Garvaghy Road – No Going Back.
As I write this column the situation on the Garvaghy Road is no closer to resolution. The Orange Order wants to walk through a nationalist community. The residents say no.
Outside of political unionism there has been widespread anger and shock at the decision of the Parades Commission to make a determination to facilitate that march. In July the Commission had said no to a march. What changed? If it was wrong for the Orange to march in July, or for the last 28 years, why is it ok in September? The Commission needs to explain this. Clearly and publicly.
The PSNI also needs to publish and explain its advice to the Parades Commission. The PSNI Chief Constable has a case to answer.
So too with the British Secretary of State. Flying in from Wales to his Castle here to treat us to meaningless NIO double speak is insulting to us all. Including the Orange. The sooner we get the British government out of our affairs the better. But in the meantime let’s try not to get too angry at the usual NIO scripted PR platitudes and patronising sound bites.
I was on Garvaghy Road thirty years ago during all those dark days. I was back on Sunday. Fair play to the folks there, to the Residents’ Coalition and its leaders and to all who made a stand in support of the people of Garvaghy Road. Very well done.
Gaza - Largest concentration camp in World
In 2009 I visited the Gaza Strip. The Israeli siege of the Palestinian territory had been going on for around four years. Gaza was at that time the largest open air prison in the world. Twenty-one years later and it has been blasted beyond recognition by Israel and is now the largest concentration camp in the world. An estimated 75,000 Palestinians are dead, including over 20,000 children. Thousands more lie buried beneath the rubble.
The genocide began three years ago next week. The anger of many in the world at Israel was witnessed last week in the United Nations when many of the delegates walked out when Netanyahu got up to speak.
To its shame the Irish government chose to stay. Later in his speech Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the General Assembly that, “when the full truth of what has happened - what is still happening - in Gaza is finally known, when the evidence is gathered, when the testimonies are heard, when the true horrors are finally and fully revealed, it will shame the world. Nobody will be able to say that we did not know. Let it not be said that we did not act.”
Another Poll
Once upon a time elites ‘read the runes’ as a way of foretelling the future. For some it was about interpreting symbols carved into stones or bones. For others it involved reading the entrails of animals. The practice is called haruspicy and it was about predicting the future.
Today, we have opinion polling to discern the mood of people and their likely attitude to specific issues, mostly but not exclusively in respect of elections.
Hardly a week goes passed without a media broadcaster, newspaper or academic institution producing an opinion poll. I have a healthy scepticism of polls. Long experience North and South has led me to question their accuracy, especially when looking at the Sinn Féin vote. However, they can be a useful barometer of the public mood at a given time and of possible emerging trends.
Opinion polls have also focussed on the related issues of Irish Unity and a referendum on Irish Unity.
