7 August 1997 Edition
Editor's desk
These must be exciting days in Derry. Already the city is split into two camps as John and Dana limber up on the ropes ready to battle it out over who will be the next President of Ireland.
How can one small city produce two such colossal figures? They must be so proud.
But will the contest happen? John Hume is playing rather hard to get. When he spoke to the New York Times last week he seemed all up for it but this week a familiar hesitancy has returned.
No such shyness with Dana. You may have thought her candidature was yet another silly season story - certainly anyone I have spoken to has laughed good-naturedly at the suggestion that she may stand. But this is no joke candidate. Behind sweet Dana is a tough edged, slightly loony, right wing Catholic agenda.
Dana's decision to run was first revealed three weeks ago in the Catholic Times, a Scottish Catholic weekly and then picked up with glee by the Sunday World last Sunday. She is being supported by ``the Christian Community'' who say she is a ``worthy and competent candidate with a deep sense of Christian and family values''. You will also be glad to know that her campaign will reflect her ``great interest in the spiritual and moral welfare of youth.''
Election literature is already being produced (should be worth reading) and next Monday sees her campaign kicking off at Knock with a deeply weird ``National Prayer Crusade for God's Will for Dana's Candidature''.
Who can possibly stop this woman?
That anti-Irish, racist Evening Standard cartoonist Jak (Raymond Jackson) has died. His obituary in the Daily Telegraph revealed how ``he had a way of making friends, particularly with men from the SAS or the police, and could be happy in their company for several hours...Members of the SAS would join his guests at what he called Jak's Black Pudding Club for a good lunch.... He always portrayed them as heroes in his drawings, several of which found their way to the mess of Hereford.''
Nice man. He will be missed.
A hopeful entrepreneur has sent us an e-mail saying that ``with the IRA ceasefire Ireland will again not be able to cope with the tourist population''. There you are now. And what has that got to do with An Phoblacht, you may ask. Well, our friend then urges us to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity. He has for sale a 2,500 ton, diesel powered ship-hotel with 52 air conditioned cabins, 248 berths, kitchen, hospital, library and workshop. This wonderful vessel was previously used by the Russian army as an officer training centre and is a snip at just $2 million. In fact, a perfect base for a staff of thirty to produce (and distribute?) a weekly newspaper. Send your donations...
How can one small city produce two such colossal figures? They must be so proud.
But will the contest happen? John Hume is playing rather hard to get. When he spoke to the New York Times last week he seemed all up for it but this week a familiar hesitancy has returned.
No such shyness with Dana. You may have thought her candidature was yet another silly season story - certainly anyone I have spoken to has laughed good-naturedly at the suggestion that she may stand. But this is no joke candidate. Behind sweet Dana is a tough edged, slightly loony, right wing Catholic agenda.
Dana's decision to run was first revealed three weeks ago in the Catholic Times, a Scottish Catholic weekly and then picked up with glee by the Sunday World last Sunday. She is being supported by ``the Christian Community'' who say she is a ``worthy and competent candidate with a deep sense of Christian and family values''. You will also be glad to know that her campaign will reflect her ``great interest in the spiritual and moral welfare of youth.''
Election literature is already being produced (should be worth reading) and next Monday sees her campaign kicking off at Knock with a deeply weird ``National Prayer Crusade for God's Will for Dana's Candidature''.
Who can possibly stop this woman?
That anti-Irish, racist Evening Standard cartoonist Jak (Raymond Jackson) has died. His obituary in the Daily Telegraph revealed how ``he had a way of making friends, particularly with men from the SAS or the police, and could be happy in their company for several hours...Members of the SAS would join his guests at what he called Jak's Black Pudding Club for a good lunch.... He always portrayed them as heroes in his drawings, several of which found their way to the mess of Hereford.''
Nice man. He will be missed.
A hopeful entrepreneur has sent us an e-mail saying that ``with the IRA ceasefire Ireland will again not be able to cope with the tourist population''. There you are now. And what has that got to do with An Phoblacht, you may ask. Well, our friend then urges us to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity. He has for sale a 2,500 ton, diesel powered ship-hotel with 52 air conditioned cabins, 248 berths, kitchen, hospital, library and workshop. This wonderful vessel was previously used by the Russian army as an officer training centre and is a snip at just $2 million. In fact, a perfect base for a staff of thirty to produce (and distribute?) a weekly newspaper. Send your donations...