Real friends and false friends. True friends ..

 It's only people who you insult that try to get you to change your mind, people who owe you money or people who are afraid of you who help you or,same thing,lend you money that are true friends. Very few people help one another with a genuine and contrite heart but you will find that sort of person, what Pearse called 'The Fool', everywhere in all countries and at all stages in history and not just since public charity became the normal way of giving to needy individuals.

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16.10.2024

"Noone knows who their real friends are unless they have had a Damascene Conversion because in Ireland,a writer  or journalist is allowed to run himself into the ground before his real friends or their bagmen intervene on his behalf."

In my instance,that is dissident and mainstream democrats,socialists and republicans, Chinese Anglicans, Russian businessmen, Scottish nurses and lawyers and journalists not Cliffite socialists or amateur dramaturgs.

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5.5.2025

"You have no friends wherever you go in left-wing groups or trade unions because they all know you work hard and keep your business to yourself,Joseph. If you didn't associate with socialists or trades unionists,a lot of your problems would go away because socialists attract policemen and trade unionists, particularly their officials,attract armed strikebreakers like the UDR gang and the Provos from North and East Belfast.Both tell your business to the police. That's what O Riordain meant by,'You have no friends in politics (either on the left or right)'. You are under tight surveillance and you will be for the rest of your days and there's very little any officer of the court or solicitor can do to help you. Blame the Belfast Provos and Manus Maguire the Informer for that."