Opinion

Mary Kelly: Let's banish 'commemorations' and start 'forgetting' instead - we might get to like it...

Celebrating the memory of 1916 involved hurling petrol bombs at the police in Derry this week. It would be better if all 'commemorations' were banished, says Mary Kelly.
Celebrating the memory of 1916 involved hurling petrol bombs at the police in Derry this week. It would be better if all 'commemorations' were banished, says Mary Kelly. Celebrating the memory of 1916 involved hurling petrol bombs at the police in Derry this week. It would be better if all 'commemorations' were banished, says Mary Kelly.

THERE'S one word I would like to banish from the local lexicon – at least for a generation: commemoration.

It's been dragged out for decades every 'marching season' to remind us of the vital importance of a late 17th century battle and its never-to-be forgotten role in the creation of a national identity – British – or rather, a version of it that few in modern day Britain would recognise.

Then there's the other side – the Easter one, in memory of the brave rebels of 1916 who took on the aforementioned empire. Their reckless heroism in the face of superior forces is now remembered by a bunch of wannabes who have raided the paramilitary dressing-up box for dark glasses, balaclavas and pseudo-military uniforms.

Strutting their stuff isn't enough for some, so this year, a few crates of petrol bombs were brought along to a Derry cemetery to fire at police, so that a full-scale riot was their way of honouring the men of 1916. Doesn't it make you proud?

How about we start 'forgetting' instead, and while we're at it, we could forget about waving our preferred nationality in each other's faces by scrapping flags too. We might just get to like it.

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DO you think Priti awful Patel wears that customary smirk when she looks in the mirror? Can she really face herself with equanimity as the daughter of refugees who fled to the safety of the UK from Idi Amin's Uganda, and yet is happy to sign an agreement to deport thousands of desperate refugees to Rwanda?

They tried a similar wheeze some months back to use Albania as a dumping ground, but forgot to tell its government first.

Israel abandoned its deportation project with Rwanda after most of the refugees settled there fled to other neighbouring countries. While Australia finally gave up its own scheme to dump them in distant offshore islands because it was prohibitively expensive.

But Patel knows better and had the nerve to tell the House that Rwanda was a beautiful country which had done much to integrate migrants from other countries. She tried to imply there was racism inherent in the criticism of Rwanda, but failed to mention the fact that Britain only last year criticised its human rights abuses and the fact that her government has actually granted asylum to people who fled the Rwandan regime.

It was too much to swallow even for Theresa May, who as Home Secretary dreamed up the "hostile environment" policy to deter migrants. May said she couldn't support the Rwanda scheme "on the grounds of legality, practicality and efficacy".

Professed Christian Jacob Rees-Mogg used Twitter to be a latter day evangelist, announcing the resurrection via his social media feed: "Christ is risen, Alleluia."

Shortly afterwards came a slap across Tory knuckles from the crozier of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who described the Rwanda scheme as "ungodly".

Undeterred and completely without shame, Moggo and Johnson claim the distinguished cleric had clearly "misunderstood" the government's aims. I think we know whose side Jesus would be on.

As I write, Johnson has been PM for 1,000 days. So who drew the short straw to defend the crook on the Today programme that day? Step forward used car salesman, Brandon Lewis, who compared the lawless lockdown parties to speeding offences, then said of course he wasn't comparing the two things.

"Yes, you did... just a second ago," gasped presenter, Mishal Husain in disbelief.

Demonstrating again the Tory attitude to truth, Lewis said he didn't. Somewhere in the distance a cock probably crowed.

Has this government totally lost its moral compass? Did it ever have one? Nope, not under a Prime Minister whom the distinguished constitutional historian Peter Hennessy this week described as "the great debaser in modern times of decency in public and political life".

And what of his party colleagues? They're waiting for the results of the local elections in May to decide whether to dump him or not. It shows their moral compass has long gone too.

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I CAN'T quite decide if it was brave or foolhardy for the SDLP candidate Elsie Trainor to give chase to two hooded louts who she caught removing her posters in south Belfast.

The footage on her Twitter feed was shocking as she confronted the pair, one of whom lashed out at her.

But her ability to catch up with them, film them on her mobile phone while also alerting the police, surely means a day job as an MLA would be no sweat. You've got my vote Elsie.