Greer’s Law: Kerry McCarthy responsible for Irish troubles?!

Like Ed Vaizey’s fandom of The Beat – whose natty plea for Margaret Thatcher to “Stand Down” filled dancefloors in 1980 – it’s good to see that Shane Greer doesn’t let his Tory Boy-ness obstruct enjoyment of lefty Irish nationalists punkers Stiff Little Fingers.

According to Wikipedia (so it must be true)…

Godwin’s Law … is a humorous observation made by Mike Godwin in 1990 which has become an Internet adage. It states: “As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches.” The term Godwin’s law can also refer to the tradition that whoever makes such a comparison is said to “lose” the debate.

Perhaps we can now extend this to Greer’s Law, which dictates that anyone who doesn’t realise he’s from Northern Ireland is responsible for decades of sectarian violence. No, really. Kerry McCarthy’s tweets on the irony of a unionist liking Stiff Little Fingers escalated somehow to a blogpost laying a whole era of Anglo-Irish history at her door:

“Its [sic] because of people with attitudes like McCarthy’s that the Troubles lasted so long” – Shane Greer

Thank god, as a provincial Labour councillor, Kerry McCarthy and her musical observations were well away from the levers of power in Westminster in 1998 – otherwise none of the following would have transpired!

Later this week: Douglas Carswell’s role in the 9/11 attacks