John Hume

Went to the same school as Seamus Heaney. One grammar school, two Nobel prize winners ..... and Martin O’Neill
 
Saw the bigger picture and worked for the greater good in very testing times. A principled and courageous man who delivered at the highest level for his country...
 
An article I read today spoke of him wanting to unite people, not territory. A politician who can think like that and make it succeed in the most trying of environments is a rare and valuable asset to any country.
 
Initially John Hume was the equivalent of a civil rights activist in the US, fighting for Catholics across Northern Ireland that were denied access In the mid to late 1960s to council housing and local voting.

By the 90s, he was a giant in the peace process. Tributes have come from all over the world to him and particularly from those from “the town he loved so well”.

I taped the BBC lunchtime news today, expecting to see something about his funeral. Unless I missed it, there was no mention in a 30 minute programme. I found that very surprising and disappointing.
 
And yet on the 10:00pm BBC evening news today there was over 5 minutes of British Olympic gymnasts complaining about being bullied by coaches at a Liverpool gymnastic club. That’s about a fifth of the programme, the main news summary for the day. Well, we know the allegations are about a very wrong situation, whatever the coaches and British Olympic Association’s desire for medals (which attracts grants which pay the coaches’ wages etc).

But there feels to be a lack of proportion by the BBC when John Hume is ignored. All I am saying is that the BBC could have devoted a minute or so of that reportage to John Hume.
 
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