The New Year is about letting go of the old and ringing in the new but the thirty-rule, which sees the release of official files from the Government archive, is akin to an annual political time bomb.  We learn what we would prefer not to. We read the thinking of our generation in our generation. We open sores, which are still scabby.

The release of historical papers of is immense interest to historians and political buffs but it may be uniquely threatening to our political stability. The duplicity of governments, the murky and inconsistent forked tongues of players past and present are there for all to see. It’s not so much warts and all as blood, bowels and intestines of all. It’s the offal of politics.

The truth about our conflict is that both the British Government and the IRA played the wider public for fools and their terror and counter-terror initiatives which included the Government giving loyalist paramilitaries an ‘un’official leg-up meant that the death of innocent civilians, police, prison officers and indeed some volunteers became acceptable collateral damage in pursuit of the game.

It’s difficult to comprehend just how leading figures in the IRA, UVF, UDA, and securocrats still active in Government sleep easy in their beds knowing that they are steeped to their armpits in blood. It’s difficult to understand how any of them can look families of victims in the eye without suffering mind-blowing flashbacks. The irony of the released Government documents is the clear demonstration that even during the Hunger Strikes preventing loss of face for both the Government and the then Leadership of SF/IRA was more important than saving the lives of the individual Hunger Strikers who were making the ultimate sacrifice. There is not enough stone in all the quarries in Ireland to make monuments or headstones big enough to fill the gaps left in some families by an unnecessary and wanton loss of life.

To some the archives show just how far we have politically travelled. Frankly, I believe the release of the papers show just how much sooner the conflict could have ended.  The papers clearly demonstrate that just as the Catholic hierarchy used to put the reputation of the Church ahead of the needs of the victims of clerical child abuse so too did British securocrats and leaders of paramilitary organisations put the protection of their own personal and organisational reputations ahead of the victims of violence by waging a fruitless strategy of military and political attrition. How do we know this?  Well its apparent by the recorded patronising lip service paid both by the authorities and some patsy like interlocutors to the then mainstream constitutional national party. While the SDLP collected international gold stars for good behaviour the British Government was clandestinely practising the military two-step behind their back with the paramilitaries.

The families of victims from all sides of the divide must find the thirty-year release of files particularly gut wrenching, especially when some of the main local protagonists are still very active in public life.  Baroness O’ Loan is correct when she asserts that some in the current political classes want to live only in the bubble of the present as if they had no pasts.  If the current process of opening these documents continue in its present format it may only serve to embarrassingly demonstrate how some of our political representatives could be unsuited to holding public office.

Today with hindsight its easy to see how wrong De Valera was about the Treaty but the prism through which he is judged is against the backdrop of an Imperial world order. The current conflict can claim no such excuse.  Throughout the 20^th Century the campaign for equality has always been an evolving one whether it’s about religious, gender, sexuality, colour or disability rights.  Our campaign for civil and equal rights did not need to spill blood.  The British Government should have recognised that from the start.

Loyalist and republican paramilitaries who are now so determined to find common cause used to feed off sectarian blood-letting, fear and suspicion that unnecessarily set working people from different traditions but of similar economic backgrounds against each other. Their breeding grounds for hatred created killing fields of some housing estates. Of course this was our past, one fuelled by misty green-eyed, corner boy militants and sectarian coat trailing bigoted preachers, unworthy of any Godly calling.  The past like conscience may make us cowardly but which political Hamlet will first say ‘Be all my sins remembered’.

I remember reading a story about a father not being able to provide for his family one Christmas. He became quite angry and frustrated. His youngest daughter however brought very expensive gold wrapping paper to cover a shoebox and placed it under the Christmas tree with ‘Dad’ written on the top. The father thought the wrapping paper was an unnecessary extravagance and chastised her. On Christmas morning opening the shoebox he discovered it was empty. He was furious with his daughter and accused her of playing a cruel joke and of his wasting money on the expensive wrapping.  Crying the child explained that she had blown kisses into the shoebox until it was full. The father broke down begging his daughter for forgiveness. Sometime later the young girl was tragically killed in a car accident and her ever so remorseful father kept her little Christmas shoebox all his life. Every so often if he felt discouraged or in despair he would open the box and taking out one of those imaginary kisses he would remember the unconditional love once put there by his young daughter. Its doubtful if the story is true but amongst all the glitter and consumerism of Christmas, it serves as a useful reminder of what should be truly important to us.

