15 January 1998 Edition
Editor's desk
UDA/UDP links with the National Front, Combat 18 and other racist and fascist groups are well-documented but it is always worth reminding the world of the unpleasant politics at the heart of loyalism. This photograph of the tattooed hand of Sam McCrory, leader of the UDA in Long Kesh, deserves to go straight onto the Internet. We will certainly oblige. Maybe the next time Gary McMichael is in the USA some reporters will ask questions about the racist nature of his party and supporters.
You have to admire the simple Unionist honesty of the Daily Telegraph. Commenting on this week's Stormont paper, their editorial had this to say:
``Northern Ireland must remain part of the United Kingdom because a majority of voters there are pro-Union: this rules out cross-border bodies with executive functions, and necessitates an end to the Anglo-Irish Agreement.''
Solid stuff, but it gets better:
``Despite their memories of Stormont, nationalists would have to live with an assembly in the province... The two islands are one common economic and cultural unit. Terrorist prisoners should not be released as part of a deal... There is no real case for the RUC dropping the Union flag or other symbols of the Union, but nationalists would feel free to express their own aspirations too.''
Simple, isn't it? And then, with a tremendous blast of straight talking, it says:
``All this represents not an orange or green settlement, but a red, white and blue one.''
I don't think the latest Jim Sheridan film is going to be too popular with republicans. The Boxer stars Daniel Day Lewis as 32 year old ex-prisoner Danny Boy Flynn who gets out of the Kesh after 14 years. It is being tipped by some for Oscar success. But a review in the New York-based Irish Voice indicates that it won't win any republican awards.
Reviewer Brian Rohan writes that ``his former terrorist buddies are unnerved to see Flynn open a mixed-religion boxing club... Trouble starts when Flynn contacts his childhood flame. Her husband is still inside as an IRA prisoner and the local Provos are determined that she remain a faithful near-widow.'' Rohan says the IRA men who disagree with Danny Boy are portrayed as ``Prod-hating psychopaths''.
Jim Sheridan said recently in an interview: ``Although I am in this film obviously criticising the IRA, I'm doing it in the hope that we can take responsibility for the violence that's done in our name.''
Which is a all a load of raging bull. It looks like he's distorting, not criticising.
Did Rangers keeper Andy Goram wear a black armband in the match against Celtic as a mark of respect for Billy Wright? Goram wore the armband five days after Wright was killed. When it provoked controversy he told a tabloid he was wearing it in memory of his Aunt Lily. Well, Lily died last October and there were nine matches between her death and the Celtic game. Besides, Goram's mother has said that Andy wasn't particularly close to Aunt Lily.
You have to admire the simple Unionist honesty of the Daily Telegraph. Commenting on this week's Stormont paper, their editorial had this to say:
``Northern Ireland must remain part of the United Kingdom because a majority of voters there are pro-Union: this rules out cross-border bodies with executive functions, and necessitates an end to the Anglo-Irish Agreement.''
Solid stuff, but it gets better:
``Despite their memories of Stormont, nationalists would have to live with an assembly in the province... The two islands are one common economic and cultural unit. Terrorist prisoners should not be released as part of a deal... There is no real case for the RUC dropping the Union flag or other symbols of the Union, but nationalists would feel free to express their own aspirations too.''
Simple, isn't it? And then, with a tremendous blast of straight talking, it says:
``All this represents not an orange or green settlement, but a red, white and blue one.''
I don't think the latest Jim Sheridan film is going to be too popular with republicans. The Boxer stars Daniel Day Lewis as 32 year old ex-prisoner Danny Boy Flynn who gets out of the Kesh after 14 years. It is being tipped by some for Oscar success. But a review in the New York-based Irish Voice indicates that it won't win any republican awards.
Reviewer Brian Rohan writes that ``his former terrorist buddies are unnerved to see Flynn open a mixed-religion boxing club... Trouble starts when Flynn contacts his childhood flame. Her husband is still inside as an IRA prisoner and the local Provos are determined that she remain a faithful near-widow.'' Rohan says the IRA men who disagree with Danny Boy are portrayed as ``Prod-hating psychopaths''.
Jim Sheridan said recently in an interview: ``Although I am in this film obviously criticising the IRA, I'm doing it in the hope that we can take responsibility for the violence that's done in our name.''
Which is a all a load of raging bull. It looks like he's distorting, not criticising.
Did Rangers keeper Andy Goram wear a black armband in the match against Celtic as a mark of respect for Billy Wright? Goram wore the armband five days after Wright was killed. When it provoked controversy he told a tabloid he was wearing it in memory of his Aunt Lily. Well, Lily died last October and there were nine matches between her death and the Celtic game. Besides, Goram's mother has said that Andy wasn't particularly close to Aunt Lily.