Entertainment For Lively Minds
'God damn you, please, Mrs Robinson...'
I live in Northern Ireland, so this is probably going to sound like a bit of a sideshow to most people here, but its still part of the UK, which means it might be relevant to 75% of Word bloggers. It's still the same government purse.
Tonight on BBC NI there was a current affairs investigative documentary into the business dealings of Iris Robinson - paid from the public purse as a councillor, MLA [member of NI Assembly] and MP - and the apparent protection, contrary to ministerial codes, of her husband Peter (NI First Minister and westminster MP) when he found out.
It involved Iris channelling £50,000 from cronies to a 19 year old son of as friend to help him secure the lease on a business opportunity operated by the local council on which she is a councillor. She then started having an affair with this chap. I'm not going to make any comments about her affair, nor how that affects the integrity of her already public and controversial views on other peoples' sexual activities. I'm, not going to deride her for stepping down from public life a few weeks back because of 'mental illness'. I suffer myself and its a terrible thing to have.
No, what I couldn't stomach was the nasty, self-righteous, mean-spirit-beyond-belief attempts by Iris - clearly, unequivocally documented in the broadcast by texts from her to her political adviser, Selywyn Black, who resigned his position on conscience when he was obliged to become a gopher in all of these shenanigans - to claw back the £50,000 she'd channelled to the kid in the guise of kickbacks (she immediately wanted £5000 of it, as the cheques had been made out to him directly; then later, when his business was established, the rest - initially half for herself 'to cover her costs' in helping the guy and half for her church, no doubt in her mind making the whole thing righteous and fine, until husband Peter found out and tried to retrieve the cash for the original donors, at no time informing any of the appropriate authorities as he is required to do as a multiple-parliamentarian).
Are the Robinsons in some kind of penury? Here's a bit from a BBC website story tonight, after the broadcast: "The Robinsons have also faced scrutiny over their joint annual income of more than £500,000 including expenses, with a further £150,000 in wages for four relatives, including two of their children."
During the expenses scandal Peter Robinson's lunch bills were exposed as excessive; apparently his Office of First Minister of NI employs more staff than the White House (this may or may not be apocryphal but believe me, as a tiny cog in its wheels, public sector waste in NI is sickening).
£500,000 is more than I will earn in my lifetime.
And still Mrs Robinson needs the £5,000 kickback off the books after sorting out dodgy loands to cover her costs for helping out the son of a friend. (I don't care about her affair - that's her business.)
Go to hell, Mrs Robinson.
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Lester Freamon would've been proud
just "followin the money!"
new
As someone from the opposite end of the political spectrum to the DUP ,I felt sorry for Peter Robinson when he was talking about the affair. However the money stuff is different. He will have to resign.
Is this the deluded woman
I saw briefly on TV over here spouting vile and odious gibberish to the effect that 'Homosexuals can be cured by the blood of Christ'?
That's the one
It's in the Bible you know ... just beside the verse about putting adultresses to death (ahem!)
by stoning.....
by stoning.....
Now there's a thought given how keen they both are on a literal interpretation of the Bible and a 'hang-em and flog-em' approach to law and order.
All right, no one is to stone - anyone!
... until I blow this whistle. Even... and I want to make this absolutely clear... even if they do say, "Jehovah. "
The affair thing smacks of 'beard'-dom
We are being asked to believe that the affair caused her to indulge in some entirely uncharacteristic and unprecedented financial jiggery-pokey. Hmm.
Says it all really ...
And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson
Jesus loves you more than you will know (Wo, wo, wo)
God bless you please, Mrs. Robinson
Heaven holds a place for those who pray
(Hey, hey, hey...hey, hey, hey)
We'd like to know a little bit about you for our files
We'd like to help you learn to help yourself
Look around you, all you see are sympathetic eyes
Stroll around the grounds until you feel at home
Hide it in a hiding place where no one ever goes
Put it in your pantry with your cupcakes
It's a little secret, just the Robinsons' affair
Most of all, you've got to hide it from the kids
Sitting on a sofa on a Sunday afternoon
Going to the candidates debate
Laugh about it, shout about it
When you've got to choose
Ev'ry way you look at it, you lose
Bloody Hell.
