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What you want to say – 24 June 2020 June 24, 2020

Posted by WorldbyStorm in Uncategorized.
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As always, following on Dr. X’s suggestion, it’s all yours, “announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose”, feel free.

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1. sonofstan - June 24, 2020

I don’t know if anyone else here likes David Squires’ football related comic strip in the Guardian, but there was a rather depressing outpouring BTL of aggrieved white people arguing that they do matter, and that there was nothing wrong with the banner flown over the Etihad the other night. One correspondent came up with a useful rejoinder: if there’s five houses on a street and one of them is on fire, the fire brigade doesn’t need to go to the other four just so they don’t feel left out.

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2. Joe - June 24, 2020

Archon has had his five minutes of fame with his “A flaky website that purports to be ‘leftist,’ The Cedar Lounge Revolution, occasionally makes a relevant point or two.”

I propose we take it down from the mast and replace it with this pithy line from the bould Sally Rooney “May the revolution be swift and brutal”. It’s ideologically sound and it might tempt in some participation by the new generation of socialists that’s supposed to be out there somewhere.

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WorldbyStorm - June 24, 2020

Hmmmmm not agin taking down the former it’s had its day as you say but brutal… are there more quotes from her?

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EWI - June 24, 2020

‘Brutal’ as in ‘awful’, or ‘brutal’ as in ‘a baton to the face’?

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Joe - June 24, 2020

Ok. Careful now. It’s a line in the novel Normal People. Spoken by one of the two principal characters to the other, Connell to Marianne or vice versa, when one says to the other that they had been on an anti-austerity march. So it’s written by Sally Rooney in a work of fiction.
It’s a bit of a throwaway remark I guess.
Maybe I could find which of them said it and the strapline could be: “May the revolution be swift and brutal” – Marianne Wozzname. So it would be clear that it’s a quote from a fictional character, not necessarily the views of anyone on here, but it still might tempt in those youngish people…

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alanmyler - June 24, 2020

But why would you want to bring in the youngish people, sure isn’t it well known that the CLR is just an old boys (and girls) club for middle-aged has-beens like ourselves to grumble into our mugs of tea about how brilliant the politics was back in the 80s and it’s all gone to pot since. Sure look how it worked out when that young whippersnapper MarkP used to comment here, he was so disrespectful, deserved a good clap on the ear so he did, the pup. If you really want to bring in the youth I think we’ll have to give up the blog format and move to Insta. WBS, how are you with the influencer thing, do you need any tips from a digital marketing expert / teenager?

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3. tomasoflatharta - June 24, 2020

Most lives contain a mix of the Good, Bad, and Ugly. The long war in the bit of Ireland 🇮🇪 directly controlled by Britain 🇬🇧 finished in the 1990’s, and was, according to the Official Version (OV), replaced by peace. We are all expected to go along with the OV, while the British and Irish ruling classes protect their own interests. We are supposed to Keep Up Appearances (KUA)!

OV’s and KUA are politically lethal. People rise to the top who are masters of loyalty to leadership hierarchies, which protect reactionary unethical behaviour. Bobby Storey was a very talented man. According to former Long Kesh prisoner Anthony McIntyre Storey held his nerve during a daring 1983 prison escape :

McIntyre said that when the 1983 escape started going wrong after the prisoners reached the Maze tally lodge Storey took control of the situation. “He held it together, thought on his feet, and directed people as to what to do. I later asked him how he’d managed that. He said he had been as terrified as everybody else, but the trick lay in overcoming those feelings and getting the job done.”

Storey probably masterminded the 2004 Northern Bank robbery and a 2002 IRA raid of British Secret Service Headquarters in Castlereagh. In both instances the Peace Process motored along very smoothly. KUA triumphed. The organisation which robbed the bank raid and broke into Castlereagh was supposed to be on a ceasefire. And there was a dark side – Bobby Storey was totally loyal to a party leadership which protected its own interests. Gerry Adams never had to account for the disappearance of Jean McConville. How much else is hidden from view?

Bobby Storey, and his organisation, prop up a Stormont Parliament in Belfast, run by a corrupt politician called Arlene Foster, responsible for a major financial scandal, the Renewable Heat Initiative (RHI). Keeping Up Appearances. https://tomasoflatharta.wordpress.com/2020/06/24/bobby-storey-has-passed-away-suzanne-breen-reviews-the-life-of-a-peace-process-ira-soldier/

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4. CL - June 24, 2020

Looks like Jamaal Bowman has defeated 16th-term incumbent Eliot Engel in the Democratic Party primary for NY’s 16th Congressional District. Engel is Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and a Co-Chair of the Congressional Ad Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs.
“He supported the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, and aided Irish nationals facing deportation from the United States.[61] He has been a friend of Gerry Adams, former leader of Sinn Féin”-WIKI.

“a review of Engel’s foreign policy record shows just how much he has in common with the Republican Party.”
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/why-is-gop-money-going-to-democratic-congressman-eliot-engel/

Engel was endorsed by Nancy Pelosi and Hilary Clinton, Bowman by Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and AOC.
AOC easily defeated her Wall Street-backed primary challenger.
These results will not be official until next week after the mail-in ballots are counted.
Both Bowman and Engel grew up in public housing projects in the Bronx.

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CL - June 25, 2020

“I’m a Black man raised by a single mother in a housing project. That story doesn’t usually end in Congress. But today, that 11-year-old boy beaten by police is about to be your Representative. I can’t wait to get to DC and cause problems for those maintaining the status quo.” While Bowman leads by over 25 percentage points, many absentee ballots have not been counted yet.”
https://www.democracynow.org/2020/6/25/headlines/jamaal_bowman_declares_victory_over_rep_eliot_engel_in_new_york_primary

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5. tomasoflatharta - June 24, 2020

A deadline of June 30 2020 approaches – if a government is not formed by then, the non-jury Special Criminal Court, will die.

Paul Murphy TD has a clear policy :

Abolish the Special Criminal Court

This no-jury court has been responsible for numerous false convictions, it has no place in a democratic society. It has allowed the state to abuse its power to frame innocent people for crimes they have not committed.

It is an affront to the right to a fair trial. It is an affront to the right to be tried by a jury of your peers. It is an affront to the idea of equality before the law. It is an affront to basic civil liberties. It is an affront to human rights as a whole. There are many ways to deal with potential jury intimidation which don’t require a subversion of our fundamental democratic rights.

But, hold on – cavalry are charging to the rescue!

Members of the Irish Senate are on manoeuvres to the right of Leo Varadkar’s lame duck Fine Gael government.

The linked article below clarifies that if the Michael McDowell led legal challenge succeeds, the grossly undemocratic non-jury Special Criminal Court will not die on June 30 next.

It makes sense that the right-wing McDowell, a former government minister belonging to the extinguished Progressive Democrat party, takes legal action to extend the life-span and powers of the lame duck Varadkar régime. McDowell is joined by legal colleague Ivana Bacik of the Labour Party and assorted gombeens from Seanad Éireann!

Is this part of the final political epitaph of the Irish Labour Party – we saved the Special Criminal Court with Michael McDowell? https://tomasoflatharta.wordpress.com/2020/06/24/abolish-the-special-criminal-court-it-will-die-if-an-irish-government-is-not-formed-on-june-30-but-sinn-fein-and-the-labour-party-are-riding-to-rescue-it/

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6. pettyburgess - June 24, 2020

A watershed moment in Irish politics today: Sinn Fein for the first time in its history did not vote against the Offences Against the State Act and the attendant emergency powers, including the non jury Special Criminal Court. It is hard to imagine them sending a stronger signal that their house training has been completed and the state does not have to fear their involvement in government.

