Grave thoughts
Living amongst Ulster Unionists for a third of my life, there was always a nagging feeling of guilt concerning Oscar Wilde. It was the Ulster Unionist icon Edward Carson who destroyed Wilde.
Accused of sodomy by the Marquess of Queensberry, Wilde had no choice other than to take a libel action if he was not to leave himself open to prosecution. The court case was to prove his undoing, Wilde’s wit was no match for the relentless argument of Carson, a King’s Counsel at both English and Irish bars. The …