EDWARD EVANS MOORS MURDERS BRADY HINDLEY
July 24, 2009
Edward Evans was the last and least remembered victim of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. Of the child victims he was the oldest and at 17 hardly a child as we would understand it today. We know nothing , or next to nothing about him or his family. The only reference I can find to him on the Internet is this site dedicated to the graves of famous people.…..and he isn’t even famous ! Quite a few people have left virtual flowers on this virtual grave of his but I suspect these are the same sort people who have endless ‘friend’s on facebook and such like. There is something very sad or worse than sad about all this. It’s almost as if he might never have existed if it hadn’t been for Brady and Hindley.
The night he died they picked him up late in some train station. A brief encounter. There is something romantic and yet depressing about an English railway station at night. I’ve always liked them….that closing scene in Cathy Come Home . The good old days when dirt and grit mingled in the air as steam engines shunted in the background. Oh yes , I’ve always had a soft spot for the British and their trains. I remember as a child looking out the window of the Hollyhead train as it sped on it’s way to London and seeing young children with notebooks and biros looking up at the trains. I was fascinated by these young train spotters. Town after town and village after village and there they were…. so earnest , so serious with heads going up and next minute heads going down as they scribbled down the number of the train. I had no idea what they were doing but I wanted so much to be one of them. A night journey on the ferry from Dublin and then 6 hours on the Hollyhead train….a real adventure for a boy in those days and a fond memory. Of course it’s not the same today. Things were much better , more atmospheric , in those black and white days.
Britain in the 60′s. A brown ale and a BSA Bantam doing a ton up in Chelsea , or trying to. This is the England that Evans grew up in and this is the England he died in. Gone and forgotten -that England and Edward Evans. He was the last victim in one of the most celebrated crimes ever and still he never really managed to become famous. A failure in death as in life. If you’d seen him in the street back then you would have forgotten him in the time it took to pass him by. There is no moral to any of this. There’s no great hidden truth , no remarkable ‘what might have been’. He was a rent boy with no distinguishing features. Beyond that we know nothing.
No , he’s not famous and we rarely if ever hear of him but there IS something about him ….the fact that , like us , he’s so unremarkable and so easy to forget. He’s a bit like the unknown soldier but without the dramatic aspect. .. an Everyman but without the capital E. He would never have made it onto the property ladder if he had lived….His was , incredibly, a much more innocent age , a far less brutal time than ours in spite of everything that happened. He could never have guessed that 40 years after his death someone like me would be writing about him and that someone like you would be reading it. And what would he have made of it all ? And if we could bring him back , if we could sit him down in some railway station coffee bar for one more British Rail cup of tea what might he have to say of his killer Ian Brady ? Would he feel hate or pity . ? Would he curse him for his lost youth and life or see in Brady a fellow lost soul ?
When we hear the name John Reginald Christie we think of tea , a nice cup of tea before the hands go around the neck for the last time. With Brady it was wine , cheap German wine and then the axe and the blood . For me when I think of railway stations my mind goes back to Britain in the 60′s. Memories memories. The British have always produced the best ( most interesting ) murderers but their is nothing quite so pathetic as the British murder victim. “Don’t be a victim” isn’t that what we say today ! No , we don’t really like victims. That weakness they seem to posess is out of kilter with these modern times. We are uncomfortabe with those who allow themselves to become victims. Railway stations and blood , tea and wine , killers and victims , Edward and Ian – memories memories.
Today on Drivetime (27 may 09 ) , speaking of the Ryan Report on the Commission of Inquiry into Child Abuse , Olivia O’Leary gave the victims of abuse yet another kick in the face. Having been called liars and worse for years O’Leary has joined forces with those who now want to add insult to injury. If you don’t belive me just follow the the link to the Drivetime (RTE) site and listen to the podcast yourself.
What O’Leary tells us is that she was fortunate enough to have gone to a private boarding school where the nuns were “good’. They were good to her that is. She then makes the point that the same order of nuns were also looking after poor children but the poor children were treated ‘bad’. So far so good. Now she then repeats that the nuns who looked after her (in the boarding school) were ‘good’ ….and that they are still doing good in the community etc. …….
Now all this might seem harmless enough…..but consider this. Imagine the two were on the same road… Across the road from each other…now try and create a mental picture of all this. On one side are ‘good’ nuns looking after the rich girls , on the other side there are ‘bad’ nuns looking after the poor girls…..Now ask yourself this , “How did all the ‘bad’ nuns just happen to end up on one side of the road and all the ‘good’ nuns just happen to end up on the other side of the road”?
