tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3793196951486516162024-02-19T02:38:17.656+00:00Frontier PostA peripheral perspective on core issuesDarach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-24191151220319031532013-11-08T12:13:00.000+00:002013-11-08T12:20:52.639+00:00So what’s in a name?<!--StartFragment-->
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>he day peace was forged brought a promise of redemption for us all. Clearly aware of the timing, those involved in the talks pushed beyond the
midnight hour to a conclusion on 10 April 1998. It was a Good Friday, in every
sense of the name.</div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">The outcome was officially entitled ‘The
Agreement,’ yet we hailed it as the Good Friday Agreement, basking in that
‘feel good’ designation and remarking on the contrast with the blood-soaked
days that preceded it – Bloody Friday, Bloody Sunday and more from a lengthy calendar
of horror.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">So we breathed a collective sigh of relief as
dawn broke and cheered again when the Good Friday Agreement was sealed by
popular vote throughout the island. However, we wavered when it was delivered
for action because, by then, we had begun to forget what it was called.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">The <i>Irish Times</i> began designating it the
Belfast Agreement, as if its intrinsic value was vested in a place. This
suggested that if you simply changed venue, you could change the outcome. But
even the subsequent St Andrews Agreement failed to fire the popular imagination.
It was mere housekeeping with the reminder that the Good Friday Agreement was still
the ‘only show in town’. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">The ‘Belfast Agreement’ certainly had
its proponents and foremost among them were the opponents, uncomfortable with
the positive connotations of a Good Friday Agreement. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The ‘Belfast Agreement’ was also upheld by
pedantic commentators, insisting that similar accords are called after the
place in which they are agreed – Treaty of Versailles etc. Yet
what we had was not ‘site specific’ to Belfast, another treaty to be added to a
catalogue of place-name accords. It was more than an armistice between
belligerents or even a treaty between sovereign powers. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">It was endorsed by the Irish, British
and American governments, by the European Union and all its constituent members, as well as by other governments,
religious leaders and people of goodwill throughout the entire world. However, our
Good Friday Agreement was also an unprecedented accord between all the people
of Ireland to forge a better future for all of us and to do this in peace. Together
we hailed it as a new model of peace-making. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">So most of us persisted doggedly with the
Good Friday Agreement, even against the guiles of media style guides. In one memorable
early purge, the <i>Irish Times</i> – ever- vigilant enforcer of the geographical designation
– pursued it all the way into a report on the Presbyterian General Assembly with one naysayer remarking that the “only Belfast Agreement” he recognised, “was
won for us on the cross by our Saviour”!</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Fifteen years on, vigilance is still needed
against those who would unpick what was won for us at the dawn of that Good
Friday. Its promise is still denied by dissidents, including those who by
stealth diminish the name we bestowed on the Agreement in our first
acclamation. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">They came after the name; let’s ensure they
don’t succeed in coming after the terms. </span></div>
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Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-66514973462457029502013-10-03T10:49:00.000+01:002013-10-03T11:03:58.188+01:00Logged on while wallas wait in wings<!--StartFragment-->
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8OJNvcpDKGNbamO7nG9BOsZE4Cuo0zhicg45SPLGeZEdd4A6mq8x3UNyqRSYOF7flnyHyX7dZF2QDMWPx07v-lJ_wg0bcvLloQ_H8cyGoZzs2Z7hqjVB6_nvV2BXsOIG79SB52dRBPDdZ/s1600/Awesome-food-in-Little-India-Toronto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8OJNvcpDKGNbamO7nG9BOsZE4Cuo0zhicg45SPLGeZEdd4A6mq8x3UNyqRSYOF7flnyHyX7dZF2QDMWPx07v-lJ_wg0bcvLloQ_H8cyGoZzs2Z7hqjVB6_nvV2BXsOIG79SB52dRBPDdZ/s320/Awesome-food-in-Little-India-Toronto.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's help yourself to street food in Toronto's Little India.</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">My</span> sons and I still laugh about the ‘water
walla’ at the restaurant in the Little India district of Toronto, Ontario. We
went there for dinner once upon the mid-1990s, tempted by the early bird
special buffet deal on a winter Sunday evening.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The water walla was poised with a
large pitcher less than a discreet distance from our table in the otherwise
empty dining-room. Each time one of us drank some water, he pounced to
replenish the glass. Our early-bird special dining experience became a cat-and-mouse
game of trying to cause a distraction and surreptitiously take a sip without
alerting the hired help.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">By the end of the meal, we were kinked up with
laughter. Yet we never went back to dine there again.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I am reminded of the water walla every time
I go online nowadays. And while it is touching to know that Google, Facebook
and all the other conglomerates of the ether-world are anxious to replenish my
glass – while emptying my wallet, no doubt – it has become another cat-and-mouse
game and this one never seems to end.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">So time after time, I am proffered pictures
of ‘attractive women 40+’ to tempt me into a dating website; the latest models
of hiking boots to help my getaway fantasies; alluring travel deals for ‘silver
surfers’; and so much more. Frankly it is getting a little embarrassing to
think that a great host of online wallas is waiting to pounce on my every
perceived desire and replenish my glass. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Yet I can’t seem to get up from the table,
settle my bill and leave. And each time I make a choice to do something that is
seemingly innocuous, another little detail of my life goes winging its way to
the wallas.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The ones on Facebook are the most
persistent. They now want to know where I was born, where I live now, where I
went to school and every other possible detail they can winnow from the chaff
of my life. Yet after several years of active Facebooking, I should think it obvious
that, since I have chosen not to ‘complete my profile’, I might want to
maintain some degree of discretion on the private details of my life. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-snft17W-b3TN2Va9sWoOeOGuYNqgKxF_ua6HjoxZ9uVJQHYxLJQePzzxJXD0yRyH90SRmPzLFE8UzCpTP1ZCPZN2CqwSGLdxTNymQHhj2nNpoa5cVll5DlcaQ1yVTZLEXRpKY8tsL5M6/s1600/log_still.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-snft17W-b3TN2Va9sWoOeOGuYNqgKxF_ua6HjoxZ9uVJQHYxLJQePzzxJXD0yRyH90SRmPzLFE8UzCpTP1ZCPZN2CqwSGLdxTNymQHhj2nNpoa5cVll5DlcaQ1yVTZLEXRpKY8tsL5M6/s1600/log_still.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I must have got lost at that point.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">So if I want to take a surreptitious sip,
then that is my business, not theirs.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Yet how in heck do they know so much
already? Not that I have ever taken a sip from the proffered, but so obviously
bogus, dating websites offering 'scores of attractive' middle-aged women near where I live (on the faraway Frontier, of course), I am still curious to know how they computed my age
range. At least it saves me the embarrassment of explaining to my partner why the
online Googles are offering me ‘attractive women’ of inappropriate vintage. And
I suppose hiking boots are also less suspicious than other forms of apparel.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I ponder this while the wallas wait,
thinking that like everything else nowadays, it probably has to do with
Logarithms. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Now I wish I had paid more attention in
Maths class! </span></div>
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Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-25479708118340768772013-09-27T09:01:00.000+01:002013-09-27T09:03:12.870+01:00Post haste costs more<!--StartFragment-->
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj3jAHPmpXFXbsD1Zim1OXNzAyNGUMloIBodAEzN48CdWM3cbKOa-pI4fmuwjiU5YMFZmHTJYYaq3BvpmvzSOygonL1At1rePMnnWaFoNlwtMV0xVSjtqAvFIDHPhVnNdNJXNYRoRRaJCC/s1600/parcel+pic.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj3jAHPmpXFXbsD1Zim1OXNzAyNGUMloIBodAEzN48CdWM3cbKOa-pI4fmuwjiU5YMFZmHTJYYaq3BvpmvzSOygonL1At1rePMnnWaFoNlwtMV0xVSjtqAvFIDHPhVnNdNJXNYRoRRaJCC/s1600/parcel+pic.tiff" /></span></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">I</span>n Derry City’s main Post Office yesterday,
I presented a small parcel for postage. The clerk behind the bandit screen
asked where it was going. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">‘County Westmeath,’ I replied. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">She
consulted her screen and commented, ‘Air mail.’ </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Thinking I had misheard, I
repeated, ‘Air mail?’ – adding that question mark of astonishment.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The clerk then explained that this postage to Westmeath was 'across the border' and so classified
as an ‘international delivery’. As such, it incurred the same charge as a delivery 'anywhere
else within the European Union'. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">In other words, mailing a small parcel to Bridgend in County Donegal, just one mile out the road from Derry, incurs the same cost
as mailing it to Bucharest. Meanwhile, the same parcel could be delivered as ‘domestic’
mail to Brighton or Lerwick at a fraction of the cost.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Somewhat stunned, I forked out the £7.85 demanded
and my parcel was dispatched for its ‘flight’. I immediately regretted that
decision. In future I’ll deliver myself – almost free of charge – to a post
office in Lifford to conduct similar business. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">You’ve got to be on top of your game when
you’re living on the Border. </span></div>
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Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-25604713914641918802013-08-11T21:17:00.000+01:002013-08-11T21:28:16.207+01:00All eyes on the Derg<!--StartFragment-->
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">F</span>or the past week,
Castlederg has been near the top of the news agenda. The small frontier town
sits on the most westerly fringe of the United Kingdom, cheek-by-jowl with
Donegal’s Finn Valley in the north-west of Ireland.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was the
chosen venue for the Tyrone commemoration of its ‘Republican dead’ from the
recent conflict – including 53 IRA activists. The event was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the
death of two IRA men from the Castlederg area who were killed when the bomb they were transporting into the
town exploded prematurely. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Republican
event caused outrage among members of the Protestant Unionist Loyalist (PUL)
communities as a desecration of the memory of 31 of their family, friends and
neighbours killed by the IRA in the locality. They organised a protest rally to
coincide with the Republican parade.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So on the afternoon of Sunday, 11 August 2013, Castlederg
braced for confrontation at the Ferguson Crescent interface.</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is where the town's two
virtually segregated parts meet. They are even designated by distinct names –
Bridgetown, bedecked in union flags and loyalist bunting; and Churchtown, where
the Republican parade would take place along Castlefinn Road and through the
Catholic nationalist estates.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is what
happened!</span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><i>(All photos copyright of Darach MacDonald.)</i><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji9hHf_UcsF_BJNdv5fnzC0jJxEm1IziToEjVXeWcSBMoEk2lEQ_oNOq6f_D8GQNKNA_py1j9OMPgEdylr45o9QM-McaOlqzl8lk534fgxdkW2LtcZovc3EFWPnPGB5ktvOcxYvXqX7YUc/s1600/Derg+1+a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji9hHf_UcsF_BJNdv5fnzC0jJxEm1IziToEjVXeWcSBMoEk2lEQ_oNOq6f_D8GQNKNA_py1j9OMPgEdylr45o9QM-McaOlqzl8lk534fgxdkW2LtcZovc3EFWPnPGB5ktvOcxYvXqX7YUc/s320/Derg+1+a.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Local Protestant clergymen prepare for the service on The Diamond that was the central feature of their protest.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEind_bNLS3CL2Qjr_-NgrAV9L2PTY7mNqUVresnKCMb_mjVat5pu2x7w5lbXwSL8-Enc9aPw-jpBqHXg-h5bu7-_bA9wCI4K8TXnEV5ZCl-E0OjdxVG86YsFrQDy4QUj8InV9lnNp0Bdxq9/s1600/Derg+1+c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEind_bNLS3CL2Qjr_-NgrAV9L2PTY7mNqUVresnKCMb_mjVat5pu2x7w5lbXwSL8-Enc9aPw-jpBqHXg-h5bu7-_bA9wCI4K8TXnEV5ZCl-E0OjdxVG86YsFrQDy4QUj8InV9lnNp0Bdxq9/s320/Derg+1+c.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Republicans begin to assemble at the Priest's Lane car park.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKaJxGtldZT35CWp3WZBQmahrivWiYXK6WBsM6fhQ1MMKyGRb6Fa6vGTdte4sObDQdPRqZX730RUPTMyYQv1aj1XIgBfZWKyUKM4-FCzmlmEA6vNhOKniWqzTth3_BKiytpzF1Wc_tnjtP/s1600/Derg+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKaJxGtldZT35CWp3WZBQmahrivWiYXK6WBsM6fhQ1MMKyGRb6Fa6vGTdte4sObDQdPRqZX730RUPTMyYQv1aj1XIgBfZWKyUKM4-FCzmlmEA6vNhOKniWqzTth3_BKiytpzF1Wc_tnjtP/s320/Derg+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gordon Speirs provides musical accompaniment for the protest prayer service.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4B2Yg_DvfXQwoqGxfQTjDpaMTxN1T-BW4Ih0F440yjhMhorPOlh7tFIyWv2ASQ-Cxx3vVod2Y0_30TQ9EE3HZFm3x44lFL_w6XDHYvYjJa8q0iqWBOTRpsoAWldpiE-UgYWIlNFgxY-2z/s1600/Derg+2+a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4B2Yg_DvfXQwoqGxfQTjDpaMTxN1T-BW4Ih0F440yjhMhorPOlh7tFIyWv2ASQ-Cxx3vVod2Y0_30TQ9EE3HZFm3x44lFL_w6XDHYvYjJa8q0iqWBOTRpsoAWldpiE-UgYWIlNFgxY-2z/s320/Derg+2+a.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More Republicans gather at Priest's Lane.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXoZv9GQu8TbDiH7HnFWTb001ykujOUx41PhgIa8z6tVl3rxiQFCswzD9QYmtuI5Mx8scQEKL5GzibGV86uQY1QT2XoILF-2PIm5yFQPL8fNcAQg_-jtfJJ7kNB1hMXhalWf5C_U5yAGBM/s1600/Derg+2+c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXoZv9GQu8TbDiH7HnFWTb001ykujOUx41PhgIa8z6tVl3rxiQFCswzD9QYmtuI5Mx8scQEKL5GzibGV86uQY1QT2XoILF-2PIm5yFQPL8fNcAQg_-jtfJJ7kNB1hMXhalWf5C_U5yAGBM/s320/Derg+2+c.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the Republican flute bands arrives.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuKA8r3arYXCpI25kGvwXsvNEDKxatJo-x5ISymyz0vmjfqath9-Ig83f7omT5mj-BWLqvrx-nBaIysDDq271GiV2ICWDD7Gx_sQoM0yG1Vky270KC0xVryZDIBUmKsgMvf7OPDijGPzr7/s1600/Derg+2+d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuKA8r3arYXCpI25kGvwXsvNEDKxatJo-x5ISymyz0vmjfqath9-Ig83f7omT5mj-BWLqvrx-nBaIysDDq271GiV2ICWDD7Gx_sQoM0yG1Vky270KC0xVryZDIBUmKsgMvf7OPDijGPzr7/s320/Derg+2+d.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Republican parade assembles in the shadow of the watchtower of the huge but now almost totally vacant Castlederg police fortress.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxTSWQkOXKP4KNjLbgYQ_zzL0cM6bYZeLlBWYYAWFg2laAY1oiZ305IPasACBCXNcs4MouUsxpyKFOaUURsvYsLdV6We12MjaiurXqFFBax-MClyJsGMC9cI0EZKSSIVJyWR1lw-LXdo2m/s1600/Derg+2+e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxTSWQkOXKP4KNjLbgYQ_zzL0cM6bYZeLlBWYYAWFg2laAY1oiZ305IPasACBCXNcs4MouUsxpyKFOaUURsvYsLdV6We12MjaiurXqFFBax-MClyJsGMC9cI0EZKSSIVJyWR1lw-LXdo2m/s320/Derg+2+e.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sinn Féin, including Pat Doherty MP on left, carry wreaths. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizkYb4AN9MHws55lFkJ4_KK9IjUHxwrPPMasxLl1YVB-DUrPBx41GfuK94yjAs2YgNn859Nxp79NqFSTQARTAYRe6_XnzRfzWxSfwVV56033KouqJE7Ry5rXWnqhFYDXa1dloCdQ_ogA81/s1600/Derg+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizkYb4AN9MHws55lFkJ4_KK9IjUHxwrPPMasxLl1YVB-DUrPBx41GfuK94yjAs2YgNn859Nxp79NqFSTQARTAYRe6_XnzRfzWxSfwVV56033KouqJE7Ry5rXWnqhFYDXa1dloCdQ_ogA81/s320/Derg+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Republican stewards form a line across the Ferguson Crescent interface, with Loyalist stewards about 50 metres beyond them at The Diamond, with police in between.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhfrLYqU2Ve4fStDqNkVFLwNRyDoTZG3dyAqF6uGMkacn83jRebx9G1sZwHWBBIp47ga0QTQzJ2vjrUpoFpm5nCClgVos519-FhNx8W2T8z350sD3owPKjkRk8xpIeW0G39AxDfvmIs_Qj/s1600/Derg+3+a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhfrLYqU2Ve4fStDqNkVFLwNRyDoTZG3dyAqF6uGMkacn83jRebx9G1sZwHWBBIp47ga0QTQzJ2vjrUpoFpm5nCClgVos519-FhNx8W2T8z350sD3owPKjkRk8xpIeW0G39AxDfvmIs_Qj/s320/Derg+3+a.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The provincial flags of Ireland are carried in the vanguard by the parade colour party.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimQw26b6SyenD-zobyyTNH07PVgWAlvxBJC96wqXDjwHscxKsNcBuMRkmWILvVKivWBpDzpkfpXZakml7zo06O6KARf1dcZ2NfrXCs8cYnWCsd1v0cz5s-BtY_yxHr6MMe5aItiRNhhsya/s1600/Derg+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimQw26b6SyenD-zobyyTNH07PVgWAlvxBJC96wqXDjwHscxKsNcBuMRkmWILvVKivWBpDzpkfpXZakml7zo06O6KARf1dcZ2NfrXCs8cYnWCsd1v0cz5s-BtY_yxHr6MMe5aItiRNhhsya/s320/Derg+4.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the Republican flute bands wheels around into Castlefinn Road.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivAjxHWIgRITdFxxR3QYUz-3DWadvQp2tFSM6DFWZ-Rmjems4pHIbHCHl068mYHAxn9XMrtYbV_3INXn8b4HLrsj2UYM8NeXAPFEoAMMXaDeEnDizxQOLIaKLzYpJ8rl_ds0mtgKFFl8YN/s1600/Derg+15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivAjxHWIgRITdFxxR3QYUz-3DWadvQp2tFSM6DFWZ-Rmjems4pHIbHCHl068mYHAxn9XMrtYbV_3INXn8b4HLrsj2UYM8NeXAPFEoAMMXaDeEnDizxQOLIaKLzYpJ8rl_ds0mtgKFFl8YN/s320/Derg+15.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Ulster flag with its provincial counterparts.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCYr8xmLlekcxHSumPgOGPqd6MBkIPdyoqZxMNzoSq2d5fYWBlCeNEnV0ykVQdM4s9-NiD4AFwqUdgIJKdodRTGdmQcJKnjqQjc_xOilc7yI1b7s7of3M_4C1Dq0XOrFL3huEPnw4ojtTu/s1600/Derg+16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCYr8xmLlekcxHSumPgOGPqd6MBkIPdyoqZxMNzoSq2d5fYWBlCeNEnV0ykVQdM4s9-NiD4AFwqUdgIJKdodRTGdmQcJKnjqQjc_xOilc7yI1b7s7of3M_4C1Dq0XOrFL3huEPnw4ojtTu/s320/Derg+16.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Strabane's Republican Flute Band features two bass drummers.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8T1yiPIQk761zJzx7cXl1ySNW88Xz_JVRhg-VGi5S7CTa3NQG9uLcPzpejPZirnST6w2kUzFm1i9IT-uPxqkUIZ4TxYRQOg-ry0siyxp-I1t3aw7fcCMioWnymslqXoKpl9mh3eUHcUCi/s1600/Derg+17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8T1yiPIQk761zJzx7cXl1ySNW88Xz_JVRhg-VGi5S7CTa3NQG9uLcPzpejPZirnST6w2kUzFm1i9IT-uPxqkUIZ4TxYRQOg-ry0siyxp-I1t3aw7fcCMioWnymslqXoKpl9mh3eUHcUCi/s320/Derg+17.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Strabane fluters set off on the parade route.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX2Hi3J7LLJpyVNNv6TkAP40RrLSg8BrBuo3QMDL0Z1qgn8mZshupNG4cci6bkPqMmN1yB4rDt6Fv3rFepvncfs0VmcuN628dtO3I-Qp8_ejeVGUXUXyUONeTnCQq6h8V4s5vvYYDnXiDj/s1600/Derg+18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX2Hi3J7LLJpyVNNv6TkAP40RrLSg8BrBuo3QMDL0Z1qgn8mZshupNG4cci6bkPqMmN1yB4rDt6Fv3rFepvncfs0VmcuN628dtO3I-Qp8_ejeVGUXUXyUONeTnCQq6h8V4s5vvYYDnXiDj/s320/Derg+18.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The colour party of Tyrone's Martin Hurson Memorial Flute Band.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5IkLqOkhG0eul0Bn8yNCcDd6L0tDg9hgmZGji2y_VLn1RQp1DIDaYcwLHf42Va_PKYda_h3sUrUxsXavsxCl2fndCTU2nLD4Sw7_r_oajPJOJQTVFOMWsEM6LzYwqMVWLPvYDM1oiqaBt/s1600/Derg+19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5IkLqOkhG0eul0Bn8yNCcDd6L0tDg9hgmZGji2y_VLn1RQp1DIDaYcwLHf42Va_PKYda_h3sUrUxsXavsxCl2fndCTU2nLD4Sw7_r_oajPJOJQTVFOMWsEM6LzYwqMVWLPvYDM1oiqaBt/s320/Derg+19.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Martin Hurson Memorial Band's flute corps.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglNaWwXyripd4imleaysXfoYT1vB09eg8aAkjPJcmG27eBcrcQ1gN-9x7gkdr0t86xzIluEIJ-CVjDE7hBzdzUI_BPIiSKCnecD_HLtDHO3mWNuqcIGwDBUlSSzfgTSaJjeOgoU6ry1WLY/s1600/Derg+20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglNaWwXyripd4imleaysXfoYT1vB09eg8aAkjPJcmG27eBcrcQ1gN-9x7gkdr0t86xzIluEIJ-CVjDE7hBzdzUI_BPIiSKCnecD_HLtDHO3mWNuqcIGwDBUlSSzfgTSaJjeOgoU6ry1WLY/s320/Derg+20.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fluters mark time as the parade stalls momentarily.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTRWIx1BhPUP4WtFlwKg9cAatITFkzilW7p9Hn0Zs0QwfiZ0bseKZOsxx1Cn2DiC-d6ZLuGNaMdUpg4ec_SRxYeQ60aQEL2P_eIsMkcxwDt4__PVNy7XqAFPkym5id2jIAQCXXjWkm2PZa/s1600/Derg+21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTRWIx1BhPUP4WtFlwKg9cAatITFkzilW7p9Hn0Zs0QwfiZ0bseKZOsxx1Cn2DiC-d6ZLuGNaMdUpg4ec_SRxYeQ60aQEL2P_eIsMkcxwDt4__PVNy7XqAFPkym5id2jIAQCXXjWkm2PZa/s320/Derg+21.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A commotion in the background, where one Loyalist protester made an attempt to break through caused police to rush to the far line of the interface.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcViJs_al9PNv8KP9pH5jIi2pHsgymAttZTJWZeohMDE4yOfcU4m6S3DbhQMd0VzKEC0Kkd0eFRDv4nh7chDoUZO8Tq4Y93Xx7wtqjSPSyKcVBbBIJNEonhDUtm5ZyX5dr3PUYwxVnxVva/s1600/Derg+22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcViJs_al9PNv8KP9pH5jIi2pHsgymAttZTJWZeohMDE4yOfcU4m6S3DbhQMd0VzKEC0Kkd0eFRDv4nh7chDoUZO8Tq4Y93Xx7wtqjSPSyKcVBbBIJNEonhDUtm5ZyX5dr3PUYwxVnxVva/s320/Derg+22.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Republican band from Donegal.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmnnxxUremTRSCITfjbRFhudXrS378E9FsteCNuFkXtUCiK_EQDarzGn6oQnlzRIvgBbMr1Ga7SXghzZRTnsrTYb3mF0TRgSDcvhpkPqDEwfj9yZ0ARPDrMlh5GpzdSDR1dorWbSA4KUMh/s1600/Derg+23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmnnxxUremTRSCITfjbRFhudXrS378E9FsteCNuFkXtUCiK_EQDarzGn6oQnlzRIvgBbMr1Ga7SXghzZRTnsrTYb3mF0TRgSDcvhpkPqDEwfj9yZ0ARPDrMlh5GpzdSDR1dorWbSA4KUMh/s320/Derg+23.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tír Chonaill fluters follow their bass drum.