Is Dennis Bradley prepared to take the blame if the psni murder a civilian with a plastic bullet in the future.

Great Article
Fair, balanced, deep and realistic.

"We do it to the point where there is little or no room for reflection or critique. We do it to where there is little possibility of self-criticism leading to renewal"

Reads like a sermon / homily.
Which is really ironic, as the holy father's life ebbs away.
Northern Ireland is a spiritual problem!

Franc, I'm sure it's there, but I must have missed the part of Bradley's article to which what you said is remotely relevant.

Is Dennis Bradley prepared to take the blame if the psni murder a civilian with a plastic bullet in the future.

Would you prefer that the police only used lead bullets ?

Don't encourage him guys!
Oe I'll say ye never understood the article yerselves!!

Reads like a sermon / homily

This doesn't surprise as Dennis Bradley is a former priest.

Dennis Brabley he claims to know were the anger in the nationalist community is coming from and how it may be vented sometime in the future. I would argue that what Dennis Bradley what wants to believe and whats is the reality is two completely separate things. One only has to judge Dennis and his real knowledge of this community by the choices he has made. Dennis is selected by the British Government to be the nationalist independent on the NIPB. He represents no one.

An election is coming very soon and maybe Dennis might test his understanding of this community.

Thanks oakleaf for the heads-up on that, I'd no idea he was a priest or is on the Police Board.
He does seem to be offering thoughts on breaking the vicious cycle of the blame game.
Much better than the usual "whataboutery"

They will demand more honesty and straightness. They will probe and test in a way they have not done before.

Maybe Dennis Bradley should probe and test Hugh Orde a bit more rather than take his word as gospel.

J Kelly
How do you know he hasn't?

Who do those who have attacked Mr Bradley's house and others on the police board represent.

Were the attackers elected by anybody?

(Or maybe some of them do have dual roles?)

Where will we ever achieve, and where in the world does there exist, a perfect police service? An Garda Siochana?

Face it: some people don't a peeler about the place. It makes 'business' more difficult for them.

The 'blame game' actually plays a key role. It is about determining the political narrative. This narrative then determines which parties are expected to move to make a deal possible.

Fortunately for Unionists, and for the first time in a long time, the narrative is placing much more pressure on the Republican movement.

Lately, Gerry Adams et al seem to have been trying to emulate Yasser Arafat's mismanagement of the political process in the Holy Lands. They aren't even guaranteed the Decemeber deal, which they ran away from, is still on the table whatever the result in May.

Is Dennis Bradley prepared to take the blame if the psni murder a civilian with a plastic bullet in the future.

Would you prefer that the police only used lead bullets ?

Is that the way you would prefere it to be Davros?

Me thinks probably

Any chance anyone could deal with the substance of the article, rather than resorting to 'labelling' the author (the usual sure sign that you can't deal with what he writes).

I've had my differences with Mr Bradley in the past, but none here.

Franc

That's ball not man - another example of a lost argument.

Dennis Bradley and the substance of his article may well hold many valid points, but surely anyone from the majority irish nationalist persuasion will have difficulties dealing with an organisation which decides that the use of plastic bullets is benificial to the future of a new and agreed policing policy.Therefore D.B and his SDLP co-travellers are doomed to an electoral melt down.

The blame game is the political equivalent of masturbation. And unlike the real thing, it may actually create blindness in ourselves or others.

Parties apparently preoccupied with past wrongs may just not be able to agree which present opportunities are worth taking. i.e. they are effectively blind to political opportunity.

Recently we had an organisation who failed to organise a parade for themselves showering blame all around. A smokescreen to cover their own incompetence and lack of local support.

franc
Keep up the good work. Let's take every single issue and make sure absolutely no progress can be made. Let's make sure that nobody in this land has a future, that way we're all equal.

Try finding solutions instead of highlighting problems. Oh how I look forward to another 30 years of going round in circles.

"Recently we had an organisation who failed to organise a parade for themselves showering blame all around. A smokescreen to cover their own incompetence and lack of local support."

Who, what, where, when?

Would that be the Orange Order invitation to Cork per chance?

The failure of MOPEs to answer substantive points on this thread is yet more evicence of why this place (not just the website, but the island itself) is so perennially depressing. People just don't seem to be prepared to open their minds or concede that thay, themselves, may have some role in what is wrong here.

May no one concerned have a greenhouse.

Gav
another way of saying that is:
Yuz all deserve each other ye miserable bast***s.
I agree ;)

*Yuz all deserve each other ye miserable bast***s.*

This from someone who is sufficiently ill-informed not to know that Dennis Bradley was (a) a former Priest and (b) on the policing board. How many of the nuances in this article did you miss?

There is a clarity of thought in Bradley's piece that is encouraging. It states the drift of our politics well. I agree wholeheartedly with his criticism of the current DUP position, but fully expect that it will change after the election.

Blame can be attributed to everybody in the Ulster conflict, I can appreciate that, with Loyalists, the British and Irish governments and the Roman Catholic Church (Claudy bombing) all due their share. But the reality is that the overwhelming blame must lie with republican paramilitaries, and the Provisional IRA in particular...the statistics don't lie - the Provos killed more people than every Loyalist group put together!