Peter Robinson says a deal can be done: He said:”It is perfectly possible if everybody was prepared to move that little bit further.” Conor Murphy says there is no deal. He said it has been “a defining day.”"It shall have to be called soon.” He added.
Adds: The nastiness seems to be clearing. Adams said at a press conference this evening that he would not still be here if there was nothing on.
Interesting BBC article on an upcoming presentation and talk [Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre, 17 August] by lecturer and broadcaster Stephen Price on the subject of his new book – The Earl Bishop. The 18th Century ”Earl Bishop” was Frederick Augustus Hervey, fourth Earl of Bristol and Church of Ireland Bishop of Derry. Hervey was also elected [...] read our review »
Northern Ireland’s peace process has been promoted as an international success story. The Republic’s Department of Foreign Affairs has its Conflict Resolution Unit, which aims to disseminate the ‘lessons’ of the Northern Ireland peace process. And some of the prominent players in our peace process have travelled abroad to other troubled spots to share their [...] read our review »
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 »
We Jeffrey must be kicking himself in the arse right now. He’s seems to have been mainly interested in his own advancement but he jumped ship too soon. If the DUP is going to implode, the UUP could again be the unionist’s top dogs and Jeffrey could have become leader, rather than being a nobody, essentially, in the DUP. Can he successfully re-rat?
I think there is only a limited number of times that a rat can desert a sinking ship……sooner or later the other people on the ship would consider the rat to be bad luck.
Lets face it Jeffrey….once in South Down and joined at the hip to Enoch Powell…..once in Lagan valley joined at the hip to Jim Molyneux is not short on ambition. He emerged as a leading UUP man in part because he was at Stormont AND Westminster adding to his seniority…….and he also climbed the Orange and loyal Order ladder.
In fairness he has always been a believer in one Unionist Party (the Orange Order like that kinda thing) so it joining the DUP was perhaps a sign of his ambition as much as his politics.
Can he find a way back to the UUP or to TUV. Well if Jeffrey thought it was good for Jeffrey, he would do it.
Reg Empey is over 60. The UUP will never choose a leader like Basil McCrea…..could Jeffrey one day lead it? Hes only 47.
Yes there is the slight problem of his disloyalty.
But Reg is ex-Vanguard Party.
So was “Lord” Trimble.
Not impossible
Makes me think of something I heard last week Intelligence Insider.Regarding not one person but two. If true it will make the Iris Robinson episode look like walt Disney but its all rumour so far and nothing in the papers yet
Was it John Terry?
Eamonn, it is morning now, are you still there, did you doze off, what is happenning?
We send you over to Stormont to tell us what is going on, not to snooze through the whole thing.
Can you confirm that the deal is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon?
“Was it John Terry?
No John Terry chases other women but just like the John Terry affair the truth will Come out!
@joeCanuck
I don’t think it will fix everything and they will live happily ever after – no.
However…..
I know that the constant issue of P&J has poisoned the Executive, OFMDFM and Robinson&McGuinness; on a personal level too.
I also know that parades can do the same.
With these two issues sorted out as well as a practical discussion on how the executive can function better which is also going on – they can then provide more effecient government and a better working relationship between individuals and parties- to the point where they can properly discuss issues such as education.
If they can’t or don’t we should go to an election, then another, then another until we get parties that can function together.
Stewart Finn,
Well said.
Last night I looked at a lot of news and political forums in my search to find Jeffery but he’s Gone, Disappeared, vanished. Perhaps taken by aliens and somehow these aliens have erased him from the memory of the media. Reminds me of the Germans episode of faulty towers where Basil says “Don’t mention the war” It’s now “Don’t mention Jeffery” .
We can rule out that he’s going to jump ship again. I’d be amazed if he went to the TUV besides he seemed happy enough with DUP policy. Don’t you all think It’s strange when a party ditches a man who’s media savvy and a very experienced negotiator for crucial talks?
Jeffrey seems to have disappeared
I wonder why?
Maybe Jeffrey has had an epiphany akin to the chap in that Mitchell and Webb scene
They’re coming!Now we’ll see how these Russians deal with a crack SS division.
Eh, Hans?
Have courage my friend!
Yeah, eh Hans I’ve just noticed something….
These communists are all cowards?