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSKR783haZEIMgeuOSiYx44USdWa1HnooxS5GwgZcLF4GCuN93KZUZ5gDYSRrBhLD8-JGEKH4GFjABxtWB_fQfYuVVyYeh02D-JIBot2FfUU7vWl5VDLB7xIP-D_o7pkybG1y41KUkYcdd/s1600/Derg+24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSKR783haZEIMgeuOSiYx44USdWa1HnooxS5GwgZcLF4GCuN93KZUZ5gDYSRrBhLD8-JGEKH4GFjABxtWB_fQfYuVVyYeh02D-JIBot2FfUU7vWl5VDLB7xIP-D_o7pkybG1y41KUkYcdd/s320/Derg+24.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Sinn Féin group from Armagh city at the Tyrone commemoration.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbig4heW4gBC1SxEk2Kxg69OMxAYGv0EItMyM1TIoJjojFabK7vBNKcKqpXbCpNrPv8gImWpwG71GKqXp5Icbxuy5zpUdOHqlpSx7otRB4PZFJ8zy9JJejKylYvYFqS-suwkZ98NT5TxoV/s1600/Derg+25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbig4heW4gBC1SxEk2Kxg69OMxAYGv0EItMyM1TIoJjojFabK7vBNKcKqpXbCpNrPv8gImWpwG71GKqXp5Icbxuy5zpUdOHqlpSx7otRB4PZFJ8zy9JJejKylYvYFqS-suwkZ98NT5TxoV/s320/Derg+25.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another Republican band, from north Antrim, this time steps it out.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFKGGt6U4Mw6hCdUBCWasD9pm3SuUQmL4puBvbOIcJWnTKBxUMVE7Lp3oHqaA0kRriwyKp7k1A6M5JifYNWqnXuH6m9T0WjVZNlxtbcZkz6hcNXJCuttk8O9r_Ngm1X4GJLguLi5WAkxlN/s1600/Derg+26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFKGGt6U4Mw6hCdUBCWasD9pm3SuUQmL4puBvbOIcJWnTKBxUMVE7Lp3oHqaA0kRriwyKp7k1A6M5JifYNWqnXuH6m9T0WjVZNlxtbcZkz6hcNXJCuttk8O9r_Ngm1X4GJLguLi5WAkxlN/s320/Derg+26.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crossmaglen Sinn Féin banner carried in the Castlederg parade.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8qWRHLrDSpRBRuzMt47V3FMq_ydMgQ1bJGOp0ilplA6mBznQX_1XTyOwqcMl8Gr73uvP8pyhCDrAl6cczISv578AfCCwldh86I_ADY3nhyphenhyphenNZj4bI68Kt0IQLjhLEiczN-WmOY6-bEZtv6/s1600/Derg+27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8qWRHLrDSpRBRuzMt47V3FMq_ydMgQ1bJGOp0ilplA6mBznQX_1XTyOwqcMl8Gr73uvP8pyhCDrAl6cczISv578AfCCwldh86I_ADY3nhyphenhyphenNZj4bI68Kt0IQLjhLEiczN-WmOY6-bEZtv6/s320/Derg+27.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The final Republican band, from south Derry, steps it out.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8WoHtZYfapiAMjAJcOgmacAn_cdrhhnrtecIpvUgfNUpmVp0Shv16eQbZRRHMVG0FwvV7aHGTyxor64CKJaRf6kQlYA3hkL2CBRyHydU97z3J7yLS7O2ggVdbDQOv3LyP2NTg9ywOOlfQ/s1600/Derg+29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8WoHtZYfapiAMjAJcOgmacAn_cdrhhnrtecIpvUgfNUpmVp0Shv16eQbZRRHMVG0FwvV7aHGTyxor64CKJaRf6kQlYA3hkL2CBRyHydU97z3J7yLS7O2ggVdbDQOv3LyP2NTg9ywOOlfQ/s320/Derg+29.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The police turn their backs to Loyalist protesters on one side…</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Sy4o_GHhw4vTobMplrtp04xIGWVZ6bKKYO9WqqajhDa19z1PndYtYafp_snKf8yxwg1VH9FxsgX8PbhZKxS1GWmhw9APOH2rLVeNdd-S8MAq0kYk0EKLS0Ec3nKtiKSRV20-ZCG8iQVT/s1600/Derg+30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Sy4o_GHhw4vTobMplrtp04xIGWVZ6bKKYO9WqqajhDa19z1PndYtYafp_snKf8yxwg1VH9FxsgX8PbhZKxS1GWmhw9APOH2rLVeNdd-S8MAq0kYk0EKLS0Ec3nKtiKSRV20-ZCG8iQVT/s320/Derg+30.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">… as the Republican parade marches off up Castlefinn Road.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqQyGq7B4jp-iDpiDTXKuannV5FijOadv0WpjbJErwA7AucMdiwByQooIZPNX3OStfZSsBG940tkfKV2gfun3p0LKuvKeqp7TuCxv2k5OErAtihmuwX79sEhgdN9Az45Q7dk5Vnofntw8q/s1600/Derg+31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqQyGq7B4jp-iDpiDTXKuannV5FijOadv0WpjbJErwA7AucMdiwByQooIZPNX3OStfZSsBG940tkfKV2gfun3p0LKuvKeqp7TuCxv2k5OErAtihmuwX79sEhgdN9Az45Q7dk5Vnofntw8q/s320/Derg+31.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back at The Diamond, Loyalist protesters gather at the 'Cutting Edge' of the town's interface.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhUGzs-Wm2NxYOESvtd02HKXK3apckqockQwPUtuECe5Jg0eMHD5ChjDd2mJCJm933FqvdH7kT8EeCpTVUcfkH-M8nTfd40qFAZ04vwCkBFamJ9mz6aCcqayfh9gBahu7TDV3LlpbwAANE/s1600/Derg+33.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhUGzs-Wm2NxYOESvtd02HKXK3apckqockQwPUtuECe5Jg0eMHD5ChjDd2mJCJm933FqvdH7kT8EeCpTVUcfkH-M8nTfd40qFAZ04vwCkBFamJ9mz6aCcqayfh9gBahu7TDV3LlpbwAANE/s320/Derg+33.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A parading band re-emerges onto Castlefinn Road from one of Castlederg's estates.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4uQGN1imduSC3zsAl1mGsNe-GA5ybWsvtWt5NoKg0DRXLepQVQj9t8B2mU4SmtlmYE71_6RhPIRm4uwl-VApZYjaLGTDK8znW8Gp5cXbXQJSB5wt9SKQtRVP3z-slb-fENzI4mbaxoTmb/s1600/Derg+34.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4uQGN1imduSC3zsAl1mGsNe-GA5ybWsvtWt5NoKg0DRXLepQVQj9t8B2mU4SmtlmYE71_6RhPIRm4uwl-VApZYjaLGTDK8znW8Gp5cXbXQJSB5wt9SKQtRVP3z-slb-fENzI4mbaxoTmb/s320/Derg+34.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The colour party of the Martin Hurson Memorial Flute Band.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4X-M9nS9Az7bnP-lMQquhuU7ByhS1xMo1G3FMJVlPzNjH5XpebuizZJ2QpK3fO_EXqSMo3v6ftb5nMNZn6Hgwyy12qCiMTgo19FEnJ21UJ4xXjpX6wQ5PLLcGr4aZFfXUru50EvKC_sOd/s1600/Derg+36.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4X-M9nS9Az7bnP-lMQquhuU7ByhS1xMo1G3FMJVlPzNjH5XpebuizZJ2QpK3fO_EXqSMo3v6ftb5nMNZn6Hgwyy12qCiMTgo19FEnJ21UJ4xXjpX6wQ5PLLcGr4aZFfXUru50EvKC_sOd/s320/Derg+36.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Martin Hurson Memorial RFB drummers</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL4tqxjvZN4bhQQNDaXPmhbUNeyxy1LyQ3BXgz2knyO2CBntFd4ddJ1CqjfjJZssWmXtEthJ64z7CE-obdhrRYiulda-WU5q08JtSasqVViXsTDcJex3sQHk64iq0z7d5aPU44lSkmWysL/s1600/Derg+38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL4tqxjvZN4bhQQNDaXPmhbUNeyxy1LyQ3BXgz2knyO2CBntFd4ddJ1CqjfjJZssWmXtEthJ64z7CE-obdhrRYiulda-WU5q08JtSasqVViXsTDcJex3sQHk64iq0z7d5aPU44lSkmWysL/s320/Derg+38.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fluters in the Martin Hurson Memorial band.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwKVJHNuVXwI1URDOmx9FHYNOA36wFSZNADSg_0REdBiDzxXnk0w6Jfb_JC8MU5Yg6HY7hiJ0-o8Ubv4IivoJZqS_QZDoa0BWfqCfziO9FWb4Y5KsOpP8McxpPR2DO_-_-tLzGq4MSmkWT/s1600/Derg+39.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwKVJHNuVXwI1URDOmx9FHYNOA36wFSZNADSg_0REdBiDzxXnk0w6Jfb_JC8MU5Yg6HY7hiJ0-o8Ubv4IivoJZqS_QZDoa0BWfqCfziO9FWb4Y5KsOpP8McxpPR2DO_-_-tLzGq4MSmkWT/s320/Derg+39.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Tír Chonaill colour party steps along.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi52eOJBK8ASqJyNo5aV8s7soRv45czW_DvZlQETlO8JezzqbnLccXH7cX0grL3OcsivT2srDcfYlNostZlUVMcwjCEqyy-SXByD7ydnrXtAT5ciAQkXJUHpllmzksHHvF0Hr43xn8HzbHX/s1600/Derg+41.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi52eOJBK8ASqJyNo5aV8s7soRv45czW_DvZlQETlO8JezzqbnLccXH7cX0grL3OcsivT2srDcfYlNostZlUVMcwjCEqyy-SXByD7ydnrXtAT5ciAQkXJUHpllmzksHHvF0Hr43xn8HzbHX/s320/Derg+41.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A young drummer flanked by his bandsmen.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi50vCK_bfq7w6kjQ7KSU2ifHL4AHU4bf6UTIsWm2d_oE8Kbu3m47Pi-C0JBYPGF4oh3t4LsBn7O_k8q-VmAloqyPUeTzzLP4zNEy_lwTmaNSJSMUcEeVbJvu32raOGpHIQU1bmk3yecGyh/s1600/Derg+42.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi50vCK_bfq7w6kjQ7KSU2ifHL4AHU4bf6UTIsWm2d_oE8Kbu3m47Pi-C0JBYPGF4oh3t4LsBn7O_k8q-VmAloqyPUeTzzLP4zNEy_lwTmaNSJSMUcEeVbJvu32raOGpHIQU1bmk3yecGyh/s320/Derg+42.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bearing along the Irish tricolour.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCnpEvhBZMa2yZsDK0DoQu2QRZ_byN5O-l59GAusgDnJC_OwEW2AVsL0thWyCQTu8_ofDRsIg9sZ-ffQC-qXdDKxHJe1U2ZYpQCIoCTqKe9y-rz1s2qmGWa-es51S8PJGAEh0z1nMiF1Tk/s1600/Derg+49.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCnpEvhBZMa2yZsDK0DoQu2QRZ_byN5O-l59GAusgDnJC_OwEW2AVsL0thWyCQTu8_ofDRsIg9sZ-ffQC-qXdDKxHJe1U2ZYpQCIoCTqKe9y-rz1s2qmGWa-es51S8PJGAEh0z1nMiF1Tk/s320/Derg+49.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flag-bearer at the end of the parade route.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3b_E92zqNBKleDpi37gfC11uGRG95-AZIY60cDgI4VgoEangTC6IFSDZ-gzkGMu04saiGKkYZXvm37bMVywt-bjG33lnIiKN_gNpJr-LXDcCwSW8vtvOedZbtAJDnwpV6jV58awUTBgva/s1600/Derg+50.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3b_E92zqNBKleDpi37gfC11uGRG95-AZIY60cDgI4VgoEangTC6IFSDZ-gzkGMu04saiGKkYZXvm37bMVywt-bjG33lnIiKN_gNpJr-LXDcCwSW8vtvOedZbtAJDnwpV6jV58awUTBgva/s320/Derg+50.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Donegal band arrives at the Republican shine in Castlederg.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcnbsQOL7rlmifdhBFIt_1jiG2kMLxP964AEL9_smVG5JoQhrlpx06N-yjvH5sIw6zd1SEgsP6q41C5OkxApow2YpCdzT5aR9_qOLkxSu7qzg1r7T6gF9GeZcIF1w8TnSsOPYi775SW4ua/s1600/Derg+51.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcnbsQOL7rlmifdhBFIt_1jiG2kMLxP964AEL9_smVG5JoQhrlpx06N-yjvH5sIw6zd1SEgsP6q41C5OkxApow2YpCdzT5aR9_qOLkxSu7qzg1r7T6gF9GeZcIF1w8TnSsOPYi775SW4ua/s320/Derg+51.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Martin Hurson Memorial RFB prepares to fall out.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7CGwUTHbi4GHR6C0OtrU8eJ4QM37G-UDOWGodUeb41WQQdxKnVlWgKodEGCXCy_kVY2Y8R8dTu6Xf94s-e-3MPcVwxpBdv4MCL4nW4aGwgWNZ-s6oxgNdKSx_WETSi-zbRNzCe1L6eQxb/s1600/Derg+52.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7CGwUTHbi4GHR6C0OtrU8eJ4QM37G-UDOWGodUeb41WQQdxKnVlWgKodEGCXCy_kVY2Y8R8dTu6Xf94s-e-3MPcVwxpBdv4MCL4nW4aGwgWNZ-s6oxgNdKSx_WETSi-zbRNzCe1L6eQxb/s320/Derg+52.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marking time on the last tune.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi40j-pp0DAe7gwzRj3ZIlcYRRBpSfuie2sec2HcYpJKP22WI_xkiPZYm5kuGcG2PsSrIsHdq6_xn5HNSf8z2Z2QcVbS5xSyq1I8xVnpNKH6XRXSRE4ZTnbVRyorCyPV-bmy-wG24llRGcK/s1600/Derg+54.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi40j-pp0DAe7gwzRj3ZIlcYRRBpSfuie2sec2HcYpJKP22WI_xkiPZYm5kuGcG2PsSrIsHdq6_xn5HNSf8z2Z2QcVbS5xSyq1I8xVnpNKH6XRXSRE4ZTnbVRyorCyPV-bmy-wG24llRGcK/s320/Derg+54.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Rasharkin Sons of Ireland band arrives.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfk38Go0eW83jX-wWKq3InNGVME66q8G-mDNe-OqfYMGegh4YrFw_wKSIlRQHJ8bmUh3bwc14kIOQpgSVjNbDbDDL3cOeQjQyzxvOyZbTlm4H-TrdmAJeKR3DVYxsKP8Cz3u2h3QMZHLYw/s1600/Derg+56.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfk38Go0eW83jX-wWKq3InNGVME66q8G-mDNe-OqfYMGegh4YrFw_wKSIlRQHJ8bmUh3bwc14kIOQpgSVjNbDbDDL3cOeQjQyzxvOyZbTlm4H-TrdmAJeKR3DVYxsKP8Cz3u2h3QMZHLYw/s320/Derg+56.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rasharkin fluters marching along.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6KJMqLH6EPqDMVUUJ3lRgYW_3TItTrPVipK6R9e1UJZDHZrEjOv5lWtFsuOlV6HX3Ga2vFkWDFBME8tzO9SVBcTChCA4xbQi1UDITPRr0TnU3DqhFMdunblPWYjwXDjwqAdBFxqMVKztN/s1600/Derg+57.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6KJMqLH6EPqDMVUUJ3lRgYW_3TItTrPVipK6R9e1UJZDHZrEjOv5lWtFsuOlV6HX3Ga2vFkWDFBME8tzO9SVBcTChCA4xbQi1UDITPRr0TnU3DqhFMdunblPWYjwXDjwqAdBFxqMVKztN/s320/Derg+57.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the banners carried on the parade features 1916 heroes.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN3_Gim9jk9ZNw20zWlFSF8GCg_FewjEBWjHmlWt3TuT0GCAF-i-BmYfKcUN0jGYo-Mes5WmeHmDvsapRA334MUCaTpe873Fcin5t6u_osRhePLMuLHoI5y5DmxEMUWt610M-y3ZX15klQ/s1600/Derg+58.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN3_Gim9jk9ZNw20zWlFSF8GCg_FewjEBWjHmlWt3TuT0GCAF-i-BmYfKcUN0jGYo-Mes5WmeHmDvsapRA334MUCaTpe873Fcin5t6u_osRhePLMuLHoI5y5DmxEMUWt610M-y3ZX15klQ/s320/Derg+58.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Images of local republican heroes on the wall above the shrine.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrYvYhOfg5ZelYSYPsE2mkKwaOcQVopjCZJwMoHwCrg2VYkAbeHuHXiXW1T7TLMIuf6ffDhbaH2j9yBx9HkzXFNVFzlhm4sLDbUPslgIHoscG1oNjlYS-jD1N8cx9Ox35D0gzGmgEhYs5n/s1600/Derg+59.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrYvYhOfg5ZelYSYPsE2mkKwaOcQVopjCZJwMoHwCrg2VYkAbeHuHXiXW1T7TLMIuf6ffDhbaH2j9yBx9HkzXFNVFzlhm4sLDbUPslgIHoscG1oNjlYS-jD1N8cx9Ox35D0gzGmgEhYs5n/s320/Derg+59.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Castlederg republicans display their banners.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div style="text-align: right;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZm-BQeEPNDLRPD_xBpsIitt4ZHi-qZRqANRxClEt4eG4hRWtK2ZhtRYujJ2oAnEx4bX9lYCODwSqeD5Dpsyx-5_ojmVxgNfN2sPULNuHwaFulmjAFy4migE7x2wloLHhGTQwgUPOStM0n/s1600/Derg+80.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZm-BQeEPNDLRPD_xBpsIitt4ZHi-qZRqANRxClEt4eG4hRWtK2ZhtRYujJ2oAnEx4bX9lYCODwSqeD5Dpsyx-5_ojmVxgNfN2sPULNuHwaFulmjAFy4migE7x2wloLHhGTQwgUPOStM0n/s320/Derg+80.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The colour party line up before the new Republican shrine.</td></tr>
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Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-14158886964672014272013-07-23T22:57:00.000+01:002013-07-23T23:14:03.793+01:00Dumped again in the Windy City<!--StartFragment-->
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrwF3xM9hEhpqGA48qJkNnZfP_aExs49pkwBggE8Cnqq7a6SQwAV8jxbDIbyjaNXaoGtXU0H2UFnS0Bge_kPWRNog1P7m_FePOQAy_bKZZyD3zZtFhxCNOTnCx6DKIAEdGCy5D7eAUkj4s/s1600/The+offer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrwF3xM9hEhpqGA48qJkNnZfP_aExs49pkwBggE8Cnqq7a6SQwAV8jxbDIbyjaNXaoGtXU0H2UFnS0Bge_kPWRNog1P7m_FePOQAy_bKZZyD3zZtFhxCNOTnCx6DKIAEdGCy5D7eAUkj4s/s320/The+offer.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The attractive offer.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">It’</span></span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">s still happening with
Aer Lingus, despite the recent announcement by my airline of choice that it was
inaugurating direct flights from Dublin to Toronto next year<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=379319695148651616#_edn1" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">1</span></span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Today I got another of
those promotional emails offering me £40 off a return flight on its ‘USA
and Canada’ services. Having commented publicly (on Facebook) about the happy outcome
of a previous Frontier Post blog about the lack of this precise service, I wanted to get in
as early as possible on the fruits of my campaign<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=379319695148651616#_edn2" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">2</span></span></a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">So
I checked it out and the price was agreeable… even attractive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I set about placing a
booking for next February. Price still OK, but then I checked the flight
schedule.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Aer Lingus was offering to
fly me over most of eastern Canada and the Great Lakes into the United States
and dump me in Chicago's O’Hare airport again. It would arrange with United Airlines to
then take me back across the Great Lakes to Canada where I wanted to go in the first place. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaVYwpFiQgHdb-yH7fP6eh_f_3uKt6PXVtGdHUzBepsl8lW1BPqmzuJT8B426EiA5iZIvNrBxf-KZCrhGKhTM6m06liQJsHanDG6KonilpRWsNmPw6BNq7s4RJwqvcOWVVj63GuiBhURjh/s1600/The+reality.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaVYwpFiQgHdb-yH7fP6eh_f_3uKt6PXVtGdHUzBepsl8lW1BPqmzuJT8B426EiA5iZIvNrBxf-KZCrhGKhTM6m06liQJsHanDG6KonilpRWsNmPw6BNq7s4RJwqvcOWVVj63GuiBhURjh/s320/The+reality.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The real deal.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">That’s exactly like offering to fly
me from Dublin to Athens, Greece, and then dumping me in Cairo, Egypt, at the mercy of a third party airline!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It's the same on the return
leg – first west on United Airlines to Chicago, then back east to Dublin! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The duration of the flight
times offered are 12 hours and 59 minutes on the outward flight, and a
staggering 20 hours on the homeward flight!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Given time for all those normal departure and
arrival formalities, that would extract almost two entire days for hanging around airport
terminals and sitting in a flying tin tube from a two-week
vacation! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And given my recent
difficulties with US Customs and Border Protection<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=379319695148651616#_edn3" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">3</span></span></a>,
I would probably have to allow even more flexitime in my schedule for dealing with the ugly face of America on border patrol.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I’m sending an email reply to Aer Lingus right now asking that they send no similar offers to me until they
study the map and see that Canada is not simply somewhere else on the outskirts of the Windy
City… and I’m enclosing this blog post as well!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=379319695148651616#_ednref" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">1</span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/new-aer-lingus-routes-to-san-francisco-and-toronto-take-off-next-year-29390640.html<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-41648276180194154232013-06-18T01:13:00.006+01:002013-06-18T19:10:24.289+01:00Facing up to the G8<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX5-jmJornJ2QKEwLXU75hRT9-PCKq80tYvOa28_KpPVPrbMlNXW2vAKDsPd-vIxy_Xfmv0zlSQF87NSEoC1SpUaXEXWwEqp9x2GzK0H1DWa7fVzvRZX9Jd_TAd3Hp9AD9zCYOm_yahluB/s1600/Anti-G8+36.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX5-jmJornJ2QKEwLXU75hRT9-PCKq80tYvOa28_KpPVPrbMlNXW2vAKDsPd-vIxy_Xfmv0zlSQF87NSEoC1SpUaXEXWwEqp9x2GzK0H1DWa7fVzvRZX9Jd_TAd3Hp9AD9zCYOm_yahluB/s400/Anti-G8+36.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Neo-Jesus from Glasgow and the Big Yin.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1GJafxHCmchj9p2nU9BsU7GsJ49ELYvsJCB7LPhkRMy2I8djeZOLTZX147a6i4Flp7D9l7I7xgA_-H_r8-6JoFv0SOFGMG1zw_wj6UtrN2Wh09H03P4GlY66y9dZR_8xMKDGhqydg5uTU/s1600/Anti-G8+37.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1GJafxHCmchj9p2nU9BsU7GsJ49ELYvsJCB7LPhkRMy2I8djeZOLTZX147a6i4Flp7D9l7I7xgA_-H_r8-6JoFv0SOFGMG1zw_wj6UtrN2Wh09H03P4GlY66y9dZR_8xMKDGhqydg5uTU/s400/Anti-G8+37.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cheeky message on the march.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZG8GX_frs0bAsr37GpaGTSDR8Pqebc5YyMFkyomq5AZ3QP0Q-SMKWdMZKIw-RmAxEms-L2F6zY0yv9U3oO7W0XiVEIgCTdnEi7VmJ-d1GjDDabxacbi8MjP25aguMhGh_eDjDbP2lo8aE/s1600/Anti-G8+38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZG8GX_frs0bAsr37GpaGTSDR8Pqebc5YyMFkyomq5AZ3QP0Q-SMKWdMZKIw-RmAxEms-L2F6zY0yv9U3oO7W0XiVEIgCTdnEi7VmJ-d1GjDDabxacbi8MjP25aguMhGh_eDjDbP2lo8aE/s400/Anti-G8+38.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Foyle Pride and Fermanagh police.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2m2UlApDFHFjp7suELwvFThn8IeBxW4SvPwY4tLnDD8VFhmCJnuFV8rwXme4Aubu8QOjQSXPRUn2Ttpcc3uOMeFY4_son41mUOOduM8vI1enMjkf5VpggKrNo1IWDTBumm7f4OEupjAO4/s1600/Anti-G8+39.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2m2UlApDFHFjp7suELwvFThn8IeBxW4SvPwY4tLnDD8VFhmCJnuFV8rwXme4Aubu8QOjQSXPRUn2Ttpcc3uOMeFY4_son41mUOOduM8vI1enMjkf5VpggKrNo1IWDTBumm7f4OEupjAO4/s400/Anti-G8+39.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Embracing first language to shun capitalism.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWmtoZvOQFI4ThVyyGJHXvpC_g5RhlB_EtxU_utkY0txz5z8J_K41rUuhbXVMFAhk-I4ij17rCZUfQvlq1BlZi5FccvQi4vC3inq-gYLqkLv4IY8JrvUQS_cG_-lnLkHieacZOzuillqxJ/s1600/Anti-G8+40.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWmtoZvOQFI4ThVyyGJHXvpC_g5RhlB_EtxU_utkY0txz5z8J_K41rUuhbXVMFAhk-I4ij17rCZUfQvlq1BlZi5FccvQi4vC3inq-gYLqkLv4IY8JrvUQS_cG_-lnLkHieacZOzuillqxJ/s400/Anti-G8+40.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another message for Obama.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcygmnF1kZRbkKk8pshbqPbgC6yQavv-Q06NZ3xafOZVuf2yQoJtPNx2zof9c2iKNzJvSRfrfvYe3jNXCpbURIoGYCtIsB2Ir8kiFC6gaFemMe3jf1SeuB3B-dWOliO1cAzxZG3pgF_GUW/s1600/Anti-G8+41.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcygmnF1kZRbkKk8pshbqPbgC6yQavv-Q06NZ3xafOZVuf2yQoJtPNx2zof9c2iKNzJvSRfrfvYe3jNXCpbURIoGYCtIsB2Ir8kiFC6gaFemMe3jf1SeuB3B-dWOliO1cAzxZG3pgF_GUW/s400/Anti-G8+41.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Old heroic causes never die.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPTUPa2AAYLok_rZbhC9O3CsahEfoFEMRGs96AxbcKy01s-mtUUjrbXiUroOvIzXNB2I3Y1mKuE0wjU6uavnGHoJrd7T-AdtZWrbc8hGbXbUXJVzUMKK47XYJvkkMPL-kL1qhwpmUuCGG1/s1600/Anti-G8+42.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPTUPa2AAYLok_rZbhC9O3CsahEfoFEMRGs96AxbcKy01s-mtUUjrbXiUroOvIzXNB2I3Y1mKuE0wjU6uavnGHoJrd7T-AdtZWrbc8hGbXbUXJVzUMKK47XYJvkkMPL-kL1qhwpmUuCGG1/s400/Anti-G8+42.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Big boards for big message.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKuth-3KKZVtcbHKxB79jLokEPnTFKKRBUCrlnHVuIH5T9iFCAl_JFiwh1IhBWqRZbQdrDusaUnnD6-ChYdpruJAX12I94HvGgHpzgQ6z9yaOlmt5dXSGhyQvhzt0YwgvcSfjyCexIaPi-/s1600/Anti-G8+43.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKuth-3KKZVtcbHKxB79jLokEPnTFKKRBUCrlnHVuIH5T9iFCAl_JFiwh1IhBWqRZbQdrDusaUnnD6-ChYdpruJAX12I94HvGgHpzgQ6z9yaOlmt5dXSGhyQvhzt0YwgvcSfjyCexIaPi-/s400/Anti-G8+43.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the march to the barricades.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvx2WQr5pvXYQ3PWVrV1XWdd4VDEZfMGhFeah6g2Z_Ak1F1qDQQ7EjVXpRw82CLhyphenhyphenpDET9x63uo2sAMx16N6imlDnAlKXg421LIwauqgy8oUShfQicoHWJt3kTPlHSobov5nDmYY8wroLh/s1600/Anti-G8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvx2WQr5pvXYQ3PWVrV1XWdd4VDEZfMGhFeah6g2Z_Ak1F1qDQQ7EjVXpRw82CLhyphenhyphenpDET9x63uo2sAMx16N6imlDnAlKXg421LIwauqgy8oUShfQicoHWJt3kTPlHSobov5nDmYY8wroLh/s400/Anti-G8.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The biggest drip in the protest.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Ys2eX-7MA9YuIeIiy5Hd6O6We6B4eGlGzpABJGdQ55-tV14-y_aYej4UArfea1FqJ_IzxHmLjEk4cgji-hY9UmoUj_BykHk9jvupW9l_twuCUKiCRo3UDM7kdurhKmAALwVknwZLc12V/s1600/Anti-G8+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Ys2eX-7MA9YuIeIiy5Hd6O6We6B4eGlGzpABJGdQ55-tV14-y_aYej4UArfea1FqJ_IzxHmLjEk4cgji-hY9UmoUj_BykHk9jvupW9l_twuCUKiCRo3UDM7kdurhKmAALwVknwZLc12V/s400/Anti-G8+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Come on Donegal!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZZ04h_R5DpEfPkx_KM1BYse2qRIQcPMMMYMWRay7yVFSKvCcV6SOqmj2ePtjuI6nAUmd-034qQ-5i5ITQs0nOak0TCFF9JKlb1wCy8Vf0ID0r1e8Hv4MqyEjK57n-FypuqK7G4_eE4Fqs/s1600/Anti-G8+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZZ04h_R5DpEfPkx_KM1BYse2qRIQcPMMMYMWRay7yVFSKvCcV6SOqmj2ePtjuI6nAUmd-034qQ-5i5ITQs0nOak0TCFF9JKlb1wCy8Vf0ID0r1e8Hv4MqyEjK57n-FypuqK7G4_eE4Fqs/s400/Anti-G8+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A protester from Prince Edward Island in the island town.