Many people find Christmas difficult, especially those who are facing it alone through bereavement or estrangement with their families. Jolly Christmas cards adorned with picture perfect families seem to mock the pain of those struggling to cope alone.  As we fill our shopping trolleys in wasteful extravagance its worth stopping to ask where the ‘Christ’ is in our Christmas?

This week saw the premature death of the writer and commentator Christopher Hitchens. He was truly a thought provoking man who stoically faced and lost his battle with cancer. He was also a particularly articulate God denier. A friend of his who was a Pastor said of his passing ‘He knows the Truth now’. One does not have to be an altar hugger to know how lonely a life without God could be.  For some at Christmas it’s only the God part that will see them through. The comfort eating of puff pastry mince pies, lashings of cranberry and brandy laden puddings will have a more lasting impact on the gut than the soul.

Yet it’s pointless to turn into a bible bashing Christmas Grinch. Christmas is a happy and celebratory time. A walk around the Belfast Continental market is an explosive smell-a-vision of food and colour with hundreds of happy and smiling people milling about stalls selling everything from beanie hats to paella.  I like Christmas because people are much friendlier than at the rest of the year.  Christmas even brings the best out in those lack lustre supermarket till operators who for the holiday season at least seem genuinely interested in customers.

Even after all these years, I still love Christmas with a child like sense of expectation and wonderment. I don’t agree that Christmas is only for children. Come to Newry to see how my father and aunt keep the fun in Christmas with their dazzling array of snow capped china villages, dancing musical Santa’s, multitude of snow-globes and light-up Disney characters and yet the youngest of my siblings is thirty seven and lives elsewhere with his family!  If there is a condition for it-my aunt is almost certainly a Christmas ornamentalholic.

Something for which there is an officially recognised condition is CLS- better known as Christmas Light Syndrome.  Albert Sadacca is the man to blame for starting it all across the pond in 1917 when he first used Christmas lights but the condition of CLS quickly spread throughout the USA before catching on in Britain and Ireland faster than a bout of swine flu. But not even the tackiness of over-sized plastic lit up snowmen or polar bears can dampen my enthusiasm for Christmas and my goodwill towards all men can even include politicians, estate agents and bookmakers.

Politicians, however, should take the grace that Christmas affords and use it all year round. Too much of what passes for politics its petty point scoring against each other and the media. Politicians are increasingly disengaged from the matters, which concern the public, and they blame public apathy on the media. The media is only a mirror, which reflects political actions or more often inaction- warts and all. Stormont is hardly a shoebox filled with unconditional love but it could be full of unlimited promise.

Next year in a small region of Switzerland called St Gallen, they will mark the 1400th anniversary of the founding of their city by a Bangor man. Yes, that’s right a bloke from Bangor. Gallus got fed up with Ireland’s Gold Coast and headed off to Switzerland in 612AD and did not stop until he fell and stumbled over a bush beside a waterfall in the Steinach Valley and hey presto he founded a town. They are planning big things in St Gallen in 2012 which Gallus, a hermit monk would now be disappointed to discover is home to some eighty thousand souls and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Despite the Catholic population only representing some forty percent of the local religious make-up everyone from the Lutherans to Orthodox Christians are getting stuck into the celebrations. But then again this is Switzerland where everything is very civilised.

Back at Stormont and indeed Westminster some of our politicians are getting agitated about the prospect of a decade of anniversaries starting next year with the creation of the Ulster Volunteers and the Signing of the Ulster Covenant.  Naomi Long MP for East Belfast has expressed concerns at Parliament about the possible hi-jacking of some anniversaries for political purposes and up on the Hill, the SDLP’s Karen Mc Kevitt has expressed a worry about the possibility of revisionism concerning the events of 1916.  In a way its pointless getting too exercised about political anniversaries in Irish history as like the dreaded Christmas they will come to pass and we will wonder what all the fuss was about.

Ironically perhaps the most significant anniversary has already passed, as it has been eight hundred and forty years since an Irish tribal leader first invited over the English King Henry II to interfere in Irish affairs.  The English oblivious to the fact that, guests like fish, go off after three days have been involved ever since- thereby creating one of the most dysfunctional neighbourly relationships in Europe.

Of course part of the Sinn Fein agenda was to take advantage of the anger in the Republic of Ireland during the recent Presidential election and have a former member of Oglaigh Na Eireann installed in the Aras in time to oversee the commemoration of the establishment of the Irish Volunteers and the 1916 Rising. The citizens of the Republic having watched how we Northerners get ‘cricks’ in our necks from looking backwards opted for a man of letters rather than a man of action to see them through the theatrics of the 1916 commemoration.

