Arts: Brit critic castigates pro-IRA drama for "complacent liberals"

Douglas Murray writes bestsellers in Britain, where his most recent will appear this summer under the title Neoconservatism. He's also a freelance journalist. Presumably in this capacity, he attended the huge inquiry of the British Government into one of the most dread events since the IRA took to bombing consumers in department stores like Harrod's. The event was this time however a massacre in which were killed 13 civilians, and the wounded amounted to another 13. That event has justly earned its appellationm Bloody Sunday, with apparently no competition. The event has in its latter day begotten not only this massive inquiry, but also a set of theatrics composed of thespian scenes called a "drama."

Murray attended the inquiries portrayed, not only on Star days when real-live terrorists like Martin McGuinness were summoned, but also on the days in 2003 when the press corps (with whom Murray commiserates) couldn't stand the complexity of issues, viewpoints, and technicalities involved in the British military's confrontation with the terrorists and their supporters, including the infamous Bernadette Devlin, in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, January 30, 1972. The Bloody Sunday Inquiry was set up by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998, a hearing which lasted a year, and Murray was there even when the press corps dwindled to three.

The hearings have ended; the final report is not yet published. But the play is a howling, snickering, laffing success of mindless insouciance. But you must read Murray's analysis of this entertainment for "complacent liberals" whose grannies weren't shredded in Harrod's and whose fathers, brothers, husbands and lovers weren't among the "668 British soldiers killed during the troubles." For these deaths, "only 81 people have ever been prosecuted – all now released." But the play goes on, and after its successful trials will have a long run in the future to provide a sector of the Brit public with the delicacies of "the threatre of moral corruption," according to Murray. - Owlb


The Troubles