Comments on The Pensive Quill: Why are they doing it?

Itsjustmacker, I don’t share that view. I was the...

2012-09-06T21:24:54.770+01:00

Itsjustmacker,

I don’t share that view. I was there too long and got to know too many to be able to sustain that view in my own mind. But each of us has a different experience to bring to the narrative.

Anthony. Its not that the screws were decent and ...

2012-09-01T22:52:43.226+01:00

Anthony.

Its not that the screws were decent and Humane, those who we thought were decent were the ones fearing for there lives and those of there families, to me they were 100% scum who looked down on Republicans as scum and they made sure we all knew it. They old saying is, They were to sweet to be wholesome. and to state that I was angry after reading it, Would be an understatement.

itsjustmacker that angered me reading it. Screws...

2012-09-01T20:00:31.034+01:00

itsjustmacker

that angered me reading it. Screws will abuse if not curbed. They are petty and brutal. They enjoy punishing. In jail I used to view them as professional misery makers. But yet quite a few of them were decent and humane.

Moya, an insightful commentary, your letters are m...

2012-08-30T01:24:50.638+01:00

Moya, an insightful commentary, your letters are much appreciated by Pat and I, and when Gerry is free, I'll make sure to tell him of your support.

Moye St Leger, This really is an enjoyable and in...

2012-08-29T18:45:52.060+01:00

Moye St Leger,

This really is an enjoyable and informative read, thanks for sharing it. I agree with your take on the English ruling class, but the attitude of working class people to Ireland is far more complex in my view.

One of the great weaknesses of many English people of all classes is an inability to walk in another persons shoes. They have not suffered occupation for hundreds of years and most have an inability to understand how those who suffer under that yoke feel.

Like you I too had my eyes opened on Ireland in my late teens and I have James Connolly to thank for that, along with C Desmond Greaves who introduced him to me with his biogs of Mellows and Connolly.

Once the blinkers came off, it became impossible not to look at the world in a totally different way.

Women's clothes cut off in New Hall jail '...

2012-08-29T13:19:10.081+01:00

Women's clothes cut off in New Hall jail 'unacceptable'

Prison inspectors have criticised the "unnecessary and unacceptable" practice of cutting off women's clothes when they are strip-searched.

Responses to women whose behaviour caused concern were also "excessively punitive", said a report on New Hall Prison in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

One woman from another jail who refused to hand over clothes she had previously been allowed to wear had them cut off.

A Prison Service spokesman said cutting clothes off was sometimes necessary.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-19400079

One law for the English, a different law for the Irish.

Powerful stuff. 'for Your Majesty, unless it ...

2012-08-29T09:21:50.164+01:00

Powerful stuff.

'for Your Majesty, unless it (Ireland) be peopled with others than be there already and certain fortresses there built and warded, if it be gotten one day it is lost the next.'

I saw on Fox News [ i suffer an ocassional 5 minutes to confirm USA stupidity] that the American assessment of Afghan trainee troops shooting their USA trainers as resulting from either their centuries old tendency towards war, or if all other considerations can't explain this behaviour 'maybe we have to conclude they just don't like us being there'. DOH!!

I was at school in England until i was 9yrs old. Kids are encouraged to believe that the viking and Roman invasions were in the long-run good for the development of England. Subtly perhaps this 'conditioning' permits the brits to project invading 49 nations [and counting] as a socially benevolent activity?

Surrender and regrant is a good analogy of SF, a pathetic one in SFs case, but good nonetheless.

Statement from Gerry McGeough – “No Welcome in Ire...

2012-08-29T06:01:10.816+01:00

Statement from Gerry McGeough – “No Welcome in Ireland for the English Establishment” from Maghaberry Prison, August 27, 2012.

Gerry McGeough sends his congratulations to the organizers of the Tyrone Civil Rights March that took place Sunday, August 26, 2012. Gerry said we must all continue to stand up for justice and democracy and there is no welcome in Ireland for the English establishment and they should slither back to their own swamp of a country. All the English empire has brought to Ireland, and other countries, is misery, conflict and evil. The sooner the English empire becomes ancient history, the better for the world. Long live democracy!

Yes Moya, thank you. America showed itself enti...

2012-08-29T03:02:43.826+01:00

Yes Moya, thank you.

America showed itself entirely unwilling to keep to its treaties with the native peoples it exterminated/absorbed, and Britain seems similarly inclined. Given how long America continued to squeeze the Indian tribes even after all the territory was formally conquered and mapped, Ireland may have decades, if not centuries, of similar treatment ahead.

such strong words, maybe cameron will have him cla...

2012-08-29T02:10:48.224+01:00

such strong words, maybe cameron will have him classed as insane, well lets be honest, its either that, or, a declaration of intent to withdraw from our province of Ireland, "ULSTER" and give to that province its original 3 counties to make up the nine which it originally had. I doubt if any nationalist will disagree with this post, I for one welcome it.

Moya, thanks for an informative piece. We are ple...

2012-08-28T20:31:30.716+01:00

Moya,

thanks for an informative piece. We are pleased to carry it