Albert Reynolds (critical bridge builder of the early peace process) dies

So another old beast of the Peace Process era leaves the stage. Albert Reynolds is too easily forgotten in the sense that he was only taoiseach for less than three years. Yet in that time between Haughey and Bruton its widely acknowledged that he played a crucial role in bringing Sinn Fein and the IRA into mainstream negotiations. #51426636 / gettyimages.com As the BBC’s obit piece notes… … with a mixture of carrot and stick, [Reynolds] was instrumental in persuading …

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Strength is only part of fixing our busted relationships. We need good leadership too.

James Thurber once observed “there are two kinds of light — the glow that illumines, and the glare that obscures.” In Northern Ireland, we have become accustomed to obscuring glare more than illuminating glow. Despite the historic achievement of the Belfast Agreement our politicians still like to amplify a folk version of history to the idea that we remain two separate people whose interests are permanently at odds with one another. The current set of commemorations tend to reinforce that …

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Gerry Anderson dies: “We have lost our jester…”

I remember coming home in the summer of 1988 to work on a number of summer schemes in Belfast, Lisburn, Ballynahinch and Holywood with an English colleague who’d never been to Northern Ireland before. My one insistence of the day was that I had to listen to Gerry Anderson at 10.30. It was like shot of something powerful and good in the midst of a less than good situation. Gerry’s was more than gallows humour. It was a light drop …

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Sporting Voices

65 years. And counting. That is how long 86 year-old Vin Scully has been the play-by-play commentator for the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team. Scully had already begun his career of commentating for the Dodgers before they waved goodbye to Brooklyn and traded the Atlantic coast for the Pacific in 1958, when Major League Baseball finally decided it was time to head west. Up until then, the most westerly city hosting a team had been St Louis in the Midwest. …

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Men Only: Stormont ‘all party’ Pro Life group revealed

Social media was ablaze last night with the news of an ‘all party’ ALL MALE ‘Pro-Life’ group at Stormont. Chaired by the SDLP’s Pat Ramsey, the group also includes Jim Wells (DUP), Jonathan Craig (DUP), Alban Maginness (SDLP), Mervyn Storey (DUP), Jim Allister (TUV), Mark H Durkan (SDLP), David McIlveen (DUP), Kieran McCarthy (Alliance) and Danny Kennedy (UUP). Despite having no female representation the group give their main point of contact as Bernie Smyth, currently involved in a court case …

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Minister green lights ‘Irish Beef’ label just as southern beef farmers lunge into crisis…

Unfortunate timing for the Agriculture Minister’s new labelling ‘concession’ for so-called ‘nomadic beef’. In Michelle O’Neill’s own terms, here’s the ‘problem’… #168316801 / gettyimages.com I am of the strong view that the term ‘nomad cattle’ has no place on this island and following discussions with industry stakeholders and Minister Coveney in the south, I am hopeful that this issue can be resolved. “This has been a problem for some time because cattle imported from the south and slaughtered in the …

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Pat Kenny to go to work for UTV, Ireland…

I”ve never embedded a Vine video before, but there’s a first time for everything… Pat Kenny veteran RTE news and current affairs man has been bagged by UTV Ireland… He’s expected to be returning to TV in early 2015. The channel launches at the beginning of January… 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, …

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More Thoughts on Irish Unity

On The Nolan Show this morning, Alex Kane and myself had a brief discussion about his recent article regarding Irish Unity. On Slugger last week, Barton and David chatted at length on the topic of Irish Unity, so I’ve decided to put a few thoughts out there on the subject for others to pick over. ________________ A united Ireland has never been as close as it is today. Before anyone gets worked up, it’s not particularly close. In fact, it’s …

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Looking for a ‘No’ #IndyRef blogger for Slugger live in Scotland…

Now, when it comes to it, we try to the Scottish referendum seriously in its own terms, not simply to use it as a way to open conversations that are not yet viable in Northern Ireland. We’ll have Phil Mac Giolla Bhain on the ground before, during and after the referendum poll blogging live from the ground in Scotland. Phil is a committed Yes supporter, so we are also on the look out for a counterbalancing No blogger. In my …

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“In the last analysis the test of nationality is the wish of the people.”

Ronan Fanning took the theme for his most recent book from David Lloyd George in the House of Commons in 1919, “there is a path of fatality between the two countries and makes them eternally at cross purposes“. In the Irish Times Fanning takes John Bruton to task for suggesting that the Home Rule Bill be commemorated this September, for the very specific reason that (like the unified island it was supposed to presage) it never properly or fully came …

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So who’s Irish is good enough to become a Minister of State for the Gaeltacht?

