It Occurs To Me:The hypocrisy of ‘loyal’ subjects
Will the same concerned ‘citizens’ who rioted after the stabbing of Stephen Ogilvie, take to the streets in the wake of the conviction of a white man, a prominent loyalist and a Sir, of 18 offences including rape, indecent assault and gross indecency against two women, when they were children?
Remember the race riots in Belfast? After the stabbing of Stephen Ogilvie, allegedly by a Sudanese man, all hell broke loose, and the far-right/loyalist thugs burned businesses and intimidated innocent people because of the colour of their skin.
Well, here’s a thing…last Monday, a jury at Newry Crown Court convicted a white man, a prominent loyalist, a Sir, of 18 offences including rape, indecent assault and gross indecency against two women, when they were children.
A ‘family man’ who wore a fish badge on his lapel to signify his Christian faith. Will the same concerned ‘citizens’ riot over this? You know the answer to that.
Time to kick new system to touch?
Remember last year? As the Democrat said on Monday: “It hasn’t been as hectic for Donegal this year, who had played seven championship games by the time they reached the preliminary quarter-final last year, as opposed to just three games this year before their round 3 clash with a place in the last eight up for grabs, but the bainisteoir still feels that the increase in injuries under the new rules has made a change in routine between matches.”
I listened to Marty Morrissey on Monday morning bluntly telling RTÉ’s David McCullagh that last weekend was ridiculously condensed: Championship, Tailteann, hurling etc.
I couldn't agree more. In fairness, Mark McHugh’s Westmeath really punched above their weight: they played more games than any other team in any other province and are now out. While some others played four games and reached a quarter final, WH played a total of 520 championship minutes of football with one home game in the whole of 2026. As for Down, who beat us, they were relegated to the Tailteann much too quickly. The RTÉ panel kept blabbering after our defeat to Dublin to such an extent that the first few minutes of Cork V Offaly were missed.
Notwithstanding the fact that it was a very one-sided hurling match, I wonder had any team other than Dublin been playing beforehand, would RTÉ have extended their post-match commentary?
A final note on football for this year…a friend, a passionate Donegal supporter, who has his finger on GAA pulses outside the county, texted me: “We were very aggressive, arrogant and whingey this year. Different vibes. Donegal always had a likeable factor. That’s totally gone.”
Donegal Town deserves better
While gardaí were coping with the usual influx of ‘petrol heads’ in north Donegal, their colleagues in Donegal Town must be terribly frustrated with the upsurge in antisocial behaviour, particularly at weekends.
Picture the scene…a minibus carrying a load of northern heroes has just landed in the Harbour car-park. Immediately, there is a rush from the bus, and a load of louts proceed to urinate against the garda station walls! When confronted by an angry local (a brave person), the reply was they couldn’t wait, despite their venue being a few minutes away.
I suppose these patriots considered it symbolic, but it is yet another example of the upsurge in anti-social activity in parts of our county who, up until now, had fared pretty well.
I despair…again!
Optics, dear boy, optics!
When a journalist asked former British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan what was most likely to blow governments off course, he famously replied:"Events, dear boy, events."
As I write, I’m watching Keir Starmer’s last hurrah speech outside Number 10, and somehow, he seems to be still missing the point, or points. He had a 174 seat majority when he won the General Election a few years ago, but one of his first decisions was to scrap winter fuel payments for pensioners!
I was flabbergasted at the time…whatever about the optics (appalling as they were) the reality was starker for millions of hard put-upon elderly people.
Then, another major balls-up…in March 2025, his government unveiled plans to cut sickness and disability benefits in order to save £5 billion a year from the welfare budget by 2030. Ironically, the government’s own figures suggested that 250,000 people could be pushed into poverty because of the changes. This did not go down well and a subsequent threat of rebellion forced a partial u-turn which seemed to appease the vast majority of rebels.
However, as one shrewd observer noted, “Dissent is deferred, not dissolved”, which is something Michéal Martin should be wary of too.
There was the Peter Mandelson debacle and other gaffes, and the number one reason Starmer has been forced to step down is that hundreds of Labour MP’s are terrified of losing their seats in 2029.