With the Greens also abandoning their traditional civil liberties opposition to the OASA, the only voices against were Solidarity – People Before Profit and the SocDems. Strong speeches as you would expect from Paul Murphy (Rise) and Brid Smith (PBP). Fair play to Catherine Murphy (Soc Dems) for being the only liberal speaker to show some backbone when it comes to civil liberties.

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CL - June 24, 2020

“Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar ruled out a coalition with the republican party because of its view on the court. Meanwhile his Fianna Fáil counterpart Micheál Martin said Sinn Féin always votes against the Offences Against the State Act, which legislates for the court, on instruction from “their IRA old comrades”….

Several organisations including the United Nations, Amnesty and the Irish Council on Civil Liberties (ICCL) have long-standing opposition to the court. The UN first said it was “not justified” in 1993 and it has repeated that stance several times in the decades since.
Commenting on the court in November 2018, the UN’s counter-terrorism expert, professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, said:

‘The island of Ireland, more so than many parts of the world, has experienced emergency law, emergency practice and the seepage of the exceptional into the ordinary in ways that has not served the rule of law nor the protection of human rights well.’

Mary Robinson…has criticised the court several times over the decades.”
https://www.thejournal.ie/special-criminal-court-explainer-4993281-Feb2020/

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7. Jim Monaghan - June 24, 2020

Anyone else get the Epoch Times dropped in thier letterbox. Totally biased Trumpist propaganada agianist China. China demonised. (Oh I do think China, like most countries made msitakes over the Virus). Well produced, expensive. I wonder who is paying for it

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alanmyler - June 24, 2020

Falun Gong according to wikipedia.

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Jim Monaghan - June 25, 2020

Eccentric sect. Though the degree they are suppressed is mindboggling. What, as much of a nuisance as say the Jehovah Witnesses or the Mormons? And the refusal to allow various Christian groups to practice in full. There is an official Catholic Church and an unofficial one which recognises the Pope. Though much, much, bigger is the systematic repression and “re-education of the Uyghurs.
Going back to the above journal, misinformation and/or exaggeration is becoming more and more the norm. Funded propaganda by the US, Russia and China has escalated. Every statement by Trump that China invented the Virus is countered by one by China that it was the US. Those not us on social media will have seen huge amounts of nonsense, eg anti-Vaxx stuff and worse. Believed by many.
The world needs an objective report on the Virus. There will be other pandemics. But such is the fog of lies and misinformation, the truth will probably never emerge. I think we need to learn lessons on how to deal with this stuff.
And to add to our woes, rumbles of war between India and China. Maybe dig that shelter in the backyard.

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Gavin Mendel-Gleason - June 25, 2020

Falun Gong is a CIA funded wedge used by the yanks to attack China. They have publications all over the place in the US – far beyond what their numbers could support.

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8. Joe - June 24, 2020
9. Abolish The Special Criminal Court – it will die if an Irish Government is not formed on June 30 – but Sinn Féin and the Labour Party are riding to rescue it! | Tomás Ó Flatharta - June 24, 2020

[…] “With the Greens also abandoning their traditional civil liberties opposition to the OASA, the only voices against were Solidarity – People Before Profit and the SocDems. Strong speeches as you would expect from Paul Murphy (Rise) and Brid Smith (PBP). Fair play to Catherine Murphy (Soc Dems) for being the only liberal speaker to show some backbone when it comes to civil liberties.” https://cedarlounge.wordpress.com/2020/06/24/what-you-want-to-say-24-june-2020/#comment-771420 […]

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10. roddy - June 24, 2020

Tomas ,the only people to link Gerry to Jean Mcconville were that fucker McIntyre ,Maloney and a handful of bitter dissidents who all wanted to “get” Adams.The Boston tapes fiasco backfired big time on them and they have been scrambling around ever since trying to be relevant,and their latest attacks on Storey arepart of this.

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11. tomasoflatharta - June 24, 2020

Who said “”The use of repressive measures within the Criminal Justice system is not confined to the six counties. Sinn Féin have consistently called for the abolition of the Special Criminal Court in Dublin. The ending of the Special Criminal Court and the repeal of the Offences Against the State Act are required under strand three of the Good Friday Agreement.”

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12. CL - June 24, 2020

The dismal pseudo-science, economics, hasn’t quite recovered from the crash of 2008. Some recent critical works, selected by Martin Wolf.

“Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism
ANNE CASE AND ANGUS DEATON, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, RRP$27.95/£20
This book builds upon the seminal finding of the two authors that the mortality rates of middle-aged white Americans stopped falling in the 21st century and for the non-college-educated, in particular, have since been rising. The perversities of America’s profit-driven healthcare system do much to explain the rising death rate. The failings of modern American capitalism helped create the despair. Behind both the deaths and the despair is the role of money in US politics. This book is of the highest importance….

Poverty is Not Natural
GEORGE CURTIS, SHEPHEARD-WALWYN, RRP£10
George Curtis has a soft spot for Henry George. So do I. George famously argued that landowners are among the biggest gainers from economic progress. Yet they do not create that wealth. They benefit from the investments, ingenuity and labour of others. The answer, George suggested, was to transfer the increased value of land into the hands of the public. Curtis agrees with this proposal, as do I. It would not solve all our economic and social problems. But it would help….

The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and How to Build a Better Economy
STEPHANIE KELTON, PUBLIC AFFAIRS, RRP$30/JOHN MURRAY, RRP£20
Modern monetary theory has become a driving idea of the modern left. The government, proponents argue, can print as much money as it wants to fund whatever it wishes. The only constraint is excess demand and so inflation. This book by a prominent advocate is going to be influential. In my view, it is right and wrong. It is right, because there is no simple budget constraint. It is wrong, because it will prove impossible to manage an economy sensibly once politicians believe there is no budget constraint.

Trade Wars are Class Wars.
MATTHEW C. KLEIN AND MICHAEL PETTIS, YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS, RRP$28/£20
This is a very important book. Its central argument is that “A global conflict between economic classes within countries is being misinterpreted as a series of conflicts between countries with competing interests. The danger is a repetition of the 1930s, when a breakdown of the international economic and financial order undermined democracy and encouraged virulent nationalism.” Policies that generate high inequality and excessive private savings must end if economic stability is to be restored.”
https://www.ft.com/content/74448b70-b144-11ea-a4b6-31f1eedf762e

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13. tomasoflatharta - June 25, 2020

Mainstream USA politics is dominated by the Republican and Democratic parties, which are a Tweedledee-Tweedledum option.

An antidote for the radical left can be an erupting mass movement – a factor largely absent from the American continent for decades, but suddenly back in play since police officer Derek Chauvin choked gentle giant George Floyd to death in Minnesota.

The Black Lives Matter Movement has swept through the American continent, and detonated anti-racist protests across the globe, including Ireland.

First example : a wonderful mural in Tallaght, a working class district of Dublin, the constituency of RISE radical left TD Paul Murphy. https://tomasoflatharta.wordpress.com/2020/06/25/the-struggle-has-moved-far-beyond-bernie-international-socialism-project/

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14. sonofstan - June 25, 2020

Manchester University Press have a 50% off thing going on. Loads of Irish related stuff, though it’s not that easy to find, since what’s visible under the ‘Irish’ tag is but a fraction of it.

https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/

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alanmyler - June 25, 2020

I’ve been wanting to buy Phil Edwards’ book “More Work! Less Pay!” for years but even with 50% off it’s still 40 quid 😦

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sonofstan - June 25, 2020

Clearly you need the title in reverse….

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alanmyler - June 25, 2020

Don’t we all SoS.

