Donnybrook: Belfast Garners Seven Oscar Nominations
By John Myers
Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical movie set in Belfast at the beginning of The Troubles has been nominated for seven (7) different Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, as well as Van Morrison nominated for best original song. The 94th Oscar ceremony will take place on Sunday, March 27th, 2022, and broadcast on ABC. If you have not caught it yet, check it out streaming to your family room.
MIAMI SHOWBAND
While no Oscar nominations, another streaming option worth checking out is, “The Miami Showband Massacre.” This Documentary came out in 2019, but a recent court ruling this past December prompts one to add it to your COVID winter viewing. The Miami Showband was one of the most popular cabaret acts in Ireland in the 60s and 70s; they were known as the “Irish Beatles.” The Band was comprised of both Catholics and Protestants, with large followings in both the Nationalist and Loyalist communities, North and South.
In the early morning hours of a July night in 1975, the band was headed back to Dublin after a concert in County Down, along the River Bann in the Six Counties. The band’s minibus was stopped by men in British Army uniforms and forced to exit their vehicle. The band members fully complied.
In the ensuing moments, the band’s minibus exploded with the men in British Army uniforms shooting at the band members. It was later determined that while the band members were being questioned on the roadway, two Ulster Volunteer Force members were attempting to place a time bomb on the band’s minibus to later explode, once they crossed the border into the Republic of Ireland.
The two UVF members were inadvertently blown up by their own bomb. The three band members killed were shot by the loyalists to cover up the botched plan; two band members survived by pretending to be dead. The British “justice” system focused on the two UVF members blown up but refused to explore the overwhelming evidence of collusion between these UVF members and the British security establishment.
Just this Past December 2021, her Majesty’s government settled with some of the survivors and families of the victims. Much evidence was produced documenting that The British Intelligence Services, The British Army, the Northern Ireland Police, and the Ulster Volunteer Force collaborated on carrying out a British Army plan to pull the band over, plant the British bomb on their vehicle, and let them drive away to their death.
It was hoped that this bombing would falsely implicate the popular cross-community band as working with the IRA and force the Republic of Ireland to seal the border with the Six Counties. While it took over forty-five years, the band leader, Stephen Travers, who was severely wounded and survived by pretending to be dead, remarked about the recent settlement that, “at the end of the day it was an acknowledgment of collusion” with the British Army.
RIVERDANCE BACK AGAIN
The remarkable, high energy, Riverdance, is scheduled to be back on the road again this spring, with stops in Pittsburgh; Washington, D.C.; Midland, MI; Milwaukee, WI; Toledo, OH. and a dozen other cities. Check the iIrish calendar for dates near you.
BOJO GOGO
While U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was elected in a landslide just two years ago, he is now facing calls for his resignation from the opposition, as well as some members of his own Tory Party. Frustration with some of BoJo’s COVID response, and dismay over his acceptance of significant private funds to lavishly redo the private residence portions of 10 Downing Street, and lately, a COVID scandal implicating his ruling government key staff of having alcohol ladened parties at the PM’s 10 Downing Street residence, parties contrary to COVID mandates he was imposing on the rest of the nation. The double standard exhibited by the boorish Eton & Oxford educated elite is dragging his government down.
At the moment, he is protected by his large eighty seat majority in Parliament. It would take over fifty members of his own Tory Party to request a vote of no-confidence, and even then, would take a majority of his own (approximately 360) Tory members of parliament to remove him from Office. This is possible, but not likely, unless more missteps are taken.
PLAYING POOTSIE
The Northern Ireland Minister for Agriculture, a member of the Democratic Unionist Party, has indicated that he would stop inspecting the various food and agricultural products crossing the Irish Sea from the U.K. to the North of Ireland. This action is threatened to exhibit the DUP’s frustration with the Northern Ireland Protocols.
The European Union has declared that any such action would be considered a violation of International Law and the Brexit Treaty. Time will tell if there will be follow-through with this threat. Westminster had no comment.
GIVAN & TAKE
Northern Ireland First Minister, Mr. Paul Givan, representing the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), resigned early last month, expressing his ongoing dismay with the Irish Sea Border imposed by the portion of the Brexit Agreement known as the Northern Ireland Protocols. Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has described the Protocols as an “existential threat” to Northern Ireland.
The DUP Leader did not explain how the Protocols, which was a part of the Brexit Treaty he advocated for, and pursuant to the Terms his Party negotiated, are so threatening. Sir Donaldson was likely not heartened by the PM Boris Johnson’s statement that the PM only anticipated a twenty to thirty percent chance of the Protocols being modified in a manner more to the DUP’s liking. And that PM Johnson would not commit to unilateral UK action to modify or abandon the Protocols should negotiations with the European Union break down.
Northern Ireland elections are already scheduled for May 5th, 2022. It is not clear if Givan’s resignation will move that date forward. The DUP was already despondent from early polls showing the nationalist Party, Sinn Fein, in position to win the most seats.