There are times when you admire Peter Hitchens, and there are times when you wonder what planet he inhabits. Where in the world do the Police publish their personal details? It was the Police in Great Britain who complained loudest, and with most cause, about the leak of the electoral register. Of course they do not appear on its publicly available edition. Of course those of them who still have landlines are ex-directory. Have you ever seen a Police uniform on a washing line?
Hitchens represents a section of Fleet Street whose position on Northern Ireland is most nearly held by precisely one of the 90 members of the Assembly there, although even Jim Allister is a staunch devolutionist. Irish Republican connections have always gone down worst in the areas that were least affected by anything to do with them. Right through the Troubles, Londoners cheerfully voted for Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and Ken Livingstone at every opportunity. Meanwhile, right-wing Fleet Street types who caught the train home to the Home Counties every night forced those Londoners to pay the price of those types' principles. No bomb was ever going to go off where the hacks lived. Those papers ended up more Unionist than the Unionists, when everyone finally stopped paying attention to them on this issue.
Every British Government since 1998 has been as pally as you liked with Sinn Féin even in public, and of course there was continuous communication before that. The Royal Family is also well in with them these days, and the two appear genuinely to enjoy each other's company, with several Sinn Féiners attending the Coronation. The same has been true of both Unionist parties for years. Arlene Foster turned up to the funeral of Martin McGuinness, who treated the late Queen like a kind of auntie, and who laughed along with the present King as heartily as Gerry Adams does. But the Royal Family does not display personal affection towards Unionist politicians, who would lose their deposits in any constituency in England, Scotland or Wales.
Thank God your enemies can't shoot straight.
ReplyDeleteThey do only have to be lucky once, I suppose.
DeleteWell said, that Charles Moore Unionism is for people who don't have to live there or anywhere affected by it.
ReplyDeleteMoore used to talk about contesting by-elections in Northern Ireland, in staunchly Unionist areas, until he was laughed out. No one there wants to vote for that sort of thing.
DeleteLondon bore the brunt of the IRA bombing campaign. It never missed an opportunity to vote for Ken Livingstone until long after all of that was over, and it has never yet missed an opportunity to vote for Jeremy Corbyn or John McDonnell. Nor will it. Moore lives in rural Sussex, and Hitchens lives in Oxford.
Ulster Prods are a never ending source of disappointment to Telegraph, Mail and Speccie writers, now GB News stars too.
ReplyDeleteHow many readers or viewers do they have there? It may be worth looking into that.
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