On the other side latter-day Carson Unionists replete with Covenant replicas will dust down Great Granddads old UVF armband while tango-tanned grannies wearing union jack bloomers and orange lilies will give bawdy renditions about the gallant Clyde Valley and SS Fanny gunrunner exploits as part of Ulster’s commemoration pantomime.

These so called seminal moments in our history are of a different era and place. In the rest of Ireland, Britain and indeed the rest of Europe the causes of our divisions are barely recorded let alone remembered. Only here in this small North Eastern part of Ireland and perhaps only in Belfast do the fault lines of the early nineteenth century still run deep.  It’s like living in an un-buried time capsule.

Yet slowly but surely things are changing – even in Northern Ireland were normality still plays catch-up.  Maybe the harsh realities of living in depressed economic times will mean that the usual sectarian appetites for flag waving and emblem fixation will soon dissipate. The British and Irish Governments have shown considerable leadership in managing historical anniversaries and in doing so have made many people revise their myopic interpretations of historical events.

The First Minister often talks about a new more integrated society. It’s a laudable aspiration but it’s peppered with contradictions by the comments and actions by some in his party. Sinn Fein too plays loose with actions. The DUP/Sinn Fein axis has the potential to do some good but they need to demonstrate that their political reason d’être is not ‘equal but divided’ as opposed to ‘shared and inclusive’.  They have spent a long time taking baby steps in the political process and at times they have strutted like peacocks over very little.  The so-called decade of anniversaries will provide both with many opportunities to outreach beyond their usual audiences. Neither party has a monopoly on our history but perhaps like Bangor’s St. Gall they have the potential to go far!

Last week while the Euro tittered on the brink of collapse and Iran upped political tensions in the Middle East, here in Northern Ireland it was business as usual as Belfast Lord Mayor, Niall O’ Donnaghaile was castigated for opting not to give a Duke of Edinburgh Award to a teenage Army cadet. Unionist’s feigned outrage and Sinn Fein retaliated by outlining a litany of snubs by previous unionist Lord Mayors. All very predictable political knock-about; by people who beyond the gaze of their respective electorates, spend most of their time amicably and cosily sharing the tearooms of City Hall or Stormont.

The youthful Lord Mayor has been a good ambassador for Belfast but he seemed like a rabbit caught in the headlights when the fallout from his actions became clear. His snub was ill calculated but it was a mere lapse in judgement.  He quickly apologised and the calls for his resignation are foolish.

Many of those bandwagoning on his mistake have made many more serious political blunders for which they have yet to fully explain, let alone apologise.  The Lord Mayor’s offence was minor compared to that of the self-opinionated turbo driven, publically licensed funded, petrol head- Jeremy Clarkson.  Mr Clarkson expertise is his passion for gas guzzling cars as well as wearing jeans ill suited to his girth. Many people disagreed with the strike action last week but few would have been motivated to come out with the mind numbing comments such as those made by Clarkson about having ‘strikers taken out and shot in front of their families’.  But Mr Clarkson is not unaccustomed to shooting from the lip before his mind is in gear. He compounded his gibberish by hitting out that those who commit suicide by jumping in front of trains as being inconsiderate and selfish. Has this man no depth to his callousness? Has he no thought for the families who struggle to understand the motivation behind the suicide of their loved ones?

When people like Clarkson apologise they tend to be qualified apologies including ridiculous things like- ‘if’ offence was caused- I am happy to apologise’. What nonsense- offence was caused and over twenty one thousand people rang the BBC to say so.  Celebrities should realise that if you have had a car-crash on live TV being open, frank and forthright is a better tact than any mealy mouthed half-hearted apology. In this particular case there should be penalties for both Clarkson and the BBC with both donating substantial compensation to a mental health or victims support charity.

Of course, Clarkson is not the only loose tongued jabberwocky in public life- as would be third time mayor for London, Ken Livingstone is well versed in the art of rubbing people up the wrong way.  Last week he asked an audience how many people thought George Osborne should be hanged. Hanging seems to be a fascination for Comrade Livingstone as he once said that he longed to wake up one day to see the Saudi Royal family – the Al Saud’s hanging from the lampposts in Riyadh. It’s easy to be glib and say that the public don’t take any notice of what these people say or do but that’s not true. Our own history demonstrates all too well how the public comments by some politicians fanned the flames of many a young person’s actions and filled our jails and graveyards as a consequence.

