Being mixed up about love is a healthy sign

There’s nothing wrong with the girl…it’s just she is a Catholic.’ A sentence familiar in many households here, the gender and the religion are of course interchangeable but the sentiment is one that has been voiced throughout the decades. One of the ‘other sort’, ‘kicks with the other foot’ or from ‘the other side of the road’, oh the variety of ways we have developed for expressing the fact we are the same, but different and that that difference will forever cause a problem. Practically, it’s survival. Emotionally, it’s trying to not rock the boat. Technically, it’s sectarianism…but don’t say that too loudly. I’m not that far off the mark am I? Perhaps that’s why the Sunday matinee of the Lyric’s production of St John Ervine’s Mixed Marriage drew a near sell-out crowd, in fact the whole run is proving remarkably popular. The play deals with this sore and sordid side of relationships here and, set on the eve of the Ulster Covenant, is a powerful insight into the destructive hate that love can create in families. Of course these days things are not as volatile when it comes to mixed religion relationships, but there is still enough of an historical hangover to make it an issue. It’s actually a running joke amid my group of closest friends that we are the ‘next generation’, a mixed religion circle all of whom are in serious relationships with partners from the ‘other side’. It’s still noticed you see, by us and our elders. We make light of our ‘cross community’ status but I know some of us have not had it easy, with various concerns about how our choice of partner will go down with family members. But these concerns were few and far between and apart from them I know we are all quite proud of ourselves. It was not a deliberate decision by any of us but, in our choice of partners we have, in the most serious way, liberated ourselves from the invisible shackles of Northern Ireland’s past and its enduring, but loosening, grip on society here — from where you socialise and educate yourself, to whom you choose to share your life with. My friends and I are choosing to not make religion an issue. That’s why we can talk openly about our politics, our beliefs in integrated education and then move on to something else. But we have that luxury, many, like the protagonists in Ervine’s play, did not. Religious difference was not allowed to be ignored. And as I looked at the age range of the audience I wondered how many could personally testify to having been through such a struggle as that being played out on stage. The thought made me quite emotional. It was those who went before, who weathered all the strife, that made it possible for my generation to live and love in peace and free from it all. I wanted to shout out thank you, but I just held his hand.

Regrets? Ah go, I'll have a few

I had the pleasure of experiencing a garden centre with my parents this weekend. Yes you read that right. A garden centre. On a Saturday. Nearing Christmas. With my parents. Any one of these sentences on its own has been known to induce panic in many a normally sane and sentient human and, as these things go, it was a venture that had come about in a perfect storm of necessity and timing. Whether that was good or bad timing was really up to my patience on the day. But nevertheless, I hadn't seen them properly in a while and I needed a poinsettia. And so I found myself amidst the poinsettias and Christmas fruit cakes listening to my parental units froth at the mouth over the rising price of buds and seeds wondering if I had indeed entered an outdoor version of hell. It didn't help that I seemed to be continually surrounded by groups of clucking women all googly eyed at the gifts and gadgets that now litter normally useful garden centres. Kitchens are now covered with these little kitsch pictures and ornaments found in garden centres. They are all fake distressed wood, straw ropes and etched with 'contemplative' quotes; 'A messy kitchen means a happy cook’; 'Life is a journey'; 'Dance like no-one's watching', to name a few of the banal platitudes. I have no idea why these cloying snippets of 'wisdom' are sold in garden centres, other than the suspicion that they must sell well in there as garden centres create a specific type of nesting feeling in women (see clucking women above) and a king and castle characteristic in men. Or maybe it's the compost fumes. But in between chairing peace talks with my mother and a wide eyed member of staff who really didn't know the correct way to water an orchid and fielding questions from my father about my savings plans, I actually found a quote that struck a chord (again it might have been the compost fumes). ‘Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets.’ According to a recent survey we spend more than two hours a week dwelling on our regrets – around 19 minutes a day. From thinking we’ve picked the wrong career/partner/choice of lunch, over a quarter of 2,000 people surveyed believed it was impossible to live a life without regrets. As I witnessed a scrum for cut price Yankee Candles on Saturday I didn’t half know what they meant. In the top ten list of regrets was not spending enough time with our parents and as I stood there in a garden centre, on a Saturday, nearing Christmas, cursing these scrums, queues and feeling a little bit like Bridget Jones but without Hugh or Colin and yet seeing more of my parents than I had in weeks, I decided to buy this cheesy little sign with that quote on regrets. I knew exactly what it was talking about.

The reason I wore a poppy this year

They say that everything is political, well Thomas Mann did anyway. He must have visited Northern Ireland. Here, even your choice of bus could be twisted into apparently declaring a viewpoint on the constitutional position. Wearing the poppy certainly is. This year was the first year I have ever worn a poppy. I hadn’t refrained from wearing one before deliberately, but as a young middle class Catholic who had no immediate connection to anyone who had fought in the world wars, it wasn’t on my radar. I respected Remembrance Day, but this year something was different. In recent days and months, a young PSNI officer Ronan Kerr was killed by a booby trap bomb, a young army medic Channing Day was killed after being shot on patrol in Afghanistan. And then David Black, a prison officer from Cookstown, was murdered on his way to work. There have been many more killed in the line of duty but these three were different for me. Channing and Ronan were very close in age to me and David Black was from a town I practically grew up in. Every day these three put on a uniform and vowed to try and make the world a safer place. They died as a result. Two of them at the hands of those seeking to drag our country back into a time no one ever wants to see again. This year also marked 25 years since the IRA bombed the Remembrance Day ceremony in Enniskillen. This was one of the darkest days of the Troubles. It was a moment of shame for all involved in the violence and yet from that dark and desperate act came the light and hope of Gordon Wilson. His daughter Marie was killed that day and his simple words of forgiveness were, and still are, an inspiration to me and to our province. Standing in Donaghadee at the cenotaph on Sunday I was moved by the dignity and quiet strength of those gathered to pay respects. I thought of how 25 years ago that day Gordon Wilson would have been doing the same and how hours later he somehow found the strength to forgive those who had murdered his daughter. It was people like Gordon who helped create the more peaceful province we now live in. It didn’t matter to me on Sunday that Catholics and Protestants had died together in the Somme, but it was an appropriate context in these times when dissidents have heightened their campaign to dismantle the peace Gordon Wilson helped create and have not discriminated in their victims in trying to do so, targeting innocent people from both sides of the community. And so I chose to wear a poppy this year. Because it has never been more important to show solidarity as a community in our commitment to peace and to show respect for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to keep us all from harm. We will remember them. Together.

