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Warmongers, stand easy.

Source :
Economist. 8/21/2004, Vol. 372 Issue 8389, p48-48. 4/9p.
Publication Year :
2004

Abstract

The article discusses the role of Irish politicians such as Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, in the peace process in Northern Ireland. Adams is busy writing memoirs: life in the modest streets of Catholic west Belfast, occasionally fictionalized and with some immodest use of recycled speeches. There is no mention of his years at the top of the IRA--an organization that he now hints should be disbanded. His fellow republican Martin McGuinness used to be the IRA's chief of staff. Now he looks forward to the day when it devotes itself solely to tending graves. The best-known republican writer is Danny Morrison. He once urged the rank and file to drive the British out of Ireland with the "Armalite and the ballot-box". Now his weapon is the pen. On the other side of the divide, Ian Paisley, the leader of the hard-line Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), has no discernible leisure interests apart from hell and damnation. His party has gone from fire-breathing outsider to the main representative of the province's Unionist majority. It's exchanging papers with the British government about negotiations next month on restoring devolved government. It is the party's ambitious deputy leader, Peter Robinson, who really wants a deal. That would mean less time to indulge his enthusiasm for 1970s-style clothes, and his passionate interest in breeding Koi carp in heated pools in his garden.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
00130613
Volume :
372
Issue :
8389
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
Economist
Publication Type :
Periodical
Accession number :
14198323