That's uncanny. I've been singing that song all day, but only now am I seeing what you see. Good one Stephen.
Hmm...
... this raises questions about the timing of his 'revelations' earlier in the week. They must have known this programme was coming up and decided to muddy the waters. This smells, not just of fish, but also of a vast heap of rotting putrefaction overlaid with a more than a hint of sanctimonious self-justification.
They'll have to go, the pair of them and good riddance.
Too harsh?
'Mrs. Robinson'
'19'
'Take The Money And Run'
'Theme From M*A*S*H*'
'Get It Right Next Time'
Interesting
I wish her a speedy recovery to face the music as any member of the public would be required to do when breaking the law (allegedly). I realise I am talking about politicians here and they, of course, are a different breed of human beings when it comes to following laws that often they voted for. A sweeping generalisation but I've had enough dealings with them locally to be unable to differentiate between a councillor or senior employee and a common thief.
Politics as a Job
I admit I am a lazy man but the NI politico's really work. Mr's Robinson is an MP, a NI Representitive and a local councillor. Cor blimey, how do you do all that lot? This dear lady has expressed such harsh opinions on just about any one or thing not in compliance with her own life model, I think we are allowed a little scepticism on the mental illness.
Is shame, guilt or embarasment classed as a mental condition? I know NI politics by its nature has always been a closed circle. It is this environment where corruption can spread. Sanctimony always goes before a fall.
The "Wibble" defence
Does mental illness excuse or explain this behaviour, or is it a result of the strain of betraying one's family, god, constituents and conscience? Hmmm.
'Sanctimony always goes before a fall.'
Let's hope so.
Apparently Mrs Robinson was...
...'too unwell' to answer questions about her alleged crimes to the programme makers in the last couple of days. Now we learn (this via the Guardian) that "it emerged this morning that the first minister's wife is flying off to the French Alps to escape the media glare. It is understand she is to spend the next week at a luxury chalet near Chamonix at the foot of Mont Blanc."
Let's not forget she's still drawing her MLA and MP salaries and no doubt still putting her travel and food down as expenses - her half of the pair's £500,000 a year.
If she has any shred of integrity left she needs to stop taking our money NOW and then go and deal with her guilt in obscurity for as long as she wants.
I'm a Belfast resident
and I've seen very few tears shed over the Robinson's plight.
A more odious, holier than thou couple it would be hard to find.
Together with their massive expenses, triple jobbing and numerous employed relatives one would hope that we may see the end of them.
Unfortunately, Robinson is so arrogant I reckon he will have the front to try and ride the storm, so I suppose we will have to be content with the end of Iris.
"We will have to be content with the end of Iris .."
So many jokes ...
It's a Stinker
That it is, which ever way you look at it.However it could get worse. Listening to the Today program on Radio 4 this morning there were concerns about the peace process. If this corrupt hypocrite effects that then it will be the shame of all shames. The process is now on a knife edge on, yes hold your breath; policing! Parody has now just got to shift up another gear.
Good riddance to the pair of them
As someone who grew up in Castlereagh this revolting pair of shysters played a big part in my taking a one way ticket to England.
As Sinn Fein has it's own scandal with Adams' family problems I really don't see how the Robinsons current difficulties will bring down the peace process. Although I have no doubt three jobs Pete will play on the possible risk to try and save his well paid arse.
Anyone have a link to the telly programme?
Assumed it was on Spotlight but can't locate it on iplayer.
TIA
The TV prog is being screened nationally today...
...at 2.30pm apparently, on a BBC news channel. So I imagine it'll end up on iplayer after that...
Fascinating
Just watched it.
Peter Robinson clearly knew of his wife's financial impropriety. His own position ought to be completely untenable as he is in breach of the ministerial code. If he had an ounce of integrity he should resign forthwith.
I've never written to MPs before but...
...I've just written to every one of my East Belfast constituency MLAs of all parties and every one of the members of the NI Assembly Commission.
I'd urge anyone else here who lives in NI to take 10 minutes and do the same - even write to one MLA. At some point public outcry HAS to make a difference.
I couldn't agree more with the 'holier than thou' 'shyster' comments above.
