Back in action

Hi,

Due to a top secret ('If I told you, I would have to' etc) assignment somewhere on the road between Derry and Fahan for the past six months, blogging has been impossible. Every spare moment has been spent doing, you know, stuff. However, having bought a book on the power of social media recently, the whole issue of blogging has come back to the fore. Especially on Tuesday, and, more particularly, Easter Tuesday.

The newsroom is quiet, the pic diary is quiet, the roads are quiet, even the babies are quiet (was just joking about this, but strangely our reporter Catherine Doran, still off on maternity, has just walked past saying she has to return to the car as her baby is sleeping. As they say, a wil' lot of coincidences lately. To stay with the language of the self-help, quantum physics, become a millionaire by this time tomorrow movement, and go with the flow, I'd like to share with you another moment from this morning. A visitor asked me to copy a sheet showing the layout of the building, which was bluetacked to the wall. Hadn't noticed one for yonks. Went into the kitchen and picked up a sheet lying on the floor - yes, another one. Obviously my future is in some deep and meaningful way connected to the layout of the Journal office. Excuse me while I make my way to the kitchen for a cup of tea . . .)

Derry is back in the news, and for the wrong reasons. The dissidents are increasing their share of media time, and we had Sky, BBC and more here yesterday for the 32CSM Easter commemoration. The threat to Catholic police officers got on the news, and indeed the front page of today's Journal and other papers. The Queen's visit another target. The Mirror carried a story that Derry could be the locus of an attack to mark the Royal wedding (nice word that, got it from that Paul Clements article today where he slipped in 'genius loci' - probably says that to all the cities).

Listening to Jude Collins and Fr Canny on BBC Radio Foyle this morning, the following thought was prompted - what if there were no dissidents? Another obvious thought strikes - what a blow to Irish freedom. It is a characteristic of the delusional - and editors' offices seem to be a magnet for same, both through letters and personal appearances - that they genuinely believe, despite all the evidence and the weight of public opinion to the contrary, that they are right. Everyone else is suffering from a false consciousness and it's only by the courage and sacrifice of the few can the veil be removed from our collective eyes. Unfortunately, Irish history, as we're frequently reminded, throws up the example of the 1916 leaders, jeered at on the streets and now hailed as visionaries and fathers (and the occasional mother) of the republic. The reply must be, as a letter-writer to the Journal last Friday pointed out, that these are very different times.

No, if we had no dissidents, the path to Irish unity, for those who want it (and a lot of people on both sides of the border may well think that the present 'two jurisdiction' arrangement, for petrol, taxes or whatever, is convenient enough), would probably be a lot smoother. Cross-border arrangements could be extended and deepened. We could focus on positive developments like the UK City of Culture 2013, rather than dealing with the depressing thought that a small group of people in the city will actually try to use the attention to do Derry down locally and internationally. We could have more festivals without wondering if some of the visiting artists or indeed punters will be scared off by explosions or attacks. We could put a lot more energy and money into promoting Derry as the tourist destination in Ireland with everything on its doorstep - from the Walls to the Giant's Causeway to the golden beaches of Donegal (and, before Geraldine comes out, Magilligan). We could try and address more of the social issues, such as unemployment and lack of facilities for young people, that the dissident groups actually try and feed off. Do they welcome these problems? 

A TUV speaker on Foyle this morning tried to make that link between dissidents and criminality. But, certainly in Derry and the North West, that doesn't seem to be the big problem. Like it or not, ideals are the driving force here. They look to the past for their vindication - whether that's the 1916 Rising or the IRA during the Troubles. As Paul Clements suggests today, the Derry of 1981 and the Derry of 2011 (can't believe it, the 20th century, that most modern of things, is very much the 'last century') are two very different animals. 10 lines in the Fodor's guide thirty years ago; ten pages this year. And the Ireland of 1916 and the Ireland of today, well . . .

Anyway, suffice to say that it's quiet in the Journal office today. Laurence is keeping the head down, Davy is doing his bits and pieces, the Sunday team are beavering away but seem to be similiarly cowed by the unfamiliar atmosphere, Sean is in the file room, maybe checking out more on that deValera visit in 1951 (how different was the city then), advertising are coping with the absence of a lot of business people on their Easter break (recession, what recession?). The editor, of course, is very busy indeed . . .