Oliver’s Army is the title of a hit record in 1979 written by Elvis Costello which a reference to Oliver Cromwell. The song was inspired by singer’s shock of seeing British Army soldiers patrolling the streets of Belfast carrying machine guns. It famously contains a reference to a “white nigger” which black people took as an insult to them but the term “white nigger” has long been an English term of abuse for the Irish. But its no laughing party When youve been on the murder mile All it takes is one itchy trigger One more widow one less white nigger The term was infamously used in a British Embassy communication in 1969 (see scan in the first comment below) when one of the then directors of the Irish Times newspaper, Major T.B. Mac Dowell called the editor of the newspaper a “white nigger” and the British ambassador passed this comment on to London. The Irish Times newspaper up to that time had been biased towards the Anglo Irish viewpoint and was hostile to the Irish nation. Mac Dowell, a retired British Army Major was the quintessential Irish “union jackeen” as they were nick named. What is even more extraordinary is that Mac Dowell was seeking the intervention of a foreign government in the affairs of a sovereign nation. MacDowell’s rantings were much to the delight of the British ambassador as he stated at the end of the letter “we will do what we can to exploit this opportunity”.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 22:36:22 +0000
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