Interesting to discover that both Gerry Adams and Peadar Toibin are availing themselves of a new scheme aimed at improving the proficiency of Oireachtas Deputies in Irish… Mr Adams and party colleague Peadar Toibin TD are using the subsidised tuition service which is also available to civil servants and political staff in Leinster House. A Freedom of Information Act request by the Sunday Times revealed that the two Sinn Fein TDs are joined in classes by Fine Gael deputies Joe …

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Bonfire fleggers still #Winning (this time in Derry)…

One of the blinding stupidities of burning another nation’s national flag on your bonfire, is the near certainty that it will encourage someone else to burn yours, which in turn… Alliance has condemned the actions of republicans who placed Union flags on a bonfire in Londonderry on Friday night. The Fire Service was called in to the Bogside where they turned their hoses on shops under threat from the flames. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written …

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Corporation Tax powers finally set to be devolved?

The Belfast Telegraph has a number of articles about the devolution of control over Corporation Tax: with a timeline here. From the Belfast Telegraph: Finance Minister Simon Hamilton said: “I am optimistic that we will get a positive answer from the Prime Minister. “I think that the Government wants to do this and we have made a very robust case to them.” A senior Tory source concurred with this assessment. However, the cost of cutting the tax is likely to …

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Labour’s difficulty pulling ahead

The latest opinion polls show Labour’s small lead seems fairly consistent but it remains too small for them to have any confidence in achieving a majority. Ironically despite their currently pathetic level of support the most likely scenario remains the Liberal Democrats holding the balance of power. At one level this failure of the Labour Party to be further ahead is surprising. David Cameron has never captured the public imagination and both he and his government continue to be seen …

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Warts and all: Dr. David McCann on Irish unity in the 21st Century

Hey, this interview is meant to be listened to! I’ve written up some of the highlights below, but the meat of the conversation is in the audio, so load it up, go for a drive, and let me know what you think in the comments section! I’ll look into making mp3 files available in the future—especially if people are interested in Slugger creating a monthly podcast. —Barton    [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/163516349″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”200″ iframe=”true” /] Surprisingly, there isn’t a lot …

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Reform, yes. But remember voters trust the electoral process if not their outcomes

As an addendum to the issue of referendum gridlock the other day, here’s some sound advice from Theresa Reidy of UCC… get an electoral commission together first, and second be bloody careful with what reforms you choose to offer in future… Finally, two things to remember: Voters can become fatigued if they face too many elections, and voters have a high degree of trust in the integrity of the election/referendum process in Ireland. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. …

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Social media celebrity encouraging Tory activists to compare the leadership market…

Tim Bale in the Telegraph has been considering the deselection of two Tory MPs much favoured by the party’s leadership, and comes up with some genuinely interesting thoughts on what’s happening the centre right undergrowth… Had David Davis somehow managed to beat Cameron to the top job in 2005, he could (assuming he had left gay marriage well alone) almost certainly have pursued a less stridently right-wing agenda (assuming, for the sake of argument, that he had wanted to) and …

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Stopping Islamic State in Iraq: parallels with Vietnam

The ongoing disaster that is Iraq continues. When the Americans (with British help) invaded Iraq in 2003 I must confess to feeling it has the potential to become another Vietnam. As time has gone on that appearance has strengthened centrally in that like Vietnam the Americans would have been wiser not to invade and having made that error the best way to compound it was to leave. The spectacle in Vietnam involved refugees and poor treatment of the old South …

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Are unionists ‘…committed to drastically lowering people’s standards of living’?

This is a quick companion piece to Mick’s on welfare reform cuts. Gerry Adams issued a longish statement last week on the issue, which presumably can be taken as the current Sinn Féin position. These are a few relevant extracts: The DUP has repeatedly demonstrated an unwillingness to participate positively in any of the institutions. Instead it has adopted a tactical approach aimed at serving the political agenda of a fundamentalist rump in their party rather than the needs of the …

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Could Stormont collapse over non implementation of welfare reform?

So, at Stormont the DUP and Sinn Fein have informed the ministers of the other parties that they will have to take the brunt of the spending cuts which follow on foot of the OFMdFM parties to come to terms with the relatively generous terms offered Northern Ireland by the Chancellor of Exchequer… #179628975 / gettyimages.com The Finance Minister Simon Hamilton was scathing over Sinn Fein’s lock down on a settlement they presumably had some part in negotiating… They are …

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