CHANGES POINT TO 'GREENING' ULSTER News Letter, Tuesday, August 12, 2008

The most obvious change inour society is when women marry and in the vast majority of cases change their name to that of their husbands and as such it identifies their new status in society. We in N.I. can easily recognise the importance of change of name.

The UDR was changed to RIR to satisfy the GB and Dublin politicans and Republicans; the name change was only a sop to Unionists while Goverment implemented the closure of all local bases and the local involvement was destroyed. The same approach was adopted with the RUC. The RUC was to be destroyed despite the tribute to the impartiality and acceptability of this force to the entire community by such people as the late Paddy Devlin. It had to be destroyed to placate the enemies of Unionism and of course we have the neutered PSNI.

The latest example of change of status is the removal of the words Resident Magistrate and the designation of District Judge for all sitting on the Petty Sessions Benches. The judicial nomenclature descends from the High Court Justices to the County Court Judges to the Resident Magistrates. Some years ago Circuit Registrars were appointed to deal with civil matters of a minor nature and later became designated as District Judges. This designation has now been extended to remove the title of Resident Magistrate and why ? In the English jurisdiction Resident Magistrate is retained but where in the British Isles have District Judges been so designated for many years ? Would it be a shock to the public to know that the only jurisdiction with the same designation is the Republic of Ireland ?

This is only the latest action in the harmonisation process; Deceit,stealth and dishonesty are all used to bring about the harmonisation of the two political jurisdictions in the island of Ireland. Where is the outcry concerning this process from the leaders of the political groupings ? Can one now deny the accuracy of Bob McCartney's claim that administration of N.I. would be 'greened' without the consent of the majority and to all intents and purposes a legal transfer of power will be a formality and a mere recognition of what in fact is already in situ ? Lyle Cubitt, Balllymena

Something that has become ever more apparent to me as I watch BBC news bulletins of late is the increased 'Irish' dimension. There is not a day goes by now when there is not some story from south of the border. Now, there is clearly no harm in news from the south,but the fact that it is coming thick and fast now,to the point where it is becoming a portion of the news bulletins in and of itself.

My question is this: is BBC N.I. trying to do itself out of a job ? It seems to be pushing an all-Ireland agenda,to the point where it has resigned to becoming an offshoot of RTE. Recently I heard a talk by a prominent unionist politican who said that ''Ulster unionists have little or no friends in the media.'' He went on to say that ''we have no friends in Ulster Television and we certainly do not have any friends at the BBC''. This prediction is almost certainly true.

One has only to watch UTV sports bulletins to realise that GAA is afforded more air-time than any other sport. It seems increasingly clear to me that both UTV and BBC NI are actively pushing an all-Ireland agenda. It is something very worrying,but they will not fool the Ulster people or try and trick them into thinking that they are really just Irish citizens after all. We as a people need to be very wary of this threat.
James Part, Portstewart.

LOSING OUT IN THE NAME GAME ....B.T. Wed August 13 2008

''With a worldwide television audience of billions,into the stadium comes 'Great Britain'..... and we also wish the competitors from Ireland good luck.''

So went the commentary at the opening ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It used to be 'Great Britain and Northern Ireland'. Why was Northern Ireand omitted ?

I presume the Chinese people (at least) will assume 'Team Ireland' represents both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
William Heath-Barrington Belfast

Just to add I suppose the R.O.I. does in a sense represent N.I. as they pick from N.I. as well as the R.O.I. So he might be a wee bit askew there. Once again a different name would help to dispel all this [planned] confusion.

“Beijing” is the Mandarin pronunciation of the same city, which we have now been ordered to use by the Chinese politburo. Sorry: will not do, not least because English routinely pronounces foreign place-names differently from the natives. We do not, as the French do, tend to rhyme Paris with Harry: but we rhyme Torino with urine, Copenhavn with Hope in Reagan, Munchen with You Nick, and the Chinese capital with sea-king, not raging. Actually, names tell us a lot.

They often touch upon the core of identities and power. The Derry/Londonderry division is both real and confusing, not least because loyalists who will call the city Londonderry will also refer to Derry’s Walls, or City of Derry Rugby Club. I don’t pretend to understand the nuances involved here, because I simply don’t understand the sensibilities. And whatever way the unionists of the Foyle might feel about their city’s name, they cannot be unaware (as even I am aware) that the squad bearing the union jack in Peking is called Team GB: not Team UK, or Team GB & NI. No: Team GB.

Astraw in the wind. Unintended, as straws in the wind usually are, but a reminder nonetheless that the people in Britain (and even that term might itself soon become obsolete) have reverted to pre-Troubles default mode. Ireland (or any part thereof ) is something they know nothing of, and care less about. Now that their various intelligence agencies have finished playing ducks and drakes with democracy in Northern Ireland, and foisted two sets of tribal bigots into power, they can once again pretend that those six north-eastern Irish counties are no longer their business, as they did for 50 ruinous years after 1922.

Another straw in the wind draws near this autumn, though this time, being intended, it is more of a haystack in a hurricane: the probable ending of the Common Travel Area between the islands of Ireland and of Britain, including Northern Ireland. Travellers from the North to Britain will need special documents to gain admission. This is undoing the Good Friday Agreement, Sunningdale, the 1948 Ireland Act, the 1922 Treaty, the 1920 Government of Ireland Act, 1801 Act of Union, the creation of the crown of Ireland in 1541 for Henry VIII, and Poynings’ Laws: moreover, it is the first paninsular annulment of English authority over any part of Ireland whatever since the submission of the Irish kings before Henry II on November 11, 1171.

There is more to this than airborne hay: tectonic plates are moving. Britain looks as if it is breaking up anyway, but even if it’s not, it is clear that there is no genuine British regard for the Ulster unionists. If in the creation of a team for one great international sporting global contest, the British do not even remember that Northern Ireland shares their kingdom, then clearly there is not a surfeit of natural affection there. So: does it not make sense for the people of the North to throw in their lot with that of the rest of the island of Ireland? Unionists might argue – as indeed I do – that in their tolerance of the IRA in their midst for decades, the people of the Republic showed scant love for the Protestants of Fermanagh and Tyrone. But what kind of love were the Protestants shown by a Westminster that ran the agents who were themselves running the IRA, and which designed the deal to grant power to the political party representing the architects of Enniskillen, and the authors of La Mon?

As well as being perverse and revolting, there is something inherently unstable and temporary about such a contract. Is it not better to look strategically beyond the miserable drumlins of Ulster’s borders, and seek new friends in the other provinces, ones who are unsplattered with the corpuscles of one’s kin?

For either way, the clock ticks, and the royal hem, brought ashore at Crook, near Waterford, in 1171, is being slowly withdrawn. It is time for the Ulster unionists to come to terms with their nearest neighbours. What could those terms be? More tomorrow.

kmyers@independent.ie

So there you go. If he's right,its another step in the 'blending in process'. What price loyalty ?