News today got me thinking about a quote from T.E Utley’s Lessons of Ulster which was first published in 1975. Below is a scan from my copy.
Click for full page.
For the uninitiated he is referring to the creation of a “no go” zone in Londonderry which lasted from 1969 to 1972.
Lessons of Ulster is a magnificent work. Flicking through it 30 years after having read it I was surprised how perceptive he was – more perceptive that I recall thinking at the time. But as you can see from the marginalia, I didn’t entirely agree with Utley and after hearing the news that the threat of Islamic violence has led to Israeli football fans being banned from attending a match in Birmingham I think I can claim that I was right and Utley wrong. Sure, we may not be seeing barricades but there can be little doubt that the British state lacks the will to face down mob violence.
Lest I am doing Utley a disservice, he did also have this to say:
It… seemed to me that, in some degree at least, the tragic conflict in Ulster might turn out to be a rehearsal for an even more devastating challenge to authority on this side of the Irish Sea.
Although – given that this was written in the 1970s – I think he was probably thinking more about communists and trade unions.
We have suddenly returned to a question which was very topical in the 1970s: who governs Britain? Is it the government in Downing Street, is it Parliament, or is it unelected and unaccountable Muslim community leaders who impose their will by the threat of mob violence? Just who governs Britain now?