sluggerotoole--2020-07-28--Alliance: Now (or never) is the time to move beyond sound bite success to real world delivery…

In earlier articles I ’ ve written that as someone still fundamentally pro-union .
To recap , I ’ ve felt electorally disenfranchised for quite a long time by two unionist parties that have refused to reflect my general social outlook .
Apart from a vote for David Ervine in East Belfast in 1997 , I voted UUP .
They lost me post-Trimble .
So , I ’ m politically homeless .
Like many on either side of the community .
The Alliance Party should fill that void .
But it doesn ’ t .
Not because it is neutral @ @ @ @ @ @ @ still hasn ’ t demonstrated it has convincingly moved on to a position of something other than simply not being orange or green .
A natural party of government , local or regional .
In Naomi Long it has a genuine big hitter and probably the strongest of all our party leaders ( low bar notwithstanding ) .
It certainly could not have achieved a “ surge ” under any of their previous leaders .
Also , the nature of their membership has changed significantly to a much more youthful profile .
Both @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is that Alliance , along with the Greens have shown a very effective understanding of how to build candidate profile through social media .
For Alliance in particular , an impressive number of activists raised their profile through Twitter to such a degree that they won council seats last year , some very comfortably and some in areas where Alliance had little or no historic base .
But that ’ s only a start .
Recently , as the BLM momentum built , a recently elected councillor in my area started a thread @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to have a mature , informed discussion about racism in NI ?
” .
The councillor failed to understand that a mature , informed discussion generally does involve people disagreeing over aspects of it .
It was as if he couldn ’ t cope with disagreement in council , so he fell back on seeking Twitter approval .
Or if not , that ’ s how it looked .
This is uncomfortably typical of too many of Alliance ’ s recent intake .
It ’ s easy to make the right sounds and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many seem incapable of accepting that there are other points of view , strongly and sincerely held .
Too often they seem to fall at the first hurdle because while its easy to tweet one ’ s virtue , it ’ s harder to defend it in more than 280 characters when challenged by someone who ’ s actually thought about the subject .
To build a sustainable base they need to move on from this and to develop policies they can articulate , sell and implement .
Why this is a pivotal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ single handedly shaken Alliance out of inertia and irrelevance and led them to major breakthroughs .
They seem to have finally secured a genuinely cross community profile outside the traditional heartlands in the east .
In doing so they ’ ve managed to overcome a lot of negative perceptions .
To explode one such perception , I don ’ t view Alliance as a party of Sinn Fein lapdogs .
This view is misplaced but at one point understandable .
On the City Hall flag , I accept they genuinely believed in designated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
They were just naïve to think there wouldn ’ t be politically dangerous consequences .
Where they got it wrong was in being lured into a phoney “ progressive alliance ” of anti-unionist parties .
This was typified by the crazy decision to allow an MLA to pose in a multi-party photo in support of an Irish Language Act .
I ’ m not talking about their support for the act .
But any Alliance presence in a photograph dominated , as this one was , by Gerry Adams was a major @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to make the grand public gesture of embracing Naomi at the European count .
The clear intent was to portray Naomi as an ally .
That could have had catastrophic consequences .
But they ’ ve got past that , to the leader ’ s credit .
Now they need to make the next step and attract the votes of those who still have a strong view on the border but feel politically homeless .
Do they have the credible personalities to do so in the relatively small window available ?
Events during @ @ @ @ @ @ @ performed credibly in Justice , managing to generally avoid the spats or debacles we ’ ve witnessed .
Also , they ’ ve had a boost with the performance of Chris Lyttle as Education Chair .
That ’ s a start .
To secure a lasting gravitas they need to show they can grow beyond virtue signalling Twitter and start to show delivery in local government .
To show that social media was simply a means to an end .
Move beyond the grand gesture in council and develop practical , deliverable policies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ electorate .
If they do so they can finally become what their founders intended and evolve into a mass movement that can make a genuine difference on a game changing scale .
If they do this , they can persuade more people to take a risk on them .
Then they can put themselves at the vanguard of a movement making a strong , irrefutable case for a review of St Andrews and a return to a more sustainable and credible form of government in Stormont .
Post Brexit we ’ ll need @ @ @ @ @ @ @ proved that there ’ s an appetite for change of this nature .
Whether Alliance can step up to the plate is far from certain and there ’ s a lot to be achieved in a relatively short time .
But if they do , I predict it will bring a lot of good people back into the system .

In earlier articles I’ve written that as someone still fundamentally pro-union. To recap, I’ve felt electorally disenfranchised for quite a long time by two unionist parties that have refused to reflect my general social outlook. Apart from a vote for David Ervine in East Belfast in 1997, I voted UUP. They lost me post-Trimble. So, I’m politically homeless. Like many on either side of the community.
The Alliance Party should fill that void. But it doesn’t. Not because it is neutral on the union, but because it still hasn’t demonstrated it has convincingly moved on to a position of something other than simply not being orange or green. A natural party of government, local or regional.
In Naomi Long it has a genuine big hitter and probably the strongest of all our party leaders (low bar notwithstanding). It certainly could not have achieved a “surge” under any of their previous leaders. Also, the nature of their membership has changed significantly to a much more youthful profile. Both positive developments.
A third key point is that Alliance, along with the Greens have shown a very effective understanding of how to build candidate profile through social media. For Alliance in particular, an impressive number of activists raised their profile through Twitter to such a degree that they won council seats last year, some very comfortably and some in areas where Alliance had little or no historic base.
But that’s only a start. Recently, as the BLM momentum built, a recently elected councillor in my area started a thread with “why is it so difficult to have a mature, informed discussion about racism in NI?”.
The councillor failed to understand that a mature, informed discussion generally does involve people disagreeing over aspects of it. It was as if he couldn’t cope with disagreement in council, so he fell back on seeking Twitter approval. Or if not, that’s how it looked.
This is uncomfortably typical of too many of Alliance’s recent intake. It’s easy to make the right sounds and post the worthy soundbite, but too many seem incapable of accepting that there are other points of view, strongly and sincerely held.
Too often they seem to fall at the first hurdle because while its easy to tweet one’s virtue, it’s harder to defend it in more than 280 characters when challenged by someone who’s actually thought about the subject. To build a sustainable base they need to move on from this and to develop policies they can articulate, sell and implement.
Why this is a pivotal time is because Naomi Long has almost single handedly shaken Alliance out of inertia and irrelevance and led them to major breakthroughs. They seem to have finally secured a genuinely cross community profile outside the traditional heartlands in the east. In doing so they’ve managed to overcome a lot of negative perceptions.
To explode one such perception, I don’t view Alliance as a party of Sinn Fein lapdogs. This view is misplaced but at one point understandable. On the City Hall flag, I accept they genuinely believed in designated days in line with other UK cities. They were just naïve to think there wouldn’t be politically dangerous consequences.
Where they got it wrong was in being lured into a phoney “progressive alliance” of anti-unionist parties. This was typified by the crazy decision to allow an MLA to pose in a multi-party photo in support of an Irish Language Act. I’m not talking about their support for the act. But any Alliance presence in a photograph dominated, as this one was, by Gerry Adams was a major own goal.
It enabled Martina Anderson to make the grand public gesture of embracing Naomi at the European count. The clear intent was to portray Naomi as an ally. That could have had catastrophic consequences. But they’ve got past that, to the leader’s credit.
Now they need to make the next step and attract the votes of those who still have a strong view on the border but feel politically homeless. Do they have the credible personalities to do so in the relatively small window available?
Events during lockdown have helped them. Long has performed credibly in Justice, managing to generally avoid the spats or debacles we’ve witnessed. Also, they’ve had a boost with the performance of Chris Lyttle as Education Chair. That’s a start.
To secure a lasting gravitas they need to show they can grow beyond virtue signalling Twitter and start to show delivery in local government. To show that social media was simply a means to an end. Move beyond the grand gesture in council and develop practical, deliverable policies that resonate with and deliver for the electorate.
If they do so they can finally become what their founders intended and evolve into a mass movement that can make a genuine difference on a game changing scale.
If they do this, they can persuade more people to take a risk on them. Then they can put themselves at the vanguard of a movement making a strong, irrefutable case for a review of St Andrews and a return to a more sustainable and credible form of government in Stormont. Post Brexit we’ll need that.
Last year’s elections proved that there’s an appetite for change of this nature. Whether Alliance can step up to the plate is far from certain and there’s a lot to be achieved in a relatively short time. But if they do, I predict it will bring a lot of good people back into the system.


sluggerotoole--2020-07-28--Science and Coronavirus, key to NI success has been competence, public trust in devolved model of po

Science and Coronavirus, key to NI success has been competence, public trust in devolved model of power, and some luck…