Have you looked at our caps recently?
Our caps?
The badges on our caps, have you looked at them?
What, no, a bit?
They’ve got skulls on them.
Hmmm?
Have you noticed that our caps have little pictures of skulls on them?
I don’t, erm?
Hans, are we the baddies?
I think it’s more likely that Jeffrey will be made to walk the plank than have an opportunity to jump ship. Jeffrey normally has something out on his website every week, strange there has been nothing since 28th December.
I would imagine that one of the only things Jeffrey and myself have in common is a love of Chelsea F.C.. However given that Chelsea captain John Terry has had his gagging order on the press lifted, will another gagging order also be lifted soon? A story much bigger than Irisgate could be very close to “coming out”.
Intelligence insider I’m also starting to think there’s some sort of gagging order here. What else could explain the Medias silence? Without going into details I heard something a few weeks ago from a very reliable source and my information is the press have all the details and it’s absolutely massive, totally explosive and will make Iris look like Mary Poppins . To be honest I found it hard to believe at first but I’m starting to believe that there may be something in it.
I note that while reviewing the Press on Sky TV last night, the reviewers Iain dale and Yasmin Whatshername from the Independent were discussing the John Terry gagging thing and mentioned that they both know of a similar gagging order in relation to a politician.
I am surprised that the many journos on the message board have not dampened the feeding frenzy on this thread.
“Iain dale and Yasmin Whatshername from the Independent were discussing the John Terry gagging thing and mentioned that they both know of a similar gagging order in relation to a politician”.
I wonder who that could be?
Indeed
billy you do know linking time lines and backslapping your six friends can make you look shockingly biased…
Oddly enough, I asked Mick on a thread a couple of weeks ago if there was any sort of gagging order. He didn’t answer. So on another thread where he was engaging I asked him was it possible under UK law not only to issue a gagging order but to order that the presence of a gagging order was gagged too. Again he didn’t reply.
That sort of nonsense was used in Canada 10 or 15 years ago to protect a mining company’s foreign misdeeds. When it came out there was such a public outcry that I think the Government changed the rules.
My own London based friends have informed me that a broadsheet paper have a story regarding a leading N.I. politician which has had a Public Interest Disclosure certificate placed on it. Backing from Downing Street led to the PID as it was felt that the story would be enough to bring down the Assembly, and may place national security at risk.
JoeCanuck…..I think the “super gag” is where a gag exists but cannot be even acknowledged. Exposed a few eeks ago….some mining company in West Africa had one overturned.
Just how effective these super gags and gags can be in the age of the Internet is problematic.
tacapall [24] It could be that wee jeffrey and his alter ego Mr O’Donnell, are planning to come out as the new John and Edward. It might distract from his other er…. difficulties.
If a deal is actually done, it will surely mean no more DUP bragging that they’re getting their own way, because after P&J is on board, nobody will believe the DUP after such a humiliating come down. And how’s Gregory going to explain away the ‘community confidence not there a fortnight ago, and suddenly, voils! it’s here.
So on another thread where he was engaging I asked him was it possible under UK law not only to issue a gagging order but to order that the presence of a gagging order was gagged too. Again he didn’t reply.
Yup, they can require you not to mention that a gagging order has been created in the first place.
As Fitz says, can’t see how this is supposed to work in the era of mass communication.
ardmaj:
And how’s Gregory going to explain away the ‘community confidence not there a fortnight ago, and suddenly, voils! it’s here.
Supposedly, the parading stuff was supposed to create that “voila” effect. I’m glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t find that terribly convincing.
So basically the government may be gagging the press because this scandals so hot people here couldn’t handle it and it would wreck the assembly. What about the freedom of the press? As citizens and voters have we no right to know what our politicians are doing? This British government is doing its best to turn us into something like the old East Germany.
The power of Canadian courts to gag the press was challenged during the Karla Homolka mess, with one newsgroup page gaining a bit of historical notoriety.
As I recall, the judge even banned American press from the court room in the hopes that the Canadian folks wouldn’t spill the beans.
The way the story was disseminated over the internet became a bigger story than a couple that raped and killed together. Go figure…
“Just how effective these super gags and gags can be in the age of the Internet is problematic.” – FitzjamesHorse
True, but made less problematic by the State placing Google on the DA-Notice committiee.
