Just outside Portadown there is a townland called Annaghmore. A crowd from Dublin have bought a farm and converted into an equestrian centre and racetrack. They were planning a festival for the end of August.
The lineup was The Ulster Orchestra,Celtic Tenors,Sarah Brightman, Blue and Limal. Could there be a less offensive festival line up?
The council (Dungannon council) vote was this week, and every council member rejected the plans. The leader of the protests was the DUP member Alderman David Simpson. There were fears of rampaging cattle, and they were worried about people camping out, is that likely with that line up?
I can understand that there may have been some residents fears about the anticipated crowds, but the fact that every one of the 22 members of the council rejected the festival is the most worrying. Surely they could have granted the application together with some safety criteria that had to be met before the festival went ahead. It's typical of the small minded insular politics that we have become accustomed to in this country of ours. I suppose we can just look forward instead to an evening of music from the Rev William McCrea's latest album I pledge allegiance