I broadly agree with Tom Kelly ’ s assessment ( £ ) of the Executive ’ s performance during Covid , which is that it has broadly been good , but has at times suffered from the lack of a unified message .
Tom argues that the science should be listened to… …professionals like Dr McBride and Professor Young have to provide advice based on the science as this unpredictable virus reveals itself .
After much deliberation they presented their considered view that the wearing of face-coverings should be mandatory .
Robin Swann , the health minister agreed .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the health minister but , more importantly , the experts .
The public are rightly confused .
In this Trumpian and post-Brexit era experts have been traduced , blackened , maligned and disparaged .
And yet faced with a pandemic we have never been in greater need of expert opinion or advice .
The problem thrown up by Black Swan events like Covid , is that never having dealt with something countries like the UK and the Republic found themselves radically unprepared .
Smaller and more agile Ireland rose to the challenge more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Parsley said in Cargo Of Bricks Episode One , the UK ’ s scientific preparations might actually have hindered a more effective response by assuming Covid would behave exactly like flu .
Germany ’ s efforts went into research testing from the get go .
The relatively poor ( but not Trump-disastrous ) UK response to the crisis surprised long term observers , including Jonathan Portas ( from about 8.10 in ) and Matthew Taylor of the RSA and host of Bridges to the Future podcast… Jonathan Portas : We largely ignored the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ arrogant and insular .
I ’ m not pointing fingers at individuals or even politicians I think this is a criticism of the British political and policy making class as a whole .
Matthew Taylor : So in your diagnosis of why Britain doesn ’ t seem to have coped very well with the crisis , certainly in the early stages , what is the balance , where on the one hand is the medium term effect of austerity which is reducing the capacity of the government to deal with something like this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to do with contingent factors to with the political leadership that we had ?
And also , let ’ s be clear , the scientific advice because it is not true to say that the scientists where saying we should have locked down earlier .
Some were , but actually the establishment scientists were with the politicians pretty much up to the point at which we changed our policy saying full lockdown wasn ’ t necessary .
JP : I think that ’ s right .
I ’ m not sure I would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ set of politicians that we have in charge at the moment , as opposed to these structural factors .
So I think at the moment , certainly the hollowing out of the state , thanks to austerity and reduction in the capacity of social care and local authorities , etc .
But I think you ’ re right , the fact that we locked down too late , is not something that you can attribute to Boris Johnson or a few people around him .
Obviously , politically they are accountable , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was a system failure and it does attach to civil servants and scientists at least as much as it attaches to them .
MT : So when we look around the world to which countries coped best , I had an eye opening conversation with Audrey Tang who ’ s the Minister for Technology and more broadly for strategy in Taiwan , it seems to me that amongst the key ingredients are these three : • the first is that governments are competent , that they have the capacity and in a certain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to respond to this .
I think actually a part of that is they have been through a process of responding to the risk of a pandemic before ; • the second element is trust between citizens and leaders .
And , in part , there ’ s been something that ’ s happened in the last few years which has led to a kind of push back against forms of authoritarian or paternalistic government , that there are movements that have forced governments to be more responsive to citizens • and then @ @ @ @ @ @ @ devolved systems so that it is possible for lower levels of government to act and co-ordinate quickly .
If you ’ d known from the outset that those were the three criteria for success you could probably have predicted that Britain probably wasn ’ t going to do that well , wouldn ’ t you ?
In the case of Northern Ireland is hard to argue that the first two were present before the pandemic , but the third certainly was [ luckily , because Sinn Fein had just called off its boycott @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ] .
Local control over public health barely exists in England .
Set up under the “ distracting and damaging ” Health and Social Care Act , Public Health England is responsible only to the Secretary of State .
Treasury promises to ring-fence NHS budgets were reneged on , resulting in a 40 % cut in PHA budget since 2013 .
As the FT reports a combination of those cuts and the near pathological drive towards centralised control has had damaging implications for an England facing the threat of Covid 19 : By @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the Welsh Government meant that during lockdown police could enforce rules made in Cardiff , which resulted in several cases of travellers from England being sent home for undertaking non essential travel .
Even the robust debates on Nolan , which have centred on local control and the consensus or lack of it within the Northern Irish Executive have taken place in the context of relative success ( or the extreme luck that Belfast is not a major trading centre ) .
Within weeks , Slugger understands that many of the nursing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were fairly quickly redeployed to duties back inside the hospital because they weren ’ t being used .
Science can help inform public policy but it is also dependent on the quality of the inputs available and capacity to gather data and , in the context of a global pandemic , a clear willingness to learn from others .
The most recent controversies show its limitations .
The issue of mask wearing perplexes some at a point when the virus is probably at its least infectious since its onset .
And it wasn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the start from WHO .
But as a prevention against a second wave it probably makes sense to have it in the public armoury before autumn when the direct threat is most likely to return .
And if it acts as reassurance to those currently shielding to come out and resume some of their old lives .
What the science can not yet do is measure the effects social isolation has had on all of us .
Children , who have been deprived of the company of friends , and of older @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have perhaps made them more vulnerable to falls .
Too rigid a use of cold data too produces odd and almost inexplicable policy decisions ( like the Republic ’ s exclusion of Denmark from its Green list of countries deemed fit to travel to and return from , when in fact it is one of the ‘ cleanest ’ countries in Europe ) .
So , if I ’ m wearing a mask , its not because government tells me , or that I fear infection ( the risk is almost unfeasibly low @ @ @ @ @ @ @ am keen to signal to others that it is safe to come back out to play , work or just get their hair cut along with the rest of us .
And because I feel the same personal responsibility to my fellow citizens that broadly allowed us to get through the worst of the crisis in March and April .
That ’ s a part of the mix in trusting government advice , as opposed to just following dumb instructions .
“ Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 ” by NIAID is licensed under CC BY

I broadly agree with Tom Kelly’s assessment (£) of the Executive’s performance during Covid, which is that it has broadly been good, but has at times suffered from the lack of a unified message. Tom argues that the science should be listened to…
…professionals like Dr McBride and Professor Young have to provide advice based on the science as this unpredictable virus reveals itself. After much deliberation they presented their considered view that the wearing of face-coverings should be mandatory. Robin Swann, the health minister agreed. The executive should have supported the view of the health minister but, more importantly, the experts. The public are rightly confused. In this Trumpian and post-Brexit era experts have been traduced, blackened, maligned and disparaged. And yet faced with a pandemic we have never been in greater need of expert opinion or advice.
The problem thrown up by Black Swan events like Covid, is that never having dealt with something countries like the UK and the Republic found themselves radically unprepared. Smaller and more agile Ireland rose to the challenge more quickly.
In fact, as Ian Parsley said in Cargo Of Bricks Episode One, the UK’s scientific preparations might actually have hindered a more effective response by assuming Covid would behave exactly like flu. Germany’s efforts went into research testing from the get go.
The relatively poor (but not Trump-disastrous) UK response to the crisis surprised long term observers, including Jonathan Portas (from about 8.10 in) and Matthew Taylor of the RSA and host of Bridges to the Future podcast…
Jonathan Portas: We largely ignored the experience of other countries, we were arrogant and insular. I’m not pointing fingers at individuals or even politicians, I think this is a criticism of the British political and policy making class as a whole. Matthew Taylor: So in your diagnosis of why Britain doesn’t seem to have coped very well with the crisis, certainly in the early stages, what is the balance? Where, on the one hand is the medium term effect of austerity which is reducing the capacity of the government to deal with something like this, and to what extent is it to do with contingent factors to do with the political leadership that we had? And also, let’s be clear, the scientific advice because it is not true to say that the scientists where saying we should have locked down earlier. Some were, but actually the establishment scientists were with the politicians pretty much up to the point at which we changed our policy saying full lockdown wasn’t necessary. JP: I think that’s right. I’m not sure I would attach that much blame to the particular set of politicians that we have in charge at the moment, as opposed to these structural factors. So I think at the moment, certainly the hollowing out of the state, thanks to austerity and reduction in the capacity of social care and local authorities, etc. But I think you’re right, the fact that we locked down too late, is not something that you can attribute to Boris Johnson or a few people around him. Obviously, politically they are accountable, and they should be but I think that was a system failure and it does attach to civil servants and scientists at least as much as it attaches to them. MT: So when we look around the world to which countries coped best, I had an eye opening conversation with Audrey Tang who’s the Minister for Technology and more broadly for strategy in Taiwan, it seems to me that amongst the key ingredients are these three: the first is that governments are competent, that they have the capacity and in a certain sense the self confidence to be able to respond to this. I think actually a part of that is they have been through a process of responding to the risk of a pandemic before;
the second element is trust between citizens and leaders. And, in part, there’s been something that’s happened in the last few years which has led to a kind of push back against forms of authoritarian or paternalistic government, that there are movements that have forced governments to be more responsive to citizens
and then the third element seems to be reasonably devolved systems so that it is possible for lower levels of government to act and co-ordinate quickly. If you’d known from the outset that those were the three criteria for success you could probably have predicted that Britain probably wasn’t going to do that well, wouldn’t you?
In the case of Northern Ireland is hard to argue that the first two were present before the pandemic, but the third certainly was [luckily, because Sinn Fein had just called off its boycott in the nick of time – Ed]. Local control over public health barely exists in England.
Set up under the “distracting and damaging” Health and Social Care Act, Public Health England is responsible only to the Secretary of State. Treasury promises to ring-fence NHS budgets were reneged on, resulting in a 40% cut in PHA budget since 2013.
As the FT reports a combination of those cuts and the near pathological drive towards centralised control has had damaging implications for an England facing the threat of Covid 19:
Kate Ardern, director of public health for Wigan who is in charge of the emergency response for Greater Manchester, said: “At the point at which it was stopped, there were 290 contact tracers in PHE for the whole of England. Now, that was clearly going to be insufficient but nobody at a national level seemed to have thought, ‘well, that’s not going to be enough, we’ll need more, where are there likely to be more contact tracers?’”
By contrast, even the limited powers devolved to the Welsh Government meant that during lockdown police could enforce rules made in Cardiff, which resulted in several cases of travellers from England being sent home for undertaking non essential travel.
Even the robust debates on Nolan, which have centred on local control and the consensus or lack of it within the Northern Irish Executive have taken place in the context of relative success (or the extreme luck that Belfast is not a major trading centre).
Within weeks, Slugger understands that many of the nursing staff on the testing station outside Altnagelvin were fairly quickly redeployed to duties back inside the hospital because they weren’t being used.
Science can help inform public policy but it is also dependent on the quality of the inputs available and capacity to gather data and, in the context of a global pandemic, a clear willingness to learn from others.
The most recent controversies show its limitations. The issue of mask wearing perplexes some at a point when the virus is probably at its least infectious since its onset. And it wasn’t part of the recommended mix at the start from WHO.
But as a prevention against a second wave it probably makes sense to have it in the public armoury before autumn when the direct threat is most likely to return. And if it acts as reassurance to those currently shielding to come out and resume some of their old lives.
What the science cannot yet do is measure the effects social isolation has had on all of us. Children, who have been deprived of the company of friends, and of older people who’s loss of fitness have perhaps made them more vulnerable to falls.
Too rigid a use of cold data too produces odd and almost inexplicable policy decisions (like the Republic’s exclusion of Denmark from its Green list of countries deemed fit to travel to and return from, when in fact it is one of the ‘cleanest’ countries in Europe).
So, if I’m wearing a mask, its not because government tells me, or that I fear infection (the risk is almost unfeasibly low just now), but because I am keen to signal to others that it is safe to come back out to play, work or just get their hair cut along with the rest of us.
And because I feel the same personal responsibility to my fellow citizens that broadly allowed us to get through the worst of the crisis in March and April. That’s a part of the mix in trusting government advice, as opposed to just following dumb instructions.
“Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2” by NIAID is licensed under CC BY


