At times I just cannot understand the intelligence of some people. I see the opposition politicians and some of the Tory’s own people being amazed that there has been no assessment of the economic situation post Brexit. It amazes me in this respect as apparently no-one looks or even considers the economic predicting that economists have undertaken even in recent times and where over 99 per cent got it totally wrong about the financial crash in 2008 (the biggest global economic effect ever in monetary terms to the well being of 90 per cent plus of the people worldwide). I say totally wrong, as they did not even predict that a global financial collapse was imminent or in fact gave any warnings in the years preceding the actual meltdown. Indeed it has to be said even after 2004 (a clear four years before the largest collapse of the financial markets in known history and greater than that of the 1930s in creating debt) when Greenspan warned Bush, Blair, Brown and western leaders that the financial markets had to be reeled in or a global meltdown would likely happen, the economists and politicians took no notice. For at the base level and through time immemorial, economists are good at analysing the past, but they certainly have not a clue if truth be told, in predicting the future. Indeed, in this respect, history has recorded this over the centuries with these so-called ‘bubbles’, not mere years. Therefore people asking for predictions of how things will be economically in the future after Brexit are just like asking for pie-in-the-sky in reality and would have no merit at all. But I think I know why people ask for this unknown vision of the future though, as they require certainty and to know how they will be financially. Unfortunately if they used their intelligence just a little bit and common sense, they would realise that economists have not the means to predict the future and where they certainly do not have a crystal ball many seem to think that they have. Indeed even if different scenarios were provided, this would not mean a thing as all of them would be still unknowns and that’s the basic truth.
Dr DAVID HILL
CEO, World Innovation Foundation
Huddersfield, England
DUP has always been selective in its condemnation of terrorism
Emma Little-Pengelly MP, as reported in The Irish News (November 27), states, “the DUP stood firm against terrorism”. This statement seems irrefutable but unionists generally have a qualified definition of words like terrorist, victim and innocent. One third of all Troubles victims were innocent Catholics with no paramilitary affiliation. Perhaps 120 of those were murdered by the infamous Glenanne gang, nearly all of whom had security force connections. These are not statistics you often hear from unionists.
Has Ms Little-Pengelly ever condemned the terrorist group known as Ulster Resistance? In 1987 this group, together with the UDA and the UVF, imported a large consignment of illegal arms. Some of these were intercepted by police but one third has never been recovered nor have they been decommissioned under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. I am sure Ms Little-Pengelly would be greatly distressed to know that these weapons are still in terrorist hands.
I have challenged unionists before on their attitude to loyalist violence – none have defended themselves, particularly on the question of security force collusion. I challenge Ms Little-Pengelly directly – when has she condemned or called for an enquiry into this branch of terrorism?
P McKENNA
Newry, Co Down
Fervent admiration for Israel has blinded Mr Nevin’s judgment
Colin Nevin (December 15) obviously believes in fairies and leprechauns, Finn McCool and the Scottish giant, Benandonner, who was threatening Ireland at around the same time that the fabulous King David was living in his huge opulent palace in Palestine – roughly at the time that mankind gave up the life of hunter/gatherers and settled down to the humdrum life we all know today.
A firm believer in the Old Testament in which God prophesied that all the kings of the inhabited world would gather at Armageddon, and their armies, led by Jesus Christ, would defeat the forces of evil whereupon the victorious kings and their armies would rise up into Heaven to be met by the Tooth Fairy and his/her furry friends. They will there be joined by the “end of time” delirious citizens who currently reside in the Bible Belt in the US.
Mr Nevin’s fervent admiration for Israel seems to have blinded him to the crimes we have all witnessed on our TV screens, for example the Jews-only settlements on stolen Palestinian lands, the numerous assaults (including the use of illegal white phosphorus bombs and shells) on the inhabitants of Gaza and the ongoing slow genocide of the unfortunate, undefended, abandoned people of Palestine.
EUGENE F PARTE
Belfast BT9
Culture of gender fluidity is a threat
What a strange world the children of today are growing up in. When it comes to play, the rough and tumble of school life is banned – no running in the school yard, no football, no water pistols or snowballs.
Sugary treats aren’t allowed and the joy of salt on your chips is anathema.
The great outdoors is outlawed for fear of being kidnapped or stung. Interactions with other children are closely monitored lest they say a mean word or resort to fisticuffs.
Yet, when it comes to choosing their gender to overhauling their complete identity from as young as five years of age, adults who promote this ideology have no problem.
Aiding and abetting are people like the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby who encouraged boys to wear tiaras and tutus and heels to school and Prime Minister Theresa May who wants to demedicalise transgenderism, ignoring experts like the American college of Paediatricians who published a comprehensive report in September 2017 pointing out the serious dangers of promoting transgenderism in children.
The culture of gender fluidity is a threat to the teaching of the truth and a challenge to adults who should be taking responsibility in helping the young grow up stable and happy. We all have to resist these insidious ideals before their fake ideology ruins generations of our children.
OWEN GALLAGHER
Glenavy, Co Antrim