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sonofstan - June 25, 2020

I have a hunch that academic publishing in its current form, and that kind of price point, will be a memory quite soon. It’s sustained by library sales, but students and some academics, unlike us, now prefer ebooks. The hard copy monograph at €80-100 may not be long for this world.

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15. roddy - June 25, 2020

Similar murals have appeared in SF stronghold of west Belfast weeks ago.But I suppose they dont count.

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sonofstan - June 25, 2020

Why wouldn’t they count?
On that subject, there’s a substantial collection of murals from your part of the island (see how I skipped the naming issue there?) here:
http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/mni

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16. CL - June 25, 2020

The BLM movement is galvanizing both right and left for the coming presidential election.

“BLM’s #WhatMatters2020 is a campaign aimed to maximize the impact of the BLM movement by galvanizing BLM supporters and allies to the polls in the 2020 U.S Presidential Election to build collective power and ensure candidates are held accountable for the issues that systematically and disproportionately impact Black and under-served communities across the nation.”
https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-matters-2020/

“New York City will paint ‘Black Lives Matter’ on street in front of Trump Tower”
https:/thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/504382-new-york-city-will-paint-black-lives-matter-on-street-in-front-of-trump

Trump’s consigliere, Rudy Giuliani, is leading the racist reaction:

Rudy Giuliani went on an ugly, fearmongering rant against the Black Lives Matter movement on Monday, warning viewers of Fox News that the activist group “wants to come and take your house away from you.”
Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, claimed BLM was part of an organized anarchist network that wants to “destroy” the U.S. government, “do away with our system of courts” and “take your property away and give to other people.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rudy-giuliani-black-lives-matter-house_n_5ef1decac5b6de87f9f0f704

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Starkadder - June 25, 2020

Anarchists? Now that’s a throwback. Usually it’s the “Moozlims” or before that, the “Commies.” You’d have to go back to Teddy Roosevelt for some good old-fashioned anarchist-bashing.

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CL - June 25, 2020

For the alt right, anarchists are marxists, and marxists anarchists,-and maybe Muslims too.

“The co-founder of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, Patrisse Cullors, was the protégé of a communist-supporting domestic terrorist for over a decade, spending years training in political organizing and absorbing the radical Marxist-Leninist ideology which shaped her worldview.”

“Eric Mann, who mentored Cullors for over a decade in community organizing, was a member of radical-left militant groups: Students for a Democratic Society and the Weather Underground, which bombed government buildings and police stations in the 1960s and 1970s.”
https:/www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/06/24/black-lives-matter-founder-mentored-by-ex-domestic-terrorist-who-worked-with-bill-ayers/

So there is definitely continuity between the current movement and ’60s radicals.

“Eric Mann (born December 4, 1942, Brooklyn, New York) is a civil rights, anti-war, labor, and environmental organizer whose career spans 50 years.[1] He has worked with the Congress of Racial Equality, Newark Community Union Project, Students for a Democratic Society, the Black Panther Party, the United Automobile Workers (including eight years on auto assembly lines) and the New Directions Movement.”-Wiki.

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17. sonofstan - June 25, 2020

Keir Starmer has sacked Rebecca Long-Bailey for re-tweeting an interview with Maxine Peake where she suggests that Chicago Police may have borrowed the methods of the IDF – this is being interpreted an ‘anti-semitism’.
Unless there’s much more to it, this is an unbelievable over-reaction.

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6to5against - June 25, 2020

It’s depressing, isn’t it?
Hard to see it as anything other than an attempt to ingratiate himself with a media world that has no interest in supporting him. And which will instead run with the story that the Labour party’s anti-Semitism has again been demonstrated.
All of which undermines any actual anti racist activism.

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sonofstan - June 25, 2020

There was a fair bit of sotto voce muttering about an Irish catholic cabal running the Labour party before the last election, because RL-B, Milne and Richard Burgon (and maybe one or two others) like millions of English people, are of Irish ancestry. Paul Mason crudely attacked her, for one.

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WorldbyStorm - June 25, 2020

It really does seem a stretch doesn’t it. I’m not her biggest fan but this seems far far too abrupt and disproportionate.

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sonofstan - June 25, 2020

I’m reminded of EamonnCork’s great phrase about apologising to the invisible Englishman: Starmer is attempting to appease interests who have no interest in being appeased – or in ever seeing a Labour government elected, which I’m beginning to think includes some sections of the LP.

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WorldbyStorm - June 25, 2020

+1

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6to5against - June 25, 2020

‘Apologising to the invisible Englishman’ is a perfect analogy. But, given that they’re all English ( whatever their background), what is the equivalent? The invisible …..?

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sonofstan - June 25, 2020

Daily Mail reader?

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Starkadder - June 27, 2020

Good comment about the Long-Bailey affair here:

A big problem with the RLB sacking is this is basically party-management as cancel culture (which was already being pioneered by the compliance unit 2015-7). It’s not democracy, it’s not grown up politics and it isn’t going to get us anywhere good.

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EWI - June 26, 2020

https://twitter.com/jrc1921/status/1276154775030181888?s=21

I did say at the time that the ‘anti-semitism’ business was a dirty tricks campaign against the Corbynites.

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sonofstan - June 26, 2020

Yep.
The old LBJ trick ‘let’s make him deny it’

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Daniel Rayner O'Connor - June 26, 2020

Actually, it goes back to Goebbels, if not further.

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18. Paddy Healy - June 25, 2020

The probably incoming Fianna Fail/Fine Gael/Green Party Government supports the continuing status of Shannon Airport as a USA Warport under the long standing policy of “military neutrality’ which actually means support for Ireland being a de facto US Aircraft Carrier and integrating the Irish Defence Forces into an EU Army via PESCO.
Their programme for Government has now changed their policy of “miitary neutrality” into “active military neutrality” which can only mean active support for the perpetual wars of the USA and acceleration of our integration into an EU Army via PESCO.
Roger Cole
Chair, Peace & Neutrality Alliance

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19. roddy - June 25, 2020

A similar situation exists here where the political slogan “Brits out” is twisted to mean “an attack on the Protestant community “.Brits out never meant anything other than an end to British rule and the removal of its troops but if you call for that now you are a “sectarian bigot”!

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20. CL - June 25, 2020

Newspapers collapse.

“At least 38,000 news company workers from journalists to commercial staff have been furloughed, laid off or taken pay cuts in the US since March…
newspapers and magazines hosted half of all advertising spending worldwide in 2000. Inside two decades their share of that roughly $530bn market has fallen to less than 10 per cent, with platforms such as Google and Facebook scooping up the bulk of local and classified advertising. Coronavirus is dismantling what was left — some newspapers report that advertising was down between 50 and 90 per cent in April….
The question is how far the subscriber model will stretch and whether it could ever replace the income from advertising….

Research by Oxford university’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism has shown that even the minority willing to pay for news largely do so for one publication — creating “winner-takes-most” markets. While the audience for online news jumped to new highs during the pandemic, most sites convert fewer than 1 per cent of website visitors into paying readers.” (no paywall)
https://www.ft.com/content/b6fdec4c-e3e7-43b9-a804-03c435de65bb

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tafkaGW - June 26, 2020

“even the minority willing to pay for news largely do so for one publication — creating “winner-takes-most” markets.”

This is a core problem, if we’re ever to have more diverse news sources. And I don’t know what the answer is. I try to pay for left news and opinion to the extent I can afford it, and use the rest for free. I’d love to be able to support a federated news feed that took material from different sources.

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21. Starkadder - June 25, 2020

Worrying news. Not helped by the fact that, as Ron Formisano pointed out a few years ago, an increasing number of US journalists come from wealthy families. Soon the profession will be dominated by wealthy centrists, while journalists from blue-collar background get cast out when the smaller outlets collapse.