sluggerotoole--2020-07-28--The Forgotten Troubles 1920-1922: The Altnaveigh Massacre…

The violence which engulfed Northern Ireland in 1922 was possibly the most intense the region has ever seen .
The massacre at Altnaveigh has become synonymous with the sectarian violence which occurred particularly in the first half of 1922 .
It has also become a symbol of Republican aggression in the border regions , for Unionists living along that area particularly .
Altnaveigh elicits comparisons with the abhorrent Kingsmill massacre when ten Protestant workmen were taken from their bus by Republican paramilitaries and murdered in cold blood by the side of the road ( 1 ) .
The Altnaveigh Massacre @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Division which comprised South Armagh , Louth parts of Down and Monaghan .
The Division was led by Frank Aiken and was the best armed and most active division along the border region .
Indeed when the IRA gained the upper hand amongst the Nationalist community in Northern Ireland , after the Anglo-Irish Treaty , Aiken ’ s unit would be second only to the Belfast Brigade as the most active .
( 2 ) This action however led to a volatile and extremely violent confrontation between two foes , the IRA and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be this tit for tat escalation between the two that would lead to a massacre of Protestant civilians at Altnaveigh .
The War of Independence is generally depicted as breaking out on 21st January 1919 when Dan Breen , Seamus Robinson , Sean Hogan , Sean Treacey and others ambushed and killed a patrol of two RIC men transporting gelignite near Soloheadbeg , County Tipperary .
By 1920 the IRA was beginning to escalate their attacks on rural RIC barracks which were vulnerable .
To this end the Newry Brigade of the IRA @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with around 200 men under his command , mounted an attack on Newtonhamilton RIC post on the night of May 11th 1920 .
All roads leading into the area were blocked as the IRA attacked the post calling on the six RIC men inside to surrender .
They refused as the IRA blew holes in the walls and used a potato sprayer to douse the barracks in paraffin and set it alight .
The RIC men bravely held out until 5am in an outbuilding .
( 3 ) A similar attempt was made @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unsuccessful .
The RIC managed to disable , with bullets the potato sprayer attempting to douse their barracks and also managed to signal for help by firing flares .
The IRA under Aiken attempted to attack the reinforcements arriving but a grenade exploded prematurely killing three of their men and forcing the rest to retreat .
The Ulster Special Constabulary burned down Aiken ’ s home along with ten of his relatives in the Camlough area in retaliation .
They also shot dead two suspected Republicans at Belleek ( 4 ) At 10am @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 113 men of the 10th Hussars was crossing the border close to Newry when a mine exploded derailing the carriages and hurtling them down a thirty foot emabankment .
This attack was carried out by Frank Aiken ’ s Fourth Northern Division ( Aiken had been promoted to OC of the 4th Northern in April 1921 ) and resulted in the deaths of three soldiers and two civilians .
Around 70 horses were also killed or so badly injured they had to be destroyed afterwards .
The train attack had an air of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which had been part of the Royal Escort during the King ’ s trip to Belfast on opening the Belfast Parliament .
The attack showed both the capability and the ruthlessness of the IRA in the area .
The train had actually been late in arriving near Adavoyle as it had been delayed at Portadown .
The mine exploded under the train ’ s last carriage due to this hold up ( 5 ) Two weeks later the USC took four IRA men from their homes and summarily executed them by the roadside @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tat nature of violence in South Armagh can be found in a series of events one year previous to the Altnaveigh Massacre .
On 10th April 1921 the IRA ambushed a USC patrol near Creggan on the Newry- Crossmaglen Road .
One USC Constable was killed in this attack and in revenge the USC descended upon Killylea in Armagh and began to burn down Nationalist homes ; they also shot and wounded two civilians .
The IRA took revenge by burning some Unionist houses in the area and an Orange Hall .
This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ commonplace during 1921 and 1922 .
It is however intriguing that Frank Aiken was initially against such retaliation early in the conflict as John Connolly explained to the Bureau of Military History : “ Sometime within the next four weeks General O ’ Duffy , who had been out of his own area organising in Co. Tyrone , returned to our area .
In discussing the happenings in Roslea he expressed the opinion that an Orange house should be burned for each Catholic house burned as a reprisal…..
There were various expressions of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as to the advisability of the postponed burnings and also as to the number of Unionist houses which should be burned.
” “ During the course of the meeting the door of the room in which the meeting was held was suddenly opened and a stranger stepped into the room .
This created a feeling of shocked surprise to many of us , especially when the stranger said to General O ’ Duffy : “ I have got you at last ” .
It was lucky that General O ’ Duffy recognised the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ might have been shot .
After Aiken ’ s arrival , O ’ Duffy and he started .
a discussion on the Roslea business .
Frank Aiken did not at first approve of the burnings , as he thought that the B.men would retaliate by burning double the number of nationalist houses .
O ’ Duffy struck the table and said : “ When you hit them hard they will not strike again ” .. Aiken then said : “ Well , burn them and their houses ” .
( 6 ) And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on 13th June 1922 two local Catholic men from Derrymore where dragged from their beds by a party of B-Specials dressed in civilian clothing .
Neither Patrick Creggan nor Thomas Crowley were members of the IRA although Creggan ’ s brother was an active local Volunteer .
These men were shot dead by the USC men and their bodies purposely left on landmine holes which had been dug by the IRA four miles outside Camlough .
( 7 ) That same night a party of A-Specials from Forkhill Barracks carried out a raid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ James McGuill .
McGuill was a personal friend of Frank Aiken .
It seems as though the A-Specials were intent on killing McGuill and were thus enraged when they realised their quarry was not there .
They proceeded to smash up the pub and loot some of the alcohol .
Some of the women present , one of whom was McGuill ’ s heavily pregnant wife protested and attempted to stop them .
McGuill ’ s wife it was alleged was pulled into an upstairs bedroom by three Specials who subsequently sexually assaulted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allegedly beaten savagely whilst another threw herself out of a bedroom window to avoid such an ordeal .
( 8 ) The IRA and Frank Aiken ’ s response to this was savage .
Aiken had met McGuill ’ s wife the next day when he saw her in a ‘ most frightful state ’ .
Aiken would swear revenge against those responsible and laid an ambush at McGuill ’ s pub a few days later in order to attack a patrol of Specials from Forkhill Barracks .
One special was killed and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ However the IRA was not finished with its retribution .
Interestingly recently released Military Pension Records from the 1930 ’ s suggest what was to come at Altnaveigh was retaliation for USC killings of Crowley and Creggan and the summary executions a year before of four IRA men in the area rather than the sexual assaults .
( 10 ) A personal motive however can ’ t be completely ruled out .
According to Patrick Casey speaking to the BMH in 1957 this attack was planned and authorised by Frank Aiken .
( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attack remains an open question .
From the documentation available it seems it was led by local Commander Michael Fearon although this is not definitive .
( 12 ) On 17th June IRA volunteers from the Fourth Northern Division who had been occupying Dundalk Barracks since the start of April made their way across the border , some dressed in Police uniforms .
In total it is believed around 30 men would descend upon Altnaveigh in the early hours of that Saturday morning .
According to James Marron , a local IRA Volunteer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were given , each of us a service rifle , 250 rounds .303 , a service revolver and grenades .
We had to walk from Ravensdale in Co. Louth to the nearest point of attack which was Altnaveigh , overlooking Newry .
It was a stronghold of the B Force murder gang .
Our orders were to burn every house and shoot every male we could get ” .
( 13 ) The first victims of the gang were Thomas Crozier and his wife Elizabeth .
Thomas was 67 years old and shot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ door .
As his wife was comforting him she was murdered to .
It is believed she may have recognised one of the gunmen .
James Marron claimed however she had been shot by mistake : “ At Altnaveigh we shot 8 of the B-men and burned 12 houses .
But the unfortunate part of it all was , we shot dead a woman ( accidentally ) , the head of a large family ” .
The party of gunmen then proceeded to the home of John Heaslip .
Heaslip and his son @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the back of the house , taken a short distance away and shot dead .
James Lockhart was murdered in front of his mother and three sisters as their home was burned to the ground and Joseph Gray , a local Orangeman was dragged from his bed and shot .
He died the next day .
Gray ’ s mother asked why the attack was being carried out .
She was told by one of the attackers it was , ‘ in reprisal for the murder of Catholics in Belfast ’ .
( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the properties of those whom they killed .
They also moved on to Derrymore and Ballymacdermot where petrol bombs were thrown into houses whilst other houses were burnt down and bombs rigged to doors to prevent escape although these failed to explode .
By the end of the night six Protestants were dead , one a woman and dozens of properties had been destroyed .
The savage violence left the Unionist community in absolute fear of future violence but they were not alone .
Nationalists also feared reprisals from the USC and members @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to sleep at night for fear of what may come .
( 15 ) Many of those involved in the Altnaveigh Massacre had to leave their homesteads and some left Ireland altogether for fear of reprisals .
Some like Marron and Fearon however still lived close by .
Marron stated : “ He ( Michael Fearon ) still lived near Altnaveigh and so did I. I knew the people and saw them every day , we were however well disguised on the job and are not as yet known to be on it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ England , America and Canada .
Thomas Pentony left for America in December 1922 citing fears , “ for my wife and children which compelled me to sail for the USA ” .
( 17 ) James McAnerney left for Canada around the same time .
Frank Aiken would be referred to as ‘ The Butcher of Altnaveigh ’ by Unionists but would go on to have a hugely successful career as a Politician .
He was instrumental in the rise of Fianna Fail in the early 1930 ’ s and his respect @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were influencial in reconciling the IRA to the Fianna Fail Government .
He was appointed Minister of Defence and remained as a Minister in subsequent Governments .
During World War Two he was a staunch upholder of Irish neutrality famously driving President Roosevelt into a rage when Aiken was entertained in Washington .
Aiken had refused to Roosevelt ’ s pleas for Ireland to join the war or openly help .
Interestingly after World War Two Aiken was appointed Minister of Finance and was involved in conflict with the banking sector and in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Irish Banks Standing Committee .
In need of loans for infrastructure projects Glenavy refused leaving Aiken furious .
In 1951 he became Minister of Foreign Affairs and went on to acquire a reputation as a man passionate about de-colonisation in Africa and Asia .
He also talked of the UN recognising ‘ Red China ’ , although was supportive of Tibet ’ s resistance against Chinese Annexation .
Aiken was appointed Tánaiste and Minister of External Affairs in 1965 and was supportive of Sean Lemass meetings with his Northern counterpart , Terence O @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to hold a moderate stance during the outbreak of violence in Northern Ireland and subsequently backed Jack Lynch action over the Arms Crisis in 1970 , despite Aiken ’ s lifelong abhorrence of partition .
Indeed when Charles Haughey was declared a Fianna Fail candidate in 1973 Aiken became disillusioned with Politics and retired to his farm .
He died 10 years later in 1983 .
( 18 ) The violence in the 4th Northern Division area was some of the most savage and sectarian that took place during the period 1920-1922 .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Altnaveigh .
The IRA had claimed the attack was revenge on what it believed to be an ‘ Orange area ’ which had heavy recruitment into the USC , at a time when republicans believed that , due to the pervasiveness of the Specials , there were in the words of one , no longer any unionist civilians .
( 19 ) The Altnaveigh Massacre however was one of the most infamous attacks during the conflict .
The fact that the attackers had been totally indiscriminate in their actions against a vulnerable and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , particularly along the border .
The attack was so sudden and so savage that it was a turning point in the conflict .
It would be the last large scale attack by any party in the 4th Northern Division area .
Patrick Casey speaking 35 years after the event remembered the sense of shame over what had happened .
He told the Bureau of Military History that : Nothing could justify this holocaust of unfortunate Protestants ’ .
( 20 ) And a holocaust it certainly was for the victims involved in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s most vicious sectarian attacks .
• In all twelve workmen were taken from their work bus .
One was identified as a Catholic and freed .
The others were lined up and shot .
Ten men died but one man survived , Alan Black .
The attack was claimed by the South Armagh Republican Action Force .
Ostensibly a cover name for the Provisional IRA .
See Lost Lives p611-614 • R. Lynch , The Northern IRA and the Early Years of Partition Appendix I .
Casualties in Northern Ireland 1920-1922 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ IRA and the Early Years of Partition .
• T. Wilson , Frontiers of Violence , Conflict and Identity in Ulster and Upper Silesia .
• For information on Altnaveigh and other incidents see here .
http : //www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/military-service-pensions-collection-1916-1923 • R. Lynch , The Northern IRA and the Early Years of Partition .