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjozo6ni1cA83ka1etn84hlhyphenhyphenMcVwMCoc912VX_KhTKu46Wh1u3e2LTWTUUXjPTh_Ui8WFqDiVbtrHcEfguuc6P5Rn6g8mmro0-z5MYk23lDHQne6SN_FvSX2CzltLF1dNpxohDiFUVVZ4n/s1600/Anti-G8+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjozo6ni1cA83ka1etn84hlhyphenhyphenMcVwMCoc912VX_KhTKu46Wh1u3e2LTWTUUXjPTh_Ui8WFqDiVbtrHcEfguuc6P5Rn6g8mmro0-z5MYk23lDHQne6SN_FvSX2CzltLF1dNpxohDiFUVVZ4n/s400/Anti-G8+3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Familiar faces in Enniskillen.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib5tS9dGoaxrq2naHJeP8EascBn5BO48zoDcW9D717C7s-FFwLowlrUuuMJapY0MvIzx5jMCMIwkveOATQy1XoZqTbjNV65P3YwLiIQYwqM5OlJmH7iAmR_19X_5-VUF26BWa__GlJS63B/s1600/Anti-G8+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib5tS9dGoaxrq2naHJeP8EascBn5BO48zoDcW9D717C7s-FFwLowlrUuuMJapY0MvIzx5jMCMIwkveOATQy1XoZqTbjNV65P3YwLiIQYwqM5OlJmH7iAmR_19X_5-VUF26BWa__GlJS63B/s400/Anti-G8+4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stripped to the skin by austerity</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxPjt5tmUMke4Dmckcla97ciwt6P9C2Nd-KYJth-egKB30KBlIsF-kT-I1q9HDqLmGaGASgekrUX2Q293eF5vgh3EeZ7tYHVPl4jV9MCNYaw1hAUDgG9APbBG2Kuke1ZrUw0U6qFlpA1Ei/s1600/Anti-G8+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxPjt5tmUMke4Dmckcla97ciwt6P9C2Nd-KYJth-egKB30KBlIsF-kT-I1q9HDqLmGaGASgekrUX2Q293eF5vgh3EeZ7tYHVPl4jV9MCNYaw1hAUDgG9APbBG2Kuke1ZrUw0U6qFlpA1Ei/s400/Anti-G8+5.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And pigs would fly… </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkUm34tWBzOkxQX-Y1zI8tyiTHg4JMpBYvW9pcx8kvI5HMjBTEnLmsLDKnDcPcqyRlAA_AI1kEqFIjL11NMJnh9lkZ5ZgcewbyypMnv_M7jBbNSBZ23q8Vy-m0bPXb29cDUgG9hrroIfV5/s1600/Anti-G8+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkUm34tWBzOkxQX-Y1zI8tyiTHg4JMpBYvW9pcx8kvI5HMjBTEnLmsLDKnDcPcqyRlAA_AI1kEqFIjL11NMJnh9lkZ5ZgcewbyypMnv_M7jBbNSBZ23q8Vy-m0bPXb29cDUgG9hrroIfV5/s400/Anti-G8+6.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">G8 not welcome here.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm-NXTm4kCmxBFpjtMGHJAgSb5BAyTDIgN0RaRYyRjDjgWoJ_tD2Zq6bKbknWvMwSuzLFxUAF6JynlbT8KWjxYXpewJUYlFutYLBGmYFHN5WbAgjhgGNkY22I8YEpaYAs4iF39zlmdsGo1/s1600/Anti-G8+8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm-NXTm4kCmxBFpjtMGHJAgSb5BAyTDIgN0RaRYyRjDjgWoJ_tD2Zq6bKbknWvMwSuzLFxUAF6JynlbT8KWjxYXpewJUYlFutYLBGmYFHN5WbAgjhgGNkY22I8YEpaYAs4iF39zlmdsGo1/s400/Anti-G8+8.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our banner on the protest march.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJlnivyPqpFybcy_sc5pdXkCCO8RMLkneGiS4sDbh1-pTFkDhaqhqXNb9nv4z8GlHIfSg24d9oUpkzE-PNPa3V4inrfAxlBWI3kjDs-h6r2M1pGR3S_wQ9rRt-xg9zOr9-FOb81t7Yd40L/s1600/Anti-G8+9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJlnivyPqpFybcy_sc5pdXkCCO8RMLkneGiS4sDbh1-pTFkDhaqhqXNb9nv4z8GlHIfSg24d9oUpkzE-PNPa3V4inrfAxlBWI3kjDs-h6r2M1pGR3S_wQ9rRt-xg9zOr9-FOb81t7Yd40L/s400/Anti-G8+9.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A patrol on the river and police on the hills.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXIlPqy-84NLf6ufuNalRvUjYiiKf_OT2VyBtT_cPqZOcXLlgcLeXQot_k3xR4RxPXYik9_BMRxdunrYV4LfV9iT3qM3g4Ul4tgOlJgZL8rKzRgWLMhJ5WY-RaG5hau8yeN1M39kBAVB2O/s1600/Anti-G8+10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXIlPqy-84NLf6ufuNalRvUjYiiKf_OT2VyBtT_cPqZOcXLlgcLeXQot_k3xR4RxPXYik9_BMRxdunrYV4LfV9iT3qM3g4Ul4tgOlJgZL8rKzRgWLMhJ5WY-RaG5hau8yeN1M39kBAVB2O/s400/Anti-G8+10.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nothing to do but lean on a fence and collect overtime.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNRNTSpgpq8HEqbY8opj56PZ5NX94h8yqpIoFeTe6XZ3sm3U7PpA-krb9qxWsCjLKhAoglGxaUh8ACrhOdZ5LLSP_eWlPpdZoGAeHaG8HvZPaSOZFnMmtW2veDB7lIM7iPrU_NGxO0jB2g/s1600/Anti-G8+11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNRNTSpgpq8HEqbY8opj56PZ5NX94h8yqpIoFeTe6XZ3sm3U7PpA-krb9qxWsCjLKhAoglGxaUh8ACrhOdZ5LLSP_eWlPpdZoGAeHaG8HvZPaSOZFnMmtW2veDB7lIM7iPrU_NGxO0jB2g/s400/Anti-G8+11.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fist salute from Eddie Molloy.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaw89btPy-pZyty-DJqNLR4ab2cPKwGQ-kwXYX9kVh6aRrWMfI2Oijpz6Godms0ibbiAyEN2CmSlV2G2ns0BET-KnPorYZlcCovS0ACXMPmeQL45Pq_pqnWUIg_qOukK_j-dCnvwV7ucb5/s1600/Anti-G8+12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaw89btPy-pZyty-DJqNLR4ab2cPKwGQ-kwXYX9kVh6aRrWMfI2Oijpz6Godms0ibbiAyEN2CmSlV2G2ns0BET-KnPorYZlcCovS0ACXMPmeQL45Pq_pqnWUIg_qOukK_j-dCnvwV7ucb5/s400/Anti-G8+12.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sit down protesters.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv5WUUEV-RAGliK_DJxvVcEX9ATvovOLAhEDLfELDYx6dda-SMCWtyGBVzQC73I-NMWJxQusvCr1QzAUVmF2FZY6YGrzVtAd4DyUWsJ0gY-vopE3NTBLdV_SiepNZpXDj92_TbneTg3Eqs/s1600/Anti-G8+13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv5WUUEV-RAGliK_DJxvVcEX9ATvovOLAhEDLfELDYx6dda-SMCWtyGBVzQC73I-NMWJxQusvCr1QzAUVmF2FZY6YGrzVtAd4DyUWsJ0gY-vopE3NTBLdV_SiepNZpXDj92_TbneTg3Eqs/s400/Anti-G8+13.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Relax and enjoy the evening.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV6hKIUQ-CkcaKz72YgzsMq3DS1i4WMw2Pc-hrdbNliD7wq7dQM2SUQLlk36AKpuflhQLG7OE_XTqT7yNZf_pqOfFJnnPq1timm4Guj2mtBB5Zj7FB9aZjz-DtjdL59g4onsLiigrZhTpu/s1600/Anti-G8+14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV6hKIUQ-CkcaKz72YgzsMq3DS1i4WMw2Pc-hrdbNliD7wq7dQM2SUQLlk36AKpuflhQLG7OE_XTqT7yNZf_pqOfFJnnPq1timm4Guj2mtBB5Zj7FB9aZjz-DtjdL59g4onsLiigrZhTpu/s400/Anti-G8+14.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Faces in the crowd at the 'ring of steel' roadblock.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ2AOnRbvy0GCMqhjHXLTgAyPqYY94oMhKMFnClXY9_2AvOmwyetdfOA17yCYPHpzivhiFsKgFrGvAs_kofL0b5-aVGxhM0IKWEgdskof6yIqwFF4UY6peolHKyc3EEHsXvUtUz-groXn7/s1600/Anti-G8+15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ2AOnRbvy0GCMqhjHXLTgAyPqYY94oMhKMFnClXY9_2AvOmwyetdfOA17yCYPHpzivhiFsKgFrGvAs_kofL0b5-aVGxhM0IKWEgdskof6yIqwFF4UY6peolHKyc3EEHsXvUtUz-groXn7/s400/Anti-G8+15.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Faces and phones in the crowd.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv6mrvmMr_JwK0iZSJkPBwDHG_uk9-5anO0XrwNSfe4cd4McCWemTu7gTls24TRuTnf0HSO9cHvvstGIX-rvlg__Kcrt-TZAhESoAYx_fvxSh7YM1uPVqKh4M_l-Sk3VNuM2RbvGbe7q1U/s1600/Anti-G8+16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv6mrvmMr_JwK0iZSJkPBwDHG_uk9-5anO0XrwNSfe4cd4McCWemTu7gTls24TRuTnf0HSO9cHvvstGIX-rvlg__Kcrt-TZAhESoAYx_fvxSh7YM1uPVqKh4M_l-Sk3VNuM2RbvGbe7q1U/s400/Anti-G8+16.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another miscarriage of justice.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFClbrzGtKYlMKIqMjdMwgKRKhCEBjQ2ODxSMZlm427BpBmumVy7rMcoF7ETq8_nQ4_lc13bVZguaJfXJaD8ivuAwvPiAMNHV2HECrduVfqna8V5HqMCVPH6_qi2LI-W_JrV8Qe3i62GhY/s1600/Anti-G8+17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFClbrzGtKYlMKIqMjdMwgKRKhCEBjQ2ODxSMZlm427BpBmumVy7rMcoF7ETq8_nQ4_lc13bVZguaJfXJaD8ivuAwvPiAMNHV2HECrduVfqna8V5HqMCVPH6_qi2LI-W_JrV8Qe3i62GhY/s400/Anti-G8+17.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Listening to the speakers.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlnPDPpVfUaUAp-VCHzRQ2-wOeKtqeDOtRqkD51eVUVnWj3jwm3BhinsaFdXaAxLUIVu8YdfJZ_Ddr6etu4XD7_1HeJGGSzk0jhYCyBacVvYl7bzTYqo6q14R7W41lZ_m5xcLBTB4iU9x2/s1600/Anti-G8+18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlnPDPpVfUaUAp-VCHzRQ2-wOeKtqeDOtRqkD51eVUVnWj3jwm3BhinsaFdXaAxLUIVu8YdfJZ_Ddr6etu4XD7_1HeJGGSzk0jhYCyBacVvYl7bzTYqo6q14R7W41lZ_m5xcLBTB4iU9x2/s400/Anti-G8+18.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jester has a smoke.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm4JXgY_CjA-BruAw6dz-ZbM66LaQOTZT2KFMZQmtucVACT8htvSZ-QNNj9_oTBvP-cTKf3UDIrg81bLm2zK9FlHpfrlDr8QhZsoNLRpuUeEZuHM_swVrYl7ipUrNu4bUyKku0bZQOy08c/s1600/Anti-G8+19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm4JXgY_CjA-BruAw6dz-ZbM66LaQOTZT2KFMZQmtucVACT8htvSZ-QNNj9_oTBvP-cTKf3UDIrg81bLm2zK9FlHpfrlDr8QhZsoNLRpuUeEZuHM_swVrYl7ipUrNu4bUyKku0bZQOy08c/s400/Anti-G8+19.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A comfy seat for now.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbXFFp61baY8DUoXQe3SKaRj62PDBYVcJaeXMhtrH2Niqq_YwXqwm0r81qTA2Vb5XDkbtDdkUSYbepKkSZ8Dn8xAU2reHhM473nAmLvRrwSV4_C75F136bGAJhTPm5Rki-3D_M_2Psm78p/s1600/Anti-G8+20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbXFFp61baY8DUoXQe3SKaRj62PDBYVcJaeXMhtrH2Niqq_YwXqwm0r81qTA2Vb5XDkbtDdkUSYbepKkSZ8Dn8xAU2reHhM473nAmLvRrwSV4_C75F136bGAJhTPm5Rki-3D_M_2Psm78p/s400/Anti-G8+20.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Settling down for the night.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJxmAj-cOaoVvEVi_QkgyJo_ASy-3NdjWXiWxN_0WZG6QidcWx0DnwsI0Y4K34AEiiHIiKYCwC4J3oQ1qqSqjwg3ja-lb6VnpjjgSVaruIFnZNj8n3c_vXHGU61rwEkuwoyRoM-U5qBNL4/s1600/Anti-G8+21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJxmAj-cOaoVvEVi_QkgyJo_ASy-3NdjWXiWxN_0WZG6QidcWx0DnwsI0Y4K34AEiiHIiKYCwC4J3oQ1qqSqjwg3ja-lb6VnpjjgSVaruIFnZNj8n3c_vXHGU61rwEkuwoyRoM-U5qBNL4/s400/Anti-G8+21.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clerical advice from the Craggy Island contingent.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIji8aEBV4SQNiGVHOIWM3-5wFF9Ts1AU9vcL3ntp43iSjsPurjyyckhB3IZrWI6IiFVpB07Su0jTXnSS2-_M0qpQQXY2NvvKeRw7vOlZW-QhrVJ_1A4AEU_NM15-M2W7yWh7-jcuHwNMh/s1600/Anti-G8+22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIji8aEBV4SQNiGVHOIWM3-5wFF9Ts1AU9vcL3ntp43iSjsPurjyyckhB3IZrWI6IiFVpB07Su0jTXnSS2-_M0qpQQXY2NvvKeRw7vOlZW-QhrVJ_1A4AEU_NM15-M2W7yWh7-jcuHwNMh/s400/Anti-G8+22.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Game for the protest.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAUbb_V3hv0O6PhRoAAvW2rRpvIVJGjD7vQ1JWc2MmSPzE21VE3jUw_Zm22kKqffPcDVMNO657Jk_BsUbzMtdqe3dHbKM_B5WAD-F1sHxPaLsQ0qItCJAKKARLZcFgE488hXHoR81IrxKr/s1600/Anti-G8+23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAUbb_V3hv0O6PhRoAAvW2rRpvIVJGjD7vQ1JWc2MmSPzE21VE3jUw_Zm22kKqffPcDVMNO657Jk_BsUbzMtdqe3dHbKM_B5WAD-F1sHxPaLsQ0qItCJAKKARLZcFgE488hXHoR81IrxKr/s400/Anti-G8+23.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This road sign says it all.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKyoxhWbccNwIhnttYWQqvh9wfptoxE6e__VpVx2boKWlJ9Gbn8Bvuk-fI0PhWAgT5rE2uaQPn4S_kwQf2mTBhRFtHfR2NMjriv8VSxUcXD_Nv0_mNk5gq4DpNk8h5Wt1NKaw04t3gSCUk/s1600/Anti-G8+24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKyoxhWbccNwIhnttYWQqvh9wfptoxE6e__VpVx2boKWlJ9Gbn8Bvuk-fI0PhWAgT5rE2uaQPn4S_kwQf2mTBhRFtHfR2NMjriv8VSxUcXD_Nv0_mNk5gq4DpNk8h5Wt1NKaw04t3gSCUk/s400/Anti-G8+24.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crochet crusaders at the 'ring of steel' fence.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikx3YQvT9Xgk-ylTsI5AcUP7R0zDos4rkz04zQLwSm9Lz6XsFD-p7M7BAdP_FoJuPHXcaQFUr7uSvL6XTAdRN0pthf_7BmC3Jqysn3cQ9-JTrz7LJ5aq73hGS1nPab1Sx1bS4xpE1QAPr2/s1600/Anti-G8+25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikx3YQvT9Xgk-ylTsI5AcUP7R0zDos4rkz04zQLwSm9Lz6XsFD-p7M7BAdP_FoJuPHXcaQFUr7uSvL6XTAdRN0pthf_7BmC3Jqysn3cQ9-JTrz7LJ5aq73hGS1nPab1Sx1bS4xpE1QAPr2/s400/Anti-G8+25.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Veteran protester Eammon McCann addresses crowd.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheQwc8QH3PJrsz16jjj6uMWFwXtfOALG7_uZMvZcP4WrBWobCW9GPhIVWUO2HFxxSO7xeJAq8vhidv6HJbGgbsmFUuC0YGMx7M8YCI9O3r3CTLaunceHxBDCIEeBAXRfP-tYrWPdXaPC3j/s1600/Anti-G8+28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheQwc8QH3PJrsz16jjj6uMWFwXtfOALG7_uZMvZcP4WrBWobCW9GPhIVWUO2HFxxSO7xeJAq8vhidv6HJbGgbsmFUuC0YGMx7M8YCI9O3r3CTLaunceHxBDCIEeBAXRfP-tYrWPdXaPC3j/s400/Anti-G8+28.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">£4m for security fence and it was breached easily.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVr-T_SksseDofT-_OADB9qEV8VRWnFgXlJXojIMXpXRxvLpYzijmSIFI2Ri-9Xw-4dmah1CJkHWiUwgUyXPh70aNisGA_phTdsCj69Rf1YlgJSbqTThIpRIUXYhSdC2wqp2mrm-GcwQ-n/s1600/Anti-G8+29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVr-T_SksseDofT-_OADB9qEV8VRWnFgXlJXojIMXpXRxvLpYzijmSIFI2Ri-9Xw-4dmah1CJkHWiUwgUyXPh70aNisGA_phTdsCj69Rf1YlgJSbqTThIpRIUXYhSdC2wqp2mrm-GcwQ-n/s400/Anti-G8+29.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A singalong on the way back to town.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUOhDNYH6QSK7sPbZ-SYbXl3lejPvFnRw2Mq2f_VeX8GJ8m46laR5NI3EObsI-uIBeECVmbhxhF4fCjeMNsM2eqn-WhaW-HGPdBKZDYzsfWID1ZItoXfdTVJ4wTf-F43Lm4AKGWs5JVlaA/s1600/Anti-G8+30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUOhDNYH6QSK7sPbZ-SYbXl3lejPvFnRw2Mq2f_VeX8GJ8m46laR5NI3EObsI-uIBeECVmbhxhF4fCjeMNsM2eqn-WhaW-HGPdBKZDYzsfWID1ZItoXfdTVJ4wTf-F43Lm4AKGWs5JVlaA/s400/Anti-G8+30.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We're left with the bill for this convoy of about 50 police Landrovers.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigXbp1apQ0v6E-8ZMg_rVdATJlA345omS5Iw5mnjDR0vybl6eRwYLS3Oql31wwjjiATdaSdf04J3ZzerSxJLaD2iPk2rtuSfPQPhlfjOzqjhHLelTxD1xfQTye8Aso6JRpmIRgVGR7eoXG/s1600/Anti-G8+Enniskillen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigXbp1apQ0v6E-8ZMg_rVdATJlA345omS5Iw5mnjDR0vybl6eRwYLS3Oql31wwjjiATdaSdf04J3ZzerSxJLaD2iPk2rtuSfPQPhlfjOzqjhHLelTxD1xfQTye8Aso6JRpmIRgVGR7eoXG/s400/Anti-G8+Enniskillen.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This shop front is as fake as political promises.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-26359729942231190202013-06-17T11:43:00.000+01:002013-06-17T12:21:41.961+01:00Storming the gate of the G8<!--StartFragment-->
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvHKlJ1_1LL5O7afJGTfGQoeflzCM3TNG_R1dUlIGMaziSgD0EuGJdv0nVdOVYFcpBcpwOyCy4nX8YP-5ETScqd5-HVMfDhiLk2iNZH0ioHhlkn_xc1pddC4-mn2ntIJ0FT4XNIriMq39J/s1600/G8+protesters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvHKlJ1_1LL5O7afJGTfGQoeflzCM3TNG_R1dUlIGMaziSgD0EuGJdv0nVdOVYFcpBcpwOyCy4nX8YP-5ETScqd5-HVMfDhiLk2iNZH0ioHhlkn_xc1pddC4-mn2ntIJ0FT4XNIriMq39J/s640/G8+protesters.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saturday's G8 demonstration in Belfast proclaimed an alternative message. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">I</span>’m heading off to Enniskillen shortly for the G8 summit where I will be an
unwelcome guest at the rich men’s table. Not that I am likely to come within an
ass’s roar of that overladen spread through the tangles of razor wire, armed
land and water patrols, roadblocks and other emplacements that constitute the
security cordon around the usually idyllic retreat on the shores of Lower Lough Erne.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With police predicting that there will only be 1,999 others along with me on
the demonstration, I fear my actual presence will be as glossed over as the
empty shops in the island town that have facsimile images pasted over their </span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">façade</span></span><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s to give the impression
of a vibrant local economy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That is why I want to let you know in advance that I will be there to
protest against the entire concept of this rich club of eight of the world’s ‘wealthiest
economies’. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I want to draw attention to the fact that it is stacking the deck for the
restoration of the same failed capitalist system that has brought us austerity,
hardship, ruin and service cutbacks affecting the most vulnerable. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I want to notify you that this is the gathering that bestows a blessing on
those who are forcing us to pay for the reckless gambling of corporate
speculators. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The G8 is the public face of the supreme think-tank of western decadence
and among those not deemed suitable to attend are China, India and Brazil or,
indeed, any representative of the entire southern hemisphere of Earth. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is the annual get-together of the forum that has brought us the outworkings
of the neoliberal doctrines of rampant greed and the self-righteous imperialist
interference that led to bloodbaths in Iraq, Afghanistan and that is now
casting its beady eyes elsewhere for rich pickings in the ruins of war.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg719Inl_80LVZDz3jN9dDIXGO4X10lgWPnpGE2RYjAGdGKshWQSjODtvfnMvkqLHylWbVrnltr2HNaa9iyTowI5zHNG39ZSJtNHHfURf0fj5npQZZFsxZxLrZZGF3t29eGrupEtC5kRNLG/s1600/raising+banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg719Inl_80LVZDz3jN9dDIXGO4X10lgWPnpGE2RYjAGdGKshWQSjODtvfnMvkqLHylWbVrnltr2HNaa9iyTowI5zHNG39ZSJtNHHfURf0fj5npQZZFsxZxLrZZGF3t29eGrupEtC5kRNLG/s400/raising+banner.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bearing along the banner of the Derry NUJ branch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It would be unforgivable to miss such a gathering almost on my own doorstep.
So with a few colleagues, I’ll be hoisting the banner of the Derry and
North West Branch of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) at the
Enniskillen demonstration. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Our presence, with representatives of other unions and local trades councils,
should provide those world leaders with an unwelcome echo of the once mighty union movement that brought
working people such benefits as statutory working hours, minimum wages,
weekends, paid holidays, sick leave, pensions and other tolerable working
conditions. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These are the benefits now being eroded by corporate and state cutbacks and hardship and, perhaps most of all, by a campaign of villification
that casts unions as the greedy ‘bad guys’. It surely is no coincidence that since
the establishment of the G8 group (as the ‘Group of Six’ or G6) in 1975, the
onslaught against organised labour has been relentless and, with strategic
buy-offs to promote individualism, the collective power of the majority has
been bartered for the interests of the least deserving few. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I’ll be saying all this by my participation in the Enniskillen protest this evening because:
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">• I’m going there to cause trouble for the conscience of those who think it
is acceptable to continue the ways of grab-all greed;<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">• I am going there to draw attention to the plight of the most vulnerable
and the most needy here and around the globe; <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">• I’m going there to help stir up a wider debate against the cosy consensus that
guides our collective thinking on the issues that most affect our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So if you don’t hear from me in the next day to two, look for me among the
guys in the orange boiler-suits in the specially erected confinement cells at
St Lucia Barracks in Omagh. For the next few days, at least, that will be
Northern Ireland’s Guantanamo Bay holding centre! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEpANrionEgECdl323tyDIq4p1YgdZM9DJemRj-OCW_a-7vVbUoBI-LHcFFiyiRJrT9pXaNIgvKzsmp4cYqQdij5jg2FgdcVegJDe-2H45qT7kmXRol0EZy24W4UH-9kF9CKnPO4Lxj6NP/s1600/G8+protest+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEpANrionEgECdl323tyDIq4p1YgdZM9DJemRj-OCW_a-7vVbUoBI-LHcFFiyiRJrT9pXaNIgvKzsmp4cYqQdij5jg2FgdcVegJDe-2H45qT7kmXRol0EZy24W4UH-9kF9CKnPO4Lxj6NP/s320/G8+protest+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tibetan 'troublemaker' walked to Enniskillen to deliver message.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And with thousands of extra police, armed forces and other security
personnel drafted in from across the water, a huge security operation around both
sides of the border, and the courts geared up for special sittings just to
proffer criminal charges against those excercising their democratic right to
protest, the scene is set for a showdown. Even so, ‘we few, we happy few’ will be
in Enniskillen this evening to challenge the idea that those at the table are the
honourable brokers on the fate of this planet and we, corralled outside and as
far away as possible, are the ‘troublemakers’!</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->
Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-41037976155748335462013-05-29T16:59:00.002+01:002013-05-29T19:51:22.195+01:00Taking the long cut to Canada<!--StartFragment-->
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnkSnKJTeseQuL-D_m3IC2ZgPaPyuEu0xaq2fKFixr_79-ZIw-PAvTMgpcAQnIuJgWiDNYvkyvLf7OspkJFlhr7d6Eji9xzv1PHVFymgNXP91juP_MAK4Trls5ONI2c7pYkjc7enyAauX5/s1600/270908-AerLingus-EI-CPE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnkSnKJTeseQuL-D_m3IC2ZgPaPyuEu0xaq2fKFixr_79-ZIw-PAvTMgpcAQnIuJgWiDNYvkyvLf7OspkJFlhr7d6Eji9xzv1PHVFymgNXP91juP_MAK4Trls5ONI2c7pYkjc7enyAauX5/s640/270908-AerLingus-EI-CPE.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">I</span>t was a cryptic joke that only a Canadian could fully
appreciate: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Q</b>. How do you make the world’s second biggest country
disappear? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>A</b>. Take a flight to anywhere else and then open a newspaper.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The point (for my non-Canadian readers) is that even with a
land mass second only to Russia – and its strong ranking in the G8 club of
leading economies – Canada is so overshadowed by its neighbour to the south
that it barely impinges on the consciousness of the world beyond its borders. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For most Americans, Canada is merely the source of severe
winter weather. For English people, it is a colonial theme park where the Queen
goes to romp with Mounties and grizzlies. For most others, it is a paler shade
of America with a lot more reserve. For the Irish, it crops up occasionally as
a surprise destination for emigrants who, presumably, couldn’t get into the USA
and didn’t fancy the long trip to Australia.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I know different, but then I lived in Canada for more than a
decade; have been a naturalised Canadian citizen for almost two decades; and my
son and daughter-in-law, along with many friends, live there.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So it is a source of constant annoyance that Irish people
who are outraged when their small country is treated merely as an outpost of the
larger neighbour, are so dismissive in their attitude to Canada. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even in terms of outward perspective (on that diaspora of
opportunities), this cannot be explained as merely a traditional preoccupation
with Britain and America. If so, how does one explain the near obsession with
Australia, which has half the population of Canada? Australia, of course, is
the destination of choice for backpack ‘emigrants’ on short-term work visas.
