Press Cutting: The Rusty Wire Service

Grizzly Adams makes a break for Mexico

To the frank astonishment of the leader writers over in the Belfast Telegraph, Gerry Armani is leaving the politics of the Six Counties behind for a tilt at TD-ship in the Free State.

Adams: Afraid of the dark?

Can’t say as astonishment was the response here at The Rusty Wire Service.  The question for us with Adams and the South was never ‘if’, it was always ‘when’.

The whole canapé circuit of the international conflict-resolution industry must surely be grating on Adam’s nerves by now. And apart from TV appearances and book-signings, what else has he really been doing in public life for the past few years?

To be fair, The Deptford Croppy is guessing that the only person more surprised than the Belfast Telegraph at this turn of events was Sinn Féin Councillor Tomas Sharkey, who clearly had his sights set on taking the Louth seat over from Arthur Morgan. Morgan himself announced last week that he wouldn’t be contesting the next election in order to spend more time with his business or concentrate on his family or both or possibly neither.

All I know is that the Dundalk Democrat was able to speculate that even as he prepares to step down, Morgan -- who is his party's spokesperson on Finance, Enterprise and Trade and Social and Community Affairs --confided that “he felt he had enough support from the people to continue on after the next election if he hadn't decided to call it a day.’I think I would've had an easy enough task to be returned by the people of Louth.’”

So Arthur’s not stepping down for want of support and more to the point, he wants you to know that. At this point, you either believe that he really is, after nearly 40 years of frontline involvement in political activism, going to step down and concentrate on his business interests or you draw the not unreasonable inference that Arthur was shown the advantages of standing aside for the big lad.

Retiring TD Arthur Morgan : work offers consideredas a Dennis Farina lookalike

The Herald in Dublin meanwhile was prophesying splits in the party and trying to make some hay on the fact that some in the grassroots organisation were not consulted about this golden parachute for the leader.

Then again, why would the leadership (of Sinn Féin especially) consult the grassroots about what amounts to a major strategic decision for the party? The tight orchestration of Sinn Féin moves like this don’t allow for the tabling of motions in Louth local cumann meetings.

The Wee County's Sinn Féin-voting electorate will most likely suck this one up and take it for the team. I suspect the permutations offered by Adams in Leinster House may be too tempting for dwelling on local enmity.  

But above all, there is the dawning reality of the gamble that Adams is taking. Still hanging over the announcement of Adams’ intention to run for the Dáil, is the spectral presence of Brendan ‘The Dark’ Hughes.

That disembodied voice, like a dead emissary of the Disappeared or the disembodied chorus of a Greek Tragedy, accusing Adams of complicity in Jean McConville’s demise from beyond the grave....is this the stain that won’t wash away?

If Adams fails to get elected in Louth where he will be running against seasoned Leinster House campaigners like Justice Minister Dermot Ahern, the golden parachute might turn very quickly into a lead balloon.The Rusty Wire Service

Radical Think-tank driven from Mongolia

By Thadeus Moriarty (Religious Affair Correspondent)

Chinese intimidation is being blamed for The Institute of Implausibility’s sudden decision to leave its Mongolian headquarters in the capital Ulaan Bataar.

Grand Wizard of the Institute Pádraig Iago; speaking from the Hotel Kazakhstan in bustling downtown Almaty yesterday told reporters that no specific allegations of foul play could be levelled against the Mongolian authorities or the Ulaan Baataar Police Department.

Downtown Ulaan Bataar yesterday

As exonerations go, this was pretty mealy-mouthed, But then Iago hinted sensationally at what he called the ‘non-Mongolian dimensions of our decision to leave at very short notice’. When pressed by reporters to elaborate, Iago would only say that ‘whoever they were, they seemed pretty sure that they had more than a terra cotta army behind them.’

When asked where he and his fifty strong secretariat would go now that their world headquarters had been abandoned, Iago shrugged his shoulders, smiled stoically and said; ‘Who knows? We’re international refugees now, we will have to review our situation but in the meantime Professor O’Lughnasa is in Europe hoping to establish at least a provisional headquarters for the Institute.

The Institute of Implausibility is one of those organisations that has successfully defied classification for the bulk of its history.

Most people agree it started with two radical Jesuit Theologians from the West Coast of Ireland back in the 1930s. They remain to this day its two Grand Wizards. Their ages are uncertain as their birth records were among those destroyed during the Black and Tan War in Ireland in the early 1920s. But however you slice and dice it, they’ve got to be at least ninety years apiece. Not a bad record of globetrotting for nonagenarians.