Advantage Megan? Let's wait and see

Readers of this column will know if there is one thing I will always support its youth involvement in politics. There is nothing more important for a healthy future than an engaged younger generation educating itself on how society is run and prepared to take a role in civic duty and responsibility for what surrounds them. Northern Ireland is probably the UK region with the lowest level of youth disillusionment with politics. In a not entirely positive way, more young people are exposed to politics here earlier and so it’s no real surprise our Assembly now boasts an MLA who is 21. Sinn Fein’s Megan Fearon, a recent graduate of Queens’ was co-opted to take the place of Conor Murphy for Newry and Armagh. As recently as May she was tweeting about her economics finals and clearly found herself in the position of many coming to the end of education when she said: “This time tomorrow il have my economics outta the way and will officially be unemployed! Haha” Now she is in the Assembly and taking her place on committees scrutinising the finance minister and OFMDFM - I’m sure youth unemployment is no longer a laughing matter. Although clearly intelligent, ambitious and an active member with Sinn Fein for years I find the choice of Megan’s co-option bizarre. Here is a young woman, full of potential and clearly with talent being cherry picked to go straight into the Assembly. No previous hands-on experience of local government, at any level, and no election campaign where her constituents can come to their own view on this rather unconventional representative. It is not the sort of political route many will be familiar with and it no doubt puts a lot of pressure on Megan to make an impact right out of the blocks – a tough task for any new MLA, even one buoyed by an election win and security of rising through the ranks of their party’s machinery. Any clips of Megan I have seen it is like a rabbit in headlights and I’m not surprised, a committee debate is a long way from an economics tutorial. I know it doesn’t sound like it but I am actually trying to champion Megan and her ilk, which is why I’ve resisted the temptation to wheel out the ‘she has little life experience’ argument. But I’m frustrated that someone with her ability has not been allowed a normal gestation period in her party. She should be allowed to make her political mistakes of youth in the party’s backroom, to hone her election skills in campaigns for other party members and be allowed to explore her political and moral compass without electoral inhibition as it evolves through her twenties, not be plumped right in the thick of it where one blip could end a promising political career before it’s even started. Good luck, Megan, you’re going to need it.

At last a full frontal assault on Page 3

Actually got around to putting this on the blog this week. Published in all editions of this weeks' Community Telegraph: I've just returned from a holiday in Las Vegas. When I was telling people that’s where I was going for a holiday I almost felt embarrassed, like going there was some sort of indication of big drinking, loose morals and a high rolling lifestyle. I just went for a nosy really. We were staying in a hotel on the main Vegas strip; little did I know it was a particularly appropriate name for the location. One evening as I walked through the casino in search of a Ghostbusters slot machine that had proved lucky the day before, I turned a corner to be confronted by a stripper's bare arse. I couldn’t believe the cheek. Men hollering, girls dancing and money and alcohol doing the rounds, it was like a scene from a bad American Pie remake and caught me so by surprise I nearly choked on my yard glass of Singapore Sling (well I wanted to get into the spirit of the place). I never thought myself opposed to these sorts of shows for whoever wants to pay to partake. But after the sight had sunk into my shocked optic nerves and the gin into my new maxi dress, I realised what I was witnessing was genuinely grotesque. It was cheap and grubby and not least intimidating, casting as it did the roles of ogling men and ogled women throughout the surrounding area regardless of whether you'd signed up to take part or not. But it was 'the party pit' in Vegas so what did I expect, right? But what about when you’re sitting on a bus and the young guy next to you spends most of the journey on page 3 of The Sun? He’s obviously not taking that long to read whatever excuse for a story they put on that page (do they even bother pretending that words have a place there anymore?) and is happy to sit staring at a naked woman for sexual pleasure in a public place. It's a more subtle intimidation, granted, but it's the exact same sort of vulnerability that I experienced when I stumbled on that sex show in Vegas and it’s the same uneasy feeling a lot of women experience - a mixture of being objectified and sickened. Page three is different though, it’s argued, it's a 'British institution'. So was Sir Jimmy Savile. Thank goodness some have wised up to this anachronistic public titillation by setting up an online petition. Take the Bare Boobs Out of The Sun is a plea to the paper's editor Dominic Mohan. Currently signed by over 37,000 people it is calling for page three to be abolished and has garnered support from both sexes united in wishing to end this degrading objectification of women in a national newspaper. It has even got the support from famous faces including Jennifer Saunders, Lauren Laverne and journalist Caitlin Moran who tweeted: "Teenage tits aren't news OR a feature." That’s really the issue stripped bare don’t you think? http://www.change.org

The new Aga generation

Spring has sprung – an overused but timely phrase considering the lovely weather we’ve been enjoying of late.
It’s one of life’s great little gifts to start seeing a stretch in the evening, having a bright morning to wake up to and some colour in the burgeoning buds. It’s at times like this, as we bask in the glow of global warming, that I wish I lived in the countryside full-time. Whether by the sea or surrounded by green fields, as long as I’m removed from cars, footpaths and bus stops I’m a happy camper.
It’s also at times like this I wish I was Jenny Bristow. Visions of her cooking lemon meringues and mouth watering chicken dishes in her perfect country kitchen take me right back to my childhood and the formation of my dream that I too could one day own an aga cooker and have an island in my kitchen (I’m still dreaming in case you’re wondering.)
She always got it right did our Jenny. There was a freshness to her recipes, a rise in her soufflés and a spring in her chickens as she cooked local and seasonal food, all served up in those dishes your granny used to hit you for using - they are exclusively for visitors don’t you know (even though I technically was a visitor, but anyway).
Modern cookery shows just don’t have that sort of quality. It’s all kitsch kitchens with little dolly birds dressed in faux vintage polka dots and heavily made faces with dark red lips droning on about organic pigeon or some such random creature. They look like they’ve barely ever eaten a dinner, let alone cooked one.
Their hair’s always perfect and their flour never spills as they dance around their penthouse apartments decked out in the most modern of ‘vintage’ furnishings. So original, and all so the same.
And I don’t know about you but I don’t have a little French market of a Saturday to jaunt down to and pick up some specially sourced bree – more like some extra mature from Tescos.
No, Jenny’s perfect kitchen was more attainable, as were her ingredients. How bizarre that shows like Jenny’s are now out of foodie fashion and it’s seen as some sort of conscious lifestyle choice nowadays to eat locally and seasonally – surely that’s the natural order of things, in every sense of the word.
Thanks goodness our schools have taken this on board, with their new Agri-Food challenge for Key Stage 3 pupils. The idea is simple; come up with a two-course meal using fresh, local and seasonal food and win an opportunity to cook it with a professional chef. I am glad an appreciation of the resources around us is on the curriculum and education chiefs have found a way to make their use fun.
It may create another generation of aspirational aga owners, but more importantly it will counteract the deluge of the flavour of the month kitsch cookery that is just junk food by another name.
For further information visit www.nigoodfood.com

I want to settle a score on exams

This week's opinion column in the Community Telegraph (I'm gonna try and upload these every so often after they go to press)

Last week my father retired after a nigh-on 40-year career in the civil service. It was a happy day all round as we toasted his new-found freedom and looked back with fondness on his career.

As all these family things go, it was a time of old memories and new perspectives.

My father was one of the many benefactors of the introduction of educational reforms in 1960s Northern Ireland. The son of a shopkeeper from Cookstown, he passed the 11-plus and went to St Patrick’s Grammar in Armagh. Like most boys in the school he sat his A-levels with the intention of third-level education

These exams he duly passed, and with student grant in tow, completed a degree in Queens in 1972. After one or two jobs he was hired by the civil service and rose up the ranks based on hard work and aptitude.

Before you think I am getting lost in indulgent family history I must remind you that the backdrop to all this reminiscing was other news in the family – exam results.

Although none of my extended family were receiving A-level results some are waiting on GCSEs, and many of my friends had younger siblings receiving those all important results last week.

It is well-documented how tough the younger generation will now have it in terms of career choices. The irony was not lost on us that a career like my father’s would probably never be emulated again in our extended family.

For good or bad, the 11-plus is being done away with and secondary education as we know it is changing forever. Subject choices in schools are more diverse than ever, again for good or bad. There has also been the introduction of the A* grade at A-level, which, in my opinion, is simply for bad and has put more pressure than ever on students.

Yet despite this pressure, exam results are improving year on year - only for the number of university places to be falling. Northern Ireland’s two universities received applications from more than 21,680 people for just 8,378 first-year places available.

Even if you do get into university the trouble doesn’t end there. Student grants, as my father’s generation received, are now student loans and a choke-hold on any young person trying to make a start in life. I say this from personal experience.

And, at the end of your degree, you’re odds-on not to find a job in your chosen field, if at all. This is the situation everyone is familiar with by now and is one which doesn’t make for comfortable reading.

When I sat my A-levels in 2003/4 the notion that everyone could be a doctor, podiatrist, teacher, solicitor etc was still being peddled by our elders. ‘Get your exams, get to university, get a job, get a pension….’ With the benefit of hindsight this was nonsense, of course, as many of my smart, talented, unfulfilled and/or unemployed graduate friends will tell you.

We were the tail-end of the Labour government kids who got all the easy access to education and none of the benefits it was supposed to bring.

My generation were sold a lie and in a way I’m glad that those opening up exam results this week are at the beginning of everyone waking up to this fact.

Yes, the picture’s bleak but at least this is being acknowledged, now it’s time to adapt and to do so from the top down.

Those with the power to make changes to education are finally recognising the value of apprenticeships, as well as degrees. This, I hope, is the beginning of an introduction of more practical-skilled subjects in secondary education.

Hopefully these changes will also incorporate more creativity into the mainstream and not push art, design and elements of technology to the side as specialised subjects.

Computer skills must be compulsory too and not just word-processing, but elements of computer science. Finance also must be brought to the fore in schools showing students not just how to balance cash flow but how to discern between banking rates, interest rates, mortgage rates etc.

The top will need to adapt in this way to prepare young people for a new type of job market and new type of society where pieces of paper with letters after your name are no longer valued but where know-how, initiative and a willingness to work are. Those same young people, disappointed with their exam results, need to realise this and understand that patience, diligence, adaptability and kindness to your fellow man are the most important characteristics you can bring to life and to the workplace, not an ‘A’ grade in General Studies.

From my point of view, as a journalist, I have ended up in a profession far removed from where I saw myself when sitting A-levels. I am doing a job more creative than
I thought I was capable of and more demanding than the subjects I chose at A-level ever prepared me for. And I love it.

I wish my peers and I, at 18, had been given the time and space to consider all our skills and were not pushed into studying specific subjects, regardless of our aptitude..

This time, space and opportunity is now there for those receiving A-level results, and there is something liberating about the end of the poisonous and pervasive ‘you can have it all’ mantra. No, you can’t have it all, but you can now take some time to go and find out what it is you want the most.

So as my father toasts the end of his successful career I’ll raise a toast to all the younger ones starting out on theirs, whatever it may be.

Back to ranting

After a long break from blogging, I'm back to ranting although in a slightly different format.

Every week I will have an opinion column in the newly redesigned Community Telegraph. Delivered free to your door in north, east and south Belfast as well as north Down and Ards it's the very best in local news and reviews of what's going on in your locality.

As always feedback good, bad but definitely not indifferent is always welcome!

Write to us at:
Community Telegraph
Blackstaff Chambers
2 Amelia Street
Belfast
BT2 7GS

or email any entertainment news/reviews/events you want coverage of to:

ctentertainments@gmail.com

Part of the heard

It was announced last night SDLP leader Mark Durkan is to step down as leader of the party after the Westminster election. Part of the reasons given for his departure is the MP for Foyle's belief in the need to represent his constiuents at Westminster, especially in light of expected cuts to Northern Ireland's bloc grant should (as most pundits predict) a Tory government take power after June.

Mr Durkan's decision comes after much discussion about dual mandates during the expenses scandal earlier in the year and as former party collegue Brid Rodgers commented, shows Mr Durkan has 'put his money where his mouth is,' in regard to this issue of double jobbing.

Whilst I am sad to hear this nationalist leader is standing down from our regional parliament, I admire the decision to honour his opposition to the existence of multiple jobs for politicians.

It was and is one of many issues that the wider public, most of whom are not normally concerned about politics, are rightly incensed about.

It is obvious the expenses scandal has stoked an interest in the way we are governed to a greater degree than ever before and has brought local and national governance to the fore of the wider public's thinking.

I hope this engagement in political issues will continue. It was with this in mind that I was happy to hear of the 'East Belfast Speaks Out,' event to be staged on the Holywood Road on the 30th September.

Taking example from the highly successful 'West Belfast Talks Back,' events, it is one of the first community/panellist events I have heard of in the east of the city and in a predominantly unionist community.

As followers of this blog will know, I am very much a champion of community dialogue and am excited at the prospect of hearing the issues voiced at this event.

It seems to me the time is ripe for community activists to really start to have an effect on local politicians and not only in the vacuous way that so often appears to be the case in the run up to election time where polticians promise the world and when elected suffer from memory loss on promises made to constituents.

The prospect of a change of national government, changing of local council structure, prospective changes to government in Stormont (even if it is only on Peter Robinson's wish list at the minute), party link-ups of the UUP and the Conservative party and potentially SDLP and Fianna Fail, and the obvious party political shifts which will accompany an end to dual mandates (as Mark Durkan's resignation shows), prove it is very much a fluid time in politics in Northern Ireland.

With the economic climate sharpening our focus like never before, community dialogue like this event in East Belfast can only be a good thing.

For the cynics out there who would refer to this event as merely a 'talking shop,' I need not remind you of the importance of 'talking shops,' in the peace process that have got us this far.

With the dissident republican threat seemingly on the increase it is discussion of common grounds that is necessary for social cohesion and collective actions to address certian issues rather than the headlining making antics of some of our more ruthless local representatives.

It seems this message has filtered through to the folks on the hill with a Northern Ireland Assembly roadshow due to start tomorrow and continue to various locations throughout the province.

Billed as a chance to 'talk about the working of the Assembly and the issues that matter to you,' it is yet again a chance for the great and the good in Northern Ireland to put the politicians to the test or as is more likely the case - have a good rant.

Even if it is just giving your local councillor a ear-bashing, or even commending them on good work they have done in your area, it is the feedback that is essential and the creation of a climate of on-going and constructive dialogue the ultimate goal.

There is nothing that I hate more than people complaining about certain circumstances yet not having the guile to engage properly with the people who can change things. So be part of the heard.

Panel beating

It has been revealed that the BBC is to invite a member of the British National Party (BNP) to be a panel member in the upcoming edition of 'Question Time.'

According to various sources Labour politcians may stage a campaign of protest at the decision, based on their belief that having a BNP member on a show such as 'Question Time' may give the BNP's views an appearance of legitmacy and give the right wing nationalist party unnecessary and dangerous publicity.

The BBC must be congratulated for taking it's public service role seriously and taking the step of reflecting all strands of society. I have to say however, that if reports of this proposed protest are true it is both patronising and more than smacks of Labour control freakery.

The fact is that at last June's European election the BNP won 2 seats in England and 6% of the popular vote. Regardless of what the party's views are, such a result means they have a mandate - their views, while not to everyone's taste, have been shown to represent a section of British society and as such are legitimate.

Viewed in this light it seems absurd that some refuse to acknowledge this.

Unpalatable mandates are no strangers to Northern Ireland with the post Hunger-strike electoral success of Sinn Fein posing many difficult questions, both for Northern Irish politicians and media who had to deal with this new legitimate electoral force.

Section 31 in the Republic of Ireland which banned the broadcasting of republican's voices (but not their words) was one measure taken to deal with electoral republicanism. Although the meaure was dropped in 1993, to this day there are still members of some political party's who refuse to sit next to Sinn Fein representatives on certain discussion panel shows.

I am not for one minute suggesting that Sinn Fein policy is comparable to the rhetorical racist nonsense espoused by Nick Griffin and his fellow BNP'ers, but the principle has to be the same.

In a mature democracy where free and fair elections are the backbone of society, the choice of political representative made by the electorate must be respected, regardless of the difficulites this may create.

It was a problem faced in Northern Ireland many years ago, especially at a time when Sinn Fein where openly pursuing their policy of a ballot box in one hand and an armalite in the other. The tactical use of electoralism was irrelevant, it was the fact they had elected representatives that had to respected.

Such respect, however difficult, has to be afforded to the BNP as well even if the desired result in doing so is different.

No-one believes for one second that BNP policy should be allowed to expand more than it has. Their policies on immigration, employment and race are morally repugnant and dangerous to the intellectually vulnerable in our society. At a time of economic crisis, their base nationalism must not be allowed to penetrate the mainstream consciousness of the UK working classes anymore than it has, nor to pursuade a wider audience.

Banning them from prime time television is not the way to do this. We live in a world of 24/7 media and technology. If people want to read about the BNP, they'll find a way to, and not necessarily from responsible and objective sources.

The only way to tackle the BNP's growing popularity is to face them head on in a neutral environment and debate the issues.

If the government has any faith in the people it claims to the serve the interests of, it must trust them to make valued judgements on these issues. To do this, government ministers and opposition members must take the BNP members task in a televisual debate and expose their message for what it is.

Only in allowing the people to see the BNP's message being decisively dissected and beaten as part of the same panel can the growing tide of ring wing sentiment such as that of the BNP be stemmed and defeated.

A freudian slip?

So after much wrangling and debate a new Victims' Forum has been established by the Commission for Victims and Survivors.

The new forum will be made up of 30 members, most of whom have been directly affected by the Troubles.

It has been said that the choice of an hotel in Scotland was because none in Northern Ireland had enough wheelchair access to accommodate the group - a reminder of the physical scars of our past - however it will be the deeper emotional scars that will prove to be the biggest hurdle.

I have to say I have mixed feelings about this new forum.

On the one hand I wholeheartedly support the idea of discussion and dialogue between people affected most by the Troubles but their terms of reference give me a sense of deja vu.

According to reports the new forum is to discuss, among other things, the thorny issue of defining a 'victim,' and the wider issue of how to deal with the legacy of the Troubles more generally.

It was only a few months ago that the much anticipated Eames Bradley report was delivered to a tense audience in the Europa hotel. After much speculation over what their report would contain (and an unfortunate leak of some of it's proposals, an issue I have blogged on previously ) the report's recommendations have been silenced by the often louder voices of recrimination emanating from the victims sector.

The criticism centred around their proposals for a payment to victims which was always going to be controversial. However, the fact the Eames Bradley report has floundered significantly under the weight of criticism over this now defunct proposal was surprising, with the unfair result of diverting attention away from other proposals such as their own attempt at defining a 'victim.'

Recent revelations that one of the Victims' Commissioners made private overtures of support of the victims' payments, only to distance themselves from the proposal when the sea of public opinion had been tested unfavourably, is disheartening.