At his party conference as he spelt out some blue-sky thinking for the DUP, First Minister Peter Robinson took a swipe a public broadcaster- Stephen Nolan.  A case of the biggest party in the country taking on the biggest show in the country.  While probably not a good idea -especially when it referred to Nolan’s alleged eating habits -the comments perhaps reflected a genuine sense of frustration by some politicians against what they see as rabble-rousing broadcasting to no good effect. Of course some local politicians would prefer a fawning media but occasionally they have a point if commentators turn to populist haranguing rather than forensic scrutiny.

In Northern Ireland terms, it is the duty of the media to be extra vigilant against the excesses that arise from the enforced Band-Aid type of coalition under which we are governed. Politicians have a mandate to be elected and to govern but that mandate does not come as an unqualified endorsement of everything they do. Pundits and politicians alike need to acknowledge that responsibility goes with the job or else they should beware –the Clarkson effect!

Peter Robinson is correct in his assumption that there will be no reward for simply surviving a term at the next elections.  To paraphrase, Bill Clinton; its results, stupid!’  Now even Martin McGuinness acknowledges that politicians need to lift their game if they don’t want to raise the apathy of an increasingly sceptical public. Keeping your job while tens of thousands lose theirs is not really an achievement. The recently published “Programme for Government’ is high on aspiration but anything emanating from Stormont that raises our ambition higher than pot holes and cow suckler premiums is to be welcomed. The target of 25,000 new jobs is high and will only come about with a fairly aggressive overseas pitch but while Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is big picture thinking, Northern Ireland is as Jim Allister points a small business economy and small businesses are haemorrhaging jobs due to our banking inertia. FDI is not a panacea but if Northern Ireland is to change its destiny then we need an announcement about corporation tax to turbo charge our international offering.  There should be no more dithering on this issue.

Sinn Fein and the DUP deserve credit for sticking with the decision to reduce the number of councils to eleven and not fifteen. Yet given the implementation of the Review of Public Administration stalled because of narrow party political considerations one would hope that the protagonists have since grown up. To be frank, Northern Ireland is so over governed we could survive with six county councils and perhaps two city councils and still achieved the type of synergies, community identity and savings that politicians harp on about. At the moment we have councils, which straddle county borders where the locals have no shared identity.  The devil of course is in the detail but politicians at Stormont should not think the public would wear ‘golden handshakes’ for departing or retiring councillors.  Across all parties many deadwood councillors, long beyond their sell dates sought and fought the last election in the hope of a payout.

While being a councillor is admirable it is not a job and losing out on boundary changes does not entitle one to compensation. A token payment of a year’s stipend would be fair but the much rumoured talked about £15k -£25k payments will stick in the craw of many voters.  Council employees who stand to lose their day jobs will not look favourably on their political masters looking after their own when cutting loose thousands of ordinary workers.

The Executive has said the focus will remain the economy and there is no doubt that Peter Robinson, Sammy Wilson and Arlene Foster are the right people in the right jobs if that focus is to gather any momentum. While John O’Dowd is by light years a better Minister than his predecessor, the failure to lance the boil over the issue of academic selection is regrettable as children- albeit by parental choice- are being put through trial by multiple examination, particularly in Greater Belfast. The establishment of yet another advisory panel to advise the Minister for Education is fudge.

Alasdair Mc Donnell makes a valid point about there being very little in the Programme for Government aimed at tackling long term, systemic unemployment.  It is easier to talk about job creation than deal with job leakage or conveniently forgetting about economic blackspots, such as Derry or West Belfast. Of course, in some areas attitudes to State dependency is as deeply culturally in- grained as sectarian attitudes are in other parts of Northern Ireland. Thinking has to be radical to make access to opportunity a level playing field for all immaterial of their postcode.

To be fair this Programme for Government deserves merit for the leadership that is being shown by the two big parties. The minority parties in the Executive by tag along or drag along methods will have behave like team members for the time being. Given we have the oddest coalition in Europe, if not the World, it is crazy to go about stifling minority opposition voices within the Assembly. Actually it’s farcical to allow members from the Executive parties to tear into their Ministerial coalition partners-if they are from another party- but exclude speaking time to those who are outside of the cosy political cartel.  Jim Allister is not my cup of tea, nor is he necessarily constructive but his questioning is forensic and holding to account is a cornerstone of democracy. Not withstanding our financial woes- free speech still costs nothing.