Yet even when I went there in the mid-1980s, Canada was the much more selective
destination for emigrants with occupational track records seeking lifetime
opportunities. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This was no ‘visa lottery’ whimsy; no take-a-chance on
staying beyond the expired visitor visa; no ‘sowing wild oats’ jaunt to the far
side of the world until the slump recedes. For the overwhelming majority of
those who emigrate to Canada, this is the result of a rational selection of a
new home by highly skilled, educated and experienced Irish people. They are going
there in thousands, usually with young families in tow.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUWyN8KJiBgRX87b2hSiHs0Vhip08VJrulL5BOGAWOgOMWGtwG2eYehe8lbFSHa0bedZwgh-ErqMPM0kYbY8_O0vPbcV6yQE2uSzOw9Auqyl26_py54xvyVOUKBYq_mEdBzZLBbF6Js64U/s1600/immigration-to-canada-immigrants-101.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUWyN8KJiBgRX87b2hSiHs0Vhip08VJrulL5BOGAWOgOMWGtwG2eYehe8lbFSHa0bedZwgh-ErqMPM0kYbY8_O0vPbcV6yQE2uSzOw9Auqyl26_py54xvyVOUKBYq_mEdBzZLBbF6Js64U/s320/immigration-to-canada-immigrants-101.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gone to Canada and forgotten in Ireland.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet it isn’t just a one-way traffic either. Canada has long been
the second biggest source of foreign direct inward investment in the Irish
economy and it has been a major source of assistance under the Ireland Fund and
other schemes that helped prime the so-called Celtic Tiger.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Which brings me to the small issue that prompted these
observations. I use Aer Lingus as air carrier of choice, especially from its
Belfast hubs. So I get frequent emails informing me of special offers and
soliciting my business. I got one of these Aer Lingus emails today, offering me
the ‘best deals’ to fly from Dublin to ‘over 70 destinations across the USA and
Canada’ from as little as £205.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wow, £205, to ‘over 70 destinations’ with my favourite
airline, I thought, that’s worth checking. It wasn’t because Aer Lingus could
only fly me to my choice of Boston, Chicago, New York or Orlando and then hand
me on to another airline that would fly me to Toronto, Montreal, Calgary,
Vancouver or wherever I might choose. Not only does Aer Lingus not fly to anywhere
in Canada, it clearly does not even consider Canada a country.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Im719yj33K6-eihFQqnh21V_BzHsZvS8i0FT1lAOO8cLkZu-YmvaK13tRrziq4eaUsLEOIZhkT0okzseVbtS1HEwh8CMzc0KNuWFtzEMZxF6fL0Bnq1SjHSmoI4Ro_8gFwYbwrClU-28/s1600/Anywhere+in+Canada.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Im719yj33K6-eihFQqnh21V_BzHsZvS8i0FT1lAOO8cLkZu-YmvaK13tRrziq4eaUsLEOIZhkT0okzseVbtS1HEwh8CMzc0KNuWFtzEMZxF6fL0Bnq1SjHSmoI4Ro_8gFwYbwrClU-28/s320/Anywhere+in+Canada.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aer Lingus flies anywhere in Canada as long as it's in Chicago.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4nrDL46_Yz0YhLfDgTBlhgURc2vdj03Z-oLTOtNnTl7GqBW0DzPjPoKJ6y0EZUiWLnMIdtPq7gQ44xSdilJJ5q2JfEwhhWuVs_Vf_WyJ6pEK-hHnogkVDNJY5GkkQEk08GADc-gio3hyphenhyphenz/s1600/fare.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4nrDL46_Yz0YhLfDgTBlhgURc2vdj03Z-oLTOtNnTl7GqBW0DzPjPoKJ6y0EZUiWLnMIdtPq7gQ44xSdilJJ5q2JfEwhhWuVs_Vf_WyJ6pEK-hHnogkVDNJY5GkkQEk08GADc-gio3hyphenhyphenz/s320/fare.jpg" width="118" /></a>Oh, it will say that it has strategic 'flight
partners', but that’s hardly the same thing as taking me where I might want to
go on the unsolicited promise it made me. Instead it would be dropping me into some American
airport where, no doubt, I would be harassed again by the Gestapo officers of US
Customs and Border Protection (see my recent blog at http://darachmac.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/ugly-face-of-america-on-border-patrol.html?spref=fb).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So what of the £205 fare deal? Well Aer Lingus has offered
to take me on a flight path over Canada and the Great Lakes to O’Hare airport in Chicago where I can then get a United Airlines
flight back to Toronto. That will take a combined 14 hours and 41 minutes – more than the
flight time to Australia! Even with a tailwind on the return, by the same
route, it will take 16 hours and 32 minutes. In that exhausting schedule, the £205 has suddenly become a fare of €1,619.27.</div>
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It reminds me of the joke about the Canadian tourist in Ireland who
pulled up his rental car to ask directions from a local man and was told, ‘Well
now, if you want to get there I certainly wouldn’t start from here!’</span><!--EndFragment-->
Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-90052956950814423712013-04-08T13:38:00.000+01:002013-04-08T14:34:05.733+01:00Ugly face of America on Border patrol<!--StartFragment-->
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVSfBK5EWZ8h5SDN1YbqA9K9vqXhO2borEK6CRlfTNlDdzOGdT1GcrTtYvWqGM7jyHZOkhwcXs3jR9PNDUViQnYhU_cng1yoTqbnAn9Q3S-ZpwOkWYTNqTO1AsSv-MvYJjlVW4965jQotY/s1600/Canada+US+Border.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVSfBK5EWZ8h5SDN1YbqA9K9vqXhO2borEK6CRlfTNlDdzOGdT1GcrTtYvWqGM7jyHZOkhwcXs3jR9PNDUViQnYhU_cng1yoTqbnAn9Q3S-ZpwOkWYTNqTO1AsSv-MvYJjlVW4965jQotY/s400/Canada+US+Border.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">I ran</span> up against the obstinate paranoia of a world
superpower on two separate occasions over the Easter holidays. Both times, I
was amazed by the ugly bullying of smug American bureaucracy in the United
States Department of Homeland Security.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first encounter happened at the Ambassador Bridge in
Detroit on 28 March. I was crossing from the Canadian side, having
landed at Toronto airport after flying from Belfast via London. I was going to a conference at the University of Michigan, having been invited to
deliver a paper the following day (Good Friday) on Northern
Ireland 15 years after the Good Friday Agreement. </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL-sMo1tp-4uCVVgEq8cPkzomluAqsPNQvajT9y6MA4eI2SdmjXkM0p66o9b0KS03Uo1JC9I2Sb5jPTD9aVkA0F6CPx8H6OtH5w4ybOR_lQme40NLVeyDRN1eO4e0bl4ijgyxCH00Bw_ew/s1600/USA_-_Customs_and_Border_Protection1-280x300.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL-sMo1tp-4uCVVgEq8cPkzomluAqsPNQvajT9y6MA4eI2SdmjXkM0p66o9b0KS03Uo1JC9I2Sb5jPTD9aVkA0F6CPx8H6OtH5w4ybOR_lQme40NLVeyDRN1eO4e0bl4ijgyxCH00Bw_ew/s200/USA_-_Customs_and_Border_Protection1-280x300.png" width="186" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shut up and sit down.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the brief visit to Ann Arbor, Michigan, I was
accompanied by my son, Ross, and daughter-in-law Serah, both naturalised
Canadian citizens living in Hamilton, Ont. I also have Canadian citizenship since 1994 when I lived
in Ontario. Yet because I now live back home, I travel on my Irish passport. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I handed over this and when asked for a US visa, I produced one
I was issued in the mid-1980s, allowing ‘multiple’ entries to the United States
and bearing a stamped ‘Indefinite’ for its time limit. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had not needed any
visa while living in Canda when I made frequent crossings of the Border without
incident. The officer remarked that my old visa was no long valid, having been
issued almost before he was born. I would have to go ‘inside’. So watched over
by armed guards, we pulled over, got out of the car and filed into the Border
station.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A curt female officer of US Customs and Border Protection
(CBP) standing behind a podium handed me a card form and pen and instructed me to
fill it in. I did so. I handed over the card to a male officer who had taken
over the podium. I was told to sit down. Several people who came in after me
were dealt with speedily, including some travelling on UK passports. </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0QWpMaHVuMSsfYCdcNXu7cjJR4E4x4-OynT5tohO16nnpagJlyhoaKO5ShwUYLfm2Ci3leRpWFAdWr_TOzvfLAnnlIx8Kk4TV17Dx2SmGiut4SPDJMSMd10faWLGOSb4aKQjuhzT5jqBf/s1600/AmbassadorBridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0QWpMaHVuMSsfYCdcNXu7cjJR4E4x4-OynT5tohO16nnpagJlyhoaKO5ShwUYLfm2Ci3leRpWFAdWr_TOzvfLAnnlIx8Kk4TV17Dx2SmGiut4SPDJMSMd10faWLGOSb4aKQjuhzT5jqBf/s320/AmbassadorBridge.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ambassador bridge too far between Canada and United States</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I waited, patiently at first. I looked for direction but failed to make eye contact with any of the officers who clearly were ignoring
me. Finally, my name was called out brusquely, ‘MacDonald’. I went
over to a stern male officer at the part of the L-shaped counter behind where
we were sitting. He asked me why I was entering the United States. I told him
about the conference. I was sent back to sit down. I was called up again, asked
something else, told to sit down. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ross and Serah were called up by the officer. I rose to
accompany them. The young officer barked, ‘Sit down: I want to talk to the
Canadian passport-holders.’ I did so, taken aback by the hostility.
I could overhear his contemptuous tone as he asked Ross and Serah how did they
‘know him?’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And so it continued for about an hour, called up for curt, accusatory
questions, including several about my financial position, the money I had on me and my creditworthiness, then sent back to the ‘naughty corner’. All the while, I got the
feeling that this CBP officer was in constant communication with somebody elsewhere who was calling
the shots. At one point I was called up and had my fingerprints taken and my
eyes scanned.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtv9wsENRu4Xgp8LWMbtwKJ1QcyG8V4JD9EzOtTLZmRiYCwRNjqzA7FA1VBAAsNFcgexyPSFr7th9xNu_5P72_yp8rRevfaLTfjTFCj8H0fAadEiK0aKtQqdxcifEhm7DD05A_tPNhA3wc/s1600/soulstice2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtv9wsENRu4Xgp8LWMbtwKJ1QcyG8V4JD9EzOtTLZmRiYCwRNjqzA7FA1VBAAsNFcgexyPSFr7th9xNu_5P72_yp8rRevfaLTfjTFCj8H0fAadEiK0aKtQqdxcifEhm7DD05A_tPNhA3wc/s200/soulstice2.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Soulstice </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally, with a Visa debit card payment of $6, I was issued a visa that
would allow me enter and remain in the USA until ‘June 24, 2013’. Since it was
28 March and I only planned to be there until 30 March, I wondered but did not
ask, if I would get a refund. I also felt it wise not to ask why I had been
subjected to this treatment when I had a perfectly valid reason for entry. Instead,
feeling like some ‘wetback’ caught wading across the Rio Grande, I slunk out of
the Border checkpoint and showed up late for the conference in Ann Arbor,
missing the initial registration and part of the keynote address by Professor
Chantal Mouffrey of the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Westminster in London.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My subsequent experience of Michigan was wonderful, the
university, the city, the inn we stayed at in Ann Arbor and especially the lounge
bar performance of a Motown style soul band called ‘Soulstice’. On the way back we visited
Detroit, a city rising from the ashes. Everyone we met there was the very essence of friendly welcome and showed a refreshing deferential
pride in their journey from US riches to ruin and slowly back to reinvention of a modern post-industrial city.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8WygptE3BNItuv3mUAzKoZl3Y-ZW3h3P25MeV7or0RW1nn3zl5Tv9axE9FvsNJNfWERzxYeQ2KXNBpNt7sNqZ5asfQZ6NJHBJUWQmapkmIQ0bcPSAh2Ez0TP5HzEWp7QKIPk_DfOUy2GL/s1600/Toronto+Skyline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8WygptE3BNItuv3mUAzKoZl3Y-ZW3h3P25MeV7or0RW1nn3zl5Tv9axE9FvsNJNfWERzxYeQ2KXNBpNt7sNqZ5asfQZ6NJHBJUWQmapkmIQ0bcPSAh2Ez0TP5HzEWp7QKIPk_DfOUy2GL/s320/Toronto+Skyline.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Toronto skyline – back in Canada for enjoyable Easter.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in Canada, without any incident at the Border, I thoroughly
enjoyed Easter with Ross and Serah and visits to old friends over the following
days. Then on Thursday afternoon, 4 April, I turned up at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport to check in from my flights back home. Having come from Belfast City
airport via London, I was booked (through the University of Ulster) to return
to Belfast International via Newark, New Jersey. I presented my passport at
check-in. The officer on duty, who turned out to be another agent of US Customs
and Border Protection, told me I would not be allowed into the United States
because I had no visa. My $6 visa from Detroit (stamped as valid up to June 24)
had obviously expired because I was told it was no longer sufficient for
‘entry’ to the United States this time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I explained that I did not wish to ‘enter’ the United States
and would only be making a flight connection at Newark airport en route to
Belfast. When this drew a contemptuous scolding from the young woman about my
need to comply with US regulations, I observed that I was being
‘penalised’ for using an American airline . She almost lost it at
that, saying that US Customs and Border Protection does not penalise anyone and
I should just shut up and follow the rules without comment. I shut up and was
told I would have to apply for a new online visa approval. Then I would have to
get back into one of the most achingly slow queues I have ever encountered in
my life.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So with Serah’s help and iPhone, I filled in the online application
form for the second time in a week, answering the same questions and queries
about communicable diseases, previous convictions and political leanings, paid
$16 this time, and was ‘approved’ for entry. </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6buWSfH7T12Ua3xQnGCvlNA1gVLw4MP90FItiWNXHDIYWJAunyk2eozssl9YGA8pN7XzaBSnSsBTf4dYBkLedqEwPpWcFXz0HedkV4V1TKJXm6G62qMqt-O7-EbOsROLdj5DWS6NfJEyq/s1600/800px-United_Airlines_B777-200_N780UA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6buWSfH7T12Ua3xQnGCvlNA1gVLw4MP90FItiWNXHDIYWJAunyk2eozssl9YGA8pN7XzaBSnSsBTf4dYBkLedqEwPpWcFXz0HedkV4V1TKJXm6G62qMqt-O7-EbOsROLdj5DWS6NfJEyq/s320/800px-United_Airlines_B777-200_N780UA.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'Penalised' for choosing American airline for flight home.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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I got back into the check-in line, which comprised only two
others now. Both were almost as frustrated by the slow pace and the line of
unstaffed check-in points. We waited without movement. The young Canadian woman in front
was vocal in her criticism; the man behind me less agitated, but he hadn’t
invested as much time so far. Meanwhile, as we stood and stared, and were pointedly ignored by the CBP officers chatting to each other on duty, those
travelling on some preferential scheme were called up and processed immediately.</div>
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Finally, my turn came. I presented myself to the same
officious young woman as before. She keyed in my details and seemed almost
surprised I had been approved. After a stamp and a corrected scrawl, I
was told I could ‘remain in the United States until 25 June’ an extra day beyond the
visa I had been issued at the Ambassador Bridge a week earlier. I was then shunted
through – with my suitcase still in tow – to join a separate line. Here I had my
fingerprints taken and eyes scanned once more, went through the usual airport
security rigmarole and made it to the flight gate without time for the coffee
and duty-free browsing I had factored into my schedule. </div>
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By the time I got on board, I was in no mood for the moaning
Joe in the adjoining seat who turned out to be from some Wall
Street bank. He was leafing through <i>USA Today</i>, making insulting remarks about Ireland and the EU, along with the fiscal
management of every other economy on Earth. It was too much. When he accused China
and India of stealing American jobs though protectionism and cheating on
subsidies, I let him have an earful. I told him about the American economic
bullying I had witnessed and especially the US manipulation of the NAFTA trade deal which
‘stole’ jobs from Canada and Mexico. US capitalists wanted globalisation, I
remarked, and like his Wall Street masters they had no loyalty beyond themselves, so the American jobs he lamented losing would not be coming back. He shut up
for the remainder of the flight.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdbWES8ZVUx8ceacs7D_hqmRT-Hw7hFxO0AQTvjokKvJdKuGqUw_S7gkrcT1zONB4Rhya2ECzjaqXkeOcU1WV1BDKF8TAKkz4Rqd13i5x7QjkBynAiBcsojGgj43qOprWrh1jJk0qqR_Xz/s1600/newark-airport-address.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdbWES8ZVUx8ceacs7D_hqmRT-Hw7hFxO0AQTvjokKvJdKuGqUw_S7gkrcT1zONB4Rhya2ECzjaqXkeOcU1WV1BDKF8TAKkz4Rqd13i5x7QjkBynAiBcsojGgj43qOprWrh1jJk0qqR_Xz/s320/newark-airport-address.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I barely touched the ground at Newark airport.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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In the end, I barely touched the ground in Newark, landing
at 7.50pm and taking off again for Belfast at 9.15pm, although I did manage to get
that espresso coffee and a much-needed beer at the boarding gate. I did not
have to go through passport control, where I would probably have been shaken
down for another few bucks as an unwelcome interloper on American soil.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So I only bounced through America on my unwanted and
unneeded second visa. It remains valid for another eleven weeks or so. At least
that’s what it says in the scrawl inside the passport stamp, but I’ll not be
putting that to the test. </div>
<!--EndFragment-->
Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-74817534043871235752012-11-12T17:24:00.000+00:002012-11-12T18:38:50.708+00:00Haunted by my past with Twink<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWnHyzOIuhyphenhyphennRPBVppwwyB9ntmdSzPRUWtSjgD-gL_8m-k_AIEXs7Y8X3nrbxbxOmOPceXskklPsha9lebIX7MJTQPKkWss1x4sSM_YNkOTN-qsjNltxi4-8t-t24ECTkaBA0KMCDeGP2-/s1600/Twink+unzipped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWnHyzOIuhyphenhyphennRPBVppwwyB9ntmdSzPRUWtSjgD-gL_8m-k_AIEXs7Y8X3nrbxbxOmOPceXskklPsha9lebIX7MJTQPKkWss1x4sSM_YNkOTN-qsjNltxi4-8t-t24ECTkaBA0KMCDeGP2-/s320/Twink+unzipped.jpg" width="271" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">While</span> others quake at the prospect of <i>Twink Unzipped</i>, the autobiography of colourful Dublin entertainer Adele King, I’m betting she doesn’t disclose my personal part in her secret past.<br />
But just in case it turns up in one of those extracts in <i>The Irish Sun</i> or even in revised text for the delayed publication of the book some time in the new year, I’ll come clean myself. And so I hereby reveal that I was once the ghost writer for Twink’s ‘Agony Aunt’ column in the <i>Daily News</i> back in the early 1980s.<br />
Yes, it is true that while a giant Twink smiled down on us like a star from Dublin billboards and trundled along the streets of the capital on side-of-the-bus ads as our resident font of wisdom on troubled relationships, I lurked in the shadows writing the actual column.<br />
It was just a minor part of my otherwise important duties at the <i>Daily News, </i>of course, as we struggled to establish Ireland’s first fun-sized daily tabloid in 1982.<br />
The drill was that I would meet Twink for lunch, discuss a range of letters (mostly penned by me to kick-start a suitable flow of correspondence from readers), note her comments and then go off to write up the cheeky column for that week with the assistance of several glasses of good wine for inspiration.<br />
The subjects of the letters, as I recall, were not always the 'run of the mill' troubled personal relationships and needless teenage angst that readers could find elsewhere. We also sneaked in some subjects that we knew would be regarded as quite risqué or even slightly sordid by the social mores of the time.<br />
Our aim was to provide a contemporary spin on the traditional Irish advice column (as provided by veteran columnists of a previous generation such as Angela McNamara of the <i>Sunday Press</i> and Frankie Byrne of <i>RTÉ</i>). After all, we were providing a modern no-holds take on Irish life in the bright and breezy pages of our full-colour tabloid at a time when rival daily newspapers were uniformly grey and conventionally boring. Looking back with the wisdom of age, I suppose we were aiming in our youthful enthusiasm for the Liffyside equivalent of <i>Sex and the City</i>, long before even the Big Apple was ready for it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix18TphZGkYN4Z5J5ozB8IVh7s2_p-WJIY8FKalteoA6eksA0Hin1UBJyHQwHdoDLm0NM0UttA2gXmVjtML3lsEaqqjOJQY8SQKCLiIJP8Dux1lufzuJeZFPcr11bQkPplYSL3W0igcR9f/s1600/twink.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix18TphZGkYN4Z5J5ozB8IVh7s2_p-WJIY8FKalteoA6eksA0Hin1UBJyHQwHdoDLm0NM0UttA2gXmVjtML3lsEaqqjOJQY8SQKCLiIJP8Dux1lufzuJeZFPcr11bQkPplYSL3W0igcR9f/s200/twink.jpg" width="143" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Twink as she was then.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
At least that was the brief I took along to lunch at one of Dublin's trendier restaurants of that time.<br />
Mind you, Twink spent a lot of our time together talking about her impending marriage to David Agnew (the core subject of much of her impending autobiography, I understand), and I was expected to offer my own advice on that too… but not in writing, I hasten to add.<br />
In any case, no matter what is disclosed in the fall-out from <i>Twink Unzipped</i> when it actually reaches the bookshops, I accept no responsibility for what transpired because we only had a few lunch dates before the column folded (along with the newspaper) – and that was more than 20 years before her marriage came unzipped!<br />
I had long given up my ghost role as an Agony Aunt by then.Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-34949293875770887182012-09-01T18:39:00.002+01:002012-09-01T20:14:15.942+01:00Timely thoughts on coming home<style>@font-face {
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg019duTGqVrxSMwVydIUobazcBwffbg8DCp-3fwYhKJZZ-ZBjvTyAMLlG5-be_FoKZWeFQ10z4eedymK84mFXDzY9SmZMmemfs8AQSV4ZiY2l_cXWK5V-LD4ZuEZdaf99tQHa4t-Pvw8J/s1600/Princess-Diana-s-death-princess-diana-32025254-443-800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg019duTGqVrxSMwVydIUobazcBwffbg8DCp-3fwYhKJZZ-ZBjvTyAMLlG5-be_FoKZWeFQ10z4eedymK84mFXDzY9SmZMmemfs8AQSV4ZiY2l_cXWK5V-LD4ZuEZdaf99tQHa4t-Pvw8J/s320/Princess-Diana-s-death-princess-diana-32025254-443-800.jpg" width="177" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Toronto Star coverage of the story<br />
that broke while I was up in the air.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">It was </span>a turning point in my life that began when the Air India flight touched down at London Heathrow. As we
began to disembark, I felt none of the usual numbness of overnight trans-Atlantic
travel. Having been upgraded (by carefully engineered chance) to Maharaja
class, I was well fed, rested and revived. So as I shuffled towards the exit
ramp I was alert to the conversations of fellow passengers, whispers that became
more urgent as the circles of contact widened. Several faces registered shock. Out of concern and curiosity, I asked what was the matter: ‘Princess Diana
has been killed.’ </div>
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Over the coming hours, days and
weeks, that news would consume much of the wider world, but it became just the coincidental backdrop for my life, a pointer that fixes it to a definite date in
history. For that was the day I ended more than a decade as an immigrant in
Canada and, after a brief stopover in London, became a ‘returned emigrant’ in
Ireland. </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBD491S9xConlYEI_fnP5JfbgdMOfUJ6ImkP1-P0OZIm_BQ58cRFbQxATPfwgwMny3yamZKTlvnqY8dBvy7F9mJpTqqdZcelTIlLp6qq-IqMNIhNveViAiAzPe-zJZXGLsDnOq6fCooJNo/s1600/irish-emigrant-390x285.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBD491S9xConlYEI_fnP5JfbgdMOfUJ6ImkP1-P0OZIm_BQ58cRFbQxATPfwgwMny3yamZKTlvnqY8dBvy7F9mJpTqqdZcelTIlLp6qq-IqMNIhNveViAiAzPe-zJZXGLsDnOq6fCooJNo/s320/irish-emigrant-390x285.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The story of emigration is still being told.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Much has been written about
emigration – most of it misinformed, maudlin or fanciful by those who can’t
recognise the difference between a young, single backpacker with a smart phone
and a short-term working visa and those who leave (usually by choice) with families, job skills/experience, and the guts to seek opportunities by cutting themselves
adrift. Yet while the story of emigration
is distorted, it is told. Little has been written about the process of coming
home to a place that no longer feels like home for those who have invested a
sustained effort in making a new life in their adopted country. In my case,
that final return flight began a wrenching experience even if it seemed at
first like the start of another holiday. </div>
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There was indulgence for my ‘Canadian’
ways, such as little vocabulary adjustments or
pronunciations, my naïve questions about life in Ireland, my constant
comparisons between here and there, my confusion and doubts about the step I
was taking for myself and my two children who travelled ahead while I tidied up
our affairs in Canada. </div>
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So those initial days passed in a haze. I continued to shuffle along
as if the fog would lift suddenly and I would be ‘home at last’. Yet it didn’t
happen that way in September 1997, no more than it had in January 1987 when I had
passed though Immigration Canada in Toronto as a ‘Landed Immigrant’. </div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR7BEKpgaC0m4JZR2M4JrObY4OA2IvVAt0SFgAMvsijxUoTc2uIeOnR4kqzBnkNDojw6-ZE4jkSpqoXJFBO1fNOIX4pSvsctns-I45Ru7JQJbCw_qKjxyRRdcLtMnStzfZOhOcJRYv2S4x/s1600/Dublin+taxi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR7BEKpgaC0m4JZR2M4JrObY4OA2IvVAt0SFgAMvsijxUoTc2uIeOnR4kqzBnkNDojw6-ZE4jkSpqoXJFBO1fNOIX4pSvsctns-I45Ru7JQJbCw_qKjxyRRdcLtMnStzfZOhOcJRYv2S4x/s320/Dublin+taxi.jpg" width="312" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A culture shock in a Dublin taxi.</td></tr>
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I remember several cultural shocks
in those first days of return: A Dublin taxi driver whose racist
diatribe prompted me to get out well short of my destination; the smug arrogance
of early harbingers of the Celtic Tiger; the fixation on English soccer and popular
culture by those who suggested I had compromised my identity; the bizarre
bureaucracy of reinserting myself into Ireland. So as the weeks passed, I could
feel my frustration grow and the sufferance of others decline in equal measure.
