O’Conall Street

I have been impressed again as I am every beginning on November at the depth and relevance of the Festival of Remembrance in Britain. It’s probably the most unifying event of they year embracing the peoples of Scotland, Wales and England but also a very large people on the island of Ireland. It points in the most symbolic way to the shared history of these islands and the cathartic events leading up to and following the First World War. I heard that war described as the great Liberal war during the week. Not because of what they were fighting against (and there is new evidence this week that Germany was already in 1914 determined on the extermination of-the Jewish people) but because it was a war of volunteers and one which was devolved in recruitment terms to local councils, militia groups and even some large companies - the ruling liberal party was against conscription. That certainly explains the way in which Irish men were recruited across the island, leaving catholics on one part of the front and protestants on the other.

In the past decade  we have been able to explore the shared aspect of our island’s participation in the First World War more honestly. Even some contemporary republicans have openly spoken about ancestors who fought and died in France. There has also been a proud campaign to restore the dignity of those who found the pressures of the trenches too much and were shot for abandoning their posts. They are victims of that conflict also and are now ninety years on being remembered as such. North and South there has also been a movement to acknowledge the many catholic Irish men who died. It is important to remember that they were doing nothing treacherous by signing up to a war they believed was about defending the freedom of small nations. Two Sunday’s ago at the diamond in Derry one of my best friends, Fearghal O’Boyle,became - as far as I know - the first person to lower the tricolour in front of the war memorial in an act of remembrance. I can’t think of a more proper way of acknowledging these young men’s sacrifice than through the symbolic lowering of their nation’s flag alongside the union flag in a formal act of remembrance. Fearghal is taking our little gang of friends to the battlefields of France early next year. I have been before with him but this time I look forward to the many new stories I know he has picked up through his fine work.

There is no personal story for me at the Somme though. My family came from the ‘other side’ and in 1914 that was not such much a religious statement as a political one. North and South, my parents were born into republican homes where the advent of the First World War was seen as an opportunity for Ireland. In Galway my grandfather was to spend much of the period of the war in jail in England and in Belfast my paternal great grandfather provided refuge for deserting soldiers in the attic of his tailor’s shop on Rosemary Street. They were committed to Irish freedom and were not willing to fight for the empire in any circumstances. They were the minority in 1914 but would soon become involved in the events leading up to Easter 1916 and ultimately partition. The rest is history.

When two cousins of mine, born and bred in England, joined the British Army and served in Northern Ireland during the eighties, the complicated nature of allegiance and honour on these islands was debated long and hard in our family. As it happens when the time came to bury my Grandmother, a wonderful Galway woman who lived well into her nineties, all her 27 grandsons - English and Irish - lined up and shared the load of her coffin on its slow walk to interment beside her beloved, so many years ago a prisoner of our politics.

Then we have modern ‘remembrance’ in Ireland. Twenty years after Enniskillen, and nearly a decade after Omagh we are still struggling about how to remember. It has taken over eighty years for the ‘two’ sides of the first world war in Ireland, combatants and non combatants, to find the space to recognise each other properly. I hope it will not be that long before the two communities in the North find a way of acknowledging and remembering that war at the end of the day, in all its forms, is a story of human tragedy and love lost. Nobody has a monopoly on grief and in these islands nothing is ever quite as simple as it seems. Lets us all remember that.

Here is one for you. According to Sluggerand the Irish Examiner today the World Economic Forum has ranked Ireland eighth in the world for political empowerment of women. This is the same country that comes 74th in terms of women’s participation in Parliament and 28th in Government. Apparently the key redeeming factor and which accounts for our spectacular jump into the top ten is An Uachtarain, Mary McAleese. Now I know women rule the roost on this small island but the political establishment has been less then welcoming and the number of senior female executives is also low.

Mary O’Rourke, the doyenne of FF, and comeback queen of the midlands was in fine form from Enniskillen on the BBC last night. Should we be adding an elder-stateswoman to the succeed Bertie brigade?

Mna na hEireann have a bit to go yet but the more you hammer at the glass ceiling the weaker it gets. The Davos crew might also want to revise their statistical standards, but then I suspect they were set by a man.

I was flicking through a toy store catalog the other day when I noticed a really cool new toy. It’s a one week old dinosaur with a brain called Pleo. This cuddly little two footer is able to find its way around the house and remembers its playmates. The application of basic computing in toys is now staggering and I was for a moment really attracted to the idea of having this robot pet running around the house. Lets face it. No walks or food, no mess and definitely no worries about it escaping to go live with the neighbours. All things that have happened to me with pets in the past!. Pleo’s personality will develop the longer it lives with you and for a modest investment of £249.99 will give you endless hours of fun.

