Ramblings about politics, economics, secularism and stuff
Darragh McIntyre’s expose of the deceit, financial impropriety and lack of disclosure on the part of Iris Robinson MP, MLA and Councillor, on tonight’s BBC Spotlight, was devastating.
McIntyre constructed a picture of a silly and manipulative woman. But he also exposed the degree to which this couple – First Minister and his wife – treated the democratic system with contempt.
Peter Robinson must resign immediately. His position is untenable.
The Robinson scandal – at its personal, sexual level – is an interesting study in the modus operandi of Christian fundamentalists. Peter Robinson’s chest-beating soliloquy yesterday made clear he was a husband wronged by a wrong-doing wife.
Fionola Meredith, writing in the Guardian today, neatly summarises the Pentecostal psyche when she suggests, “Many Ulster evangelicals have an ingrained mistrust of what they see as women’s vicious, conniving, sexual ways. In this view, evangelical women must still enact the story of poor, crazy Eve: weak, in need of male supervision and control, easy prey to temptation and deficient in moral capacity. So Iris seemingly fits in neatly there. Meanwhile, Peter Robinson stands free and clear as the wronged husband, grieved and dignified in his study, alongside a card from his children saying what a great dad he is.”
But there is a consensus emerging within the media that there is a bigger story here than Iris’ lust and physical temptation (although suggestions that Iris’ lover is a young chap is keeping the Twittering classes busy).
The Times Online is now running the line that the “going public” was precipitated by BBC Spotlight’s Darragh McIntyre getting oh so close to the bone with questioning about financial matters. The media has taken note – like the rest of us – that Peter made no attempt to clear his wife’s name of financial wrong-doing when given the chance, in front of the media, yesterday. The BBC bulletins this morning were leading with the fact that many questions were left unresolved following yesterday’s media event.
Many commentators are using the hubris word. And there is a sense that the Robinsons, jet-setting around, interior designing, multi-jobbing and moralising had it coming to them. It’s not just the Jesus stuff…it’s the lavish life-style, employing family members, living it up and generally forgetting their roots – at the tax-payer’s expense. In short, the Robinsons, in the midst of their fun, have been making waves and enemies. And, ironically, in the midst of all of this, an affair seems like a very handy smoke-screen. In the scheme of things it isn’t that big a deal. There are bigger, more fundamental, fish to fry.
A suggestion was made on an RTE programme today that the Gay movement was so incensed about Iris’ comments about the vileness of homosexuality that a personality hit-man had been put on the case to take the lady down. Spotlight has been doing its stuff. The media has been drawing attention to their expenses (and bloggers have provided a few microscopes). Then there are the suggestions that Peter was going to make the DUP more secular and more relevant for people turned off by sectarian politics. However, if anything, he’s been scrambling to make the organisation even more Ulster-Talibanic in response to the TUV’s fundamentalism.
But perhaps I’m being naive but I sense that this is the beginning of the end of the old Northern Ireland. We might well be on the verge of a great breakthrough. At last people will be forced to see these people for what they are. And it’s not just the Robinsons. There is more to the Adams Brothers story to come out.
Northern Ireland is like anywhere else. People who put themselves forward as being morally superior, grand-standing on their sacred alters, supported by their castes, are, often, just riding the pig’s back.
Therefore it’s not just about hubris. It’s about people being seen for what they are regardless of who they are or how pious they are.
And God may be summoned to forgive them but he won’t be good for much else.
Thanks to Iain Dale for Making the Following Post #1 on his Daley Dozen
I watched both the UTV and BBC NI coverage of the Peter & Iris Robinson “affair” story on the evening bulletins and the difference in style could not have been more stark. I’ll ask some rhetorical questions about why that should be the case later in this post.
But let’s focus on the style of reporting, first of all. UTV had Ken Reid and Darwin Templeton – Ken being the station’s old hack and Darwin being the DUP apparatchik Editor of the News Letter. At one point I was half expecting Soviet broadcasting mood music to be played over Ken Reid’s narration of the story as UTV used still photos of the couple in their early years as they doted on each other – contrasting with the contrite statement from Iris admitting her affair and her husband’s near-tearful public expose of their marital problems. Ken and Darwin gave the DUP leader an easy ride. There was scant sign of any hard-nosed journalistic rigour.
