No Faggot Baggott

The North, in a peculiar demonstration of its Irish identity, is in the process of bringing in yet another British chief constable to police it. There is a consistency there but not in terms of anything Irish; a British chief constable to lead a British police force. That’s as much as it amounts to. The one difference on this occasion is that Northern nationalists were able to put their hands up and ask some questions about the British police officer who would be sent over from England to police them politically and otherwise. This, even in reformist terms, constitutes the smallest of changes and amounts to little in the overall scheme of things.

Matt Baggott, the new man at the helm, is president of the Christian Police Association. The BBC played a recording of the greeting that any caller hears when phoning through to the association; something about Jesus Christ walking the earth being a more important event than the first man walking the moon. Might be for those who believe old JC invented water skiing before skis came into existence and could do it all with his feet; or that in his spare time he raised a stiff or two from their graves. But to the rest of us it all sounds a bit quaint.

Baggott’s preference for the Old Testament over the New coupled with his Christian Police Association’s view that ‘the Bible is the inspired Word of God without error and is the only complete authority on matters of faith and doctrine’ should ensure his status as a big hitter in Ballymena. Whether Ballymurphy can be duped into welcoming him with open arms remains to be seen.

The Christian Police Association, a Protestant evangelical body, is said to have been embroiled in a long conflict with the Gay Police Association. For the Christians the gays are just bent coppers who merit only disdain. If they develop a willingness to repent and denounce the devil in their loins, they may eventually obtain forgiveness for their sins. If their name is not in the book of the damned, written from before time began, that is. A gay cop who supposedly tried to join the Christian Police Association was turned down. Gays in that pious world can’t be Christians. That they would ever want to be is a matter for another day.

What are we to make of the Baggott appointment? One more religious fanatic to be heaped on top of the theocratic dung heap that is home to the many theological oddities scavenging there in search of lost souls who can then be injected with a love transfusion straight from the blood of the lamb.

The Brits are just taking the piss, they have to be. At times it is so easy to succumb to the notion that the men in suits in Whitehall, having winded up the conflict in their favour, are now having a good chuckle about it while sketching a caricature of it all. Because in all seriousness, apart from a bunch of Free Presbyterian idiots in the DUP who thought they were waging the Lord’s war in defence of Christendom against the devil, no one really entertained the notion that there was a religious conflict in any theological sense. The terms Catholic and Protestant communities are more readily understood in a non religious context which easily conjures up an imagery of a conflict that is sectarian but secular. It is an imagery that has been greatly reinforced since the emergence of the Good Friday Agreement, itself having been intellectually parented and patented by the internal conflict model of the North. That was the type of outcome that would flow not from a war of national liberation but from a sectarian clash between two communities.

It is also an outcome that is like play dough to a political cartoonist or a mischievous mandarin. The Brits twisting and tweaking, seemingly for the sheer hell of it, are now ridiculing the Northern conflict. By having dismissed as myth the notion of any war of national liberation they are now into the business of depicting the secular communal conflict as a religious one fought pew by pew, altar by altar. By giving the North a religious cop to literally sing from the same hymn sheet as the religious crazies already populating the micro ministries at Stormont the British would appear to be putting on a comedy show for secular Europe to amuse itself. Unfolding in front of European eyes is something truly Pythonesque where a religious conflict is fittingly policed by a religious cop. Already up at Stormont there are those who think gays need psychiatric treatment, that civil partnership is an abomination, feel the world was created in a week by an invisible man - many years after the Giants Causeway was formed - who want Sunday observed as the Lord’s day and the kids banned from swings in the park as a mark of respectful observation, and seek the bible taught as science at schools.

Not that the Unionists have the ministries for silly ideas to themselves. Competing with them are some, although secular in orientation, who have beliefs as ridiculous as the religious maniacs; theirs is that somehow Matt Baggott, Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness will all involve themselves in an alliance to deliver a Irish socialist Republic against the best efforts of the republican traitors determined to stop them. And it will all be in place by 2016.

The North has a history of police officers coming over from England to lead the armed police force there. The best was Hugh Orde, the worst Ken Newman. Although both had the necessary ability they were in the end political appointees put in place at particular junctures to ensure that policing primarily reflected the needs of the British government. The loudest howls that could be thrown the way of Orde by his detractors were that he fathered a child out of wedlock. Apparently, not a very Christian thing to do. Newman became a laughing stock when he claimed that detainees tortured in his force’s interrogation centres were beating themselves up just to discredit his detectives.

Matt Baggott, if he manages to stop talking to god for a hour or two, might demonstrate some good intent by talking to the residents of Drumarg Estate in Armagh city and listen to their complaints about the sectarian attacks on their community by members of the force he is about to lead. I suspect however he will call on them to repent and seek a solution to their woes by falling to their knees – ‘our prayers, attitudes and actions will bring many to the reality and hope of the cross.’

