Big strong men
By Sean Marlow
``Have you heard about the big strong man, who lived in a caravan?''
No, I'm not referring to Harold Gracey, so it's safe to read on.
I was reminded of this wee Wolfe Tone's ditty (which I used to endure
20 times a day on the jukebox as I worked behind the bar in the Star
Of the Sea in Bundoran) when I heard David Trimble berating Gerry
Adams, saying ``he hasn't the brains or the bottle'' to surrender
weapons which he hasn't got. This red-faced outburst was followed by
John Taylor calling Seamus Mallon a coward because the SDLP refused
to give in to UUP demands to breach the Good Friday Agreement and
shut SF out of the Executive.
The scenario is rich in irony. For the past seven months Trimble
apologists from Ruth Dudley Edwards, Paul Bew, Eoghan Harris to Irish
Times editorials, have been bleating about the weakness of Trimble.
He really would like to implement the Agreement, they whine, but look
at how vulnerable his position is. He is in grave danger of being the
other big strong men of Unionism - Paisley (a demagogue who should
have been faced down over 30 years ago) and McCartney (an arrogant
egotist whose UKUP imploded last month) - so republicans should
forget about the letter of the Argeement and help Trimble out of a
hole (that he dug, and is still digging, for himself).
If Trimble really was to show some courage and positively promoted
the Agreement, there is no doubt that he could easily win the support
of the ordinary sensible Protestant people who realise that the days
of domination and inequality are over. Instead, he strengthens the
hands of the abominable no-men by stalling and dithering. A good
example was when he weakly failed to expel dissident Peter Weir for
voting against his party's motion in the Assembly. So annoyed at
Trimble's feebleness was UUP member Duncan Shipley Dalton, that he
resigned as Deputy Chief Whip.
Trimble's pathetic performance is reminiscent of that of another
Unionist leader, Captain Terence O'Neill 30 years ago. If O'Neill
and, more importantly, the British Government had stood up to
Unionist reactionaries in the late 60s and early 70s, instead of
allowing John Taylor to send in the RUC who killed nationalists and
David Trimble's Vanguard to prevent powersharing, then the tragedy of
the past 30 years could have been avoided.
other big strong man who, hopefully, will get his come-uppance, is
Chilean dictator Gen Pinochet. Pinochet's latest attempt to avoid
justice is supported by his good friend, Margaret Thatcher and those
stalwart (anti-violence!) FAIT supporters, Andrew McKay and Andrew
Hunter. The mass murderer is being allowed a second hearing in the
House of Lords because one of the Law Lords who participated in the
first hearing had connections with Amnesty International. Strange
then, that neither Thatcher nor Hunter nor FAIT has been asking for a
retrial for the thousands of republicans who were jailed by British
Army Old Boys on the bench.
A classic example was the recently departed Lord Lowry, who was
praised in the press and by other judges for his ``service'' in the
British Army. Maybe that explains why only four British soldiers and
no RUC members were ever convicted for the nearly 400 killings of
mostly unarmed cvililians - and that's not even counting the dozens
of cases of collusion with loyalist death squads.
A former big strong man who used to make a lot of noise has suddenly
gone very quiet. He is Health Minister Brian Cowen and he used to be
constantly on TV and radio (rightly) denouncing the performance of
the FG/Lab/ DL government. But now he has disappeared and I'm not
surprised.
Due to the increased productivity of Irish workers, the government
has over £900m surplus funds but the health system is breaking down
with huge waiting lists and patients left on trollies for three days
or more. At the same time hospital beds and whole wards lie empty
because of a shortage of nurses. FF and PD politicians like to claim
that ``the market'' is the reason for the obscene salaries for business
executives.
But Cowen has refused to even implement the minimal pay rises for
nurses recommended after the last dispute while his government caved
in to two days of Blue Flu and awarded massive increases to the
Gardai. Not surprisingly, the result is a long queue for Garda entry
while nurses can't be found to look after the sick and dying.
Big strong men are not so well endowed with brains!
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