Now you could examine it from this point of view …..and then from that point of view. You could invert the whole thing , stand on you head and take the long view. You could look at the historical aspect of it all with particular reference to socioeconomic conditions in Ireland at the time. If your a Marxist/Leninist you could apply dialectical materialism…..You could wander down to the pub , order a drink and ask your fellow drinkers to help you with the problem. You could try to solve the riddle with the fingers of your hand – 2 schools , 2 groups of nuns from the same order ..separated by 1 road etc etc. You could post the question on Boads.ie or better still Twitter -it could end up like one of those online serial things that attract millions of people all over the world trying to solve the conundrum.
Let me repeat the question in a modified form. There are 2 schools , 2 lots of kids , 1 road , 1 lot of nuns. The nuns are split into 2 groups . 1/2 go to one school and 1/2 go to the other school. 50 years later a commission finds that all the nuns in one school l are ‘bad’ and all the nuns in the other school are ‘good’. How/why does this happen ? …. I know it’s not easy. Even privately educated people get ‘confused’ when faced with this. Why not get the whole family to try to solve the problem together. Or better still if your a member of a community group you could involve your neighbours. The more the merrier , many hand make light the work and all that. Don’t try to solve it in just one sitting. Take a break from time to time. Don’t be discouraged if you can’t work it out straight away…..if a girl like Olivia can get confused then anyone can.
THE CRUELTY MAN STANISLAUS KENNEDY ISPCC
May 20, 2009
For decades the ISPCC was involved in the wholesale abuse of children in Ireland. The Cruelty Man was the ISPCC man who decided who would and would not end up in care. He did it for money. He was paid to do it. He’s still doing it today. The ISPCC , The Irish Christian Brothers , the Catholic Church , the Sisters of Charity and the state were all involved in this. Stanislaus Kennedy was also involved. Kennedy not only is not now in jail but has been elevated to the position of Member of the Council of State. In fact no one of any significance has been sent to jail.
The report on abuse in Ireland just published is a sham. It does not name those who are guilty. Not only does the report not mention the names of the guilty but it was in fact edited (censored) by those same guilty people. Victims of this church/state abuse were today locked out of the press conference called to launch the report. The Catholic Church still control the national school system in Ireland. They control much of the services for the homeless and vulnerable in Ireland. None of the abuse was carried on against children. The abuse was carried on against poor children. The church treated the children of the rich and the middle class in quite a different manner.
Anyone who claims that the ISPCC today is a different organisation is missing the point. The ISPCC , the Sisters of Charity , Stanislaus Kennedy , Christian Brothers etc etc would all like to move on …….what they don’t want is for one of their own to go to jail. And none of these people will in fact go to jail. To date not one single person in a senior position in any of these organisations has gone to jail. The report is as I’ve said a sham. We knew all these things before the report. We’ve known all about the business of abuse for years. The ‘dogs in the street’ and all that……
The media has played a large part in all of this. For decades they refused to report the facts. They continue to this day to refuse to report the facts. For years victims of abuse have accused Stanisluas Kennedy and others of being involved but anyone who tries to say this on air is soon shut up. On the other hand a bishop who quite openly perverts the course of justice is treated like an honored and indeed honorable guest on every other talk show. We are told that it’s all quite different now and that there are laws to protect children. But as I have already stated children are not and never have been at risk. It’s poor children who need protection. Give every poor person , child or adult the service of a good barrister and just about all social ills would vanish overnight. It’s as simple as that. It always has been just as simple as that. The ONLY reason that children in care were abused is because they (and their parents) had no power or were perceived as having no power…..Lets be brutally honest here. The rich are not called the beautiful people for nothing and the same applies to their children. A good diet , a healthy self image etc etc can have a dramatic effect on the physical appearance of a person….the beautiful people do indeed often have beautiful children but they don’t get abused by Christian Brothers……..
