Hello again, spring is sprunging even earlier this year which looks like it's more global warning. Anyway, I hope you get your place in the sun this year. Meanwhile here's my musings (museum pieces? - Ed) for this month.

Not such a sore point
Do you believe history is linear, circular or cyclical? Well, that is a good question. Those with long memories (you mean middle aged people or older, don't you? - Ed) will remember the Irish anti-nuclear power movement of the end of the 'seventies when the ESB/Electricity Supply Board wanted to locate a nuclear power plant at Carnsore Point in Co Wexford (their attempt at a hex on Wex). The responsible or irresponsible minister in the Fianna Fail government was a nuclear power enthusiast, Dessie O'Malley, who went for the high-tech nuclear option with all his might. Fortunately the advent of greater awareness of the dangers of nuclear power (Three Mile Island etc) and the economic costs (where a lot of the costs of nuclear power were hidden or discounted) saved Ireland from having our own nuke. That might be small comfort with Britain's leaky mega-plant at Sellafield being so close (Windscale to those with longer memories, OK, older people, before they felt the need to change the name because it had such negative connotations). But how could Ireland protest effectively about Sellafield if we had our very own nuke even if not involved in reprocessing? It's difficult enough without.

The Irish anti-nuclear power movement did a good job at conscientising people. The story is told in the 'Dawn Train' pamphlet 'The nuclear syndrome', an extract from Simon Dalby's thesis telling the story of the movement - some paper copies are still available from INNATE or the text is here {rtf file}.

Anyhow, the news now is that the ESB is building windmills on the same site. I feel that is fantastic and symbolic news. It may be a quarter century later but it is happening. There were planning objections but personally I feel modern windmills have some aesthetic as well as obvious utilitarian qualities. You may not want to plonk them everywhere - Croagh Patrick, Carrantuohill, Slemish, Slieve Donard , even Killiney Hill are not recommended - but we can appreciate them as the correct application of technology for our world, and part of an answer to global warming (the most appropriate one in Ireland's case). We could put lots of them around Mullingar [Ed - Is that your attempt at a multilingual, wry windmill joke?]. Though in fact Irish renewable energy targets are very modest and inadequate by international standards - or global needs.

But at least we're starting off in the right direction. The UK's relative lack of increase in carbon dioxide emissions over the last number of decades is largely due to the decimation of the coal industry (should we thank Maggie Thatcher?????) whereas the Republic's C02 production has gone through the roof (often literally through chimneys and flues) with economic development (decoupling that equation, apart from challenging the type of economic growth, is part of what is necessary). But if Austria can aim for over 50% renewable sources of energy by 2010 why is the Republic lagging at a goal of 12% by 2005? Starting from a very low base is not a good enough excuse when we have arguably the best wind and wave resources in Europe and overall consumption of carbon products is still going to have increased dramatically over a couple of decades. Questions in a letter to Joe Jacob TD, Minister of State at the Department of Public Enterprise, 25 Clare Street, Dublin 2.

So, windmills at Carnsore, to come back to my opening point. Linear, circular or cyclical? Or none of these? But in any case it sounds good.

I bags it
Another green story. For once the Irish government, not known in this green and sometimes pleasant land for being green, has bagged the right answer to a problem as opposed to making a bags of it. I refer, of course, to the 15 cent tax (about 9 pence British currency) on plastic bags of the disposable variety (as opposed to the supermarket 'bag for life' type bag). However much you resist getting them, it always seemed to be that the bag of bags you had at home got bigger and bigger until out most of them went in the bin. Not only is less plastic going to be used but the countryside may see a bit less of them littering the byways and causing pollution of various sorts - environmental, sometimes with repercussions for animals, and certainly visual pollution.

