Jim Nicholson: UUP, Tory or a bit of both?
An anonymous source suggests Slugger look more closely at the position of Jim Nicholson who despite the parting of the ways between the Conservatives and the UUP is still apparently taking the Tory whip in Brussels and Strasbourg [Are they still here? - Ed]. However, at home he has, from yesterday at least undergone a [...] more »
$cientology loses appeal against fraud ruling
The Irish Times reports from France, where the inheritors of L Ron Hubbard’s greedy and manipulative anti-science cult of scientology have lost their appeal against a 2009 ruling that “two French branches of the US-based organisation were guilty of “organised fraud” and gave four of its leaders suspended jail sentences of up to two years.” A [...] more »
Is Crotty killing off any sane domestic consideration of Irish foreign policy?
Before the landmark Crotty vs the Taoiseach judgement in 1987, the Irish Constitution had amassed nine amendments in the previous fifty years of its existence. In the twenty five years since it has scored another seventeen. Some of those were responses to the massive social changes the country has undergone in those years. Three originate [...] more »
The sooner society finds a way to confront the past the better…
Northern Ireland’s DPP, Barra McGrory has made an interesting intervention. Gerry Moriarty in the Irish Times: “I think there is an imperative in the public interest that society finds a mechanism to deal with the past,” he said. “Whether that be simply giving more resources to the investigators to get on with the investigating, and [...] more »
Where would a No vote for the ‘Fiscal Compact’ leave Ireland?
Apparently, according to economist Jim Power in today’s Irish Examiner, in a very odd place indeed: It is intended that 12 out of the 17 eurozone member states would be sufficient to ratify the treaty. It appears this will be achieved easily enough. Consequently, unlike the case with the Lisbon Treaty, if Ireland were to [...] more »
Advocate General to take up case for NI students going to Scots Universities?
Interesting snippet from across the water regarding the £9k fees students from Northern Ireland now have to pay if they want to follow what’s become for many a traditional route to graduation at Glasgow, Edinburgh, or St Andrews. Dundee even runs a fairly successful degree course in Northern Irish law. The Rutherglen Reformer reports a [...] more »
John O’Dowd: the education debate is “continuing in a better atmosphere” but it’s not yet time for all-party talks
I grabbed a very quick interview with Education Minister John O’Dowd as he headed down the corridor in Ashfield Boys School to go home after last night’s East Belfast Speaks Out community hustings. In the past few months he’s announced reductions in school budgets, given a partial reprieve after finding extra money for his department, [...] more »
East Belfast Speaks Out – a community hustings that was in the hands of the people
East Belfast Speaks Out was back for a third time last night. Having eliminated the warm up act, this year it was straight into questions after a brief introduction from chairperson Mark Devenport. The panel consisted of Alliance MLA Chris Lyttle, DUP MLA Sammy Douglas, Sinn Fein Education Minister John O’Dowd, UUP MLA Michael Copeland, [...] more »
Six Nations – wide open.
This weekend sees the start of the most unpredictable Six Nations for a while. (There’s still time to make your predictions here). Are those Polish freezers still working for Wales? (BBC) Keith Earls has some pretty big boots to fill….(Belfast Telegraph) If you were Mr Lancaster would you like to start things anew at a freezing [...] more »
A call for mentoring support @SOEtrust Together conference #SOEconf12
In a work capacity, I was invited to attend the Spirit of Enniskillen’s annual Together schools conference at the Wellington Park Hotel, which brought together over 100 Year 13 pupils from 20 schools across Northern Ireland, to explore and discuss 6th Form leadership for the Sharing in Education programme that is supported by the International [...] more »
Odyssey Marine to recover Victory, but lose ‘Black Swan’ treasure
Last seen somewhere off the Irish coast, US company Odyssey Marine Exploration have announced that they have “executed an agreement with the Maritime Heritage Foundation for the financing, archaeological survey and excavation, conservation and exhibit of HMS Victory (1744) and artifacts from the shipwreck site.” That’s Admiral Balchin’s HMS Victory - a 100-gun first-rate ship of [...] more »
What’s in Belfast City Council’s draft investment programme?
Belfast City Council launched their 2012-2015 Draft Investment Programme (PDF) this morning. The 44-page colour brochure is packed with optimism, bullet points and potential. But away from the headline £233m figure and the photocall with Peter Robinson, Martin McGuinness, Niall Ó Donnghaile and Deirdre Hargey, what’s the real story? It should be recognised as a [...] more »
Northern Ireland’s never had it so good?