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sonofstan - June 26, 2020

Yeah..journalism used to be a way for bright men (almost always) from working class backgrounds to enter a profession without going to university. The recognised route of an apprenticeship on a local paper leading to the national press was one taken by a generation now at retirement age.

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22. tafkaGW - June 26, 2020

Anyone have any inside knowledge about the way the Green Party vote will go today? To listen to the media, you’d think it was a done deal.

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23. roddy - June 26, 2020

I’d say they know from the phone voting ,that it has passed.

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24. tomasoflatharta - June 26, 2020

While the rest of the world is rocked by an anti-racist uprising, sparked by a the actions of a USA cop Derek Chauvin

– murdering George Floyd, the killer-cop kneeling on his victim’s neck for nearly nine minutes, choking him to death live on camera

A British political leader sacks a colleague who draws attention to Derek Chauvin style police misbehaviour in a faraway country which is a strong political ally of the USA – Israel.

Palestinian Lives Matter
Could a copy of Sir Keir Starmer get away with this shite in most parts of Ireland?

Probably not, unless you were a leading light in the Fine Gael Party – for example Charlie Flanagan TD.

This sort of political shite might go down well with Stormont First Minister Arlene Foster of the Democratic Unionist Party. https://tomasoflatharta.wordpress.com/2020/06/26/unravelling-the-sacking-of-rebecca-long-bailey-jewish-voice-for-labour/

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25. tafkaGW - June 26, 2020

I know calling out Brexiteer lies is as pointless as calling out those of Trump, but the claim from Bojo that there is no working Covid19 tracing app is egregious and will kill yet more people in Brexitania needlessly.

The German Corona-Warn-App is rolled out and fully open source – mobile app and backend infrastructure and here

https://github.com/corona-warn-app

for any government to download and use.

And that includes the RoI BTW – the sooner we have a common EU standard in place the better.

What is more the app and the documentation is already in English so there is just no monoglotal excuse.

It’s been vetted for privacy violations and given a clean bill of health by independent auditors who are usually highly critical of government software.

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26. Jim Monaghan - June 26, 2020

Pre opening sale here. Review her “Shaun Harkin reviews three books on the impact of imperialism and colonialism on Ireland’s economic development

Ireland’s Economic History:
Crisis and Uneven Development in the North and South
By Gerard McCann
Pluto Press, 2011 · 240 pages · $30.00

Ireland in the World Order:
A History of Uneven Development
By Maurice Coakley
Pluto Press, 2012 · 256 pages · $33.00

Towards A Second Republic:
Irish Politics After the Celtic Tiger
By Peadar Kirby and Mary P. Murphy
Pluto Press, 2011 · 240 pages · $30.00
https://isreview.org/issue/90/irelands-uneven-developmentTHE REPUBLIC of Ireland’s unprecedented economic expansion between 1995 and 2007 was widely viewed with wonder and celebrated by the advocates of neoliberalism as a model for other developing countries. According to McCann, during this period of unprecedented growth southern Ireland went “very quickly from being one of the least developed regions in the European Union, in constant need of structural funding, to being statistically on par with Japan and the United States in per capita GDP terms.”

All of this came to a halt beginning in 2007. As the shockwaves of Wall Street’s meltdown spread out from New York City harbor and east across the Atlantic, capital inflows to Ireland abruptly ended, American corporations vanished, and property prices collapsed. The Irish government bailed out Irish banks with taxpayer savings. In exchange for loans to cover massive debt, the Irish government invited the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission, and the European Central Bank to Dublin to determine austerity measures and future economic policy. Unemployment rocketed, migration reversed, and austerity policies cut social services to the bone.”
https://www.thesecretbookstore.ie/products/ireland-in-the-world-order-a-history-of-uneven-development-maurice-coakley?fbclid=IwAR2gr-qKGVbuKIWOLV7Ql3L_UEBkPlIcNlvMTCMvzZo8oQRdSLpr-Uje8xQ

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27. Liberius - June 26, 2020

I suppose five months on the calculation will be that not enough people will care for it to be much of a problem, probably correct given that it didn’t really impact their GE campaign.

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28. roddy - June 26, 2020

Seems GP have backed deal .Some pro TD tweeted a smiley face about 15 mins ago.

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29. tomasoflatharta - June 27, 2020

A barely believable story is confirmed, and extra details make it a worse scandal.

It seems Holohan has been re-admitted to the Sinn Féin Party.

“In January, Sinn Féin Cllr Paddy Holohan made headlines after he questioned Leo Varadkar’s links to Ireland because of his Indian ancestry, and then made a series of highly-criticised remarks about women https://bit.ly/31k3uVj” https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/sinn-féin-says-it-was-not-aware-of-paddy-holohan-s-nomination-for-mayor-1.4289812

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30. tomasoflatharta - June 27, 2020

Many people were startled by this news report :

Paddy Holohan suspended by Sinn Féin for remarks about women and underage girls during #ge2020 tonight nominated for Mayor of South Dublin by Sinn Féin councillors.

“Paddy Holohan

@PaddyHolohanMMA

County Council Annual General Meeting.

Honoured to be nominated in the running for Mayor of South Dublin by my sinn_fein comrades, Congratulations to the incoming mayor and a job welldone to the outgoing Mayor… https://instagram.com/p/CB5_3LFFiU3/?igshid=uy8eg795a10b

Mr Holohan made a number of racist and woman-hating statements, prompting his party leader Mary Lou McDonald to take swift disciplinary action in January 2020 : https://tomasoflatharta.wordpress.com/2020/06/27/strange-resurrection-in-tallaght-sinn-feins-martial-arts-fighter-paddy-holohan-returns-to-the-stage-after-a-5-month-suspension-political-gobshitism-in-action/

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CL - June 27, 2020

The suspension was lifted so Holohan is now a member in good standing and his Sinn Fein colleagues on the council have every right to nominate him for mayor.
Mr. Holohan was suspended for making racist, homophobic and misogynist remarks. If he still holds those views why was the suspension lifted?
On what grounds are Eoin Ó Broin and others opposed to his nomination?

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tomasoflatharta - June 27, 2020

Eoin Ó Broin TD

“I heard after the vote had taken place,” he said.

“Paddy received a five-month suspension for his comments, comments that don’t reflect our party policy and caused enormous anger, internally within the party and offence to members of the public.

“He was re-admitted, but I have to say I think it was wrong for the party councillors to nominate him and if I was on the council I wouldn’t have supported such a proposition.” Well done Eoin https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/sinn-fein-unaware-of-paddy-holohans-mayoral-nomination-but-it-was-wrong-1007827.html

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31. Paddy Healy - June 27, 2020

How should Socialists and Republicans throughout the 32-counties Respond to New Government  and the effects of Brexit in the coming Months?  How should we re-organise? Let the Discussion begin!    ht

The new FF/FG/GN Government in Dublin does not propose to put a penny tax on the assets of the incredibly wealthy Irish Super-Rich. On the other hand citizens generally will be forced to pay increased tax on petrol, diesel, home heating oil etc. Spending on public health services, social housing and caring services generally will continue to be grossly inadequate. Given the composition of the government , when additional borrowings arsing from Covid crisis come to be repaid, the imposition of a new set of austerity measures is inevitable. The extreme right-wing form of Brexit being prepared by the British Tories will lead to further burdens being imposed on the workers of both these islands. When Brexit is completed , Britain will be in a position to impose tariffs on 26-county exports and to import cheap sub-standard meat and other foods from low cost countries. Communities on both sides of the Irish border may be badly affected by new customs arrangements
more paddyhealywordpress

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32. Paddy Healy - June 27, 2020

Extract from Letter from RISE to Green Dissidents
Participating in social movements will be difficult to square with membership of a government party. You should get out now!

