Bernadette and Martina

[DuineEile]

Is that a joke?

Single party rule ended in 1972. STV had been introduced for local elections and was used for the first time in 1973. The voting laws were changed in 1969. Results of 1973 local elections are here: Local Government Elections 1973

Bit like saying that the Second World War should have stopped in 1943 once the war had turned in the Allies favour.

The North was a powderkeg. When it exploded it was going to take an effort to restore calm. An effort made more difficult by the refusal of unionists/Govts. to talk to republicans, and the refusal of unionists to make any concessions to Catholics.

D

[baalthor]

Surely the phrase "Sunningdale for slow learners " was aimed at unionists ?

[theloner]

The other way around surely, Lucinda knows what it takes to get elected in this country. Devlin tried and failed to get elected on two occasions

Oh yeah, because getting elected in 'this country' is a sure sign you are a credible, upstanding, capable politician. Bernadette at least stood by her principles and championed the weak in society as opposed to the misnomer Blonde Bombshell who feels same sex marriage would be a determent to our society.

[harry_w]

Surely the phrase "Sunningdale for slow learners " was aimed at unionists ?

As I recall, yes it was aimed at both Sinn Féin and the UUP, both led in 1998 by factions who'd opposed Sunningdale.

Of course, the slowest learner on the block hadn't learnt the lesson of Sunningdale's failure. Mallon was effectively buried, along with the SDLP as the leading nationalist party, by the ex-Vanguard unionists like Trimble and the blather of Blair/Mowlam on behalf of the British government. He'd learnt nothing from the UWC strike and the role of the Ulster Unionist Council in bringing down the Sunningdale executive, and the deal abandoned by the British.

Trimble's UUP and the British did a side-deal to renege on the terms for decommissioning and to delay constructing the power-sharing executive, they obstructed the implementation of the Agreement for years in a futile bid to 'Save Dave'.

So the slow learner and the SDLP were taught another lesson by the electorate. On the unionist side, all the forces of the London and Dublin, their political advisers and media hacks couldn't 'Save Dave' and his Vanguard faction then leading the UUP. Both led their parties into minority support within their constituencies and practically into oblivion.

Was 'Sunningdale for slow learners' the last politically notable thing he ever said? Nobody did anything to save Seamus (and the SDLP), or seemed to care when that irrelevance forced him to resign as Deputy First Minister.

BBC News | UK Politics | Seamus Mallon's resignation speech (1999)

I felt for him personally, he'd gone from patronising the 'slow learners' to having his good faith abused by the Vanguard UUP and the British, and being shown not have learnt the lessons of Sunningdale himself. It's a pity that beyond John Hume, the SDLP never learnt the lesson of Sunningdale.

This is not 'Sunningdale for slow learners', it's working through the consequences of 'Hume-Adams'. The SDLP and UUP, and all their supporters in government, media and academia never came to terms with that. They cling to 'Sunningdale for slow learners' as a sound-bite to comfort themselves while Sinn Féin and the DUP they despised both went to the top of the class.

[DeGaulle 2.0]

I have no idea in what way you think casting up an IRA action is a rebuttal to my argument that voting would have changed anything under the old Stormfront(deliberate typo there-did you like it) regime . The system was set up so that voting could't change anything. In areas with a Nationalist majority gerrymandering ensured that control of housing, employment, etc, remained with the unionist hegemony. The area where McGuinness grew up. Again - your ignorance is appalling it's matched only by your anti-republican bigotry.

As a result of the NICRA campaign, the voting laws were changed and Derry council was controlled by Nationalists from the following election (1973) onwards. The area where McGuinness grew up. This is a fact. You seem to be quite ignorant of facts.

You seem to think that anyone who criticises the republican movement is a bigot - that actually means that you are blinded by your prejudices.

[loner]

It has been a rough period for a lot of people. No doubt the usual middle class Fine Gael yahoos will be on soon to talk about terrorists etc. (whilst at the same time applauding uprisings in the middle east).

The fact is that 40 years ago Ireland was a different country. The mindset and the trials of those days simply can't be understood by the likes of Lucinda.

I saw that young McGlinchey is calling for an investigation into his mother's murder years ago in front of him when he was a child. His other brother witnessed his father's killing, and his sister died when she was a year and a half old from menningitis. Frankly, that is more grief than a family, or indeed a person, can bear.

No doubt, some will blame all this on republicans. It wasn't republicans who partitioned the country, denied votes to catholics, batoned civil rights marchers off the streets or discrimininated in terms of jobs or housing.

But...we are at peace now. I am thankful for that, but I am long in the tooth enough to know that it may well kick off again, most likely because of overconfidence on behalf of those who don't understand the issues in the first place.


D

What are these issues that you claim some people called "those "do not understand.

[CarnivalOfAction]

You seem to think that anyone who criticises the republican movement is a bigot - that actually means that you are blinded by your prejudices.

Nope; anyone who criticizes republicans while supporting wasting taxpayers' money on collaboration with the mass murderers of Ballymurphy, Derry, Dublin, Monaghan, Dundalk, etc is a hypocrite.

[CarnivalOfAction]

Bernadette was really cute and nice. She'd be eaten alive in modern politics. Good job she got out of it.
She was like a 'Dana' its ok to like.

Eh? Don't think Dana was in too many riots:



I rem a riot in Derry in 1970. Peelers asked Bernie to stop the young lads & gave her a megaphone. Says she: " Stop lads; yiz are doing it all wrong; the peelers are able to block your rocks. Half should aim for their legs & half for their heads!"

[The Pen]

Eh? Don't think Dana was in too many riots:

I rem a riot in Derry in 1970. Peelers asked Bernie to stop the young lads & gave her a megaphone. Says she: " Stop lads; yiz are doing it all wrong; the peelers are able to block your rocks. Half should aim for their legs & half for their heads!"

Or hit maudling on the floor of the british hoc!

[Rambo83]

Bernadette was really cute and nice. She'd be eaten alive in modern politics. Good job she got out of it.
She was like a 'Dana' its ok to like.

So modern politics comparped to to the 1970s, & 80s in the North is much more tougher! Have you ever read, seen, watched the politics of the 70s in the North & else where?

Bernadette was involved in Socialist Politics with the threat of exacution by British Forces, she was nearly killed in the 70s.

A very intelligent comitted Socialist Republican who had conviction & honesty. Also a fantastic public speaker, as you can't go wrong in talking on the truth.