These people behave like they have a God given right to draw huge salaries, spout their po-faced guff at anyone who will listen and play games with people's lives - no one living outside NI will understand how, every time MLAs/parties go off in a huff for 3 months (STILL drawing their salaries for doing damn all during that time) and leave the NI Assembly inoperable for a period, that this has a genuine affect on other people's jobs in holding up necessary legislation to do with the NHS, education, etc. Literally tens of thousands of people have been put under wholly avoidable stress about their futures because of party politics games-playing here.
The UK government threw MILLIONS at NI politicians over a period of years to basically buy them into the 'peace process' with huge salaries, status, flunkies, expenses. Their egos were massaged to the point where even Paisley said 'yes'. And, in the end, all that even he will be remembered for here - after decades of wrong-headed but undeniably consistent nay-saying - is the ill-judgement late in life of hugely expensive constituency offices, a son gorged on dynastic arrogance and the stench of dodgy property deals with some shyster called Seymour Sweeney. (What is it with DUP barons and property magnates? Iris got her dodgy loans from two property people as well...)
NOTHING will be destabilised if all these pigs-back bastards get kicked out.
But we know that they probably won't.
A price worth paying?
I understand your frustration with this, and the Robinsons do seem to be a particularly good/bad example, but maybe it's a price worth paying, when all is said and done. In general, people who have a comfortable standard of living tend to dream less about martyrdom and paramilitary posturing. If a similar process happened in the Middle East to what has taken place over the last few years in NI I would be more than happy, despite the no doubt odious people who would become enriched as a regrettable by-product.
Every teenage boy's fantasy ...
... your very own cafe to run
It gets worse....
This from Henry McDonald at the Grauniad:
"Some inside and outside the DUP have talked about a new dream-team double act of Fermanagh assembly member Arlene Foster as party leader and Stormont finance minister Sammy Wilson as the new first minister."
Yes, that's right- the phrase 'dream team' being used in connection with a po-faced harridan from the stix and a buffoon with a motorbike, best known (even within NI let alone elsewhere, if he's known at all) for cavorting naked in photographs a few years ago.
Imagine living in a place governed by, oh, Lembit Opik or Terry Christian. Is this REALLY the best they can do?
McDonald believes that Nigel Dodds - a stern, glowering figure but undoubtedly a serious politician with a conscientious record as a constituency MP - isn't interested in the seemingly poisoned, if very well paid (better than UK national PM), chalice of NI First Minister.
There was - tellingly -in Henry's comments no mention of Jeffrey Donaldson (the DUP's Daniel O'Donnell impersonator and a man with all the gravitas of Rolf Harris and none of the fun).
So... for all the tens of thousands we're paying them, we're down to either putting up with Hitler embattled in his bunker or a small town sheriff and a cowboy with a Harley?
Bloody hell.
I've always thought Arlene Foster
looked more than a little like Shakin' Stevens. Just an observation.
I believe...
...she has a similar temperament, and has indicated that if ever she was interviewed by Richard Madeley, she would very probably wrestle him to the floor....probably.
Sammy taught me Economics
Surprisingly left wing in those days but something of a joke as a teacher.
Always thought from this safe distance it was rather bizarre, but slightly amusing that he was elected to anything let alone Westminster. The idea that anywhere (even Norn Iron) would contemplate this clown as First Minister is beyond parody.
I went to school with Sammy Wilson
and that's all I'm saying. This is a publically accessible forum after all
But Mr Beach above, you are not wrong sir
Oh Dear.
Whenever people ask me where I'm from, I'm going to say "Finaghy". "Where's that?", they will ask. "Nevermind", I'll reply.
Its all embarrasing, and an absolute scandal. They both have to go.
Which reminds me
we use a courier service called Captain Courier, partly for reasons of convenience abut primarily because their slogan is "To Finaghy and Beyond!"
Anyway, as for Peter Robinson I give him 4-5 weeks before Geoffrey, Arlene & Nigel start becoming visibly less supportive and end up cutting deals for the leadership before setting him adrift.
My joy at the impending end of The Robinsons
is tempered somewhat by the possible successors!
Not much to choose from is there? Will be interesting to see when Donaldson makes his move (as he surely will) but can only see a frenzy of in-fighting, which will be mercilessly stoked by Mr Allister!
