Not in my back garden

There are many things that people seem to accept having in their back garden that I
wouldn’t like. Shopping trolleys, for example, or garden gnomes, and even caravans.

Most are fairly easy to get rid off, apart of course in some circumstances, the
caravans.

There are many other things you wouldn’t like, figuratively speaking, in your
back garden.

Nursing homes, particularly if you live down wind, or you don’t like escapees
knocking you on the door, and offering you scones.

Drug dealers, not unless you like watching gang warfare out your bedroom window,
or you’re a member of the Dáil looking for Charlie, and I don’t mean McCreevy.

Churches, unless you have made the decision not to have children.

Haulbowline, unless you are John Gormley, as he thinks it’s safe, you are Willie
O’Dea, who obviously thinks that his ridiculous moustache will work as a filter
against pollution, which being the case it is a shame the filter doesn’t work the
opposite way as an excrement filter, or you have made the decision that you would
like children, but you would prefer them to have two heads.

The Large Hadron Collider, unless you are not one of the complete maniacs who
think they will be sucked into a tiny black hole, though if you are not reading this
now then we have been.

The hottest thing at the moment that some people don’t want in their back garden
is the Corrib Natural Gas Project, the Shell to Sea protesters probably feeling
fairly disappointed that a baby black hole didn’t form and suck the whole thing into
oblivion. It would have of course sucked all the protesters in with it, but with
current events, perhaps they would feel it was an acceptable sacrifice.

I am of course referring to the latest turn of events from the protest with Maura
Harrington’s hunger strike.

Protest is a healthy thing, as history has shown, dreadful things can be done by
individuals, corporations and countries where it has been possible to suppress
protest from people.

There is perhaps a fine line between protest and fanaticism, animal rights
protesters have long since stepped over that line, along with pro-life protesters,
with the announcement of Maura’s protest that line for the Shell to Sea protest is
being pushed to breaking.

Shell probably has a few options coming from Maura’s demands.

They could sit the Solitaire where it is for ‘repairs’ until such time as Maura
is too weak to continue and is forced to eat, or the worst were to happen, which is
quite frankly, a momentous waste of life.

They could send it back quickly, do a couple of weeks work, send it out of Irish
waters for a couple of weeks to allow Maura to get some food inside her, then return
and finish the job.

They could just work away, hope that they finish before major permanent damage is
done to Maura, she comes to her senses or her family or fellow protesters convince
her to stop.

They could also admit defeat and stop the whole thing altogether, which isn’t
very likely.

None of the options are good, but then neither is the push from protest to
fanaticism.

Maura, please, you have made a point, step back from the fanatics road, get out
of the car, have a ‘Big Mac’ and pick up the placard.