Comments on The Pensive Quill: Marty Down Under

MDU, can't deny that your name inspired the t...

2011-12-10T17:00:32.352Z

MDU,

can't deny that your name inspired the title!

Jeez Anthony thought I was famous for a second the...

2011-12-10T10:49:05.585Z

Jeez Anthony thought I was famous for a second there. Got so much catching up to do on here, i see the usual suspects are still around and good to see.

michaelhenry I'd call your last post a streake...

2011-10-11T20:29:24.682+01:00

michaelhenry I'd call your last post a streaker...

You just seemed to strip yourself of all commonsense and run.

Marty does that a lot!

Robert- Maybe it was Charles who set up Mountbat...

2011-10-11T11:33:42.595+01:00

Robert-

Maybe it was Charles who set up
Mountbatton- could it be that charles
was the best- during the hot war- human asset-

Anthony, What interest could Charles have other t...

2011-10-10T22:26:22.637+01:00

Anthony,

What interest could Charles have other than personal curiosity?

It could be personal curiosity with that which has caused him personal pain? Much more intriging is Charles desire to personally meet Britains greatest post cold war human asset!

Belfastgit, Patrick Murphy cut thr tripe out of S...

2011-10-10T17:47:05.698+01:00

Belfastgit,

Patrick Murphy cut thr tripe out of SF in an Irish News article a week or two back on the very issue you raised.

Dixie and Nuala, Thanks for your reassuring words...

2011-10-10T10:45:19.605+01:00

Dixie and Nuala,

Thanks for your reassuring words.

Why would Charles want to meet him? It might be true but we would need more than Martin’s word for it. MI6 wanted to meet him because they sought to wind up the conflict on their terms. What interest could Charles have other than personal curiosity? He has been well briefed that Martin was chief of staff at the time Mountbatten was killed. Maybe Martin wants to do the meeting coz he is jealous of Bangers having met Charles first!

Fionnuala- I never said Sinn Fein were the childr...

2011-10-10T02:04:05.553+01:00

Fionnuala-

I never said Sinn Fein were the children of the Gods- i said that Sinn Fein supported the hospital workers who had to go on strike - is that what you are sore about-

Fionnchú, Thanks for that. Frank, Jude sees ...

2011-10-09T22:34:43.358+01:00

Fionnchú,

Thanks for that.

Frank,

Jude sees the matter through a McGuinness lens which he is quite honest about. I think that colours his analysis of the South in relation to the North. The South has a lot to answer for no doubt but in this instance there are more factors at play than can be explained away by hypocrisy.

It is possible that McGuinness could win but unlikely. The political waters are turbulent as a result of the economic crisis. I wonder what a different Sinn Fein candidate might have achieved, one that had no baggage that they had to cover up.

Michaelhenry,

the Quill has been fair to you and you have always been fair to it.

michaelhenry, Sinn Fein have actively participated...

2011-10-09T22:31:02.888+01:00

michaelhenry,
Sinn Fein have actively participated in pushing through hospital ward closures.
Tom Hartley and Sinn Fein have been named many times by nurse and top trade union official Pat Lawlor as being central to job cuts and closures in the Royal.
Your boss never brought too many jobs to West Belfast.
Brian Feeney was on the money when he argued, Adams did nothing for the people he represented.

michaelhenry 'By the way- the Quill is the on...

2011-10-09T11:32:23.131+01:00

michaelhenry

'By the way- the Quill is the only site-place to get my comment out- that i have never been suspended/ given the boot from-'

HONESTLY!!? with SF so popular?? I'm in shock. What other sites were so out of touch?
PRAY-TELL.

Dixie- I like to harp on about the things which i...

2011-10-09T02:24:20.488+01:00

Dixie-

I like to harp on about the things which i think are important to me-
there is no change in Sinn Fein policy over the crown oath-which is what i brought up in the Quill-

By the way- the Quill is the only site-place to get my comment out- that i have never been suspended/ given the boot from-

AM Had the sleep of the dead myself, around 1:30pm...

2011-10-08T21:08:36.163+01:00

AM
Had the sleep of the dead myself, around 1:30pm!

michaelhenry, do you mean SF supported the workers...

