No goodwill exists for queen’s visit

WHATEVER our reservations about JFK, his visit to Ireland was heralded and followed by goodwill. His speeches and gestures were appreciated, not least his laying of a wreath on the graves of the 1916 leaders at Arbour Hill.

I don’t think it can be honestly argued that the current British establishment has much goodwill towards Ireland’s people, nor that any goodwill should arise from Queen Elizabeth’s visit.

Her education secretary, Michael Gove is on record in The Times, describing the 1916 insurgents as “squalid gangs who betrayed Ireland”. England’s current Lord Chief Justice attacked Chris Mullin, who exposed the injustice of the Birmingham Six as “a communist” trying to destroy the legal system. Lt Col Derek Wilford, “exposed” after 39 years as a disobedient soldier on whose shoulders all the blame for Bloody Sunday must fall, remains a ”Member of the Most Honourable Order of the British Empire” an Order of Chivalry, to which he was appointed by Queen Elizabeth before the earth had settled on the graves of those who’d been slaughtered.

Donal Kennedy

London N13

England