It’s all about money and power and the poor had neither. That’s what it’s all about. That , and nothing else. It was the poor who today were refused entry to the press conference. It was the poor who were abused. European Human Rights law does not protect the poor. In spite of the obvious fact that the poor are the single biggest minority group in any society there is no provision in law to protect them against discrimination. Discrimination against the poor is historically the oldest and most common form of discrimination. Poor children were abused. Not just in their hundreds but in their thousands. It was the poor and not the middle class who suffered. Children in private catholic schools were not abused. Nuns , Christian Brothers and such people made a deliberate conscious choice to give the middle class or wealthy child the best education possible but they had something else in mind for the child that was poor. They knew what they were doing. They knew only too well. 8 or 10 years in the hands of such people and most girls were fit only for the laundry or the streets and that’s where most ended up. Talk to any young girl selling her body on the streets of Dublin and there is a good chance her mother or grand mother was in the ‘care’ of these people.
At a fundamental level this report changes nothing. The ISPCC refused to hand over information requested by the inquiry. The ISPCC have shown the same contempt for the victims as the Christian Brothers have. They are complicit in the abuse. But they will not go to jail for trying to frustrate the justice system. No , nothing has changed. The abusers are still running the show.
CATHAL O’SEARCAIGH A FAMILIAR VOICE
April 29, 2009
Now that O’Searcaigh is back in the news I thought some might like to hear /see the man himself.
The body language , tone of voice it’s all too familiar. It sounds much the same as those statements from church leaders telling us that they knew nothing….We’ve seen a hundred Catholic priests and Christian brothers use that same tone…..Fairytales were used in the old days to warn children of dangers …….ironic isn’t it .
….mind you , if it were you or I it would be different….it would be very different.
For further posts on O’Searcaight you’ll find more here.
DECLAN GANLEY BLUE SHIRT LIBERTAS
April 27, 2009
Declan Ganley , the man behind Libertas is a fascist. At least that’s what a lot of folk are saying. Last week on RTE RADIO Dick Roache , the European Affairs minister went ballistic in the course of a tirade in which he and some Green Party candidate ( who’s name I just can’t remember) accused Ganley of every dirty deal under the sun. Ganley was a fascist , his political friends in Europe were racist fascists , there were suggestion of sexual deviancy against someone ( I think ). It was sheer pantomime , like some spoof programmes , satire and all that stuff. But god was it vicious. I could feel the raging hate radiate from my old valve radio. This was , as all the cool dudes might say , heavy , really heavy stuff.
I must confess that I know very little about Declan Ganley but I’ve learned a lot about Dick Roache. Roache is like a lot of our political and business leaders , behind the respectable veneer hides a street fighter. In this present economic climate with the Roaches of this world feeling vulnerable they have no interest in fighting fair. Reasoned debate is not going to rule the day. It’s war and kick them in the privates and kick them hard. For almost 10 years now the race card has been ruthlessly abused in an attempt stifle all political debate , to effectively disenfranchise the most vulnerable in our society ( those who suffer the negative affects of mass immigration ) and it’s been successful. But with the No vote and now the economic down turn for once it’s possible that the middle classes may also begin to feel that same disenfranchisement. The undemocratic re running of the referendum may not produce another No vote but if the economic crisis continues there may yet be a serious changes in attitude of the Irish people over things European in general.
It’s been made crystal clear to me that my vote doesn’t matter. That any concerns about immigration that I might have don’t matter …..that I’m stupid , racist and ignorant. All this in spite of the fact that I was engaged in anti racism
activity before half of my accusers were born. — All this in spite of the fact that I’ve walked out of good paying jobs rather than tolerate racism as apposed to those in the media and elsewhere who have grown rich in an economy built on cheap imported labour. Having banned free speech and then having told the voters they are stupid and must ‘try again’ these agents on the new European Corporate State wish to lecture ME on the dangers of fascism !
By God ……. the gall , the hard neck , the arrogance of these landlords agents , these property developers pimps.
YOUTUBE HATETUBE 1:24 SUSAN BOYLE
April 26, 2009
A 16 year old Glasgow girl has (according to The Irish Times) became a hate figure on YouTube as a result of being caught on camera grimacing during the audition of Susan Boyle on Britain’s Got Talent. The girl has become known as the 1:24 girl as she’s caught grimacing exactly 1 minute 24 seconds into the performance. The Youtube clip has , according to the Times ( hard copy ed / newspaper) had 100 million visitors. One Boyle fan said she would like to slap the young girls face. In all the paper said she has had dozens of threatening messages……. Twelve out of 100 million……….dear oh dear oh dear….
By the way , if your looking for a copy of the charity cd that boyle sang on some years back you can pick up a copy on Ebay for anything between 500 and 1000 sterling.