In the feverish days of the 1930s, while De Valera strove to create a Celtic Shangri-La and the Catholic Hierarchy was in its pomp, the rest of the world moved towards war. It was also a time when the fledgling state was still rooting out its former comrades in arms.

Iago and O’Lughnasa were apparently camp chaplains in IRA internment camps in the Curragh Kildare. And there began their conversion to a more radical doctrine – one that would now probably be described as extreme or even crypto liberation theology.

The Institute of Implausibility could be seen as radical order, an extreme left-wing Jesuit apostasy; an order of commie monks with machine guns.

They would have you believe that they are just as described in their promotional literature: a metaphysical think-tank devoted to the counter-intuitive solution. But over the years, these Arch-Catholic Ronin have run out countries where they can incorporate. Their peripheral involvement with numerous notorious liberation movements and organised crime figures has ensured that they treated Hostis Humanis Intellectualis.

I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night

Minutes of inaugural meeting of Jim Connell branch of the O'Donovan Rossa Society (Surrey Docks)

Held upstairs at The Tyburn Martyr, Comet Street Deptford on 14 November 2010

Present

Rex Mulligan Publican of The Tyburn Martyr, Comet Street, Deptford (Provisional President/Treasurer).

Xavier MacGlynn of Tanners Hill, Deptford, Cabinet-maker (Provisional Secretary)

Malachy MacGlynn of Crossfields Estate, Deptford, Painter & Decorator.

Phil Deeds of Blackheath, Contractor

Clarence Gosling of Brockley, Import/Exporter

The meeting was first called to order at 8pm. It was then called to order again at 8.15pm but it transpired that a round had been bought at approximately 8.13pm and as the money had already changed hands and the pints were on the counter settling it was agreed by a show of hands to bring the meeting to order at 8.30pm.

The meeting duly convened at 9pm and first point on the agenda was the vote bringing into being the Jim Connell branch of the O'Donovan Rossa Society (Surrey Docks). The vote was passed unanimously and was followed by toast.

By 9.20pm, the champagne was all drunk and the second item on the agenda was reached. This being the nomination of a working party to produce a constitution for ratification at the earliest opportunity. There was again unanimous assent to the idea in principle but differences of opinion arose as to who should carry out such complex researches. Eventually it was settled on the toss of a coin and the success of the enterprise was toasted with the duties of constitutional draftsmen falling to Malachy MacGlynn and Clarence Gosling.

Mr M MacGlynn has asked for it to be categorically stated in the record that he thought this was a load of oul bollocks and all he wanted was an evening out of the house away from the missus so he could sing rebel songs and watch old IRA footage, and that he certainly didn’t expect to be reading constitutional feckin’ law.

Clarence Gosling also wanted it stated for the record that he with Malachy 100%. Bumbleclot, what did he know about constitutions?

This brought discussions on to item number three on the agenda, namely a statement of the society’s aims and objectives. On this matter, a wide range of opinions were voiced. 'Overthrow of the Ruling class' was proposed by Phil Deeds and seconded by yours truly (Xavier MacGlynn) but Rex Mulligan felt that while this was certainly an aspiration, the complete overthrow of the Ruling Class might be slightly beyond our remit and capabilities.

This discussion continued with the internationalists pressing for class war aspirations and the Irish republicans arguing amongst themselves about whether to recognise the Free State. There was a danger of a split until an adjournment was called. The meeting was brought to a formal close with a rendition of I Dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night.

Minutes signed by President and Secretary
"Freedom is a road seldom travelled by the Multitude"

Bring back the IRB

Memorial to South London Fenian and Socialist Connell

With the centenary of the Easter Rising imminent, it was felt appropriate that some way of taking stock of the anniversary be found. In the spirit of brotherhood, it was also decided that the sacrifice of the 36th Ulster Division at the Somme in 1916 also be reviewed in light of how the nation's history has splintered.

The Republican project, as the likes of Michael Davitt and South London's own Jim Connell proved, is much more than a peculiarly Irish preoccupation.
The English working class experience was central to the development of both these men's political journeys and maybe now when we speak of the 'IRB' we should be talking of an International Republican Brotherhood dedicated to extending the rights of Socialist Republicanism to our brothers and our sisters in many far off lands.

Make no mistake about the effects of Irish Republicanism. Check out the bloggers who are reading books like John Mitchel's Jail Journal. They're not from the Falls or Crossmaglen, they're from Tibet and Nepal.