Opinion

What can SDLP hope to achieve sitting in a disgraced parliament?

It is long past the time that the SDLP should stop deceiving its electorate by perpetuating the myth that taking its seats, all two of them, in the 650-seat House of Commons is an effective way of doing politics. Anyone who has studied British politics will know that this is not true and the real work is done outside this ancient and outdated chamber in the so-called corridors of power and elsewhere.

It has to  be stated that Sinn Féin seem to hold the moral high ground on this issue by standing for election to this body on an abstentionist policy and consistently refusing to take their seats when elected. Instead, they choose to carry out their tasks as MPs outside this talking shop and working in the avenues where real decisions can be influenced.

To sit in the House of Commons it is a prerequisite that you take an oath of allegiance to the British crown, and this is the same crown that oversaw the Penal Laws, the Great Hunger and countless other atrocities on this island in the not too distant past. The SDLP might claim that these are only words in an effort to justify taking the oath but it is much more than this to the vast majority of Irish people who have suffered at the hand of successive British governments.

This is also the same parliament and the same right-wing English nationalist government that partied last year while the rest of us endured restrictions on our families and friends. These restrictions were put into law by this parliament and government that went on to completely ignore them and do their own thing. This displayed a typical disdain not only to us in the north, but to the ordinary people in Britain.

Anyone watching PM’s question time (December 8) can only have been embarrassed to watch Johnson squirm and wriggle and spout out absolute nonsense when answering very credible and serious questions.

This parliament and government should hang its head in shame, and not by any means for the first time, and no self-respecting person who calls themselves Irish should ever sit in such a disgraced institution and appear to give it credence. Sinn Féin may have shot itself in the foot in their stance on hunting with dogs, but by taking their two seats in the commons the SDLP brings shame on itself.

The current English government has continuously showed its total disregard for the north and yet the SDLP, with no hope of gaining anything, continue to blindly take their seats. Surely it would be more productive if its two elected MPs continued to work for their electorate where achievements could be made and absent themselves from the parliament which is widely acknowledged as simply a talking shop. What can the SDLP hope to achieve by continuing to sit in this disgraced body?

SEAN SEELEY


Craigavon, Co Armagh

Anglo-Irish treaty

I suppose Covid has given the Irish government a breathing space or an excuse not to make much fuss about the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on November 6 1921 that divided the country politically to this day. What a turbulent time it was – and what bravery, skill and dedication it took for a guerrilla army to lead one of the world’s most brutal colonial powers to the negotiating table. It was some achievement. The legacy of what took place haunts us to this day with the ‘what ifs’. One of the British negotiators to the treaty threatened that were the Irish to refuse to compromise and agree a negotiated settlement, “hostilities on a scale never hitherto undertaken by this country against Ireland” would be seen. Even though Michael Collins, a master of disguise, was able to slip into the London environs and take up residence with the rest of the IRA’s delegation at Hans Place in Knightsbridge using an assumed name, he could not escape the threats and pressure being exerted by Churchill, Hamar Greenwood and Lloyd George. Duress and multiple threats had Collins and his men with their backs against the wall and the treaty was signed.

Collins certainly did not see this as the end of the matter, but the beginning of the end of British rule in Ireland. ‘What ifs’ raise their head to this day - what if he wasn’t killed at Béal na Bláth, history would certainly have taken a different path. It’s a pity that Micheál Martin hasn’t got some of the great man’s traits, his defending of the position not to hold a state event to highlight the dirty tricks the British adopted to hasten the signing of the treaty, would show exactly that even to this day trust and fairness is something that does not sit comfortable alongside a British government. Boris Johnson and his negotiating team versus the EU are using the same threats and dismissive attitude to internationally signed agreements over the implementation of the northern Ireland Protocol 100 years later.

JAMES WOODS


Gort an Choirce, Dún na nGall

Time for us all to step up

As we head into winter the situation we are facing does not look good. The infection rates are rising as is the death rate. Now we have a new variant which appears to be more infectious. To say the NHS is struggling is an understatement. A second winter with all the usual pressures, Covid and this new variant will challenge them to limits they never imagined. Our hospitality industry has been crippled by legislation around this pandemic. They have invested heavily to protect the general public and the jobs of thousands of staff. The big supermarkets should follow their example.

We have anti-vaccination and anti-lockdown protests which is helping the virus to spread.

Everyone of us have a part to play to help us get through this winter and hopefully look forward to getting this pandemic under control.

If you are not prepared to step up, don’t complain when your actions impact on decisions that are made to protect lives, the economy and those front line staff in the NHS who continue to give everything for you.

PAT NEESON


Belfast BT15

Gerry Adams should be a bit more sensitive

I’ve just watched the video that Sinn Féin posted online of Gerry Adams out in West Belfast encouraging Santa to grant us the present of a united Ireland for Christmas. I’m totally behind the campaign for a united Ireland but found the video very distasteful.

Gerry should know better than most as the former MP for West Belfast, the levels of poverty in north and west Belfast, Derry, Strabane and other areas of the north.

Families in these working class communities main concern this Christmas is being able to feed their children and themselves or heat their homes. I don’t think too many of them will be thinking about a united Ireland in the coming weeks. Gerry is lucky with his pensions from the Dáil, Westminster and elsewhere that he doesn’t have these financial concerns about food and heat to worry about. So, next time Gerry, be a bit more sensitive before rushing to put videos online.

S FOX


Glengormley, Co Antrim