Just in case you thought it was just Northern Ireland where various Christian sects have seething hatred for eachother (that occasionally manifests itself as violence) here’s the scene in that most holy church in the world, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlemen. Bless.
Archive for December, 2011
It’s now Up to the Tories…
Published December 24, 2011 News 6 CommentsTags: Conservative, Northern Ireland, Ulster Unionist, UUP
Is this how the new Party logo might look?
After a few weeks thinking time, the UUP leader, Tom Elliott, has responded to Conservative Chairman Lord Feldman’s letter – the one that suggested the the UUP should wind-up and go home.
As expected, Elliott has dismissed Feldman’s suggestions - rather than the UUP Party executive.
So, it’s now over to the Conservatives to do something. And that something, it would appear, would be to establish a new Northern Irish flavoured right-of-centre political party with formal ties to the Conservative Party in London but with local leadership and electoral ambitions.
As I’ve said in the past I would wish this new organisation success. But I would hope that – from launch – the organisation sets out a secular, non-sectarian stall, free from the baggage of the past. The new Party needs to define itself very quickly as something fresh, different, cross-community and attractive. It will need a confident and articulate voice and it will need to be well organised and well-funded – two qualities the local Conservatives never really achieved.
I’ll be watching 2012 developments with interest.
Christopher Hitchens had cancer and knew he was dying. But, nonetheless, his passing is immensely sad. His polemic was brilliant and his incisiveness was both alarming and wonderful. His oratory, simply spellbinding.
Given his passing, this quote is more apt even now than when he wrote it.
“The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism. It is not a creed. Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely: we stumble and get up, we are sad, confident, insecure, feel loneliness and joy and love. There is nothing more; but I want nothing more.”
I’m on Seven Days on BBC radio Ulster tomorrow. Topics include the UK in Europe, Historical commemorations and life on other planets.
Image via Wikipedia
Recent Comments