BBC Statement after meeting with the DUP over proposed televised debates…

The DUP requested a meeting with the Director-General of the BBC to raise its concerns about not being included in the leaders’ TV debates to be broadcast across the UK and about wider coverage ahead of the General Election. The DUP has also raised its concerns with the BBC Trust and, separately, instructed lawyers to prepare to take legal action against the BBC. The BBC, alongside ITV, Channel 4 and Sky News, has announced plans to host a series of …

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Do we have a media capable of ‘capturing the conscience of a king’?

The play’s the thing Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.  Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2 I’ve been waiting for something to emerge from MediaLens on the Oborne resignation. They tend take a rather puritanical view of what’s ailing the corporate media, nevertheless, this passage in particular is well worth sharing I think… The deeper problem, ignored by Jenkins, is that this corporate structure not only trims individual stories, it excludes entire frameworks of understanding. If writing something disagreeable about …

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Presbyterian Church stops short of endorsing but supports principle of “conscience” bill, calls for reasonable accommodation & debate

Yesterday, Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor Noel Treanor was part of a delegation that met Paul Givan and others in the DUP to discuss the “Conscience Clause” Private Members Bill. Tonight the Presbyterian Church’s Council for Church in Society (the body within the denomination authorised to deliberate and speak on matters of public policy) has published their 22-point response to the consultation. The full text and accompanying statement is on the denomination’s website. The Council’s document is broadly in …

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The ‘control’ of women

A recent post here by Belfast Barman got me thinking about just why men have a ‘need’ to control women, to be the ‘master’. To try to understand, we need to go far back in time. The lineage of Homo Sapiens is now clearly differentiated from the Neanderthals, with whom we once co-existed. The control of fire, and the invention of cooking meant that much more energy was available, and this lead to larger brains. It’s now clear that though …

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O’Loan calls Stormont House Agreement ” an insult” as Labour promises a Pat Finucane inquiry

Amnesty International are not alone in finding the resources allocated in the Stormont house Agreement inadequate for dealing with the past. At a meeting of RightsWatch  in Westminster last night,  the first Police Ombudsman  Baroness Nuala O’Loan  was scathing, describing the allocation of £150 million over 5 years to deal with all the issues of the past, as “a joke and an insult to the people of Northern Ireland.” The Historical Investigations Unit was “totally inadequate”.  She also said Attorney …

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ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Ireland v UAE

After a great team performance to overhaul the West Indies in their opening game, earlier this morning Ireland faced fellow associates United Arab Emirates in a confident mood. Winning the toss, Ireland put UAE into bat. That confidence took a knock when UAE set a total of 278 for 9 from their 50 overs, with Shaiman Anwar hitting 106 runs from 83 balls.  Ireland needing 279 to win. Worse was to come when Paul Stirling’s wicket fell for 3 runs from 9 balls.  Ireland …

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NI Obesity Epidemic: Media Shock Tactics

This week is Eating Disorder Awareness Week and it seems timely to reflect on issues around obesity, media coverage and eating disorders as well. Northern Ireland is, apparently, in the grips of an “obesity epidemic“. We have a ten year obesity strategy, courtesy of Edwin Poots. The Public Health Agency launched a campaign last year to “tackle the problem”. Meanwhile, we have also seen a big rise in eating disorders, particularly among men, while our health provision to treat people with …

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Perhaps I Should Have Been Aborted…

To begin with, I wrote this article some time ago when the abortion debate seemed to be at a peak, when the conversation seemed to be led by men and women seemed to be considered little when discussing legislation. This Thursday I am to attend an Amnesty International briefing on “My Body My Rights: Barriers to abortion in Northern Ireland” and how wonderful it is when I look at the speakers for the event… not a solitary testicle between them. …

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“…the platform on which Syriza won the recent general election has been significantly reconstructed.”

What now for “the Syriza experiment“?  The Irish Times reports that the Eurogroup of finance ministers have deemed the Greek government’s list of proposed reforms to be “sufficiently comprehensive” for a four-month extension of the Greek bailout programme which was due to expire on Saturday. In an official statement released after today’s conference call between euro zone finance ministers, the euro group said that the proposal was “sufficiently comprehensive” to be a valid starting point for a successful conclusion of …

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Gerry Adams ‘tweets’ and that “streak of sentimentality that marks the totalitarian mind”?