Apparently Robinson will be holding a press conference this evening - will be interesting to see how many of the gang are standing behind him.
What is
Paisley's view on all of this? Any sign of a comeback?
I suspect the Robinson clan
learnt a lot from watching how the Paisley family operated.
I think EVERYONE will enjoy this...
...it's utter schadenfreude and I make no apology for it. It's my old friend Keith Law - minor NI TV/radio comedy performer and fabulous bass player/guitarist/songwriter/entertainer. In another life he'd be writing boyband million sellers but I, for one, am glad that his path has led to this. It's a public service:
Brilliant!
The story's been on the BBC News 24 channel today, so it's UK wide now Colin, even if you feared it might be a parochial tragedy to start with. I've never seen a less pleasant pair of disgusting trough-lickers, and I hope they both get their come-uppance in spades.
Swizz Family Robinson
Just watched the offending programme on i-player. Incredible, and hopefully we shall soon see the back of the pair of them. Reminds me of the time I took part in a live radio show in the late '80s with Eileen Paisley, wife of The Big Man, and got involved in an on-air spat with her about gays, VD, and the whole God business. I couldn't get on the plane back to London quick enough, and this latest example of bible-bashers caught with their snouts in the trough reminds me of why I left in the first place. Good riddance and good night.
"Swizz Family Robinson"...
...BRILLIANT Barney! :-D
And doubly appropriate in the knowledge that Mrs R has reportedly skipped town for a luxury chalet in the Swiss Alps till the clamour dies down. She'll be there a while then. As Peter finds he has a whole mountain of his own to climb back home...
Really Vulpster, stop all that sitting on the fence...
...what is it you're trying to say? :-D
I've started getting responses from my emails to MLAs. Democracy works! Life isn't always unfair! Crikey...
UUP leader & East Belfast MLA Reg Empey has been on TV here saying EXACTLY what I'd asked of him and other MLAs: that Mrs Robinson must be made to stop drawing public money for her two parliamentary posts and expenses RIGHT NOW. I've no doubt I'm far from alone in being a humble nobody asking Reg to push this line, but thank goodness somebody in a position of influence is saying it...
Sort of forgotten
amongst all the furore that Iris had only stated her intention to step down. As you say a suspension pending enquiries should be immediate.
PS Apparently the special in the Lock Keepers Cafe today was Mutton:dressed as Lamb!
New irony on a Biblical scale...
...it seems that Mrs Robinson's graduate has now become a gay icon. Given Mrs Robinson's widely known views on homosexuals, it just can't get more ironic than this:
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/iris-robinsons-lov...
My money on the best summary so far...
...is (though I'll want £5K of it back in a brown envelope, obviously) by David McKittrick in the Sunday Independent. Marvel at the colossal arrogance of the Robinsons' million quid lifestyle, nepotism, triple-jobbing, hubris, self-aggrandisement and a guided tour of Iris's boudoir (yes, really) with a four poster Gothic bed, heart-shaped cushions, dressing room, chandeliers and black lace underwear strewn about "for a function later that night". The spine chills:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/fall-of-the-house-of-robin...
Trust McKittrick
to nail it. He does write some good stuff.
As for Iris, at least she should be gone by the end of the week. I'm a bit disappointed there has been no mention of a police involvement yet, as the facts reported on Spotlight would suggest the law has been broken.
Would be interested to know how many times Iris has attended Stormont or Westminster in the past 10 months, apparently she is now incapable of even answering a simple question, such is her level of distress.
It certainly makes a mockery...
...of one of the spurious arguments used against me by public-sector hand-wringing weasel-wording middle-manager mediocrities when asking like Oliver Twist, after three years of covering three jobs on one salary, for just a bit more money: 'you can't get paid for more than one job at the same time' they said.
Obviously Iris has now found a way of getting paid three times out of public money for doing NO jobs.
The great thing about all this - in terms of a sense of moral justice - is that not only does Iris get the boot but, if and when (as seems likely) Peter goes as First Minister and - as now seems at least possible for the first time in 40 years - if he fails to keep his seat in the upcoming Westminster election, it means their whole family have their noses ripped out of the trough.