The violence which engulfed Northern Ireland in 1922 was possibly the most intense the region has ever seen. The massacre at Altnaveigh has become synonymous with the sectarian violence which occurred particularly in the first half of 1922. It has also become a symbol of Republican aggression in the border regions, for Unionists living along that area particularly.
Altnaveigh elicits comparisons with the abhorrent Kingsmill massacre when ten Protestant workmen were taken from their bus by Republican paramilitaries and murdered in cold blood by the side of the road (1). The Altnaveigh Massacre would be committed by the Fourth Northern Division which comprised South Armagh, Louth parts of Down and Monaghan.
The Division was led by Frank Aiken and was the best armed and most active division along the border region. Indeed when the IRA gained the upper hand amongst the Nationalist community in Northern Ireland, after the Anglo-Irish Treaty, Aiken’s unit would be second only to the Belfast Brigade as the most active. (2)
This action however led to a volatile and extremely violent confrontation between two foes, the IRA and the Ulster Special Constabulary. It would be this tit for tat escalation between the two that would lead to a massacre of Protestant civilians at Altnaveigh.
Background
The War of Independence is generally depicted as breaking out on 21st January 1919 when Dan Breen, Seamus Robinson, Sean Hogan, Sean Treacey and others ambushed and killed a patrol of two RIC men transporting gelignite near Soloheadbeg, County Tipperary.
By 1920 the IRA was beginning to escalate their attacks on rural RIC barracks which were vulnerable. To this end the Newry Brigade of the IRA under the leadership of Frank Aiken, with around 200 men under his command, mounted an attack on Newtonhamilton RIC post on the night of May 11th 1920.
All roads leading into the area were blocked as the IRA attacked the post calling on the six RIC men inside to surrender. They refused as the IRA blew holes in the walls and used a potato sprayer to douse the barracks in paraffin and set it alight. The RIC men bravely held out until 5am in an outbuilding. (3)
A similar attempt was made to burn Camlough Barracks but again was unsuccessful. The RIC managed to disable, with bullets the potato sprayer attempting to douse their barracks and also managed to signal for help by firing flares.
The IRA under Aiken attempted to attack the reinforcements arriving but a grenade exploded prematurely killing three of their men and forcing the rest to retreat. The Ulster Special Constabulary burned down Aiken’s home along with ten of his relatives in the Camlough area in retaliation. They also shot dead two suspected Republicans at Belleek (4)
Adavoyle Train Ambush
At 10am on 24th June 1921 a train carrying 113 men of the 10th Hussars was crossing the border close to Newry when a mine exploded derailing the carriages and hurtling them down a thirty foot emabankment.
This attack was carried out by Frank Aiken’s Fourth Northern Division (Aiken had been promoted to OC of the 4th Northern in April 1921) and resulted in the deaths of three soldiers and two civilians. Around 70 horses were also killed or so badly injured they had to be destroyed afterwards.
The train attack had an air of symbolism as it was carrying a troop which had been part of the Royal Escort during the King’s trip to Belfast on opening the Belfast Parliament.
The attack showed both the capability and the ruthlessness of the IRA in the area. The train had actually been late in arriving near Adavoyle as it had been delayed at Portadown. The mine exploded under the train’s last carriage due to this hold up (5)
Two weeks later the USC took four IRA men from their homes and summarily executed them by the roadside.
Violence on the Border
An illustration of the tit for tat nature of violence in South Armagh can be found in a series of events one year previous to the Altnaveigh Massacre.
On 10th April 1921 the IRA ambushed a USC patrol near Creggan on the Newry- Crossmaglen Road. One USC Constable was killed in this attack and in revenge the USC descended upon Killylea in Armagh and began to burn down Nationalist homes; they also shot and wounded two civilians.
The IRA took revenge by burning some Unionist houses in the area and an Orange Hall. This type of tit for tat violence became commonplace during 1921 and 1922.
It is however intriguing that Frank Aiken was initially against such retaliation early in the conflict as John Connolly explained to the Bureau of Military History:
“Sometime within the next four weeks General O’Duffy, who had been out of his own area organising in Co. Tyrone, returned to our area. In discussing the happenings in Roslea he expressed the opinion that an Orange house should be burned for each Catholic house burned as a reprisal….. There were various expressions of opinion from some of the officers present as to the advisability of the postponed burnings and also as to the number of Unionist houses which should be burned.”
“During the course of the meeting the door of the room in which the meeting was held was suddenly opened and a stranger stepped into the room. This created a feeling of shocked surprise to many of us, especially when the stranger said to General O’Duffy: “I have got you at last”. It was lucky that General O’Duffy recognised the stranger as Frank Aiken, or he might have been shot. After Aiken’s arrival, O’Duffy and he started. a discussion on the Roslea business. Frank Aiken did not at first approve of the burnings, as he thought that the B.men would retaliate by burning double the number of nationalist houses. O’Duffy struck the table and said: “When you hit them hard they will not strike again”.. Aiken then said: “Well, burn them and their houses”. (6)
And so it was over one year later on 13th June 1922 two local Catholic men from Derrymore where dragged from their beds by a party of B-Specials dressed in civilian clothing. Neither Patrick Creggan nor Thomas Crowley were members of the IRA although Creggan’s brother was an active local Volunteer.
These men were shot dead by the USC men and their bodies purposely left on landmine holes which had been dug by the IRA four miles outside Camlough. (7) That same night a party of A-Specials from Forkhill Barracks carried out a raid on the pub of prominent local Republican James McGuill. McGuill was a personal friend of Frank Aiken.
It seems as though the A-Specials were intent on killing McGuill and were thus enraged when they realised their quarry was not there. They proceeded to smash up the pub and loot some of the alcohol. Some of the women present, one of whom was McGuill’s heavily pregnant wife protested and attempted to stop them.
McGuill’s wife it was alleged was pulled into an upstairs bedroom by three Specials who subsequently sexually assaulted her. A servant girl was also allegedly beaten savagely whilst another threw herself out of a bedroom window to avoid such an ordeal. (8)
The IRA Attack
The IRA and Frank Aiken’s response to this was savage. Aiken had met McGuill’s wife the next day when he saw her in a ‘most frightful state’. Aiken would swear revenge against those responsible and laid an ambush at McGuill’s pub a few days later in order to attack a patrol of Specials from Forkhill Barracks.
One special was killed and another severely wounded. (9) However the IRA was not finished with its retribution. Interestingly recently released Military Pension Records from the 1930’s suggest what was to come at Altnaveigh was retaliation for USC killings of Crowley and Creggan and the summary executions a year before of four IRA men in the area rather than the sexual assaults. (10) A personal motive however can’t be completely ruled out.
