Why do people call Northern Ireland Ulster?

Edward Carson and James Craig, the founding fathers of Northern Ireland, who were party to the dismembering not only of Ireland but Ulster also

Nick Laird wrote:

"Under nationality I write Irish/British, though I’d be happier with Ulsterman, since Ulster itself (incorporating Northern Ireland and the Irish counties of Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal) is a province administrated by both Dublin and London."

Ulster is a misnomer, as Mr. Clynes said in 1920, "Ulster is an expression which has misled a great many people." Letter writer, J.H. Nunn, wrote to the Irish times in 1916:

Ian Knox on the Royal Visit

A nice cartoon from Ian Knox, one that got away. 

The "weirdness" and "freak show" of apartheid education in Northern Ireland

Cartoon by Ian Knox (@IanKnoxcartoon)

Ninety-three per cent of children in Northern Ireland attend segregated elementary schools. Causing what the New Yorker's Patrick Redden Keefe called, "sheer weirdness." Jude Whyte said:

"Politics has replaced the gun and the bomb yet in many ways I feel that we live in a more segregated society than ever. We live apart, educate our children apart... while sport (the source of such unity in the world) remains sectarian, poisoned and divisive."

Unionism won

Cartoon by Ian Knox (@ianknoxcartoon), see more here.

Peter Taylor said:

"Who really did win the war? Viewed through the prism of the present, it’s clear that the British and the unionists won, because the Union is secure and the IRA is no more… I wouldn’t be surprised if at some stage in the long years ahead a United Ireland did emerge."

Stormont is a quango spending a budget

Cartoon by Ian Knox, see full gallery from this Hearts and Minds segment here.

[UPDATE - I've read and written that Stormont is a giant ATM, with no link between what is spent and accountability by the devolved regions for that spend]

Our pocket money parliament has no tax-raising powers. It's hasn't even the fiscal maturity of a county council which do have powers to levy and lift taxes. It's all spend and no tax. It's given a budget and then spends or allocates those monies. A parliament that can spend but cannot tax is not a parliament. Stormont is a giant quango. It's the inverted legislative reality of no-taxation with representation.

Northern Ireland is like a fiscal theme park where basic factual and legal realities are suspended. It has fiscal freedom and no responsibility. But without the power to tax it's hard to govern. Newton Emerson said: 

"Stormont is often mocked as a glorified country council but even councils raise most of their income through the rates, all the rates Stormont collects comes to just 5% of its income. So it's really more of a quango spending a budget."

Sinn Fein and the English Language

Cartoon by Ian Knox

When symmetry of scandal is met with an asymmetry of outrage, something is not right, and you have to say something. When an allegation is pointed at the church or an arm of the state, indignation is universally heaped on those named; yet when an allegation is pointed at the party, there is silence - indignation is selective and sectarian, falling along ideological lines.

With no sense or awareness of inconsistency, people can simultaneously support scrutiny of others and stridently oppose scrutiny of oneself; people can simultaneously credit allegations made against another but outright discredit allegations made against oneself. Mary Lou McDonald said in 2009:

Five years post-Irisgate

Cartoon of Iris and Peter Robinson by Ian Knox

Five years after the Iris Robinson scandal it is worth looking back on what the Irish-descended, English born, American blogger Andrew Sullivan wrote about the scandal: 

"The fusion of religion and politics and the use of Biblical authority to strip other people of civil rights is not, of course, unique to America. In Northern Ireland, for example, sectarian conflict was accompanied by incredibly repressive attitudes toward sexual minorities and women. When I went on Ulster television for "Virtually Normal" in 1995, it was the first ever broadcast across Northern Ireland dealing specifically with the homosexual question. They invited ten openly gay people to be in the studio audience, and only three had the balls to show up. And so it is not that surprising that a leading politician in Ulster would respond to a brutal gay-bashing by criticizing the attack but adding that she nonetheless believed that homosexuality was an "abomination" and made her feel "sick" and "nauseous". She believed that sexual orientation could be cured by psychiatry. She argued that:

The Lundy Terror, Ctd

Modern unionism is a heterodoxy, not an orthodoxy. It is multi-, not mono-confessional. You can be a ruthless critic of a belief and still be an exponent of that belief. You can be a ruthless critic of unionism and still be a unionism. As the Orwell Method has shown, self-examination and self-interrogation of your beliefs strengthens the precepts and principles that form the basis of that belief.