The politicisation of this area, failure of political leadership and lack of support from certain sections as the example above demonstrates, has blighted the Eames Bradley report. In failing to navigate their way through the politics of the situation, it seems to me various poison chalices have simply been passed from Eames Bradley to this new Forum. Same game, different players.

According to Freud the definition of stupidity is repeating the same action and expecting a different result. The questions aren't changing but are simply being passed to someone else to find a miracle answer acceptable to all.

I'm not arguing that the establishment of the Forum is stupid, but this has to be the last roll of the dice. The issues have to be tackled head on, it is not a clean slate being aimed for but the attainment of a wider understanding.

But there are differences this time around. Establishing a Forum to discuss these issues rather than a small (albeit well informed and consultative grouping) is prima facie the better route to go down to obtain a wider understanding.

In somes ways it is even the natural progression, with Eames and Bradley broaching the area and now those with first hand knowledge and experience of the issues in question working through the detail.

However as always, the devil is in such detail. For a constructive dialogue to take place, those involved will need to remove any stereotypes in their mind and thoroughly challenge their own interpretation of certain events and the Troubles generally. It will be without question the hardest part of discussions. It can also be the most rewarding.

Eames and Bradley knew this and often made the case for a Victims' Forum. The fact it has come to fruition shows their courageous and substantial report has not been lost in it's entirety, a fact I take solace from, despite any sense of repitition I feel there may be in the remit set for Eames and Bradley and this new Victims' Forum.

And so it is hoped this group at a Scottish hotel in the near future can begin a long road with the hope of arriving at some reciprocity and, in doing so set frameworks for wider society.

Realpolitik has blighted the Eames Bradley report and the many attempts to deal with incidents in the Troubles. In learning the still raw lessons from Eames Bradley and altering the handling of the wider issue by both the media and politicans, one can only hope different conditions will be created to allow a fluid discussion of ideals, experiences, and ongoing problems. This the only way the knots of our past can be untangled.

We need to take on board Freud's belief and alter the way we deal with the issue in order to at last obtain a successful result.

The price of repetition

Various media is today carrying a story about two buskers in Birmingham who have been given ASBO's. Their crime? Only knowing two songs, and playing nothing but George Michael's 'Faith,' and Oasis' 'Wonderwall,' to an increasingly bored and frustrated towns folk.

Perhaps this could be deemed as some sort of precedent being set for continual spouting of the same song or message being deemed anti-social by the courts.

I wonder if that could apply to our politicians?

Imagine Sammy being banned from calling climate change 'hysteria,' or accusing everything he doesn't agree with of being an 'industry.'

Or Gerry prevented from using the word 'transitory,' to appease his supporters.

It's a pity this precedent has only been set now, imagine where we'd be if Big Ian hadn't been allowed to keep saying 'Never, never. never.'

The trouble with 'justice.'

The last chapter in the saga of the release of Megrahi was played out last night to a mixed bag of opinion and judgement. The only man to be convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing was freed on compassionate grounds to live out the last months of his life at home and the terminally ill former Libyan intelligence officer was received home to Tripoli to a hero's welcome.

The sequence of events leading up to his release has seen outraged families of American victims threaten to boycott Scottish products and anger from the Obama administration at what they see as an insult to the 270 victims who were killed in the flight as the bomb detonated flying over the Scottish town.

The reaction in the UK has been slightly more muted with question marks over Megrahi's original conviction leaving families of the British victims slightly more philosphical about his release, querying, as many of them are, whether the right man was in prison in the first place. There has been an audible silence from Brown's goverment over what they are portraying as simply a Scottish justice decision.

According to Kenny MacAskill, Scotland's justice minister, the decision to release Megrahi befits the 'humanity,' of the Scottish people, and is a decision which duly reflects the beliefs and character of the people over which his party, the SNP, govern.

However, there is clearly more at play here than a wish by MacAskill to portray a soft and bonnie Scotland. The continued protestations of innocence by Megrahi and his supporters since his conviction eight years ago as well as his appeals for the sentence to be over-turned, has fed into a growing belief in some quarters that he was nothing more than a pawn in the bigger field of American-British-Libyan relations.

The recent Scottish-Libyan prison transfer deal aside, Megrahi was freed on compassionate grounds, it was not a prisoner transfer. Therefore the requirement for all running criminal cases, appeals or otherwise, to be dropped, did not exist. Put simply, he could still be appealing his conviction now even after his release. The fact his present appeal was formally dropped a matter of days before his release last night shows political game playing is still in full flow (not to mention the fact that the ending of his appeal has stopped any chance of new and helpful information coming to light to help the victims' families learn more about the event. )

MacAskill has made a very astute decision in this instance and clearly the negotiating that has been done in the run-up to Megrahi's release has been successful. As all major broadsheets have pointed out in their coverage of this issue, the Scottish government have secured the dropping of his appeal (and therefore saved face if it had been successful), and also flexed some muscle on the world stage, showing Scotland's independence from Westminster and no doubt oiling the wheels of the SNP's bid for total independence from England and Wales.

The existence of such an undercurrent points to side-deals and vested interests being catered to. Here in Northern Ireland that's par for the course especially in such a sensitive area as this. A key tenet in the Good Friday Agreement, after much negotiating, was the early release of prisoners, from both sides of the community and many of whom killed indiscriminately for years during the Troubles.

Also a product of side deals and catering to vested interests, the GFA's early release scheme received a mixed welcome as well. Indeed, the repurcussions of this agreement are still being felt today with UK extradition proceedings for various former IRA men on the run being dropped in light of the fact this early release scheme will likely see them serve minimal amounts of time at Her Majesty's pleasure.

The jury is still out as to the whether this scheme has been a success. Whilst many believe it was an essential ingredient for the peace process the opprobrium it has created is now, in the outworkings of the GFA, proving troublesome.

The feeling of justice not being done over the death of a loved one is harrowing, and is a position which many families in Northern Ireland are in. However, as opponents of the early release scheme in the GFA know only too well and as Megrahi's release has highlighted, the feeling that justice has been reneged upon by the very people in charge of upholding it, is a betrayal that runs deep and one which lasts. The fact that it is done in the name of political expediency compounds such feeling still further.

This sense of betrayal is a severe obstacle to present day Northern Ireland, and one which our future justice minister will have to wrestle with on a daily basis. Will Westminster remain as tight lipped as they did over Megrahi in face of difficult justice issues our administration has to deal with? A cutting of the apron strings and the evident pressure on MacAskill in recent days will hardly have the Alliance party salivating at the prospect of heading this future devolved ministry.

