I was stunned to read that Ian Paisley has been awarded a peerage in the dissolution honours list. At first I thought I had mis-read the name and then I thought there was another Ian Paisley. Now I think the world has gone completely mad. How can such an honour be awarded to a person who is so bigotted (in my opinion) and someone who has contributed to fuelling the troubles in Northern Ireland? At one time I thought the man had no redeaming features, but I understand he was a very good local MP regardless of his constituents religion.
So, am I mistaken? Have I let my own prejudices cloud my judgement? Have I only seen the bad in this man and refused to see or acknowledge any evidence to the contrary? Or do I detest the man because his voice grates on my ears?Well the voice might be reason enough.
Maybe I've missed some subtlety of political life, but my impression too was hateful and bigoted.
I think we have to forget any ideas we had that peerages were for those who had some unique and positive contribution to make. Instead it's a reward/payoff for services rendered (or services to be rendered later).
He can sit next to John Prescott who made such an impression on the fabric of our society. (well at least on the 2 square feet of fabric he sat on most days)Governments have to represent the people, this is supposed to be their function.
I know they really spend a lot of time wearing ermine and snoring and and sitting on leather seats and drinking in bars and eating at restaurants and watching DVDs at our expense. But anyway.
Some people in society are bigoted and these people are currently under represented in government so it is only fair.I was just as incredulous of John Prescott getting his. Almost everything the man was involved in during his time in government failed, usually after wasting huge amounts of money. The best thing he ever did was to resign as an MP, although now we know the reason why. The sooner we get a completely elected second chamber the better.
Some people in society are bigoted and these people are currently under represented in government so it is only fair.
Good point.John Prescott once said that he'd never enter the House of Lords. However when offered the peerage he accepted saying that he hadn't said that he wouldn't be a peer at all. Yeah, right. He has stated that he wants to influence government environmental policy. This is the man who wanted to concrete over Kent to build 500,000 new homes. Gawd help us all.
Good point.