Woman Has Sex in Car WBBM Internet Radio
April 21, 2009
While listening to Internet radio I came across this story from Chicago about a woman who left her four year old child in a car while she went looking for sex. The story is not important in itself and to be honest I don’t know why it was reported in the first place. WBBM is a serious talk station so I suppose this is offered as a kind of light entertainment. One of the other main stories being run on the station is the one about the Craigslist Killer.
Radio , radio – I heard it on the radio.
Record Store Day 2009
April 17, 2009
This is just by way of a reminder to all collectors of vinyl that Record Store Day is upon us. To be honest I had never heard of this until yesterday …….Be that as it may , the fact is that Record Shops are now thin on the ground at least here in Dublin in spite of the fact that sales of vinyl are on the increase in the States…
As I’ve said this is just a reminder……so go out tomorrow and support your local record store…. And while I’m at it , Road Records is to remain open and they are having a sale just now.
Irish Economic Crisis. The X Factor Factor.
October 28, 2008
Now that the Irish economic crisis is beginning to make itself felt our new Irish middle class are intent on showing us what they are made of. And that is of course the same sterling strength of character we see displayed on our television screens weekly on the likes of the X Factor where contestant after contestant inform us ( with great shedding of tears ) that life for them and their children would be meaningless and unbearable without the wealth and fame that comes with winning. Most people are I think repulsed by this distortion of values and the underlying selfishness of it all but for all that it speaks volumes about the society we live in. We now hear much the same waling and gnashing of teeth from this Irish middle class when faced with the prospect of being told to live within their means. Having grown rich on the back of cheap imported labour (with no regard for those who have to pay the real price for this ) and having performed the moral and intellectual gymnastics that go hand in hand with the new ideology of greed they now find themselves having to face a new and harsh reality. The penny may not have dropped yet , indeed the shock of it all , the possibility of having to reach into their own pockets has been such that it has rendered them incapable of even thinking straight. “The noise of the mob is it’s imagination” and these folks have a great imagination. They feel , are convinced in fact , that their relatively modest taxes can actually pay for all the things they have come to take for granted. And this in spite of the million or more euros that we are borrowing daily just to stop the whole show grinding to a permanent halt.
The Irish economy is fundamentally a parasitic one. We produce nothing or next to nothing. Our industry, such as it was , no longer exists. We may talk whatever nonsense we wish about I.T. economics in a pathetic attempt to flatter our distorted egos but deep down inside we know that no one ever started a war over it. Wars are fought for control of steel and shipping lanes , for things of real and true value. There is no inherent value to the nation in home ownership and even less in the ‘buy to let’ market and yet this it is the whole basis of our economy. The easy wealth of landlord-ism is not conducive to Enterprise in spite of what the new bourgeoisie and their media might wish us to believe. The protectionism of a single European currency while beneficial in many ways also has it’s dangers in it’s ability to insulate us to some of life’s realities. Our Enterprise Culture has little to do with real enterprise. Borrowed capital , cheap labour , globalisation and all the rest of it can create great wealth for some but it is a parasitic form of wealth with little if any real substance to it. To blame our situation on the global downturn ignores the fact that we helped to create this downturn in the first place.
Too much credit and a subsequent credit crisis are not the causes of our present problems in spite of what you may hear on the TV. Rather they are a symptom of a much more serious problems inherent within Globalisation itself. Everything has it’s price. Bio fuel production may yet lead to global food wars. Economics devoid of social responsibility. The working class of Kimmage and Crumlin bought their houses cheap and saw the potential. They live well on their rents. Students and business people only ( no unemployed need apply ). “We worked hard for our money “. Did you indeed!. “We worked hard for our money”. But we know what the subtext is here , we understand it well. The landlord and sheriff…….our history is full of it. But they are quick to forget history when there’s money to be made. Their children and grand children don’t play in the street and it not for fear of paedophiles. It’s about class and upward mobility. “We worked hard for our money”. A house ( maybe two or three ), children at university , several holidays abroad each year , a career – a good life by any standards with money in the bank. “But it’s OUR money , and we WORKED for it”…….Like spoiled greedy children they stamp their feet…..”It’s our money ” …..”We worked hard for it all our lives”….The X Factor ……we NEED this wealth , we can’t live without it……It’s OURS….
