22 October 1998 Edition
Editor's desk
The right wing media in Britain are outraged at the arrest of General Pinochet in London last week. The bloody Chilean dictator, who was responsible for the torture and death of 3,000 left wing activists and others following his overthrow - with US help - of the democratically elected Allende government in 1973, clearly has many friends in the British establishment. Not least of them is Margaret Thatcher, with whom he had tea a few days before his arrest.
But for columnist Michael Gove in The Times, the visit of Martin McGuinness to Downing Street on Monday was the chance to unleash some venom - and nonsense.
He wrote: ``There is... a moral difference between one expert in political terror, General Pinochet, and the other, Martin McGuinness. And it is not in the Irishman's favour.''
Surprise, surprise. Then the nonsense: ``General Pinochet enriched rather than impoverished his native country, enjoyed the support of a majority of his people, quit when he lost a democratic vote and presided over a smooth transition to full democracy.''
And now, a true story. The other day, on a road in Connecticut, Gerry Adams was speeding along from one engagement to yet another. Beside him Larry Downes, President of Friends of Sinn Féin, answered his mobile phone. After a second he handed it to Gerry. ``Willy Nelson wants a word with you,'' said Larry. Gerry had just got over having Carly Simon sing Happy Birthday at his 50th birthday bash and he was sceptical, but sure enough the boul' Willy was on the line. ``How are you?'' asked Willy. ``I'm on the road again,'' said Gerry.
It may have missed people's attention but last week war was declared. The Sinn Féin Press Office was sent a press release from ``The Orange Volunteers'' on Wednesday 14 October. In it they declared war ``on the enemies of Ulster.
In fine evangelical tradition the language was full of fire and brimstone. ``Life in Ulster has been made a `living hell' for all the Protestant People who refuse to pay homage to Rome,'' they said.
Further sectarian nonsense follows before they said they ``have gone on full Operational Status''.
This comes at a time when different loyalist sectarian groups are springing up, all steeped in fundamentalist Protestantism. And interestingly, the Examiner newspaper last week quoted ``security sources'' as saying that `` a huge name'' will soon be arrested for a number of sectarian killings going back to the 1970s.
The paper's source said, ``When his name hits the paper no one will believe it. But he has been involved in this from the early 70s. He is a huge name... and even if he is convicted there are still people who will not believe his involvement.''
We await the outcome with interest.
On 10 September we mentioned an employee of the electoral office who was allowing her partner - an RUC man - to see the electoral forms she had just collected. According to our moles the woman has now resigned her job because she was mentioned in ``that republican rag''.
She says she's resigning for her own safety which is deeply ironic seeing that she claimed that her RUC man partner accompanied her when she was collecting the forms ``for safety reasons''.
But for columnist Michael Gove in The Times, the visit of Martin McGuinness to Downing Street on Monday was the chance to unleash some venom - and nonsense.
He wrote: ``There is... a moral difference between one expert in political terror, General Pinochet, and the other, Martin McGuinness. And it is not in the Irishman's favour.''
Surprise, surprise. Then the nonsense: ``General Pinochet enriched rather than impoverished his native country, enjoyed the support of a majority of his people, quit when he lost a democratic vote and presided over a smooth transition to full democracy.''
And now, a true story. The other day, on a road in Connecticut, Gerry Adams was speeding along from one engagement to yet another. Beside him Larry Downes, President of Friends of Sinn Féin, answered his mobile phone. After a second he handed it to Gerry. ``Willy Nelson wants a word with you,'' said Larry. Gerry had just got over having Carly Simon sing Happy Birthday at his 50th birthday bash and he was sceptical, but sure enough the boul' Willy was on the line. ``How are you?'' asked Willy. ``I'm on the road again,'' said Gerry.
It may have missed people's attention but last week war was declared. The Sinn Féin Press Office was sent a press release from ``The Orange Volunteers'' on Wednesday 14 October. In it they declared war ``on the enemies of Ulster.
In fine evangelical tradition the language was full of fire and brimstone. ``Life in Ulster has been made a `living hell' for all the Protestant People who refuse to pay homage to Rome,'' they said.
Further sectarian nonsense follows before they said they ``have gone on full Operational Status''.
This comes at a time when different loyalist sectarian groups are springing up, all steeped in fundamentalist Protestantism. And interestingly, the Examiner newspaper last week quoted ``security sources'' as saying that `` a huge name'' will soon be arrested for a number of sectarian killings going back to the 1970s.
The paper's source said, ``When his name hits the paper no one will believe it. But he has been involved in this from the early 70s. He is a huge name... and even if he is convicted there are still people who will not believe his involvement.''
We await the outcome with interest.
On 10 September we mentioned an employee of the electoral office who was allowing her partner - an RUC man - to see the electoral forms she had just collected. According to our moles the woman has now resigned her job because she was mentioned in ``that republican rag''.
She says she's resigning for her own safety which is deeply ironic seeing that she claimed that her RUC man partner accompanied her when she was collecting the forms ``for safety reasons''.