Who knew? Common sense isn't too common

The whole world has gone mad. Not in the sense that the entire population has gone demented, even though quite a few suffer from that condition and should be locked up out of harm’s way. Unfortunately, some of those demented persons happen to have found themselves elected to positions of great responsibility and don’t know how to release themselves from their positions. They probably don’t even know how so many people were so gullible as to elect them. There’s nothing much we can do with those people other than leave them to their own devices and hope they don’t get into too much trouble and, more particularly, that they don’t get to wreak havoc on the general world population.

Obviously the President of the United States, Mr Trump, springs to mind as one who falls into that category but he is not alone. He glories in his madness and is encouraged by a fawning bunch of lackeys and acolytes who probably are just as mad as himself. Like, what do you think of a man who thrives on publicity and seeks it out on every occasion and then bans TV channels and newspapers from his White House Press Conferences thus depriving himself of the oxygen of the publicity he craves? Try to make sense out of that. You can’t. She probably has given up on a cure for the President, but Karoline Leavitt should be enticed back to the White House and bring some sanity to proceedings.

But, it is not people like Mr Trump we have to be concerned about. There is no cure for him. What is of far greater concern is the rest of the world who have gone mad, not in what might be described as clinical insanity but in the manner in which they have abandoned all grasp on commonsense. Commonsense is a much underrated quality.

Think about it. If UEFA had applied commonsense in their organisation of football fixtures for European nations, Israel would not be included in the draw for the European championships. They are not a European country. It is very simple when you apply commonsense. Place Israel where they belong in the West Asian conference with teams such as Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Yemen.

Now there might be an odd international hiccup if they were to play Lebanon and/or Yemen at the present time, but at least they might be able to win a game or two and that would be good for morale. The Israeli football team could do with a few morale boosting wins. They could then cheer on their footballers rather than celebrating the genocidal achievements of their Israeli Attack Forces.

And of course if UEFA had applied the correct and commonsense approach to their fixture-making they would not have landed the FAI in the hot water of trying to sort out the insoluble. I would not have any great insight into how the FAI operates but it seems they have not exactly covered themselves in glory. They still have the unenviable task of keeping their heads down in the wake of the John Delaney debacle though there is a field of thought that their former CEO would have made UEFA pay the price for landing the FAI in the manure.

Had the FAI applied commonsense and told UEFA to go and take a running jump for themselves, instead of fantasising about the possible repercussions of the points and financial penalties the geniuses in UEFA might impose, then the Irish players would not have been landed in the despicable position they found themselves, having to play under protest. The FAI would have emerged on the side of right, they would have been hailed for doing the honourable thing, in the face of the Israeli genocide and UEFA would have been rendered harmless. They certainly would not have been in a position to sanction the FAI or the players.

Then there’s the situation of our revered Taoiseach, President of the Council of European Union. If Micheál had applied a bit of commonsense he would have said (to the FAI), “Lads, I’m not happy about you playing Israel. I don’t want to interfere politically but the people of Ireland and indeed the government have agreed that Israel is acting genocidal in Gaza and the West Bank. It would be better if the game was not played.” But instead of taking a stand, Micheál rowed back and decided to let the FAI, who themselves had agreed by a considerable majority, prior to Israel being drawn against Ireland, that the game should not be played, and left the decision up to the FAI. The FAI blazers decided that their function was to play football not politics and to hell with genocide. It was not their problem. And so the poor auld team manager, Heimir Hallgrimsonn, the Icelander, and the players were left with the decision. The players and the manager did their best with the hand they were dealt. They won the game but it was a Pyrrhic victory.

It would not be the first time the boyos from the Orange Order displayed a lack of commonsense but they are not the only ones in Northern Ireland who act as if they are the only ones who matter. The law, as we know, and are frequently reminded by the profession’s practitioners, is an ass and it would be hard to find a decision as asinine as that which the High Court came to in Belfast when it decided to allow permission for the Orange Order to march down the Garvaghy Road to their wee unused chapel at Drumcree.

The world and its mother is aware of the murders and lawlessness that the march has, in the past, caused in the catholic and nationalist community in the area. But hey, what harm if there is an eruption of violence if the march goes ahead. Things have generally been nice and peaceful in the North and perhaps it’s time for a bit of excitement, so the High Court, exhibiting a fatal degree of adherence to the asinine law, decides the triumphalist march can go ahead.

Now the judge was not ignorant of the possibility of violence, after all a limit was put on the number of Orangemen who would be allowed to strut their stuff, but he decided to apply the letter of the law, rather than use his commonsense. He set the fuse alight. The law must he applied and to hell with the consequences.

In the background, as you would expect, are the politicians and neither Sinn Féin nor the Unionists, of varying hues, have covered themselves in glory. It is no surprise that the politicians have retired to the trenches. There is always an election to be fought and it is best to kowtow to the voters and if that means that the Assembly has to be brought down, what harm. The Assembly has not done what it was set up to do under the Belfast Agreement. There has been no meeting of minds but worse than that there has not been any significant attempt to bring about a unity of minds.

The Unionists in the north have been blessed with strong characters like Edward Carson, who gave birth to the North, and James Craig who continued the Unionist hegemony with an iron fist. They now have a fellow called Jamie Bryson and not surprisingly he is a lawyer. He is not a politician – yet. He makes no secret of the fact that the Unionists are not going anywhere and are not interested in pandering to the nationalist community. He is clear and unequivocal and does not display any tendency towards commonsense. As far as he is concerned, the law is the thing.

The Orange Order have not yet walked down the Garvaghy Road but they have not gone away, you know. And, unfortunately, the Orange Order do not seem much imbued with commonsense. We are in for interesting times.

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Thought for the Day

Farewell the tranquil mind! Farewell content. Shakespeare’s Othello