British anti-Irish bias?

IN a Sunday Telegraph article in May headed "The Cardinal and
the Sinn Feiners" the writer,
supposedly assessing the life of Cardin 11 0 Fiaich, delivered
himself of the following remarks. "Many of the Irish are incapable of distinguishing between fact and fantasy, but that is a condition in no way to be confused with sentimentality; it is more a matter of psychotic self deception".
So much for the Irish. Ireland got much the same treatment.
If. . . Modern Ireland is a provincial backwater with absolutely no record of success in any human activity except terrorism".
See also Irish politics. "In Catholic Ireland religious bigotry disguises itself as a political movement, Republicanism, and is thus acceptable to international opinion."
The subject of the article got the same kind of treatment.
"He was a bad influence". His contribution to public life was "a triumphant sectarianism".
The writer admitted that the cardinal condemned violence but in a man "as clever as the late cardinal such condemnations can only be described as hypocrisy". Gerry Adams and his followers "are right to regret the death of an ally".
The cardinal whom I met once and have admired since does not need any defence from me or anyone else for that matter.
But someone has to say that when a serious British newspaper expresses views about Ireland and the Irish in such terms there can be no solution to what is called the Irish problem but which is just as much a British problem. This is abuse dressed up as comment.
If anyone said that Jews suffered from "psychotic self deception" or that amongst British Moslems there was "religious bigotry" the earth would open up and cries of outrage would reverberate through liberal circles everywhere.
But it is in order to say what you like about the Irish. Until
the Sunday Telegraph and those
who think like its writers change their perspectives it is they who are the real friends of Gerry Adams and his pals since they provide the image of "the Brits" on which the Provos and their defenders thrive.
Useful history
HISTORY exams at school always used to have questions which demanded answers in the form of "short notes". I always liked short notes. With a fact or two one could get away with murder. Wood's Halfpenny, the War of Jenkins' Ear and Admiral de Ruyter's Broom were special favourites. I've lost touch with Wood and Jenkins but de Ruyter was very useful last week.
I had to take part in a crossChannel expedition of small boats, French and British, which were symbolically setting out to sweep the Channel free from . . well you guess what from since I do not want to use Charterhouse to pursue special interests.
My task was to sail from Dieppe to Brighton (as a passenger) which I managed quite well, though some of my companions went very green indeed.
But how to involve the media? This is where de Ruyter and his broom became so very useful. De Ruyter, a Dutch admiral sailed up the Thames in 1667, did wicked things at Chatham on the way and even pinched a British Man of War.
He is supposed to have tied a broom to his mast on his way home as a sign that he had swept the Thames clear of the British navy.
So with him in mind, I presented myself on the quay at Dieppe last Sunday with a standard kitchen broom with a French flag on one side and the Union jack on the other, waved it about for the benefit of the photographers and made a splendid little speech about sweeping the Channel free from you know what . .
It all went down very well, though I wondered if the French would have made quite so much of one of their military defeats.
Fr Rea SJ who taught me history, would I am sure have been proud. Fr Greenwood who taught me French would have been disgusted. But the French reporters were delighted though I'm not sure that they didn't clap de Ruyter just a little too enthusiastically.
Grey power
IN America grey power, the voting muscle of those thought to be fit only for the bowling green and the bath chair, is considerable and much appreciated. In this country it is too often neglected. Having reached the age when British Rail offers one third reductions I now feel solidarity with all those who think that life begins at 60 and that youth is wasted on the young.
Twice last week, once in Redbridge and once in Watford, I spoke to pensioners' associations. They were not to be fobbed off with bingo and outings. Politically they were as sharp as razors. Pensions, the National Health Service, the morale amongst teachers and all the opportunities opened up by what is now called the peace dividend were their concerns. The local press called them radicals.
The chairman at one meeting made some mistake about the order of business and half a dozen were up on their feet putting him right in clear terms. Militant might well learn a few lessons from those of us in grey power. Perhaps the Chinese were right about ancestor worship.
The Ark
ONE of the best small publications which has maintained consistently high standards over the years is The Ark, the bulletin of the Catholic Study Circle for Animal Welfare. The April issue which I have just seen is as usual excellent. Articles range from a serious piece on the ethics of animal experimentation for medical purposes to an account of the life of Martin de Porres OP.
Readers can always expect to be shocked by the level of human depravity when it comes to the treatment of animals. Does it happen because we are sadists or because we really do think that Genesis gave us the right to do what we like with the rest of creation? The story of cattle left to die of thirst and heat in closed wagons at an Argentinian market is disgusting.
So also the Spanish "festivals" which involve the torture of cows, calves and bulls. In one village a poor wretched goat was dragged up a church steeple and thrown down to the crowd and its death. The Spanish Ministry of the Interior has now forbidden such "festivals" and says that the organisers of recent horrors are going to be prosecuted. Full marks to the Mayor of Tossa de Mar who had declared his town an anti bull fighting zone and indeed to the authorities in Moscow who, as a result of international protest, have cancelled the bull fight which was to have been an additional tourist attraction.
But who is pulling beams out of whose eyes? What of our battery imprisoned hens, pregnant sows strapped down so that they cannot move and crated calves who spend their short lives in unnatural misery? The Pope made much of Psalm 103 in a recent audience when he talked about our responsibility for animals. It is perhaps the most powerful piece of "green" writing in the Bible and well worth regular reading.
Bricks dropping
IT happens to us all from time to time. I was recently asked to compere a social event which involved a lot of performers doing this and that of a musical nature. One lady sang with gusto and at great length while in the wings waited a piano duo for their turn. I had to make an announcement between two of the songs which I did and then, without thinking, added "when the singing is over we will have some music".
I eeitlId not for one of those awful pauses understand why the audience were rolling around with laughter and the singer unamused. I don't suppose I wiil be asked again.