Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness

From the perspective of a fan of the Northern Ireland football team, I was opposed to the Maze stadium proposals for purely apolitical reasons. The plans would simply have delivered the wrong facility in the wrong place Naturally, as a unionist, I was also deeply unenthused by the prospect of a terrorist museum being erected / preserved at the Maze site. However my apprehension in that regard had little to do with concerns about the suitability of the stadium. The act of building a sports’ venue at the Maze would not have metamorphosised the adjacent hospital into some manner of IRA shrine by some indelible law of nature. Nor will scrapping plans for the stadium necessarily involve shelving the ‘peace and reconciliation centre’ (ho hum), as is becoming increasingly apparent. I can also say with absolute certainty that the vast majority of Northern Ireland supporters have no difficulty sharing a stadium with the GAA (in principle). There may be reservations as regards design implic...

Being wrenched from my bed this morning in order to work when the rest of the population seem to be off until Wednesday was not a propitious start to the day. To compound my misery, the rain is falling in torrents, my workmates are predicting the coldest January on record with temperatures falling below -10C and Gregory Campbell has offered his synopsis of devolution in Northern Ireland over on Slugger . Mick notes Campbell’s distinctly cheerless tone which a desultory deferral to flawed party-line does little to disguise. The DUP MP is fairly openly derisive of his leader’s relationship with Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness. “Who would seek to defend the photos that give the mistaken impression that not only is political business being done with Sinn Fein but that enjoyment is being had while doing it?” Of course such a statement presupposes that Ian Paisley is not having a wonderful time cosying up to Sinn Fein and his former IRA commanding deputy. I have little doubt tha...