Dr John Tohill (January 7) does not come across as a fan of the MBE, CBE, OBE British civic awards system. Dr Tohill says “the British Empire contributed nothing positive to my ancestors or to the predecessors of Ireland’s present day priests”. What about the English language we speak, the Indian tea we drink, or the Irish diaspora across imperial trade routes? Did Empire trade routes allow Irish Catholic missionaries, and Protestant Bible Societies, to take the Christian message to the ends of the earth? The British Civic Award system is highly controversial in and of itself. The archaic award titles, referencing a mercifully now defunct empire, are a cringe worthy reminder of past national sins. Having said all of this, if priests or pastors or other civic leaders in the north want to use the titles, let them get on with it. It is a matter of individual conscience and personal choice, whether to accept the MBE, CBE, OBE awards.
Are multiculturalism and secularism diminishing the importance of Catholic-Protestant, British-Irish, or Unionist-Nationalist labels? Younger citizens may embrace a good degree of flexibility around these labels: – if they use them at all. Dr Tohill speaks of the oppressive Penal laws (which ended almost 200 years ago). Non-conformist Protestants suffered persecution and disadvantage during this time as well as Catholics. Many members of the established Church of Ireland were impoverished, and only a small elite seem to have been hugely advantaged by a cruel economic and unfair political system. Hedge schools and Mass rocks are an inspirational part of our cultural heritage, that can be celebrated by everyone, whatever their denominational background (or even in the absence of any). Past generations successfully fought for human rights and for land reform, resisting an abusive imperial system.
We honour their memory by asking what the human rights crisis of our era is. With around one life per second lost globally to abortion this is the silent genocide of our time. Fretting unduly over MBE, CBE, OBE awards is not a good use of time. Local ecumenical witness against abortion by Christians has been an inspiration in recent times. ‘#StopStella: What Really Happened?’ is a five-minute film clip, with some highly disturbing graphic images of abortion victims, that exposes the horror of abortion.
The internet and social media equip Catholic-Protestant-Dissenter to robustly resist the most oppressive evil empire of our time – the Abortion Industry. ‘Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle’. The resources to resist abortion are at our finger tips but are we sharing and using them on-line?
TJ HARDY
Belfast BT5
Peter Weir and DUP now have opportunity to do the right thing for young people
Last week Ofsted reported that more than 200,000 pupils in England are being educated in schools that have performed poorly for at least 13 years despite being inundated with improvement initiatives from central and local government.
Does anyone really think that the situation is any better here? Given what Sir Bob Salisbury has said that no schools in England have such poor achievement as the lowest achieving schools in Northern Ireland, the situation here is likely to be much worse. We have fewer graduates here than any other region of the UK and up to 30 per cent of the population with little or no qualifications.
All the research and there’s a lot, from the Public Accounts Committee, the Equality Commission to the OECD point to the detrimental effect that academic selection has on our education system. According to the Investigating Links in Achievement and Deprivation Report, which was one of the most comprehensive pieces of research carried out here by academics from Queen’s University and Stranmillis University College, the biggest barrier to improving educational outcomes for poor children here is academic selection at 11. They called for selection to be scrapped, claiming that it, “reinforces privilege and disadvantage”.
Academic Selection is based on a system that labels over 60 per cent of our children as failures. It is a system based on social selection where disadvantaged children go to one type of school and their more advantaged peers go to another. We have the most socially segregated system of education in the developed world, bar none. In 2012 the OECD placed us 34th out of 34 developed countries on the level of social segregation in our schools. The more socially mixed a school system is the better a child performs.
Peter Weir and the DUP now have the opportunity to do the right thing for all our young people and replace the present selective system with a system of comprehensive education that will help all our young people and particularly our most disadvantaged to fulfil their full potential.
JIM CURRAN
Downpatrick, Co Down
Irresponsible predictions
Recent media reports predicted flooding over large areas around and across the entire Ards’ Peninsula. This sudden assertion has alarmed many people and caused unnecessary anguish, for they and their ancestors have lived in the Ards Peninsula for many generations and have never experienced such flooding. It is an irresponsible thing to do since it is nothing more than a prediction and such predictions about rising water levels etc worldwide have not come to pass.
It is true that some coastal areas experience flooding during high tide with stormy conditions, but this is no worse than in the past. I know this because I live in such an area and weather conditions and geographical features vary. We have never been flooded, yet this survey places us on a flood plain. Inland, when rivers and drains are dredged regularly, flooding does not occur. I hope that this prediction does not herald yet another increase in rates nor indeed a levying of increases over all households, even those who have paid heavily for fortifying their properties against such flooding.
Much flooding is also caused by building on flood-plains and concreting over seepage areas. Who passes plans for such developments?
I CORR
Greyabbey, Co Down
Tackling extreme poverty
I would like to express my sincere thanks on behalf of Concern Worldwide to the readers of The Irish News for their generous support in the past year.
To those who give regularly, local community groups, campaigners, shop volunteers, marathon runners, challenge participants, street collectors, school fund raisers, businesses, debate students and adjudicators and to everyone who enabled us to support vulnerable families around the world, thank you.
As we begin 2020, an estimated 168 million people globally will need emergency humanitarian assistance. It is the highest estimate in decades and one that will continue to rise unless we work together to help.
I hope that in the year ahead, we can rely on your support to transform the lives of people who need it most. Tackling extreme poverty is complicated, but together, we can and will end it, whatever it takes.
PETER ANDERSON
NI Director, UK