Their three offsping and one daughter-in-law are employed as assistants with £150,000 per annum public money. And Iris was trying to channel £25,000 of the repaid dodgy loans into the church run by her sister-in-law.
And Peter and Iris's lunching expenses for the past 4 years? £30,000.
Hopefully the karma police will be showing them, at last, there really is no such thing as a free lunch.
it's ironic, isn't it? The government spend millions trying to decommission genuine gun-toting hoods and still we end up with a shower of grey-suited gangsters and their molls swaggering around like it was Chicago in the '20s.
I live in 'Boss' Robinson's constituency, and I'll certainly be voting for the first time in years come May 6 or whenever it is because the winds changing and somebody must have a chance of ousting the man once and for all.
Feel your anger,mate
The thing that annoyed me most in the McKittrick article was his recollections about the way Robinson ran Castlereagh like his personal fiefdom.
Speaking to a friend who is a builder on Friday and he said that the 2 developers named in the programme have had "Castlereagh tied up for years". Wonder who also benefited?
As was said earlier on the thread "follow the money", but unfortunately I can't see Peter being as careless as Iris.
I agree Salty, and yet EVERYONE...
...has an Achilles heel. In Peter's case it's his wife. He took his eye off the ball. And all the time there was something stuck in his Iris.
Ulster Says 'Go'!
Can we get the old banners out and re-cycle?
Pleasingly, Paisley is quoted by proxy today as being...
..."beyond fury" at the whole thing.
Interesting paradox: I thought he'd spent the whole of his adult life "beyond fury". Clearly there was a little way left to go...
Fury is his middle name
That was my thoughts on Paisley. I assumed when he got out bed in the morning he was furiouse and it only got worse from then on. I wonder which bit of the scandle ramped up the Furiometer - it must be the sex angle. Paisley and sex is a mixture no one would wish to consider too long.
Apparently
the young innocent who Iris ensnared is a Catholic. That might have irked Mr Paisley somewhat....
Looking forward to Panorama tonight - hopefully there may be some damning stuff to come.
The most interesting thing about the whole affair is
how ineptly it is being handled by the Robinsons' PR people. I wonder if they are the same crowd that are doing such a sterling job for Van at the moment?
EDIT: He's stepping aside for 6 weeks. You thought he was bad? Keep your eye on Arlene Foster ...
It's a decent effort Steve but...
...I think you'd have to send your bill to the 'Stable Door Closure Society'. And they might all have left the building themselves by then...
No, whatever way you spin it the public KNOW the stench of corruption. it's like getting Al Capone for tax evasion when his other crimes wouldn't stick: Robinson has built his career on a council fiefdom where one or two guys were able to build swathes of houses on green belt land and somehow get away with it. Even if he never took backhanders in brown envelopes, the whole back-scratching nods and winks way up the greasy pole is as clear as day. How else would Iris be able to pick up the phone and get two £25,000 from house builders? it's people knowing what 'the score' is. Peter thought he was clever but he reckoned without an abjectly stupid wife.
There's been something just 'wrong' with Peter robinson as a public representative for years: the lifestyle, the triple-jobbing, the house in Florida, the maxed-out expenses... everybody has a right to enjoy a decent way of life if they have the means, but never forget WE have given these people the means and they spout all this guff about 'public service'. It's publicly-funded SELF-service.
They're the equivalent of people you invite round to dinner who eat everything offered and then go round emptying your cupboards and fridge before loading their car up and driving into the sunset...
No, I think this 6-week temporary step down manouevre is as much about his party colleagues buying themselves time to see how the wind blows and working out some kind of 'soft landing' out of the top seat for Robbo.
but let's not be complacent: come the general election, let's make our votes count!
He'll need more than six weeks .....
Does anyone really expect an investigation of this potential complexity to be wrapped up in six weeks?.
It's hard to believe that this was the first time a call of this nature had been made to Fraser and Campbell. The speed with which Fraser was able to cover huge swathes of North Down and Castlereagh with his "executive" homes has always been the subject of entertaining discussion on my trips back to my parents, who live on one of his estates.
My Dad once showed me a copy of the planning permission granted for where they live and overlaid this with the actual houses on the site. Roughly 5-6 houses of the 30 that had been built were unapproved.