Left-wing activists who oppose coalition with Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael and leave the Green Party can play a crucial role in building a broad party of the anti-capitalist and eco-socialist left. From our perspective in RISE, these movements would be tremendously strengthened with a broad party of the left, encompassing all who share a commitment to people-power movements to drive change and oppose austerity, oppression, and coalition with the establishment parties.

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33. Tomboktu - June 30, 2020

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34. Edmund Corque - June 30, 2020

Should be in signs of hope but I can’t find it.
Big successes for the EELV, basically the French Greens, in the municipal elections here. They scored seven shocks wins in mayoral contests, including the 2nd (Marseille), 3rd (Lyon), 6th (Bordeaux) and 9th (Strasbourg) biggest cities.
They’d be well to the left of our own beloved Greens. Macron’s response mirrors that of Leo after the Euros here in that he’s announced lots of environmental measures with even the possibility of a referendum to gain popular support for them.
The decline of the Socialist Party continues but they did hold on to Paris. I suppose you could argue that it might be healthier from a left wing perspective had Melenchon’s France Insoumise made the breakthrough rather than the EELV but I’m encouraged. I do think the environmental issue will grow in importance politically over the next decade.
Macron’s party/movement had a very poor local election and Le Monde, hardly the most panicky of newspapers, suggested he’s now suffering from a ‘democratic deficit.’
It looks like the French situation is still very much in flux and that the centre isn’t holding as it looked it might when Macron was elected in 2017. I can see a run-off between EELV and Le Pen in two years time.
The NF won their first every mayoralty in a city, Perpignan, but turned in their usual numbers and don’t seem to primed for that breakthrough which the Telegraph, Mail and most other English papers have been hyping up and hoping for since Brexit.
One caveat about the elections is that the turnout was historically low and you’d imagine that older voters fearful of Covid 19 might have been under represented. So The Republicans vote may have been artificially depressed.
Speaking of which Francois Fillon is after getting a few years in jail for the crime of employing his wife as a parliamentary assistant so she could draw big wages while not doing any work. Imagine!
He’d actually be President now had Le Canard Enchaine not broken this story during the campaign. The French press across the spectrum have a pretty good record of doing this kind of thing.

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Fergal - June 30, 2020

French Greens are the reverse of Irish ones…70% left and 30% ‘realists’… (joke!)

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tafkaGW - June 30, 2020

Interesting: thanks Edmund.

There was a fair bit in Die Zeit this morning about how Macron will talk a good game on Green recovery in order to capture votes he’s loosing to the Greens, but his record is pretty poor in delivering.

Does that sound at all familiar, I wonder?

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Bartholomew - June 30, 2020

‘Edmund Liège’, non?

Not a Standard name, of course.

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Joe - June 30, 2020

Very good Bart. But I think more likely a cousin of Edmund Spenser who spent some time in Corque in his day.

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Jim Monaghan - July 1, 2020

Amazingly, I read that the Roma community voted for Le Pen?

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Edmund Corque - July 1, 2020

I didn’t see that.
However the interesting thing about Perpignan is that in the campaign the candidate Louis Aliot distanced himself from Le Pen, who happens to be his former partner. Strictly speaking it wasn’t entirely a National Rally victory as there were some other hard right elements involved too.
Aliot has designs on replacing her on Le Pen at the helm.
As indeed does Marion Marechal, who to add to the I Claudius feel of things, is Marine’s niece and has received plenty of admiring foreign media coverage largely I suspect on the grounds that, like Justin Trudeau, she makes a compelling case against the saying that politics is showbusiness for ugly people.
Marechal’s recent dropping of Le Pen from her name perhaps indicates a feeling in the NR that they’re being held back by the perception that the party is a Le Pen franchise. There may some bloodletting ahead among these wonderful people.

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Jim Monaghan - July 1, 2020

Another survey of the results. https://tendancecoatesy.wordpress.com/2020/06/29/france-greens-and-left-in-local-election-victories/
“Municipales : de la dédiabolisation à la notabilisation, la stratégie Aliot pour conquérir Perpignan”
The interesting headline here. https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2020/01/27/municipales-de-la-dediabolisation-a-la-notabilisation-la-strategie-aliot-pour-conquerir-perpignan_6027389_823448.html
The mainstreaming of what is a semi if not full fascist current.

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35. tafkaGW - June 30, 2020

Poles abroad are complaining that they didn’t get ballot papers in time or at all, to give them a chance to vote against the PiSer president.

Perhaps the PiSers should take a leaf out of the RoI’s book and simply make it impossible for citizens living abroad to vote.

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36. CL - June 30, 2020

An interesting dynamic;

“Michelle O’Neill will need the help and support of Dublin’s coalition administration while Mary Lou McDonald is trying to undermine it….

Micheal Martin is centre stage. His relationship with the DUP leader Arlene Foster goes back more than a decade when he was Minister for Foreign Affairs (2008-2011) and she was one of Peter Robinson’s most loyal ministers. Micheál Martin and Arlene Foster have maintained the contacts, right up to recent days.

He also knows the SDLP leader, Colum Eastwood – the pair formally launched a ‘partnership’ in February 2019. Pat McPartland, one of the few in the tight Martin inner circle, is from an SDLP background in Co Armagh….
His challenge will come in his relationship with Sinn Féin. What are the chances of he and Michelle O’Neill finding a modus operandi while, south of the border, Mary Lou McDonald and her colleagues focus on tripping him up?”-Tommie Gorman
https://www.rte.ie/news/analysis-and-comment/2020/0629/1150408-ireland-100-year-war/

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37. roddy - June 30, 2020

I see uncle TOMmy Gorman still refers to FF/FG as “the big two”.

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Joe - June 30, 2020

Please. TOMmie.

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38. tomasoflatharta - June 30, 2020

This is a savage witty attack on USA President Donald Trump.

Europeans, like North Americans, are resisting buffoonish and stupid racist leaders – Viktor Orban of Hungary, Boris Johnson of Britain – and outright leader of the pack, Arlene Foster from the north of Ireland. https://tomasoflatharta.wordpress.com/2020/06/30/stupid-american/

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39. tomasoflatharta - June 30, 2020

The Sinn Féin organisers of Bobby Storey’s West Belfast funeral on June 30 2020 got plenty of advance warning – which they chose to ignore.

Suzanne Breen set the scene in the pages of the Belfast Telegraph :

Sinn Fein has adopted an uncompromising approach to fighting coronavirus in Northern Ireland. On school closures, workplace regulations and much more, the party has rightly insisted that health and safety trumps all else.

The funeral of Bobby Storey should be no different. No ifs, buts or maybes. It doesn’t matter that he was Sinn Fein’s northern chairman, spent 20 years in jail, or has heroic status for some in the republican community.

The same guidelines that apply when ordinary folk die apply to Bobby Storey, too. Just imagine the outrage there would be in the nationalist community if loyalists flouted the rules for a UDA or UVF funeral? https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/comment/sinn-fein-should-set-example-at-bobby-storeys-funeral-but-its-a-case-of-do-as-i-say-not-as-i-do-39319738.html

Dominic Cummings moments in the six county statelet :
https://tomasoflatharta.wordpress.com/2020/06/30/a-west-belfast-republican-funeral-breaches-coronavirus-restrictions-trouble-ahead/

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40. roddy - July 1, 2020

Tomas ,if you want to be taken seriously ,please dont quote Suzanne Breen,an anti SF obsessive who spent months one time “proving” Adams was a liar because of a song he said he sung in the Kesh.A guard was buried in the south last week and the entire free state establishment turned out with no social distancing whatsoever.Not a murmur from any media outlet about this especially Breen and her ilk.Similarly SDLP man Dallat was buried a month ago,newspaper photos clearly showed a complete lack of social distancing and again not a wimper.The thousands who lined the route were doing what people at every funeral both catholic and protestant that I attended this past 3 months did.In Rural areas this lining of the route involved hundreds ,so what would you expect in a densely populated area like W.Belfast.The actual cortege and church service involved only a few dozen ,the rest were bystanders.