Concepts of justice in post conflict societies and after major acts of terror such as Lockerbie and the Omagh bombing, are not as clear cut as our future justice minister would like. They involve notions of right and wrong, forgiveness and closure. These notions cannot be neatly box ticked in a charged society like the north of Ireland steeped as it is in political acts of violence and all the blurring of moral concepts that accompanies this.

The trouble with 'justice,' is that by it's very nature it can have many guises and a fluid definition but it is also clear cut in the eye of the beholder. Thus American families are outraged by Megrahi's freedom just as British families are in the main, at peace with it. Thus some agreed with the early release of prisoners under the GFA, and some to this day, pursue criminal convictions of former paramilitaries.

Creative ambiguity is often used as a description of the fudging in parts of the peace process here. If the lesson from Lockerbie is anything to go by, we can look forward to some more of this when it comes to Norhern Ireland's new 'Justice' Minister.

UPDATE: So Brown's government has saw fit to strongly condemn the hero's welcome Megrahi received through a statement from Foreign minister David Miliband...but still silence on his actual release. Good timing Gordon, political manouevering if ever I saw it.

A long pause

After weeks off from the blogging I'm back in the saddle. After exams and portfolio building stress I've been spending much of the summer (and most of my money) on catching up with friends north and south of the border.

I can't help but feel my sabbatical from the political blogging couldn't have been at a worse time. After deciding to switch off and watch and read nothing but chewing gum for the brain the past few weeks, suddenly politics is in vogue. MP'S expenses, the European election debate and result, leadership challenges and ofcourse the ongoing recession debates - all when I take my foot off the gas. At least it's got people talking about more important things than Jordan and Peter (although I must admit I thought they would last.)

Maybe it's a good thing I decided to step away from the ring of opinion for the last while and take a long pause for breath. It seems there was enough pontification to go around.

nichart.com has some recent reviews that may be of interest but expect more posts to follow on hopefully thought provoking and relevant issues.

Any comments and suggestions are welcome as always, and any contributors looking to vent some informed and libel free opinion can email louisequinn888@googlemail.com

Exam Recess

Apologies for the lack of blogging the past weeks. Unfortunately it's that time of year again when the weather starts to improve, beer gardens start to fill up, and I (being the eternal student that I am) am beginning the slog of impending coursework deadlines and exam revision, chained behind a desk in a darkened room cursing all the care free people who have nothing to do but sit in the sunshine..... anyway enough about my personal grievances.

Another future Join the Q blogger has written a great review on nichart.com (see Claire McCallions piece on the gig review section) which hopefully should whet your appetite for her fashion pieces currently in the pipeline.

For now I'll be taking a back seat from the blogging, at least until I get the majority of my exams over with. The only thing I can get irked enough by to eloquently blog on at this time of year is said exam stress so I'll spare you all the details and just vent in private for the time being.

Artistic license or Artistic distortion

For someone who considers watching films on Irish history a regular past-time, the news that a new film is to be made about the Easter 1916 rebellion brought a smile to my face.

It will join the ranks of other films made depicting Ireland's turbulent history, the majority of which I have watched at some stage.

Ofcourse, there are some interpretations of our history better than others. Compare Ken Loach's 'The Wind that Shakes the Barley,' to the terrible 'Michael Collins,' starring our own Liam Neeson (and Julia Roberts with what appeared to be an accent from the little known Irish county of Pakistan.)

Scripted and directed by Neil Jordan, the latter was lauded in some circles and even won a clutch of awards. It was also criticised for inaccuracies such as showing the use of a car bomb, a weapon not actually used by physical force republicans until the 1970's.

Although these two films depicted early 20th century Ireland, such a divide between fact and dramatic fiction is always present when one looks at the film industry that has grown out of Irish history and the movies that have been produced.

A former professor of mine, Paul Bew, has recently been quoted in the Guardian criticising the new 'Easter Sixteen' film currently in production.

He quite rightly points out that historical inaccuracies in a film like this are unhelpful. If not dealt with properly, the storyline of the rebellion at the GPO in Dublin may send out a message that a minority can succeed using armed insurrection - hardly responsible at a time when a minority of dissident republicans are waging a new campaign.

But Paul Bew is a professor of Irish history. As such, facts are his priority and not necessarily a good story - his tolerance of artistic license, as the producers in Hollywood would call it, is very low.

One would also like to think that those dissident republicans Bew fears will exploit the plot line of 'Easter Sixteen' are also well versed on Irish history (or at least their version of it), I mean they bleet on about it often enough.

If a Hollywood movie on the subject strays off the facts of history and does depict a simplistic version of the Easter Rising as being no more than a successful armed struggle against the British, it should invite derision from these dissident circles, not support.

Ofcourse Bew does have a point though. Although I enjoy these films, I watch them with a pinch (and sometimes a bucket load) of salt. They don't claim to be documentaries and therefore should not be treated as such.

The conveyor belt of films on Irish history has undoubtedly been at times unhelpful in the current transitory stage of Ireland's evolution, especially in the six counties - a stage that began at the signing of the Good Friday Agreement and heavily involves issues to do with the legacy of our past.

To have a constant stream of versions of our history poured over, interpreted and some would say distorted, by directors and script writers often from places other than Ireland, is arguably a dangerous factor during this transition.

Bew is right to highlight the subtle potency of these productions.

The ripples caused by the inaccuracies in these types of films - made under the guise of artistic license should not be underestimated.

Oliver Hirschbiegel's 'Five Minutes of Heaven,' shown last week on BBC saw a true murder in Lurgan in the 70's have a completely fictional story written around it and could easily be misinterpreted as the true story of a meeting and reconciliation between killer and victim.

How ironic it is that the feature should have scenes of the pair being set-up to meet by a tv production company - the same ilk of producers who would no doubt defend Hirschbiegel's artisitic license to distort the facts of Jim Griffin's murder (all the while hamming up 'based on a true story' and playing down the fictional element in the advertising) in the name of artistic catharthis.

But it's not the films themselves that are the problem, it's what people do with them.

I find it hard to believe the C.I.R.A and R.I.R.A would, or will, use a film to base their current struggle upon. Some of the more intellectually vulnerable in society however, may by unduly influenced by what are essentially show pieces on sections of our history, and under this influence subscribe to the political dissent as espoused by hard-line republicans currently.