Emaciate and asphyxiate the moderate with promiscuous lawlessness and naked intimidation

Cartoon by Ian Knox, you can buy prints of his work here

A threatening tweet. A bullet in the post. A firebomb through the window. This is the authoritarianism and censor of the jackboot. Citizens, critics and democrats censored by cudgel-wavers. This is the history of Northern Ireland. Emaciate and asphyxiate the moderate and eradicate reason and debate with the veto of violence.

Conference Drawing

My Conference Notes Cartoon of Josh Richards (@Mighty_Ginge) at @Create2014Co, more here.

I do Live Drawing. I also do Conference Drawing. This is where I go to conferences, seminars and talks and document what is said through words and coloured drawings. Think mind maps. Think story boards. A wonderful way to remember the special event and the special ideas and contacts made. Below are 12 images from the 12 conferences and events that I've done Conference Drawing at over the last year. Click the links below to see a full selection of images from each of the 12 events. 

Read more about Live Drawing here. See a full chronology of all the Live Drawing cartoons I've ever drawn on my Flickr page here. See how I work and think and process ideas on my Live Drawing Tumblr portfolio here.

Ian Knox - Unionist politics are much funnier, Republicans make more ideas and less jokes

A typical cartoon on unionism by Northern Ireland cartoonist Ian Knox

Satirists like Loyalists Against Democracy (@LADFLEG) are regularly inveighed against for being too one sided, overly and unfairly shining a light on loyalist misbehaviour. Legacy media is often admonished with demonising loyalism. I have continually rejected these charges as unfounded and baseless.

And to best back up my position I defer simply to Ian Knox, long time Northern Ireland cartoonist. In 1999 he wrote that Unionist politics are simply much, much funnier:

"I’ve got a section [in my book Culture Vultures] on unionist politics but no equivalent one on nationalist politics, because, well… Unionist politics are much funnier. You might feel that a group of people grimly opposed to change would be less amusing than another group who feel that history is on their side, but it doesn’t seem to work like that. Aside from all the horrors of the last thirty-odd years - the slogans, the debates, the atrocities - it seems to me that while nationalism/republicanism might throw out more ideas, unionism generates more jokes."

He reiterated this self-evident situation, when he said in 2014:

"The whole world of unionism is much wilder and wackier."

And below is a typical Ian Knox cartoon of the republican tribe:

The authoritarian terror of Lundyism

Cartoon by Ian Knox of Alliance leader and NI Justice Minister, David Ford MLA

Any unionist opinion that deviates from the hardline, reactionary fringe is immediately and unavoidably smeared "Lundy." The colloquial curse word for the moderate member of the Unionist community. And you see it with the PSNI - An eire-phobia - where the slightest criticism of or incursion against loyalist promiscuity is labelled IRA. (Yet the irony is that in calling PSNI the PSNI-IRA, loyalists sound like republicans who call PSNI the PSNI-RUC.) A plurality and diversity of unionist opinion isn't just disapproved, but effectively outlawed. A total prohibition on anything not outwardly and chauvinistically Protestant.

The Lundy is the kuffar. The traitor. The heretic and apostate who has gone prostrate before the enemy. Only the deep and double-dyed sectarians and tribalists are the true and authentic holders and representatives of the community.

Of course this is nonsense. By their hysterical reactionism - the deep and double-dyed sectarian, so sure of themselves, so self-loving, so unbending - becomes a parody and caricature of the tradition they purport to represent. They don't seem to have any mechanism to question or analyse their own method and direction. This is not only incredibly self-satisfied but self-destructive. He who doesn't have the ability to adapt and and mould with the changing of events is doomed.

I want to live in a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-confessional society and live with a multi-confessional unionism. It's only through argument and dissent and the constant challenging of ideas that you can refine and develop political ideology and practice.

I've variously been called a "Unionists my arse". A "condescending appeaser" by Jamie Bryson. Nick Garbutt being called a "snob" by Willie Frazer

The other colloquial swear word and pjejorative term for the unionist that deviates from the hardline, is "guilty prod". Glenn Bradley explained being called a "guilty prod" here.

My previous post on the authoritarianism of fringe unionism against the moderate, here. See all my posts on Ian Knox, who did the cartoon above, here.

Ian Knox at work

The above is Ian Knox working ahead of the last ever episode of Hearts and Minds. Here he is producing a piece for the If You Ask Me segment written and narrated by Malachi O'Doherty. Watch here and see screen grabs of the end result.

