Catholophobia ?

The BBC is dropping its projected cartoon comedy 'Popetown' about the Vatican. Work continues on 'Mullahtown', about Mecca. Only joking.

Stand by for a wave of protest from the usual suspects.

The liberal media distinguish between two kinds of Catholics - first those who care about abortion, euthanasia, God, etc. Usually the words 'mediaeval' and 'obscurantist' are not far away when writing of them. Characterised by oppression of women, homophobia etc. The late Cardinal Winning, peace be upon him, was such a Catholic.

The other variety have the characteristics of both oppressed victims - therefore wholly to be supported - and armed killers - therefore romantic and sexy in a culture where public (i.e. state) violence is condemned and private violence glorified.

BBC Radio news is currently describing murdered Belfast solicitor Patrick Finucane as 'the Catholic solicitor', as if that is what defined him and why he was shot. The Amnesty website has described him in the past as a 'human rights defender'.

Finucane had three brothers in the IRA, one of whom was killed 'in action'. That of course is no proof that he was in the IRA. He might have been a straight lawyer. Read what repentant ex-Provo murderer (and ex-IRA Southern Command boss) Sean O'Callaghan thinks on that.

Of course Finucane should not have been murdered, and if it is proved that anyone played a role in that murder they should pay the price. But he was not the blameless, innocent "human rights" lawyer beloved of nationalist Ireland and the quasi-liberal chattering classes in the United Kingdom.

When an IRA member was arrested, the first person to gain access to him was usually a solicitor. The organisation on the outside was often desperate to discover if the prisoner had made any statements incriminating himself or others, had provided information on arms dumps or future IRA operations or even had been turned by the security forces.

This was where an individual solicitor such as Finucane was invaluable to the organisation. He was different to many other lawyers who held strong political views. The renowned Belfast solicitor Paddy McCrory was undoubtedly a staunch republican, but he was a constitutionalist who demanded the highest standards from the state and never believed that the law was a weapon to be exploited by a terrorist organisation.

Pat Finucane was first and foremost an IRA volunteer, and he exploited his position ruthlessly to wage his war on the state. In Crumlin Road, I once explained to him that I had admitted the attempted murder of a UVF member from Portadown and went into some detail.

When I finished he looked at me with contempt on his face: "And after all that, you missed him." Hardly what you would expect to hear from a peace-loving man who believed in the primacy of law.

Finucane's family have been awarded £500,000 by the government. That's what they call 'public spending'. The families of IRA victims get maybe £5,000.