Those who contend it is healthy to have directors from all over the world look at our past, especially if we are not prepared to do so comprehensively ourselves, would argue these films provide a different perspective and at the very least tell a good story.

In a very immediate way these films provide a form of story-telling and story-sharing that is easily accessible to people.

I used to work in a local bookies with people from all over Belfast, and from every background. Although politics was not usually discussed, unless you count discussion of the odds on the horse 'Reds under the Bed', after lending one of my managers a copy of 'Hunger' by Steve McQueen , we spent the afternoon talking about the film and his memories of that time.

He told me it was the first time he had properly sat down and watched something about the hunger strikes, fact or fiction. He was from the Woodstock Road.

It is obvious that if we keep an open, yet educated mind when watching these films, they need not be dangerous or inflammatory.

If they stay true to the events they are portraying, such films can even teach us something we didn't know - like who knew Kitty Kiernan was from Pakistan?

Telepathy

I was pleased to see the BBC news website covering a story today on the criticism some sections of the Northern Irish media have received regarding their coverage of Stormonts economic policy and operation more generally. See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7999934.stm

I'll be honest though - it's not because I think the criticism levelled at the Belfast Telegraph is vindicated (in fact I disagree with the majority of OFMDFM'S letter) - it's more to do with the ego scratch of knowing I wrote on this issue last week (I always knew the Beeb was reading Join the Q ;))

It seems the Brothers Grim up on the hill have taken exception to the Belfast Telegraph's 'Get the Executive Back to Work,' campaign and various other supposedly negative coverage of the goings on at the heart of the province's government.

As covered in my last blog on the issue (see Bad News is Good news?) I do think there is a tendency for media generally to reflect an entirely more negative view of socety - including the current state of our economy - than is necessary.

However, this is tempered by my enduring belief in the role of the modern media as watchdog for society as a whole. As acknowledged in Article 10 of the European Convention, the role of the freedom of the press is vital for a free and democratic society.

The importance of freedom of expression and a free media is obviously not exclusive to Europe however. The latest moves in South Africa to further censor political satire in the country after banning the political puppet show by Jonathan Shapiro is a sad move by the ANC, and is dangerous for the increasingly fragile post-apartheid country.

Like South Africa, Northern Ireland has in the past, had a media which was communally partisan and restrained in their scrutiny of government. Although the former charge may still be true, the recent criticism of the Belfast Telegraph is an unfair assault on an essential asset in modern Northern Ireland.

It is a national paper holding our elected representatives to account and should be allowed to carry out this important role accordingly.

If anything this latest incident shows that the Belfast Telegraph is doing just that.

Recent reviews

Anyone who is interested in the local music scene, check out www.nichart.com. Theres plenty of news and information on Northern Ireland bands plus the odd review from yours truly (its all about self promotion these days!!)

Bad news is good news?

Reading the news headlines and watching news programmes for the last while it is impossible not to feel that the world is suffering from some sort of spiritual malaise.

Whether it be a morbid fascination with all things doom and gloom or a societal dumbing down more generally, all news at the minute seems to be bad news or gossip, or both.

Anyone familiar with media knows the old saying 'bad news is good news.' It sells papers and gets viewers. I mean lets be honest, how many of us love reading about the latest politician (or their spouse - Jacqui Smith anyone?) getting up to no good, or the most recent celeb break-up? The majority of Heat readers for a start.

This sort of bad news media fodder seems harmless in light of the recent torrent of misery that has been splashed across the red-tops and even the broadsheets.

Job losses, strikes, tax increases, inflation rates, property prices falling, unemployment soaring....and Jade Goody.

Now don't get me wrong, these are clearly the issues of the day and as such the media industry has a duty to report them, indeed I am the first to want to know the ins and outs of Brian Lenihan's austere new budget in the Republic.

But I'm beginning to think that this negative media is part and parcel of a bigger and entirely more disturbing reality and is even destructive.

A perfect example of this is coverage of the untimely death of Jade Goody. Michael Parkinson has come in for some criticism after he gave an interview with the Radio Times and dared voice an opinion that the 27-year-old reality star's death, while undoubtedly a tragedy, did not perhaps warrant the media coverage that saw her sell her wedding photos for £700,000 and be on the front pages nearly every day for the last weeks of her life.

Personally I thought it was like a perverse countdown to the end, and was and am profoundly uncomfortable with it. Reading Parky's comments I couldn't have agreed more.

The whole issue is like the chicken and the egg. Do the newspaper men write the news or does the public dictate what is written based on their tastes?

I think the balance has most definitely shifted in favour of the latter with editors increasingly preoccupied with what they think will please us, the baying mob, and sell the paper and are less worried about responsible and tasteful journalism. But would it really hurt newspaper editors to push a good news story to the front pages?

Look at the fact the Emerald Project has £150m to spend in Northern Ireland on everything from green energy to waste disposal - a gift from New York state. Although none has been spent as yet, it's still £150m to be spent in the province. Or the SDLP publishing proposals for budgetary amendments which could save £400m unnecessary expenditure by Stormont.

Today the Irish government announced that people from Co. Derry/Londonderry will now, for the first time, be able to use the name of Londonderry when applying for an Irish passport. With all the focus on dissident republican activity and punishment shootings, such a story should be given the weight it is due - it is a significant step forward in the shaping of new identities on this island and a small step in the reconciliation of traditions, very much in the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement.

A N Wilson also wrote an opinion column on the coverage of Jade Goody's death in the Daily Mail. I hasten to add that I am not a regular reader of this paper, afraid as I am that I may be labelled 'disgruntled from Kent,' but the points he raised about the way her death was covered and the character of modern media was both informed and persuasive.

He argued we have become a nation of voyeurs, content to live our lives through the religious following of others', these so-called 'reality stars.' The comparisons he made between the rise and fall of Jade Goody in the way her public persona was manipulated by newspaper editors' and a baying crowd watching gladiators fight to the death in ancient Rome was completely appropriate.

The death of anyone is a sad occasion, it is also a solemn one. Jade's death was a tragedy as she was young girl and had two children, but things like this happen every single day.

Quiet sadness and personal reflection is carried in the damaged hearts of most people throughout their days - no-one is immune to tragedy in their lives. Communal grieving is all well and good, indeed it is even healthy. Veneration of Jade Goody is not.

It is however, a manifestiation of all that is ill in today's society.