Other posts on Ian Knox. Slideshow of Ian Knox riding his Penny Farthing here. Ian Knox riding his Penny Farthing during the Giro 2014 here. Ian Knox and friends on their Penny Farthings for the Hume/Dunlop anniversary cycle here. Ian Knox speaking with the Detail here. Chatting with Michael Smiley here. My blog post on Ian Knox's cartoons of loyalists and republicans, here. Ian Knox and I drawing together in the Black Box, Belfast in 2013 here. Ian Knox and I drawing at McHugh's, Belfast here. My coverage of Ian Knox's December 2013 exhibition, 'Lifelines and Deadlines' here. A selection of photos of Ian Knox at work here. My article here on why an Ian Knox prize to encourage satire and political cartooning like the Herb Block foundation in America which rewards and encourages future talent. A notice about my joint exhibition with Ian Knox on Slugger O'Toole is here. Ian Knox talking about flags, the Union and loyalists here.

Ian Knox - Unionists aren't going to save the Union by shoving flags down people's throats

To mark the end of his December 2013 exhibition, 'Lifelines and Deadlines', Ian Knox spoke about his work and life with a local film maker. At the end (48m30s) Ian Knox shared a profound and deeply relevant insight about unionism and Northern Ireland's union with Great Britain. He said:

"As a political cartoonist, there's no defined criteria for what one does and what actually a political cartoon is. I think I tend to the school of dealing with realpolitik. That is the interests, the real motives of why people act. I always found it very strange as to why sections of unionism seem to perpetually want to shove the Union Jack down the throats of those who don't regard it as their flag. The big truth which unionism doesn't seem to want to talk about, let alone face up to, is the fact that when a border poll does come, it's going to be Catholic votes that decide on the constitutional position. Not Protestant ones. We know which way the prods are going to vote. But if the prods want a substantial number of, nationalists stroke Catholics, to vote to stay as part of Britain, they have to be nice to them; they're not going to do it by shoving flags down their throats."

Video in full here.

Other posts on Ian Knox. Slideshow of Ian Knox riding his Penny Farthing here. Ian Knox riding his Penny Farthing during the Giro 2014 here. Ian Knox and friends on their Penny Farthings for the Hume/Dunlop anniversary cycle here. Ian Knox speaking with the Detail here. Chatting with Michael Smiley here. My blog post on Ian Knox's cartoons of loyalists and republicans, here. Ian Knox and I drawing together in the Black Box, Belfast in 2013 here. Ian Knox and I drawing at McHugh's, Belfast here. My coverage of Ian Knox's December 2013 exhibition, 'Lifelines and Deadlines' here. A selection of photos of Ian Knox at work here. My article here on why an Ian Knox prize to encourage satire and political cartooning like the Herb Block foundation in America which rewards and encourages future talent. A notice about my joint exhibition with Ian Knox on Slugger O'Toole is here.

Ian Knox - "Ride with the Giants" #HumeDunlop125

On Sunday May 18 cycle fans came to the Botanic Gardens in Belfast to see the 4 men and their Penny Farthings, Ian Knox, Pete, Sam & Dave (pictured below) to "Ride with the Giants" for the #humedunlop125 anniversary. The Irish News reported on May 3 2014:

"In south Belfast yesterday, Ian Knox unveiled an artwork he has designed, left, to mark 125 years since Irish cyclist Willie Hume won a race with the world's first pneumatic tyre. Scottish vet John Boyd Dunlop made the invention while living in Belfast in 1888 after a doctor had recommended cycling for his ill son. He wanted to find a way to minimise the jarring of the city's cobbled streets and so tacked linen to the wheels of a tri-cycle, which in turn held an inflated tube in place against the wheel. The artwork by Mr Knox, himself a keen cyclist and penny farthing enthusiast, hangs on the side of Hatfield House on the Ormeau Road, where the race passed on May 18 1889. Kieran Cassidy, owner of the bar, said:

"With this fantastic event coming here we wanted to remind people of Northern Ireland's contribution to cycling through a comic and fun piece of art. "We hope that the artwork will not only welcome cyclists but also remind... visitors to the city that the first pneumatic tyre was invented in Belfast."

 

See a full selection of photos from the Sunday cycle below.

Other posts on Ian Knox. Slideshow of Ian Knox riding his Penny Farthing here. Ian Knox riding his Penny Farthing during the Giro 2014 here. Ian Knox speaking with the Detail here. Chatting with Michael Smiley here. My blog post on Ian Knox's cartoons of loyalists and republicans, here. Ian Knox and I drawing together in the Black Box, Belfast in 2013 here. Ian Knox and I drawing at McHugh's, Belfast here. My coverage of Ian Knox's December 2013 exhibition, 'Lifelines and Deadlines' here. A selection of photos of Ian Knox at work here. My article here on why an Ian Knox prize to encourage satire and political cartooning like the Herb Block foundation in America which rewards and encourages future talent.

