Steve Aiken
South Antrim · Ulster Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“I thank the Minister for his statement. Minister, as well as the move to reduce the cost to the Assembly of vacant non-domestic properties and to increase liability so that we will not have so many vacant properties, you will be aware of the Dilapidation Bill and of the conversations that have been taking place in Wales and Scotland about…”
“Instead, that most dysfunctional Department, under the most inept Sinn Féin Minister in the Northern Ireland Assembly and a series of grossly over-superannuated permanent secretaries, gave the money back.”
“We know that her Department spends more on legal cases, fighting judicial reviews and being chastised by judges for legal ineptitude and on vesting land and ripping out hedges and fencing and then trying to unvest it and paying even more money to put back the fences and hedges that it took out.”
“We can hardly blame the current permanent secretary, as she has just taken up her post, but, surely, her predecessors must bear some accountability or responsibility, especially considering the senior civil servants' salary scale of between £146,000 and £163,000, with, of course, their taxpayer-funded pension contribution of 34·2% — £218,…”
“It must be said that £181·3 million is a lot of taxpayers' hard-earned money. It is money that is raised from local commuters, vehicle owners, farmers, local businesses, logistics companies and, above all, our constituents — those vital people whom we are elected to represent.”
“The Minister will be aware that, under the public appointments guide published by the Executive Office, it is clear that she is supposed to take independent advice before appointing board members. What independent advice did she receive, particularly about the board members selected?”
The complete record
Every one of 2,489 lines we hold for Steve Aiken, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 11 of 50.
“Before I start, I make a declaration of interest as an ex-chief executive of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce. <BR /> <BR />Members, 1 April is supposedly a day of humour, but it is no joke when Donald Trump says that he is going to call tomorrow "independence day" and impose swingeing tariffs — some between 20% and 25% — on international and global trade. <BR /> <BR />Many of us here support the existence of a good economy across this island. We do not wish to see the economy of the Irish Republic being severely damaged. However, there is no doubting the potential for the Irish Republic's trade with the United States to halve and for its tax revenue to decrease significantly. We in this Chamber know the impact of the Windsor framework and the divergence of trade that it has caused.”
“More worryingly, however, she attempts to speak as a political leader on behalf of the people of Northern Ireland about events on the other side of Europe. She does not do that in my name or in the name of the majority of our people who will, rightly, stand up for Ukraine and our support for its fight. As an avowed apologist for the IRA campaign, she is entitled to speak as the deputy leader of Sinn Féin. She is not, however, as "First Minister for all", entitled to represent the views of Northern Ireland in her appeasement of Putin.”
“That is something that we should all be proud of. <BR /> <BR />Putin and his apologists have stated that they have no alternative to their invasion of Ukraine. He states that he has a legitimate right to use force in flagrant breach of territorial sovereignty and international norms. The First Minister says that she believes in diplomacy, but it is a diplomacy that is Trumpian in its terms and would deny President Zelenskyy the means to secure Ukraine's peace. <BR /> <BR />The hypocrisy of the First Minister's remarks are bad enough coming from a political leader who has no qualms about saying that there was "no alternative" to the murderous and genocidal campaign of the Provisional IRA.”
“Remarkably, with that intense bombardment, the Ukrainians managed to beat off or shoot down the majority of the attacks. However, they still resulted in over 95 civilian deaths and two or three times that number of casualties. Even as we speak, somewhere over Ukraine the wail of air raid sirens is going off, along with alerts across the Ukrainian civil population's mobile phone apps. <BR /> <BR />The reason why the casualty figures are not worse or why Russia has not occupied Odessa or Kyiv is that the Ukrainians have been able to make use of defensive weapons, many of which, I am proud to say, were made here in Belfast.”
“It has been 24 days since our First Minister stated that she was "incredulous" that export credit scheme money would be used to help Thales to build air defence missiles for Ukraine in its fight against Putin. Last week, she said that UK defence spending was a "macho agenda of militarisation". <BR /> <BR />In that 24-day period, Putin's armed forces conducted 1,318 attacks by drones, ballistic missiles and glide bombs on Ukraine's infrastructure. The attacks have included power stations, factories, schools, hospitals, apartment blocks and just about anything else that the Russians designated as a target. At the same time, there were over 800 incidents of heavy shelling, and well over 1,200 engagements between the Russian and Ukrainian armies.”
