Martin Mcguiness Dies.

[Islay]

What is in NI's future now? According to George Galloway everyone in NI wants a united Ireland! What planet is he on!

[emmie]

that was mikey's comment, i don't believe Churchill was a war monger, he knew what Germany were up to long before it came to war.

[ichkeria]

There were two strands to Lord Tebbit's argument in the interview I listened to earlier. Firstly he claimed that Martin McGuinness was a coward because he thought that if he didn't sue for peace he might have have been arrested. It's certainly true that one reason the IRA were willing to sue for peace was because they realised they could not win, it this is also true on the British side, which negates Tebbir's other main point, namely that only a military victory would defeat the IRA. This, he reminded us, was the view of Airey Neave, brutally murdered by the INLA in 1979. Events of course were to prove that view wrong. So while I have every sympathy for Kord Tebbit for what he personally suffered at the hands of Martin McGuinness's organisation, his analysis of what happened , or what should have happened, is out of date and wrong.

[Peter Pedant]

no I think itch is not so much a fan of McG
but wonders at the life cycle

it seems reasonable to suggest that Martin McG just got tired of killing

does happen
famous case of a palestinian policeman ( English of course ) arresting a member of Irgun who was armed and disguised as a rabbi - the armed fella didnt shoot the unarmed one but instead let himself be arrested. Later hanged ( by the british)
stimulated debate for 50y on the lines - why did he give up and why didnt he just shoot the unarmed officer ?

[Peter Pedant]

I am not keen on such people when they say
so many people had to die for Irish Freedom - but not me of course !

[New Judge]

“New judge? Old prejudices.”

There is no prejudice on my part, old or new, allen. Prejudice definition:

“an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.”

My opinion of Mr McGuiness has not been formed beforehand or without knowledge. It has been formed with the benefit of hindsight and what has happened over the past forty years or so. I do not rejoice at the news of anybody’s death, however odious they may be. But neither do I bestow post-mortem adulation on somebody as a hero of peace when in an earlier life he was involved, at quite a high level, in a campaign of violence and terror. The notion that he was to be applauded because he was instrumental in the “peace process” (which, as has been mentioned, had some less than savoury aspects, though that’s another argument) when he was firstly instrumental in the terror campaign that required such peace to be pursued, would be laughable were it not so serious.

[yogi-bear]

Responsible for many, many deaths and maiming injuries.....no great loss to the world then.....Just a shame he didn't suffer the pain and anguish his victims went through before they died, or had to deal with the loss of a loved one......and still grieve today.

[Baldric]

No sympathy from me whatsoever.

[DTCwordfan]

He was an intelligent man and incredibly dangerous. I have no sympathy for him. Like NJ, my old man and I came close when we were at the Earl's Court boat show and they blew up a Riva - we had just been on it and were interviewed by the police...... He was/is destined for level 9 to 12 in Hell if it exists, the further the better.....his only redemption was that perhaps he had the foresight to seeing the change of winds, north and south of the border and further field in the UK, the EU and even the States - and he adapted accordingly and helped catalyse change.

I liked the remark where in his death, the current stand-off is resolved but then the DUP need to chuck out their seemingly corrupt leader.

[ichkeria]

Sadly tho NJ that is the way of the world. In an ideal place, we'd wave away all the 'baddies' and the 'goodies' would just take over. Simple. In N Ireland ironically it was the 'extremist' parties in each side who were voted into power and everyone thought that that would be that. And yet it was not. It necessitated those who had the most to lose and the least to gain and who had been the most cynical about the intentions of the other side, to come together and .. agree. Often it's ONLY the chief protagonists in a conflict who can ultimately solve it.
The truth is that no one has a monopoly on good or evil: in fact on a personal level McGuinness was far from odious, and that fact helped build bridges there no doubt. I guess it's called the 'human factor' after all.

[DTCwordfan]

Surely that's Liam Neeson, divebuddy.....?

[Baldric]

Before I met them, my inlaws had to put up with a lot of Telephone abuse due to the fact that their Scottish Surname was one letter away from an Irish one (O'). Every time the IRA misbehaved they got the abuse over the 'phone in spades.

[Togo]

NJ@19:49. Prejudice. Another "word" from the well used lexicon of slurs favoured by the...............would be Libz. As I say accuse someone else of what you are guilty of. Perhaps they gain a moment or two of self righteous glee.

[ichkeria]

Michael Collins is attractive I guess because he's from another era and was romanticised in films. Just as Martin McGuinness may be one day. When all the little dive
buddies of the future can come on and say: 'that Martin McGuinness' now THERE was a man :-)

[grumpy01]

Anybody would think a member of the Royal family had died the amount of T.V. coverage his death has been given today.

[jourdain2]

Now that he has died I am glad that he is meeting his maker and do not believe that he can be admitted to Heaven; he repaid some of his evils however and that is not up to me. That he did do good things later can be recognised and offset. I am, t.b.h., appalled and upset at the amount of coverage seeking to minimise the carnage for which he was responsible and can quite understand Lord Tebbit. A mere reporting of his death would have been enough and the reaction demonstrates the twisted values of today.

The news programmes of (it seems) all channels are horribly, heavily slewed. Youngsters would have understood that McGuinness was a John Wayne type of character. His responsibility for killings and maimings is being glossed over.