Stone The Crows

Another note on Michael Stone. I watched the programme with him and Desmond Tutu where he was brought face-to-face with the widow and brother of a man he was convicted of murdering. He came across as a narcissist and a bullshitter. There was one point where he addressed the two victims of his crimes and he said “you’re better people than me”, but it sounded as though he was really trying to say “I’m not really all that bad.” He seemed a bit of a pathetic character.

I don’t know what he was doing going into Stormont with a gun and a ‘viable device’. Maybe the painting career hadn’t been going all that well, and someone managed to persuade him to recapture lost ‘glory’ days. Whatever his motivation, he has managed to take a bit of heat off a few emperors who were set for a day of prancing about in the buff. And he provided the opportunity for yet more soundbite nonsense about consigning the bad old days to the past. The ‘threat from dissidents’ might gain also a higher profile.

It seems highly improbable that he was able to make his way all the way up to the front door without anyone recognising him. Also, if I recall correctly from the TV programme, he walks with a limp these days, so he can’t have been moving too quickly.

This was pure theatre, with a hint of orchestration. What next – Johnny Adair crashes a microlight into the Albert Clock?

Pathetic

Watching Stormont Live. They’ve just evacuated the assembly because some individual walked into the building with a bag. From the little footage I was able to see, the entire thing is a complete farce, with pompous buffoonery from the usual suspects, backed up by their obnoxious little hyenas on the benches, men (naturally) far less interested in public service than they are with the power that entitles them to continue their absurd preening and posturing at the expense of the taxpayer.

This, I fear, is as good as it gets for Northern Ireland.

Update: the ‘some individual’ mentioned was none other than Michael Stone. The security at Stormont must have been thrown off-guard by the fact that their photo of Michael Stone shows a man with a ponytail. This is not just farce: it’s spectacular farce.