Forum Topic

The marching season on N Ireland.

I feel for the unfortunate peaceful people of Belfast and N Ireland. This is the marching season again and the idiots on both sides are doing their best to disrupt ordinary life in that beautiful part of Britain.  When will they ever learn to live in peace? It seems to have gone on for ever. Why can't people live in peace?

Gerry Tan ● 4615d23 Comments

Ah, I hope I didn't get that wrong -  you could be right - I tend to listen to those sort of progs as background while doing other things, and Malaysia/ Singapore tend to merge in my mind anyway.

Chris Veasey ● 4615d

Chris, I know this happens in Malaysia but I would be surprised if it also applies to Singapore.

Jean F Fernandez ● 4615d

Im in Ireland at moment not far from Derry and we have been there and nothing has happened there quite the oposite there is a music festival going on please see the link we have been with our kids and they have loved it http://www.cityofculture2013.com/event/fleadh-cheoil-na-heireann/

Mark Ryan ● 4615d

Hate to say it, especially to you, but I wonder whether that superficially peaceful coexistence in Singapore will be forever, anymore than it proved to be in the likes of Yugoslavia, where it was kept alive for a few decades by a similar combination of authoritarian rule and a degree of economic prosperity?- bit concerned to hear in a recent radio documentary about some new housing developments in Singapore prominently advertised as for sale to ethnic Malays only - a worrying portent maybe?

Chris Veasey ● 4615d

I am not sure what religion or tribalism has to do with it anymore...it is really about who wishes to belong to the Crown and who doesn't. Just like Gibraltar and the Falklands.The dilema is a country can't abandon people who have expressed a desire to belong.The only way for this is full on war and we have never been at war with the Irish state.No one wants more deaths.

Keith Iddon ● 4615d

"..well dressed men wearing dark suits and black bowler hats looking quite ridiculous with fancy sashes and aprons and "poo" faced.............. they look pathetic."- er, have you ever seen 'Trooping the Colour'? - or any other of the ridiculous Establishment extravaganza regularly staged over here?? - more than a bit of double standards in your comments there, I would suggest.Whatever you or anybody else may think of the underlying politics (with or without adequate understanding of the historical background) those Orange marchers are positively restrained and dignified - at least sartorially and in their bearing - by comparison.- and at least the Orangemen don't have endangered mammal species killed in large numbers to make their headgear, unlike the Coldstream Guards.

Chris Veasey ● 4615d

Gerry they did invade Ireland and how can you say they left a good legacy I dont think you know the history of the troubles and as for Leslie comments its just shows his ignorance of the problems that exist in Ireland

Jack Ryan ● 4615d

Yes, should we give the Malvinas Isles back to Argentina and Gibralter back to Spain?Good questions, but they should have a thread of their own perhaps.-------------------------------------------------------------------Sorry wasn't being that serious, But the Irish conflict is more political than a land dispute, They can have Essex if they want, as a trade off for NI.

Leslie Bailey ● 4615d

Yes, should we give the Malvinas Isles back to Argentina and Gibralter back to Spain?Good questions, but they should have a thread of their own perhaps.

Gerry Tan ● 4615d

Why not give the republic part to Argentina and the rest to Spain.It's really a political fight, celts v unionists, let them have each other, they deserve each other.

Leslie Bailey ● 4615d

Jack, don't blame the British for invading Ireland. They did leave a good legacy and everyone in Ireland(both north and the republic) should co-exist peacefully  together.  The British invaded my original homeland Singapore and were hated by the natives. But in the end, the Brits left an abiding good legacy, 'cos now the multi cultures of Singapore(Chinese, Malays, Indian and the others) exist peacefully and productively to everyones benefit - thanks to the teaching of the Brits.  Would that all the Irish do the same, instead of killing each other.Gosh that sounds a bit profound, but you get my drift.

Gerry Tan ● 4615d

Nice rhetoric but I'm not sure the Unionists would agree with you.

Keith Iddon ● 4615d

There would be no problem in Northern Ireland today if the British did not invade Ireland all those years ago there will never be peace there until there is a united Ireland

Jack Ryan ● 4615d

Michael, I don't know that I'd agree with you about "underclass" marchers.  I've seen footage for well dressed men wearing dark suits and black bowler hats looking quite ridiculous with fancy sashes and aprons and "poo" faced. They don't look underclass to me - they look pathetic.

Gerry Tan ● 4615d

If you look at it it is the underclass of two sides, egged on by the ambitious politicians and stirrers who feed off them and never get their hands dirty.But having a half Irish side to me jealousy and bigotry run very deep even in families in both the North and the South even without religion to add to the fire.I've never understood why such sores fester which should have long healed.

Michael Brandt ● 4615d

We taxpayers in general, I would say.

Susan Kelly ● 4615d

Incidentally, who pays for the policing, security and repair and other costs of the rioting and general disturbances in North Ireland during the marching season?

Gerry Tan ● 4615d

We visited Belfast last September for a four-night stay and found a charming city with fine hotels and restaurants. A couple of weeks after we got back, it all kicked off again with nightly rioting, guaranteed to blight the tourist trade. They have so much potential for a decent life if they would just bury the hatchet, and not in each other's heads.

Susan Kelly ● 4615d

The best we can hope for is that no-one dies.

Keith Iddon ● 4615d

Yes Keith, you're correct, there nothing much we can do. The annoying thing is that those who cause the trouble, of both sides, are the minority of citizenship - the few who mess it up for the many. Pox to them!

Gerry Tan ● 4615d

Northern Ireland is one of those topics about which little, if anything, new can be said imo. Like the middle east, there are entrenched positions amongst some that will always be a barrier to real peace.

Keith Iddon ● 4615d

Gerry, even people like myself who grew up in Belfast cannot understand the continuing hatred and the will to carry on antagonising the 'other side' and when you see some of the troublemakers they look more like disaffected youth!I am so glad I don't live there but feel very sorry for those who have no choice.

Jean F Fernandez ● 4615d

If you knew the answer to that Gerry you would be in line for a Nobel Prize.

Keith Iddon ● 4615d