Him and her. We see them on The Property Show as they talk of their flat in Romania. They are in their late 50′s and no doubt would tell us that they ‘worked hard all their lives’……but the body language says otherwise…..they have done well , really well and have no intention of tightening their belts……….”But , we worked hard all our lives”. They are comfortable with the notion that they deserve all this reward…..The new landlord class…God and the constitution ( no welfare checks accepted )…..they have come a long way and forgotten much (deliberately). And like any common landlord thug the veneer of civilisation will drop in an instance if they feel threatened…..Make no mistake these good people will if necessary kill to protect what’s theirs……..In the meantime they take to the streets to protest. They make much of the tax they paid but didn’t we all pay tax. They want to live at the expense of the public purse regardless of the cost…..they want you and I to subsidise their latter years of good living ( the little tax they paid could never cover that). They take some comfort in the hope that , if things get really bad , their property portfolio will protect them from the worst. They may be right. But they may also be wrong. They are happy that social housing is a thing of the past. If the situation demands it they will be even happy to take welfare cheques for rent . But as dole ques grow and the need for rent allowance increases there will in turn be less and less money to pay for it. How long can any government afford to ignore the economics of buy to rent. Who could have predicted the smoking ban or the deregulating of the taxi service ? Lobbies that seemed to be untouchable , that could make or brake any politician were brought to heel…..and no quarter shown. In the new Corporate Europe nothing is impossible. This new middle class was quick (and happy) to turn it’s back on the trade union movement. They welcomed the ‘free market’ but may yet need protection from it. They will probably vote no to Europe next time round and not from any principled stand but out of fear and greed. This X Factor generation only knows the gospel of self interest and personal gain. Public emotion and shallow values. Atavistic greed and an inbred insecurity. A jealous eye watching a neighbours field.
A venial people. A shallow people. They know the value of money (and property). A four wheel drive and a son or daughter at business school……a minimum wage immigrant to carry out the necessary menial tasks. And a warped psuedo ideology to justify it all……conservatives parading themselves as liberals…..they will be the first to vote for some racist candidate. A pox on them all. And if they are not happy then let them emigrate. After all there are no shortage of immigrants who can fill the gap. Young healthy immigrants who will not be a drain on the economy. So by all means emigrate. Go to your natural environment , your spiritual homeland. Vote for McCainn and low taxes…..and live off your own resources. Join the NRA , get yourself a ’45. Watch the blacks kill themselves in the ghetto from your all white neighbourhood. Isn’t that what the Irish in America have always done ?……A pox and a double pox on the lot of you.
Fiscal rectitude can work in much the same way as a laxative. It can help us flush out anything injurious to the system. Regular healthy bowel movements are essential to our personal well being and this is no less true when it comes to the economy. So let us have one big collective crap. Let’s flush this contaminant down the drain where it belongs…..
IRISH BANKS CRISIS
September 18, 2008
You could be forgiven for thinking that Irish Banks were in a state of crisis if not meltdown if you happened to be a listener to Joe Duffey on RTE. One after another callers into his radio show described how they were in the process of hotfooting it down to the bank to get their money out before….well before things got completely out of hand. And yes , we know the Irish banking system is quite sound but if Lehmans can go bankrupt having lost literally billions then it’s better to be safe than sorry. So regardless of what you think about all this the fact is that a lot of folks are anxious to put their money just about anywhere rather than in their friendly local bank. And just tonight on RTE TV news there were more reports of ‘concern’ among those lucky enough to have some spare cash in the bank.
So let me ask you this question . Do you have a tidy sum sitting in your local bank? And if the answer is yes then what are you going to do ? What I mean is , are you getting worried …….are you? . The experts are predicting that yet more large US banks will fold so don’t you think you have a right to be worried ? . The US Federal Reserve has released $180 billion dollars to help other US banks and global central banks are doing likewise……the biggest bailout in human history . So let me ask you again. Are you getting worried ?.
UPDATE: (19/9/08) On foot of a ban on short selling and intervention by the US Reserve Bank share prices have rocketed in the last few hours while we are told there is no need to worry as the European Bank has no shortage of cash. But this very volatility is a worry in itself. We are told that Irish banks are not at risk as they were not involved in the sub-prime issue in the first place but that’s simplistic to say the least. The fact is that the banks are facing the biggest crisis in their history…….and it’s not over yet…
And to imagine that Irish banks are somehow immune to all this just because we are in Europe is the stuff of fairy tales..
