Poppy is for all war dead – not just the British
IN Brenda Power’s article (Mail, yesterday) the headline read: ‘Surely we can find some way to commemorate 35,000 Irish war dead without celebrating the British Army too?’
It is obvious Brenda Power does not actually understand what the poppy represents or means. It is nothing to do with celebrating the British Army or the British Empire. To quote Wikipedia: ‘The Remembrance Poppy is an artificial flower that has been used since 1921 to commemorate military personnel who have died in war and are mostly used today in the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.’
To make the poppy a political symbol of the British Empire is wrong and dishonest, it also dishonours the memory of all those brave soldiers who gave their lives to defend the weaker countries of Europe. Amongst those brave soldiers who died was my late grandmother’s brother, 5893 Private Patrick Duggan of the Irish Guards, from Louisburgh, who died at the Battle of the Somme on September 25, 1916.
So Brenda, regardless of what you or anyone of your mindset thinks, I will always honour the memory of my late grand-uncle and his fallen comrades, and every soldier who died in battle for our freedom. It is an Irish trait: we never speak ill of the dead, nor do we dishonour them. The Poppy should never be a political issue, but having said that, I do like the idea of the Shamrock Poppy.
JOHN FAIR, Castlebar, Co. Mayo.
Trump’s foolish Game
FOLLOWING President Trump’s ‘sanctions are coming’ comment, we can make an interesting comparison to the original ‘winter is coming’ and see why it wasn’t really the best quote to use.
The fans of the HBO show Game Of Thrones know all about ‘The Wall’ and have seen it breached.
They know that some of your own people may be the first to kill you. They know that people can switch allegiances. They know that having the big weapons can help but you still need to form allegiances. They know that trusted advisers are always trusted advisers. They also know that family members can be a problem in many ways.
Perhaps there is something in a quote by Michael Scott in The Office: ‘Sometimes I’ll start a sentence, and I don’t even know where it’s going. I just hope I find it along the way.’ DENNIS FITZGERALD,
Melbourne, Australia.
Tubridy’s hypocrisy
I DIDN’T vote in the Presidential election and I don’t watch The Late Late Show. Nevertheless, I wasn’t surprised at the reports of the treatment of Peter Casey by the presenter. I’m surprised Casey was naive enough to appear on such a travesty of a programme.
I’m just wondering was Ryan Tubridy as aggressive towards that great liberal/feminist icon, Mary Robinson? The question is rhetorical, of course.
ERIC CONWAY, by email.
Northern questions
FORMER Fianna Fáil adviser Martin Mansergh is lecturing Irish nationalists on allegedly positive aspects of Northern Ireland, which is nearly 100 years old.
The Northern territory began as it meant to continue, by violently expelling over 10,000 Catholic workers from their jobs in 1920. Cast out also were ‘rotten prods’ who opposed this measure and the attempted pogrom that accompanied it. A split and violent disagreement over the terms of a Treaty dictated by the British government prevented Irish republicans from effectively opposing the creation of the sectarian territory.
Unionism never fully bought into the 1998 peace agreement, as the conduct and collapse of the Northern Executive demonstrates. If Brexit could roll back the years unionists might, they hope, return to pre-1972 days.
Martin Mansergh wishes to accentuate the positive: the North’s ‘industrial prowess’, its contribution to victory over the Nazis, the NHS and free secondary education. The prowess was built on discrimination. The war effort had as much effect on antiCatholicism as did participation by southern US whites on racism back home. The British welfare state was imposed on a reluctant North. It helped create a self-confident and implacable nationalist resistance to unionism that erupted in the late 1960s. It should be said, though, that if Martin Mansergh’s Fianna Fáil had created an NHS down here, it would be attractive for patients, present and prospective.
I have faith in the ‘rotten prods’ whose time will come again. It may not bring about a United Ireland, but straight talking is preferable to sweeping unrelenting discrimination under the carpet.
TOM COOPER, Dublin 2.
SF’s bright future
THE DUP rushed to the aid of a very unpopular British Conservative government.
The agenda of the Conservatives is to cut money to public services and to reduce the welfare state. It will take time to sink in, but this much we do know: Irish nationalists have turned their backs on Westminster. The SDLP was whitewashed out of existence by Sinn Féin gaining seven seats – a huge surge for Sinn Féin, and the tide is turning fast in their favour. NOEL HARRINGTON,
Kinsale, Co. Cork.