interesting lesson in the perils of journalism was given to
The Irish Independent this week. On Monday they had a front page
story in which they quoted ``Sinn Féin spokesman Gerry Kelly''
saying, ``There'll be no IRA ceasefire now. Those soldiers will
have to pay for a start. It's been demonstrated clearly to us
today that the only thing the British government understands is
force''.
Strong stuff. But completely untrue. Sinn Féin issued a statement
denying the story and calling into question the integrity and
motivation of the Irish Independent.
The next day the Indo hit back, saying that ``Mr Kelly made the
comments to a reporter from the international news agency,
Associated Press.''
Well, I can reveal that the AP reporter was Shawn Pogatchnik and
his report quotes ``protestor Gerry Kelly of Belfast'' who happens
to be someone completely different from the ``Sinn Féin spokesman''
Gerry Kelly.
It pays to check.
The decision to force the Orange march down the Garvaghy Road
incensed nationalists of all ages and many took to the streets in
angry protest. But in Belfast one family had a shock as a result.
At eight o'clock last Sunday night they put their four year-old
son to bed as usual and settled down to watch the television.
Rioting was going on not far away. Then, half an hour later,
there was a knock on the door. The mother went out, opened the
door and saw a man holding her four year-old son by the hand. The
young lad, still wearing his Postman Pat pyjamas, had sneaked out
of bed, down the stairs and out of the house in order to confront
the might of the British empire in Ireland. He was spotted by a
more mature rioter flinging stones for all he was worth.
Maybe the Tories had it right after all. A creative poster
designer in Dublin has produced this effort, based on the Tory
pre-election campaign which was aimed at Tony Blair.
Now, a little snippet to make you think before you catch that
flight to your summer holidays.
The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) in the United States has
finally come up with that elusive figure - the value of a human
life. Investigations into the Long Island Boeing 747 explosion
have revealed that the FAA weighs up the estimated cost of safety
improvements to planes and airports against the likely number of
fatalities. If expenditure is estimated to exceed $2.34 million
per human life they don't bother.
The Independent on Sunday had a little piece recently about a
shadowy right-wing group once chaired by the disgraced Tory
Johnathan Aitken. Known as ``Le Cercle'' it is made up of
influential people from the world of intelligence and politics
and is reportedly funded by the CIA, though the US Embassy in
Dublin claims it knows nothing about it. They were responding to
questions about its Unionist bias given that two of its members
are David Burnside, the PR consultant and Ulster Unionist, and
Lord Cranbourne, John Major's former Chief of Staff and virulent
pro-Unionist. It sounds like to type of club most world figures
would be happy not to be a member of.
The new film, The Devil's Own, was advertised on Dart TV last
week. That's the TV that entertains bored commuters on Dart train
stations in Dublin. Strangely, the ad for the film mysteriously
disappeared off the screen after it referred to ``a soldier in the
Irish Republican Army''. Has Section 31 returned? We should be
told.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)