Leo Tolstoy began his novel Anna Karenina with the memorable assertion that “happy families are all alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Last night even the Belfast City Council was a fount of brotherly love. In the Bel Tel, Lindy McDowell has been counting the ways in which Northern Ireland’s been [...] more »
UUP: Confused boxer without a decent right or left?
There isn’t really an upside to the UUP’s problems at the moment. Although they were never what you might even remotely call political friends, Mr McNarry’s exit bears a lot of resemblance to the early departure of Trevor Ringland. Already the consequences are closing in. So early in his career as leader to have lost [...] more »
Miliband’s on the hunt – but he desperately lacks a clarion call
In today’s New Statesman, David Miliband has released a new essay on building Britain a social democratic future. It’s disappointing. Miliband’s focus on Labour’s electoral strategy neglects a more urgent and, for progressives, a more difficult question: What’s the point of the progressive project anymore? Against the backdrop of mass bankruptcies and near-bankruptiies – and, [...] more »
McNarry: “the party will close ranks and anybody who wants to be a hypocrite will get their photograph taken”
It’s the story that keeps on giving. And that looks to be David McNarry’s intention. Now free of having to notify the UUP press office about media interviews and statements – something that Tom Elliott has adhered to as Party Leader – David McNarry is everywhere. This morning’s News Letter. The Belfast Telegraph. Though nothing [...] more »
McGuinness wants to support Northern Irish football team?
Erm, don’t tell Squinter [aye, like he didn't know already - ed], but Martin McGuinness is contemplating a reciprocation the First Minister’s visit to watch the McKenna Cup final last weekend… Martin McGuinness has revealed he would cheer on the Northern Ireland football team and hopes to get the chance on a visit to Windsor [...] more »
Romney up, GOP down, populism ailing?
There’s a good discussion to be had about the tensions between populism and parliamentary politics. If there is a side lesson to taken from the ups and downs of the Republican party, it’s probably buried in here somewhere. As Mike from PoliticalBetting notes, the famous victory of Mitt Romney in Florida (one of the big [...] more »
“This is a read-back into the so-called ‘dirty war’…”
In yesterday’s Belfast Telegraph, Brian Rowan attempted to explained the thinking behind Sinn Féin’s expressed concerns about the “Dark Side” [It's "a sound working partnership and one that is to be commended" - Ed] Indeed. From the Belfast Telegraph article …this is not a row for the sake of being awkward. It is a serious [...] more »
Look out for the (un?) intended consequences
Daniel Hannan, Daily Telegraph blogger, staunch Eurosceptic MEP and romantic unionist warms to his theme. Like most British people, I love Ireland. It’s a separate country, but it’s not really foreign. The Irish talk as we talk, dress as we dress, eat as we eat (and, tragically, drink as we drink). We watch the same [...] more »
Florida – All Over?
It looks that way. From Fox News - looks like a landslide for Romney. But can Romney beat Obama? Piles of stuff to read on RealClearPolitics…make up your own mind. more »
New Tories, old Tories, what’s the difference?
Everyone seems to be talking about the headline of Lord Feldman’s press release today, and no one is talking about what he actually said. Let’s be clear, there is to be no “new party” in Northern Ireland. They are not farming off their existing branch, they are attempting to tart it up a bit. And [...] more »
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Lessons in Cute Hoorism: “Graft was accepted, for you were taking from the British…”
I’ve been catching up on some reading, recently. Most pleasantly surprised by John Drennan’s latest opus from Gill and Macmillan, Cute Hoors and Pious Protestors… It’s early days yet, but I was struck by this paragraph, part of a dissection of Fianna Fail near the beginning: One of the more fatal consequences of our colonial [...] read our review »
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Ulsters Last Stand?: Can Unionism Move Beyond Insurance Policy Politics?
How has Ulster unionism arrived at where it is today – fractured and uncertain, yet dominated electorally by the DUP, a party that tells us it offers unionists sure footing in uncertain times? In his latest book, Ulster’s Last Stand? Reconstructing Unionism after the Peace Process (Irish Academic Press, 2010), Prof. James McAuley from the [...] read our review »
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“You can see Newton’s mind at work…”
To add to the open access treasure trove at the Royal Society, Cambridge University Library is putting online some of its collection of books, maps, manuscripts and journals. We have called the first phase of our work on the Cambridge Digital Library the Foundations Project, which runs from mid-2010 to mid-2013 and has been made possible [...] read our review »
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