Tim has lost it

One of my best reads this year has been Tim Collins' autobiography. I read it for the insights into the ridiculous war in Iraq and into the mind of a man with impressive leadership skills, whatever you or I might think of his loyalty to the UK.

 

Bored with nothing to do, Tim has now called for the UK death penalty to be restored as a deterrence to would-be terrorists. Good Lord, what's he smoking? Anyone with 10% of Tim's experience and strategic ability will tell you terrorists are never put off by the prospect of death. Arab suicide bombers are an obvious example, but look also at the attitudes of IRA terrorists in the last century. They were unrepentant all the way to the gallows or the firing squad and latterly even thought nothing of starving themselves to death.

 

Violence has been part of Irish life since time immemorial - in the home and outside it - whenever Irishmen can't see another way to get what they want. As witness the current danger posed by breakaway republicans (yes, the small 'r' is intentional). The only way to deal with such latent violence is complex, involving education, social betterment, local political representation and centering Ulster's people around a common set of values and goals. That's why I support a written constitution for Northern Ireland.

 

Be Big, Tim. Wake up.