'Be sure your sins will find you out'
...it might have taken a while but I'm guessing the chickens are coming home to roost now, Seb. Hopefully DUP politicians will now be at pains to stay a mile away from all these rule-bending scumbags they're in bed with (metaphorically - though with Iris, who can say?)who build houses without planning permission and somehow get away with it where you or I, were we to put up so much as a chicken coop without letting Castlereagh Borough Council know beforehand, would not. Then again, most of the DUP are not the brightest lights in the chandelier, so we'll probably see all this again in a couple of years time with some dimbo MLA we've never heard of and some dodgy scheme involving publicly-funded contracts, constituency offices or the like.
Actually, as someone who relatively recently had some building work done (thankfully, within the Belfast City Council area) the chap I'd hired was telling me that the neighbouring Robinson-fiefdom Castlereagh Borough Council building control are the most fascistic of all the NI regulatory areas - routinely getting people to tear down work, rebuild, etc. My builder (not Mssrs Fraser or Campbell - or else, obviously, he wouldn't have had these problems at all) had an endless saga with another client's property within the Castlereagh area concurrent with his work for me. I lost count of the number of times he told me he had to rebuild a party wall after CBC inspections.
Happily, I think Mr Robinson's party walls are crumbling by the day
:-)
Comedy stuff in the Irish Indy today
Apparently poor Kirk had to resort to feigning Testicular cancer to ward off the advances of Iris who badgered him constantly with texts etc.
On a more sinister and predictable front it appears the Robinson lawyers are going to play the "Mental health" card in an attempt to ward off any chance of prosecution. Funny how this only came into play after Selwyn Black resigned and the journalists had some meat to put on the bones isn't it?
Switzerland is off - its official!
Further to the above posts, it was never the intention for Mrs Robinson to fly off to Switzerland until the fuss had died down. Well we cynics would say, it certainly is not her intention now. We cynics would also say the holiday plans were cancelled when the scheme was rumbled. With 3 jobs she certainly needs a rest.
I know it sounds mean and unkind, it is so difficult not to be sour towards such a mean spirited grouping as the DUP.
Irisgate: where we're currently at...
...For anyone baffled by talk of the potential political ramifications of Iris's fling and financial dealings, this piece from Mick Fealty on today's Guardian site is razor sharp.
Sorting out Policing & Justice with sinn Fein (a negotiation which has been gridlocked for years) has suddenly taken on an urgency for the DUP. It all comes down to, as Mick suggests, whether the DUP prefer 'certain defeat today or probable defeat tomorrow' by which time 'something [else] might turn up' for them to be intransigent about and hence give them something to shout 'no!' about to the electorate.
it's also an amusing piece in featuring the wildly improbable description of 'the hippy commune of the Trimble era'. (No, me neither...)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/14/dup-northern-ireland
And - in case anyone missed it - Iris has now formally resigned from Stormont, Westminster and Castlereagh Council. Apparently they took her brass plaque down in the latter building before the letter was even received. Splendid!
There in Spirit
I would very much like to see the attendance record of Iris at the three institutions. I find it impossible to belive that you could do these three jobs in any effective fashion. Some thing therefor has to give. I wonder what?
Don't think you can get attendance records
for the Commons. You can only get a record of when a member actually speaks. Read somewhere this week that Iris had made 3 contributions in the last Parliamentary year.
Double (and in some cases triple jobbing) is a fine way of allowing the NI politicians to bump up the salaries. Paisley Junior (whilst not an MP)not only managed to hold down roles as an MLA and a Junior Minister at Stormont, but also be employed by his father as a "researcher".
Pretty sure the DUP pledged to put an end to double jobbing during the expenses scandal last year, but don't hold your breath.
I happened to see Robbo on TV a few weeks back...
...being asked about the future of double-jobbing. his answer was equivocal. Yes, broadly in favour of 'phasing it out' but 'hadn't decided yet' on his own double jobbing - using the weasly ultra-politician stance of 'if my party colleagues want their leader to be present in both chambers, well...'
I imagine now he'd find his party colleagues would rather he was not present in either chamber.
But as for this business of Iris potentially getting tens of thousands in payoff plus a hefty per-year sum if she uses the 'retiring on health grounds' card.... Bl**dy hell!