Robinson: McGuinness will shake hands with Queen

[bernadette]

My God. Is this what passes for political analysis in Ireland these days. No wonder the country is in a heap.

No its not analysis (spit) its my opinion but if its inaccurate please correct it. How much analysis does murder require?

[Richardbouvet]

Sorry Sam Lord, but what analysis would you offer in respect of the behaviour of Conor Murphy and other sectarian bigots?

[Sam Lord]

No its not analysis (spit) its my opinion but if its inaccurate please correct it. How much analysis does murder require?

I doubt that murder is really what you are interested in for if it were you would have much bigger fish to fry.

[Sam Lord]

Sorry Sam Lord, but what analysis would you offer in respect of the behaviour of Conor Murphy and other sectarian bigots?

It doesn't surprise me. The entire GFA agreement is founded on sectarian principles. Anyone who signed up to it is obviously of that mindset.

[C. Flower]

The leaders of SF have a lot of cases to answer. Imo its our unthinking acceptance of them as more republican than the rest of us, that has allowed them to get away with murder both here and in the north. Effectively we tolerate from them what we would not for a second allow in others.

C Flower

However bad it was most of the shinner leadership knew little about it. The president of the party, it turns out, had an unemployable incestuous thug for a father, and this is what appears to have given him his excuse for murder? Its worth remembering too that if the unemployable old patriarch had moved the family south they would have got nothing like the benefits he pissed up the wall in the north. The deputy leader of Stormont council grew up in what seems to have been a normal enough working class family.

I think if SF in general and those two in particular had really had a united Ireland in mind then most of the crimes that were committed would not have been.

Yes, I think they were looking for some kind of deal with the British, or British deal, right from the early 70s.

From the perspective of being part of a minority in the six counties, of which McGuinness and Adams were part, it may have seemed to them, without any wider political beliefs, that it was impossible to envisage anything other than limited gains and compromise with the British.

Anything more, to have been successful, would, I think, have meant linking up with the progressive sections of the population of the UK (at the time much opposed to continuing occupation of Ireland) and with the same in the Republic. This was something that of course both the British and Irish governments were most anxious to prevent.

[Dr. FIVE]

eh the Tuatha dé Danann invaded Ireland right?

[C. Flower]

eh the tuatha dé danann invaded ireland right?

:d

[Saoirse go Deo]

Significant speech from MMG tonight at 6pm.. well worth listening to/reading it.

[Saoirse go Deo]

6:30pm actually

[Saoirse go Deo]

So, a couple of months on what reflections do people have on the handshake?

I'm still annoyed it went ahead, but tbh I've largely forgotten about it.

[fluffybiscuits]

So, a couple of months on what reflections do people have on the handshake?

I'm still annoyed it went ahead, but tbh I've largely forgotten about it.

It was historic but reagrdless the queen is still the establishment. I in no way like her as a monarch or a person due to her being head of the armed forces. We have moved on though as something else takes over the news and we stare down a cold barren economic climate! But still Im positive things will get better!

[C. Flower]

All part of the cementation of "obstructive ambiguity" by the British.

http://www.publications.parliament.u...t/60208-16.htm

We are allowed to mutter vaguely about a future united Ireland, so long as we do it strictly on message and within the existing frameworks.

I think apjp got it right, that we are being firmly but gently bumped towards a form of "home rule" in exchange for some non-deliverable mess of pottage.
Or handshake.

[riposte]

So, a couple of months on what reflections do people have on the handshake?

I'm still annoyed it went ahead, but tbh I've largely forgotten about it.

It is important to know when to act and when not to act.

Sometimes is worse to over-react than not to react at all.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdVNcAUMzp4&feature=related"]The Ugly American (1963, George Englund) - Trailer - YouTube[/ame]

[bernadette]

It was inevitable. In fact it was long overdue. SF playing the prima donna is obscene. If its good enough for Ireland its good enough for them.