He’ll be some cross to bear.


26 comments:

  1. Didn't the GPA and CPA eventually kiss and make up (though not literally I'd imagine)?

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  2. yeah even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil,WHY!,because I,m the biggest bastard in the valley .Marty F

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  3. Anthony, first of let me begin by saying I agree with you on most things you write and I look forward to your articles on this site. That's why I bought your book, "Good Friday, The death of Irish Republicanism."
    Your opinion on Britain's Modi operandi, ( I use the plural here, because the Brits are devious enough to have more than one method. ) is very insightful and very true.
    However where I disagree with you are on the religious views, you hold. I respect you for your stance on religion and I admire your courage to stand by your views.
    I guess I am what might be called a recovering Catholic. I rediscovered my Catholicism when I was diagnosed with colon cancer seven years ago. Some may say I 'chickened out' and turned to what I believed would help me through this life crises.
    I have to admit I have fallen off the religious wagon a bit, because to this point the cancer is nonexistent. therefore I have become a little 'cocky' and think I can go it alone.
    But like all religious maniacs ( Sorry Anthony, I just had to get that term in here somewhere. ) I keep trying, and I am not too old to feel remorse for my failures. ( Some call them sins. )
    Anthony I think you are wrong about religion, though I have to admit there are many hypocrites out there, myself included, at times. Some of the things I detest in others I find myself doing.
    Better men than I have had difficulty with religion, St. Paul put it best when he said; "I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do."
    The full quote is much longer, but you get the idea.
    Here's another quote I like, Voltaire is credited with this one; " I disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it. "
    I am no proselytizer as I would never try to change your views and I am sure you would never try to change mine. So please keep up the good work and let us see a different perspective of the things I know we all are interested in.

    Pax et Bonum,
    Jim Lynch,
    Ontario, Canada.

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  4. It would be great if we could sit back now and watch the DUP/Taliban and this guy wade into each other. Wishful thinking. Maybe we'll be told that he's the final and parting 'gift' to layalism before the British departure. Just to sweeten the pill as it were. Who cares any more?
    I don't know about religion but I've certainly blessed myself when the engines of a plane cut out for a minute or so at 30,000ft lol. I don't think my wee face was very angelic looking either..more like 'the screem!' Swearing that if I survived this I'd never fly again only to be already thinking of my next holiday before exiting the terminal building..may 'God' forgive me-human nature is it? To be honest I'm less worried about being lied to about the almighty than I am about the insurance policy not paying out to my family when I pop my cloggs.
    I hope this new PSNI fella is a religious zealot to put all of ours to shame..he may bring us to our senses just watching him. Maybe the manderins at Whitehall are giving the wee North some long overdue 'payback.'
    The Free State Guinness tastes great and frankly them wee nordy's could do with a bit of religion!! PROPER religion..

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  5. Ninews, I think they tried to downplay the tension for public consumption.

    Marty, as always, a humorous take

    Jim, I don't hold any religious views! That you disagree on my views on religion is neither here nor there. It is your right to disagree if you hold a different opinion. Same holds for me. I have a take on religion which am I inclined to vent. Things that don't measure up always prompt my curiosity. In that sense my views on the peace process and religion share a similar bed. Neither live up to their promises.
    That does not mean I think those with religious beliefs are all cranks. I just believe religion should never be allowed to interfere with the lives of others and clerics should have no power whatsoever as a result of their religious position.

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  6. Larry, I suppose blessing yourself at 30000 feet when the engine stalls is like an anti-drugs crusader taking a shot to ease excrutiating pain - whatever gets you through the night I suppose. In my case it simply would not work, so profound is the non-belief in dieties. It would be like hoping the tin of beans in the cupboard would suddenly pop to life and save me.

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  7. A Chara,AM.
    I'm Irish only by distant ancestry,so I find myself struggling not only to grasp the history of Eire, but also to understand the current mindset of the living social revolutionaries,or would be SRs. I was deeply involved in the New Left movement of the mid 60s in the US,and take as my points of departure Herbert Marcuse and Fritz Perls. Until reading your blog, I haven't yet run into an individualist on the web from Eire-all collectivists who seem horrified at the thought of individualism. Are you actually in such a great minority? From my point of view I made the Adams Crew for Trotskyites,which is not to say Trotsky would have approved of them at all (LOL), just that they spout the same rhetoric and use the same tactics as "our Trots" who were the most vocal opponents of the individualists of the New Left. They habitually muddied the water so as to seize the "leadership" regardless of who they wound up in bed with. The new PSNI head sounds very like a George Bush style fellow-the type that we still struggle with here. Very popular these fanatics! Best to you,and thank you for your "Pensive Quill". Slan

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  8. Oh dear...that new head of the PSNI sounds like a right prick...not sure what Jim was on about, but I suspect I would not not like to be a Muslim...as for Uilodomhnaill, I always thought that I might be trotskiite since I thought the Russian revolution went a bit astray when they started to butcher the Kulaks, but I never was sure. But then I don't feel much affinity for Gerry & Co...what is anyone supposed to think?

