Mary KennyBack in the 1880s, Lord Randolph Churchill (father of Winston Churchill) fiercely opposed Irish Home Rule warning that “if Ireland goes [leaves the Union], the rest will follow”.
It has taken 130 years for that prediction to materialise, but the late Lord Randolph would be alarmed indeed to see the rise and rise of Scottish nationalism today, stewarded by a woman of Parnell-like political talents, Nicola Sturgeon.
She is now seen as the maker or breaker of the United Kingdom, and she will undoubtedly be the most influential presence behind the formation of the next British government after the general election of May 7.
Ireland established independence through a Rising and after that a War of Independence. It looks as though the Scots, who have a reputation for canniness, may achieve a similar result through doggedly pursuing their aims via the parliamentary system.
Impressive
And make no mistake: Sturgeon is the most impressive political character on the British political scene today. She has that indefinable quality of inspiring people to follow her, and everywhere she goes now, she gets the rock-star treatment.
Ms Sturgeon is not religious by temperament, and her vision for Scotland is visibly secular. When she uses the word “progressive”, as she often does, that includes a socially liberal agenda, which involves abortion on request and gay rights. (The only social area on which she is conservative is on the legalisation of cannabis, of which she disapproves.)
And the only aspect of traditionally religious values that can be traced in her attitude is a sternly Protestant work ethic, and a belief that, despite preaching “equality”, she also affirms that merit must be earned. She uses words like “responsibility” with great frequency, too – indeed, invokes “responsibilities” as often as “rights”.
Scotland won’t go independent just yet – but the Scottish Nationalist Party is set to fulfil Randolph Churchill’s prophecy, just the same. It will surely follow Ireland to independence from the United Kingdom which, paradoxically, might not turn out to be in the best interests of Ireland, in the long run: a fragmented UK will be a weaker trading partner for this country.
And Northern Ireland is very likely to be destabilised, too, by an England and Wales obsessed with the fear of losing Scotland.
Parasitical on faith although so much has changed since Father Ted first appeared
It’s been 20 years since the launch of the comedy programme Father Ted, which was first broadcast on Channel 4 in 1995. It didn’t take long for it to become cult viewing, with young people shrieking with laughter over the antics of Ted, (Dermot Morgan), his sidekick Dougal (Ardal O’Hanlon) and the truly awful Fr Jack (Frank Kelly).
The trio on Craggy Island were joined by Mrs Doyle (Pauline McLynn) who was forever pressing a cup of tea on someone or other, with the coda “ah go on, you will, you will”, which also became a popular catchphrase.
I’m not sure how priests felt about the farcical Father Ted – I knew individual priests who didn’t like it, and felt rather cruelly mocked for the service they had given to lonely rural parishes. But perhaps others saw it as a surreal portrait in the tradition of the absurd.
It didn’t particularly appeal to my sense of humour – I’m a Woody Allen person; I like humour droll and sophisticated, rather than broad and juvenile – but I was fascinated by the context in which writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews placed their farce.
The house and parish in which Ted, Dougal and Mrs Doyle dwelt was totally, even aggressively, pre-Vatican II. The most garish holy pictures and over-the-top statues and paraphernalia adorned the set, and bishops seldom appeared without their full canonicals. Sometimes it was more like a Paisleyite’s fevered imaginings of what Catholicism seems like than anything genuinely recognisable to a Catholic.
Accessories of faith
Yet, paradoxically, I interpreted this as a sub-conscious nostalgia for the pre-Vatican II accessories of the faith, rather than a jibe. Similarly, with the coarse and vulgar (but hugely popular) Mrs Brown, the accoutrements of religion are noticeably archaic, and pre-Vatican II.
Linehan and Mathews are much feted for their creation, but the truth is that their work is parasitical on faith, albeit on a faith whose outward symbols have changed vastly since 1958.
A good judge of character
When the German author Günter Grass died last week, I wonder what thoughts and recollections occurred to Pope-Emeritus, Benedict?
For Günter Grass and Joseph Ratzinger knew each other as young men in a prisoner-of-war camp, at Bad Aibling, Germany in 1945.
Grass wrote in his autobiography of the encounter with a “pious, intelligent and ambitious youth called Joseph. It was indeed [the future Pope]: the Bavarian accent, the persuasive and devotional tone. He was pre-destined for a great career.”