According to Patrick Casey speaking to the BMH in 1957 this attack was planned and authorised by Frank Aiken. (11) Whether Aiken personally led the attack remains an open question. From the documentation available it seems it was led by local Commander Michael Fearon although this is not definitive. (12)
On 17th June IRA volunteers from the Fourth Northern Division who had been occupying Dundalk Barracks since the start of April made their way across the border, some dressed in Police uniforms. In total it is believed around 30 men would descend upon Altnaveigh in the early hours of that Saturday morning.
According to James Marron, a local IRA Volunteer their instructions were simple:
“ We were given, each of us a service rifle, 250 rounds .303, a service revolver and grenades. We had to walk from Ravensdale in Co. Louth to the nearest point of attack which was Altnaveigh, overlooking Newry. It was a stronghold of the B Force murder gang. Our orders were to burn every house and shoot every male we could get”. (13)
The Victims
The first victims of the gang were Thomas Crozier and his wife Elizabeth. Thomas was 67 years old and shot in the chest as he answered the door. As his wife was comforting him she was murdered to. It is believed she may have recognised one of the gunmen. James Marron claimed however she had been shot by mistake:
“At Altnaveigh we shot 8 of the B-men and burned 12 houses. But the unfortunate part of it all was, we shot dead a woman (accidentally), the head of a large family”.
The party of gunmen then proceeded to the home of John Heaslip. Heaslip and his son Robert aged 19 were caught running out the back of the house, taken a short distance away and shot dead.
James Lockhart was murdered in front of his mother and three sisters as their home was burned to the ground and Joseph Gray, a local Orangeman was dragged from his bed and shot.
He died the next day. Gray’s mother asked why the attack was being carried out. She was told by one of the attackers it was, ‘in reprisal for the murder of Catholics in Belfast’. (14)
The IRA gang burned all the properties of those whom they killed. They also moved on to Derrymore and Ballymacdermot where petrol bombs were thrown into houses whilst other houses were burnt down and bombs rigged to doors to prevent escape although these failed to explode. By the end of the night six Protestants were dead, one a woman and dozens of properties had been destroyed.
The savage violence left the Unionist community in absolute fear of future violence but they were not alone. Nationalists also feared reprisals from the USC and members of both communities took to the fields to sleep at night for fear of what may come. (15)
Frank Aiken and the Perpetrators
Many of those involved in the Altnaveigh Massacre had to leave their homesteads and some left Ireland altogether for fear of reprisals. Some like Marron and Fearon however still lived close by. Marron stated:
“He (Michael Fearon) still lived near Altnaveigh and so did I. I knew the people and saw them every day, we were however well disguised on the job and are not as yet known to be on it. (16)
Others left for England, America and Canada. Thomas Pentony left for America in December 1922 citing fears, “for my wife and children which compelled me to sail for the USA”. (17) James McAnerney left for Canada around the same time.
Frank Aiken would be referred to as ‘The Butcher of Altnaveigh’ by Unionists but would go on to have a hugely successful career as a Politician. He was instrumental in the rise of Fianna Fail in the early 1930’s and his respect as an IRA commander meant his links were influencial in reconciling the IRA to the Fianna Fail Government.
He was appointed Minister of Defence and remained as a Minister in subsequent Governments. During World War Two he was a staunch upholder of Irish neutrality famously driving President Roosevelt into a rage when Aiken was entertained in Washington. Aiken had refused to Roosevelt’s pleas for Ireland to join the war or openly help.
Interestingly after World War Two Aiken was appointed Minister of Finance and was involved in conflict with the banking sector and in particular Lord Glenavy, head of the Irish Banks Standing Committee. In need of loans for infrastructure projects Glenavy refused leaving Aiken furious.
In 1951 he became Minister of Foreign Affairs and went on to acquire a reputation as a man passionate about de-colonisation in Africa and Asia. He also talked of the UN recognising ‘Red China’, although was supportive of Tibet’s resistance against Chinese Annexation.
Aiken was appointed Tánaiste and Minister of External Affairs in 1965 and was supportive of Sean Lemass meetings with his Northern counterpart, Terence O’Neil.
He also went on to hold a moderate stance during the outbreak of violence in Northern Ireland and subsequently backed Jack Lynch action over the Arms Crisis in 1970, despite Aiken’s lifelong abhorrence of partition. Indeed when Charles Haughey was declared a Fianna Fail candidate in 1973 Aiken became disillusioned with Politics and retired to his farm. He died 10 years later in 1983. (18)
Conclusion
The violence in the 4th Northern Division area was some of the most savage and sectarian that took place during the period 1920-1922. It culminated eventually in the attack on Altnaveigh.
The IRA had claimed the attack was revenge on what it believed to be an ‘Orange area’ which had heavy recruitment into the USC, at a time when republicans believed that, due to the pervasiveness of the Specials, there were in the words of one, no longer any unionist civilians. (19)
The Altnaveigh Massacre however was one of the most infamous attacks during the conflict. The fact that the attackers had been totally indiscriminate in their actions against a vulnerable and isolated target left many Protestants extremely fearful, particularly along the border.
The attack was so sudden and so savage that it was a turning point in the conflict. It would be the last large scale attack by any party in the 4th Northern Division area. Patrick Casey speaking 35 years after the event remembered the sense of shame over what had happened. He told the Bureau of Military History that:
Nothing could justify this holocaust of unfortunate Protestants’. (20)
And a holocaust it certainly was for the victims involved in what must rank as one of Ireland’s most vicious sectarian attacks.
References:
In all twelve workmen were taken from their work bus. One was identified as a Catholic and freed. The others were lined up and shot. Ten men died but one man survived, Alan Black. The attack was claimed by the South Armagh Republican Action Force. Ostensibly a cover name for the Provisional IRA. See Lost Lives p611-614 R. Lynch, The Northern IRA and the Early Years of Partition Appendix I. Casualties in Northern Ireland 1920-1922. Pearse Lawlor, The Outrages, p.22-24 M.Lewis, Frank Aiken’s War: The Irish Revolution 1916-1923 Freemans Journal, 25th June 1921 WS Ref #: 598 , Witness: John T Connolly R. Lynch, The Northern IRA and the Early Years of Partition. T. Wilson, Frontiers of Violence, Conflict and Identity in Ulster and Upper Silesia. B Evans and S. Kelly, Frank Aiken Nationalist and Internationalist. For information on Altnaveigh and other incidents see here. http://www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/military-service-pensions-collection-1916-1923 Patrick Casey BMH WS REF #: 1148 https://militarypensions.wordpress.com/2018/05/16/altnaveigh-reprisal/ James Marron MSP34REF318 http://www.irishmedals.ie/ R. Lynch, The Northern IRA and the Early Years of Partition. James Marron MSP34REF318 Thomas Pentony MSP34REF477 B Evans and S. Kelly, Frank Aiken Nationalist and Internationalist. M.Lewis, Frank Aiken’s War: The Irish Revolution 1916-1923 Patrick Casey BMH WS REF #: 1148