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  9. To Urban Underclass;
    Indeed you sound confused,and even though I greatly revere the memory of Lev Davidovich,one must remember it was he who prosecuted the Civil War in Russia and slaughtered the Kulaki--even though his family were Jewish Kulaki! See Isaac Deutscher (sp?) Prophet Trilogy on the life of Trotsky.

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  10. Uilodomhnaill
    I am still confused. Does that make you Stalinist and me a Trotskite?

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  11. To Urban Underclass:
    No, it means that I am a student of Russian History and you are a person who has a thin or popular understanding of the "Old Left". I suggest you apply yourself to learning the Russian Language and the history of the Revolution (you might begin with Trotsky's "History of the Russian Revolution"). Then read Marcuse,and Perls ---as was my original comment---then you may have a more sophisticated understanding of what is history and what is simply popular misunderstanding. I never was history bound in my political understanding, which is why I was a leader of SDS and a dedicated individualist in the New Left, and why I remain an original interpreter of the present world situation,rather than a repeater of platitudes,and a sycophant of old left ideology. Effort equals results,so the application of a person to education is the only cure for confusion.
    It might also be useful for you to know that before his murder by Stalinist agents in Mexico, Trotsky denounced Trotskyites by declaring,"I am not a Trotskyite".

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  12. This a good debate...

    uilodomhnaill

    That was a good point have not heard the Kulaks mentioned in a long time.

    Unsure if anyone qualifies as Stalinist or Trotski-ites?
    Blurred lines of time and outdated ideals.

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  13. Brethren, the word today comes from Revelation 21:1-5, which depicts a future christian society, the new jerusalem, in which evil and tyranny are overthrown.

    Today Britain is a totalatarian state, which is resisting the Iraq inquiry, as it knows that an independent inquiry would remove its power to force its views on other countries as imperialism. An inperialism which has killed 13 million people and wounded 8 million since world war 2, and 1.5 million in iraq, with nearly 4 million displaced people. This is terrorism.

    By and with a 32 county republic of ireland, this tyranny wil end at least in that area of ireland, which and if you view the good friday agreement as a 32 county agreement, its obvious the majority would see it as a vote for a 32 county united ireland, regardless of what was put into small print.

    William Blake sang of the new jerusalem and it was not a common"wealth" of all nations (as fianna fail might like) but a castiagtion of the corrupt and evil governemnt of the "crown", yet christians still sing this as a hymn unaware of blakes true meaning.

    Any new christian police chief would fight for a 32 county ireland with the bible in one hand and a gun in the other, and jesus christ would also support that crusade against the war on terror eminating from the crown.

    let us pray.

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  14. Another great post Anthony.

    I had the same thoughts about the new head of the PSNI as you. Their choice could not have been worse.

    Personally, I think the best person to run the PSNI would be an atheist. (Interested? :) )

    This man is going to be so ganged up on by the Unionists, he's not going to be able to take a crap by himself. And you know what Sinn Fein is going to do. Jack all.

    Northern Ireland's problems are different from many countries. SinnFein and Paisley started the religious wars in the 70's. They completely overwhelmed the human rights movement and turned it to this ugly mess you have today.

    A law should be passed that no Protestant or Catholic can head this department. As it is now the PSNI has been set up to fail as an equal policing unit. Unless something drastic happens..the Nationalists won't be getting much help from them. Not now and not ever.

    A normal believing in God person might be able to make changes for the good of the Northern Irish. But not one with the credentials that Baggot has.

    Thanks again Anthony

    Lucy..

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  15. uilodomhnaill ,

    Well before anyone sticks an ice-pick in my head, let me declare, 'I am not a trotskite'.

    Don't even know what it is except a term of derision bandied about by the fragmented left.

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  16. Don't know much about Russian history except that the Red Army survived ALL comers after 1917 and the Nazi onslaught alone in WW2 until they were ready to push them back all the way to Gibraltar. Only then did the yanks and Brits call a halt to the party in London and get involved. But Hollywood depicts a version of UK tommy's+Yankie GI Joes storming across the channel to teach the Gerries a jolly good lesson! [30 million Russians later]Oh aye and the Russians dont seem to have only 20 stone women sitting on tracters as we were led to believe lol We were'nt spared the ordeal of all talking German in WW2-we'd all be talking Russian and have very cold unpersonable dispositions from what I can gage after meeting Russians in Ireland/Spain and Thailand. Whatever their internal politics it's not conducive to good personal dispositions. [ from my experience-I may just be unlucky.]
    Hope I don't get a 'toothpick' stuck in me for my ignorance of Russian affairs co'z I stuck one in myself last thursday and had two teeth pulled today after a pretty sore weekend. I'll cancel any Mexican ventures!
    As for a police chief with a bible in one hand and a gun in the other wasn't that the Presbiterian strategy whilst in transit on the plantations of Ulster and then during the elimination of the native Americans upon arrival at their final destination?
    Lets hope the Faggot aint the Presbiterians reincarnated!