Sitting here writing this watching a fascinating programme on the application of artificial intelligence in the coming decades. Physicist and futurist Michio Kato is lifting the lid on the intelligence revolution on BBC4 tonight. All hail freeview. From second life to ASIMO Honda’s humanoid, Dr Kato is now exploring the opportunity for the application on nano technology in addressing motor-neurone disease and tackling mental illness. It is estimated that by 2050 it will be pretty normal for humans to have some ‘non biological intelligence’ in their bodies. Its not science fiction. In California scientists are already close to developing an artificial hippocampus, the part of the brain which stores memory. This could unlock Alzheimer’s and epilepsy suffers. And in Japan, Parliament is considering the first law ever to regulate robots.

Wonder what the creationists will make of all this? Can’t wait for that debate in the Assembly?

There goes the property boom I read this morning. Its all over according to a PWC report out today. The sell your shoe box for a million dream is never going to happen in the holylands. My ambitions of retirement by forty on the proceeds of my suburban retreat are dead. Things will just grow at a civilised pace from here in. Slightly ahead of inflation but nothing go interest only on a buy to let for.

Am I happy? Well yes and no. Lets face it who would not want to be retired by forty on bricks and mortar that earn more than you have month on month for the past three years. But then there is the economy. Nothing productive about property. No skills required to buy or sell it. Just a bunch of cash and some balls!

A good friend is visiting us this week from the rebel county. He’s a builder don’t you know. Not a Johnny come lately but part of an established family of housebuilders in Cork City and I decided to collar him on the more philosophical question of the Irish and their houses.  David (after the compulsory arragh from every cork-man at the beginning of a sentence) said the Irish have a thing about property. They are always wanting more and will always find ways of owning as much as they can. This is no chump, my mate. He is one of the most thoughtful and intelligent people I know and if he is right we will be back on the merry go round as soon as the financial houses and interest rates allow.

He’s probably right. This is not going to be like Germany where property is not important enough to be a compulsory asset for every adult. It will be only a matter of time before we are out bidding each other and talking about retirement.

On a totally different matter I am depressed and despairing at the story of the young man who took his life in North Belfast last week. He is the latest in what seems to be an endless list of young Irish  people who find their end on their own noose. John Hume used to say that if the bombs had been going off in London all through the troubles the House of Commons would have sat every day until they were stopped. I hope our legislators in the house on the hill move quickly to consider how we tackle this problem and its causes.

 More on the SDLP conference on El Blogador for anyone interested. 

Today saw a big debate at the SDLP Conference. Before delegates were three motions which had the potential to split the party wide open. As is often the case in these situations argument and reason won through and every delegate was able to leave a four hour private session in agreement that whatever happens in the coming years the SDLP comes first. As Mark Durkan said we owe it to the party, the people and ourselves to protect and defend the history, the values and the beliefs of this modern day party, the embodiment of the New Ireland. I blogged on this topic at the time of Ahern’s speech.

There were of course virtuoso performances. Great speeches from senior figures who want the party to enter this period of change in a position of strength. In reality this means a working party will be established to consider how to develop new relationships with other parties North and South. It will report back no later then Conference 2008. Those who came looking for immediate talks with Fianna Fail left in agreement that this is not an option right now. From where I was sitting the substance of the SDLP won out over the blind enthusiasm of a few seeking a quick fix solution.  

As has been that case throughout its history the SDLP is playing itself back onto the centre stage of Irish politics. Over the coming years it has the opportunity to openly explore and design the political landscape of the New Ireland. For a party on the electoral ropes six months ago that is no mean achievement in my book.

Lost my shirt at the races yesterday but found hope in this morning’s debate. We live in interesting times.  

They are like buses these weekends of mine. Nothing interesting to do for ages and then two good ones come along at the same time. Today is the biggest horse racing day in the Northern Ireland calendar and at 2.30 this afternoon some of the finest horses on these islands will go head to head in the James Nicholson Wine Merchant Champion Chase, a Grade 1 national hunt contest on the opening day of the Irish jump season.

Its also SDLP conference this weekend. Always a good opportunity to catch up with the political classes on this island. You can expect senior figures from all the major southern parties, the UUP, the British Labour Party as well of course as the SDLP faithful, never afraid of a good chat and a good time.

The Listener is expected to line up against Taranis and Justified in the big race and the odds will be tight between all three I would think. No Beef or Salmon this year. Pity because he always surprised at Down Royal and the crowd loved him. Last years’ final two furlongs between War of Attrition and himself must rate as one of the finest finishes ever at the Co Down course. On the day Michael of Leary and ‘War’ were humbled by the Co Derry champion.

I expect Mark Durkan will deliver a good performance also later. Last night there was a deserved standing ovation for Margaret Ritchie the party’s darling and I expect more adulation for the Co Down girl today.

 I’m for the races but will be down in Armagh with the SDLP in the morning for what promises to be a very interesting private session. More about that later.