The scourge of sectarian chanting must come to an end in all its shapes and forms.
It is a dangerous malignancy which is becoming pervasive up Ulster way and must be stamped out in normal society.
It is inciting hatred which is a criminal offence and should be prosecuted where possible. Freedom of expression is guaranteed with limits and those limits are there for a very good reason.
It was never intended that freedom of expression would mean provoking other people and hatred through whatever method, whether it be writing, music, speaking, singing, or physical violence. It is disquieting that the arts are now being used through music to get sectarian messages across.
A liberal arts is a product of western democracy, but when it is perverted into a tool to get a prejudicial and highly discriminatory message across, it’s madness.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has rightly pointed out it is a problem on both sides of the Northern Ireland divide and should end immediately.
Sectarian chanting represents a society drifting into the gutter and beholding to the devil in terms of showing contempt for other human beings.
Sectarian chants are essentially war songs designed to degrade and demean and tear up the fabric of society. We should have no objection to referees immediately calling off matches when mobs of people from the terraces and stands start abusing other fans or verbally attacking players.
Bigoted fans entering stadiums should be warned that any match or event will be called off if provocative chanting starts – without any right of refund.
They should also be warned of the possibility of arrests printed on the ticket. People who feel the need to insult or deride other people should learn to hold their tongues.
MAURICE FITZGERALD
Shanbally, Co Cork
Truss joins ranks of shortest-serving world leaders
News of Liz Truss’s resignation – who could no longer withstand the massive criticism from within her own ranks – has prompted swift reaction from political leaders and media commentators around the world, with many focused on the brevity of Truss’s time in office amid on-going political chaos in Britain.
Liz Truss had been in office for 45 days and the briefest serving PM in UK history – triggering the second Tory leadership election in four months. The second shortest serving PM was George Canning, who served for 119 days before dying of tuberculosis on August 8 1827.
Alec Douglas-Home missed out on a first anniversary in office surviving 363 days before being replaced by Harold Wilson. William Henry Harrison was the ninth president of the United States, inaugurated in 1841 to become, at 68, the oldest to have held office at that point.
Less than an hour into his 32nd day, he also became the first to die in office, serving the shortest tenure in US presidential history. He took the oath on March 4, a cold, wet day during which he rode on horseback and delivered an inaugural address lasting two hours. His steadfast refusal to wear a coat or hat that day contributed to the pneumonia that killed him on April 4, though other reports attribute his death to typhoid fever.
This is an unprecedented situation and an unprecedented short tenure as PM and an unprecedented crisis in British politics.
GERRY COUGHLAN
Dublin 24
Once again Provisional Sinn Féin has brought shame on the name
I call on Provisional [Sinn Féin] to give up the honourable name of Sinn Féin as they have brought shame on it once again. They have turned the full circle and are part of the British empire. It will be only a matter of time before they take their seats in Westminster.
They should remember that it was not long ago that the current king was commander in chief of the British paratroopers who butchered 14 innocent Irish people in Derry on Bloody Sunday, in Belfast in Ballymurphy and Springhill, as well as carrying out other shoot-to-kill murders across the occupied six counties.
To see Michelle O’Neill and Alex Maskey shaking the hands of the royals was stomach-churning. These are the same people who for centuries tried to exterminate the Irish people by transportation, starvation and theft of our land.
This carry-on is most certainly not what the hunger strikers in the Maze died a terrible death for in 1981.
The Provos are puppets of the British establishment, they have turned themselves inside out and dropped every principle they claimed to hold sacred.
So, once again, I call on them to drop the name and let Republican Sinn Féin carry on and get our 32-county back without interference from the British.
MARTIN KELLY
PRO Comhairle Uladh,
Sinn Féin Poblachtach
No majority to remain
A former secretary of state of Northern Ireland Shaun Woodward stated recently that the conditions of a border poll were very close. He stated that the three conditions for a border poll would be a majority in the census, a majority of seats in the assembly and a number of opinions polls stating that a majority wanted a united ireland.
In the recent census it showed that the unionist community were not in the majority. In the assembly there is no unionist majority as they only have 36 seats of the 90 seats. In quite a few opinion polls there is no majority to stay in the UK. In the Sunday Times LucidTalk poll held in January 2021 only 46.8 per cent stated that they would vote to remain in the UK.
If those same conditions show that there is no majority to remain in the UK, surely the status quo needs to change and a border poll needs to be called.
JOHN McSORLEY
Belfast BT5