“Thank you very much, Minister. My question is about the Fiscal Council. I fully endorse the view that it has to remain independent. However, one way to make it independent and to move faster is to bring its statutory status to the fore quickly. Can the Minister expedite that, please? That is where we need to be.”
“Anybody who thinks that there is some kind of panacea south of the border is living in dreamland. <BR /> <BR />We must work out how Northern Ireland works best for all of us. We can do that by making some moves now. The easiest and quickest thing that we can do is to start working towards one education system for all our children: not an integrated education system but an education system for everyone. On that point, I take my rest.”
“Are we taking the best benefit that we can from sources such as the National Wealth Fund? Earlier today, we had a debate about green hydrogen. Are we making the best possible case to the rest of our nation? Are we making our nation work for all of us? <BR /> <BR />I am a unionist. I make no bones about it: I think that Northern Ireland is best as part of the United Kingdom. It was made clear in the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement that it would remain so until people decide otherwise. I do not think that people will ever decide otherwise, because it works, even though it is imperfect. I declare an interest as a former chief executive of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce and former CEO of a university trust in Dublin. I can say that the costs of division in the Irish Republic are massive — in the realms of billions of euros.”
“<BR /> <BR />At what stage do we get to the realisation that our continuing to pander to paramilitarism across Northern Ireland adds to the cost? We are creating a situation that is more like a Mafia world. We keep on paying them, and guess what? They keep on coming back for more money. We need to stop that. It is time that all paramilitarism was gone, and the sooner, the better. <BR /> <BR />We will also have to look at using our resources more effectively. We have to look closely at how we can do better with the moneys that we have. Can we do things better on a North/South basis? There are opportunities to do that. Can we do things better on an east-west basis? Yes, we very definitely can. We need to see how we can do that as well. Can we get the right support across all our nations of the United Kingdom?”
“The Ulster Unionist Party, virtually since it came into existence, has wanted one single education system for all our children. We should have one single education system for all our children, because that will allow us to make significant savings. It has been indicated previously that close on half a billion pounds a year could be realised if we went to that position, so we should be looking at that. <BR /> <BR />We will also have to look at how we do government in Northern Ireland. We have to ask some very obvious questions. Do we have too many Departments? Are too many Departments competing for limited resources and doing too many things? Do we have a peace industry that seems to create more roles and jobs than it does solutions to the problems that it is supposed to be solving? Would that money be better going into policing?”
“I will point something out clearly, for the record: the costs of decades of violence created on this island, North and South, by the Provisional IRA have done more than anything else to create the sectarian divisions that exist and have added significantly to the cost of virtually everything that we do. I put that on the record so that people realise that, when we talk about how we tackle the problems of sectarianism and a divided society, it is not a glorified conversation about creating the mechanisms for a united Ireland or whatever; it is about trying to make Northern Ireland work. That is the one thing that we should look to. <BR /> <BR />Many solutions have been advocated over time, and there are some very practical things that we could be doing.”
“Thank you very much indeed, Mr Deputy Speaker. I will return to the debate. For information, we will support the DUP amendment to the motion. <BR /> <BR />The last Member to speak in the debate before Question Time was Declan Kearney. I think that you will give me latitude, Deputy Speaker, because of the amount of time that Declan Kearney seemed to spend talking about the answer somehow being a united Ireland and about all the problems in Northern Ireland somehow being created by the British Government or being down to some sort of problem with the British Government.”
“Thank you very much indeed, Minister. A lot of people in the farming community, particularly those in the sheep farming community, are on low incomes and have real concerns about getting access to the right treatments. Will your Department give them any support to deal with sheep scab, which is prevalent in the Antrim area, particularly in the Antrim Hills?”
“Talk to them about the opportunities when replacing the ships on their routes when the time comes — they are replaced fairly regularly — and moving to green hydrogen. That would create a huge market for green hydrogen that we could be producing and pushing out as well. <BR /> <BR />This is a great opportunity. It is a good motion. You are not going to get me to say that it is a great motion, but it is a good motion, and we will support it. It is something, Minister, that we should all be getting behind, and you can then talk to Mr Miliband and make it clear to him that Northern Ireland wants its portion of that £8·3 billion fund. What is more, we have something that can deliver for everybody across these islands.”