Joe Hughes, husband to one, father to three, brother to eight and ‘uncle’ to thousands was laid to rest on Tuesday 15^th November 2011.  His route to his final resting place passed by his first home with his beloved wife, Eileen, his place of work at Newry Credit Union, his family home in Boat Street and his parents house in Home Avenue – all in Newry.  Joe dictated most of the aspects at his Requiem Mass in his last few days to his son Brendan, but when it came to the music he told him, go and talk to life long colleague, Arthur Morgan.  Arthur held the open secret to all in the Credit Union that Joe wanted one hymn in particular sung by one particular singer.  The hymn was ‘In God alone my soul at rest’ and the singer was to be Malachy Delahunt.  That was Joe Hughes, everything in order and everyone in their place.  He was the epitome of correctness.  A pioneer, a member of the Legion of Mary, a devotee to the Blessed Eucharist and a committed Christian, Joe lived a life of witness.

At the Requiem Mass his son Brendan said that Joe did not want any eulogy but such a life could not end its temporal existence without some remarks because his was a simple ordinary life, lived remarkably and extraordinarily in the service of others but ultimately to God.

He was a husband, father, grandfather and brother but first and foremost he was a husband.  A husband and best friend for fifty-three years to the love of his life, Eileen.  There was never a sense of separateness between Joe and Eileen, I doubt if either could hold a sentence without mentioning the other.  Certainly whether it was going to Mass, shopping, Credit Union events or his beloved Down football matches – wherever Joe was – Eileen was too.  No doubt, Joe will continue to look after Eileen in the way she tended to him.

Joe Hughes was synonymous with Credit Union. There was not a family whose lives he did not touch.  He was affectionately known as ‘Uncle’ Joe and by default Charlie Smyth always found a place for a reference to ‘Uncle’ Joe and the Credit Union in his pantomime productions.

The Credit Union that Joe Hughes worked through was like a family, the Board, the staff and the members, they were all an extension of family.  His recently deceased brother Sam, worked alongside Joe in promoting Credit Union throughout the district.

Indeed Credit Union for Joe was an extension of Christian faith.  In 1986 he wrote ‘that Credit Union is an organization that puts into practice from Monday until Saturday what we are taught in Church on Sunday.’

Joe was meticulous and anyone who ever worked with him on balance sheet reconciliation would know that no one left until the last penny was accounted for.  One director said to me, when one looks at the financial recklessness of the past year, not one Newry Credit Union Director ever lost a nights sleep while the organization was under the stewardship of Joe Hughes.

Joe was an active member of the Catholic Church and was a committed ecumenist having worked and prayed closely with the Church of Ireland Minister, the late Cecil Kerr.  However there was an occasion when his faith conflicted with his authority as Manager of the Credit Union.  Joe was due to read one Sunday morning when he rushed out to those in the front seats proclaiming he could not do the readings.  No one could understand his dilemma until he pointed out it was Deuteronomy 23:19-20; ‘ you shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, no interest money, food or interest on anything that is lent for interest’. To Joe’s relief a neighbour stepped up to the mark and saved his blushes.

As previously said Joe took great interest in county football and travelled everywhere to see Down.  He was a founder member of the Down Supporters Club and even flirted briefly, very briefly, with St. John Bosco GAC in Newry.  Joe was no fair weather Down supporter – he stuck with the county through thick and thin.  To watch Joe and Eileen unravel their eateries at away matches would have made a picnic with the Queen look common.

But Joe was a man of great faith.  A faith that sustained him through his illness which he bore with the selflessness and fortitude that were hallmarks of his life. He was a man not to bother others.  He was never a man to be the centre of attention – even though he was at the centre of everything to which he turned his attention.

Prayer was at the centre of Joe’s life and it was no surprise that post-retirement he found a new interest helping out at the Benedictine Monastery in Rostrevor.  His faith was turbo-charged by that relationship.  He was a man of his time and its rules and his benchmarks were high; but Joe was a man who could love the sinner and forgive the sin.  He was a humble man but given his contribution to the life of others but in particular his Church and Credit Union, he had no reason to be humble.  As his wife, Eileen, children Brendan, Donal, Kevin, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, and his in laws come to terms with his passing – lets leave the last words to Joe when he quoted once an Irish proverb ‘There is strength in congregation, strength in cooperation, strength in supporting one another’.  We can learn much from that wisdom.

Why, when one stands on a pinnacle, must one throw oneself down? No one knows, but things are so.’ So wrote Oscar Wilde and his thoughts must be shared by Irish Presidential runner-up, Sean Gallagher.  A week ago the Irish Presidential race seemed to be in his back pocket.  Hours later the prize was about as obtainable as an admission from Sinn Fein that any of their members were ever in the IRA.  The man who metaphorically pulled the trigger on Gallagher was none other than Martin McGuinness but Pat Kenny launched the grenade. From there on Sean Gallagher did not just explode, he imploded too.  The failure of Sean Gallagher to prepare for the expected was his real nemesis. There was nothing thrown at him that he should not have already put to bed. His businesses were always going to be forensically scrutinized and his link to Fianna Fail was always going to cut two ways.  In fairness, that link did much to propel favorably him to nearly a third of the electorate but it was his perceived lack of candour and clarity, which proved his undoing. Yet as pointed out this column a month ago- there was always feeling that this election would not be his time and that the door of the Aras lay open to the whimsical poet and wizardly Dumbledore figure of, Michael D Higgins.

