Billy King shares his monthly thoughts

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Periodically someone in the Republic suggests in a letter to the papers, or such, that the state should have an honours system, and there is a debate on possible merits and demerits, including the view that any Republic worthy of the name doesn’t need such a system. I agree with the latter point.

But living in Norn Iron I can perhaps reflect my views on the matter from a territory which has such a system with UK honours bestowed on various people – including a few friends and acquaintances. The first problematic in a divided society like the North is that people of a unionist/British persuasion are more likely to accept the offer of an award from the UK state (or even be offered it) however much those making the decisions may try to make it all balanced. It thus tends to have what amounts to a sectarian dimension.

If an honours system exists then there are likely to be various gradations and various reasons why someone would accept. Some may believe they deserve the award because of their hard work, enterprise, and uprightness. In one case I know an award was accepted partly because what it would mean to their parents and be justification for choosing a career in the community and voluntary sector which might not have been what their parents wanted for them. Others certainly feel that it gives their work, and cause, recognition and a boost, and this may or may not be true. These are legitimate and valid reasons for accepting an award when such exists.

However I do have a number of negative points. The titles of the awards are not just anachronistic but imperialist – e.g. “Member of the British Empire”. And for every person who you might say deserves the award there are probably a couple of place servers who get a gong because of their position and sitting there for years. In general it creates a division between those recognised as ‘worthy’ in respectable causes and others [You’re not jealous, are you? – Ed] [Who, moi? I am not ‘worthy’. But ‘worthiness’ does come in to it, most awards are for what is considered ‘worthy’ work, and who is to say that ‘your’ mainstream activities are more worthy than ‘my’ fringe ones? There is an inherently conservative politic at work here – Billy].

The now dead brilliant black British poet Benjamin Zephaniah refused an OBE a couple of decades ago because of his opposition to empire and British involvement in slavery; his acceptance would also have indicated co-option by the system. While most awards are to the ‘worthy’, a few are offered to maverick choices to show the ‘openness’ of the system, and that would have been the case with Zephaniah.

I have a further objection which is not usually made. It is an old ‘law’ of physics that to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Choosing worthy recipients, including occasionally people outside the usual box like Zephaniah, is not just an ‘honour’ for the individual but reflects back ‘worthiness’ on the system; ‘X’ is a person who deserves an honour for their work, the state has recognised ‘X’, so the state and its relevant apparatus must also be worthy to recognise such worthiness. This I find objectionable in a society as unequal and unjust as ours. The honours system thus helps maintain the status quo and division, not least with anachronistic and imperialist names for the awards given.

MAGAlomania – the game

I have written before [Well, it is quite a long time ago though maybe rather more than once – Ed] about the exceptionalism and/or imperialism in the USA referring to itself as ‘America’. OK, US Americans may be a majority in North America but they certainly are not in ‘the Americas’. There are nearly 350 million in the USA while Canada has 40 million, however Central America (including Mexico), South America and the Caribbean has an estimated population of nearly 670 million. Thus the USA has only a third of the population in the Americas. This blinkered nomenclature of using ‘America’ for one part of the Americas has perhaps reached its apotheosis – or perhaps nadir would be a better term – with President Trump’s childish relabelling of the Gulf of Mexico as the ‘Gulf of America’ – and penalising anyone who didn’t toe the line on his conjured up name. This is just one point where the 78 year old president of the USA seems to be not 78 but 7.8 years old (and that is perhaps being unfair to 7 year olds everywhere). He believes when it comes to the USA everyone is agin’ us [‘A Guinness’? But he doesn’t drink alcohol, maybe his confusion comes from all the Diet Coke he puts away – Ed].

I have also pointed out the irony that Amerigo Vespucci, after whom the Americas are incongruously named, never actually wandered anywhere near the territory of what is now the USA, since he only ventured rather further south.

You may already know the game of rejigging the acronym MAGA from its Trumpian meaning. The G can stand for lots of things: Gerontocratic (rule by the elderly – Biden and Trump have been the oldest elected presidents I believe), Gasp (you never know what idiotic or quixotic idea or policy Trump and his cohorts will come out with next), Grotesque (a self explanatory explanation I think). See what you can come up with by yourself or with friends. ‘G’ up then. GUBU.

