1981 Pop Goes Northern Ireland

MUSIC: "Chant No.1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)" by Spandau Ballet

# I checked the time

# It was almost time A curious smell

# An intangible crime

# I'm washing my clothes But the stain still grows... #

We'll not let this interrupt us.

We've got one of the finest products and a fabulous team of people here.

We're going to let the world know we're still in business.

# It's my direction It's my proposal

# It's so hard It's leading me astray

# My obsession, it's my creation

# You'll understand It's not important now... #

They're set-up, self-styled

assassins, that's what they are.

And they're a Mafia-type gang.

We have them on both sides of the community.

They decide who they're going to kill,

and attempt to carry that out and succeed on many occasions.

But we will pursue them.

# All I need is coordination

# I can't imagine my destination. #

The BBC History Of Ireland reached its final episode last night.

More than 600 minutes have been devoted to this vast topic

from the earliest days to the present Troubles.

I thought it was very one-sided.

In what way?

All I could see were all these Orange parades.

That's all I could see.

I only saw one nationalist parade.

The rest was all 12th July celebrations.

The first time I seen it, they were always blaming it on Protestants,

whoever was commentating on it.

I personally thought that we've had too much of that in this country.

-Too much of what?

-Although I watched it.

Very, very good. There's a lot of young people now that

didn't really know about the Troubles now.

They were really interested. Like my own one, you know.

Although all my wee lads are all in Long Kesh.

I thought it was a very biased and very unevenly balanced programme,

in regard to the present day outline of events.

# Pressure pushing down on me

# Pressing down on you

# No man asks for

# Under pressure

# That burns a building down

# Splits a family in two

# Puts people on streets

# Umm bah bah bay

# Umm bah bah bay

# Ea day da

# Ea day da That's OK

# It's the terror of knowing What this world is about

# Watching some good friends screaming, "Let me out"

# Pray tomorrow takes me higher

# Pressure on people People on streets

# Day day day

# Buh da bah bah bah OK!

# Chippin' around Kick my brains 'round the floor

# These are the days It never rains but it pours... #

'There is no such thing as political murder, political bombing

'or political violence.'

There's only criminal murder, criminal bombing

and criminal violence.

Hear, hear. >

We will not compromise on this.

There will be no political status.

# Knowing what this world is about

# Watching some good friends screaming... #

They are discussing the constitution.

This will all come out in the wash.

And I brand her exactly as Nick Winterton did -

she's lying through her teeth.

# She wonders how she ever got here As she goes under again...

-# Girls on film

-Two minutes later

# Girls on film

-# Girls on film

-We got your picture

# Girls on film... #

MUSIC: "Don't You Want Me" by The Human League

Hunger strike prisoner Bobby Sands has won the by-election

in Northern Ireland, by a narrow majority,

but it's still a propaganda boost for the IRA.

Sands, Bobbie, Anti-H-Block, Armagh,

Political Prisoner - 30 thousand...

MAN CHEERS

..492.

# I picked you out, I shook you up And turned you around

# Turned you into someone new

# Now, five years later on you've got the world at your feet... #

I have left with them, this appeal,

in the fervent hope that sometime, somehow, this appeal

will be instrumental in bringing about

a peaceful and lasting solution

to the dangerous and tragic situation which has arisen.

< Do you think, if he does go into a coma,

< you would you give authorisation for him to be intravenously fed?

No, he told me not to.

It's a sad thing to say, and I feel...

I love my son, just like any other mother does.

But I wouldn't. I can't.

He asked me not to. I've promised him not to.

MUSIC: "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins

# I can feel it coming in the air tonight

# Oh, lord

# I've been waiting for this moment for all my life

# Oh, lord

# Can you feel it coming in the air tonight?

# Oh, lord

# Oh, lord

# Well, if you told me you were drowning

# I would not lend a hand... #

I just plead to the parents to keep their kids in because

I don't want their parents to go through what I'm going through.

# I don't know if you know who I am

# I was there and I saw what you did

# I saw it with my own two eyes

# So you can wipe off that grin

# I know where you've been

# It's all been a pack of lies

# I can feel it coming in the air tonight

# Oh, lord

# Well, I've been waiting for this moment for all my life

# Oh, lord. #

We have seen today the funeral of a man who took his own life,

either by his own decision

or because those behind him had felt it was in the interest

of their cause that he should die.