But Ireland, North and South, still lags far behind a number of parts of Europe in recycling. A recent household survey leaflet in Belfast and other areas in the 'Eastern region' of Northern Ireland has been asking people what they would do: "Are you willing to - Reduce the amount you throw away? Separate your waste into different containers? Use recycling centres?" But then comes the questions - "Do you agree with thermal treatment of waste?" and "Do you agree with our approach?" This is extremely simplistic and people, having said yes to the first three questions might also say 'yes' to thermal waste without thinking of the repercussions (carcinogens for example) and a 'yes' to agreeing with 'our approach'. Incineration is merely getting rid of one problem (waste) by creating another (illness) and has no place in a green response to waste. But unfortunately it is an easy option for councils, North or South, to go for and the struggle against incinerators is already being waged in the Republic. It is interesting that the Northern leaflet states "The decision to thermally treat waste and recover energy from the process will be taken in 2005". It doesn't say "the decision about" but "the decision to" which makes it sound like a foregone conclusion; the fact that no one picked up on this possible meaning clearly indicates proposed policy. So beware.

Join the club
Belonging or not belonging is crucial. Ask Northern Catholics or Protestants. Or asylum seekers and refugees in the Republic. Groucho Marx's not wanting to belong to a club which would have him as a member is more than a witty saying; it touches on our feeling, desperate in some cases, of wanting to belong, tinged - as in the Marx saying - with feelings of inadequacy. 'What if the let me in and discover I'm a fraud, that I'm not as good/brilliant/ adequate/ reliable as they think'. Wars and conflicts have stemmed from just these feelings.

Secret societies are another part of this scenario. Secrecy leads to mystique or opprobrium, depending on whether you're for or against the secret society in question. This applies to paramilitary groups just the same as to, say, the Masons/Masonic Order or the Ancient and Dilapidated Order of Horse Chestnuts (motto "We're bonkers as well as conkers") or whatever the body happens to be called.

Anyhow, your fearless investigative columnist (Ed - That's a new one on me, I've heard of 'investigative journalists' but never an 'investigative columnist') decided to investigate (if ever's there's a scandal about investigators or investigative journalists it could be called Investigate) [Billy - No, simply I was wearing my vest at the time.] Without fear or favour I decided to examine the Masons, that strange collection of well dressed men who walk about with funny little briefcases which are totally useless for anything else. After exhaustive research I am now going to share my findings and prejudices. [Ed - So what really happened?] [Billy - OK, I won't keep it secret, my gardening requisites order which came by post was packed in its box with uncut printed sheets on the role of wardens, chaplains and past masters of the Masons].

So what did I learn? Well, a variety of things. Here we go; "The role of Junior Warden would appear to the unknowing onlooker to be almost a sinecure but it is in truth far from that if carried out properly. From the moment of his investiture the Junior Warden quickly realises that he has to be ready to gavel when required as well as to participate in the calling off and calling on of the lodge, so he should ensure that his knowledge of these two important parts of the overall running of the meeting are rehearsed and fine tuned so that when he receives the opening question from the Master "What time is it", he will be able to reply with confidence "High time W.M". and so on for the remainder of that part of the ritual. So often we find that these small pieces of interconnecting ritual are not rehearsed sufficiently and can and do frequently surprise a newly appointed Junior Warden." Hot stuff, huh? High time indeed, and keep that gavel poised.

"Officers. An officer who dies during the year should be replaced at the earliest opportunity and this can be done at the next regular meeting of the lodge by the D.C., asking the Master whom he appoints to the office of.... just as he would at a regular installation." What wisdom (or should that be Norman Wisdom?), it's certainly dead on.

Finally, "The ceremony of Initiation discounting the Charge thereafter is for most rituals contained within some twenty to twenty two pages, the Installation ceremony is contained within ten pages hence the total which has to be learned is some thirty-two pages over a two years period or if you prefer thirty-two pages in one hundred and four weeks which equates roughly to a page every three to four weeks." So back to school, or is it an antiquated adult version of the Boy-oh-Boy Scouts?