sluggerotoole--2020-07-28--A Song for a Shared Island…

A Song for a Shared Island…

There are many conversations happening across the island about what a shared island might look like .
Talking is vitally important but so , too , is singing .
What might a shared island sound like ?
To be emotionally carried along by – and to sing along with – a beautiful song that appeals to the more noble , inclusive and generous parts of our common humanity is one of the greatest creative acts we can experience .
Is there a song that encapsulates the desire of the vast majority of islanders to live in peace and hope together @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1831 ) , by the Glenavy poet and schoolmaster Hugh McWilliams ( c.1783-c.1840 ) , captures our painful past and hopeful future , set to the melody of Robbie Burns ’ “ Now Westlin ’ Winds and Slaughterin ’ Guns ” , sung here by Áine Uí Cheallaigh : The original words are somewhat male-centric , so I have made some small changes ( not in italics ) which I hope do not detract from the noble sentiments and rhythm of the song .
I could not come up with a replacement for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that did not ruin the end-rhyme of that line .
Were humankind inclined like me , to live in peace and unity , No more contention there would be , among the folk of Erin .
Originally we were all sprung , from Eve and Adam , old and young , These words should fall from every tongue : we will cherish peace in Erin .
We ’ re formed by one Deity to worship then : let ’ s all agree , And live in peace and harmony with every class in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ paths should lie , to Clough , or to the Glens hard by , Why should this weaken friendship ’ s tie , between the folk of Erin ?
What land can boast so pure an air , or men so fine , or maids so fair , Or who was e ’ en renowned in war , above the folk of Erin ?
Their courage far abroad is known , on the field of Mars their victory shone ; But let us cultivate at home , the laws of peace in Erin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , on this my own , my native isle , Not Egypt with her flowing Nile , could equal thee , dear Erin ; Your lapping lakes and flowing streams , and verdant groves where music rings , And health , with healing in her wings , would bless this land of Erin .
‘ Tis principle that shows the man : this is the one , the only plan , And one that I have built upon , when rambling through old Erin .
So let us , in this present day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Far , far across the Atlantic Sea .
And all join hands in Erin .
Photo by sweetlouise is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA

There are many conversations happening across the island about what a shared island might look like. Talking is vitally important but so, too, is singing. What might a shared island sound like? To be emotionally carried along by – and to sing along with – a beautiful song that appeals to the more noble, inclusive and generous parts of our common humanity is one of the greatest creative acts we can experience. Is there a song that encapsulates the desire of the vast majority of islanders to live in peace and hope together?
“Peace in Erin” (1831), by the Glenavy poet and schoolmaster Hugh McWilliams (c.1783-c.1840), captures our painful past and hopeful future, set to the melody of Robbie Burns’ “Now Westlin’ Winds and Slaughterin’ Guns”, sung here by Áine Uí Cheallaigh:
The original words are somewhat male-centric, so I have made some small changes (not in italics) which I hope do not detract from the noble sentiments and rhythm of the song. I could not come up with a replacement for ‘man’ in the fourth-last line that did not ruin the end-rhyme of that line.
Were humankind inclined like me, to live in peace and unity,
No more contention there would be, among the folk of Erin.
Originally we were all sprung, from Eve and Adam, old and young,
These words should fall from every tongue: we will cherish peace in Erin.
We’re formed by one Deity to worship then: let’s all agree,
And live in peace and harmony with every class in Erin.
On Sundays, if our paths should lie, to Clough, or to the Glens hard by,
Why should this weaken friendship’s tie, between the folk of Erin?
What land can boast so pure an air, or men so fine, or maids so fair,
Or who was e’en renowned in war, above the folk of Erin?
Their courage far abroad is known, on the field of Mars their victory shone;
But let us cultivate at home, the laws of peace in Erin.
If fortune fair and commerce shine, on this my own, my native isle,
Not Egypt with her flowing Nile, could equal thee, dear Erin;
Your lapping lakes and flowing streams, and verdant groves where music rings,
And health, with healing in her wings, would bless this land of Erin.
‘Tis principle that shows the man: this is the one, the only plan,
And one that I have built upon, when rambling through old Erin.
So let us, in this present day, cast prejudice and spleen away,
Far, far across the Atlantic Sea. And all join hands in Erin.
Photo by sweetlouise is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA


sluggerotoole--2020-07-29--The time has come to unmask Korhomme…

The time has come to unmask Korhomme…

Let me tell you a story .
In July 2004 I flew from Belfast to Manchester on a day trip .
I was formally dressed in lightweight clothes and carrying a briefcase .
On arrival , I was stopped at the security check ; the policeman wanted to see my passport .
I showed him my Irish one , which made him suspicious .
He asked the purpose of my visit , and I told him I had an appointment at the Swiss Consulate ; this made him deeply suspicious .
He then ordered me out of the queue .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ drugs .
The policeman disappeared into an office for half an hour or so .
He returned , and with a very sour face told me I was free to go .
My appointment was part of the process for applying for naturalisation as a Swiss citizen .
If you live permanently in Switzerland , you will have to appear before your local commune or Gemeinde , and be questioned about your application .
This can involve what sounds like a third-degree level of interrogation .
If you make a good impression , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a good egg , your application will be approved and forwarded to the Canton , who will then forward it to the Federal government in Bern .
If you live abroad you go to the local Consulate for the interview .
The appointment was in the early afternoon , and I prepared for the interview ( ordeal ? )
with a sandwich and a couple of pints in a nearby pub .
( The sandwich broke a tooth . )
Arriving punctually , I was met by the Consul and her deputy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to our plans at that time in Switzerland .
It soon became very clear that I knew more about Swiss history than they did , and that I had been to Switzerland far more often in the previous few years than they had .
So , the interview was very pleasant .
At the end , they said they would forward their report to Bern , and that I could expect to wait a year before hearing of any decision .
In the written part of the application I had to give the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ me and could vouch for me ; their exact address wasn ’ t required .
I included the name of my brother-in-law , and he was contacted by the authorities .
He told me that he ’ d replied saying , “ that nothing would give him greater pleasure than if my application was successful ” .
In June 2005 I received a letter confirming that my application had been successful and that the formal certificate would be forwarded on payment of the fee .
( Almost every contact with the authorities in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) I sent off for this , and also for a passport and identity card .
A little later the passport arrived , showing these details inside : The time has come to retire my previous identity on Slugger .
Ampelmann and the pseudonym have served me well over the years .
Rather than this : You will in future see my real name and an avatar based on this self-portrait : And like the phoenix , a new identity will be born from the ashes of the old .
“ Unmasked !
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ CC BY

Let me tell you a story. In July 2004 I flew from Belfast to Manchester on a day trip. I was formally dressed in lightweight clothes and carrying a briefcase. On arrival, I was stopped at the security check; the policeman wanted to see my passport. I showed him my Irish one, which made him suspicious. He asked the purpose of my visit, and I told him I had an appointment at the Swiss Consulate; this made him deeply suspicious. He then ordered me out of the queue. My briefcase was searched and swabbed for drugs. The policeman disappeared into an office for half an hour or so. He returned, and with a very sour face told me I was free to go.
My appointment was part of the process for applying for naturalisation as a Swiss citizen. If you live permanently in Switzerland, you will have to appear before your local commune or Gemeinde, and be questioned about your application. This can involve what sounds like a third-degree level of interrogation. If you make a good impression, and are regarded as ein guter Kerl, a good egg, your application will be approved and forwarded to the Canton, who will then forward it to the Federal government in Bern. If you live abroad you go to the local Consulate for the interview.
The appointment was in the early afternoon, and I prepared for the interview (ordeal?) with a sandwich and a couple of pints in a nearby pub. (The sandwich broke a tooth.)
Arriving punctually, I was met by the Consul and her deputy. I showed them the documents relating to our plans at that time in Switzerland. It soon became very clear that I knew more about Swiss history than they did, and that I had been to Switzerland far more often in the previous few years than they had. So, the interview was very pleasant. At the end, they said they would forward their report to Bern, and that I could expect to wait a year before hearing of any decision. In the written part of the application I had to give the names and towns of people who knew me and could vouch for me; their exact address wasn’t required. I included the name of my brother-in-law, and he was contacted by the authorities. He told me that he’d replied saying, “that nothing would give him greater pleasure than if my application was successful”.
In June 2005 I received a letter confirming that my application had been successful and that the formal certificate would be forwarded on payment of the fee. (Almost every contact with the authorities in Switzerland involves a payment for service.) I sent off for this, and also for a passport and identity card. A little later the passport arrived, showing these details inside:
The time has come to retire my previous identity on Slugger. Ampelmann and the pseudonym have served me well over the years. Rather than this:
You will in future see my real name and an avatar based on this self-portrait:
And like the phoenix, a new identity will be born from the ashes of the old.
“Unmasked!” by JD Hancock is licensed under CC BY


sluggerotoole--2020-07-29--Cargo of Bricks Ep 10: How Social science can help NI politicians catch up with where the people alr

Cargo of Bricks Ep 10: How Social science can help NI politicians catch up with where the people already are and want to be…

Rosa Luxemburg once observed that without all the components of democracy ( elections , unrestricted free press and assembly , and free struggle of opinion ) , “ public life gradually falls asleep , and a few dozen party leaders of inexhaustible energy direct and rule ” .
In Northern Ireland we certainly have elections ( three of them last year alone ) .
But after twenty years plus of on/off institutions politics there ’ s a growing gap between the people and the political machines which appoint them to look after their interests .
Who saw the 2019 Alliance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ three years ago something was coming .
But Professor Pete Shirlow tells me he saw evidence building within social science over the last ten years , but the bigger parties had become too insular to take it seriously .
The evidence suggests that both he DUP ’ s staunch social conservatism and Sinn Féin ’ s belief in demography as a single route to unification are both undermined by the fact that identity amongst the young is far more fluid than its ever been .
And fluidity is opportunity for whoever embraces the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it but , as Maurice Merleau-Ponty once put it , to ‘ return to things themselves ’ , in other words to us , as the people we have become , not who we once were in our younger days .
Politicians with an eye on the future , must tackle the vacuum of thought at the heart of the politics of our time .
To do this , Shirlow says , we need a free and informed civic space , where other voices are welcomed and social learning is put at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ m off for a few weeks now , but I ’ ll be back in September with a new series of # CargoOfBricks .
In the meantime , catch up Cargo of Bricks and In Conversation andsubscribe on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts , Spotify , or wherever you get your favourite podcasts .

Rosa Luxemburg once observed that without all the components of democracy (elections, unrestricted free press and assembly, and free struggle of opinion), “public life gradually falls asleep, and a few dozen party leaders of inexhaustible energy direct and rule”.
In Northern Ireland we certainly have elections (three of them last year alone). But after twenty years plus of on/off institutions politics there’s a growing gap between the people and the political machines which appoint them to look after their interests.
Who saw the 2019 Alliance surge coming? I had a notion three years ago something was coming. But Professor Pete Shirlow tells me he saw evidence building within social science over the last ten years, but the bigger parties had become too insular to take it seriously.
The evidence suggests that both he DUP’s staunch social conservatism and Sinn Féin’s belief in demography as a single route to unification are both undermined by the fact that identity amongst the young is far more fluid than its ever been.
And fluidity is opportunity for whoever embraces the opportunities for change, not by forcing it but, as Maurice Merleau-Ponty once put it, to ‘return to things themselves’, in other words to us, as the people we have become, not who we once were in our younger days.
Politicians with an eye on the future, must tackle the vacuum of thought at the heart of the politics of our time. To do this, Shirlow says, we need a free and informed civic space, where other voices are welcomed and social learning is put at the centre of everything we do.
Listen in…
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I’m off for a few weeks now, but I’ll be back in September with a new series of #CargoOfBricks. In the meantime, catch up Cargo of Bricks and In Conversation andsubscribe on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your favourite podcasts.


sluggerotoole--2020-07-30--The new campaign against racism in Britain tells only half the story

“ I remember when Mark Duggan was killed by police .
It was my generation ’ s Stephen Lawrence moment.
” Race and racism .
Just now we ’ re going through a surge fomented in the US and probably aggravated on this side of the Atlantic by the frustrations of lockdown and the habit of imitation .
Longer term the abiding chronic issues have not been helped by a widening gap between ideology and pragmatism .
I seldom have to confront the reality .
One small exception was two years when I was at the crossing from the Houses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ A large grey BMW shot across the pedestrian green light in front of me .
I tapped his bonnet in rebuke .
( Tapped not thumped .
This is important ) .
As I reached the other side , I saw out of the corner of my eye that he ’ d stopped his Beamer in the middle of the road , blocking the traffic at one of the busiest junctions in London and was heading straight at me .
He was big , early middle aged and black .
I picked up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into a run and made it through the ticket barrier .
Christ !
Will he leap over and stab me ?
“ Hey you , what you think you doing to my car ?
” “ Sorry ” I mumbled , then turned and fled .
Rightly or wrongly I reckoned that a large black man driving a newish BMW who had the gall to stop the traffic at Big Ben had all the self importance of a drugs baron .
Racial stereotyping ?
You bet .
I now have inkling of what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police point of view .
If I ’ m wrong I apologise to the memory every time I think about it .
But only up to a point .
Mine was a trivial gesture .
I ’ m more than willing to take instruction on what it ’ s like to be on the receiving end .
But I ’ m more than frustrated that the issues around racism and what racism actually is , are much the same as when I first came across them half a century ago .
The Guardian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ towards diversity under editor in chief Kath Viner .
Today they ’ re doing a big number on Race .
The short testimonies are chastening .
So is the news report of 200,000 at 150 demos in June .
( Whither social distancing ? )
.
Columnist Afua Hirsch does her thing .
She asks “ who will hold the police to account for acts that criminalise the black community ” ?
No doubts about sharing responsibility there .
She simply dismisses Met Commissioner Cressida Dick on black crime .
But this is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ interested in closing the analytical gap ?
The few who prescribe are attacked .
George Floyd was a case where in the very different US culture his petty criminality didn ’ t stop his elevation to international martyr in funeral rites that exceeded JFK ’ s .
Michael Duggan was something else despite changes of story over the gun .
That his death in 2011 triggered shop and car burnings near my home in central Ealing well away from black estates still makes me wonder .
Added to the fact that a young @ @ @ @ @ @ @ him as “ our Stephen Lawrence ” .
These attitudes seem even more implacable than those working class Prods v Micks in NI .
The change there is that acts of violence are no longer respectable although sectarian solidarity is just as intense .
In England the near panic about knife crime and gang activity generally is overshadowed by police rough handling over stop and search .
Gunmen aren ’ t called out as they were so powerfully over the killing of Lyra McKee in Belfast whose funeral was attended by 2 PMs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In England after the family victims ’ statements the real victims are overlooked .
I did my first report on black deaths in police custody on attachment to BBC TV News in 1974 .
What has changed ?
A hardening gangland culture , that ’ s what .
And big raves in south London stimulated by gangs many of them black , to make up for lost revenue during the Covid lockdown .

Photograph: Anselm Ebulue / The Guardian
Tré Ventour 24 • Northampton • Writer and race equality activist
“I remember when Mark Duggan was killed by police. It was my generation’s Stephen Lawrence moment.”
From the Guardian
Race and racism. Just now we’re going through a surge fomented in the US and probably aggravated on this side of the Atlantic by the frustrations of lockdown and the habit of imitation. Longer term the abiding chronic issues have not been helped by a widening gap between ideology and pragmatism. I seldom have to confront the reality. One small exception was two years when I was at the crossing from the Houses of Parliament to Westminster tube station. A large grey BMW shot across the pedestrian green light in front of me. I tapped his bonnet in rebuke. (Tapped not thumped. This is important). As I reached the other side, I saw out of the corner of my eye that he’ d stopped his Beamer in the middle of the road, blocking the traffic at one of the busiest junctions in London and was heading straight at me. He was big, early middle aged and black. I picked up speed, resisting the urge to break into a run and made it through the ticket barrier. Christ! Will he leap over and stab me?
“Hey you, what you think you doing to my car?” “ Sorry” I mumbled, then turned and fled. Rightly or wrongly I reckoned that a large black man driving a newish BMW who had the gall to stop the traffic at Big Ben had all the self importance of a drugs baron. Racial stereotyping? You bet. I now have inkling of what stop and search is like from the police point of view. If I’m wrong I apologise to the memory every time I think about it. But only up to a point. Mine was a trivial gesture. I’m more than willing to take instruction on what it’s like to be on the receiving end. But I’m more than frustrated that the issues around racism and what racism actually is, are much the same as when I first came across them half a century ago.
The Guardian’s focus has been shifting further towards diversity under editor in chief Kath Viner. Today they’re doing a big number on Race. The short testimonies are chastening. So is the news report of 200,000 at 150 demos in June. (Whither social distancing?).
Columnist Afua Hirsch does her thing. She asks “who will hold the police to account for acts that criminalise the black community”? No doubts about sharing responsibility there. She simply dismisses Met Commissioner Cressida Dick on black crime.
But this is apples and pears stuff. Is nobody interested in closing the analytical gap? The few who prescribe are attacked. George Floyd was a case where in the very different US culture his petty criminality didn’t stop his elevation to international martyr in funeral rites that exceeded JFK’s. Michael Duggan was something else despite changes of story over the gun. That his death in 2011 triggered shop and car burnings near my home in central Ealing well away from black estates still makes me wonder. Added to the fact that a young decent black quoted today can still regard him as “our Stephen Lawrence”.
These attitudes seem even more implacable than those working class Prods v Micks in NI. The change there is that acts of violence are no longer respectable although sectarian solidarity is just as intense. In England the near panic about knife crime and gang activity generally is overshadowed by police rough handling over stop and search. Gunmen aren’t called out as they were so powerfully over the killing of Lyra McKee in Belfast whose funeral was attended by 2 PMs and carried live on national TV. In England after the family victims’ statements the real victims are overlooked. I did my first report on black deaths in police custody on attachment to BBC TV News in 1974. What has changed? A hardening gangland culture, that’s what. And big raves in south London stimulated by gangs many of them black, to make up for lost revenue during the Covid lockdown.