The 'career' and coverage of Jade is in tune with what seems to be our generations insatiable thirst for instant gratification, a quick buck, and bad news. It as if people need to hear about the unfortunate lives of others to make themselves feel better. It's all instant, disposable, with the predictable drama and tinge of sadness - gossip for the morning tea break and then onto the next victim.

Such a desire for instant gratification is the heart of the credit crunch!! All ambition and no competence, all want and no give.

The buck has to stop somewhere and clear lines drawn. The current state of the economy and people's finances will hopefully herald in a new belief system, one which is aided by responsible media coverage reflecting it. One where hard-work, competence and a belief in the good of society rather than personal gratification is the new hymn sheet from which we sing...or maybe I'm wrong, maybe worshipping at the altar of a woman who thought Rio De Janeiro was a footballer is ok.

Yesssssss!

With the Manic Street Preachers announcing their gig in the newly refurbished Ulster Hall on June 6th; Claire McLoughlin writes (exclusively for Join the Q ;)) on the band and their latest offering:

Sample titles from the Manic Street Preachers’ new record: ‘She Bathed Herself In a Bath of Bleach’, ‘Jackie Collins Existential Question Time,’ ‘This Joke Sport Severed,’ and ‘Virginia State Epileptic Colony.’

Any other band would look idiotic. Only the Manics’ could get away with such ridiculous –or indeed brilliant- titles (see Freedom of Speech Won’t Feed my Children, Natwest-Midlands-Barclays-Lloyds, The Intense Humming of Evil, The Love of Richard Nixon et al), without sounding like pretentious 6th formers.

Cheerily titled ‘Journal For Plague Lovers,’ the new record, released May 18 , has been building up hysteria among fan on Manics’ fansite forums, as the Manics’ are touted to blow off their middle-aged 40 year olds tag, and show all the young bucks how it’s done.

Hardcore Manic fans (whose uniform consists of leopard print, pink feather boas and ‘4 Real’ scrawled across their arms), were ecstatic to find out that the album would consist entirely of lyrics left to them by AWOL lyricist and rhythm guitarist Richey Edwards, missing-in-action since February 1995.

Richey Edwards was (or is, depending what you believe) a troubled young man who suffered from alcoholism, anorexia nervosa and crippling depression. The now iconic shot of him staring at the camera with the phrase ‘4 Real’ carved into his forearm, dripping with blood remains one of rock’s most enduring images. Following an interview with Steve Lamacq, in which the journalist questioned Edwards over whether the band were to be taken seriously, Edwards took out a razor blade, etching 4 Real into his forearm to make his point achingly clear to the hack. The publicity this created launched the Manics’ into the media with a bang in 1991.

With his disappearance in 1995, abandoning his car near the Severn Bridge, he created a myth around himself, whilst seemingly wanting people to think he committed suicide, a body has never been found and many fans believe he is still alive and well.

In a final show of camaraderie, not seen in the money- grabbing egotistical nature of the business these days (yes Johnny Borrell I’m thinking of you) the remaining Preachers have kept putting royalties into his bank account following his disappearance in hope the complex character would return.

This of course remains highly unlikely but finally the lyrics left to the band by Richey are seeing the light of day, as the band announced last year they would record an album consisting solely of material Richey had left.

Whispers quickly began surfacing of a Holy Bible Mark II, a return to the Manics’ finest hour in 1994 with what was arguably one of the ugliest and most intelligent records of all time.

The Holy Bible contained lyrics about topics such as anorexia, the Holocaust, American foreign policy and political correctness, and judging by the titles off JFPL, the new record is just as bleak.

The first new track, played on Zane Lowes’ radio show, the fantastic ‘Peeled Apples,’ certainly sounded like a return to 1994 and made listening through the over-excitable Kiwi’s show just about bearable for once. Name checking Noam Chomsky and with lyrics such as “the Levi jean will always be stronger than the Uzi,” it is unmistakably Manics’, and is utterly brilliant.

Musically, it is the polar opposite to the lilting harmonising of ‘Your Love Alone is Not Enough’ and its angry chomping at the bit is miles away from “If You Tolerate This…”

Judging by the new track, it seems the Manics’ are back to form, complete with indecipherable lyrics, grinding guitars and lyrics straight out of tortured mind and genius of Richey.

Since 1998’s This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours, the Manics’ had been struggling to find a niche. While successful commercially, TIMTTMY was criticised for being too middle-aged and not as complete as previous album Everything Must Go, which had proved their commercial breakthrough, bringing Brit Awards and sell out arena tours.

2001’s Know Your Enemy, referred to lazily by every music critic as the band’s ‘misguided punk album’ (despite the fact that only ‘Found That Soul’ sounds even remotely punkish) saw critics turn against them, and 2004’s quite frankly dreary Lifeblood simply confused fans, with Nicky Wire even admitting that the band were on the verge of splitting up after the ensuing tour.

With 2007’s return to form, Send Away the Tigers, bringing them critical and commercial success yet again with its pop melodies, it seemed the Manics’ were back. Even the notoriously fickle NME loved them, giving the album 8 out of 10 and crowning them Godlike Geniuses in 2008.

SATT however still alienated the Manics’ hardcore, who while always remaining loyal, dreamt of the day Manics’ mark I would return.

It is typically Manics’ for the band to decide to take a huge risk after the acclaim of SATT and once again shun commercial success by finally going back to their finest hour, washing the past 15 years under the carpet.

With no singles planned from the album and with the dark disturbing titles, is seems they are finally making music they want again, rather than pleasing the record company.

The album could be a disaster commercially, but hopefully like the Holy Bible it will stand up as much more than a record, representing a work of art, indeed Jenny Saville - last seen on the revolting but enthralling Holy Bible cover art - is back on board with one of her paintings on the cover of the new record.

JFPL is an event, and will form a sonic memorial to an articulate but troubled talent.

Keep your 80s throwbacks NME darlings La Roux and Friendly Fires, cast off the skinny jeans and scarf look all you young pretenders, and watch and learn Kings of Leon- the ghost of Mr Richey James Edwards has returned.

And by fuck we’ve missed him.

(And who knows maybe Richey give the tabloids a field-day by finally surfacing to assess his new material, if only to tell James Dean Bradfield that the guitar solo on track 5 is rubbish.)


*DISCLAIMER -However word of warning, no matter how amazing I anticipate this record to be, Nicky Wire does sing on ‘William’s Last Words’-just listen to ‘Wattsville Blues’ on 2001’s KYE to know that The Wire should never be allowed near a microphone….