“<BR /> <BR />Minister, there is opportunity now because there are, I believe, conversations ongoing between the UK Minister and GB Energy, which is looking for large-scale projects. I encourage the Minister and her Department to reach out to the UK Minister and say that we in Northern Ireland are looking to grow that industry at scale. The Minister made clear that she was interested in seeing developments in offshore wind. To attach offshore wind to a deliverable system — to turn it into green hydrogen — would need a significant market. If we do the maths, we can see that Northern Ireland could have a unique opportunity to do that. <BR /> <BR />What we need is a bit of ambition. The industry has the ambition; let us support it. Let us talk to companies such as Stena Line, P&O Ferries and Irish Ferries.”
“The Minister will be aware, as will be Members who, like me, believe strongly in the protection of the environment, that the Irish Sea should become a zero-emission zone for shipping. One way to do that, as we have seen from the Baltic Sea and parts of the Mediterranean, is to encourage new shipping to be powered by green hydrogen. <BR /> <BR />Belfast, Larne, Dublin and various other ports are major areas where we could incentivise the shipping industry to shift to being powered by green hydrogen — green hydrogen that is being prepared and produced in Northern Ireland. That answers the question of the North/South dimension, which Mr Honeyford is happy about. More importantly, it also answers the all-islands dimension, which is where most of us should be sitting and looking at how we develop and grow.”
“We should be looking at how we get the maximum leverage from GB Energy and the National Wealth Fund. More than £8·3 billion is available for investments in renewables, and a sizeable proportion of that is to be ring-fenced for green hydrogen. So far, the only people who seem to be availing themselves of that are in some local governments in the north-west of England. <BR /> <BR />One issue that has been put to me by members of industry is that, if we were to go ahead and look towards making Northern Ireland the centre for green hydrogen that it should be, we would not have a sufficient market for the green hydrogen that we would produce. However, there is an opportunity.”
“I thank the DUP for tabling the motion. The Ulster Unionist Party will support it. <BR /> <BR />One of the most interesting things about green hydrogen and the move towards green hydrogen is that it shows a definite transition towards net zero. However, one of the issues that we will face in Northern Ireland is that, in fact, we are not being ambitious enough. One of the main challenges, which I have been talking to the industry about, is that it is being done very much in a piecemeal process. However, I understand that some people in industry are quite happy with not having the dead hand of the Department for the Economy on them, because that means that they can be much more innovative.”
“I thank the Minister for her remarks. Minister, you will be well aware of the Water and Sewerage Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 and the consolidated licence of 25 November 2024. As Minister, you have the ultimate legal responsibility for Northern Ireland Water because of its rather strange set-up as a form of Go-co. If you look at Northern Ireland Water's board minutes, you will see that it has been making complaints about potential overspends for a considerable time. If the overspend is for a health and safety issue, where does your legal responsibility lie? If the requirement to overspend is based on a health and safety issue, why are you bringing in forensic accountants rather than finding the money to address it?”
“<BR /> <BR />Finally, well done to all who took part: Friends' School Lisburn, the Air Cadets, and the winners, Slemish College in Ballymena. Slemish's team of rocketeers now go to the UK finals at Farnborough. It the team wins there, it will represent all United Kingdom schools at the Paris Air Show. To paraphrase a certain Mr Armstrong, that was one small step for Slemish but a giant step for STEM.”
“<BR /> <BR />The launches themselves were spectacular, even when a few missions, to use SpaceX's terminology, had rapid unscheduled disassembly, but all the children had successful runs. The practical STEM lessons were there in abundance, with girls' and boys' teams using mathematical principles, computer-aided design and manufacturing and engineering techniques to make useable rockets. Being surrounded by those enthusiastic scientists and engineers was a testament not only to their skills but to the leadership and dedication of their teachers and group leaders. I particularly want to thank RLC, which hosted the event; Thales UK, which provided some of the prizes; Airbus UK; and Queen's University. I pay special thanks to ADS, which helped with the administration of the great event.”
“First, I will make a declaration of interest as chair of the all-party groups on STEM and aerospace. <BR /> <BR />Last Friday, I had the enjoyable opportunity to attend the Northern Ireland schools rocketry final at RLC Aerospace's historic site at Langford Lodge on the shores of Lough Neagh. The more than 90 schoolchildren who took part had an exacting — I mean exacting — task. They had to build a rocket that would fly to 790 feet, plus or minus a few feet, and then separate, at which point its payload of two eggs — they were not hard-boiled — had to come down by parachute to be safely recovered. The schools and young persons' groups had to weigh, measure, work out the centre of gravity and do the design calculations themselves. Also, the schoolchildren had to build and design the rockets and bring them to the launch site.”
