Sandra Chapman: Israel doesn’t want war but is the UK up to helping it avert catastrophe?

According to this newspaper earlier this week a local republican group here unveiled a banner bearing SS symbols at a pro-Palestine rally in Londonderry last weekend.

Not content with hero-worshipping terrorism in their own country, do republicans seriously want to shore up battles in faraway places which to the rest of us are just names on a world map. Isn’t a nation’s security their own business? Why on earth would Irish republicans think it is something to do with us here? Well, it isn’t and hopefully never will be. I’ve never been to Israel but the attempt at extirpation of such a country which has endured much in the past doesn’t seem right.

Right now, for us here, celebrating our ancient traditions, the ghosts of Halloween and the wee fat bearded man wearing a red coat and black boots, is very much on our minds. It’s about the time of the year I start to panic because the Christmas cake isn’t baked yet, no cards have been bought and I will have guests staying for the holiday. This foreign war, should it develop fully into that, was not something any of us I think expected to happen, and it will have knocked many of us off-course at just the wrong time of the year.

It comes too at a time when UK politics are getting more ropey by the day. We have a Prime Minister who must surely be feeling the wrath of the Brits who are beginning to realise he’s no great shakes. But the man who could succeed him if things go wrong, Sir Keir Starmer, is no great shakes either. Both parties have some strong women in the ranks with the current Home Secretary Suella Braverman determined the police will be more active than they have been recently.

This Conservative government is in some difficulties and has been accused of complacency. Braverman is seen to cope well and is liked by the public, particularly the right leaning ones. So could we be looking at the next Prime Minister? And if so what could that mean for us? One thing she could tackle before she achieves the ‘big one’ is the problem we have here and which was on our Business pages recently – why is NI behind in employing ‘golden age’ workers. Statistics show that Northern Ireland has one of the lowest employment rates (60.5pc) for older workers in the UK. The report puts poor health as one of the the primary reasons for the UK’s deteriorating employment rate for older workers. This needs investigation and soon.