Presidential elections are more about personality and the elections swung back and forth on the candidates personal traits. The public had expressed a desire for an independent candidate. They were tired of party politics and were still angry.  After Gallagher’s implosion, a Labour commentator said that the public had shifted from wanting an independent candidate to a candidate who was of independent mind. That was a fair summation and that’s what they will get with Michael D.  Poetical he may be but this cultural icon is also known for his less than rational outbursts.  But the Aras is an institution and Irish institutions have a habit of restraining the inmates.  Michael D may their most challenging inmate to date.

Character, morality, honesty, temperament, judgment and integrity were all benchmarks that the electorate judged the candidates on.  To the credit of Michael D- he stayed above the fray but was given an extraordinary easy ride by the Irish media. Perhaps they thought it would like be mugging your Granddad.  Mary Davis and Dana must be seriously questioning their own judgments. Being nice does not qualify a person to be President. Nor does it pay to be some kind of ideological flag-waver. It was sad to watch Dana’s internal family disputes being played out in the media like a soap opera.

Mary Davis candidature never caught on and without meaning to being callous she was almost unrecognizable from her posters to the flesh and TV is a very unforgiving medium. If one were to believe the Irish media darlings, David Norris, if allowed to enter the Presidential race would be swept to office by massive public acclaim. What a load of greenroom balderdash! The more the public saw of him the less they approved.  He was an eloquent version of Toad of Toad Hall. Though in fairness during the debates he was hilarious.

Martin McGuinness came in like a lion and went out like a lamb. The hysteria of the Irish media was embarrassing and Sinn Fein played them like a fiddle.  Yet in the democratic Republic of Ireland 86.3% of the voting population has rejected Sinn Fein. Its time they got over their minority status in the Republic. Their political toxicity is proven by the lack of transfers.  Sinn Fein gambled high by playing the Martin McGuinness card and their expectations have been dampened. 13.7% of the vote while respectable is not earth shattering and in Dublin West where there was a real election, there was no McGuinness bounce for Sinn Fein as their candidate got a mere 8.9% of the vote.

Sean Gallagher can hold his head high. Ironically, both he and David McGuinness have shown there is a way back for Fianna Fail. Fine Gael on the other hand must be wondering what their brand means to the country. The Presidential race was theirs to lose and they lost it spectacularly. Enda Kenny’s leadership and authority will come under scrutiny again. This election raises some serious questions for the Irish media but as Wilde would say ‘Slander and folly have their way for a season, but for a season only. ‘

In the Book of Revelations we learn of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse representing Conquest, War, Famine and Death. In the race to become Leader of the SDLP there are also Four Horsemen, and like those in Revelations they thunder-‘come and see’.  The four contenders for the leadership are Alasdair Mc Donnell, the redoubtable and bruising campaigner; Alex Attwood, the competent and student prince of serious politics; Patsy McGlone, the affable and gut instinctive grassroots politician and finally but by no means last, Conall McDevitt, the talkative PR man and now young pretender to the crown. Interestingly for a predominately rural based party, three of the candidates live in Belfast. Thanks to proposed boundary changes all three could be soon contesting against each other.

This election is important not just for the SDLP but also for the future of whatever bulwark of middle ground, moderate nationalist opinion that is left to challenge growing two-party political and cultural hegemony of Sinn Fein and the DUP. Therefore anyone of good-will would hope that the delegates of some three-hundred are acutely aware that their decision is about shaping society and not just sham differences between jostling personalities. Get this wrong and the SDLP as an entity is on the fast track to political history and electoral obscurity.

In policy terms there is hardly a hair’s breath between them other than highly qualified comments on the possibility of entering opposition. A collective mistake. Personality-wise the gulf between these four men is as wide the Atlantic.  Stylistically they are as different as day and night. They range from the gregarious to the solemn and from the folksy to the urbane.  There is powerful presence versus backroom politico; there is hale & hearty back-slapper versus the greenroom darling.