“The Minister will be aware that the reason why we have so many Ukrainian refugees is that Russia is attacking them. There are near-daily air attacks. Will the Minister reflect on her remark that she was incredulous that we would support the Ukrainians by giving them the opportunity to defend themselves? Does she not think that that goes counter to her answer to my question? How could she be incredulous?”
“<BR /> <BR />Today, I have written to the Minister of Education to ask him when the policy on SEP was changed to exclude our school and, if so, when MLAs were informed about it. I have also asked, a matter of urgency, whether he and Mr Pengelly, the chief executive officer of the Education Authority, will meet our school, including its governors and parents, to explain, please, in plain English what his quango's Orwellian speak actually means. I also ask the Minister to critically examine the EA and ask why thousands of pounds of work, consultancy fees and architect's fees have been wasted yet again. We might also ask the Comptroller and Auditor General to examine the EA's costs, which, by this stage, are in all likelihood in excess of what it would have taken to build the hall in the first place.”
“<BR /> <BR />We have now completed all the numerous EA hoops of tranches, planning rounds, endless meetings on the process, detailed architect drawings and design approval, and we had even got to site surveys and ground sampling. All that we waited for was the passing of the business case. We waited, and we waited, until Friday, when, after delaying the meeting with the school — wait for it — the Education Authority's officer — the project senior responsible owner, major capital delivery service, infrastructure and capital development — told us that, as was communicated at the steering group meeting on 7 March, the RIBA stage 1 technical feasibility report was issued for business case preparations on 6 December and that, due to other prioritisation on some unidentified projects, after three decades, we are being put on hold again.”
“That need was first identified over 30 years ago, and, indeed, in 2016, we even had a project agreed on, plans drawn and planning approval about to be made when the £450,000 project, which was then just under the £500,000 minor works threshold, was miraculously re-costed by the EA to £850,000 — a small matter of 95% out in forecasting. <BR /> <BR />To say that our school was sceptical of the EA's ability to project manage was an understatement, but, thankfully, at long last, with reason having been seen, our school was included in Minister McIlveen and then Minister Weir's school enhancement programme (SEP). I am thankful to those Ministers who, regularly, as the record in Hansard will confirm, reiterated our place on the SEP to me and other South Antrim MLAs in the Chamber.”
“As a declaration of interest, I say that I am the vice chair of the board of governors at Kilbride Central Primary School — a school noted throughout south Antrim for its strong school leadership and great teaching staff, in one of the most friendly and nurturing rural environments. In many ways, it is a thriving school. It helped my two daughters to progress to their secondary education. In short, it is a school that we can all be proud of, which lacks only one thing: a sports and assembly hall that could be dually used to provide proper dining facilities.”
“Are the funds to be spent between now and the end of next month, or, in fact, are those items to be spread over a further period?”
“I thank the Minister for his remarks. Minister, on page 10 of your statement, you state:”
“Thank you, deputy First Minister. I really liked your comment about driving the economy and making the economy work, but how can we say that when, today, the First Minister, when asked a question about bringing £1·6 billion worth of investment and 200 extra jobs into Northern Ireland, was incredulous?”
“Health is the number-one priority — it must be the number-one priority — and that needs to be lined up.”
“If we do not, how will we explain to the Northern Ireland people what we are trying to do? We have heard various laudable statements in here. I do not think that the Civil Service, when it produced this document, did not produce a laudable statement within it, but where are the deliverables and where are those linked to the outcomes that the people of Northern Ireland need? That is the appropriate thing that we need to do. <BR /> <BR />It will come as no surprise that, even though we have real concerns about the Budget, funding for Health and the commitment of the rest of the Executive parties to make sure that Health is given the priority that is needed, the Ulster Unionist Party will support the Programme for Government. We have signed up to it; it was important that we signed up to it.”
“<BR /> <BR />There is no doubt at all that successful Programmes for Government are linked to deliverables. Those deliverables include the Budget, budget lines and legislation. I do not want to go around sounding like my learned friend from the Opposition, but where is the legislation that is linked to these issues? Where are the budget lines? We, as a party, have said time and again, for many years, that the Programme for Government has to be linked to deliverables. Again, there are no real deliverables in this document. There are ideas in it; there are, let us say, head marks for us to aim to; and there are some, but not many, targets, and we need to look at those to try to improve upon them as well. We need to make sure that we start attaching real deliverables.”
