British Militarism is still alive in Belfast

First came two British soldiers, decked out in desert battle dress and leading a pair of large Irish Wolfhounds.
Behind them strutted the first contingent of soldiers from the (British) Irish Guards. Left right, left right, they marched with their chests puffed out pompously.

Next came the military band in their ‘Royal Irish’ green dress uniforms, blasting out the odious protestant hymn "Onward Christian Soldiers", the one Winston Churchill was so fond of.
That was of course an attempt to hide this display of naked militarism behind a religious fig leaf.

Not that it mattered, as the strains of the hymn were all but drowned out by bellicose screaming of hundreds of 'loyalists' who crammed into Belfast's Fisherwick Place. Their jeering was directed at the families of nationalists, gunned down by British forces.
These decent Irish people stood not more than 30 metres away, protesting against the British Army’s pompous march of triumphalism, which was in fact a march of shame.

This happened five days ago, on Sunday, November 2nd, in the centre of Belfast. It was the long advertised and hyped-up 'homecoming parade' for the (British) Irish Guards and the Royal Irish Regiment, who have bloodied their hands in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over all the excitement in the USA it was almost overlooked by most of the media.

If the actions of the PSNI, the British Army, the 'loyalist' mobs and the unionist politicians who were in Belfast city centre last weekend say anything, then it is to tell nationalists and all decent Irish people that the struggle for justice and equality has a long way to go.

Belfast is still an occupied city in the grip of a cruel and bellicose army. The only difference is that they now prefer to kill Iraqis and Afghans instead of Irish people.

The Google Queen

Elizabeth Windsor, well-known senior citizen and hat model,
has developed an interest in computers and this 'thing' called
Google. Her husband told her that it was a way to bowl a ball
at Cricket, but she did not believe him. Eventually she found
the magic Google and decided to add it to her private empire.

Easy Riders

While Elizabeth Windsor is learning all about Google, her two
grandsons William and Harry are enjoying themselves with
two motorbikes on a 1000-mile tour across South Africa.
For the two Lieutenants of the British Household Cavalry this
is a nice adventure holiday, but officially they are doing it - as
a press release says - "for charity". It seems that whatever a
member of their family does is always "for charity", but hardly
ever do we know what kind of charity their fun is actually for.

In this case it is probably irrelevant, as - according to South
African media reports - the costs of providing "security" for
the two precious young men are much higher than the money
they raise for charity from their cross-country motorbike ride.
Some Royal charity, indeed!

Fifth Incarnation of the Prince of Darkness

When government ministers in Ireland make a mess of things, nothing happens to them. They just carry on as usual. Such is our green Banana Republic (without bananas).

When the same happens in Britain, the minister who misbehaved, mislead parliament or was found with his pants down in one way or another has to resign, and usually quite quickly.

To Peter Mandelson this happened not once, but twice. And he is still one of the most hated men in the UK and in his own party.
Some might say this is strange, and that the British Labour Party is ungrateful to a man who was for years part of the team that made it electable again, after nearly 18 years in opposition. But in politics thanks is the last thing anyone should expect, regardless what he does.

Mandelson is a very bright man, there is no doubt about it. But he is also devious and a true schemer if there ever was one. Since his appointment as Labour's director of communications in 1985 he has done plenty to earn his nickname "The Prince of Darkness".

Together with Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Alistair Campbell (Blair's devious press secretary and communications director) Mandelson was part of the quartet that changed the Labour Party and turned it into "New Labour".
He was also the first of the many Labour "spin doctors". In fact he was the father of all spin and creator of the black art of political shape-shifting which brought "New Labour" to power in 1997 and is still widely practised throughout the British government.

His ministerial career looked at first very promising. After Blair's election victory, Mandelson became his special troubleshooter as "Minister without Portfolio" in the Cabinet Office.
A year later he was promoted to Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, but soon after he was forced to resign. Newspapers discovered and published details of a dodgy deal he did a few years earlier when buying a house way above his income level.

For ten months he was in "the wilderness" (as UK politicians call a state of disgrace), but nine years ago, in October 1999, Tony Blair brought him back as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. This time he lasted 16 months, during which he oversaw the creation of the power-sharing agreement between unionists and nationalists. But he was never very popular with either side. There was great suspicion about him and his intensions, not least after he began the job with a strange gaffe. In his very first speech he referred to himself as the "Secretary of State for Ireland." Not the kind of thing Irish people like to hear, especially not if they are nationalists.

In January 2001 Peter Mandelson had to resign again over an interference at the Home Office, where he had intervened on behalf of the billionaire Hinduja brothers, Indian businessmen who had obtained British citizenship with his help. It did not help that the brothers were investigated by the Indian government over an arms selling scandal.

In the 2001 general election he retained his seat, but stayed on the backbenches and kept fairly quiet. It came as a bit of a surprise to many when Tony Blair gave him a forth incarnation in the Autumn of 2004 - just four years ago - and appointed him as the British EU Commissioner. He was given the Trade portfolio and soon made himself a lot of new enemies throughout Europe and around the world over his attitudes in the World Trade negotiations.

Especially angry were the Irish farmers, who even staged one of their rare mass protests over Mandelson's policies in Dublin earlier this year.

After four years in Brussels it was an even bigger surprise that Gordon Brown, Blairs successor as British Prime Minister, called him back into the Cabinet in his recent reshuffle.
Mandelson is once again heading the Department of Trade & Industry, now renamed Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, and is also President of the Board of Trade.

But since Mandelson is no longer an MP and Labour does not want to risk yet another by-election - having lost the recent ones spectacularly and facing another one soon in Scotland - Mandelson was made a Lord instead. This is the first time for ages that a Secretary of State sits in the House of Lords instead of the House of Commons. And for Mandelson - now The Right Hon. Baron Mandelson of Foy and Hartlepool (which is his former constituency) - it is the fifth political incarnation.

They say that cats have nine lives. I wonder how many the "Prince of Darkness" has...