Each of the candidates has their own strengths; likeable, smart, street savvy and articulate- take your pick. Each too has their weaknesses; light, bullish, bookish and clichéd.  The cadre of followers in each camp is wilfully blinded to the qualities of those in the other camps.  Only Dr McDonnell has made any attempt at outreach but was quickly rebuffed.  Perhaps more than most he is all too mindful of the fallout following the last damaging SDLP leadership election. Despite their various campaign literatures trying and failing to convince internal and external audiences that they have vast differences in policy- this election is not too different to the last. It’s about stopping someone winning for reasons more personal than political. One would have hoped the SDLP learned that lesson several times over.

The party finds itself faced with this bruising contest because of the promises of a false dawn and the petty but personal divisions between senior members of the party both past and present. The SDLP does not need pedlars of rainbow catchers; it needs the political equivalent of a dose of cod liver oil.  Nor does the SDLP need to behave like a hectoring great aunt. The SDLP in government acts and sounds like killjoys. This election is a reality check for the SDLP. All the candidates are offering a change of sorts. Alex Attwood is like the SDLP’s Gay Mitchell, a political enigma, competent, articulate but practically unsellable to the wider electorate.

Alasdair Mc Donnell is the ultimate political bruiser. Some people in the SDLP don’t like being roughed up but he is like Rocky; he just can’t give up.  Say what you like about McDonnell but you can’t ignore him.  Conall Mc Devitt is the nearly new guy on the block. He is articulate and media savvy. He has a tendency to over play his hand and attention to detail is not a strong point. Is he more style than substance? Some think so. More worryingly he has no strong constituency base within the party or in South Belfast.  He is Clegg like and light. Yet for the bookies he is joint favourite along with the popular, grassroots grafter, Patsy McGlone, a former SDLP General Secretary. Patsy’s strength is undoubtedly his street sense and that he knows every hole in every SDLP ditch across the country.

Too some in the SDLP, both front-runners share an Achilles- Margaret Ritchie’s political isolation post the election, their futures may depend on South Down delegates being of a forgiving mind. In Revelations it’s written about the white charger: ‘its rider held a bow, and was given arrows, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquering’.  Let’s hope the SDLP remember that the conquering starts outside their convention walls.

The sense of outrage by Mrs Finucane and her family is palpable.  It was hard not to sympathise with their obvious deflation. Something went seriously wrong here and the British Government must shoulder the responsibility for misleading the family. Clearly having been asked to attend Number Ten and meet with the Prime Minister, not unexpectedly, the family must have thought that their long search for truth was coming to an end and that the terms for the much-anticipated public inquiry would be announced. Government advisors gambled that Finucane family would be assuaged by a face-to-face meeting with the Prime Minister. They gambled wrongly.

No one should wish to frustrate the Finucane family or any family who has lost someone through murder in their search for truth. Mr Finucane was murdered without mercy in front of his family.  The Finucane family while disappointed last week by a clumsy, if not heartless Government, has got a lot closer to the truth and justice that still eludes many families of victims, whether they were murdered by the IRA, UDA, UVF, or security forces.  Both Sir John Stevens and Judge Corry have both made it quite clear that there was more than a degree of state collusion in the murder of Pat Finucane.

Sir John Stevens conducted thousands of interviews over several years and despite the best efforts of the then RUC Special Branch and NIO securocrats to thwart him, concluded that collusion was clear. No one has ever doubted the veracity of Steven’s Report. Indeed current Secretary of State, Owen Paterson embarrassingly confirmed this at the despatch box last week. When crucial missing evidence re-appeared in 2004, Ken Barrett was finally convicted for the murder of Pat Finucane.  He was sentenced to twenty-two years. He served less than four years having qualified for early release- a scheme that lies at the very heart of the hurt for many families of victims across Northern Ireland and beyond.

The Finucane family has always maintained that the prosecution of particular individuals has not been at the crux of their campaign into the extent of State collusion into the murder of Mr Finucane.

That is their right but thousands of other families will never even come close to knowing who shot, stabbed or planted the bomb which killed their loved ones; let alone who authorised the action further up the chain of command.

Some families of victims want justice. They want someone to stand up and take responsibility for their actions- even if it means that the penalties because of the early release scheme will never equal to the grossness of their crimes. Other families like the Finucane’s say they want the ‘truth’.  The truth seems ever so more elusive to get.

There is clear evidence that senior republican paramilitary figures were on the state payroll as agents. They too colluded with the RUC Special Branch and the Army intelligence unit, FRU. They also caused the deaths of some of their own comrades and civilians and the State protected, if not rewarded them at the expense of civilian lives. The State should come clean on its nefarious acts of collusion whether with loyalists or republicans. Yet it seems as with Denis Donaldson that the State is still somewhat contented when paramilitary elements take care of their own housekeeping.

