Thursday, January 7, 2010

The Iris Virus

Thursday, January 07, 2010  AM  11 comments

Just finished watching the Spotlight investigation into the financial and other affairs of Iris Robinson, presented by Darragh MacIntyre. As is well known by now Mrs Robinson had an 'inappropriate relationship' as her husband phrased it with Kirk McCambley, 40 years her junior. That is her business and what draws consenting adults together in a sexual tryst is not for the rest of us to be judgemental about. She may be an extortionist gangster but that is for another day. Her affair is just that, her own affair. Robinson is not the first MLA to have had an extra marital fling and she most certainly will not be the last. Stormont reps are probably a representative sample of the rest of society in that regard, no better, no worse than anybody else.

Hardly the greatest crime in the world, it is her high political profile alone that makes the matter newsworthy. Embarrassing for her husband, but on its own hardly something that should capture our minds for long. What drove her away from Peter’s hands and into the arms of another we may never know. These things happen in life every day of the week. Not illegal, the vast bulk of them never make it beyond the local neighbourhood or club. Celebrities, not so fortunate, find their affairs thrust into the red top tabloids where they are injected with a good dose of smut to keep the readership titillated.

Of more importance, as Darragh MacIntyre points out, is the extent to which the transparency and accountability of the democratic system has been eroded by Iris Robinson’s corruption. She may not be the first MLA to have been corrupt nor the last but unlike her affair society has the right to demand answers of her regarding the choices she made.

Iris Robinson can do what she likes with her life but what many people, without passing moral judgement on her liaison, will find nauseating in this story is that not too long ago Iris Robinson made the headlines for her views on gay people. She pilloried them as abominations who should be viewed with anathema or treated by a psychiatrist. This attitude was borne of religious prejudice, worse, hatred. In some societies her fellow religious devotees view adultery pretty much as they do homosexuality. In Somalia, she might find herself stoned to death. Her own party might wish to see her in sackcloth and ashes. The love of god comes to us all in mysterious ways, not always peaceful or tolerant.

As for her young beau in all of this, in tackling Iris Robinson, Kirk McCambley might not have been imaginative but he was certainly courageous.

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11 comments:

Just to clarify, Iris actually said she could recommend a psychiatrist for gay people who WANTED to turn straight, a psychiatrist with experience in such matters. Not quite the same as what you and most of the media attributed to her - namely that gay people should seek psychiatric help. She also expressly said she loved the sinner and hated the sin ( admittedly whilst committing the sin of adultery).

my son was temporairly unemployed a few years ago,and it seems he borrowed money from the social fund,which he has overlooked to repay,the sum was around £175,anyway the other day a letter from the D.H.S.S arrived and the contents were intimidating to say the least ,2 weeks to pay or we are sending the boys round that type of thing, it really was as nasty as that, the point I wish to make Anthony is Ihope those civil servants and their bosses prusue Iris Robinson for what appears to be her illegal abuse of her position as a public representative, my sons failure to repay a small loan pales into insignificance when we are exposed to the financial dealings of those to whom are elected to high office, and my son would,nt get away with feinting a mental health issue and then taking off to a luxury resort for a spot of sking, I bet the Iris girl will,no sympathy for the bitch or her ex red berret general Peter the punt

"The Adams Family" and now "Mrs Robinson"!? All within the space of two weeks. Hmmmmmm....I suspect the Dark Lords are at their work. General election on the horizon, treachery at Westminster, weather gone bannanas. Something strange is happening in the state of Denmark. Its all too good to be true. There's nasty work afoot...

Kisally, perhaps you could explain the difference. Why would a psychiatrist be needed in the first place? I think her implication was clear. Would the psychiatrist also treat people who wanted to turn gay rather than remain straight?

Exactly Anthony, the implication from Mrs Robinson was her psychiatrist friend could 'cure' gays of their 'illness.'

By the way, sad fuck that I am, I cannot help chuckling to myself over this, you could not make it up. I bet some entrepreneur in London's West-end is already pondering if he can hire Mrs Robinson for the West-end re launch of The Graduate. She would have no need to learn the lines, now would she?

"And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson.
Jesus loves you more than you will know.
Woah, woah, woah.
God bless you please, Mrs. Robinson.
Heaven holds a place for those who pray.
Hey hey hey, Hey hey hey."

what Iris needs is inner peace,so I,m passing on to her my tip for that,it worked for me,I have found inner peace, thank god, The way to achieve this is by finishing all you start, I looked around the house today and saw the things I failed to finish. So I finished them....the vodka,whiskey,gin,baileys,some rose wine,ice cream crisps, and a bottle of valium ,you have no fuckin idea how peaceful I feel now

This is terrible to say but I am fucking delighted for these so called god fearing pair of bastards , they are so sanctimonious , telling homosexuals how to live, get castrated I think that is what she really wanted to say. Contrary to popular belief they also hate Catholics or nationalists or bacilaly anyone whom doesn’t fit into their perfect idealic life style, maybe their great god will forgive her but then who gives a fuck.

As you say it is a private family matter. If they were private people like the rest of us the sniggers would stay in the local pub and the gleeful sermons on the church doorstep, they chose their lives and made their own mistakes, they must live with the consequences. If it is established that PR knew of his wifes financial arrangements they will no doubt, in due course receive all the privacy anyone could want.

As for Gerry Adams, apart from the timing I see no connection here. Child Abuse is the worst crime, there is no excuse and no forgiveness, and for that very reason many families try to keep it a secret. I will not blame Gerry Adams for, for once, bearing a strong resemblance to everybody else. I will await his brothers trial and if his involvement was more or worse than we know to date, then I will join those condemning him, until then he is innocent until proven guilty.

becarefull how you express your comments on slugger re., the Robinsons its ok to tear the arse outa Adams et all but Peter the punt and his baby snatcher of a wife are an entirely different matter,I made a rude remark about the pair of creeps and for my sins I appear to have been dumped and thats days ago but sure what do you expect from a dummy tit

Marty I hope you are wrong about that. The Robinsons problems are laughable, but they are also potentially serious. I hope all of us have the right to express our views on both the laughable and the serious.

Contact them and find out what the problem is, if it transpires that you are correct they may lose more than they gain.

I disagree that this affair is not for us to discuss.

The affair is intrinsically linked to this one instance of her financial corruption.

Whats surprising is that people are surprised by the corruption. The DUP have for a long time been a haggle of envelope taking gangsters.

Despite the fact that they cloak their dirty deeds in a cloak of christian fundamentalist rhetoric; they would make fitting coalition partners with FF in the republic.

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