The Cafe
I read with interest Kenneth Roy’s piece (20 September) about newspapers such as the Daily Record using ‘hated’ in their articles about Neil Lennon and the Dutch referee Kevin Blom.
I would draw his attention to an equally offensive headline which appeared in the Aberdeen Press & Journal on 13 September. The front page headline was: ‘Is this Scotland’s most Hated Man?’, along with a photo of William Walton, chairman of Road Sense, which is objecting to the route of the Aberdeen western peripheral route.
Thankfully a number of letters have since appeared in the paper expressing disgust at the disturbing nature of this headline. Seems newspapers are so concerned about their dwindling sales that they are prepared to use ‘sensationalist’ headlines to capture readers’ attentions.
I totally agree with Mr Roy’s comments about us becoming a dysfunctional society if we approve of such headlines appearing in newspapers. At least the Daily Record has offered some sort of apology. The Press & Journal as far as I am aware has not.
Robert Smith
SR Extra
Bigotry should not
be dismissed as
‘banter’ because it’s
about football
Click here
for John Kelly’s
response to his critics
Can Martin McGuinness
really become president
of the republic?
Alan Fisher
I have had dealings with Martin McGuinness for almost 20 years. I know his background, I know the stories they tell about him. Yet I find him more human and easier to deal with than his colleague Gerry Adams. Even during the stressful early days of the peace process, McGuinness never lost his sense of humour or easy way with the media. The decision by Sinn Fein to run him as a candidate in the Irish presidential election is opportunistic but not surprising.
Senator David Norris was the early favourite. Smart, personable and openly gay, he is well regarded in many parts of Ireland but errors of judgement were highlighted and he dropped out of the race.
Fianna Fail has a formidable political machine across Ireland. It regards itself as the natural party of government but is still recovering after the drubbing it took from the voters in the general election this year. Producing a winning candidate in the presidential would have been a step in the right direction, but its hamfisted courting of Irish broadcasting legend Gay Byrne and his ultimate rejection of its advances means it won’t even field a candidate.
Sensing an opportunity – and Sinn Fein has never been poor at that – the republicans decided that they needed a standard-bearer and Martin McGuinness would be it. The party has grown support in the Republic of Ireland in recent years and the number of TDs (members of the Irish Parliament) and senators stands at 17. Martin McGuinness, as the deputy first minister in Northern Ireland, is an assured political operator. He stands as the anti-establishment candidate and will undoubtedly pick up protest votes in a country still angry at the EU-IMF bailout and the harsh austerity measures imposed to reach tough financial targets.
The IRA killed 644 civilians during its self styled ‘long war’ against British rule. It killed children in its attacks. It practised kidnapping and extortion and acts of torture.
But he is a former commander in the Irish Republican Army – in charge of one of the most lethal organisations during its time of opposition to British rule in the north-east corner of the island of Ireland. And so – in the way Kurt Waldheim’s presidency in Austria was dogged by his links to the Nazi Party – Martin McGuinness will be asked what he knew of what was really going on.
The IRA killed 644 civilians during its self styled ‘long war’ against British rule. It killed children in its attacks. It practised kidnapping and extortion and acts of torture. It carried out its own style of justice on the streets of Northern Ireland including beatings, shootings and the ‘knee-capping’ of people accused of breaching the rules imposed by the group itself.
For much of this period, Martin McGuinness was thought to be a member of the IRA’s ruling ‘army council’. Writer Fintan O’Toole argues in a recent edition of the Irish Times that ‘legally and morally, this makes him responsible’. McGuinness has dismissed what he called ‘a media fixation’ on his time with the IRA and says he won’t apologise for the role he played.
The role of president in Ireland is mainly ceremonial – but it would be hugely symbolic if a man regarded by some as a former terrorist and by others as a reason the peace process developed in Northern Ireland gets the top job. His arrival into this new battle will undoubtedly concentrate the minds of the other parties, not least because he is already topping some opinion polls.