Former members of the IRA who are in Sinn Fein claim to be comfortable with a ‘credible, international Truth Commission’. This is balderdash as such a commission would take years to create and even longer to conclude. It could not compel witnesses to attend and could take no action against those prepared to lie. Star witness’s will be collecting their pensions or kicking up the daisies long before it reported.

Some senior figures in Sinn Fein hold the key to the truth about the deaths of some six hundred and forty four civilians- never mind the murders of so called combatants. Many prominent Unionist politicians would be equally queasy at the prospect of their dalliances with loyalist paramilitaries becoming publically aired.  So the ‘truth’ like the Disappeared is destined to remain buried.

Too many of our current political stakeholders have too much to lose by the truth ever becoming a tradeable commodity.For the Finucane’s, like the Travers, Gallagher or Ruddy families the search will go on. It has too, as they share not only grief but also the hope that whatever the future holds for them, that our society will be a better place for their sacrifice.

The Irish Presidential Campaign has overshadowed the Sunday league tussle for Leadership of the SDLP. Or should that be the race to be SDLP Leader as the other half of the Leadership team, Dolores Kelly is now Deputy Leader elect- having no opposition following the withdrawal of the young but talented Derry based Colum Eastwood? Yet the SDLP still has a Leader albeit an undercover one. Margaret Ritchie now mentally detached from the mantle of leadership is like a Friday night penitent who having cast off her sins is settling comfortably back into her role as Champion for South Down and the serial harasser of government departments.

To borrow the parlance from a former MP for West Belfast, Ms Ritchie is determined to remind voters that she ‘has n’t gone away you know.’ One of her latest ventures is to take on the vested interests of the influential insurance industry who continue to penalise and discriminate against citizens of Northern Ireland.  Everyone from small businesses, homeowners and car drivers unfairly find themselves paying additional premiums in Northern Ireland as opposed to other parts of the United Kingdom.

Ms Ritchie has identified a matter that needs to be tackled as it’s a real bread and butter issue affecting nearly everyone in the North. Just how this will be done is still unclear but a totally focussed battler like Ms Ritchie is very unlikely to be deterred and is making moves to raise the issue on the floor of the House of Commons. Meanwhile the absentionist Sinn Fein is impotent on the matter other than to carp from the sidelines. Insurance regulation is a reserved matter and there is little can be done about it by the ‘folks on the hill.  Backbench and regional MPs, if they don’t want to fade into the political Bermuda Triangle that can be Westminster, could do well to follow Ms Ritchie’s lead and identify matters which affect our normal nine to five existence.

One Westminster voice we had thought we heard the last of was that of Tory turncoat, Shaun Woodward, the former Labour NI Secretary of State. Shaun Woodward, the man of the people, who allegedly has as many homes as your average housing association. At his party conference he waxed lyrical about the importance of having another hugely expensive and unjustifiable inquiry whatever the cost. We are getting to the stage were the word farce does not come close to describing the swings and roundabouts of British politicians when in and out of government. At least the Albert Clock only has four faces.

If that was not enough for the attention seeking political non entity that is Woodward, he then questioned the validity of the proposed corporation tax break too. Given the perilous state of the British economy bequeathed to it by a squandering Labour Government it’s doubtful if anyone should be taking lessons on the economy from a former member of that Government. But Labour is playing to their Trade Union funded gallery and that’s not lost on the numpties over here whose strike action last week left two thousand four hundred patients across Northern Ireland with cancelled appointments. The fact that a majority of Unison members did not bother to vote in the ballot for strike action seems lost on their leadership.

As is the norm, it’s the usual cabal of union leaders, some of whom certainly seem to earn more than most of their members or if it’s to be believed your average Sinn Fein MLA, who orchestrate strike action when they should be working with government to find efficiencies within the public sector. The notion that there is no wastage in the public sector; that there can be no reduction in the systemic culture of  public sector ‘sick days’; there is no duplicity of service provision or that there is an ever ending pot of gold to fund fanciful rainbow pensions is more fictional than an MP’s expenses claim.

Naturally some MLAs just can’t get enough of picket line fame as they regularly stop off to get photographed alongside the protesting placard waving representatives of the proletariat.  And if it’s not a protesting group of hippies, human rights nuts or crusty serial complainers, our political establishment just can’t help spending our allegedly scarce money on receptions and backslapping events for anything from the synchronised one legged ladies swimming team from Ballyclare to the world acclaimed left handed ‘marlie’ champions from Sion Mills. Even I would pay a premium to be insured against this lot!