Hope you’ve enjoyed the break from all things Slugger. We have switched on the commenting facility back on, but will not be properly in harness until Tuesday. To all our readers, friends and particularly family, all our very best wishes for 2006!
Peter Hain has undoubtedly been given a tough nut to crack. The political atmosphere in the wake of bank robberies, spy rings and mysteriously dropped legal cases, proposed massive changes to local government, not to mentioned the minor historical footnote of apparently complete IRA decommissioning, is soporific to say the least. His task is to whip some energy back into a polity in which most parties are nursing some form of internal discontent with the general state of things. It’s …
Blogs: exposing the hidden contextsThe Irish Times have published my piece on blogging, written originally in response to Brian Boyd’s article on how blogs can give a biased and misleading view of the events they purport to give witness to. Also at my own site.Blogs: exposing the hidden contexts Blogging is dangerous, radical and going mainstream, writes Mick Fealty It has been argued that blogging is both partial and subjective and that its many often- conflicting truths should be handled …
Mark Devenport on a tumultuous year in Northern Ireland…, which is not exactly the year we thought was going to be in it last December. It remains too early to judge if there has been a substantial turning of the tides, but the robbery of the Northern Bank looks to have changed more than the mood music. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media …
Proponents of an All Ireland soccer league, were dealt a blow when the Chair of Northern Ireland’s top team this season (by some considerable margin) argued that a slimmed down version of the IFA’s Premiership is the way forward in improving general footballing standards. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and …
Brian Feeney refers to Rod Kedward’s study of a struggle over history in the French Republic, La Vie en Bleu, to sum up a key battle absorbing Unionist and Nationalists alike, which may take years to resolve successfully. As Kedward points out, the French concentration on memory was “neither neutral nor innocent”. On the one hand it was all about denying responsibility and on the other about recrimination. It’s the same here. Since the IRA ceasefire in 1994, but especially …
Danny Morrison been catching up on some Christmas reading with Anna Funder’s Stasiland, and draws some (highly tentative) parallels with Northern Ireland. My own brief (and mundane) encounter with East German security was in Berlin in 1986. It struck me then that most of the copious amount of ‘intellengence’ they seemed to be gathering was aimed mostly at the fearful effect it no doubt had on the general population than its actual usefulness. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. …
THE McNarry/Kennaway row rumbles on with another letter to the Belfast Telegraph. This time, internal Orange critic Rev Brian Kennaway writes that Parades Commission critic and Orangeman David McNarry MLA “failed to specifically clarify whether or not he applied for and was interviewed for the post of chairman of the Parades Commission in the previous competition in 1999/2000”. It might not seem such a crucial issue right now, but by as soon as next week, it could be pretty useful …
Unlike last year, the holidays have been fairly quiet this year (so far). However, this short analysis piece from Frank Millar in the Irish Times is worth marking for future reference. In it he questions whether the DUP is already calculating that they’d be better waiting for a change of residents at 10 Downing Street. One that was less cosy with its political opponents: Gordon Brown or even David Cameron?And it’s not a Unionist/Nationalist split either. The SDLP clearly feels …
Interesting snippet of local news from the Ballymoney Times. A local Sinn Fein councillor has backed a local community in its concern over a Traveller man who has moved into a local community. The man has had an ASBO served on him by Larne Borough Council. Although Sinn Fein have spoken against the settled community’s attitude towards Travellers in the past, the council was at pains to explain: Councillor Cavlan insisted that whatever else might have been written about the …
The BBC are reporting that the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, has stated, in a letter to the DUP’s Ian Paisley, that the Cabinet were consulted before the decision was made not to present evidence in the Stormont spy-ring case, and quote him specifically as saying that they were asked whether they had “information that might bear on the consideration of the public interest by the DPP”, although they note “he said the information obtained from ministers played no part in …
Yes, I am going to bed shortly. Been working until now. Mickey Kaus thinks Karl Rove may be toast. He’s possibly, the best blogger in the world. Just start from the top and keep scrolling downwards. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
Pastor of Muppets does a review of the books he’s read in the last 12 months. It’s an impressive list – but then again he’s a doctoral student, so he needs to make the time.
Felix Quigley is not happy about what he sees as a casual tolerance of anti semetism, here on Slugger and amongst Republicans on the web. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
Gerry Adams has never been bought lunch by journalist before. In this polite but slightly tense encounter between John Lloyd and the Westminster MP for West Belfast for most of the last twenty years he chose to have his early Lunch with the FT in the Terrace Cafeteria of the Palace of Westminster. Lloyd captures one of the most important aspect for a successful politicians, his capacity to charm. The bill is easily the lowest in any of this series …
I’m heading off for Christmas tomorrow, around about midday. Unless something big happens, I don’t intend to blog after then until the new year. In previous years we’ve left the comments zone open over the holidays, but considering some of the heat (and too little light) that’s been generated over the last week or so, we’ll turn them off from twelve tomorrow. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on …
Kim Fletcher with an unusually gamesy optimism amongst the gloom infecting some newspaper boardrooms about the future of the newspaper industry. It is, amidst all the fear and gloom it kicks up, an “opportunity for some excitement and fun along the way”.First, what’s getting them down: A powerful newspaper executive took me out to lunch the other week and looked despondent: “What do you say when friends ask you to advise a child who wants to go into journalism? Can …
The Today programme are featuring a team of bloggers over the Christmas period who’s job is to blog the output of the programme and come in from time to time to talk about various aspects of the blogging game. This morning they had Tim Ireland, manic genius behind bloggerheads and several senior MP blogging efforts and Judy from Adloyada talking about whether bloggers have any power (sound file). Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on …
When all is said and done, it is hard to see how the spy drama changes any of the fundamentals. So argues Brian Walker in last night’s Telegraph. This one is worth preserving for posterity: STICKING my neck out a little but not too far, I can’t see how the Stormontgate saga much affects the prospects for restoring the Assembly one way or the other. Whether it was an authentic IRA intelligence gathering operation or a Special Branch sting or …
According to the McCartney sisters, the man who gave the order to kill their brother is planning to emigrate to the US. It appears he is not one of the two people charged with Robert McCartney’s murder. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
