Ian Paisley

[poliphilo]

He had presence, charisma and a large voice.  It's a pity he didn't choose to be an actor.  If he had fewer people would have died.

Having bellowed, "No surrender" all the way to the inner sanctum of power, he waited for the doors to close behind him, then turned to his supposed arch enemy and said, "Right, Martin,  between us you and I can run this show."

He wasn't the first politician and won't be the last to be hailed as a peacemaker for damping down the flames he had done so much to fuel.

He made himself a church to preach in and a poltical party to lead. When he wasn't being the voice of a vengeful God he was being the voice of an angry nation. He was an egoist. All he really cared about was keeping Ian in the public eye.

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

A deeply unpleasant man. All the tributes to him as a peacemaker and statesman are making my skin crawl.

[ingenious76.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. The behaviour of the Loyalists matched that of the Republicans, and was in fact, in some cases, worse.

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear. He was indirectly involved in a lot of suffering and death.