In Oldham a northern industrial town with redundant cotton mills a 1995 survey of two hundred 16 to 25- year-olds found that
In Oldham, a northern industrial town with redundant cotton mills, a 1995 survey of two hundred 16 to 25- year-olds found that 45 per cent had experienced homelessness.Yet youth homelessness is an old problem that once disappeared. Yet rough sleepers may account for only about a tenth of all homeless young people; all the young people living in hostels or bed and breakfast, squatting or constantly moving from one friend's mattress on the floor to another - all these are homeless, too. Nowadays even a good education may be insufficient to earn you a permanent roof over your head. Youth homelessness is a serious problem spreading through all sectors of society But the malady is largely hidden There are no national statistics. What we know is fragmentary and comes from local surveys around the country undertaken by voluntary bodies or local authorities. But for some years now it has been possible to see, late at night, young people sleeping out on our streets. It was reported the other day that one out of 10 young people living in London hostels for the homeless is a graduate This piece of information ought to stir us a bit. It suddenly challenges the stereotype of the young homeless as a feckless fringe, products of families living on the margins of society, people whom it is only too easy to ignore.
If the European Union, forged out of conflict that left 35 million dead in two world wars, can be peaceful, then why can't his people make a new Ireland that buries the old animosities? Hume, an MEP and one of the first Euro-enthusiasts, believes that, as with the EU, it is possible through years of discussion and co-operation to achieve closer and closer Irish union.A few years ago, this argument seemed sound But Europe is no longer an acceptable template. The reservations of Euro-sceptics have forced enthusiasts for Europe to abandon talk about some golden, but incohate Euro-future (which the sceptics see as conscious or unconscious code for federalism) and make explicit the limits of what they seek.The same goes for nationalists. Unionists are unlikely to budge from their state of defensiveness and intransigence as long as nationalism sets no limits on its agenda. Hume's brilliance has been to nurture and exploit the power of constitutional nationalism, so creating hope for Catholics in Northern Ireland and discrediting the use of violence.The big question is whether he will, in the end, stand above O'Connell and Parnell and become the nationalist who finally won over the Unionists by promising: "We want to go this far and no further."`John Hume: personal views, politics, peace and reconciliation in Ireland' is published by Airlift Book Company.. In Derry, where Hume's party, the SDLP, controls the council, nationalism is gracious: every other year a Unionist is appointed mayor.Yet, for all his understanding, Hume still seems not to hold the all- important key to Unionist hearts You can see why, by reading his book.
It sets clear limits on the methods that nationalism is entitled to use: they must be peaceful.But Hume sets no limits on the aspirations of nationalism. The goal remains a united Ireland, albeit achieved by persuasion and without coercion.In his mind, Europe is the model for a future Ireland. He says that their uncompromising behaviour "can only be understood, if they are seen, as they feel themselves to be, as a threatened minority on the island of Ireland". He reassures them, explains that they have nothing to fear, that the constitutional link with Britain will remain, while a majority in Northern Ireland desires it. In securing the IRA's ceasefire in August 1994, Hume seemed also to have convinced even the modern exponents of "physical force" nationalism that his way, the constitutional route, the talking method, offered greatest hope for success.
The all- party talks on Northern Ireland, which begin today, owe a great deal to Hume's analysis and lobbying.But if there is a crucial weakness in Hume as a visionary, it may be the same failing thatafflicted O'Connell and Parnell - an inability to win over Protestants in substantial numbers.Hume, like his predecessors, is not sectarian; his party proudly boasts that Protestants occupy senior positions And he, himself, has insight into what motivates Unionists. He has sought to convince London that peaceful nationalists such as himself, rather than a Unionism that is bankrupt of fresh thinking, can create that stability.To that end, and to strengthen his minority community, he has forged alliances, with the Americans, Dublin and in Europe, convincing all that peaceful, moderate nationalism is the way forward. O'Connell forged a lasting alliance between Catholicism and nationalism, around the issue of Catholic Emancipation. In the 1880s, Parnell, a Protestant, created Britain's first modern, disciplined political party, a powerful bloc of Irish MPs, who held the balance of power at Westminster and pushed the Prime Minister, William Gladstone, into backing Home Rule for Ireland.Hume's great insight was to recognise early on that Britain had, in the main, lost interest in Northern Ireland, save for wishing to maintain peace and stability. In their time, they, too, were visionaries, recognising that, despite its apparent weaknesses, peaceful nationalism enjoyed considerable room for manoeuvre Thus, in the 1820s. But keeping one's temper isn't easy, especially for someone with years of injustice and political tension burning in his heart.