Awright, I’m not really sure to do with this, except to say this oddly narcissistic video from The Journal has gone somewhat viral… In lieu of any coherent response from me, here’s Henry McDonald with his take on the general phenomenon… …like every other move Adams has made both inside and outside the republican movement, these tweets are carefully considered and released at strategic times. Is it the height of cynicism to suggest that the headline-grabbing nude-man-and-dog bouncing act was …

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“Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, and this time the cards were stacked against me …”

This weekend, political anoraks will take a break from their revision for the Great Big Politics Pub Quiz (Thursday 12 March in the Black Box – get your tickets now) to watch Season Three of the US remake of House of Cards. Political ambition, a ruthless drive to power, staying one step ahead of everyone … sound familiar? While addicts await the next (or final?) thirteen episodes of political chicanery, Sesame Street have released a marvellous (child-safe) parody that captures …

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Christians on the Left Stormont launch

Some weeks ago, Barton Creeth talked to me about Christians on the Left, the (relatively) new name (since 2013) for the Christian Socialist Movement, which was founded in 1960, tied to the Labour party in GB, and whose current director is Dr Andrew Flannagan, originally from Portadown.  Its Northern Ireland grouping was due to have its Stormont launch last Monday night, but at the time I wasn’t available to go along anyway. My key question, as a trade unionist and …

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After the Telegraph’s revenge on ‘Oborne’s political class…’, what of news’ next frontier?

Ouch! I’m going to file this one under, don’t mess with the corporate politicos. And refer people back to my longer piece on Oborne’s resignation (if you haven’t read it yet, I would recommend it)… The other piece I recommend on the subject of a perceived increase of bought and paid for media is this from Scott Eldridge on The Conversation… You only need to look to the news earlier this year, that The New York Times was adding to its …

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Rod LIddle’s howler on the under punching of Irish Cricket…

So, perhaps we should spare a thought for poor Rod Liddle. It shows what can happen [Erm, not you Brian! – Ed] when a former BBC producer loses the benefit of his hard working programme researchers. Here’s Rod writing on the eve of Ireland’s victory over the West Indies last week… Go back another three years to the 2011 World Cup and England’s defeat by Ireland. Again, that’s humiliating. All the decent Irish cricketers — not many, I’ll grant you …

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#Soapbox: Why Ashers was right, but the conscience clause was wrong…

From reader AJ Fence I am pro gay marriage and pro cake. I think the conscience clause is a horrid little idea that would declare open season on discrimination against LGBT people and even religious people themselves. However, I do believe Ashers bakery should have the right to refuse to bake the cake in question. The Cake By requesting the the slogan “support gay marriage”, this was a cake making a political statement, not a wedding cake. I believe that if …

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Sinn Féin Cllr Anne Brolly: “I thought the British Army had all gone home.”

The six-foot sculpture of supposed Celtic sea-god, Manannán Mac Lir, that was ‘stolen’ from Binevenagh Mountain, near Limavady, in County Londonderry, has been found – some 300 metres from its original location… [Good initial search, Batman! – Ed]. The sculpture was apparently discovered by local ramblers, who “advised members of A company 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment soldiers who helped police recover the statue”.  The soldiers were in the area having been deployed by helicopter to the north Antrim Coast on a …

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The Social Media Canvass

Well they are all out of the traps as we go into March. If like me you follow a lot of politicians and activists your Facebook and Twitter news feeds have been swamped with pictures of lots of happy people taking selfies, delivering leaflets and telling us how the great people of this place love their candidates  (my thanks to those of you who have stopping using the “great night on the doors” line). However,  a few things I have …

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You can’t mistake ideology – the way MPs talk, the way that they walk

With the unprecedented closeness and unpredictability of the next general election, there has been a lot of speculation about which parties may be able to do business together in the event of coalition negotiations, following another hung parliament. The SNP have ruled out the possibility of doing a deal with the Conservatives, but what other parties look like they may be able to do a deal based on the way that they vote? With potentially 10 or more seats in …

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National reconciliation: “Patriotism is not enough”

In the second of a series of seminars organised by Niamh Mental Wellbing, Reverend Dr Gary Mason facilitated a civic engagement in a packed room at Skainos on the Newtownards Road, Belfast. The discussants were Declan Kearney (Sinn Féin), Reverend Harold Good (former President, Methodist Church in Ireland) and Nelson McCausland MLA (substituting for Jeffrey Donaldson MP). For Mr Kearney, national reconciliation is for Protestant, Catholic, Dissenter and those of no religious affiliation and beyond. His concern is that the journey …

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Jonathan Bell: I will bring a campaign to South Belfast like “you have never seen”

On Wednesday night the DUP’s newly minted candidate for South Belfast launched his campaign to become the new MP for South Belfast. In the middle of all hustle and bustle of the Four Winds I caught up with the candidate, Junior Minister, Jonathan Bell. To start with I wanted to know why the DUP thought that South Belfast was so ripe for change? Bell told me that when you look at the last local election results it is clear that …

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