DCI Frank Burnside 3,887 Posted August 3, 2020 1 hour ago, CoffinLodger said: If Seamus Mallon had died a month earlier Hume would probably have been on the list. Dammit ! Oh well, yet another of the peace makers of Northern Ireland gone.Not many left now ! Just Tony Blair... Former Irish PM Bertie Ahern as well. Argument could be made for John Major as well given the Downing St Declaration in Dec ' 93 is considered a significant stepping stone. Peter Brooke as NI Secreatry too even if he did leave in 1992 under a bit of a cloud. He did make some decisions which did make a contribution to the process Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
msc 18,479 Posted August 3, 2020 A political giant. RIP. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
YoungWillz 21,063 Posted August 3, 2020 A huge loss I'll agree. Blibberwimble puts out a statement over several Twitter posts praising him. A PM of the UK - truly not fit to lick the boots of a true statesman like Hume - on a fucking Twitter thread, all the while about to drive a coach and horses through the Good Friday Agreement when he implements Brexit. Let's remember what true statespeople do in Hume's name. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CoffinLodger 1,248 Posted August 3, 2020 1 hour ago, DCI Frank Burnside said: Former Irish PM Bertie Ahern as well. Argument could be made for John Major as well given the Downing St Declaration in Dec ' 93 is considered a significant stepping stone. Peter Brooke as NI Secreatry too even if he did leave in 1992 under a bit of a cloud. He did make some decisions which did make a contribution to the process I even include Ian Paisley in the list of peace makers.If he hadn't agreed to power sharing could it have succeeded?I admit it was a bit belated ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
YoungWillz 21,063 Posted August 3, 2020 Just now, CoffinLodger said: I even include Ian Paisley in the list of peace makers.If he hadn't agreed to power sharing could it have succeeded? Ok I'll go there. Never, never, never.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CoffinLodger 1,248 Posted August 3, 2020 I didn't realise how big a death this was but watching the tributes to him from all round the world it's clear this was a massive historical figure ! They're calling him the Mandela of Northern Ireland! Was the lead story on the One O'clock news on the BBC ! That's big ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TQR 14,402 Posted August 3, 2020 4 hours ago, CoffinLodger said: If Seamus Mallon had died a month earlier Hume would probably have been on the list. Dammit ! Oh well, yet another of the peace makers of Northern Ireland gone.Not many left now ! Just Tony Blair... Hume changed the political landscape in Northern Ireland enormously. The biggest landscape change Blair facilitated was in Baghdad. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jimmy Conway 20 Posted August 3, 2020 41 minutes ago, CoffinLodger said: I didn't realise how big a death this was but watching the tributes to him from all round the world it's clear this was a massive historical figure ! They're calling him the Mandela of Northern Ireland! Was the lead story on the One O'clock news on the BBC ! That's big ! His impact seems to have been forgotten a bit in recent years (rather ironically as he had dementia) but back in the day (i.e late 90s) he was regarded as one of the greatest Irishmen that ever lived and even won such a poll a decade ago. The thing is that he was a major figure in Northern Ireland for over thirty years, from the beginning to the end of the Troubles (perhaps only Paisley was the other person as significant for the entirety of the Troubles), starting him from crusading for civil rights for Catholics against the unionist Stormont government in the late sixties. More than that, he was perhaps at some stages the only shining light among darkness, who believed that everyone's differences could be solved by peace and not more killing. It was also him that got the US politicians involved - the likes of Ted Kennedy and Tip O'Neill turned to him for advice, and and as such it ended up being something Clinton wanted to get involved in. It was also him that brought Sinn Fein and ergo the IRA in from the cold and to the negotiating table. Without him, there is simply no Good Friday Agreement, which is widely seen as one of the most successful peace settlements in modern history, and Northern Ireland would be a much more different, and much worse place than it is today 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DCI Frank Burnside 3,887 Posted August 3, 2020 1 hour ago, CoffinLodger said: I didn't realise how big a death this was but watching the tributes to him from all round the world it's clear this was a massive historical figure ! They're calling him the Mandela of Northern Ireland! Was the lead story on the One O'clock news on the BBC ! That's big ! Absolutely massive. As an Irishman I can say that I'm not being hyperbolic when I say that Hume one of the greatest Irishmen in history alongside the likes of Daniel O'Connell Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Youth in Asia 1,087 Posted August 3, 2020 What a miss! Mind you I thought he was dead already. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CoffinLodger 1,248 Posted August 3, 2020 7 hours ago, Jimmy Conway said: His impact seems to have been forgotten a bit in recent years (rather ironically as he had dementia) but back in the day (i.e late 90s) he was regarded as one of the greatest Irishmen that ever lived and even won such a poll a decade ago. The thing is that he was a major figure in Northern Ireland for over thirty years, from the beginning to the end of the Troubles (perhaps only Paisley was the other person as significant for the entirety of the Troubles), starting him from crusading for civil rights for Catholics against the unionist Stormont government in the late sixties. More than that, he was perhaps at some stages the only shining light among darkness, who believed that everyone's differences could be solved by peace and not more killing. It was also him that got the US politicians involved - the likes of Ted Kennedy and Tip O'Neill turned to him for advice, and and as such it ended up being something Clinton wanted to get involved in. It was also him that brought Sinn Fein and ergo the IRA in from the cold and to the negotiating table. Without him, there is simply no Good Friday Agreement, which is widely seen as one of the most successful peace settlements in modern history, and Northern Ireland would be a much more different, and much worse place than it is today We need more people like him in these dark times ! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Youth in Asia 1,087 Posted August 4, 2020 4 hours ago, CoffinLodger said: We need more people like him in these dark times ! More dead people? 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Deadpool 166 Posted August 4, 2020 23 hours ago, gcreptile said: Big one... and maybe a miss. As great as the DeathList is doing right now, I can't stop thinking that we could have had a few more hits by now. Yeah , true... another name to the missed hit list like (Jill Gascoigne, Little Richard...) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gcreptile 10,979 Posted September 2, 2021 His widow Pat, has now also died after a short illness at 83: https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/pat-hume-wife-former-sdlp-21470218 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
