Martin McGuinness will not stand in another election

[Pat Mustard]

I didn't know who that was, but I certainly know about the IRA. Yeah, fuck them.

I wouldn't be dependant on Bella for my information on the North. Yes McGuinness was a senior IRA commander who ordered the deaths of innocent people, but he is also the man who is the most responsible for the peace process in the North lasting as long as it did. He was willing to get into bed with Ian Paisley for peace, he was willing to cut Peter Robinson a lot of slack to prserve the institutions of the GFA (for example over bith Robinsons enriching themselves at the expense of the people of the North), and he stood by Arlene Foster for months while the Cash for Ash scandal (a half billion pound fraud solely of her own making) engulfed, only collapsing the government when it became obvious that she had no interest in doing the right thing.

In fact, I'm of the opinion that it was McGuinness who got the IRA to give up their guns and give peace a chance (something no loyalist politician can claim, as the UDA & UVF kept their guns as they morphed into small time mafiosi and started killing each other).

If the Brits don't screw the pooch on the North (I've little hope for Kenny and his band of tulips, they've been neglecting their responsibilities in this area for coming on six years), McGuinness will be remembered as an Ashoka like figure, a man wedded to war who later rwalised he fucked up and embraced peace.