“<BR /> <BR />The other issue that I have a concern about — I have quite a few concerns — is transformation and the transformation process. We seem to have imported a cuckoo into the nest. We seem to have imported the NIO into the centre of the Executive in the transformation board process. That raises these questions: what role does the NIO have in the devolved settlement in Northern Ireland, and what role does it have in the Programme for Government? Does it have a veto role in the transformation process? What is it lining up to do? That is another question that I would quite like the deputy First Minister to comment on when she is making her remarks. It is an important issue that we need to be aware of. What role does the NIO have in the devolution settlement, and what role will it have in the transformation funding? That is key.”
“The Member not only makes a very good point but absolutely puts his finger on the issue that we have with health. Health should be the priority. We know that the Department of Health needs to make efficiencies — we have to. Mrs Dodds is normally in here berating the Health Minister at every available opportunity about not making enough efficiencies. Health has to be improved. We need to be able to deliver, and we need the resources to do that. We know, particularly when we look at things such as transformation and transformation funding, that some of that funding should be sent in the direction of Health and should be ring-fenced. That is an important piece, and I would like the First Minister and the deputy First Minister, in their winding-up remarks, to comment on what we are going to do about transformation.”
“If we are serious about health being the priority in the Programme for Government, as we have always said, we need to invest a lot of that transformation money in making sure that the health service works. The Department of Health has a plan to do that. It needs the support of the Northern Ireland Executive to make it happen.”
“That includes in mental health, in MDTs and in making sure that we have mega-clinics. It is about making sure that we are actually doing things to start driving down waiting lists. A lot of those things are already happening. If any MLAs have had opportunities to talk to the health trusts to see what is happening in various places, they will know that things are happening and are improving. However, there are some things that we need to make a commitment to. We are talking about transformation. There is a transformation fund. Shortly, we are going to hear about a — I do not know whether it will be an interim or an actual — transformation board that is looking to bring in extra money to help make changes. Some of that may go into digitisation, and some of it may go into other areas.”
“I will be honest: the Health Minister would really like to be able to do that degree of transformation. The issue is that there is no money for it. Indeed, time and time again, when the Health Minister has been fighting his corner in the Executive, he has been turned down. We have to recognise that, if we are to prioritise health, we should make it the number-one priority in what we are trying to do. <BR /> <BR />However, the reality is that we have a Budget, and we need to be able to operate within that Budget. The question of where that prioritisation lies is the fundamental question that all the Executive parties need to address. It is important that we use the moneys that we have to be in a position to support our health service, where help is needed.”
“I thank the Members who have spoken so far. A lot of the debate seems to be about health, and that needs to be recognised, because health and dealing with the considerable issues that we have should be the number-one priority of the Executive and, indeed, the Assembly. <BR /> <BR />Some of us sat in Hillsborough Castle quite some time ago — it was well over a year and a bit ago — listening to the conversation and debate about the importance of developing a Programme for Government that puts the priorities of the people of Northern Ireland first, and it was very clear then that health was going to be the number-one priority. We all know what has happened since, given the numerous debates that we have in the Chamber when the Health Minister is invited to implement one particular idea or another, a new programme or a new development.”
“It is, at last, building an air force that has actual fighter aircraft, and it is becoming more closely integrated with the European defence structures. For that, the Irish Government should be applauded by all parts of the House, as the security of the Republic of Ireland is also our security. <BR /> <BR />Finally, maybe we can look forward to a joint statement from the First Minister and deputy First Minister, all the Executive parties and the leader of the Opposition that supports the Prime Minister's initiative and welcomes his call for increased defence spending across all these islands. Slava Ukraini.”
“<BR /> <BR />We will also continue to serve with pride in our armed forces, placing ourselves at the forefront of deterrence. However, our Executive cannot be half in, half out. It is regrettable that Sinn Féin and People Before Profit are outliers when it comes to condemning Russia's attacks on Ukraine. Instead, Sinn Féin and Ireland's far-left MEPs have, bizarrely, blamed the West, when they should have been blaming Putin. Our Economy Ministry and Invest NI must not throttle but promote investment in our defence and security sectors. Remember: despite what those parties think, Russia threatens us all, regardless of identity. <BR /> <BR />It is noteworthy that Ireland, now recognising the threat, is looking to invest in undersea cable protection with the Royal Navy.”