Meanwhile the BBC’s approach was much less reverential. Mark Devenport made clear, in interview with Noel Thompson and Donna Traynor, that the BBC Spotlight team had been conducting an investigation into financial impropriety surrounding Iris. Her own statement made clear that she had encouraged friends to support her lover in a business venture. Peter Robinson, when responding to questions put to him re. financial impropriety, stated that he had no involvement in any shady dealings – but he failed to clear his wife of any wrong-doing in his responses. It would appear that the BBC Spotlight team is still awaiting formal responses from the Robinsons re. written questions that have been submitted.
Hanging in the air, therefore, is why have the Robinson’s taken so long to go public with this story? According to Peter he was made aware that his wife was having an affair back in March last year – and it was at this point that his wife became emotionally unstable. However, according to unconfirmed reports the Robinsons were made aware of the BBC investigation around 10 days ago. This may explain why the story about Iris’ affair has broken now – so long after it was made known to her husband.
Peter Robinson’s humiliation in coming clean about his wife’s impropriety was clear in this evening’s news. The couple has set themselves up as God fearing, and Iris, in particular, has hectored homosexuals about their sinful behaviour while she has been having extra marital sex that, on her own admission, “had no emotional or lasting meaning” to her. In less Godly circles that might be referred to as no strings sex. But the strings they are aplenty.
Had this couple been less judgemental, less morally interfering, and less money-grasping in their multi-jobbing political lives we may have been able to muster more sympathy. They have made their marital bed.
I look forward to the next episode.
I gather some news is going to break at 6.00pm this evening (if the Twitterverse is to be believed) relating to the First Minister and his Wife.
If the rumours are true I will be writing on the subject later. If not, I won’t. (Blog post in the style of Solpadeine advert).
Just in case you thought it was just Ireland that was enacting crazy, politically correct, legislation it now appears that the UK government is to get in on the Act (pun intended). The Equality Bill seems like overkill in the first place. But now the Conservatives are meddling in this iffy draft legislation in order to ensure it excludes people of no religion.
The Conservatives (Baroness Warsi and Baroness Morris) have tabled an amendment to the Equality Bill – likely to be debated on Monday of next week – that will result in the removal of the word ‘philosophical’ from the meaning of belief. It would appear that this is a move to ensure that people who have religious faith are made more equal than people who have ‘philosophical’ belief rather than belief in a god or gods. The British Humanist Association is none too pleased.
The amendment runs counter to the stated objectives of the Bill.
The Government Equalities Office (yes, there is one!) states in its “easy read” description of the bill that “All public bodies must think about treating people from different groups fairly and equally. This is called the public sector Equality Duty.” It then goes on to list the types of groups that should be treated equally such as, “People with a religion or belief, or people without a religion or belief.”
However, the Conservatives, in removing the key word “philosophical” from the main bill draft will ensure that only people of (old style) religion will be covered. This is bizarre. The fact that the Conservatives are showing this degree of nit-picking in order to overtly exclude people of no faith from the provisions of the Bill seems counter-intuitive.
From the 1st January 2010 the new Irish blasphemy law becomes operational, and Atheist Ireland has begun a campaign to have it repealed. Blasphemy is now a crime punishable by a €25,000 fine. Ironic in a country where clerics have been systematically abusing and raping children for decades.
Here’s what AI published on January 1st:
In response, we have published a list of 25 blasphemous quotes, which have previously been published by or uttered by or attributed to Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Mark Twain, Tom Lehrer, Randy Newman, James Kirkup, Monty Python, Rev Ian Paisley, Conor Cruise O’Brien, Frank Zappa, Salman Rushdie, Bjork, Amanda Donohoe, George Carlin, Paul Woodfull, Jerry Springer the Opera, Tim Minchin, Richard Dawkins, Pope Benedict XVI, Christopher Hitchens, PZ Myers, Ian O’Doherty, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor and Dermot Ahern.
You can read the quotes on the website here:
http://blasphemy.ie/2010/01/01/atheist-ireland-publishes-25-blasphemous-quotes/
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