2011-10-08T21:07:35.522+01:00

michaelhenry, do you mean SF supported the workers by doing a slimy behind closed doors deal with their dup and alliance friends, so that public sector workers now have to pay 3.2 per cent more into their pension funds?

Michaelhenry, funny, I was thinking the same thin...

2011-10-08T20:16:15.294+01:00

Michaelhenry,

funny, I was thinking the same thing about him being away from us. It was his username that gave me the idea for this article

AM well written piece as usual. We might not be ab...

2011-10-08T19:31:43.288+01:00

AM well written piece as usual. We might not be able to see it but there's a peace wall running through the centre of Northern Politics.

Ah michaelhenry; he was always harping on about SF and the Queen both here and on Slugger...

Now, not only does McGuinness say he will meet the Queen, Prince Charles and likely wear a Poppy; he even compared the Bloody Sunday victims to Mountbatten....

McGUINNESS TO MEET CHARLES?

Martin McGuinness has said that “reliable sources” have informed him that Prince Charles is keen to meet him.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Journal Mr. McGuinness, who is one of seven contesting this month’s Irish Presidential race said that even though Prince Charles is Colonel-in-Chief of the Parachute Regiment he would have no problem meeting with him.

The British Parachute Regiment shot dead 13 innocent people in Derry on January 30, 1972.

“I lost friends on Bloody Sunday and 27 people were shot that day,” said Mr. McGuinness. “The Queen of England and other members of the Royal Family lost loved ones during the conflict too but what has happened recently shows just how far we have come.”

Mr. McGuinness announced on RTE television on Friday evening that he understood that Prince Charles was keen to meet. When asked to elaborate he said that he had heard of the prince’s intentions through well placed sources....

Marty McGuinness down under in donegal- Wonder wh...

2011-10-08T13:52:19.596+01:00

Marty McGuinness down under in donegal-

Wonder what became of marty down under-hope he survived those storms-

Git- Sinn Fein supported those workers
who had to go on strike this week- unlike the d.u.p who put the boot into hospital workers- those people who try there best to keep us living are having there livelihood killed of-

Mackers, brilliantly written, but as you rightly ...

2011-10-08T12:07:41.183+01:00

Mackers,
brilliantly written, but as you rightly pointed out in another post the people of the South are hardly spolit for choice.
Read an article the other day which suggested the prospective candidate would have their work cut out trying to fill the dhoes of McAleese.
The article then went on to list her achievements which appeared to start and end with the bridges she had built with the loyalists and the British.
If this is what the ideal candidate has to follow, then given the fact he has declared himself a bigger crawler than she ever was, it must follow he is the ideal candidate.

AM, 100% right. I posted on Slugger and I (think) ...

2011-10-08T06:17:10.200+01:00

AM, 100% right. I posted on Slugger and I (think) I posted on here, that instead of going on and on and on about MMcG's past in the IRA, ask him how SF in the 26 counties and SF in the north can square the circle of, in the 26, they'll stand shoulder to shoulder with the workers, while in the north, they are wielding the cuts axe as well as, if not more so than any true blue Tory! (which I predicted they would do ages ago). He won't wriggle out of questions like that as easilly as he does about his IRA past!

Jude Collins makes some interesting points but he ...

2011-10-08T01:32:19.985+01:00

Jude Collins makes some interesting points but he fails to grasp that the likes of McGuinness only makes sense in the context of NI.
The North is through the looking glass to people in the Republic.
Maybe you have to live outside it a while to see how different the social norms are. The paranoia, the bitterness, and above all the willing self-deception, are woven into the psychological fabric as a consequence of living in a divided society at war or in its aftermath. Such a society breeds a certain kind of political leader but the qualities that make it work in the north, essentially operating a kind of tribal hustle, are irrelevant where conditions are different.
Sinn Fein will never make serious headway on the Republic until it engages with the Republic on its own terms. Its battle scarred old dinosaurs like McGuinness and Adams should be the last people they send south of the border. In fact, the party would do well to start thinking now about how and when they will put them out to grass altogether.

A fine example of your political training combined...

2011-10-08T01:09:29.122+01:00

A fine example of your political training combined with your journalistic experience, AM, to provide a cogent and forceful argument for why McG does not matter as much as he might think he does.