For Kellestine and Muscedere, joining the Loners was a step up in the outlaw biker world, while the Loners – a disproportionate number of whom were Italian-Canadians from middle-class families – could barely hide their disdain for the Annihilators, whom they viewed as rustic bumpkins from south-western Ontario. The Loners had accepted the Annihilators because of the need to increase their numbers in face of the challenge from the Hells Angels. One Loner, an Irish immigrant, Glenn "Wrongway" Atkinson, was heard to remark after meeting Kellestine for the first time: "Can you believe the type of people we're attracting?" Unlike most Canadian outlaw bikers who are barely literate, Atkinson was a bibliophile who especially loved the work of James Joyce, which led the other bikers to consider him strange. Atkinson was well regarded as a diplomat, and often went back to Ireland to try unsuccessfully to persuade Irish outlaw biker clubs, loosely united under the banner of the Irish Alliance, to join the Loners. Atkinson told Edwards that there were many parallels between the world of Irish politics and Canadian outlaw biking, and to grow up following Irish politics was the best preparation for Canadian outlaw biking. Atkinson stated that both Canadian outlaw biking and Irish politics were based on a sense of identity formed around a sense of rebellion, fierce clannish loyalties and a professed strongly held moral code, while at the same time being inhabited by strange, cartoonish men given to making outlandish statements who frequently engaged in sordid intrigue and betrayed their friends, as greed and ambition outweighed their professed moral code.