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Pangurbán - July 1, 2020

A different set of rules for the elite…..pigs and 1984

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WorldbyStorm - July 1, 2020

I agree roddy, there’s a certain element of picking and choosing. On the other hand the photos from Milltown would be concerning. The big problem is how does one stop people in large numbers gathering in such circumstances and at such a time. We’ve seen with the BLM protests in the South and North how it is near impossible to prevent those large numbers congregating if they decide to. Policing this or using force or coercion to prevent crowds gathering seems impossible.

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Edmund Corque - July 1, 2020

I brought the kids to a wildlife park yesterday and it was the first time I’d been out in a crowd since March.
What struck me with really surprising force was how moved I just felt to be part of a communal experience at all and how much I’d missed it. I think it’s such an essential part of our experience that I’m not surprised people grasp at any opportunity to be part of one.
Social distancing was being scrupulously and cheerfully observed in this case which I suspect is probably the rule rather than the exception. There’s just not so many social media likes available from photos of people behaving themselves and making an effort.

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tafkaGW - July 1, 2020

It still could, and should, have been organised so that everyone wore a mask and kept at least 1.5 meters away from each other outdoors.

Pall-bearers perhaps an exception to the 1.5 meter rule.

For a funeral associated with a party which claims to want to govern for the good of all, that would have been better optics.

We’re just going to have to get used to doing things a bit differently.

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tafkaGW - July 1, 2020

Besides which masks stymie facial recognition.

I remember the joy of being able to walk through a group of Berlin police with my face covered. Normally the German police come down very hard on anyone trying to cover their face during a demonstration.

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41. roddy - July 1, 2020

Those on here who didnt mutter a single word about how the garda funeral was conducted are nothing but hypocrites.Nothing to say about the establishment that fuck you over but using Storey to get one over on those you really fight for votes.

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WorldbyStorm - July 1, 2020

Yeah, there’s something distasteful about the manner in which the two are covered. I noticed that last week about the Garda one and it struck me that there were a lot of people out and about. But as you say not one word. And of course to draw attention to the two is to face accusations of whataboutery. Still think they could have been more careful though at Milltown. The rest seemed pretty well organised.

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42. roddy - July 1, 2020

Another thing that will have to be covered at a much later date is the idea of Gardai driving round towns in plain clothes at midnight,fully tooled up with automatic weapons.

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43. Paddy Healy - July 4, 2020

Incisive Analysis by Paul Gillespie
World View: Ireland weaponised by London in Brexit talks
Full Article on my Blog
“Ireland is nevertheless being weaponised by London in the Brexit negotiations. The threat of a no-deal Brexit puts pressure on Ireland because reversion to world trade rules would put 57 per cent UK tariffs on Irish beef exports to the UK, where 40 per cent of output goes……..
If those driving EU Brexit policy believe these costs are worthwhile to make their desired transition, Ireland would become the geopolitical border between such new Anglo-American and Eurasian varieties of capitalism.”
Paul Gillespie Irish Times, Saturday, July 4, 2020,

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44. Paddy Healy - July 4, 2020

Comment by Paddy Healy Arising out of Article by Paul Gillespie
The necessity for All-Ireland unity and sovereignty is clearer than ever

Importantly, Paul Gillespie puts the Brexit issue in the context of sharpening inter-Imperialist contention. He refers to the two emerging “varieties of capitalism”-Anglo-American and Eurasian. Eurasian ,presumably, includes the EU and China and possibly Russia. Paul Gillespie also refers to the general belief that the Boris Johnson-led Tories want an extreme free market capitalist economy, in which the welfare state is further diluted and labour protections are virtually abolished. These developments would also impact on the population of “Northern Ireland”.
It is clear that the 26-county government has negligible sovereignty in relation to Brexit outcomes. The six-counties is British sovereign territory under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. In this context, the Irish People as a whole. north and south, could end up with the worst of all possible worlds. Deals, or conflicts, between the Franco-German Alliance, the US and the UK will decide the Brexit outcomes.
The necessity for All-Ireland unity and sovereignty is clearer than ever

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45. Paul Culloty - July 4, 2020

With elections in the Basque Country and Galicia on the 12th, Podemos is on the brink of extinction in the latter:

Fighting between Iglesias and the Galician branch of the party has seen their supporters return en masse to the left-wing nationalist party, the BNG, where many of the local Podemos founder members originated in 2012-14.

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Joe - July 5, 2020

Can’t make out the BNG in that graphic. Are they standing and what percentage might they get? What chance freedom for the Celtic people of Galicia. We need them independent and available to join the Celtic western atlantical confederation.

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Paul Culloty - July 5, 2020

Estimated currently at roughly 17-19% of the vote, and 14-15 seats out of 75, so level with the Socialists – ironically, the biggest problem Galician nationalists have had since autonomy was granted is that the local branch of the PP is very regionalist, and uses a lot of Galician-language campaign material.

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46. roddy - July 5, 2020

Almost unnoticed – 54% for indy in Alba!

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Colm B - July 5, 2020

It isn’t an outlier either, it’s part of a continued trend, though this is a big jump: almost the same as the 2014 referendum in reverse. If the polls are right and there’s a massive pro-indy majority (SNP+Greens) in next year’s Scottish Parliament elections the pressure for another referendum will be huge. Doesn’t mean the Tories will allow one but refusal will lead to crisis.

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WorldbyStorm - July 5, 2020

Wow, that’s a fascinating indication.

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Paul Culloty - July 5, 2020

In the unlikely event of Westminster allowing a second referendum, and it being won, I do wonder how Scottish politics reconfigure itself – would the SNP split into Social Democratic and Conservative wings, with Labour rolling into the former? Hard to see how the Tories would continue, unless a referendum on the monarchy gave them a new purpose, with the Greens leading the republicans.

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Colm B - July 5, 2020

I’d like to think Scottish politics would reconfigure but I don’t think the SNP would break up in the short term. If you look at countries which have gained independence the tendency is for there to be an independence dividend for the party that’s led (or perceived to have led) the struggle for independence, at least in the initial period.

That said, the next few years will be very volatile so, if it got their act together, the scattered forces of the pro-indy left could play an important role both during and after a referendum, as indeed it did via the Radical Independence Campaign in the last ref.

The Scottish Labour Party is an absolute busted flush, both it’s left and right wings completely discredited. It’s current messiah, Sir Keir, being resolutely anti-independence, will ensure that it’s doom is sealed in Scotland.

Roddy is right, Scottish independence is not just about Scotland, it will have profound implications for all of the parts of these islands. It will effectively spell the end of the British state, which can only be a profoundly progressive development.

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47. roddy - July 5, 2020

Big implications for the North too.Loyalists still cling to Scotland but like many other things ,the Scotland they empathise with no longer exists.

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Daniel Rayner O'Connor - July 5, 2020

And, as they say, “[Six County] Ulster is British”. But which British?

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Pangurbán - July 5, 2020

How about a new. Slogan

“Part of Ulster is English and Welsh “

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Joe - July 5, 2020

Ffs. British – English, Scottish, Welsh, and Ulster British. It’s pretty simple. ‘Which British’? is a bullshit question. If and when Scotland goes independent, the Ulster British will be the same as they are now – Ulster British.

