Loftus at Large: The death of a pope and the rise of Kneecap

My stay in Mayo University Hospital coincided with that of Pope Francis while he was being treated for double pneumonia in Rome. Now, I’m not making any comparisons, just pointing out a fact. He was a good man and I suspect history will judge him to have been an outstanding pope which might seem to be somewhat ironic since Pope Francis, the man, spent most of his life trying not to stand out, to be one of the crowd, one of the flock. Not so much the shepherd.

I’m not convinced that the Holy Spirit (used to be Holy Ghost in my day) plays any great role in the selection of the pope. If the HS did play a role then he most surely underperformed in the selection of the many popes over the centuries who could hardly claim to have led the church with distinction. There have been a lot of bad popes and many mediocre popes down through the years. Pope Francis just happened to be a pope for the times that are in it. Who the next man will be and whether he can continue in the mould of a second Francis remains to be seen. Other people in these pages are better qualified than I to prescribe what qualities the next pope should have. We’ll just have to wait and see.

While I was out of commission multiple big events threatened, but nothing much really happened. President Trump was going to destroy the world’s economy with his trade tariffs. He introduced the tariffs, but nothing much happened. He renamed the Gulf of Mexico but apart from some of his MAGA supporters being conned, nothing much happened. He threatened to make Canada the 51st state but, apart from arousing some Canadians from their slumber, nothing much happened. I can recall a time when Ireland was the prime candidate to become the 51st state.

I’m no fan of Trump but he is due credit for trying to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. Biden, in the past, propped up the war by supplying endless amounts of ammunition to Ukraine. Trump continues to allow the US arms industry to provide Ukraine with weapons and ammunition but he genuinely seems to be trying to bring the war to an end. The sticking point is the issue of Crimea. Turkey has more of a claim to Crimea than Ukraine or Russia. The Russians annexed Ukraine under the leadership of that great woman Katherine and they have effectively ruled Crimea for the best part of 300 years. Even the Brits fought a war in Crimea to protect British “interests” and became famous for the charge of the Light Brigade. No doubt many Irish were sacrificed in the British interest.

Nikita Khrushchev gave control of Crimea to Ukraine at a time when Ukraine was a member of the USSR, so control of the territory was not an issue until Ukraine declared independence in 1991, following the collapse of the USSR. There has always been a troubled history between Ukraine and Russia and even if Trump manages to knock some sense into Putin and Zelenskyy and secures a peace it is unlikely that the trouble will end. But, maybe nothing much will happen.

The EU, because Trump has told them they must take responsibility for defence against Russia, is spending billions to build up their defence capability. Even Ireland, a supposedly neutral country, is committed to spending millions on armaments at a time when we can’t even build houses. The Russian Dáil spy who was discovered, but remains undercover, some time back must be shivering in his boots or, more likely laughing to the high heavens.

We have Russian 'spy' ships patrolling our coast so we have to spend a fortune on air surveillance capacity at a time when we do not have the resources necessary to protect our fishing interests. We have Russian submarines 'threatening' the undersea communications infrastructure around this country and it is vital that we (the Irish taxpayer) cough up so that this infrastructure is not interfered with. It would be interesting to know who owns all of this infrastructure that the Irish taxpayer is supposed to protect. But, sure nothing much will happen, except that the poor taxpayer will again have to cough up. Nothing new there.

It surpasses reason that Trump can be so committed to ending the war in Ukraine but turns a blind eye to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Not even the attack and murder of a convoy of paramedics, travelling under the supposed safety of the Red Crescent umbrella, evoked any condemnation, never mind any censure of Netanyahu or his attack forces in Gaza. When the truth of the murders emerged and the detail of the cover-up became clear, Netanyahu ordered an investigation and surprise, surprise, he was forced to admit that his forces had made a mistake. The poor commander of the platoon that engaged in the atrocity, a war crime, was relieved of his duties, his men were largely exculpated and everyone returned to work. Nothing to see here and nothing, other than a bit of handwringing by the United Nations, much happened.

It was not so long ago that the trigger-happy Israeli Attack Forces gunned down three Israeli hostages who emerged from a bunker, stripped to the waist to show they were not carrying arms or bombs and hands raised in surrender. There was a bit of an enquiry and the men were returned to action. Even killing their own people does not merit any condemnation by Israel. Nothing to see and nothing happened other than that three Israeli families got to bury their dead.

Then there is this Kneecap outfit, a band from Belfast who have been creating waves because of their views on the war in Gaza. They thought they lived in a free country (the UK) and that they were guaranteed freedom of expression. They soon learned that free speech is guaranteed to the upper echelons of society only and not the riffraff from Belfast. At a concert in Coachella (California - the Land of the Free) this year, they voiced their support for the beleaguered citizens of Gaza. Then someone dredged up a recording of a concert where a band member shouted such incendiary slogans as 'Up Hamas' and 'Up Hezbollah' and another concert in London in 2023 where a member of the group exhorted the concert-goers to 'Kill an MP'.

It was hardly a suggestion to be taken seriously and, as the concert-goers did not take up the suggestion in the two years since it was made, it would seem that the concert-goers couldn’t be bothered. Perhaps they did not know any MPs.

Two years after these incendiary words were spoken the politicians caught up with this threat to their persons. Kemi Badenoch (who’s she, you might well ask? It appears she is the leader of the Conservative Party in the UK and is a non-practising atheist!) got up on her high horse to condemn this threat to kill an MP. Not to be outdone, that foolish non-practicing barrister, the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer joined in condemning Kneecap’s utterances. Free speech how areya! And that was bad enough but our own Taoiseach had to give his views on Kneecap’s madcap exhortations to violence - in response to a daft question from a daft media person. Hopefully, nothing much will happen arising from this feigned controversy.

I’m quite sure that no MP will be targeted but if I was a member of Kneecap I’d step up my security. Kneecap speak Irish and promote the Irish language and that is sufficient to put a target on their backs for elements in Northern Irish society. Having Badenoch, Starmer and Micheál Martin taking a “serious” view of some ridiculous comments passed at a fired-up concert could well be sufficient to convince certain elements to exact something more than an apology from Kneecap.

And with that, let us all shout “Up Mayo”. The way things are going it could soon be an act of sedition to support the county.