Men of Violence

So the men of violence have returned to the streets of Belfast - only this time the flash point is the flying of the Union Jack over Belfast City Hall for 365 days a year - and the defence of their cultural heritage, we are asked to believe.

Now judging by the number of young teenagers who have been arrested on the streets - I doubt this is true - because I have some experience of young teenagers and I have yet to meet one who is genuinely interested in their cultural heritage - at the tender age of 13 or 14.

More likely they are simply mimicking the behaviour of their adult role models - by hurling rocks, petrol bombs and fireworks at the police.

While elsewhere parts of the mob threaten and intimidate elected Belfast councillors from the Alliance Party - who voted to break with some of the flag flying traditions from the past.

Now of course no one is stopping anyone from flying the Union Jack - and if you go into some areas of Belfast, flying the Union Jack seems to be compulsory - in fact it's hung from just about every house, street lamp and even painted on street corners.

The intended message is not so much a cultural one that reaches out to fellow citizens and visitors from other countries - to my mind anyway.

No, it's more a tribal display of ownership and domination which says something like:

'We arra people and if you object to our cultural interpretation of history - you can piss right off and live somewhere else!' 

Not a great advert for the rest of the world to see, but then again Northern Ireland has come such a long way in the past 15 years - that no one is going to allow these men of violence turn the clock back now.