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sonofstan - July 5, 2020

An independent Scotland and its citizens will also be British of course – being in Britain an’ all.

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Colm B - July 5, 2020

The names are not as important as the content of the identity though. The unionist/loyalist identity is partly based around symbols of Britishness so if Britain effectively ceases to exist then it’s fair to surmise that that might contribute to a change or even crisis of identity.
Also since the actual real links are to Scotland not “Britain”, then Scotland separating from the UK would possibly be a big challenge for that identity. Add to all this the fact that in terms of an ethnic identity that community is no longer a majority in NI.
I see all of this as having a potentially positive outcome. I don’t agree with the “ha ha the boots on the other foot now,” attitude towards the unionist community. I think the possibility of arrangements between Ireland and an independent Scotland could facilitate the peaceful integration of that community into a united Ireland in a way that would protect their rights and hopefully lead to the fading away of the reactionary, sectarian politics that has dominated it since the end of the 19th c.

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sonofstan - July 5, 2020

I basically agree Colm, but Britain won’t ‘cease to exist’: as a geographical entity, it will remain stubbornly one island. Another thing though: quite apart from the Northern Irish British, other communities claim that identity. Most people of BAME origin in England anyway (not sure about Scotland?) prefer to identify as British rather than ‘English’ which, for better or worse, is seen as signalling white.

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Joe - July 6, 2020

First I’m all for the fading away of the reactionary, sectarian politics. Everywhere.
And things happening that facilitate the peaceful integration of that community into a united Ireland in a way that would protect their rights … that would be pretty cool. I’d be all for it. It’d be some turnaround though. Scotland going independent might influence things a teeny weeny bit but afaik they’re pretty definite that they don’t want to join a UI, they’re very set in their ways about that. It’ll take a lot more than an indy Scotland, that’s for sure.

Identities, cultures, ethnicities – these can be very hard things to define and get one’s head around. Sometimes I think that the way the Ulster British define themselves is ‘we’re not them’, them being the Irish nationalists, if you follow.
“The unionist/loyalist identity is partly based around symbols of Britishness so if Britain effectively ceases to exist …”
Ok, if Scotland goes independent Britain will be changed for sure but it won’t cease to exist. Like SoS said it’s an island and as far as I know yis are both on it. So, Scotland goes independent… symbols of Britishness like a flag, the f’ing crown, fish and chips, the bulldog, a good sense of humour, whatever you are having yourself, will still exist. And I’m sure the Ulster British will be happy to latch onto them.
“Also since the actual real links are to Scotland not “Britain””. I don’t get that. Their MPs go to Westminster, boats and planes sail and fly to both Scotland and England, the f’in crown they seem to love is in England most of the time. So ‘the actual real links are to Scotland’? I know Ulster Scots is a variant of Scots. And I know historically many of the planters were lowland Scots. And I know the Orange Order is bigger in Scotland than in England, though an irrelevance thankfully in both places. But I don’t see that the actual realy links are to Scotland not Britain. They see themselves as British. Britain may change, but it won’t go away and they’ll still see themselves as British.

And finally… SoS says “An independent Scotland and its citizens will also be British of course – being in Britain an’ all.” I’ve asked this question on here before. Irish nationalists would never call themselves British … that was the point of the whole thing wasn’t it … we wanted out and that meant us saying to them ‘we’re not British, we’re Irish’. But Scottish nationalists? That’s not a big thing with them is it? That is, they’re not caught up much in saying ‘I’m not British, I’m Scottish’. They just want to say ‘I’m Scottish’ and they want Scotland as an independent country.
What I’m trying to say is a Scottish nationalist wouldn’t punch you in the gob if you said to them they were British – whereas an Irish nationalist probably would.

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WorldbyStorm - July 6, 2020

I don’t know about that last – wouldn’t Scottish nationalists actually see not being ‘British’ as being fairly fundamental to their self perception? Tom Nairn’s book which I haven’t read in an age was after all the break up of Britain, not the UK (in its title). In other words Britain is a short hand for the current political entity they want out. All that said I imagine you’re right that Britain as that shorthand would continue to cover England Wales and NI however imprecisely though I do think the loss of Scotland would be a massive hit for the concept and reality of ‘Great Britain’. And I do think that the physical / geographic realities of an England that has been half hearted in the extreme in reciprocating unionist fealty is likely to be accentuated by a Scotland that was outside the union and their nearest neighbour after the ROI. So things would change one way or another and to some degree.

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Joe - July 6, 2020

“I don’t know about that last – wouldn’t Scottish nationalists actually see not being ‘British’ as being fairly fundamental to their self perception?”

I guess we’ll have to find some Scottish nationalists and ask them. I’d like to ask the 54% who are in favour of independence in that latest referendum. I’m sure they’ve been asked in some way, in some poll, already.

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Colm B - July 6, 2020

I’m afraid you’re wrong their Joe, Scots nationalists and in fact a majority of all Scots now definitely don’t identify as British. It’s not seen by anyone here as a geographic designation. In any case, the term British is usually used to indicate a national identity not an marker of birth on the island of Britain, as in Falkland Islanders or Gibraltarians identify as British.

There were traditionally two groups of people who strongly identified as British in Scotland – loyalists in the west of Scotland and Tory types in rural areas. They still do I guess, though the loyalist identity is weakened significantly.
The other two groups that tended to use that designation did so for very different reasons: liberal middle class types who saw it as a sort of non-ethnic identity but that’s faded quite a bit since the Brexit referendum. People of Pakistani background, concentrated in Glasgow, also identified as British, as they do throughout the UK, but that has also changed rapidly with the demise of the Labour Party in that community. Most younger people now identify as Scots-Asian and tend to vote SNP.

The problem for the Ulster-British/unionist community is that very few people in England, outside of the furthest reaches of the far right, give a toss about them. On the other hand there are much stronger ties with Scotland, ties that are wider than the loyalist fringe. I’m not saying these factors are desicive at the moment, but that they could play a progressive role in the future.

Scottish independence would spell the end of the UK. That state was created with the union of the crowns and later parliaments. Of course the remainder would hold onto the name but it would be on a splintering trajectory which, IMO, would inevitably lead to further disintegration.

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Colm B - July 6, 2020

In the last census, 2011, these were the % for national identity in Scotland:

Scottish only: 62%
Scottish and British: 18%
British only:8%
Misc other:12%

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Joe - July 6, 2020

Thanks for that ColmB. I’ll take your word for it but I’m going to argue it’s not as cut and dried as it is with the Irish.
I’ve been planning to go to an Old Firm game for years now. When I do, I’ll do my own survey and report back.

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Joe - July 6, 2020

Oops. That census looks clearcut. Joe in headlong retreat.

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sonofstan - July 6, 2020

Singing ‘Mo Ghile Mear’ as you go?

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Joe - July 6, 2020
Colm B - July 6, 2020

There’s always bed n board for a comrade here Joe. Funny thing is I’ve never been to an Old Firm match myself either, maybe we could plan a joint outing!
Know it will get me bullied in the CLR school yard, but Im not a Peil Gallda(as my fanatical CB school principal used to call it) fan.

With our accent, we’d have to be with the Celtic fans for health n safety reasons. If you had a death wish, I suppose we could arrange for you to join the We Are The People crew, I’ve a few pals at work who are that way inclined and in-laws subscribe to a very faded version.

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Joe - July 6, 2020

Great stuff. I proposed the CLR crew all land on Gewerkshchaflter’s (now TafkGW I think) doorstep in Berlin a while back. Nothing came of it. I say let’s land on ColmB’s doorstep… when Scotland is free.

