Monday, June 02, 2008
Hartley elected Lord Mayor of Belfast
Tom Hartley of Sinn Fein has been elected the new Lord Mayor of Belfast, replacing Jim Rodgers. The new deputy mayor David Browne of the UUP abstained rather than vote for the DUP’s Diane Dodds citing “personality reasons.” He also pointed out that since Hartley received two more votes than Diane Dodds, his voting for her would not have made any difference. Mrs. Dodds has accused him of “opportunism.”
Unionist unity seems unlikely and even cooperation some way off.
Incidentally did Alliance vote for Hartley?
Turgon @ 07:06 PM
Moderator ,
Please delete nos 23 and 24 above .
Reason triplication and keyboard is shite :(Posted by on Jun 03, 2008 @ 04:15 PMGreenflag - you are have a nerve issue in your left hand. It’s related to a childhood incident - to achieve harmony you need to did deep….
Posted by on Jun 03, 2008 @ 06:10 PMdig deep - I have a nerve issue also
Posted by on Jun 03, 2008 @ 06:33 PMCorrect Dewi. Greenflag, you need to repartition your brain.
Posted by on Jun 03, 2008 @ 06:52 PMDewi: Perhaps I ought to have been more careful re identifying TH as having been in jail - I thought it was common knowledge and an element of his identity. I was basing it on remembering someone who used to visit him in jail in the late 70s or early 80s - now when I reflect further, I’m wondering if he was interned or perhaps ‘lifted’ for weeks or days and either not charged or on remand?
As I am not sure and because on reflection it seems to matter,I regret mentioning what may be factually inaccurate. Would be happy if someone is able to clarify or correct these facts.Posted by on Jun 04, 2008 @ 11:41 AMGrannietrixie, Dewi,
anyone in Sinn Fein during the ‘war’ presumably worked to support the twin strategy of ballot box and armelite - whether someone actually went to jail or not is presumably irrelavant to most unionists as they were actively supporting ‘terrorism’ - as they see it. To most nationalists, given that they voted for SF, a line was drawn under these issues with GFA and therfore should not be used against someone now but to some/many previous involvement in the struggle is actually a big plus.
Posted by on Jun 04, 2008 @ 11:49 AMSammy - wasn’t going to use against or in favour of anything - was just surprised. (You are digging huge holes with your Rugby comments - I won’t quote them back to you ...honest !)
Posted by on Jun 04, 2008 @ 11:57 AM[url=“http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/0602/breaking54.htm”]Funny from Irish Times
[/url] I quote:“Mr Hartley added: “It will be my aim as Lord Mayor to help develop our city’s political culture, away from a legacy of division towards civic and cultural diversity — to turn what divides us into a diversity that enriches our city and the livers of its citizens..” “
Spot the deliberate mistake!
Posted by on Jun 04, 2008 @ 12:12 PMAlways remember to preview Sorry.
Posted by on Jun 04, 2008 @ 12:14 PMIWSMTDI
“Anybody know how many years it will be before there will be an outright Nationalist majority on the City Council? Are there boundary changes in the pipeline?”
If there where boundary changes perhaps they should include the half of East Belfast which is now in Castlereagh council.
It seems to me preposterous that if you live on the upper Cregah Road you are Castlreagh but if you live in Poleglass you´re Belfast. Belfast council includes all of West and North Belfast, but parts of South and East are elsewhere.
The new super council proposals should have almalgamated Castlreagh and Belfast councils. The current boundaries of Belfast council heavily favour the Nationalist electorate.
Paddy Reilly
Stop your day dreaming and get back to work.
Posted by on Jun 04, 2008 @ 02:34 PMDewi ,
’ ‘you have a nerve issue in your left hand ‘Nerves ? What are they ?
’ and the livers of its citizens.’
The answer to the question ‘is life worth living ?’
It all depends on the liver :)
paddyreilly,
References to my brain are not cricket whereas references to your own would by necessity have to be below the belt and therefore I will make no further comment re this matter :)
Posted by on Jun 04, 2008 @ 03:02 PMI do hope Mr Hartley has been putting in some practice for his ‘Jumping over human Tomato’ attempt. Which i think should be an anuual event.
Posted by on Jun 04, 2008 @ 03:11 PM*annual*
Posted by on Jun 04, 2008 @ 03:12 PMFor the record: Turns out my impression that TH had been in jail in the 70s was correct - see Jim Gibney in his over the top eulogy in today’s Irish News.
Posted by on Jun 05, 2008 @ 05:57 PMGranni - got a link ? If not when and what for?
Posted by on Jun 05, 2008 @ 06:01 PMThe new super council proposals should have almalgamated Castlreagh and Belfast councils. The current boundaries of Belfast council heavily favour the Nationalist electorate.
Oh dear how dreadful. The Ministry of Gerrymandering should be given a severe rap over the knuckles. But could I interest you in a new Belfast which corresponds exactly to the 4 Belfast constituencies? These, as you may have noticed, return 12 Nationalist, 2 Alliance, 1 Loyalist and 9 Unionist MLAs, a very auspicious distribution, and one which one hopes proximately to see reproduced in the smaller Council area.
Posted by on Jun 05, 2008 @ 08:09 PMPaddyReilly,
are there proposd boundary changes in the pipeline or does it yet have to be decided upon?
Posted by on Jun 05, 2008 @ 08:22 PMFor constituencies yes. For Local Government Councils, it appears to have been decreed that there could be no boundary changes, except where two (or more) councils were amalgamated. The reason for this would be the disruption caused if existing boundaries were moved.
As Dr Who correctly states, it was not proposed to amalgamate Belfast and Castlereagh. One reason for this is that Belfast is already so large and populous, to increase its size any further really detracts from the idea of ‘local government’.
Posted by on Jun 05, 2008 @ 08:34 PMPaddyReilly
you are wrong about the new council boundaries as the Bill provides for a Commissioner to name the new councils and determine their limits. Any potential changes are limited with up to five wards being capable to being added or removed from the 11 areas made up from amalgamations.
You are also wrong about why Belfast is to be confined within illogical but Nationalist friendly borders.
Posted by on Jun 05, 2008 @ 10:54 PM
