West Belfast Talks Back

I was at ‘West Belfast Talks Back’ last night -  the signature event of Féile an Phobail.  Tara Mills was in the chair and the panel consisted of Peter Osborne of the Parades Commission, Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald,  the UUP leader Mike Nesbitt and Jeremy Corbyn, the Islington MP. 

As always it was an interesting event. A range of topics was covered - Israel's attitude to Palestine, the banning of the Orange march past the Ardoyne shops, dealing with the past.  But it was a small moment that particularly caught my attention. Someone from the audience asked if, since suicide is a major problem throughout Ireland, would the panel support an all-Ireland approach -  joined-up addressing of the issue, as it were. Everyone on the panel gave a Yes. Well, sort of. Mary Lou McDonald and Jeremy Corbyn agreed that an all-Ireland strategy made sense,  Peter Osborne agreed ( I think)  and so did Mike Nesbitt. Except that Mike put the emphasis on suicide being not just an all-Ireland problem but a global problem, a problem that concerned all humanity. 

You see what he did there? Side-stepped the possibility that some headline today (or blogger) would announce “UUP leader calls for all-Ireland mental health initiative” by saying it’s a global problem. Of course it is undeniably global but you have to start somewhere and here in Ireland seems a sensible place.

What caught my attention was the extent to which politicians are prisoners of the electorate. When they speak, it’s always with one eye on the people who elect them and keep them in a job. So we’ll never know for sure whether Mike Nesbitt believes an all-Ireland initiative to counter suicide would be a good idea, because to say as much would be to commit political suicide.

In passing I should add that I was talking to Mike after the panel discussion and even though I’d once written a blog headed “Is Mike Nesbitt Mad?”  he still shook hands and was good-humoured and civilized. It’s  a teensy bit embarrassing to meet face-to-face with someone you’ve been highly critical of, but if you’re going to put words in the public domain you have to take the occasional omg moment. 

I also did a 3-minute interview with Danny Morrison, who is the chair of Féile an Phobail. If I manage to get the video up it’s worth listening to - how something that was born at a crisis point in our Troubles grew to be the healthy giant it is today. Grassroots up, you'll notice.

Right - I THINK this'll take you to the Danny Morrison interview: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJimQVmfzTU