The 5th Column

Postman Rat

THE PSNI part-time Peeler given the honour of laying the force's wreath at last year's Remembrance Day Service at Ballymena Cenotaph was chosen by his officers DESPITE being under investigation for robbing his own post office!

Constable Maurice McAllister continued to serve as a PSNI officer while Post Office fraud busters probed the disappearance of £4,400 from the till at Balee Post Office where he was the sub-postmaster. McAllister - who was known locally as 'Forty Jobs' because he was a part-time barman and pot man in a local pub as well as holding up his Post Office job, working as a Northern Bank clerk in Ballymena and Portglenone, and being in the PSNI - has pleaded guilty to ten counts of theft between October 2001 and May of last year.

Post Office bosses told customers that the office would be closed indefinitely.

Postman Rat is now out on bail and due to appear at Ballymena Magistrates' Court later this month for sentencing.

FAIRly unsavoury

WACKY WILLIE FRAZER, the bizarre head of the anti-republican propaganda group, FAIR (Families Acting for Innocent Relatives), has claimed that the British government has put his life at risk by accusing him of having associations with unionist death squads.

Willie launched his attack during a Belfast High Court hearing at the end of last month, which granted him leave to appeal against the Brits' stated reasons for refusing to let him join the Key Persons Protection Scheme.

His brief told the court that Willie's work entailed him meeting "unsavoury individuals". The Harry Potter lookalike is now challenging the NIO to provide evidence to support the accusations against him, which should be interesting as he has already admitted links with "unsavoury individuals".

We see no ships!

DOZY British Ministry of Defence heads were unable to find any reference to a major military exercise involving warships from several NATO countries when questioned by the Celtic League last week.

A major military exercise has been under way for some time and the Celtic League was anxious to ascertain the nature of the exercise and also the area covered by it.

Initial queries to the Isle of Man Coastguard Service elicited the response that an exercise was certainly under way and although they had no knowledge of 'notice to mariners' (which are usually issued in such instances) they suggested that the League contact the Coastguard at Liverpool.

But the intrepid Celtic League went straight to the top and roused the Ministry of Defence (MoD) direct at their HQ in Whitehall. An MoD spokesman was unable to help and, after checking through both written notices and tapping into their own website, suggested that the shipping observed was probably "simply a general movement of warships".

Informed that some of the naval units involved were very definitely not Royal Navy, more frantic computer keyboard tapping ended with an exasperated: "We definitely have no detail of any exercise."

For the benefit of fishing communities and others, the Celtic League tells us that 'Exercise Northern Light' is one of an annual series of exercises off west and south-west Scotland. The exercise involves a large number of warships from several NATO countries with amphibious troops, helicopters and combat aircraft.

Someone should let the MoD know.

Air-miss as NATO exercise shambles ends

In more controversy associated with NATO's chaotic exercise in the north Irish sea area, the military had to express its apologies to civilians whose vehicles were stopped by Ukrainian Marines who had been landed as part of an amphibious force on the coast of southwest Scotland. The Celtic League has e-mailed a protest to the Secretary General of NATO.

Distressing as the Ukrainian road block blunder was, it pales into insignificance following the news that an Aer Arann passenger plane on a flight between Edinburgh and Cork was forced to take evasive action when the crew became aware of military aircraft in its vicinity.

The pilot of plane, which was carrying 32 passengers and crew, was advised by Air Traffic Control to alter course from the agreed flight path although the aircraft was in controlled airspace, where pilots would expect not to have to alter their course for military aircraft.

The air miss occurred as the plane passed north west of the Isle of Man crossing the north channel between Ireland and Scotland.

British and Irish air safety authorities are to investigate the latest incident, which follows earlier incidents involving military aircraft exercises.

The Celtic League reasonably points out that it is arguable whether areas such as the north channel, which are busy with shipping and also are crossed by domestic and international air routes, are safe locations for such exercises.

Many people still suspect British military involvement in the crash of an Irish airliner 35 years ago, when all 61 people on board died.