There were fewer smiles when I ‘turned Canadian’, made a comparison, or asked a
question about what others regarded as the ‘bloody obvious’ and I was
challenged, ‘You know rightly why that is; sure aren’t you from here?”</div>
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I suppose those bafflements
and annoyances indicate my psychological readjustment to a cultural environment
that was familiar yet strange enough to befuddle. My body had been transported
back across the Atlantic, but my mind was still in transit and it would take a
long time for them to reunite.</div>
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Other problems were largely work-related.
Having had a successful career in journalism before I left, I presumed I could re-insinuate
myself into the fold. In Canada I had built another successful career in
journalism, adding valuable experiences and technological skills that were
only beginning to take hold in Ireland. Yet I might as well have been outside
the door twiddling my thumbs for all the good that did me in the jobs market. I
even felt at times that my absence was regarded as a failure and my age (mid-40s)
a handicap. So I was not even called for interview when my additional skills
were specified, possibly because I had not acquired them in Ireland.</div>
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Fifteen years later, I look back on
those early days of uncertainty as among the most difficult of my life. I eventually
scrambled back. My vocabulary readjusted and I learned not to utter comparisons that receded over time. I built a successful career for the third
time in my life, but I’ve never truly settled. Along the way, I’ve written four
books, and raised two sons as a single parent until they graduated from
university and set off on their own lives overseas. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4-AdVtzDbg_JrZ34k_6Ahi_wGNhpW9E8i0VRhI_8umBSWrKW7HLuDu5SsWOuWuY49ZxckX-RiLqVqh0shtx10guRSSnSRldl1KfhOiXu2kWv1kxYouGd4rwboyoDlaZCJG_Y6xDvwj0zb/s1600/Canada+map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4-AdVtzDbg_JrZ34k_6Ahi_wGNhpW9E8i0VRhI_8umBSWrKW7HLuDu5SsWOuWuY49ZxckX-RiLqVqh0shtx10guRSSnSRldl1KfhOiXu2kWv1kxYouGd4rwboyoDlaZCJG_Y6xDvwj0zb/s320/Canada+map.jpg" title="" width="247" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Canada – my adopted country.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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So happy ending? Not really,
because I fear the reception would be no different for returned emigrants today.
When I returned to Ireland on 1 September 1997, I found a country absorbed to
the point of selfish obsession about how it had changed in my absence. There
was little acknowledgement that I had changed too, and exponentially in comparison.
Unlike the traditional Irish emigrant’s experience of a social support network
to complement institutional assistance for newcomers, I found impatience for me
to deal with change alone. Unlike Canada and most modern countries built on immigration where help is available to exploit newcomers' skills, there is no agency in Ireland to help returned emigrants
adjust. </div>
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There seems to be a prevailing
Irish notion that emigrants are those who failed and fled and returning home just
compounds the failure. I hear similar reactions from every returned emigrant I meet.
And it is the ‘small stuff’ that niggles most, issues like an ease of passage for
children into the education system, or getting a driver's licence (I had to pass my test for the third time
because there was no ‘reciprocal exchange’).</div>
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Emigration is not easy, yet so many
of us find the practical and emotional support as well as the energy to adjust
to ‘living away from home’. Often we are bolstered by the excitement of a
‘honeymoon’ transition and the promise of ‘happy ever after’. Returning home is
different for those who manage to find a window in complicated lives. No matter
what the circumstances, returning can be like emerging from a failed marriage
(and I know what that is like), with an obsessive compulsion to rekindle an old
romance, then finding yourself shrugged off or simply not recognised. It is
hard to find the energy in such circumstances</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOO7lfvgis4YS-3XB2a0nQdFscmv3iApXsy6ignX6rjrPTPfe9-JblgdCxsq9uNQ0WwMa5mS1vqV8IxlqTVCNpm8solc9Cq1C8KWB_O3ZJA-6kPwZRcM81FJNgH3pNuFHFSo2hUOqxAff0/s1600/Cead+mile+failteF.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOO7lfvgis4YS-3XB2a0nQdFscmv3iApXsy6ignX6rjrPTPfe9-JblgdCxsq9uNQ0WwMa5mS1vqV8IxlqTVCNpm8solc9Cq1C8KWB_O3ZJA-6kPwZRcM81FJNgH3pNuFHFSo2hUOqxAff0/s200/Cead+mile+failteF.jpg" width="191" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
So today, fifteen years after I began
my new life in old surroundings on the day of the death of Britain’s fairytale
princess, I raise a glass to returned emigrants and wish each and every one health,
happiness and a hero’s homecoming.</div>
Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-13179053933929538642012-08-22T20:03:00.000+01:002012-08-22T20:08:28.293+01:00Going for the border bus bonanza<style>@font-face {
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsjV_7xXfYK6-Fs48GuMwzD9Y6nlHHK1hWLpkalsucUa_m3NOif_Z4AGMoRAXz_mqmOjDa_9YVLPzGHfOvxVQaijvDzUivXPClY69KLr_MfTQ_sps_OBAdwemFUyW0kKOVoZ1ZaqOttOqR/s1600/sc_047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsjV_7xXfYK6-Fs48GuMwzD9Y6nlHHK1hWLpkalsucUa_m3NOif_Z4AGMoRAXz_mqmOjDa_9YVLPzGHfOvxVQaijvDzUivXPClY69KLr_MfTQ_sps_OBAdwemFUyW0kKOVoZ1ZaqOttOqR/s400/sc_047.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It pays to take the bus from Lifford to Dublin, through Strabane.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Would</span> you go the extra mile for Bus
Éireann, Ireland’s national bus service? I did yesterday (Tuesday) when I took the Letterkenny express bus to Dublin. </div>
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Not only that, I went the extra
mile on the outward and return journey – and I saved myself €5 (or £4) for each
of those miles. Surely that must be the best (or worst) mileage rate in the
land and it was all courtesy of yet another foible of our fickle frontier.</div>
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I got the 9.45am bus from Lifford
to Dublin Busaras and returned on the 8.45pm departure. On each leg of the
journey, I went through Strabane, just over the bridge from Lifford. From where I live, Strabane would be the
more expected point of my departure and arrival. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitcQaue_LA6OFT14LECkJrT0OD2CKKIW47Jk_UEVIDQ48UKZ13wbPo8WKvUE2c-t__yK3CgEus3TbNENK5TiGhB8eT76ApNqLa9V5POadCNHoNXAbPa7dgWLdwd5uWArGIyzZJAv9I2Pju/s1600/Golden+mile+for+border+bus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitcQaue_LA6OFT14LECkJrT0OD2CKKIW47Jk_UEVIDQ48UKZ13wbPo8WKvUE2c-t__yK3CgEus3TbNENK5TiGhB8eT76ApNqLa9V5POadCNHoNXAbPa7dgWLdwd5uWArGIyzZJAv9I2Pju/s320/Golden+mile+for+border+bus.jpg" width="296" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A small cross-border mile with a big saving.</td></tr>
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The reason I set out from Lifford
on the Letterkenny-Dublin express service is that I booked my Bus Éireann
ticket online. That does not allow the option of boarding in Strabane,
presumably because it is ‘across the border’. </div>
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In any event, I discovered that my same-day return ticket
would cost me €21.85. A bargain, I thought so I enquired about the alternative to
online booking. That would have been to go to Strabane bus station,
a mile closer to where I live, and purchase from ticket from the booth there. My
phone enquiry to the Translink service revealed that I would have to pay £25
for a same-day return to take the same Letterkenny to Dublin bus, boarding just
a few minutes after its departure time from Lifford. </div>
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On the conversion rate for the day,
that worked out at €31.81 – an extra €10 (give or take a few cent) for a
journey that was shorter by a combined two miles.</div>
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</div>
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So I walked the extra mile. Well, I
drove it, but I could have parked my car in Strabane, walked over to Lifford
for the connection, come back on the bus through Strabane (checking my car en
route) and then disembarked there on my evening return.
The online ticket only stipulates a point of boarding and who was going to
prevent me getting off a stop earlier.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwxI5bZQvXFI4bJXQZDNjLFFI8MefPFGQIyj-0zFKSFvBeP1iPv8nVZhPGneVL6vzPZFAJ-5qcVObfpQbzIenLAHS6WzGn7kzSpiKIeTIkDTcHoxnYof7Kx1kY2B4JCKqT9THxFs2Wcy_L/s1600/tinnies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwxI5bZQvXFI4bJXQZDNjLFFI8MefPFGQIyj-0zFKSFvBeP1iPv8nVZhPGneVL6vzPZFAJ-5qcVObfpQbzIenLAHS6WzGn7kzSpiKIeTIkDTcHoxnYof7Kx1kY2B4JCKqT9THxFs2Wcy_L/s400/tinnies.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Next time I'll take a stroll past the 'Tinnies'.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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That way, I could have saved my
tenner and had a pleasant stroll up Bradley Way, across the grassy knell of the
quaintly named Camel’s Hump with the wonderful ‘Tinney’ sculptures in the ‘Let
the Dance Begin’ installation. Now that I’ve found my way to Dublin, spent my saved tenner on a hearty pub lunch, and returned again all at the border bonanza rate, I think I’ll just do that.</div>
Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-56468316717440124462012-08-14T00:26:00.001+01:002012-08-14T00:42:18.411+01:00Rocky road to Rio 2016<style>@font-face {
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDqWArmtTAbh8EHnq8z-yJNqhDBqCFy9Le8zYZVzk3xnEx5Ph65F_aFEHFEkHrASfhIMEkHEFMlOM6p2-h777tmYjHsJlG86lzyO0qSYkwF-OMQn75N_tbmGb46kdpbwG8hdfwdbHH7p6k/s1600/Rio%252BGames%252B2016.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDqWArmtTAbh8EHnq8z-yJNqhDBqCFy9Le8zYZVzk3xnEx5Ph65F_aFEHFEkHrASfhIMEkHEFMlOM6p2-h777tmYjHsJlG86lzyO0qSYkwF-OMQn75N_tbmGb46kdpbwG8hdfwdbHH7p6k/s1600/Rio%252BGames%252B2016.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Filling in the faces for the next Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">So </span>now that the most wonderful Olympics ever have come to a close with London 2012, and golfer Rory McIlroy has turned in a hugely impressive win
at the US PGA, the speculation has begun on where he will hang his cap in the Olympic
Village for Rio 2016. </div>
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Will the Hollywood, Co. Down wonder opt
for Team Ireland or Team GB in four years time? </div>
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Some on-air speculation from Dublin today followed the
increasingly familiar pattern of born-again cross-border deference to difference. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7jo2kCRGLlOzW5S11LFS7BYOgNem29atEdrM6dhSorIZHw2xqW_mMxCPJFsnbWFJfN1UeRjbrebJReaPlwoynTdFa4WesM6bV5ewO0U-E_n0m-w5Ud-Tr98rP7V3-bsLbUDCAT5MoW-nq/s1600/rory-mcilroy-pga.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7jo2kCRGLlOzW5S11LFS7BYOgNem29atEdrM6dhSorIZHw2xqW_mMxCPJFsnbWFJfN1UeRjbrebJReaPlwoynTdFa4WesM6bV5ewO0U-E_n0m-w5Ud-Tr98rP7V3-bsLbUDCAT5MoW-nq/s320/rory-mcilroy-pga.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Golf champ Rory is up for grabs for 2016.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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One contributor wondered if the new US PGA champion would go
for Team Ireland given that the Golfing Union of Ireland financially supported
his early professional golfing career development. </div>
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On the other hand, sure hasn’t he the
choice by virtue of his birth in Northern Ireland to opt for Team GB? And good
luck to him whatever he decides. </div>
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Where is the passion? Where is the tribal resentment? Has the very essence of our sporting rivalry been boxed to a standstill in the ring last Saturday night during the bout between John Joe Nevin and Luke Campbell? </div>
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Instead, the
airwaves gush with the milk of human kindness after the Friendly Games.</div>
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So here at the <i>Frontier Post</i>, we are left alone to shout at the radio that Rory should be ours because the
official name for the British team pointedly excludes Northern Ireland. It is our job to keep an eye on such legalities of jurisdictional demarcation. </div>
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In the after-glow of London 2012, even the most truculent and resentful must concede that Northern Ireland is a de facto constituent of the United Kingdom (UK) of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland, but it most assuredly is not in the Great Britain of Team GB.</div>
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Furthermore, nobody thought to ask if the Team GB brand name
would even be appropriate for Rio in 2016. Or would Scottish Premier Alex
Salmond’s 2014 referendum on independence put paid to that? </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqcg9J7h9Dp2JNdijWVqlT0lrt8Zqmi6Zqr_DEi0HB4q-YjnKu7_io-k3WzsxM4tqeIynRG83A2_X0sC_AgR7Y0vuZ_S3XY8G_uQYGvBpiaBxJFQynzZYQhEF4LOvnF5xt4igJyUgG8ztg/s1600/andy.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqcg9J7h9Dp2JNdijWVqlT0lrt8Zqmi6Zqr_DEi0HB4q-YjnKu7_io-k3WzsxM4tqeIynRG83A2_X0sC_AgR7Y0vuZ_S3XY8G_uQYGvBpiaBxJFQynzZYQhEF4LOvnF5xt4igJyUgG8ztg/s1600/andy.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scotland's gold</td></tr>
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If the Scottish Nationalist Party leader has his way, Team
Scotland will be entering the fray in 2016 and Andy Murray and his fellow
athletes will stand to attention on the winners’ podium for a rendition of ‘Flower of
Scotland’.</div>
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In that event, could those of Ulster-Scots background (Graeme
McDowell) opt for Team Scotland too?</div>
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Meanwhile, would a truncated team from the biggest island of
the British Isles be renamed Team Britain. And would that then transform Team GB
into Team B? Hardly the most auspicious acronymn for the fastest, longest, strongest
etc.</div>
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I’ll bet none of the branding experts thought of this when
they settled for Team GB over Team UK.</div>
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</div>
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Maybe Rory should just declare for Team Ireland now and
avoid all this uncertainty and embarassment between here and Rio.</div>
Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-88282509455137308742012-08-09T23:55:00.001+01:002012-08-10T00:19:04.248+01:00Signs of the times<style>@font-face {
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<span lang="EN-US"></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy-jNq7MK7RTC1XEHZqKAo5mvQCE2tVW6s9FDW9VBbcjBldEHDkf_mK7SULCezGDSZtvYk9VwgWb7St2aTaAGJ-C6BHLBDx5fiJRnVv_0XC82kU0Jh0HxG4j5xbvDJdj5RKKY3kDU5MmHD/s1600/Signpost_703107s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy-jNq7MK7RTC1XEHZqKAo5mvQCE2tVW6s9FDW9VBbcjBldEHDkf_mK7SULCezGDSZtvYk9VwgWb7St2aTaAGJ-C6BHLBDx5fiJRnVv_0XC82kU0Jh0HxG4j5xbvDJdj5RKKY3kDU5MmHD/s400/Signpost_703107s.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">Northern</span> Ireland’s
Minister for Regional Development Danny Kennedy was accused this week of being
‘pretty petty’ in his insistence on erecting ‘Welcome to Northern Ireland’
signs on Border road-crossings. At the <i>Frontier Post</i>, we think he’s also being
rather picky in choosing nine roads to signpost – at a cost of almost £200 a
sign.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Two of the new signs
have been uprooted already – both in the Clones-Roslea-Newtownbutler area – and
there seems to be general expectations that the others will be vandalised also.
The DRD is reported to be on standby to replace the signs in such an event.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The official excuse
for the signs, meanwhile, is that they will remind motorists that they are
entering another jurisdiction where speed limits are measured in pounds,
shillings and pence and not in those foreign ‘European’ currencies. Most
motorists can be forgiven for thinking that the signs saying that ‘speed limits
are in MPH’ were erected for that very purpose. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">So obviously in
the interests of road safety, the minister is using taxpayers’ money for a ‘belt
and braces’ approach so that motorists can then adjust their speedometer
gauges, or something like that. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPA1E1Y8QmsRKnqlIYhxQzYj7ohDB3NOcyYKYh5grViEWmiPnsSSG6ip4mgap75ogaznqcsaq0Qd54QQ9gv6ArWR-rRbpbZD3czhKJDqCKL2nktI5RfTECQaLoZkNFty3FvvWSJxfJnUr2/s1600/Danny+Kennedy.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPA1E1Y8QmsRKnqlIYhxQzYj7ohDB3NOcyYKYh5grViEWmiPnsSSG6ip4mgap75ogaznqcsaq0Qd54QQ9gv6ArWR-rRbpbZD3czhKJDqCKL2nktI5RfTECQaLoZkNFty3FvvWSJxfJnUr2/s200/Danny+Kennedy.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dannk K – a belt and braces guy</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US">Meanwhile, here at
the <i>Frontier Post</i>, we are somewhat peeved that Minister Kennedy does not come
clean and acknowledge that our 2 February blog, Size Matters in Border Rivalry, comparing our border with the
one between Scotland and England might have spurred him to action. Obviously
the Ulster Unionist Minister was upset by our observation that the much smaller
Border across the water is festooned with signage, while ours boasts only a few
‘Fermanagh Welcomes you… Naturally’ signs, as well as some signs on the southern
side reminding us – in German, French and English, but not the first official
language – to drive on the left.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">So besides needing
to replace the two signs in the Clones area, the minister has had his signs positioned
on the following roads: Strabane-Lifford, Kesh-Pettigo, Aughnacloy-Emyvale,
Derrylin-Belturbet, Belleek-Ballyshannon, and even one near Wattlebridge on the
road from Clones to Cavan where it makes one of its forays into Fermanagh. Soon
also, there will be signs erected on the old road between Newry and Dundalk, on
one of the Derry to Letterkenny roads – probably at Bridgend – and another near
Middletown on the Armagh-Monaghan road. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">We reckon that
this leaves only 300 or so roads with no signs to inform motorists that they
are crossing the Border and they are welcome to do so! </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwjGSENslMpSTqaG3Ep6UtrTQDQsgmj5lSaXL2YCvaDtcmnb1wsgvX928PftW8W_o_QXpmC4x-x30cU5vskLgsPydWLITLMZKHBrX4b4iQZ318jaZIpkUjbfHEtmWvUAfwR-AWZDIWgxDW/s1600/Vandalised_road-sign_Londonderry_P3010060.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwjGSENslMpSTqaG3Ep6UtrTQDQsgmj5lSaXL2YCvaDtcmnb1wsgvX928PftW8W_o_QXpmC4x-x30cU5vskLgsPydWLITLMZKHBrX4b4iQZ318jaZIpkUjbfHEtmWvUAfwR-AWZDIWgxDW/s320/Vandalised_road-sign_Londonderry_P3010060.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Mind you, at a
cost of about £200 each, the spending on replacement signage for the stipulated
roads, should keep a medium-size signage shop and half a dozen DRD road crews
busy for a while. It will certainly supplement the work of replacing and
restoring the defaced direction signs for ‘Londonderry’.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 10pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">But it’s good to
see that we are all being welcomed along the road to a shared future, even if
only on a few choice border crossings. Time was – and not really that long ago
– that Unionist politicians seemed hell-bent on keeping our cross-border
roads closed. Now Danny K is rolling out the Welcome mat, even if disgruntled locals would prefer to keep their Border location a secret.</span></div>Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-11293784265845955872012-07-31T12:07:00.000+01:002012-08-04T08:51:09.907+01:00With one mighty boundary, our hero is free…<style>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5tftsy98z0kHk8bwAf9jGo7MhLl-hXCtjqxhK-xR3uqhGXfCMTZT9dVA-bo7fjizVv19Kitxu6BF0Cke51kdZtdn4OOflH1CixMrEjuzJp3RRCT3IS_14qTMVQ5fbi5TXHuFmhzlkKYrq/s1600/abeafefb1775bcdec36d9c59ed895122fa80dc9c61844557e3597d57e229f2f2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5tftsy98z0kHk8bwAf9jGo7MhLl-hXCtjqxhK-xR3uqhGXfCMTZT9dVA-bo7fjizVv19Kitxu6BF0Cke51kdZtdn4OOflH1CixMrEjuzJp3RRCT3IS_14qTMVQ5fbi5TXHuFmhzlkKYrq/s1600/abeafefb1775bcdec36d9c59ed895122fa80dc9c61844557e3597d57e229f2f2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The chief acknowledges his subjects at the coss-Border rally in Ballyconnell.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The</span> exhortation that all ‘Border people’ should come out in
support of bankrupt billionaire Seán Quinn and his family is just as troubling
as the troupe of widely known GAA stalwarts who lined up to pay homage to the
‘Mighty Quinn’ at Sunday’s rally in Ballyconnell, Co. Cavan. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Their projection of an alternative constituency of rural
solidarity based on shared values of 'home and hearth', almost disguises the
incredibly slick public relations campaign now underway. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That the campaign is centred on the periphery of both
jurisdictions – while one of the main players is using its convenient escape
route to avoid jail for ‘contempt of court’ – is almost sheer genius.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet there is nothing spontaneous or innocent about the scale and
potential of this PR campaign.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVsx3X1qEr-ERs75Pv83gtgwZHINCry1WIHkr1sCWhM7Ozml2VrL47cj-hQl528gNqaMYuf6tDf54Z3k9aoGMZj97R88IygbNPucUIh_4ftHYY7wqh60_qR-czXSj-8UuuZKyjQQx3vZcc/s1600/2e5c93fc5fcb277c88837e18ff8cc045282e065fb3e5a043974bf63c922d267e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVsx3X1qEr-ERs75Pv83gtgwZHINCry1WIHkr1sCWhM7Ozml2VrL47cj-hQl528gNqaMYuf6tDf54Z3k9aoGMZj97R88IygbNPucUIh_4ftHYY7wqh60_qR-czXSj-8UuuZKyjQQx3vZcc/s320/2e5c93fc5fcb277c88837e18ff8cc045282e065fb3e5a043974bf63c922d267e.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the people, all of the time.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Seán Quinn fastidiously avoided his ‘enemy’ until everything
was in place. His carefully chosen first foray into the media campaign was with the local <i>Northern Sound</i> radio and
the local papers in Fermanagh and Cavan. Next his ‘fugitive’ nephew was
featured at a couple of local football matches – in the company of his former GAA
president dad – and then came the rally which appears to be the first of a
snowball sequence.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So even after all the highly troubling and detailed exposure by <i>BBC</i>’s Jim
Fitzpatrick of the Quinns’ sophisticated criminal manipulation of assets through
dubious channels in Russia; clear and proven breaches of specific court orders;
and unequivocal findings by respected judges that this was blatant contempt of
the law to cheat Irish taxpayers on an unprecedented scale, the Empire has struck back. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The bandwagon struck up on Sunday and the ‘Border people’
and all those who share their honest, down-to-earth family values are expected
to clamber aboard.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ2h61N6xG-So82_LBfY2URtPIW15YTiYG5CXx1pAVjY8BKFMq0V0CEZlDgyg27ZVg-75IUHaS1IaC7G2RdRkvMu8lU2zPTibdfGb29zLAizyfIIYcGXlCAenzSjmOsQVx9I2hqTT-7RS2/s1600/Gordon-Gekko-Posters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ2h61N6xG-So82_LBfY2URtPIW15YTiYG5CXx1pAVjY8BKFMq0V0CEZlDgyg27ZVg-75IUHaS1IaC7G2RdRkvMu8lU2zPTibdfGb29zLAizyfIIYcGXlCAenzSjmOsQVx9I2hqTT-7RS2/s320/Gordon-Gekko-Posters.jpg" width="237" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sure, isn't he one of our own!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Suddenly a high-roller casino capitalist – who wagered his
entire ‘empire’ (and all its subjects) in a golden Gordon Gekko moment of
quintessential greed – is pleading the poor mouth. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Suddenly the man who failed to achieve bankruptcy on his own
terms in Belfast High Court is now the victim of bankruptcy, hounded by the Irish
courts, the ‘Dublin media’ and, most of all, Anglo-Irish Bank.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Suddenly the family which has siphoned off hundreds of
millions worth of assets in breach of court orders, is facing ‘debtors’ prison’
or ‘walking the roads’ after summary eviction.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Where will it end? The novel notion that the true Irish
values of honesty, decency and family solidarity maintain a lonely residence on
the border between Fermanagh and Cavan is a powerful incentive for those who
refuse to acknowledge the facts. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They line up to hail their chief, backed by an array of GAA leaders who, quite frankly, should
be ashamed of the message they are conveying.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Meanwhile, the notion that there is even such a constituency
as the ‘Border people’ is news to us at the <i>Frontier Post</i>, where we maintain a
vigil on a vast array of communities and districts which did not benefit from the
Quinn Group, even in the ‘good times’. </div>
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">One thing for sure if this campaign succeeds though is that we’ll all be
picking up the tab while the Quinns laugh all the way to Belize.</span>Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-39245806579045789252012-07-11T10:15:00.000+01:002012-07-11T10:22:44.909+01:00Right to the heart of a Maiden City<style>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP5c9tAiugQACFIRLsslHuAOMqTJe2jw3UrPy_U1Q0ZJbD5y-WYvRirtMhgpgTU-C5EuQICzLtkskDFgLXPL0GIBkHapw6wRc3WplOFI22_LJ502ZFyfvVJuVwGpMcGnFv5KUfVogim0wv/s1600/Constraints.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP5c9tAiugQACFIRLsslHuAOMqTJe2jw3UrPy_U1Q0ZJbD5y-WYvRirtMhgpgTU-C5EuQICzLtkskDFgLXPL0GIBkHapw6wRc3WplOFI22_LJ502ZFyfvVJuVwGpMcGnFv5KUfVogim0wv/s400/Constraints.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cross the river to avoid constraints.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">As a</span> fairly regular commuter to Derry, I have a strong
interest in the proposed upgrading to a dual carriageway of the A5 road from
Aughnacloy to Newbuildings. Despite more than 2,000 objections, a public
inquiry has now<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=379319695148651616#_edn1" name="_ednref" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">1</span></a> given the go-ahead for the work which already has a budget
of £330 million.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, at the risk of prolonging the tailbacks and road
hazards, I want to raise yet another objection. It is based on empirical
research and, while it might seem impertinent, I think it should be on the
table before the bulldozers move in. This is not least because it might stand a
better chance of winning back the €400 million that the Dublin government allocated
to the project before backing out of the deal.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYoSVXKLL_7r8ej4uHMymbGqPhDpqKrM_DL5WuGHBU-YGm5ATmisWbYJHzgX_7vKXUQU6R2sYQskPVMnYm8uwIyOXqSSzyI1AjtxeuBH7oykHOnX8LHa81pROKpI3p3VDbRpsxk_UPLqI_/s1600/Derry+city.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYoSVXKLL_7r8ej4uHMymbGqPhDpqKrM_DL5WuGHBU-YGm5ATmisWbYJHzgX_7vKXUQU6R2sYQskPVMnYm8uwIyOXqSSzyI1AjtxeuBH7oykHOnX8LHa81pROKpI3p3VDbRpsxk_UPLqI_/s320/Derry+city.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Agreeing a cross-border road to Derry City.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So here is my concern: the planning has focused on the wrong
road entirely, well, the wrong route from Victoria Bridge to the
Maiden City. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For those familiar with the North-West Passage, this is the
part which snakes its way for about 20 miles through (or around after the
roadworks) Sion Mills, Strabane, Ballymagorry, Cloghcor, Bready and Magheramason
(all in Co. Tyrone) before drawing up to the traffic lights in Newbuildings,
Co. Derry, and the final Prehen stretch into the city which is excluded from
the work.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Roads Service in Northern Ireland has wrestled with this
part of the route which hugs the east bank of the River Foyle. All along, the
answer to their problem was over on the west bank; i.e. in the other
jurisdiction. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By entering Co. Donegal, the route could:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
• Avoid major centres of settlement;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
• Extend right into the heart of Derry City;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
• Link with the dual carriageway (plus under-deck) Craigavon
Bridge;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
• Better serve Letterkenny and all north and west Donegal;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
• Provide a road that can readily justify Dublin government
funding.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Such a road would depart the current A5 route just north of
Victoria Bridge, following the general line of Bells Park Road to cross the
Border and the River Finn between Clady and Strabane. (The Finn is barely wider
than a normal two-lane road at this point.)</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzAtTIRxVqv7otTKSMNei7u5C0SI_UmRqkXMI7G9_GaeoRESwwy4mvmoPJrk4PtZdKEckPTV5Eq7ls-_lKDRR58ab1QCKX72E67KTm7YZT1Mys7V4DsINFgWTxMCprgjU6CEfh7Y2yzweA/s1600/Craigavon+Bridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzAtTIRxVqv7otTKSMNei7u5C0SI_UmRqkXMI7G9_GaeoRESwwy4mvmoPJrk4PtZdKEckPTV5Eq7ls-_lKDRR58ab1QCKX72E67KTm7YZT1Mys7V4DsINFgWTxMCprgjU6CEfh7Y2yzweA/s320/Craigavon+Bridge.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With upper and lower decks, Craigavon bridge<br />
offers three lanes each way to connect entire city.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It would then sweep west of Lifford towards Letterkenny
before resuming its course to Derry up the Laggan Valley side of the Foyle past
Porthall, St Johnston and Carrigans. There it would cross the border into Co.