Ian Knox and his Penny Farthing, Ctd

A selection of pictures of Ian Knox on his Penny Farthing. Enjoy. Previous posts of Ian Knox on his Penny Farthing here and here.

Other posts on Ian Knox. Ian Knox speaking with the Detail here. Chatting with Michael Smiley here. My blog post on Ian Knox's cartoons of loyalists and republicans, here. Ian Knox and I drawing together in the Black Box, Belfast in 2013 here. Ian Knox and I drawing at McHugh's, Belfast here. My coverage of Ian Knox's December 2013 exhibition, 'Lifelines and Deadlines' here. A selection of photos of Ian Knox at workhere. Slideshow of Ian Knox riding his Penny Farthing here. My article here on why an Ian Knox prize to encourage satire and political cartooning like the Herb Block foundation in America which rewards and encourages future talent.

Ian Knox talks cycling with Michael Smiley

Michael Smiley featured on an eponymously named series on the BBC, 'Michael Smiley - Something to Ride Home About.' On that series Michael Smiley embarks on a cycle tour of Northern Ireland. In the first episode he meets the Northern Ireland political cartoonist and Penny Farthing rider, Ian Knox.

Below are a full selection of images from the episode that first aired on April 21 2014, including an Ian Knox cartoon of Michael Smiley. Slideshow of Ian Knox riding his Penny Farthing here.

Earlier posts on Ian Knox. Ian Knox speaking with the Detail here. My blog post on Ian Knox's cartoons of loyalists and republicans, here. Ian Knox and I drawing together in the Black Box, Belfast in 2013 here. Ian Knox and I drawing at McHugh's, Belfast here. My coverage of Ian Knox's December 2013 exhibition, 'Lifelines and Deadlines' here. A selection of photos of Ian Knox at work here. Slideshow of Ian Knox riding his Penny Farthing here. My article here on why an Ian Knox prize to encourage satire and political cartooning like the Herb Block foundation in America which rewards and encourages future talent.

Ian Knox on the Arts Show

Episode 26 of the Arts Show looked into the world of Ian Knox. Of remark, Ian Ian Knox contrasted unionism with nationalism. He said that unionist politicians are easier to lampoon. In fact, they are more interested in his work. He explained:

"Nearly all the feedback I get regularly is from politicians is from unionists. They are the ones who want the originals. Not the nationalists. And here’s a kind of discipline about nationalists which means that the cartoons aren’t quite as funny. The whole world of unionism is much wilder and wackier."

My previous posts on Ian Knox. Ian Knox speaking with the Detail here. My blog post on Ian Knox's cartoons of loyalists and republicans, here. Ian Knox and I drawing together in the Black Box, Belfast in 2013 here. Ian Knox and I drawing at McHugh's, Belfast here. My coverage of Ian Knox's December 2013 exhibition, 'Lifelines and Deadlines' here. A selection of photos of Ian Knox at work here. My article here on why an Ian Knox prize to encourage satire and political cartooning like the Herb Block foundation in America which rewards and encourages future talent.

Below are a selection of images from the Arts Show:

Ian Knox cartoons and political correctness as censorship, Ctd

[DISCLAIMER: When I speak of loyalists I do not speak of all loyalists. I speak of a small violent minority]*

[DISCLAIMER: I am an equal opportunities adversary and I hold violent republicans in equal contempt to violent loyalists]*

It's well documented that Ian Knox draws loyalists and loyalist paramilitaries as knuckle-dragging empty-heads. It nothing new. He's been doing it for decades. By doing this he adheres to two codes. 

Firstly, he is adhering to the unwritten convention of the political cartoonist. It is their job to be cutting and incisive and even to offend. 

Secondly, he is adhering to speaking plain English. To calling a stone-throwing thug a stone-throwing-thug. And the beauty of political cartoons is that they're super-distilled plain English. As John Gilroy, creator of the Guinness posters, said:

"The man in the street has no time for contemplation. My posters are therefore, a kind of aesthetic meal-in-a-minute."

Live Drawing - #TweetUpNI

.@brianjohnspencr doing some live sketching while we watch @bbctheview! #tweetupni pic.twitter.com/a781gqKwOA
— Alan in Belfast (@alaninbelfast) March 13, 2014

 

 

#tweetupni @dcmbfs kicks off the tweetup in McHughs pic.twitter.com/zJbVp9HPfl
— Alan in Belfast (@alaninbelfast) March 13, 2014