Whatever the reason,

it was a tragedy that he should have added his name

to the list of those, in Northern Ireland, who have died

as a result of a campaign which can contribute nothing.

MUSIC: "Einstein A Go-Go" by Landscape

"Card, castle, pull, bullet, hand."

Now, Doctor, where would you say this man's from?

I'd say he's from West Belfast, > is that right?

I am indeed, yes.

"Card, castle, pull, bullet, hand." What does that mean?

We'll ask this man. What does this mean?

It's just a number of words to read

to work out just what your accent is, what accent you have

-and where you might come from.

-Belfast.

-Where are you from?

I live here. Up the street there.

-Right, cheerio now.

-OK.

MUSIC: "Ghost Town" by The Specials

Do believe your brother's death

will make any difference to their attitude?

Hopefully, yes.

But I would just like to say that Margaret Thatcher

and the British government has murdered my brother.

Francis' blood is in Margaret Thatcher's hands.

# Have been closed down

# This place is 'coming like a ghost town

# Bands won't play no more

# Too much fighting on the dance floor... #

What was your

attitude to the security forces before Carol Ann was killed?

I didn't... I bothered with nobody.

I was never even outside.

They used to come and stand at the gate. I never bothered with them.

But after Carol Ann was killed, yes. Definitely. I hate them now.

I'm very bitter towards them. Especially the one that killed her.

MUSIC: "The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum" by Fun Boy Three

It's very curious, the Army's attitude towards the computer.

Until 1975, you could chat with them freely and they'd tell you about

certain things about the computer. They'd do little tricks -

"Would you like to know what colour such and such's wallpaper is,"

"or what kind of settee he has?"

# The lunatics have taken over... #

Now they have clamped down a lot.

They're more security-conscious and publicity-conscious about it.

MUSIC: "One In Ten" by UB40

'There are people who have been elected in this election,

'who are not very far from the gunmen.'

And I think that the people themselves will learn

to live with that and to recognise that

in the weeks and months ahead.

# Nobody knows me But I'm always there

# A statistical reminder of a world that doesn't care. #

We were sitting watching the TV

and we heard the noise.

I opened the door and I looked out

and the boys were all out there.

And the next thing, they all ran up the back here

and got up on my roof and started over there.

I came out and asked them to please go away from all of the pensioners.

And they never even took any heed to us at all, they kept on.

MUSIC: "It's Going To Happen" by The Undertones

# Happens all the time It's gonna happen, happen

# Till you change your mind

# It's gonna happen, happen Happens all the time

# It's gonna happen, happen. #

I wanted to buy something,

but they wouldn't let me get near the counters.

MUSIC: "It's Gonna Happen" by The Undertones

Faced now with the failure of their discredited cause,

the men of violence have chosen in recent months

to play what may well be their last card.

They have turned their violence against themselves,

through the prison hunger strike, to death.

They seek to work on the most basic of human emotions - pity -

as a means of creating tension

and stoking the fires of bitterness and hatred.

MUSIC: "It's Gonna Happen" by The Undertones

She may well defeat the prisoners,

and, if she does, it will be a parade victory

because what she will have done, and has done in fact already,

is to increase the capacity of the Provisional IRA

to continue with their military campaign.

MUSIC: "Boy Meets Girl" by Haircut 100

The people who take part in the Troubles

are a very small section of the population.

If those people had been introduced to a challenging sport

at the proper stage in their lives,

I think they would get the same sense of adventure, the same challenge

and almost the same feeling from that as they would get

perhaps from throwing stones at soldiers.

Which, in some context, is a kind of recreation, I'm afraid.

We're standing faithful to Jesus Christ.

We're standing for the truth of God's precious word.

MUSIC: "Swords Of A Thousand Men" by Tenpole Tudor

MUSIC: "Lay All Your Love On Me" by ABBA

I'm going to remember every part of it.

Every part of it from start to finish.

I love the Royal Family.

I love them all. Love to see them. I don't see enough of them on TV.

MUSIC: "Once In A Lifetime" by Talking Heads

I'm very anxious after eight boys dying.

-My son's five years.

-I never thought there'd be one, never mind eight.

-Your son may go on the hunger strike himself?

-It's possible, the way things are going.

There's 70 volunteers waiting.

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC

MUSIC: "Reward" by The Teardrop Explodes

But, Mr Prior is not going to talk to an organisation which has been responsible

for the murder of hundreds of British soldiers,

hundreds of policemen and hundreds of civilians.