Signs of the times

Placing Irish language signs at Belfast’s ‘Grand’ Central Station (henceforth GCS in this piece) is one of Norn Iron’s ongoing divisive shibboleths at the moment. It wasn’t included in the original plans and the new minister responsible, who happens to be from Sinn Féin, decided it should happen. Unionists state that as a controversial matter it should be subject to a cross-community vote at Stormont but most don’t want to rock the boat too hard for fear of the Stormont barque (its barque is worse than its bite) sinking again. Perhaps there should be a vote so we can see where people stand. But some people, right across the divides, are perpetually looking for ways to ‘get’ the other side. Of course symbols and symbolism matter.

There are a variety of factors at work here. Is Irish ‘weaponised’ by some republicans? Undoubtedly. Is resistance to anything Irish weaponised by some loyalists? Also undoubtedly. Is the Irish language a treasure of many kinds and also a resource in relation to placenames throughout the island of Ireland? Yes. Is knowledge of Irish, partly through Irish medium schools, increasing in the North? Yes. And is signage at GCS going to include placenames as a key element? Of course. Was the Irish language virtually stamped out by official British policy? Yes (though that is only part of the story). Will the cost of the signage changes be substantial? Yes, perhaps £150,000. Could the money be used for other purposes including social need? Yes. Would it be so used? No, highly unlikely.

I have previously written about the use of ‘Grand’ in the ‘GCS’ name. But I have also pointed out that if unionists want to persuade nationalists, Catholics, and indeed some Prods, to keep Norn Iron in the UK then they need to bend over backwards in allowing Catholic and nationalist concerns to be catered for. As reasonable and redoubtable a figure as SDLP MP Claire Hanna has pointed out the extent to which nationalists in Norn Iron are perpetually subjected to British state imagery which they don’t go for.

Having Irish language signs at GCS should not be an issue for a variety of reasons and Welsh language signs in Wales are considered necessary. Unionists who object to Irish language signs at GCS are helping to book a ticket south for the whole of the North; they should think about that train of thought while the unification train is still in the station without a departure time. Action on the issue is currently halted because of loyalist legal action. However the two main unionist parties have not gone with a TUV/Traditional Unionist Voice petition on the matter at Stormont, as stated above because they don’t want the whole Stormont edifice to come crashing down yet again, so maybe some credit is due there.

Herbivores

A herbivore is an animal that eats plants or only eats plants. However I am deliberately mis- or re-interpreting the word here to talk about the use of herbs in food. I have to admit that I would feel distinctly impoverished if I didn’t have access to certain fresh herbs; yes, certainly, I use dried herbs in cooking but for some things I feel fresh is much superior because of the added flavour. But herbs in your supermarket or greengrocer are expensive for what you get, and you never know what you will need and when you will need it, and most don’t last too long in the fridge. So GYO (grow your own). This can be easily be done successfully, as I do, in tubs and window boxes, without needing too much space – though a bit of sun in that space helps. You do need to feed and water them though, and tubs dry out faster than the soil.

For some herbs you can cut the bother and buy a plant in a garden centre, for others you may want to or need to sow from seed. What? Sage, thyme, tarragon, rosemary, fennel, mint and oregano are some of the basics and are relatively perennial. Parsley you need to sow at least annually and you may need to cover it with protective mesh or fleece to protect it from carrot fly (yes, parsley is the same family as carrots); it would appear some years we have carrot fly about, other years not, and I can’t say whether it will be in your vicinity or not – but your burgeoning parsley getting sick and dying because carrot fly larvae have eaten the roots is very disappointing so I tend to cover it in case in the relevant period (around April to September, certainly for newly sown parsley). I only grow basil indoors or in a protected space because it is a favourite with slugs and snails as well as us humans. Mint is best grown in a bounded space because the roots spread so easily.

For salad herbs you can use some of the above but I also grow chives, garlic chives, Welsh onions (like chives but larger and I cut the stems but leave the bulbs to grow on) and lovage (a celery flavoured plant which I presume is a close relation). Garlic chives don’t grow so much in the winter but are still standing and can be picked then unlike regular chives.

Thyme and tide wait for no one, and I love lovage, so now is the time to get your herb garden sorted. Most herbs aren’t a lot of work apart from parsley and basil – and I wouldn’t like to being without those. With your own herb garden you can develop your own favourite salad dressings and bask in flavour for very little cost, and never be without that herb ingredient when you need it. When it comes to gardening, take the herb side not the herbicide.

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Well, it has been a strange month in one way as I nearly went up in flames, and I am deliberately not going to go into details out of respect for someone we had just met who did get seriously injured in the accident concerned, this was out of the domestic environment is all I will say. It can be hard to take in when something like this happens and hard to appreciate how near I was/we were to either extinction or serious injury. But here I am and I shall return for June, come what May, Billy.