There you have it. Boring, boring, boring (as the woodworms always used to say). Which brings us to another reason secret societies stay secret; to stop the rest of us discovering what utter eejits they are. [Ed - This item is certainly one where your title "Billy King: Rites again" is appropriate]

Hume, Hume on the range
John Hume has contributed very significantly to the kind of peace that currently exists in Norn Iron. He became this year's winner of the Gandhi Peace Prize (it was established eight years ago by the Indian government, that truly wonderful bastion of peaceful nuclear weapons - what, you can't be thinking that having a 'Gandhi Peace Prize' might be a tokenistic attempt to cloak Indian militarism?). The award was given in a ceremony in New Delhi at the start of February. Hume declared himself and his colleagues "utterly opposed to the use of violence." That's funny, because I understood he warmly endorsed the major USA arms manufacturer Raytheon coming to Derry. Oh, there's jobs involved. And it's only computer products produced in Derry. And even if the computer parts are used in weapons they probably won't be used here so it'll be other people who will be killed. That makes it all right then. Sorry, shouldn't have mentioned it. PS The Belfast Telegraph's report on this recorded in its second paragraph that he was "the first European winner in its eight-year history" before listing the previous recipients including Dr Gerhard Fischer from Germany - so it's clear the Belfast Telegraph knows Germany isn't in Europe, sure anyone could have told you that.

Memoirs
Good to see that Una O'Higgins O'Malley, stalwart southern peace activist and a co-founder of the Glencree Centre for Reconciliation, has published a memoir ("From Pardon and Protest: Memoirs from the Margins", published by Arlen House]. The daughter of Kevin O'Higgins, she has that inextricable link with the foundation of the Southern state but went on to build a very active contribution to peace on this island despite or even because her father was assassinated (when he was Minister for Justice). Dealing with that baggage would have defeated many's the lesser person. But with Una O'Higgins O'Malley you knew you would get a meticulously worked out response to the issue at hand which bore no marks of glib thinking So I look forward to buying a copy of her book in my favourite bookshop.

PS I remember being on a picket of 'Kevin Street' Sinn Fein in Dublin in the early 'seventies with Una O'Higgins O'Malley. I especially remember the event as I was questioned for being a Provo when I had just left. I was merrily working my way up Camden Street when the special branch stopped me, having followed me from down the road. I'd been on the picket both before Sinn Fein had mounted a counter-picket and after they left, they were attempting to inter-mingle and make it look like their affair - and the cop car had been opposite all the time - so there must have been something strange going on in the police heads that day. Or maybe I just looked like a Provie to them - and at that stage members of Sinn Fein would have got a lot of hassle from the Guards. It still strikes me as pretty pathetic police work - maybe they just didn't like the look of me? 

Spike Island
Farewell, Spike Milligan, who has shed this mortal coil to 'go on' to a better place on the Ning Nang Nong. Although in some ways a true Brit with true grit, no shit, he had Irish citizenship; having been born in India in 1918, his Da was from what is now the Republic. At some point he was asked to take an oath of loyalty to the British crown to retain a British passport and he wasn't willing to do that. So he became an Irish citizen instead. His manic (depressive) humour was part of what led to the development of modern humour in Britain from the late 1950s and, indeed, in another island further to the west of that aforementioned island. By way of farewell, I wanted to quote one verse, a poem in itself, apposite in this context, and doubtless based on his Second World War-time experiences;

"Said the General of the Army,
'I think that war is barmy'
So he threw away his gun:
Now he's having much more fun."

Spike Milligan, 1918 - 2002, Rest In (Uproarious) Peace.

Bye for now
Well, that's the short and sweet of it for this time. Happy springtime and remember don't let the approach of April fool you into casting a clout before May be out. In fact, this being a pacifist publication, we don't advocate casting a clout at all. Cast aspersions if you have to, cast adrift, cast a broken leg, cast a theatrical performance, but no clouting at the back. (Ed - 'clout' here has the archaic meaning 'clothes', you buck eejit] [Billy - Sure I know that. Unless you're going to get into 'protest disrobings', Gene Sharp nonviolent action typology No.22, like the White Quakers sect who paraded naked through the streets of Dublin in the mid-nineteenth century] [Ed - Were they 'white' before or after they disrobed, knowing Irish weather?]. Note to Quaker readers: We aim to be ecumaniacal in who we expose to public gaze and the fact that these people were a class of Quaker is neither here nor there, and the rest is silence, we don't want to stop being friends over this. Which point reminds me of the standing joke in 'Dawn' magazine (1974-85) that when we wanted to produce a final issue we could do one to offend everyone, so all cancelled their subscriptions! What a way to go. See you soon - so long as you don't cancel - Billy.