Those were the very words which Mr Lloyd George used in 1920.

But the Irish leaders, with whom Lloyd George negotiated,

were representative of the Irish people. You are not.

Mr Carron is an elected representative of the Irish people,

so is Mr Agnew, and so was Mr Doherty.

-Three constituencies for the whole of the island?

-Yes, well, it's a beginning,

and it's a beginning on which we hope to build.

MUSIC: "Reward" by The Teardrop Explodes

I think they're in a fairly relaxed mood.

I think a certain tension has departed from the prison,

thanks be to God.

And they're now expecting that some satisfactory solution

will be made, concerning their problems.

And they have very serious problems in there, as you know.

I think it would be important to get it right, rather than

to hurry over any decision.

-So, you're not likely to make any early move this week?

-Oh, I think this week, yes.

But perhaps not today.

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

MUSIC: "Spellbound" by Siouxsie and the Banshees

My home really is California now. I have a son and a wife.

They're more important now to me really than anything at the moment. They want to be in California, so...

I'd like to get back once in a while and play a few games,

maybe exhibition stuff, if it's possible. But I think that would be about it, really.

Up goes Billy Hamilton. Armstrong, yes!

CHEERING

MUSIC "Stand And Deliver" by Adam and the Ants

They gave him these. They told him, "That's what we would have used

"if anything had gone wrong when we were kidnapping you.

"And that's what we would have used if you had made a false move

"while we were guarding you.

"And we'd like you to give this to Fr McCarthy."

MUSIC: "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell

There is no appeal against this court ruling.

It is the Supreme Court of Europe, in effect.

So, people have to accept that minorities do have these rights

and can't anymore be liable to such severe penalties.

An outside body who is not committed to the moral values

that the people of Northern Ireland are committed to

is prepared to say, "You will legislate perversion and immorality."

MUSIC: "Vienna" by Ultravox

Do you find the comments like Mr Paisley's

that he will attempt to make Ulster ungovernable helpful?

Ha! What do YOU think?

I mean, Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom.

And, as such, the laws of the United Kingdom must be upheld

and WILL be upheld. And I make that absolutely clear.

MUSIC: "Vienna" by Ultravox

Ladies and gentlemen, could I call for quietness?

Nothing should happen today that would dishonour the name of Mr Bradford.

Be quiet, please.

MUSIC: "Vienna" by Ultravox

CROWD JEERS

Traitor!

I'll tell you what's disgraceful.

That people that murdered Mr Bradford and Mr Prior,

who has the blood on his hands and will not do anything about it,

those are the disgraceful scenes.

And the disgraceful man is Mr Prior.

A service of hymns and a silent tribute as well. There were many in tears and many also angry as well.

This was a scene repeated around smaller war memorials across the province.

And as the hour of the funeral came, Belfast's main shopping streets

almost emptied as the mourners lined all sides of the City Hall.

MUSIC: "Funeral Pyre" by The Jam

..and Jim Prior, notice to quit.

MUSIC: "Funeral Pyre" by The Jam

My wee wean's in the house. What am I going to do? A wee newborn baby.

I'd go down the street again and get through.

-Get through the other way?

-You might not, but you may be lucky. Everything's stopped.

I'd better get through. What am I going to do with a baby in the house?

-You know the time it's to be closed off at.

-No. 12pm it was to be closed off at.

I tell you one thing - If Paisley was here, Paisley would let me through.

MUSIC: "Funeral Pyre" by The Jam

If an IRA man comes to a Protestant home and my men are there,

they will kill that IRA man. Yes, sir.

What if they found themselves in conflict with British forces?

If the British security forces are going to join up with the IRA

to kill Protestants, then we will be in conflict with them.

MUSIC: "Shaddap You Face" by Joe Dolce

I am gratified that the American powers-that-be

see me as an obstacle to them achieving Irish unity.

And I am gratified that they realise that I have fierce opposition

to the London-Dublin Summit unity proposals.

Do you really think Mrs Thatcher is partly behind this?

Yes, I'm absolutely sure.

I found out today about consultations that were going on.

I sing, "What's-a matter you?" You sing, "Hey!"

Then I sing-a the rest and then, at the end, we can all-a sing,

"Ah, Shaddap-a you face!" OK? Let's-a try it, really big.

Uno, duo, tre, quatro!

# What's-a matter you? Hey! Gotta no respect... #

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