Derry, following the Balloughry Road to join up with the Letterkenny Road, before
making its grand final sweep along
the scenic and unimpeded passage down past the Brandywell (GAA and soccer
venues) to Craigavon Bridge.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This route would be no longer than the current proposal and
it would better serve the entire north-west region in both jurisdictions. Apart
from achieving the overall objectives listed above, it would:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
• Allay the deep objections of Protestant landowners north
of Strabane;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
• Allow Derry city nationalists to drive to Dublin through
Donegal;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
• Provide a real and more direct road link connecting Dublin
and Letterkenny;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
• Preserve the core integrity of the Foyle; and</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
• Stake a Dublin government claim to the Maiden City itself.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now even in these straitened times, that must be worth at
least €400 million. </div>
<div>
<br />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="edn">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 34pt; margin-bottom: 13pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=379319695148651616#_ednref" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">1</span></a>
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #505050; letter-spacing: -1pt;">A5 Road Upgrade 'To Get Go-ahead' After Public
Inquiry, b</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #505050;">y
Kevin Magee, </span>BBC, 11 July 2012:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-18789327</div>
</div>
</div>
<br />Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-42340695535021440952012-06-25T20:31:00.004+01:002012-06-25T20:34:32.206+01:00New hospital opens old wound<link href="file://localhost/Users/darachmacdonald/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0/clip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"></link>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZnZK1tiW2kpeVYYRXHzm-EVSnmJQDHkXEQD5Lrq8qgkuFLZD9PYcvUoDMDxi09jDqwSEhrIVopXmqJVgdimLMi8ptVlIFcuzBK1fIKKuHlgqpN7PgjbKmheuLMTzCYpdZvedVmh4nORvZ/s1600/Hospital+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZnZK1tiW2kpeVYYRXHzm-EVSnmJQDHkXEQD5Lrq8qgkuFLZD9PYcvUoDMDxi09jDqwSEhrIVopXmqJVgdimLMi8ptVlIFcuzBK1fIKKuHlgqpN7PgjbKmheuLMTzCYpdZvedVmh4nORvZ/s1600/Hospital+2.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>The</b></span> new £276-million hospital outside Enniskillen has opened
with all the bells and whistles of a modern health care facility. And along with en-suite
rooms for every one of its 300-plus patient beds, the new hospital embeds a
geographical anomaly that seems to hold mighty sway with officialdom in this
part of Ireland. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That’s because the new facility is officially known as the
South West Acute Hospital, a name that most residents of Fermanagh and Tyrone
probably think would be better suited to a facility in Limerick or Kerry. </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs43CYbs0PYajEbj_vQ7u9CZZ4B0XqBg318Bhp8mw7Peu-oIFV4KEuakxFJiPCA5qNqPXVB4HD6yVgNSDTPaDNHZ3aTDMOi06fxUG-Az43zXQwFRPQ73NHs1hfxsGShB4bI0gRO1yzc7r9/s1600/Omagh+college+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs43CYbs0PYajEbj_vQ7u9CZZ4B0XqBg318Bhp8mw7Peu-oIFV4KEuakxFJiPCA5qNqPXVB4HD6yVgNSDTPaDNHZ3aTDMOi06fxUG-Az43zXQwFRPQ73NHs1hfxsGShB4bI0gRO1yzc7r9/s320/Omagh+college+.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">South West's West Tyrone campus in the north west at Omagh.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But the name does join a growing pantheon of illustrious
institutions centred on those northern counties. This includes South West
College – with campuses in Omagh, Enniskillen, Dungannon and Cookstown. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is also BT’s ubiquitous telephone directory for the ‘south
west’ region, representing a terrible annual waste of trees for an early
twentieth-century form of communications from the company that dominates
telecommunications here. The scope of the ‘south-west’ phone directory extends from
Belleek as far as Lurgan in the north east corner of Armagh. Those in the know
will note that Lurgan is comfortably east of the River Bann.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So apart from being struck by the woeful lack of imagination
in naming public institutions and services, here at the <b><i>Frontier Post</i></b> we have
been wondering what the name of the new hospital signifies. That is, in terms
of its location – beside Wolf Lough, which is between Enniskillen town and
Trory Roundabout on the Irvinestown road – where exactly is it ‘south west’ of?
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzyxsCgYJTnWWGgLzWEgDcKAUzaAEQbwwgXuXmkYDQgk7A-qNCh-61Ifie7kJAKU0Q-AU9bxIjoVA0ZjwEpXX-XrNqnLqplCcfOAYQ0bw6q4mj1Thu0fiSXE2VHrZWeuyQdA8LVxq0e61Q/s1600/NI+Map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzyxsCgYJTnWWGgLzWEgDcKAUzaAEQbwwgXuXmkYDQgk7A-qNCh-61Ifie7kJAKU0Q-AU9bxIjoVA0ZjwEpXX-XrNqnLqplCcfOAYQ0bw6q4mj1Thu0fiSXE2VHrZWeuyQdA8LVxq0e61Q/s320/NI+Map.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Where exactly in the North is south, much less south west?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Such a fixation on place (with precise SatNav directions) could
be required when the new facility will incorporate its planned teaching
facilities. We are told that, apart from Queen’s University Belfast, this might
also include link-ups with the medical faculty in NUI Galway. This raises the
prospect that medics dispatched to the South West Acute Hospital might head off
south in the direction of Ennis instead of north to the Border and Enniskillen unless provided
with precise details.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In our search for a fixed point to determine the south-west nature of the new hospital, naturally we thought of Belfast, the capital of Northern
Ireland, seat of governance and administration. That seemed the natural place
to look because it is where matters such as naming hospitals, further education
colleges and phonebooks would undergo much high-powered deliberation and intensive
examination before a final decision. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But no, Enniskillen town sits at 54.34 degrees latitude,
against Belfast’s 54.37. By our reckoning, that puts the new facility on Wolf
Lough at 54.35 – almost exactly west of Belfast Lough on the same line of
latitude.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So could it be Derry city? No, the new hospital lies almost
directly south of the historic centre for those living west of the Bann.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then it struck us. The new hospital is perched almost on an
exact southwest radiant from Omagh (latitude 54.596) in the projected catchment
area for its patients. Omagh is actually where many argued – and still
believe – the new hospital should have been located all along. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘South West Acute Hospital’ – talk about rubbing salt in the
wound! </div>
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"></span>Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-84584185689769953762012-06-18T01:00:00.001+01:002012-06-18T12:54:12.465+01:00The Queen and I<link href="file://localhost/Users/darachmacdonald/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0/clip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"></link>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh2bYKMOSSFZKkZrW9Mv-MlKZsEH2Dbz6ypY03-0bUzzhXJBOlPjDltm76ymY2fzJKNJY1PO3KKkerAJahyphenhyphenS4cN2KysUc5scyNi9ylhC1hxKajPLiuh_jDli4O_J9UFXC73pc48VHir_vO/s1600/knighting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh2bYKMOSSFZKkZrW9Mv-MlKZsEH2Dbz6ypY03-0bUzzhXJBOlPjDltm76ymY2fzJKNJY1PO3KKkerAJahyphenhyphenS4cN2KysUc5scyNi9ylhC1hxKajPLiuh_jDli4O_J9UFXC73pc48VHir_vO/s640/knighting.jpg" width="364" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A cut above the rest?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Most of</span></b> you will have noticed by now that I am not on the
Queen’s Birthday Honours list this year. No MBE or OBE for me, much less a KBE
along with actor Kenneth Brannagh (who has played in the top role of royalty before now) and the rest of the gang. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So as you negotiate your way through the alphabetispaggetti
of royal rigmarole and bow or curtsy (as appropriate) to BBC <i><b>Radio Ulster</b></i>’s Wendy
Austin and the others, I actually breathe a sigh of relief that I have escaped
the British Empire once again.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtzYQpK14SHAGhsu_xv8bbGuB3Ncdzj8D03r-I-ToUJYfdk2SMFUb7dYB3YkEzMMgi_95ykE9gzMNxXUfDAigGfrF5hMeufGDEVm8FOW84GigsoFTXfkibOgQXrHErlWOm0Kcy9XhQZde7/s1600/kenneth+branagh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtzYQpK14SHAGhsu_xv8bbGuB3Ncdzj8D03r-I-ToUJYfdk2SMFUb7dYB3YkEzMMgi_95ykE9gzMNxXUfDAigGfrF5hMeufGDEVm8FOW84GigsoFTXfkibOgQXrHErlWOm0Kcy9XhQZde7/s200/kenneth+branagh.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kenneth goes from King Henry to Sir Ken</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(Mind you, we’ll not mention that oath for which I lined up before
Kitchener Mayor Dom Cardillo in Waterloo City Hall back in 1993 when I became a
proud Canadian citizen. Let’s just say there were crossed fingers behind backs
as I intoned the Lord’s Prayer – <i>as
gaeilge</i>!)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since that day, I like to think that Queen Elizabeth II and
I have had an understanding about where we stand in our relationship with each
other. It is really a question of mutual indifference. Beyond wanting to keep her
portrait on a few banknotes in my wallet, I don’t particularly care what she or
her family get up to. I suspect she feels the same, apart from not having my
portrait in her wallet, of course.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So unlike some who avert embarrassment at times such as this
by saying they are not interested in, or worthy of, such royal accolades, I
have never even had to feign indifference or unworthiness.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet with all the hoo-ha of the Jubilee, I’ve been feeling
that I should come clean and confess the true reason for the fact that each
time an Honours List rolls around, I can simply ignore it in the full and
certain knowledge that I will not have to bow and curtsy with the other commoners,
much less bend the knee for a sword-tap on the shoulder. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So here’s the secret – I don’t get on with Buckingham
Palace. In fact, I am fairly certain I am ‘persona non grata’ with the palatial
apparatchiks. I say this because we have had words in the past! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(Gasp! Horror! Shriek!)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It probably meant more to her at the time, but I think that our
falling-out was back in 2006 when QEII was over here for a royal walkabout.
There were the usual rumours, the excited gossip, a ‘possible schedule’, nods,
winks and wishful thinking.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was editor of the <i><b>Ulster Herald</b></i> and its sister papers back
then and we were in the loop, of course, mainly because of a Royal Garden Party
at the Loughrey College campus near Cookstown. At this event, the good and the
ghastly of Tyrone would be expected to line up for an audience with ‘Her
Majesty’ and it was all ‘hush hush, nod, wink…’ and all that Monty Python
stuff. </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFAs8aRbPT2W6tzbUCWBr5xNjeuDZpMopxsOdIWqmbhluadbdikQxtoJKHYN30MV1L-lwobvYx1UieHr1ybO1f50UHqOW-In-020utB758mbrQUDjWY4LJw2qAAIhBbCnrWcdMNWbn4WbL/s1600/QEII.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFAs8aRbPT2W6tzbUCWBr5xNjeuDZpMopxsOdIWqmbhluadbdikQxtoJKHYN30MV1L-lwobvYx1UieHr1ybO1f50UHqOW-In-020utB758mbrQUDjWY4LJw2qAAIhBbCnrWcdMNWbn4WbL/s200/QEII.jpg" width="160" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a 'VIP'</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I wish I could describe how excited I felt about being
invited, but that would only be a lie. Of course, I did not want to appear
ungrateful, so I used the invitation for a short news item in the Tyrone Herald
about the pending event. The only change was that I substituted the
notification of a ‘VIP” presence for the fact that Queen Elizabeth II would be
in attendance – just as the entire county of Tyrone and surrounding districts
knew.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The event passed without undue attention or mishap. I was not even missed. Then a few days later, I got a call – several calls, in
fact. First from the Northern Ireland Office, which assumes precedence in such
matters of state business. It was a rather curt rebuke for ‘breaking protocol’
by naming the ‘VIP’. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I fear I was less than suitably contrite: I seem to remember
laughing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But that was only the beginning. Subsequently, there was a
call from Buckingham Palace, a plumy voice announcing a name or title I could
not decipher with my simple commoner hearing. I proffered my excuse about the
‘dogs in the street’, but to no avail. My refusal to prostrate myself in abject
apology brought the royal pronouncement that the <i><b>Ulster Herald</b></i> group and I would be
banished from the realm of garden tea parties and press statements about ‘VIP
visits’ for the foreseeable future.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was no mention of OBEs or MBEs and I thought it would
only make matters worse if I put in the ‘wee word’ for a Knighthood, so the
call ended in silence. And that was my Royal flush.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She’s getting on now – QEII – and I suspect that this
falling-out might be rankling a bit with her. But I hold no grudges and sure, if she’s
ever back in Tyrone, she’s more than welcome to drop by for a cuppa, a wee dram
or just a chat … so long as it’s not about any bloody empires, of course!</div>Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-41219648778423325192012-06-06T20:24:00.001+01:002012-06-06T21:52:03.176+01:00Mixing sport and geography<style>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj04Ha6HhUgJr9rGjn6creNej_5iLA2sxPOBqgqAH_lu9-stAxNnyx2n_4S5a-OGFMOq0jTyZa3O5f_KnVtzOUXja7PUx1HK6mOj3MVh0wHzUCoAgLEe66oUHF7lZ4uM7qZc7OKqZRZ8nic/s1600/Children+Omagh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj04Ha6HhUgJr9rGjn6creNej_5iLA2sxPOBqgqAH_lu9-stAxNnyx2n_4S5a-OGFMOq0jTyZa3O5f_KnVtzOUXja7PUx1HK6mOj3MVh0wHzUCoAgLEe66oUHF7lZ4uM7qZc7OKqZRZ8nic/s640/Children+Omagh.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Omagh schoolchildren greet the Olympic flame on its passage through Ireland.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">It was</span> probably no more than a slip of the tongue but it
spoiled my breakfast… and it has been niggling since. The fact that it was a
‘good news story’ on RTÉ Radio One’s <i>Morning Ireland</i> hardly alleviated the
inexplicable feeling of being slighted once more.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ92sAZuzxo0OO98t29L_py5yzVoEG93qz-Nvxsua-c6x7IH2hgqDl8gZoAmBx289AIT3hWxT1iCCUeKnoyDyuArM1PP76b-MJjUyZDtY65yApRhvAWAyM_LvOrkh5dE5cNxAMq4ourvv3/s1600/Olympoic+flame+border.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ92sAZuzxo0OO98t29L_py5yzVoEG93qz-Nvxsua-c6x7IH2hgqDl8gZoAmBx289AIT3hWxT1iCCUeKnoyDyuArM1PP76b-MJjUyZDtY65yApRhvAWAyM_LvOrkh5dE5cNxAMq4ourvv3/s320/Olympoic+flame+border.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brother boxers keep her lit on the Border.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I didn’t even catch the name of the reporter who informed
listeners that the Olympic flame was ‘now in Ireland, if only for a few hours’
after the symbolic handover between fellow Irish Olympians Wayne McCollough and
Michael Carruth at the Border on the Newry to Dundalk road. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It jarred because, by no coincidence, I was actually in
Ireland yesterday morning to witness the same Olympic flame making its passage through
Omagh, having come from Derry City via Strabane before heading off out the
Dromore Road towards Enniskillen and a string of other Irish towns and
villages. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The feeling of euphoria I had felt since about the passage
of the Olympic flame on a symbolic course that included both parts of Ireland
was dissipated by the carelessness of yet another ‘professional’ news reporter
who can’t even be bothered to look at a map and know the difference between a
country and a state.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeLEmfx4HCPdC_VZzEwqWxQuOkH3Z5tCSECEytRRvm9IVCM5jE16CVzTSSbVSydpJsPsOapkzeI6RqUHgorBfok9_yShajI3kRZomT50Qdsk6IJbDm-RBiKGuCdEWPu86-gr_VgEvDLRnM/s1600/Olympic+flame+Omagh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeLEmfx4HCPdC_VZzEwqWxQuOkH3Z5tCSECEytRRvm9IVCM5jE16CVzTSSbVSydpJsPsOapkzeI6RqUHgorBfok9_yShajI3kRZomT50Qdsk6IJbDm-RBiKGuCdEWPu86-gr_VgEvDLRnM/s1600/Olympic+flame+Omagh.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jack Kennedy, 15, carries the flame through Omagh.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘A few hours’ indeed, I thought, my mind tracing the earlier
path of the flame from Belfast through Antrim, along the north coast and
through each of these six Irish counties in Northern Ireland before its brief
interlude in the Republic of Ireland.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet such geographical dismissal should be like water off a
duck’s back by now, one would think. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For all of my life, I have listened to unionist politicians
talk of ‘Ulster’ and the ‘Ulster people’ in a way that pointedly excluded me
and all those in Northern Ireland who espoused Irish reunification, not to
mention one-third of the actual province of Ulster. Such geographical and
social selectivity was always deliberate, however, a contrived formula to
bestow historical pedigree and political legitimacy on the partition of Ireland.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was anathema to news reporting in most of Ireland, of
course. Reporters were reminded forcibly by editors, who were sticklers for
‘House Style’ back then, that there were very precise rules on these matters. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Standards appear have slipped since the Good Friday
Agreement (or ‘Belfast Agreement’ in <i>Irish Times</i> house style). And I blame
soccer for that.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For just as we prepare to root for the Irish Olympians at
the London games, the hype is reaching a crescendo for the European Football
Championships. Notwithstanding that the Irish team taking part includes
(controversially for some) players from throughout the island, it travels to
Poland under the auspices of the breakaway Football Association of Ireland, one
of the two bodies that persisted in fielding teams under the name ‘Ireland’
until the 1950s.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_j6jlMd8VmXEpBfi3LW018Q5JP4hndvXIPo8gHHqVRQ-F_0NBkExw6l7ETLSK-HwhW7FoL2CxGc5gBjFT0eXH5pvB1sCM241kZ0eXC0yptaaR8ZGfkqsGG1GjWY-ixrd1QX_ikswP0bUJ/s1600/Shamrock+Rovers+XI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_j6jlMd8VmXEpBfi3LW018Q5JP4hndvXIPo8gHHqVRQ-F_0NBkExw6l7ETLSK-HwhW7FoL2CxGc5gBjFT0eXH5pvB1sCM241kZ0eXC0yptaaR8ZGfkqsGG1GjWY-ixrd1QX_ikswP0bUJ/s1600/Shamrock+Rovers+XI.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Representing Ireland against Brazil at Landesdowne Road in July 1973 were the Shamrock Rovers XI (from back left) Miah Dennehy, Tommy Criag, Paddy Mulligan, Martin O'Neill, Derek Dougan, Alan Hunter, Liam O'Kane and (front from left) Bryan Hamilton, Pat Jennings, Tommy Carroll, Johnny Giles, Don Givens, Terry Conroy and Mick Martin.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzb_PyDNVJQr6gZQ2hLjMQwklQf6cX4B79kcvQHvY5AG6BTLgGiYpYshbK0mmOxf1eYBymqJyo3G6GIO6oIlIMDhyM6uBqn9-NxwgswunVfoDMpX-Yi010cAtFTsOa9Bh7lv2jXPVZixIe/s1600/Fab+four.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzb_PyDNVJQr6gZQ2hLjMQwklQf6cX4B79kcvQHvY5AG6BTLgGiYpYshbK0mmOxf1eYBymqJyo3G6GIO6oIlIMDhyM6uBqn9-NxwgswunVfoDMpX-Yi010cAtFTsOa9Bh7lv2jXPVZixIe/s200/Fab+four.jpg" width="197" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fab Four – Don Givens. Johnny Giles, <br />
Martin O'Neill and Pat Jennings .</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It hardly mattered so much at a time when there was little
prospect of playing on the world stage, but then the 1970s came along with the
Troubles and possibly the best crop of home-grown soccer talent we ever
produced. From this, a team was put together in 1973 by the two serving captains
of Northern Ireland and the Republic – Derek Dougan and Johnny Giles. With no
official backing from the ‘representative’ bodies, they engineered a match with
the mighty Brazil in Dublin and, with no official sanction, they had to field
as the Shamrock Rovers XI. That didn’t stop them racking up three goals against
the world champions’ four.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Despite the continuous efforts of the great Dougan to unite
the Irish soccer teams, the divide continues, bolstered by marginal success for
Northern Ireland in 1982 and for the Republic on occasions since then. It has
become firmly institutionalised with many professional reporters persisting in
the belief that rugby’s adherence to an all-Ireland selection is the exception,
rather than the rule. Indeed, soccer is the exception.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So as the FAI side heads off for the European finals with a
team of varied pedigree, the Irish Football Association and its supporters
resort to irony and self-derision. Their favourite chant in recent years is the
refrain, ‘We’re not Brazil, we’re Norn Iron’.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As if we need to be reminded.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So as credit union accounts are raided for the road to
Poznan, I’ll be looking forward to the Olympics and lamenting that the last
outing for the Ireland soccer team was in July 1973 – a glorious sporting
occasion ‘if only for a few hours’.</div>Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-45679058581734220462012-06-01T15:06:00.001+01:002013-07-30T14:12:03.237+01:00What a Hooley in the Ulster Hall<style>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggyc6iL_kVRPtFfbpRjdwj2p5TapTmN0ZJDzZBpguZlc8Vlyafa5tIzPjto5z8jGVl86GbGeQeZ7l5dTaWx-DX6dHn-74wPQpXK1roiVhP9PE5NrqYMwCB2eXUblwlmvZT1Salc21RoL1U/s1600/hooleygang420.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="498" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggyc6iL_kVRPtFfbpRjdwj2p5TapTmN0ZJDzZBpguZlc8Vlyafa5tIzPjto5z8jGVl86GbGeQeZ7l5dTaWx-DX6dHn-74wPQpXK1roiVhP9PE5NrqYMwCB2eXUblwlmvZT1Salc21RoL1U/s640/hooleygang420.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A group of film Hooley-gans gathers around Terri on the <i>Good Vibrations</i> film set</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">At the</span> world premiere of <i>Good Vibrations</i> in the Ulster Hall,
Belfast, last night, the closing scenes of a fast and furious rock concert in
the same venue 30 years ago was an exuberant triumph of local film-making. </div>
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The movie (directed by Lisa Barros d’Sa and Glenn Leyburn) topped the bill for last night's opening of the Belfast Film Festival and goes
on general release by summer’s end. Make sure you see it.</div>
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It is a bio-pic of the legendary Terri Hooley, music shop
owner, record label founder and concert impresario, but mostly rock and roll
rebel of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. </div>
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Hooley, who was still loitering in the vicinity last night, channelled
the mayhem of 1970s Belfast into an improvised, explosive mixture of punk rock,
detonated it at the very heart of a divided society and left thousands alive
for the very first time in their young lives. </div>
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Few of his bands – apart from those ‘Legenderry’ teenage
kickers, The Undertones – made any impression outside their hometown, but as
the Terri Hooley character observed, that wasn’t really the point. </div>
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His
character (played by local actor Richard Dormer) told the heaving audience why punk/new
wave music was particularly suited their city: ‘New York has the haircuts;
London has the trousers; but Belfast has the reason.’</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif-aPhz_B5JHqpeE-VTjjxXy29cMpHEa7_KdMbDdRvvTlxNQozXK3BciYLh7WSSzq7krb4Bu878W6VmF1P4kHCAp1faBtDOrbv6vZEFG1yKr2gJjw7gsrxUXswwtyhmBQoFTc0bPm6gIDh/s1600/Screen-shot-2012-05-25-at-12.31.02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif-aPhz_B5JHqpeE-VTjjxXy29cMpHEa7_KdMbDdRvvTlxNQozXK3BciYLh7WSSzq7krb4Bu878W6VmF1P4kHCAp1faBtDOrbv6vZEFG1yKr2gJjw7gsrxUXswwtyhmBQoFTc0bPm6gIDh/s400/Screen-shot-2012-05-25-at-12.31.02.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bearded Richard Dormer, as Terri Hooley, discovers punk in The Pound.</td></tr>
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So more than 20 years after <i>The Commitments</i> revealed that
Dubliners are the ‘blacks of Europe’ when it comes to Soul, <i>Good Vibrations</i>
underscores the even more relevant truth that Belfast was the spiritual home of
Punk – a raucous roar of defiance against the ghastly reality of life in a society being torn
apart. </div>
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In the Ulster Hall last night, we watched the mayhem unfold
with the music and rejoiced in the knowledge that the appropriately named
Victims, along with Rudi, The Outcasts and all the others thundered onto the stage and
never sold out anything apart from grubby venues such as The Pound, The Harp
and even the venerable Ulster Hall itself. </div>
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In the <i>Good Vibrations</i> screenplay by Glenn Patterson and Colin Carberry, we
could even see in retrospect how fitting it was that the rage and pace of punk
rock was snuffed out in Belfast by the dawn of the Eighties.</div>
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Last night’s film premiere ended to a standing ovation,
cheers and loud guffaws from many who probably recognised their young selves in the
heaving mass of youth on screen. Then we poured out through the foyer of the
refurbished 150-year-old Ulster Hall realising that it is such a long, long way
from there to here.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVwMmxZI-_hfdIw4kwLi_t-zYy0PqOvabhHDQwTsesu1rXCsuU65ML329bryzMuGn3-aNYIWzGkRaQztLk1oqMWMiUQh1FUJHcdoGMXFR-R2n_CbeH5IWBy55ZTaZVodX5gKYBLX3e9mJv/s1600/The+Pound.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVwMmxZI-_hfdIw4kwLi_t-zYy0PqOvabhHDQwTsesu1rXCsuU65ML329bryzMuGn3-aNYIWzGkRaQztLk1oqMWMiUQh1FUJHcdoGMXFR-R2n_CbeH5IWBy55ZTaZVodX5gKYBLX3e9mJv/s320/The+Pound.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grim reality of 'night' life after The Pound in 1970s Belfast</td></tr>
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I was back with myself in 1970s Belfast during one of many
working/social visits to the city. We were spilling out of The Pound, ears
ringing, hearts pounding from several hours of exhilarating and thunderous music that included one of the regular tribute anthem-like covers of Van Morrison's <i>Gloria</i>. </div>
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The contrast outside is eerie, the dark, damp silent world of Belfast at the
height of the Troubles – streets deserted, distant sounds of buses finishing final runs, security gates
clamped shut, streetscapes of dereliction and desertion. </div>
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We scamper along seeking a safe haven as the shutters come
down on Belfast and only the strict Sabbatarian silence of Sunday beckons.</div>
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">Yet it is still only 6pm on Saturday with the day done and almost dusted
in a city of fear where even young renegades and urban outcasts know they have
to be back on home ground by teatime. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">No wonder the music was fucking angry!</span>Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-6052540124215864382012-05-18T11:00:00.000+01:002012-06-01T15:12:50.831+01:00Trapped by the Border: Ulster Protestants in the Free State<style>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>In December</b></span>
1921, Major Somerset Saunderson declared, ‘Now I have no country.’ He echoed
the sentiment of many others after the Anglo-Irish Treaty sealed the deal on partition.
Like other Ulster Protestants who found themselves marooned on the wrong side,
Saunderson was bereft of hope… and he was bitter. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ_HPFxDoG4vrYEWGTCXvJscFlVvXf0t4WZwptIJ80mJSnPvQBbznvZgETJydbwGzCfD7HUxHCMyPtlHduuGNNxSdOmZwL9RaTP5VvA7XmL1ETfRlO8aa99htKM8-1AlA7abczsi9htRew/s1600/Castle+Saunderson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ_HPFxDoG4vrYEWGTCXvJscFlVvXf0t4WZwptIJ80mJSnPvQBbznvZgETJydbwGzCfD7HUxHCMyPtlHduuGNNxSdOmZwL9RaTP5VvA7XmL1ETfRlO8aa99htKM8-1AlA7abczsi9htRew/s400/Castle+Saunderson.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Castle Saunderson now a shell at convergence of Cavan, Fermanagh and Monaghan</td></tr>
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He never
returned from England after writing that epitaph to Hugh Montgomery of
Fivemiletown. Today, Castle Saunderson in Cavan, near its convergence with
Fermanagh and Monaghan, is a shell overlooking the River Finn where it flows into
the Erne. </div>
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Somerset Saunderson’s
reaction is particularly noteworthy because his father, Colonel Edward
Saunderson, was the first leader of Irish Unionism in the House of Commons. In
his 2005 biography of Edward Carson, Geoffrey Lewis calls Saunderson the ‘authentic
voice of Ulster Presbyterianism’ (he was Church of Ireland). Elected as a
Liberal MP first for Cavan and later as a Conservative for North Armagh, he was
‘an Orangeman, pugilist and boat-builder and a man of narrow piety’. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjSHJDrw5BHnXsQHCwlgDvskAuHPi-L0ps-PBg1FBkE0cXQc3mb5llw1R50SzCfWoTIJgvpyYLTAtg089_r1OyIILBhRk74JfVNkcOWqMN9w2OmWJ390A8DA4_jMkXsjxWqvMaDw9S_vxI/s1600/Col.+E.+Saunderson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjSHJDrw5BHnXsQHCwlgDvskAuHPi-L0ps-PBg1FBkE0cXQc3mb5llw1R50SzCfWoTIJgvpyYLTAtg089_r1OyIILBhRk74JfVNkcOWqMN9w2OmWJ390A8DA4_jMkXsjxWqvMaDw9S_vxI/s320/Col.+E.+Saunderson.jpg" width="192" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Col. Saunderson: Carson's mentor</td></tr>
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He was also
the mentor and inspiration for Carson and, like his parliamentary protégé, his
roots were outside the six counties that would become Northern Ireland, but he
was decidedly of Ulster.</div>
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The
Saundersons were by no means unique in their fervour for Ulster and Unionism. I
was struck by this recently at the start of our decade of centenaries amidst
all the promised hoopla to mark the momentous year of 1912 when Ulster Unionism
struck out on its own. I noted the unmarked passing of the 100th anniversary of
Ulster Unionism’s first major rally. It took place in Omagh right at the start
of January, long before April’s big gathering at the King’s Hall and Carson’s Trail
to the Covenant.</div>
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It could be
said that Omagh set the scene for 1912 when it drew a remarkable crowd of 30,000.
They came from west, mid and south Ulster and many of them came by rail. I had
a look at Omagh train arrivals for that day before the rally commenced at
11.35am. </div>
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There was the
usual scheduled service from Belfast through Portadown and the other from Derry
via Strabane. But there were also 18 special trains bringing passengers from
Cavan, Bailieboro, Belturbet, Cootehill, Bundoran, Clones, Castleblayney,
Smithboro, Monaghan and Glaslough. </div>
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</div>
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Among Omagh’s
platform speakers – with Carson and the Marquis of Hamilton –was Lord Dartrey whose
ancestor, incidentally, had introduced the Act of Union at Westminster in 1801.
The Dartreys or Dawsons from Monaghan, are now gone, like the Saundersons and
Farnhams of Cavan; commemorated only in local street names.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbMIl0YtBZR86EJjzm6S5RDtff0fgJC3IMpjjUa0e0MOKgxbkj8kaWaD5i2lOBMXGOd96-UIxvPDcrKoRgmuW0NO87OpiCfNKYUu_TA_X56Ky3ypA8fjQX19e_eMF8d32OxHUsBtCLc2iy/s1600/Carson+inspects+Raphoe+cyclists+BT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbMIl0YtBZR86EJjzm6S5RDtff0fgJC3IMpjjUa0e0MOKgxbkj8kaWaD5i2lOBMXGOd96-UIxvPDcrKoRgmuW0NO87OpiCfNKYUu_TA_X56Ky3ypA8fjQX19e_eMF8d32OxHUsBtCLc2iy/s320/Carson+inspects+Raphoe+cyclists+BT.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carson inspects UVF bicyle detachment at Raphoe, Co. Donegal</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yet though the
big families would fade from view, there was no doubting the continuing commitment
of ordinary unionists on the periphery of Ulster. Monaghan, Cavan and Donegal
blood flowed among the signatures on that Solemn League and Covenant. Two full
battalions of Ulster Volunteers were raised in County Monaghan alone and with
others from Cavan and Donegal many of them marched off to fight for King and
Country in the 36<sup>th</sup> Ulster Division. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG6TRuTzEXEZ8zBLpP-4sk5HFn70WKgNAv-PbkcUw1iDN2G1FRPtzxronm1rIhbgCNgaHVPEymR4cHYeyoKiIG4PKZppWsqT75LmkJVakAaXrp93s8GgrmxpQ4rneLqIP8GSdTOIQopfmP/s1600/somme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG6TRuTzEXEZ8zBLpP-4sk5HFn70WKgNAv-PbkcUw1iDN2G1FRPtzxronm1rIhbgCNgaHVPEymR4cHYeyoKiIG4PKZppWsqT75LmkJVakAaXrp93s8GgrmxpQ4rneLqIP8GSdTOIQopfmP/s320/somme.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Over the top at the Battle of the Somme</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Yet despite obvious
enthusiasm for the cause, they endured a decade of trauma and political uncertainty
before they were told in no uncertain terms at the Ulster Unionist convention
on 10 March 1920 that they were ‘surplus to requirements’. </div>
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In the immediate
aftermath of the Ulster Hall shunning, Lord Farnham wrote to Montgomery, 'Apart from breaking the Covenant, what
we feel more than anything is that we can no longer call ourselves Ulstermen.
We in Cavan were prouder of being Ulstermen than anyone in the whole Province.'
Montgomery replied, 'There is no use arguing about the meaning of the word "Ulster". Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan are part of Ulster, but they are not part
of the Northern Ireland segregated in the Bill.'</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim2BYA8vJGgY3y7erq2y5MER3FBe3HQw-1c0dNUppuXCvD1CcCj6a3vY1MJRWRN9DRfzWrfWvr0nT-xMYeJ-Qqdk4QgqZ1_GIbh5UvWFV3tcRPZSqfZkHvlv3wtibFWwlArb7ZpVBCoj1p/s1600/180px-Ulstercovenant1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim2BYA8vJGgY3y7erq2y5MER3FBe3HQw-1c0dNUppuXCvD1CcCj6a3vY1MJRWRN9DRfzWrfWvr0nT-xMYeJ-Qqdk4QgqZ1_GIbh5UvWFV3tcRPZSqfZkHvlv3wtibFWwlArb7ZpVBCoj1p/s1600/180px-Ulstercovenant1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Creating a combined Ulster Protestant identity.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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And therein
lies the nub. For a decade before partition, Ulster Protestantism had forged
its new identity as being different from the rest of Ireland and of being
united in Covenant. When the covenant was broken, the Ulster Unionists of
Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal were not only denied political redemption; they
were robbed of their identity. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
Although
Monaghan Unionist leaders such as Colonel J. C.W. Madden dismissed this new ‘Belfast-made
covenant’ of 1920 and Monaghan County Grand Chaplain remarked that in Belfast they
are ‘all Home Rulers now’, that was face-saving rhetoric.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
The grave
prospect facing the Protestants of Monaghan, Cavan and Donegal was summed up by
Monaghan’s Orange Grand Master and erstwhile Ulster Unionist Council member Michael
Knight who said they must “no matter what eventually takes place, rely upon
ourselves and upon ourselves alone”.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOFQGeaQ5gGixwKvU2vvbTV5QPEsHpnhq2Vl5bab-nw_WvSFP9lwjW8884rnWV3w8t88_dE072q9RgmmNuM20axZ0ajw5SZYs7vJ2C1U1GAgVLZRYpNhB3UQlLIfvmsJBY-Ab6KHnnaipM/s1600/RB+mcdowell.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOFQGeaQ5gGixwKvU2vvbTV5QPEsHpnhq2Vl5bab-nw_WvSFP9lwjW8884rnWV3w8t88_dE072q9RgmmNuM20axZ0ajw5SZYs7vJ2C1U1GAgVLZRYpNhB3UQlLIfvmsJBY-Ab6KHnnaipM/s1600/RB+mcdowell.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trinity's R.B. McDowell</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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So as leaders
of the new Northern Ireland administration set about forging a new political
identity and styling themselves as ‘Ulster,’ what befell their former fellows in
the ‘lost counties’? If we read the late Trinity historian R.B. McDowell’s history of
southern unionism, Crisis and Decline, they just ceased to be Ulster unionists
and joined the exodus. But while many did migrate across the new frontier,
aided in some cases by those intent on shoring up vulnerable Unionist numbers
in Fermanagh and Tyrone, many others didn’t give up quite that easily.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
Just like
nationalists marooned in the six counties, many southern Protestants in the
border counties placed their faith in Article 12 of the new treaty – the
boundary clause. When the Commission was eventually convened, it received
representations from those pockets of Ulster Protestants left behind by the
tide. As with most representations, they did not want to remain cut off from co-religionists
by the new frontier.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
So numbers
were bandied back and forth, largely based on electoral registers and the most
recent census of 1911. From these, we reckon that a total of 70,000 Protestants
were living in the three Ulster counties of Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal at the
time of partition. The pattern of population and the ratio differed widely
between the counties and, of course, within the counties themselves. So while Donegal’s
35,000 Protestants represented about 18% of that county’s population;
Monaghan’s 19,000 notched up at almost 30%. East Donegal’s Laggan Valley was an
Ulster Presbyterian stronghold, but north Monaghan’s population was remarkably similar
to contiguous districts of Fermanagh, Tyrone and Armagh.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
It is worth
noting in passing that J.R. Fisher, former editor of the Northern Whig appointed
by Westminster as Northern Ireland’s Boundary commissioner, had noted that
dispersal of population. He had urged Sir William Craig to consider a new boundary to
include all Donegal and North Monaghan with a frontier line from the southern
tip of Upper Lough Erne to Bessbrook. This would shorten the border by almost two-thirds
and leave out most of South Armagh. That would avoid, said Fisher, 'an Afghanistan
on our north-west frontier, while including most of those we want and leaving
out those we don’t.'</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxOM6cw5ha4WbkCVOYBXcvdboJye9poaOucY9Yeqm2TD1gERA4yp10SMa0xT1qu86N-U29i10LuW1CahxVtmSwV3OJrV4vmMjB5-yc1LG9s93WDB9-81RkkhRzvlclyWvtIvY0vkO3GP68/s1600/_64215_boundary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxOM6cw5ha4WbkCVOYBXcvdboJye9poaOucY9Yeqm2TD1gERA4yp10SMa0xT1qu86N-U29i10LuW1CahxVtmSwV3OJrV4vmMjB5-yc1LG9s93WDB9-81RkkhRzvlclyWvtIvY0vkO3GP68/s1600/_64215_boundary.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boundary Commisioner Eoin MacNeill, left, on the frontier</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
In the event,
the Boundary Commission recommended few changes from the county lines of
partition. East Donegal was to transfer to Northern Ireland, part of east
Fermanagh around Clones was to go to the Free State and the small district of
Mullyash, between Castleblayney and Darkley, was to go north in exchange for
Crossmaglen and Forkhill. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
Not that any
of that mattered because another deal was done and the line stayed where it
was. The Protestant minority in Free State southern border counties were, as
Michael Knight warned in 1920, on their own. Yet in many respects, they
remained different from the Protestant pockets elsewhere in the Free State. Protestant
celebrations continued through the 1920s, but ended when a parade of Black men
from Monaghan and Cavan was attacked in Cootehill. Henceforth, lodges paraded locally
without fanfare and then went north for the big events.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
Of course they
migrated steadily down the years, drawn to Northern Ireland by family ties,
marriage and employment prospects as much as by the desire to recover their
Ulster Protestant credentials. The imposition of Irish language requirements
for public service jobs in the south alienated many. The overtly Roman Catholic
veneer of public life proclaimed in the mammoth Eucharistic Congress of 1932
set the tone, and the 1937 Constitution accorded a ‘special position’ to the
Catholic Church only removed in 1972.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiplB_9uAoZ-O39Mnvu1ncCJZWmF2bmuta8LuoKrr8yLoazbDSH75_BUUEyzV8aOjql-OktNPNFI6jtbCRlRMENaaATKvtsAhtD7VmDIuTd9-Fr62POaQnSSjzWkZvMQYK-PXU_ZBxIvW0/s1600/bp1926.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiplB_9uAoZ-O39Mnvu1ncCJZWmF2bmuta8LuoKrr8yLoazbDSH75_BUUEyzV8aOjql-OktNPNFI6jtbCRlRMENaaATKvtsAhtD7VmDIuTd9-Fr62POaQnSSjzWkZvMQYK-PXU_ZBxIvW0/s320/bp1926.jpg" width="237" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A current map illusrates migration patterns along the Border</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
Protestant
sons went north for jobs in the public sector and police, daughters went for
nursing, teaching and other careers, as well as for marriage. Yet as late as
1934, East Donegal’s Protestants drew up a petition for transfer north with
7,000 signatures. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
Yet it wasn’t
all lost. In the years immediately following partition, Monaghan’s Protestant
leaders devised a political strategy. While denied their Ulster Unionist
credentials, they organised as the Protestant Association and forged an
organisation that would maintain their presence, even during the darkest times.
For years, they more than held their own in the affairs of Monaghan county
council and urban district councils in Monaghan town and Clones. As late as the
1960s, the Clones council chairman Bobby Molloy declared openly that he was 'still
an Ulster Unionist'. A decade
later, an elderly neighbour from across The Diamond in Clones, told RTE’s Tommy
Gorman that when she died, they could turn her upside down and they would see ‘Ulster
Protestant’ stamped on her… well, she did get carried away and I’m sure nobody
looked! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
In national
terms, a pattern was established of electing a Protestant to Dáil Éireann,
first for Monaghan alone and latterly in the combined Cavan-Monaghan
constituency where Heather Humphreys recently took over from Seymour Crawford. Protestant
politics in the three counties now leans towards Fine Gael but for a period
Erskine Childers managed to wrest Monaghan’s Protestant vote away to Fianna Fáil.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
But there was
sea change with the onset of the Troubles. Already inclined to the reputed posture
of Larne Catholics, Protestants in the southern border counties retreated from
view. Clones High School, where many pupils came from adjacent areas of
Fermanagh, closed some years after the GNR rail connections with Enniskillen
and Belfast. So having grown up in a town with a strong Ulster Protestant demeanour
in the 1950s and 1960s, I watched from afar as Clones changed, particularly
after Bloody Sunday when huge numbers of Protestants left for Canada, Britain
and even Bangor. </div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMi3POhwgEdzVSpPszIW7OyauwStnIRQSB6sOXy3YO1Rbo_JQj8gG7xZSzxWeG3umYgIRuMK8ZdYy_S-PoZ5Wf4NNMJQGKNizfiiFlDz8igFj3YMabqXGpq9osB8gpphhknqke6QyvDIVU/s1600/Bill+Fox+grave.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMi3POhwgEdzVSpPszIW7OyauwStnIRQSB6sOXy3YO1Rbo_JQj8gG7xZSzxWeG3umYgIRuMK8ZdYy_S-PoZ5Wf4NNMJQGKNizfiiFlDz8igFj3YMabqXGpq9osB8gpphhknqke6QyvDIVU/s320/Bill+Fox+grave.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The grave of Bill Fox</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
Local Protestant
politician Senator Bill Fox was killed in a botched IRA raid, the first member
of the Oireachtas shot by the IRA since Kevin O’Higgins in 1927 and now all but
forgotten in the fray. Interestingly, Fox had lost his Dáil seat when some Protestant
electors became uneasy over his campaigning about border road cratering, which also
imposed a huge impediment on Protestant farmers and church congregations.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJSivTl-EFbufFsQa1M3Rtd84E9HjehM9YyhupmQWKeYCGArb_pWelYRl00OluNqtlZXDjJ3R4DIYHill_8ZbnO6-6nswct60hh3Wc-8YBwXlbD5qmYWto21r0WolN73SKLNjMy34KKQbr/s1600/Sons+of+Levi+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJSivTl-EFbufFsQa1M3Rtd84E9HjehM9YyhupmQWKeYCGArb_pWelYRl00OluNqtlZXDjJ3R4DIYHill_8ZbnO6-6nswct60hh3Wc-8YBwXlbD5qmYWto21r0WolN73SKLNjMy34KKQbr/s1600/Sons+of+Levi+cover.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A fictional voice</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
Meanwhile, I
was researching my Masters thesis on the Boundary Commission, slowly realising
that a huge voice from our shared past had gone silent. I later wrote a
fictional voice for them, The Sons of Levi. That was after the peace process
began and I remember at that time, having many encounters with people who had
kept nervously to the shadows. One young man was about the same age as my older
son Ross and had grown up in a strong Protestant community near Doohat Orange
Hall. He described his schooling and social life, not much different to my
son’s. I asked him if he ever went into Clones, a ten-minute car journey. He
looked at me in horror: ‘No way, that’s a rebel town!’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
Huge efforts
by the Clones Community Forum and other peace-funded bodies has restored a more
balanced view among all sides since then, not least the trapped minority of
Ulster Protestants. The wonderful work of President Mary McAleese in building
bridges has restored their place and their pride in who and what they are. The
Ulster-Scots Agency, the Border Minorities group and other initiatives have begun to give them back a voice of their own. </div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9LhR42O-1mmKgoCtW2JUHmMHMDtFavqtBv711cOFg6yYQNwuDMLxGwpP7uWsq2lDvzLMLxWAHIySrUJprfJaY1PtE53OYNtY6FSBgObVz6oLHijm2LNC8_4ikXXJV9OsBGdX7k97X5TCS/s1600/Border+band+forum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9LhR42O-1mmKgoCtW2JUHmMHMDtFavqtBv711cOFg6yYQNwuDMLxGwpP7uWsq2lDvzLMLxWAHIySrUJprfJaY1PtE53OYNtY6FSBgObVz6oLHijm2LNC8_4ikXXJV9OsBGdX7k97X5TCS/s320/Border+band+forum.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Border Counties Band Forum lists traditional Ulster Protestant marching bands </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
Slowly, the
trapped minority of the ‘Lost Counties’ of Ulster is emerging from the shadows.
Rossnowlagh’s pre-Twelfth in Donegal and the quaintly named Drum Picnic – a
traditional parade of Ulster marching bands in Monaghan – are providing public
showcases for their culture. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
On both sides
of the Border, more and more people are realising that there never was a ‘clean
cut’ as Britain’s Prime Minister Lloyd George promised in 1921. So the learning
process goes on as we lick at old wounds and expose them to fresh air. We sense
now that there was hurt and a deep sense of betrayal on both sides and that
this persisted for the past century. With acceptance of our different stories, healing
can take place along with the learning. For as I have discovered, we are
reflections of each other, no matter on which side of the mirror or the Border
we find ourselves by accident of birth.</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">©</span><i><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> Darach MacDonald</span></i></span>Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-33959141352950802292012-04-10T01:56:00.000+01:002012-04-10T12:47:53.760+01:00My great-grandad missed the Titanic<style>
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</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCixegXmy2tw8YBhev1lVwhXrV3Tiv4MoX8ihEB5CCxWOVQG3yScJnDd-g3ISCOmZARIYntGgiMKucPHtogYBxKBlwR_5kCQAQq9K8H46_RYIy0-4BeLocbYjF8w_Dvlz4fLWM-pqMJegY/s1600/Columbia+and+Shamrock+race+1899.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCixegXmy2tw8YBhev1lVwhXrV3Tiv4MoX8ihEB5CCxWOVQG3yScJnDd-g3ISCOmZARIYntGgiMKucPHtogYBxKBlwR_5kCQAQq9K8H46_RYIy0-4BeLocbYjF8w_Dvlz4fLWM-pqMJegY/s640/Columbia+and+Shamrock+race+1899.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Columbia, left, fends off a challenge from the Shamrock in 1899, first of many successive Irish bids for the America's Cup</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">My great-grandfather</span></b> was a newsman from the tips of his toes
to the brim of the felt hat on which he practised his shorthand during the sermon while in
church. One hundred years ago today, 10 April 1912, he had to make a choice
between two stories.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One was a chance to go on board the Shamrock III, a racing
yacht that was then the latest in a series of five challenging for the most
prestigious prize of all, the America’s Cup. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The alternative story was to go out on a tender to the
latest in a series of ocean liners plying the north Atlantic route. That seemed
a mundane assignment compared to the chance of skimming the waters of Cork
Harbour in a sleek vessel owned by the tea millionaire, Sir Thomas Lipton.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My great-grandfather Michael Bowen made his choice. Sure he
could always go on board the Titanic when it called back on its return voyage!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A century later, it seems like the greatest mistake one
could possibly make in a journalistic career. Yet by contemporary standards, he
made the correct choice. Any seasoned reporter covering maritime affairs for
the <i>Cork Examiner</i>, as well as the <i>Daily Mail</i> and its sister newspapers in
London, would have had little hesitation in going for the chance to sail in the
Shamrock III.</div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sir Thomas Lipton (1848-1931, had been born in Glasgow to
parents who had emigrated from the Clones area of County Fermanagh. From
exceptionally humble beginnings, he went to sea as a cabin boy and embarked on
a remarkable business career, soon becoming a self-made millionaire.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet Lipton was also renowned as ‘the most persistent
challenger in the history of the America’s Cup’ and his yachts flew the flag
for Ireland with the Royal Ulster Yacht Club in every successive challenge for
the prize between 1899 and 1930. This was the only time in history that Ireland
was the exclusive challenger for the ornate silver jug trophy.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtpqSoyZIZiR_kOb15_IpqkUNlv5aXk5iCDTa1h6Z6y1TudHWz9oQ0CDGxdbM0fmR6ylZF2Up1TnCWh07D3EdXQwgwlqlE3fGf58RcwAf1PLduvcbktI0gP3f-oEW9oNIFLeahh6BfWani/s1600/Thomas+Lipton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtpqSoyZIZiR_kOb15_IpqkUNlv5aXk5iCDTa1h6Z6y1TudHWz9oQ0CDGxdbM0fmR6ylZF2Up1TnCWh07D3EdXQwgwlqlE3fGf58RcwAf1PLduvcbktI0gP3f-oEW9oNIFLeahh6BfWani/s320/Thomas+Lipton.jpg" width="316" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Self-made millionaire Sir Thomas Lipton.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 1899, Lipton provided the finance for the William
Fife-designed yacht, Shamrock. While it failed against Columbia, owned by the
Pierpont-Morgan syndicate from the United States, Lipton was a mastermind of
publicity. He raised the America’s Cup event to rapturous international appeal.
