Pathetic army excuse about base security does nothing to answer the questions

In the wake of the death of two British soldiers in Northern Ireland, am I the only person who finds the answers coming from the British army in Northern Ireland to be totally lacking in an awareness of the shocking way base security has been treated.

The head of the British Army failed to properly answer questions about why base security guards failed to fire a single shot in return and instead asked the press if they expected security guards to fire in to a group of people that included British soldiers. Quite clearly the press did not want security guards to shoot at British soldiers. What the press were asking was why it was that three terrorists could shoot for more than 30 seconds, why they could approach and fire further shots at those they wounded and why they could then withdraw on foot without a single shot being fired at them.

Furthermore, we all ought to be asking why it is that at a time when it is known that Islamic terrorists have wanted to target British soldiers and when the terrorist threat level had been raised in Northern Ireland, why are British army bases protected by civilians with the same powers as a special constable ? Why are they only lightly armed with pistols ? And why is it that when UK armed forces are specially trained in base security (the RAF Regiment stands out as being expert at this), why on earth are the armed forces not responsible for their own base security ?

As it is I found the army's response to questions about base security to be very poor and reminds me of the way equipment failures and shortages in Iraq and Afghanistan have been constantly excused by the armed forces, only to find a few months later when a senior officer quits that he speaks openly and says what he really knows to be true.

25 years too late ?

It seems rather odd that the UK and Ireland are to start having border checks on cars leaving and entering the Republic of Ireland from Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Surely these checks would have been valuable in "the troubles", but to start them now seems very odd indeed.

P.S. I note that the BBC report says this will be the first time formal border checks have occurred in 80 years. Any checks in the troubles were ad hoc.

Warrington - 15 years on

Given that today is the 15th anniversary of the bombings in Warrington I thought I'd share the a couple of the things that stood out for me from those terrible events.

Firstly, as an Everton fan, I remember feeling quite choked up at the death of Tim Parry, the young lad out shopping to buy an Everton shirt, who was killed by the IRA. And it was this death which stood in contrast to the other thing that stood out for me that day, which was football related.

A friend of mine who was at university in Scotland, who was also something of a Celtic fan, attended a Celtic match that day, and despite the killing of two young boys that day, the Celtic fans were still singing songs in praise of the IRA. I remember my friend phoning me up the next day to tell me he had walked out of the ground and had vowed not to watch Celtic again, such was his disgust.

At least 15 years on the people of Northern Ireland have grown up enough to stop murdering children. Sadly sectarianism is still part of the game in Scotland, and Celtic and Rangers are to be commended for their efforts to end it.

I hope those who still want to sing songs of praise to terrorists from the terraces in Scotland remember young Tim Parry and and Jonathan Ball the next time they start to sing at a football match.

A film that I could easily avoid

I read yesterday (but lost the link), that the Paisley family have commissioned a script of the life of Ian Paisley, that mild mannered compassionate soul that is the leader of the Democratic Unionists. Apparently the script may well be turned in to a film.

Somehow I can't see Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorcese beating a path to Belfast in order tot make the film.

I can't ever remember this happening to one of our candidates at a count !

I guess THIS is the sort of thing that could only happen in Northern Ireland.

A Labour activist one tried to hit me at the 1997 General Election count when I told him we would target his seat in the next local elections (which we did, and we won it), but I can't remember anyone ever being arrested.

Has anybody got any stories to share ?