Power words – we are assailed by them yet are none the wiser. The Tory government is awash with words from the daily Coronavirus briefing to Boris Johnson’s florid, mostly meaningless evasions at PMQs. Words are trotted out to camouflage the latest dereliction of duty with hackneyed clichés churned out ad nauseam – “My thoughts and prayers” enunciated in an unctuous, distant, disengaged manner – a formula that is expected but with no real empathy or sense of genuine feeling. Poured like a sauce over an otherwise unappetising dish this government uses words, gallons of them, as its stock in trade to deflect, detract, avoid, evade, disengage from any of its responsibilities seeking always to offload them elsewhere – the scientific community for example. In an effort to wriggle his way out of his breaking of the lockdown rules the government’s chief adviser Dominic Cummings spouted a plethora of words to a small group of increasingly incredulous journalists and to an equally questioning public – that in this case the power of words failed Mr Cummings was subsequently brought out in a survey by Opinium for The Observer in which 81 per cent of the public believe he broke the rules. And yet Boris Johnson – in seeking to cover up Cummings’ transgression – used words like legitimate, integrity, instincts none of which vaguely approximate to Cummings’ behaviour and which have been rejected by the public at large of all political hues. The power of words was amply demonstrated in the Tory election campaign viz “Get Brexit Done” and most famously by Julius Caesar “Veni, Vidi, Vici” both succinct phrases holding a wealth of meaning and impact on their intended audiences. Yet, where Caesar was victorious at Zela we are no clearer on what “Get Brexit Done” means or what lies in store thereafter – yet again a government bandying words unsupported by actions. And herein lies the rub, while words have power it behoves their authors to back them up with actions, as in Matthew 7:16,“By their fruits you shall know them” and again by Benjamin Franklin, “Words may show a man’s wit, but actions his meaning.” In both Cummings’ and Johnson’s actions, unlike their words, we are subjected to a paucity of results – an abyss of inaction and dissembling that will doubtless be proven to be the prime cause of why the UK death rate in this pandemic is the highest in Europe and proportionally probably the highest in the world. What weasel words will Johnson, Cummings et al conjure up to wash their hands of any responsibility for this debacle – no doubt like Pilate it will be everyone else’s fault but theirs.
MICHAEL REID
Bangor, Co Down
Protests borne out of despair at inequities and discrimination within society
The recent outburst of protests and unrest, prompted by yet another incident involving police brutality on a black citizen, is borne of anger and deep-seated frustration and despair at the inequities and discrimination endemic within society. The conditions with which minorities have to endure are nothing new to us who have lived long enough to identify and empathise with these frustrations – and the justifiable anger at the institutionalised discrimination. We stand with the demands for change to be heard and more importantly to be implemented. Yet, we here in Ireland know all too well to our cost how quickly demands for equality can be lost irrevocably to the forces and interests. Tragically, that outcome inevitably becomes a means to an end in itself.
At this juncture the demand to equality and freedom is lost, obscured by the smoke of burning vehicles, drowned out by the sound of shattered glass and gunfire. The agenda is unalterably changed and unrecognisable, as those whose interests never rested with the people but only in the serving their own narrow interests and ideology. Experience here has taught us a bitter lesson that when this happens the achievement of equality and peace is further away than ever.
To the internet and Facebook generals and their rabble rousing whose sole interest is sowing discord and fanning the flames of unrest; I say close your laptops or whatever your weapon of choice is and go into the real world and make a real difference.
LAURENCE TODD
Belfast BT15
Depressing reaction to Floyd killing
Following the brutal and senseless death of George Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis it is really depressing to see how people across the north have reacted to this killing. Despite the unrest, meaningful protests, dignified acts of solidarity, street art dedications, eulogies and many personal tributes there are those in the north unfortunately who have turned it sectarian. Surely we are better than this as a society especially when many have lost their lives and many have experienced suffering at the hands of those meant to be protecting them. You have to question why there are those who would wish to make the killing of a black man and the Black Lives Matter campaign sectarian, racist or indeed orange and green. Much has been said, we’ve also seen many shocking reports and I have even read opinion pieces where certain writers deliberately use their own selected references to history to reinforce their own twisted logic about the African American narrative, the ‘benefits’ and even the misunderstanding of colonialism. I have also seen many disparaging remarks and images from so-called community groups about the support and involvement of politicians and local people in the Black Lives Matter campaign. Systemic racism exists and no deliberate manipulation of the past or the crass premeditated use of images can mask ignorance, bigotry or narrow-mindedness.
BARRY FENNELL
Belfast BT11
Postcode ambiguity
Mary Kelly (June 6) regarding the loss of Belfast’s built heritage, lamented the destruction of Seamus Heaney’s former home in Ashley Avenue, which fell to the bulldozers in 2002.
There was a high-level campaign mounted to save the derelict property, in which Heaney had penned Door into the Dark in 1969.
However, Belfast does suffer somewhat from a postcode ambiguity when it comes to preserving buildings of historical and literary significance, particularly those associated with Seamus Heaney.
Compare the outrage expressed amongst the artistic and literary communities when Heaney’s BT9 property was bulldozed, to the deafening silence which greeted the demolition of St Thomas’s Secondary School on Whiterock Road.
Heaney, of course, taught at St Thomas’s in the early-1960s, where he built-up a friendship with the then headmaster Michael McLaverty, the famed short story writer and author of Call My Brother Back.
St Thomas’s school was by no means a highpoint of post-war architecture.
However, for some St Thomas’s was perhaps on the wrong side of the motorway when it comes to making a ‘principled’ stand for our literary heritage.
BARRY FLYNN
Dunmurry, Co Antrim