sluggerotoole--2020-07-30--The Strange World of Hygiene Theatre and Covid-19…

Good article by Derek Thompson over at The Atlantic on Hygiene Theatre .
As you may remember Security Theatre is the name given to the practices at airport security that don ’ t actually do much to reduce terrorism but let the government pretend they are doing something .
You know the taking your shoes off , no water bottles , frisking 80-year-old grannies from Cullybackey within an inch of their lives etc .
Covid-19 has given rise to a similar phenomenon where people are cleaning their homes like never before , and businesses and public transport are covering every @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at every opportunity .
There is no real evidence all this cleaning makes much of a difference when it comes to Covid-19 .
From the article : In May , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidelines to clarify that while COVID-19 spreads easily among speakers and sneezers in close encounters , touching a surface “ isn ’ t thought to be the main way the virus spreads.
” Other scientists have reached a more forceful conclusion .
“ Surface transmission of COVID-19 is not justified at all by the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ microbiology professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School , told me .
He also emphasized the primacy of airborne person-to-person transmission .
Surface transmission—from touching doorknobs , mail , food-delivery packages , and subways poles—seems quite rare .
( Quite rare isn ’ t the same as impossible : The scientists I spoke with constantly repeated the phrase “ people should still wash their hands.
” ) The difference may be a simple matter of time .
In the hours that can elapse between , say , Person 1 coughing on her hand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ door and Person 2 touching the same door and rubbing his eye , the virus particles from the initial cough may have sufficiently deteriorated .
The fact that surface areas—or “ fomites , ” in medical jargon—are less likely to convey the virus might seem counterintuitive to people who have internalized certain notions of grimy germs , or who read many news articles in March about the danger of COVID-19-contaminated food .
Backing up those scary stories were several U.S. studies that found that COVID-19 particles could survive on surfaces for many hours @ @ @ @ @ @ @ July article in the medical journal The Lancet , Goldman excoriated those conclusions .
All those studies that made COVID-19 seem likely to live for days on metal and paper bags were based on unrealistically strong concentrations of the virus .
As he explained to me , as many as 100 people would need to sneeze on the same area of a table to mimic some of their experimental conditions .
The studies “ stacked the deck to get a result that bears no resemblance to the real world , ” Goldman said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Covid-19 seems to be airborne or person to person contact .
All this cleaning can have negative consequences such as schools and other locations , being shut down for unnecessary ‘ deep cleans ’ .
Likewise , buses and trains being taken out of use for cleaning can have impacts on service levels .
In simple terms , the chances of picking up Covid-19 from surfaces are slim , especially outdoor surfaces .
Any Covid-19 bugs on a pole on a bus , for example , would likely die within a few hours @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trains being rested overnight should be enough .
As long as people wear masks and don ’ t lick one another , New York ’ s subway-germ panic seems irrational .
In Japan , ridership has returned to normal , and outbreaks traced to its famously crowded public transit system have been so scarce that the Japanese virologist Hitoshi Oshitani concluded , in an email to The Atlantic , that “ transmission on the train is not common.
” Like airline travelers forced to wait forever in line so that septuagenarians can get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Yorkers are being inconvenienced in the interest of eliminating a vanishingly small risk .
Finally , and most important , hygiene theater builds a false sense of security , which can ironically lead to more infections .
Many bars , indoor restaurants , and gyms , where patrons are huffing and puffing one another ’ s stale air , shouldn ’ t be open at all .
They should be shut down and bailed out by the government until the pandemic is under control .
No amount of soap and bleach changes this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ establishments are boasting about their cleaning practices while inviting strangers into unventilated indoor spaces to share one another ’ s microbial exhalations .
This logic is warped .
It completely misrepresents the nature of an airborne threat .
It ’ s as if an oceanside town stalked by a frenzy of ravenous sharks urged people to return to the beach by saying , We care about your health and safety , so we ’ ve reinforced the boardwalk with concrete .
Lovely .
Now people can sturdily walk into the ocean and be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our anxieties into empty cleaning rituals , we lose focus on the more common modes of COVID-19 transmission and the most crucial policies to stop this plague .
“ My point is not to relax , but rather to focus on what matters and what works , ” Goldman said .
“ Masks , social distancing , and moving activities outdoors .
That ’ s it .
That ’ s how we protect ourselves .
That ’ s how we beat this thing.
” Wise words indeed .
And when it comes to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ too much cleaning is bad for your health .
It turns out like the body , houses have a microbiome and use of too many antibacterial cleaners and wipes plays havoc with this ecosystem .
Best to use more natural cleaning products , steam cleaners or just a microfibre cloth and some soap .
All things in moderation .
“ West Virginia National Guard ” by The National Guard is licensed under CC BY

Good article by Derek Thompson over at The Atlantic on Hygiene Theatre. As you may remember Security Theatre is the name given to the practices at airport security that don’t actually do much to reduce terrorism but let the government pretend they are doing something. You know the taking your shoes off, no water bottles, frisking 80-year-old grannies from Cullybackey within an inch of their lives etc.
Covid-19 has given rise to a similar phenomenon where people are cleaning their homes like never before, and businesses and public transport are covering every square inch with industrial strength cleaning products at every opportunity. There is no real evidence all this cleaning makes much of a difference when it comes to Covid-19. From the article:
In May, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidelines to clarify that while COVID-19 spreads easily among speakers and sneezers in close encounters, touching a surface “isn’t thought to be the main way the virus spreads.” Other scientists have reached a more forceful conclusion. “Surface transmission of COVID-19 is not justified at all by the science,” Emanuel Goldman, a microbiology professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, told me. He also emphasized the primacy of airborne person-to-person transmission. Surface transmission—from touching doorknobs, mail, food-delivery packages, and subways poles—seems quite rare. (Quite rare isn’t the same as impossible: The scientists I spoke with constantly repeated the phrase “people should still wash their hands.”) The difference may be a simple matter of time. In the hours that can elapse between, say, Person 1 coughing on her hand and using it to push open a door and Person 2 touching the same door and rubbing his eye, the virus particles from the initial cough may have sufficiently deteriorated. The fact that surface areas—or “fomites,” in medical jargon—are less likely to convey the virus might seem counterintuitive to people who have internalized certain notions of grimy germs, or who read many news articles in March about the danger of COVID-19-contaminated food. Backing up those scary stories were several U.S. studies that found that COVID-19 particles could survive on surfaces for many hours and even days. But in a July article in the medical journal The Lancet, Goldman excoriated those conclusions. All those studies that made COVID-19 seem likely to live for days on metal and paper bags were based on unrealistically strong concentrations of the virus. As he explained to me, as many as 100 people would need to sneeze on the same area of a table to mimic some of their experimental conditions. The studies “stacked the deck to get a result that bears no resemblance to the real world,” Goldman said.
So the main transmission method of Covid-19 seems to be airborne or person to person contact. All this cleaning can have negative consequences such as schools and other locations, being shut down for unnecessary ‘deep cleans’. Likewise, buses and trains being taken out of use for cleaning can have impacts on service levels.
In simple terms, the chances of picking up Covid-19 from surfaces are slim, especially outdoor surfaces. Any Covid-19 bugs on a pole on a bus, for example, would likely die within a few hours so the normal cycle of buses and trains being rested overnight should be enough.
As long as people wear masks and don’t lick one another, New York’s subway-germ panic seems irrational. In Japan, ridership has returned to normal, and outbreaks traced to its famously crowded public transit system have been so scarce that the Japanese virologist Hitoshi Oshitani concluded, in an email to The Atlantic, that “transmission on the train is not common.” Like airline travelers forced to wait forever in line so that septuagenarians can get a patdown for underwear bombs, New Yorkers are being inconvenienced in the interest of eliminating a vanishingly small risk. Finally, and most important, hygiene theater builds a false sense of security, which can ironically lead to more infections. Many bars, indoor restaurants, and gyms, where patrons are huffing and puffing one another’s stale air, shouldn’t be open at all. They should be shut down and bailed out by the government until the pandemic is under control. No amount of soap and bleach changes this calculation. Instead, many of these establishments are boasting about their cleaning practices while inviting strangers into unventilated indoor spaces to share one another’s microbial exhalations. This logic is warped. It completely misrepresents the nature of an airborne threat. It’s as if an oceanside town stalked by a frenzy of ravenous sharks urged people to return to the beach by saying, We care about your health and safety, so we’ve reinforced the boardwalk with concrete. Lovely. Now people can sturdily walk into the ocean and be separated from their limbs. By funneling our anxieties into empty cleaning rituals, we lose focus on the more common modes of COVID-19 transmission and the most crucial policies to stop this plague. “My point is not to relax, but rather to focus on what matters and what works,” Goldman said. “Masks, social distancing, and moving activities outdoors. That’s it. That’s how we protect ourselves. That’s how we beat this thing.”
Wise words indeed. And when it comes to our homes the latest research is that too much cleaning is bad for your health. It turns out like the body, houses have a microbiome and use of too many antibacterial cleaners and wipes plays havoc with this ecosystem. Best to use more natural cleaning products, steam cleaners or just a microfibre cloth and some soap. All things in moderation.
“West Virginia National Guard” by The National Guard is licensed under CC BY