The sinn fein one, which will follow, will be the biggest of all though. Dynamite indeed!
II what the fact that all the top men are all british agents? or from outer space? or wear womens undies,if your going to start a rumour at least give us a clue
Does the Poison Dwarf incident involve Iris and a wet lettuce ?
a few weeks back on radio 2s afternoon show “dj” jeremy vine discussed the iris affair with two guests,they where falling over themselves in there criticism of her as “an homophob”the host had to cut one of them of when they started to say that (not sure if this is word for word but)”there is much more to come about the robinson family and (this is where i cannot remember the words used but the idea was)a gay scandal, unforunalty i also cannot remember the date but it was the week starting 04/01/10,did anyone else hear this or can it be checked out, could it involve someone else from the dup,???.
sorry i forgot to add do we care/give a f
I can’t see how his rumoured homosexuality is relevant to the public interest unless he made anti-gay statements as a public representative, but none of the comments on this thread make such a connection. Why then would it be a “scandal”? Simply because some of his party colleagues are homophobic or because he is a member of the DUP and that’s reason enough to pray for his downfall?
alias i agree however lets look at the way the media has dealt with a 59yo (sorry 57 at the time)women havin an affair with 19yo if there is a story out there that hurts the dup the media will play it for all they can.
So basically the government may be gagging the press because this scandals so hot people here couldn’t handle it and it would wreck the assembly. What about the freedom of the press? As citizens and voters have we no right to know what our politicians are doing? This British government is doing its best to turn us into something like the old East Germany.
Posted by Bad Billy on Jan 30, 2010 @ 10:07 PM
We’re still obviously homo erectus to the british bad bill, we cant comprehend what good or bad for us, wee Jeff is lucky he has something on them, otherwise it would be public knowledge.
Secret Squirrel [5] No, maybe it involves [if wee Jeffrey is in the frame] a a wet iris and a ‘let us pray’ This will run and run.
Certainly the DUP cannot afford another scandal on the same scale as the Iris Robinson affair their grass roots would abandon them in droves and it would probably result in the end of that party. May explain why the DUP are suddenly so keen on Unionist Unity because they know they are going to be annihilated in the next election. They only have themselves to blame they took the moral high ground and lived in the gutter.
“Carlsberg don’t do sleazy political parties but if they did”.
Comrade Stalin. I’m sure it’s whoever finds that convincing will be feeling alone, rather than the rest of us. Greg is a bit of a loose cannon, that Robbo would probably want overboard.
I suspect Nationalists who saw Conor Murphy’s expression on Thursday and Friday, would be confident nothing had been ceded by SF on the Parades issue, but after last night, they must now be wondering how SF are now optimistic that a deal was now closer.
EM, I don’t know if this is the form, to refer to a thread on another forum here, but right now on the Talkback MB [the one i was obliged to leave recently] Red, discussing with Merit]is suggesting that SF must have blinked, and the parades Commision is on the altar, but didn’t Adams say in public only on thursday that “anyone who thinks the price of P&J is a walk on the Garvaghy Rd is ridiculous”? He left his party NO room for moving on PC. He knows he’s toast otherwise.
ardmaj55,
“anyone who thinks the price of P&J is a walk on the Garvaghy Rd is ridiculous”? He left his party NO room for moving on PC. He knows he’s toast otherwise. ”
There will be tweaking of the mechanisms sorrounding the PC which will be both large enough for the DUP to justify a deal to their supporters and and small enough for SF to justify it to theirs.
MU [15] that’s the question, isn’t it. Whether the tweaking, while not changing anything really [from SF viewpoint, but still involving a change of name, would let the DUP claim they had got rid of ‘the Parades Commision’
OR leaving the name and organisation intact, but changing too much of it’s remit for SF’s voters.
I think a lot of their voters would rather SF pull out and hope they don’t get DUP after the election. I believe SF have been haemorraging nationalist voters all through this term at Stormont, and can ill afford to be humiliated at Stormont as up till now.
ardmaj55
“humiliated at Stormont as up till now”.
SF have made numerous threats to pull down Stormont, if there is no deal and they carry on with the Assembly they will be ‘humiliated’, if the DUP do a deal under threat many people will say the same about them.
Very high stakes.