And the other 26 Counties' definition of "independence" is that a newspaper can face the serious threat of closure on the instructions, not of the British Government, not of the British Parliament, not of a British court, not even of the British monarch, but of one or more other members of the British Royal Family.
That is not even colonial status. For example, it could not happen in Saint Helena. And it certainly could not have happened if there had been no partition of the United Kingdom and of the Irish Catholic ethnic group within the United Kingdom, as the greater part of it remained then and remains now.
Rather, the whole of Ireland would have received the National Health Service (still not in place in the Republic, nor ever likely to be), and a generation later would have saved the whole of these Islands from the abortion and divorce free-for-alls.
No wonder that support for the Union among Northern Irish Catholics is now proportionately higher than among the English.
There is a certain momentum getting behind the notion that Norn Iron Catholics......such as my self, wife, two sons and two daughters-in-law cant wait to support the"Union". Naturally these things ebb and flow ....indeed I would recall that in 1962 and the 50th Anniv of the Covenant which I remember (largely because sports programmes were cancelled) the union would have been more secure as the IRAs border campaign Operation Harvest was petering out in abject failure.
ReplyDeleteWhich is why people should be wary of stuff said on Norn Irons worst political weblog Slugger O'Toole, unless of course its me that is saying it.
Ex-BBC producer Brian Walker calls for a new covenant. I can see a certain unionist logic in that.
But the point is that this current Decade of Centenaries is as much a Decade of 50th Anniversaries...including the Outbreak of the Troubles, Internment, McGurks, Bloody Sunday, Whterock, Claudy Bombing by IRA, Bloody Friday, Direct Rule, Civil Rights Movement, the formation of the Provisional IRA, Alliance Party (boooooo) SDLP (hooray).
Conflict Resolutionists.....a risible bunch of people have the Titanic, Covenant, Easter Rising, the Somme etc written as "shared history".
But they have no real control over those half-centenaries.
And dare I say.....events dear David events.
Some of the leading people in the last four decades are now in their twilight years. Theres a fair number of respected and reviled octogenarians around and a whole new set of circumstances will be created around their passing.
A sombre thought........and not a nice one.....
Sorry I didnt pass on good wishes for your birthday...hectic week
FJH