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  17. Larry, think that is a bit unfair on the US and Brits. Stalin certainly felt they owed the Russian people a huge debt but he despised the French for having folded in 1940 freeing up the Germans to invade the USSR. But the Brits and USSR were simply not militarily ready to launch the type of operation that would collapse the German's Western front. Even when they were it still took a year from it happened until the war could be brought to a halt.

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  18. Anthony,
    had a granda at Dunkirk and D Day, he just seemed to enjoy the craic. Survived it all but died defending a taig [ our ] housin estate agin huns in lurgan in '73. Don't think im being harsh on the Yanks and Brits..rekon there's no1 like em for cynicism..locherby bomber etc..10 downing street unaware? Not again.
    Healthy cynicism pretty close to the truth/sanity.
    Far as the frogs are concearned recon they were just hedgin ther bets..at least there wasn't a window broken or a house wrecked in France until the Allied invasion then there was bugger all left..[carpet bombing]was like after the S Armagh lads had been back for a second visit..find two bricks atop another lol. [ not Conor +co.]Didn't cost em 30 million dead either! Maybe that's why oul uncle Joe was miffed?
    Wasn't around then thank God/tinabeans...but seems to me and care workers [wife]here in Ireland, the further East 'European' the accent the harsher the attitude. Glad to be Western..but I do notice the 20 stone tractor drivers seem to be YANKS???

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  19. Core blimey mate, you set a high bar for Urban Underclass, perhaps the poor fellow should read the History first; and leave learning the Russian Language until he has a little more time, as at your age I fear you may be long gone before he completes his language studies.

    Or maybe he should simply count the broken egg shells and ponder on what happened to the omelet. Sometimes you have no need of piles of history books to understand why something went pear shaped, as the evidence is before your eyes.

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  20. Thank you Mick. I only rant at those who have become so anti-intellectual that they boggle my old mind-LOL. My sons and daughters have suffered under it,and your incisive wit cut through my rant!

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  21. PS young and serious leftists-PLEASE READ HERBERT MARCUSE'S "One Dimensional Man",for a new/old (1964) look at the problem of social revolution. Not to become the old man's sycophants, but as a point of departure more useful and up to date than the long dead rhetoric of the truly old left,which I reiterate, is so pervasive in the Adams Crew.

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  22. Uilodomhnaill, Mick,

    I have no intention of learning Russian, I did take the comment on board and went to the library and got A People Tradgey, The Russian Revolution 1891-1924 by Orlando Figes. It's a big book and highly regarded, so I think that will do for a start.

    While I am not highly educated I am certainly not anti-intellectual.

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  23. To UUC: My genuine congratulations! In my view it is trivial and anti-intellectual to level silly insults as to who is a right prick,especially when that is obvious. The Northern Marxists constantly prate that "You(whomever you may be) have no analysis." This they learned either as red diaper babies or as the converts of red diaper babies. What angers many people the most is that they indeed have no analysis! The first cogent philosopher to make a modern break with the old school was Marcuse,so he is the bridge to a modern analysis. When I ran across The Pensive Quill,I read a man who let his experience and his anger feed his intellect,so I simply was so happy at this rarity,that I wrote to encourage him. Sorry to have taken up so much space,AM. Time to work and learn-to build a new analysis. No time for trivial invective. Best to all who have allowed me to speak. Slan

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  24. urban underclass

    That makes two of us who are not highly [or formally] educated, but we try and must not forget that is how some in society want it to be. Figes book is fine, it is a good read and he writes well. But Uilodomhnaill is correct, Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution is a superb book as it is written by a man who is not only a very fine writer, but he was a participant in the events he writes about and unlike Orlando Figes, he makes no secret where his loyalties lay.

    all the best

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  25. Mick,

    I will try to find Trotsky's book. In the meanwhile, I think I continue with Figes for now. At least he is readable and he is unlikely to influence me ideologically.

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  26. uilodomhnaill, thank for your comment.

    SF have virtually nothing ideological in common with Trots. What they do share is (ironically for Trots) a Stalinist urge to control and dominate.

    As you suggest I firmly believe in individual thinking. I think collective thinking produces a bedrock of assumptions that easily lends itself to racism. Think collectively and you end up seeing others as a collective. So one black guy or an Asian guy does something and the collective mindset kicks in and collectivises the action. The group is then blamed
    Feel free to post here and worry not about who might be annoyed.

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