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Colm B - July 6, 2020

Optimist though that I am, on that basis I don’t think I need to get the spare bedroom ready quite yet!

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Jim Monaghan - July 6, 2020

“And I know the Orange Order is bigger in Scotland than in England, though an irrelevance thankfully in both places.”. Alas, not the experience of a relative who lives in Scotland and who was subject to it at work. And who is wary during the “Orange walk” period.

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Jim Monaghan - July 6, 2020

https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2019/02/24/the-unexceptional-face-of-scottish-sectarianism/ especially “In fact what is neglected is the stark evidence that of the 7000+ religiously aggravated hate crimes 55-60% have been anti-catholic in nature. This is despite this community being only 16% of the population”.

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48. sonofstan - July 6, 2020

“Know it will get me bullied in the CLR school yard, but Im not a Peil Gallda(as my fanatical CB school principal used to call it) fan”

Ah now. Sure the Bainaisteoir here is an athiest in this regard.

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sonofstan - July 6, 2020

Spent ages making sure I spelt ‘Bainaisteoir’ properly and then misspelt ‘atheist’

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Colm B - July 6, 2020

As I always say to cover my spelling mistakes, English is my second language.

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Joe - July 6, 2020

SoS, cuir amach do lámh. Bainisteoir.

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sonofstan - July 6, 2020

I knew I’d get it wrong, and I knew you’d be the one to correct me. In my defence, I learnt to speak Irish before I could read it, but now I’ve forgotten both…

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WorldbyStorm - July 6, 2020

Not a Bainisteoir, but ever since watching Sunderland Til I Die… agnostic. Definitely agnostic.

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49. tomasoflatharta - July 6, 2020

Virginia Roberts-Giuffre, Courtney Wild, Maria Farmer – Women Assaulted by Ghislaine Maxwell and the Late Jeffrey Epstein tell their stories as American FBI swoops in Bradford New Hampshire. https://tomasoflatharta.wordpress.com/2020/07/06/virginia-roberts-giuffre-courtney-wild-maria-farmer-women-assaulted-by-ghislaine-maxwell-and-the-late-jeffrey-epstein-tell-their-stories-as-american-fbi-swoops-in-bradford-new-hampshire/

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50. roddy - July 6, 2020

Joe ,you would have to stand in the middle of the pitch and let them play the game around you.Och sure is’nt one side as bad as the other!

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51. CL - July 6, 2020

“Jacksonville, Florida, where the president relocated the Republican National Convention, had the fastest-growing rate of coronavirus of any metropolitan area in the U.S. for the week ended July 4…

Pew Research Center polls show Trump’s approval is slipping fastest in the 500 counties where the number of cases have been more than 28 coronavirus deaths per 100,000 people…..

The shift of coronavirus cases from Democratic-leaning, densely populated cities like New York, Chicago and Boston into the Sunbelt and rural America has been swift and dramatic. States Trump carried in 2016 accounted for 75% of new Covid-19 cases during the seven days ended July 4….

The virus’s geographic shift has begun to unify political leaders over wearing a face mask, a means of protecting against the virus that had become a political identity badge when the virus was attacking coastal, largely Democratic areas. Trump at one point suggested that wearing a mask was a sign of opposition to his re-election.”
https://www.bloombergquint.com/politics/trump-support-withering-in-areas-where-virus-cases-are-rising

President Trump dismissed the severity of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States over the weekend, downplaying the impact of the disease and saying that while the testing of tens of millions of American had identified many cases, “99 percent” of them were “totally harmless.”….
At least 2.8 million Americans are known to be infected, and public health officials have said the real number of infections may be 10 times higher.”-NYT.

“Forty lobbyists with ties to President Donald Trump helped clients secure more than $10 billion in federal coronavirus aid, among them five former administration officials whose work potentially violates Trump’s own ethics policy, according to a report.”
https://www.snopes.com/ap/2020/07/06/trump-connected-lobbyists-reap-windfall-in-federal-virus-aid/

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WorldbyStorm - July 6, 2020

How does he think he can get away with stuff like the 99% figure?

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CL - July 7, 2020

“Fifty thousand people a day are getting sick, 100,000-plus are dead and all the while, this president and this party want to embrace this ridiculous Make America Sick Again tour as him and the vice-president gallivant around the country and continue to spread this virus and get their own people sick.”-

Kurt Bardella, a senior adviser at the Lincoln Project, a super PAC run by a host of so-called never-Trump Republicans:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/06/mark-meadows-trump-coronavirus-claim

“Miami-Dade County restaurants must close dining rooms and gyms must shut down again this week under a planned emergency order by Mayor Carlos Gimenez as he continues to retreat from a May reopening plan that has proven unable to prevent a surge in new coronavirus cases.
“We want to ensure that our hospitals continue to have the staffing necessary to save lives,” Gimenez said in a statement.”
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article244024192.html

” Florida’s department of health reported a record 11,458 new infections on Saturday alone….
Mr Trump is reportedly holding a fundraiser in person in Hillsboro Beach, Florida, next week. Guests will be tested for Covid-19 before attending. Tickets for the event are $580,600 per couple”
https://www.ft.com/content/1d81d237-8b76-48eb-9b7e-c3da6bdbabdf

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Dr. Nightdub - July 6, 2020

“…officials whose work potentially violates Trump’s own ethics policy…”

How can you violate something that doesn’t exist?

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Enzo - July 7, 2020

This is why I think Trump might lose Texas in the election

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WorldbyStorm - July 7, 2020

Amazing how we are even discussing that as a possibility.

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Joe - July 7, 2020

Biden seems to have a consistent lead in all polls at the moment. Can that last till November? There’s been so many what looked like total fook-ups by Trump since even before he was elected, and none stopped his seemingly unstoppable progress. Could the disaster that is his approach to the Covid-19 in the US be the one that finally topples him?
Dare to believe … and gear up for protests against US military interventions around the world!

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52. Edmundo Di Corci - July 6, 2020

I’m sure someone will do an excellent This Week I’ve Mostly Been Listening To on Ennio Morricone who died today aged 91.
However in the meantime here’s the only pop song he ever wrote which I’m inordinately fond of. He got the idea for it from hearing a police car siren in Marseilles which I think comes across. Great performance as well by legendary Italian singer Mina.

French version (with entirely different lyrics) is pretty nifty too.

From a left wing point of view he also contributed an extraordinary score to perhaps the finest political movie ever made Gillo Pontecorvo’s Battle of Algiers

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WorldbyStorm - July 6, 2020

Might post it up on Saturday as a post in itself!

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Edmundo Di Corci - July 6, 2020

You know what’s a really great album of Morricone music. The Big Gundown which came out around 1987 with John Zorn and a bunch of really interesting people; Fred Frith, Bill Frisell, Mike Patton, Arto Lindsay and more.

This is also really good. The music in Giallo movies was usually the best bit of them.

And of course it would be remiss of me to pass over his tribute to the Irish republican tradition. Shake in your boots revisionist running dogs.

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53. alanmyler - July 7, 2020

CLR readers may be interested in installing the COVID Tracker App from the HSE on their iPhone or Android mobile devices from the website below. It uses the Bluetooth on your device to log and report proximity to other devices to assist in the tracing of possible contacts in the case of an outbreak of the virus.

https://covidtracker.gov.ie/

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54. EWI - July 7, 2020

I would ask the Cedar Loungers to hold a moment’s silence in solidarity with oppressed, vulnerable worker Joe Duffy:

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/im-very-insecure-im-on-a-contract-that-could-be-terminated-at-the-end-of-this-broadcast-says-duffy-39342893.html

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Joe - July 7, 2020

I’m with you EWI. Solidarity with Joe and all victims of the gig economy.

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