“While we must all wish him well in his attempts to create a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, it is difficult to see how it could lead to a peace that the dictator Putin finds acceptable. <BR /> <BR />No matter the Prime Minister's laudable peace efforts, we will have to rearm, as will the rest of Europe. We know from history that the failure to deter means a much heavier price later on. We in Northern Ireland will have our part to play. The welcome announcement of the £1·5-billion-plus order for Thales is a great start. Our industries have capacity and capability that will be needed. There is much that our R&D sector can and must contribute in everything from cyber, AI and novel materials. There will also be a strategic role when it comes to our food and energy security.”
“Before I start my remarks, I declare an interest as chair of the all-party group on aerospace, defence, security and space. <BR /> <BR />Last week, in the Oval Office, we saw a dramatic but long-signalled change in our geopolitical world. I am afraid that certainties about our transatlantic relationship, which was first established 82 years ago by a boiler-suited Prime Minister and his US contemporary, are no longer there. Probably rightly, the US complained that Europe has been ignoring its defensive security for far too long. As 'good Europeans', we cannot ignore that reality. On Sunday, the Prime Minister made clear that we are at a once-in-a-generation moment when it comes to the security of Europe.”
“I thank the Minister for her remarks so far. Minister, I, as an MLA for South Antrim, and the MLAs for North Belfast are really concerned that the Glider will not go out to Glengormley, Global Point and the new Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre (AMIC) facility, which would have demonstrated joined-up thinking. We are also concerned, from hearing your remarks today, about the proposed park-and-ride facility on O'Neill Road. Will the Minister and her officials join MLAs to walk the road to explain how it is going to work? Quite frankly, as somebody who has lived in the area for a long time, I cannot see how it is going to work.”
“Thank you very much, Minister, for your reply. The Minister will be aware that somewhere in the region of £100 million of extra costs are anticipated because of the fact that there is no North/South interconnection, as reported in Dáil Éireann. Therefore, Minister, will you report back to the Assembly on the likely additional costs for Northern Ireland, particularly for Northern Ireland businesses? As she is aware, the integrated single electricity market (ISEM) is a virtual market: there is no physical connectivity. Considerable costs are being applied to our manufacturing sector and across our domestic sector.”
“If that can be seen from Mecca, is it too much to hope that it can also be seen from the First Minister's office and from Benches in this Chamber?”
“Strangling infants and toddlers does not give it any right to be included in any peace process. <BR /> <BR />Finally, while I hope that you all join me in praying for a real and just peace, please also reflect on the words of the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, who said”
“A third held 10-month-old baby Kfir Bibas, murdered by strangulation for no other reason than he too was a Jew. The fourth coffin holding the remains of another arrested person was supposed to hold the children's mother, Shiri, but, of course, it did not. Shiri's remains were then miraculously found by Hamas the next day; another bargaining chip in the sick calculus that passes for reason amongst those who always advocate from the bloody river to the bloodstained sea of the militant extremists' imagination. <BR /> <BR />Is it too much to expect that, on this island, at least, we can call out evil for what it is without whataboutery and rancour, and just accept and call out the grotesque spectacle that Hamas has created? It cannot have any place in any future peace as our First Minister has suggested. It cannot be given that agency.”
“One of those coffins held an 83-year-old peace activist, Oded Lifschitz, who was murdered by terrorists for no other reason than he was a Jew. Another coffin held the remains of four-year-old Ariel Bibas, who was murdered by strangulation for no other reason than he was a Jew.”
“Perhaps the litany of horrors that was created by the vile attacks of 7 October has inured us to the evil perpetrated by Hamas, by Islamic Jihad and, now, self-evidently, by so-called civilians in Gaza. The silence of far too many over the fate of the hostages; the wilful ignoring of the use of rape and violence against the innocent; the blatant antisemitism prevalent in the very statements by political parties to so-called NGOs; and the 'wokerati' baying for the destruction of Israel in our streets has become a sad norm. They have all become complicit in the grotesque evil being perpetrated on the innocent. <BR /> <BR />Last week, four coffins were paraded before a baying mob. Those coffins were marked with the so-called day of arrest of the deceased.”