Bet that headline surprised you.
It’s from the Belfast Telegraph and it sure as hell surprised me. It puts the Daily Mail to shame for xenophobia. Of course it is perfectly in tune with the Independent Groups traditional partitionism but I know how much it has angered many friends and it appears that it is retreating to a purely pro union viewpoint again. It’s readership is now going the way of the Newsletter as previously blogged here and I couldn’t wish it a better future.
In fairness, the headline is not the fault of the journalist, Colin Breen. I actually know Colin personally and, although he is a unionist politically, I know him to be a fair bloke. There is nothing personal, as he will understand, if I dismantle his argument.
Ok, Here are his key points. Points in brackets are mine:
1.8M population in NI
80K higher number of medical cards ( that’s about 4%) Scary stuff and fair enough. So I’ll quote from the article
“But it is understood the number of medical cards registered to addresses here is up to 80,000 higher than this figure. And 20,000 of these are believed to be in the Londonderry area alone.”
Eh, hang on, Understood? by whom? Any actual figures on this? No? Lets move onto the next paragraph…
“While there may be some discrepancy in numbers because of deaths, students from Northern Ireland living elsewhere and people moving away”
Ok, so the figures don’t account for the dead, emigration or, although not mentioned, immigration.
“it is feared the number is largely inflated by people who live in the Republic – where healthcare is not free – but who have managed to secure a medical card through an address in the north”
Feared? By whom exactly? Does anyone see a pattern forming here? Next revelation………
“While the Department of Health did not have official figures on how many medical cards are currently registered, a well-placed source confirmed the figure is as high as 80,000 over the population. “
OK. Now this is becoming hilarious. Who the hell is the well placed source? Nelson McCausland?
And finally.
“Insiders are privately pointing the finger towards the Republic for the ongoing upsurge in numbers registering here illegally”
Do I need to say anything else?
As I see it, here is an outstanding argument for reintegrating our health services on both sides of the border. Colin has inadvertantly emphasised exactly why we should never have split them up in the first place
"We in coming days may be" 
“As I see it, here is an outstanding argument for reintegrating our health services on both sides of the border.”
Exactly! In any case what are the numbers for people living north (and east) of the British-imposed border that avail of health services in this part of the country? Or what about education, where Irish citizens in border regions criss-cross the partition line to avail of the best or most convenient education for their children regardless of what jurisdiction it is in? Then there are the large numbers of residents north and south who travel to-and-fro across the border to work and pay taxes, income or VAT-related, in both parts of the nation.
Things may look Union Jack simple from the Mock Tudor pavilions of the Royal Ulster Yacht Club but the rest of the north-east of Ireland lives in shades of Green, White and Orange.
The ideology of British nationalism in Ireland is in existential crisis and articles like the BT’s merely give proof to that.
I share your exasperation with these myopic troglodytes! Above all else, have they even heard of the European Union in the offices of the Belfast Telegraph? Or are they too busy pleasuring themselves while listening to speeches by Nigel Farage?
Final point. Who the hell owns the BT? Independent News & Media. Unionists may disdain southerners as human beings but boy are they willing to be in business with them! Just ask Baron Kilclooney himself, John Taylor.
BAH! 😉
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But then we’d just get headlines like “scots abuse our health service” instead. The solution is to move to a government health insurance model (like most other countries have) where the location of treatment is irrelevant.
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Lets not forget the uproar from south of the border when at the start of their financial troubles, the outrage about northerners claiming Dole in the Free State led to more investigators being brought in and garda checkpoints being set up. It’s a funny old world.
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I do find the whole thing hilarious, I believe the basic weekly dole payment in the free state is €188 a week. In the North it is about £60. Also there is free healthcare for anyone qualifying for a medical card. Basically the less well off. A very high percentage of others have health insurance and of course personal income tax is less. Nobody falls through the net.
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Its disgraceful of course.
But nothing happens in isolation. The unionists are circling the wagons and its make your mind up time for letsgetalongerists.
We were fed a diet of unrelenting positivity ….the Media knowing where their bread is buttered….went along with it. Some journos prolly engaged in wishful thinking and suspended their critical faculties.
the Public wanted to believe it.
The Media went along with the the letsgetalongerism.
But Public Opinion is turning and the Media are responding to it.
The glass might have been half full.
Now its clearly half empty and leaking.
So the Belfast Telegraph story feeds into unionist perceptions.
and the Irish News story today ” Will Police Ever Deal with UVF” certainly confirms what nationalists think.
This all has its own momentum. A bit like the moment in Romania when Ceacescu (sp) saw the tide turn in front of his eyes.
People just cant take any more.
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Yet the Belfast Telegraph ‘story’ is a piece of desperate propaganda printed presumably, as some sort of sop to Unionists who find the prevailing media narrative going against them. I’m not claiming that The Irish News is a bastion of impartiality, but after the Summer that was and the ongoing Twaddell twaddle the Media narrative appears to slowly be turning against Unionism/Letsgetalongerism. This Belfast Telegraph nonsense seems like a newspaper desperately clutching at straws – ‘Southerners’ being to the BelTel what homosexuals/asylum seekers/socialists are to the Daily Mail. A very foolish move.
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RJH, Agreed.
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don’t worry – i got some back when my child was treated free when she fell ill with scarlet fever – no surrender
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Ooops – forget to say this was in the Mercy in Cork
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