This also boosted Lipton’s tea on a market surge that was considerably more
successful than the ocean race bids.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lipton was back in 1901 with Shamrock II, again pipped by
the Columbia. Undaunted, he and the Royal Ulster Yacht Club challenged the Reliance,
owned by the Vanderbilts, in 1903. This time it was the Shamrock III that
carried the flag and the hope.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was that sleek vessel that my great-grandfather boarded a
hundred years ago today at Queenstown for a once-in-a-lifetime story. One
suspects that as they plied the waves, he just gave passing attention to the
big ship lying off the mouth of the harbour beyond. It was no more than a date
for his dairy if it did not have that fateful rendezvous with an iceberg in its
own race for glory through treacherous ocean waters.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Titanic was lost, of course, and Sir Thomas Lipton
failed in his further challenges for the America’s Cup with Shamrock IV and
Shamrock V in 1920 and 1930. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet
the publicity of his challenges propelled his tea brand to the premier spot in
the American market.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As for my great grandfather, three years after the Titanic, a
chance remark that the tenders had gone out from one of my grand-aunts
returning from school alerted him to a possible story. Michael Bowen rushed
down to the harbour office and managed to get on board another boat setting out
for the Old Head of Kinsale. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When he returned with survivors a few hours later,
he immediately filed a story to London.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCRCAsiyCQ9_kXGkU4UUUNOKqloDYEfXnSjerGOmJaa4G_itzLEgm_ZjFOS04zVhxKCHZDb_6G8dTK3B_Wc-KawpHa6T8zSWQmJjE_z7GawL42j4kano82_zOGUFpP2IPw2CQgA4uEJbtY/s1600/Lusitania.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCRCAsiyCQ9_kXGkU4UUUNOKqloDYEfXnSjerGOmJaa4G_itzLEgm_ZjFOS04zVhxKCHZDb_6G8dTK3B_Wc-KawpHa6T8zSWQmJjE_z7GawL42j4kano82_zOGUFpP2IPw2CQgA4uEJbtY/s320/Lusitania.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Lusitania was torpedoed off the Old Head of Kinsale.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The <span style="font-size: large;"><i>Evening Standard</i></span> ran a special late edition on 5 May
1915 announcing the ‘Sinking of the Lusitania’scooping every other news organisation by a full day on the biggest story of the era in terms of its consequences.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of the 1,959 on board, 1,198 perished when a German U-boat
torpedoed the Lusitania as it approached the mouth of Cork Harbour. The huge loss of lives, including many Americans on board, caused outrage and
convinced the United States to enter the First World War and help defeat Germany. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQfuHjS0f_si37rkGl0YyD37XV6Ac2Z078HzQcd9g0dFEP-7pudwLAln3QB4CB3F2k997k6-f-dYHhJdv2k-M5QmqZWY7neWgmFuS0yCu37VkZrQWZ_mV4bi1BmkHN7QE89NK7UH_NFTVN/s1600/America's+Cup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQfuHjS0f_si37rkGl0YyD37XV6Ac2Z078HzQcd9g0dFEP-7pudwLAln3QB4CB3F2k997k6-f-dYHhJdv2k-M5QmqZWY7neWgmFuS0yCu37VkZrQWZ_mV4bi1BmkHN7QE89NK7UH_NFTVN/s200/America's+Cup.jpg" width="111" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And my great-grandfather? He got a bonus and a handshake
from Lord Northcliffe and spent the closing years of his journalism career
plying between his home in Queenstown (soon to be renamed Cobh) and Southampton
and Cherbourg while filing stories of the great ocean liners and the VIPs on
board. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet I bet Michael Bowen would have traded all that to see Thomas
Lipton lift the America’s Cup for the Royal Ulster Yacht Club with an Irish victory
for one of the Shamrocks.</div>Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-72915611666519853432012-04-07T01:09:00.003+01:002012-04-07T01:21:46.776+01:00Map-reading errors persist on Border<style>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Geographic</b></span>
confusion continues along the border with news organisations filling in blanks
of knowledge on a ‘best guess’ stab at what might be almost right.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0SDvvil6ikD6ixmGDEOrzwJkgY0Bm11jg0FxvApzbk0j0LFAXYfYUq0yCBb_9OIbF4QZpiwSSo6JsnlnbNCdKorZtK7fEuG7KtuxwTc7Gtx7VJI31seXsDF2zEohVEuJ17YYuAfnYOhH_/s1600/BBC+news.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0SDvvil6ikD6ixmGDEOrzwJkgY0Bm11jg0FxvApzbk0j0LFAXYfYUq0yCBb_9OIbF4QZpiwSSo6JsnlnbNCdKorZtK7fEuG7KtuxwTc7Gtx7VJI31seXsDF2zEohVEuJ17YYuAfnYOhH_/s400/BBC+news.jpg" width="292" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Tonight,
the<i> Frontier Post</i> antennae went up when we saw a news item on BBC about an
explosive device that ‘could have killed’ at a roundabout on the AI Dublin to
Belfast road. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">The
report said that this was at ‘Newry, County Down’. However, the actual location
was at the Cloghogue roundabout. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Now
those of us who were held up – both delayed and detained – many times in the course
of our duties during the recent conflict are familiar with the location of
Cloghogue. A huge British Army checkpoint grew up there over the course of those years, eventually surmounted by
one of those big observation towers festooned with surveillance
equipment </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> for watching and listening</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">It
was not something you could have missed noticing either even driving by on the AI.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Today,
it seems, Cloghogue is just a roundabout, so anonymous in peacetime reporting that
it has shifted counties. For if somebody had done their homework before placing
it so definitively, they would find out that Cloghogue is in County Armagh.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">The
confusion is hardly surprising, since everywhere prefaced by the name of Newry
is now assumed to be in County Down, although about half of the town/city
remains in Armagh where it has always been. Yet that is not the greatest
infringement of geographic confusion along the Border.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">South
Armagh is included in the Newry and Mourne district for administrative purposes
and also for modern postal addresses that operate on a postcode numbers rather
than actual places on the traditional map which in rural areas was composed of
townlands. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">So
Crossmaglen, served from Newry, is transferred to Down, along with Forkhill,
Camlough, Newtownhamilton and other communities. No wonder there were frequent
reports of map-reading errors down the years from squaddies who could not hope
to rely on places staying in the one spot!</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4T0qVQYbRkkmG1VEEeBYeZn_-z84UqyuQMGtM3_DaEAmazflNmO7GV2lKsZYddcdS5SN1G27zKj_TjyRFrCQcw6oWSRNmkwoxijdckUWuwlvBZG_pBfFacFKH1AbSh8hoBv8zG0-lm1qf/s1600/Paddy+Short.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4T0qVQYbRkkmG1VEEeBYeZn_-z84UqyuQMGtM3_DaEAmazflNmO7GV2lKsZYddcdS5SN1G27zKj_TjyRFrCQcw6oWSRNmkwoxijdckUWuwlvBZG_pBfFacFKH1AbSh8hoBv8zG0-lm1qf/s320/Paddy+Short.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The late Paddy Short, a south Armagh man who never lost his way.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">The
civil rights activist, guide, publican and wonderful raconteur Paddy Short of
Crossmaglen used to marvel about the geographic displacement caused by substituting
townland names with postal codes and signs for arbitrary road names. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">One such wonder was
in his native townland of Lurgancullenboy, which had been designated as ‘Lurgan
Road, Crossmaglen, County Down’ in the official housekeeping. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Paddy laughed
heartily at that, pointing out that Lurgancullenboy was still in County Armagh
and anybody taking that road would be going off in the opposite direction of
Lurgan which, for those who do not have a good map handy, is in the north of County Armagh and quite near both County Down and County Antrim. </span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEEkBDei681IM8CLop4qu1Qu-MLVTxQiu9BbVfomlYJ4eNC4JksMBQ4l1poL6uwO3FnKzysBsNo1yny71GIyYpHEEO1Mle7DWzb0C6JjYuywFeXrgbn60gdYVUnuAlOp6PXT7x7QYSBWoT/s1600/Titanic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEEkBDei681IM8CLop4qu1Qu-MLVTxQiu9BbVfomlYJ4eNC4JksMBQ4l1poL6uwO3FnKzysBsNo1yny71GIyYpHEEO1Mle7DWzb0C6JjYuywFeXrgbn60gdYVUnuAlOp6PXT7x7QYSBWoT/s320/Titanic.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Built in Belfast, County Down. Sunk in Atlantic Ocean.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">In fairness, the geographic confusion it’s not just a Border problem. Anywhere north of Drogheda seems to
be a grey unknown area for many in the Dublin media, just as Belfast media can barely see
beyond Dromore – that is the one in County Down for our Tyrone followers. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Maybe
the ultimate justice in this is that current events in the Titanic Quarter are
assumed to be happening in Belfast, County Antrim, while they are actually
happening in County Down. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Such
careless navigation might even explain how somebody could have missed a big
iceberg! Surely if so many can misplace a roundabout, and an entire city or two, what
chance is there of pinpointing a big lump of frozen water on a vast and dark Atlantic Ocean? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Back
on the Border, but in the north-west this time, Traditional Unionist Voice
leader Jim Allister was in Newtownstewart last week sounding off to his vast coterie of West Tyrone followers (well, almost a dozen). His clarion cry was
that any improvements of the A5 road, which runs from Derry city to the border
at Aughnacloy, ‘will create a united Ireland by road’. Mind you, this is after
the Dublin government has withdrawn funding from the project, notwithstanding
that it would vastly improve access to and from Donegal. Now it’s just Jim Allister
ranting about a major road project for the use of people west of the Bann. Somebody must have
misplaced his map too.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">There
are persistent culprits when it comes to this ‘pin in a map’ guesswork. They
needn’t think we don’t notice at the <i>Frontier Post</i>. </span></div>Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-35252614759233496182012-03-29T14:19:00.001+01:002012-03-29T14:21:49.177+01:00On the road to god knows where<style>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhekecH9TbK8lODK5db10LvPlqpn27yK3PSWoq4Rz2DbkKGTUgP1DgtdXdumri6Sjyl8zZYrxK_kxEs0VTUjIRsSPtWd6a0QKcefWjwlVLwZ_ubPswLrqp_re0y1ySiXDX6TCzTX68i9-Jb/s1600/northern-ireland-31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhekecH9TbK8lODK5db10LvPlqpn27yK3PSWoq4Rz2DbkKGTUgP1DgtdXdumri6Sjyl8zZYrxK_kxEs0VTUjIRsSPtWd6a0QKcefWjwlVLwZ_ubPswLrqp_re0y1ySiXDX6TCzTX68i9-Jb/s400/northern-ireland-31.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The border, hard to spot on the ground, is clearly visible from space, as satellite photos show.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Spare a</span> thought
during this fine spell of early summer promise for the poor tourist circling
forever on an M1 roundabout at Faughart. Or the other perhaps languishing and lost
in the wilds of north Leitrim’s glens, both wandering and wondering how to get
to this place called Belfast that their Satellite Navigation systems insist does not even exist.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16pt;">It is surely a
wonder of the modern world that our fickle frontier, unseen by the human eye,
is so readily visible to electronic systems, including Google Earth. I have long marvelled that the border
appears as a vivid white or yellow line on Google's satellite photos, surely rivalling the Great
Wall of China as a man-made structure that is clearly visible from space. </span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYmG4WfauROfqTmDdYvU7xp-7-KeTghY9zY_5UAcUthPcTu-d5NIuCYkYVsJXBrBpPSMKRDAFYyeGOkHz2Zkj0OV_XDO6LDPNasQPYP9RJoXDv8U3GjNgLqX6wevkIMwTfKgw3ESbPk8v6/s1600/446hugo_duncan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYmG4WfauROfqTmDdYvU7xp-7-KeTghY9zY_5UAcUthPcTu-d5NIuCYkYVsJXBrBpPSMKRDAFYyeGOkHz2Zkj0OV_XDO6LDPNasQPYP9RJoXDv8U3GjNgLqX6wevkIMwTfKgw3ESbPk8v6/s320/446hugo_duncan.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Even SatNav guide Hugo Duncan gets lost.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16pt;">Back on planet Earth,
meanwhile, we simply follow the roads across the Border with an occasional nod
to the change from kilometres per hour to MPH. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16pt;">Yet many strangers on our shores
do not even realise we are divided between political jurisdictions with their
own jealously guarded geographies. They often have to rely on SatNav systems ranging from the dulcet British
tones of Tom-Tom to our unique variations with ‘celebrity’ voiceovers
featuring among others, Hugo 'the Wee Man from Strabane' Duncan.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQphHta6a-Bjpr7xzojKzK4QIFXyHKKxeB-dYS1kAsSQcarsbKG-qxXootU0Yk6u5MEDGf69B0etzyawRPJ02N-5xRJQLG0cjsPJmwCvGNyW5Mhf3G5cp4Aff15OkHLnVwgPXXmBBFPhzI/s1600/Arlene_Foster_1@body.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQphHta6a-Bjpr7xzojKzK4QIFXyHKKxeB-dYS1kAsSQcarsbKG-qxXootU0Yk6u5MEDGf69B0etzyawRPJ02N-5xRJQLG0cjsPJmwCvGNyW5Mhf3G5cp4Aff15OkHLnVwgPXXmBBFPhzI/s200/Arlene_Foster_1@body.jpg" width="143" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Arlene Foster – not for turning.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16pt;">These tourists
are bemused at best by our presumption that if they managed to get here, then
they should know how to get about. So we leave them to their devices on our
labyrinth of highways and byways and expect them to pick up on our nuances of
political positioning along the way.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16pt;">A senior
American travel advisor brought this to the notice of the Stormont Executive’s
Tourism Minister Arlene Foster this month at a conference organised by the
Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16pt;">The maid from
Magheraveely – about one Irish mile from the Border as the tourist crow flies –
wasn’t for turning. She insisted there would be no relinquishing on the ‘unique
identity of Northern Ireland’ in the stakes to become 'a global holiday
destination' this year.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16pt;">The problem, as
outlined by Roger Brooks, president of Destination Development International,
is that we do not appreciate how visitors perceive our island. Add to this our
failure to even agree on naming terminology for north and south – or even east
and west and all places in between – only adds to the confusion.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16pt;">A few years
ago, there was widespread outrage when a young Canadian visitor was told at the
Belfast bus ticket office that she could not board for Derry because
no such place existed. The ticket-seller was making a political point, it
seems, about our legendary Maiden City and took the consequences, although the
problem persists. Our failure to tackle our multiple identity
disorder has merely exacerbated the problem and now, it seems, Belfast has
disappeared too.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrg6Nh4f3Mbk5HtxoXfwfiDsRknSfNASvXiMR0AxXZWTl-BgE3jjr0m-dmw_BG28KCMdqJYQBq3uusfV34crzsclE9Km7y_0-g9ZuoJPLvDlvsWZ1eAqHb4fDEDodR4d-uZ3X-Qb4xE2NC/s1600/SatNav.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrg6Nh4f3Mbk5HtxoXfwfiDsRknSfNASvXiMR0AxXZWTl-BgE3jjr0m-dmw_BG28KCMdqJYQBq3uusfV34crzsclE9Km7y_0-g9ZuoJPLvDlvsWZ1eAqHb4fDEDodR4d-uZ3X-Qb4xE2NC/s320/SatNav.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just don't key in 'Belfast' and 'Ireland'.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16pt;">Roger Brooks,
whose Seattle-based company advises countries on how to maximise their tourism
potential, told the NITB conference that a funny thing happened to him on his
way to the theatre.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16pt;">He was setting
off from Dublin to drive to Belfast using his rented car’s SatNav system: ‘I
had to type in the city so I typed in Belfast and then I put in the address of
the Merchant Hotel and then do you know what it said? It said there is no
Belfast in Ireland.’</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16pt;">The story gets
even better, or worse, depending on your vantage: ‘So then I went, let me type in Belfast, United Kingdom, and it
said there is no Belfast in the United Kingdom, but we found one in Ohio. So I
had to type in Northern Ireland and then it came up.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16pt;">‘If I put in
Ireland, it doesn’t find you,’ Roger Brooks told the conference and the Tourism Minister.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJvm6qT-5IK1p9W49QAEqCXh6ujEpGyvDVOpovQMGN_z4VrGj__fMhpnWEC73c5ONU2Zj4d16H_n10BhFvZUtgkhymdwNu23ZWtJ-4ve7pEl8H8l5J5XE0IVdftxdwt1oR8vohV3Ie2Qpi/s1600/Giant's+Causeway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJvm6qT-5IK1p9W49QAEqCXh6ujEpGyvDVOpovQMGN_z4VrGj__fMhpnWEC73c5ONU2Zj4d16H_n10BhFvZUtgkhymdwNu23ZWtJ-4ve7pEl8H8l5J5XE0IVdftxdwt1oR8vohV3Ie2Qpi/s400/Giant's+Causeway.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Giant's Causeway goes missing.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16pt;">So in an age
of Google holiday planning, the Seattle advisor advised, this probably means that even
prime destinations north of the border do not figure under a search for the
keyword ‘Ireland’. The Internet itinerary manages to gobble up the Giant’s
Causeway, the Mourne Mountains and more and wash them away with Lough Neagh and the Erne,
not to mention entire towns and cities.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16pt;">He advised
tourism operators in the north to buy keywords, including ‘Ireland’ so they get
a look in.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16pt;">‘You have to do
that because we see Ireland as this great island and we don’t see it as countries,’ Roger Brooks said, ‘so we have a hard time finding your cities using search engines.’</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16pt;">One would
expect that should practical advice would be widely noticed and acted upon. Yet the Belfast NewsLetter
carried the only report I could find and it even sought a reaction from Minister
Foster on what she had heard from Seattle's SatNav explorer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16pt;">She could see
only one road ahead for her jurisdiction, the NI2012 marketing programme of
Tourism Ireland, the joint promotion body set up after the 1998 Good Friday
Agreement.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16pt;">This, she said,
‘offers a unique opportunity to change perceptions and confidently put Northern
Ireland on the global tourism map – and the signs are already encouraging.’</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiE-al92Dd83Texoa2Hd_SICf3hj2pwUn_GL-qMPiGcY13nx2ewz-RnDYWbnfQMwJi6ELaIQrcKqG506ji90INEEmiYG3LBsF6ve6OscCq-F3hvQXboG3NY6YQDwTEEM16_iOVpG2yoYJT/s1600/64711_CreightonHotel2008Shot1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiE-al92Dd83Texoa2Hd_SICf3hj2pwUn_GL-qMPiGcY13nx2ewz-RnDYWbnfQMwJi6ELaIQrcKqG506ji90INEEmiYG3LBsF6ve6OscCq-F3hvQXboG3NY6YQDwTEEM16_iOVpG2yoYJT/s1600/64711_CreightonHotel2008Shot1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Creighton corner in Clones.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16pt;">I am reminded, however,
of an anecdote from my native town of Clones – about two Irish miles from
Arlene Foster's Magheraveely as the tourist crow flies. A local ‘character’ was loitering about
the Creighton corner at the foot of Fermanagh Street when a large car
pulled up from the Newtownbutler Road. The driver rolled down the window and
called out, ‘Could you tell me how to get on the road to Dublin?’ The local
guide was dismissive: ‘I wouldn’t bother my arse if I were you,’ says he. ‘Sure
if you’ve got yourself lost in Clones, you’ll not have a hope down in
Dublin!’ </span></div>Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379319695148651616.post-13135080164330106262012-03-20T22:13:00.000+00:002012-03-20T22:14:09.502+00:00Seeking truth from Border 'blind spot' and a screen of senationalism<style>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBEJpabowiHlgO__1sgP4Cy-r9nLFCi3gX6Uw9WXsGQd2y3qIYqlAY6rmN5ZQFetcYMIfDmmwGtrRtCf2YjD8_lm7R6_P0Exq_uRnsgkuCOQENyCmatPL0hvtc65gQy-UIdVzN4neCuTys/s1600/DPO-063-2007-074.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBEJpabowiHlgO__1sgP4Cy-r9nLFCi3gX6Uw9WXsGQd2y3qIYqlAY6rmN5ZQFetcYMIfDmmwGtrRtCf2YjD8_lm7R6_P0Exq_uRnsgkuCOQENyCmatPL0hvtc65gQy-UIdVzN4neCuTys/s640/DPO-063-2007-074.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Even while police held security primacy elsewhere, the British army controlled south Armagh from Bessbrook Mill HQ</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Times;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Here</b></span> at the <i>Frontier Post</i>, we have been following with considerable
interest the tribunal investigating the background to the bloody ambush of two
senior Northern Ireland police officers on the Border in 1989. Today, in a
dramatic turn on the 23<sup>rd</sup> anniversary of the IRA assassinations, the
hearings in Dublin were adjourned by Judge Peter Smithwick.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Times;">No resumption date has been set and it is expected it won’t be until the
tribunal receives British intelligence information which Judge Smithwick
described in his recent interim report as ‘highly relevant and potentially
significant’.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Times;">Before adjourning the public hearings, which began on 7 June last, Judge
Smithwick said he is now ‘totally dependent’ on that information. This suggests
that the British intelligence report can determine between the counter-claims on
whether former Garda Detective Sergeant Owen Corrigan provided information needed
by the IRA to kill </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Times;">Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and
Superintendent Bob Buchanan on the afternoon of 20 March 1989. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtXbfMcrEJKoJ98YKWRxZ_jZy8vSO476MTLB2ctZwnFx0DNqtrckacuDQBIKK5_Kpj-vfgXJ0hvrpRvgpjXB3He4A0doK5xSBkRXTAdIgn5tEaDtVb_6k9P1aOtO2BQr76B5qMdbJf2xqK/s1600/BreenBuchan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtXbfMcrEJKoJ98YKWRxZ_jZy8vSO476MTLB2ctZwnFx0DNqtrckacuDQBIKK5_Kpj-vfgXJ0hvrpRvgpjXB3He4A0doK5xSBkRXTAdIgn5tEaDtVb_6k9P1aOtO2BQr76B5qMdbJf2xqK/s1600/BreenBuchan.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chief Superintendent Breen and Superintendent Buchanan</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Times;">The Smithwick
tribunal inquiry is taking place on foot of this allegation raised in the British House of Commons, following ‘disclosures’
by a journalist/author and a preliminary report on collusion on both sides by
Canadian Judge Peter Cory. It has also been taken up by a ‘colourful’ former
British agent in the IRA. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Times;">Even as the plot thickens, however, there has been some light shed on a
dark period of our recent past along a Border that seems even more intricate
than the rival plots. Solicitor John
McBurney for Chief Superintendent Breen’s family, says </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Times;">a much fuller
picture of what ‘was known and seemingly ignored or withheld with regard to
this tragedy’ was now emerging and the detail was ‘almost impossible to
comprehend’.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Times;">But let us consider some of the evidence. Just before today’s adjournment,
a retired British major, Witness 79, testified from behind a screen. He
commanded British troops in the district on the day the two </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Times;">senior RUC
officers were killed outside Jonesborough at 3.40pm as they returned from a
meeting in Dundalk garda station. The former c/o says he was not aware of the
police travel plans and these would have been strictly on a ‘need to know’
basis. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Times;">Witness 79
confirmed there were a number of army patrols operating in south Armagh, where the Army retained prime control long after the police had been pushed into security frontline in other parts of Northern Ireland. As
well, there was contstant helicopter surveillance and the watchtowers on Jonesborough and Forkhill Mountains monitoring
cross-border traffic. The attack took place in a ‘blind spot’, however, and
Witness 79 suggests local people might not have known this. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Times;">On that basis he seemed
to support the Garda mole theory that it would have required the risky
deployment of too many IRA personnel to monitor all the local roads for the RUC
officers’ unmarked car. A British army Brigadier had already gauged that this
might have involved 70 IRA lookouts.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbzSZ1nYHPq28fNvBqv9xsc-UIDRDLVUfi2ehx_vF5n-3bzEQJGVdbDYv07DQ_d14xNrc4NWBbyxRM0-v6gPSEDyB0WkUjmvKYUZgW5GccIHIttmXCq1O10rfNNtojnCfl57VhgJdluz8H/s1600/Harnden.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbzSZ1nYHPq28fNvBqv9xsc-UIDRDLVUfi2ehx_vF5n-3bzEQJGVdbDYv07DQ_d14xNrc4NWBbyxRM0-v6gPSEDyB0WkUjmvKYUZgW5GccIHIttmXCq1O10rfNNtojnCfl57VhgJdluz8H/s320/Harnden.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Toby Harnden wrote <i>Bandit Country</i></td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Times;">Now I’m not a trained
intelligence officer, nor am I even Toby Harnden, fugitive author of <i>Bandit
Country</i> (1999), allegedly based on an awful lot of innuendo, tittle-tattle and information
acquired in dubious circumstances through a personal relationship. The Garda
‘mole’ is central to <i>Bandit Country</i>, but Harnden – a former Royal Navy officer who
has since written a book about Britain’s war in Afghanistan – last month
declined to help the Smithwick inquiry.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Mj7sBQRc15EHrRvLGqcerO5ErvPM2Fn34mVoMRAcWn1dilbsT8i3SFEHym0Ycyd0T4RzFNTjabyX2j5w7G9u7_rKxtbVm_L6OFaGC7HrNj38TcSjv9b-Op_fF_bGXWwkBkWaON4aN-UF/s1600/Chosen+Fews.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Mj7sBQRc15EHrRvLGqcerO5ErvPM2Fn34mVoMRAcWn1dilbsT8i3SFEHym0Ycyd0T4RzFNTjabyX2j5w7G9u7_rKxtbVm_L6OFaGC7HrNj38TcSjv9b-Op_fF_bGXWwkBkWaON4aN-UF/s320/Chosen+Fews.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Times;">Yet I’ve also written
a book about the locality. <i>The Chosen Fews: Exploding Myths in South Armagh</i>
(2000) was based on my experience of reporting on south Armagh since the
mid-1970s backed up by diligent research. This involved frequent and repeated
journeys in the district while the elaborate network of British army watchtowers
was still in place. I often used Edenappa Road and other known blind spots,
precisely because they offered a brief respite from constant monitoring.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Times;">So it strikes me
that the collusion theory in these killings is based on lack of local knowledge
and the pre-supposition of an intricate web of alternative routes that would be
almost impossible to monitor. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Times;">So let’s consider
other facts presented at the tribunal. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Times;">The IRA was in ‘communications
overdrive’ from 11.30am that day, roughly the time Chief Superintendent
Buchanan arranged the meeting on an ‘open and unsecured’ phone call to Dundalk
garda station. The two RUC officers used Buchanan’s personal red Cavalier car,
registration KIB 1204, which he had previously used for every one of 24
previous cross-border rendezvous with gardaí. They stayed in Dundalk for roughly
one hour – meeting Garda Superintendent John Nolan – before setting off back to
the border.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Times;">Based on that
information, a single look-out in Dundalk could tell what road the red Cavalier
was taking. That is even discounting that the policemen were tailed by a
cream-coloured van from which the four gunmen leapt at the bogus British
checkpoint at the Border blind-spot on the Edenappa Road.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDdkPF_iT7FvalBe4Ft3T5J-QZhG6uN5W74-nAGb784JnLHKxCwCSgPsbuIbHVkYeZkvLzH67iSurVuhZy61rTKSdsmd0rpUKQL0FD-YmGza6QgthPAIn1UDuFEOneGSjfzNBN4LuN2VIo/s1600/Edenappa+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="337" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDdkPF_iT7FvalBe4Ft3T5J-QZhG6uN5W74-nAGb784JnLHKxCwCSgPsbuIbHVkYeZkvLzH67iSurVuhZy61rTKSdsmd0rpUKQL0FD-YmGza6QgthPAIn1UDuFEOneGSjfzNBN4LuN2VIo/s400/Edenappa+4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Edenappa road runs parallel to former main road (NI) with
new Mi motorway between</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Times;">Yet we now await
the British intelligence report which, one presumes, pre-dates the ‘exposure’
of collusion in Toby Harnden’s book, then backed up by another journalist of rather
intemperate views on such matters and a British agent who has long exhausted the
sell-by date on his franchise.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Times;">Of course, this
is not to preclude the existence of an IRA mole in Dundalk Garda station, nor
does it discount the elaborate preparations of the IRA in south Armagh whose
enemies point out was ‘risk averse’ and very deadly. Conspiracies and collusion
are always plausible in a dirty war.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Times;">Yet what happened
in the deadly war along the Border does not need to be dressed up any more. So
we can only hope that this hugely expensive tribunal might yet provide a clear
picture from behind the screen of sensationalism that always seems to sell
better than the bare truth. </span></div>Darach MacDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06706556663311599944noreply@blogger.com0