Profile for Alan in Belfast
Latest posts from Alan in Belfast (see all)
Alan in Belfast has posted 290 times (18 in the last month).
“the game for the UUP is virtually up unless it is able to come to terms with … the unpalatable reality”
The king of the UUP-scourging quote is back. David McNarry, the man who gave us the line “the party will close ranks and anybody who wants to be a hypocrite will get their photograph taken” has given up his early Lenten abstinence from the media. The UUP member and independent MLA at the centre of [...] more »
What has the Laganside Events Grant scheme been spent on?
After an unexpected intervention on Thursday night, some of the data requested from the Department for Social Development was emailed to me at lunchtime on Friday. It covers the last three years of the Laganside Events Grant, specifying the organisations as well as the amounts they have received. In 2009/10, the largest grant was awarded [...] more »
Does History Matter? BBC NI’s Festival of History & Broadcasting
I gave up history at the age of 14. Keeping on three sciences meant that it was a straight choice between geography and history. As a result, my knowledge of history is confined to the legend of Finn McCool, the Roundheads and the Cavaliers, and a link between the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in [...] more »
What Nelson takes away with one hand, Sammy can replace with the other
This evening a combination of OFMDFM, DFP and DSD came together to announce that £200,000 unallocated after the January Monitoring round is being made available from DFP to extend the Laganside Events Grant for one further year. The Department of Finance & Personnel statement details two conditions on the funding being made available. (i) that [...] more »
Freedom of Information – when the minister has access to the information the public can’t see
Minister for Social Development Nelson McCausland rang into the Nolan show on Radio Ulster on Tuesday morning to respond to the debate around the cessation of the Laganside Events Grant scheme. He had figures – from across departments – at his finger tips to explain the public funding that was being granted to events. In [...] more »
Outfoxed – as cunning as an iPhone game developed in Belfast and voiced by Jackie Fullerton
Something for the weekend … If the Executive is to be fully believed, it feels like the local creative industries are second only to Titanic tourists in being at the heart of Northern Ireland’s economic recovery! With seed corn funding from the Creative Industries Innovation Fund (administered by the Arts Council NI for DCAL), local [...] more »
DSD withdraw funding for Laganside Events
Since the closure of the Laganside Corporation on 31 March 2007, the Department for Social Development has given out grants for events and community activities in the Laganside area of Belfast. The area includes the Cathedral Quarter as well as stretching our towards York Street, Corporation Street, the Sydenham bypass (but not including Titanic Quarter), [...] more »
Stormtroopers on red alert for St Paddy’s Day riots in South Belfast
Last night, the PSNI riot squad took part in a dress rehearsal in advance of any trouble in the university/Holylands area over the St Patrick’s Day long weekend. One officer privately expressed concern that the new protective clothing “wouldn’t be taken seriously by tipsy students”. Another added that the pockets weren’t very accessible and there [...] more »
Dead tree columnist prejudices public’s perception of bloggers?
Allison Morris made a number of contributions to this morning’s Irish News. As well as the front page article about the alleged security breach when a police officer’s personal mobile fell into the hands of dissident republicans (and its contents were subsequently passed to the Irish News), she also writes a curious opinion piece on [...] more »
Some secondary schools get better results than selective grammar schools
In days and weeks to come, there may be many ways to slice and dice the data that Kathryn Torney published in The Detail and the Sunday Times this morning. Chris has already alluded to the potential weakness in directly comparing the raw NI stats about numbers of pupils achieving 7 or more GCSEs at [...] more »
Latest comments from Alan in Belfast (see all)
Alan in Belfast has commented 603 times (19 in the last month).
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Books
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Lessons in Cute Hoorism: “Graft was accepted, for you were taking from the British…”
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 »
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The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday (Neil MacFarquhar)
With perhaps the longest title of any book I’ve read this year, The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday: Unexpected Encounters in the Changing Middle East gives an insight into the lives of people living in Middle East through the eyes of journalist Neil MacFarquhar. MacFarquhar’s father was a chemical engineer [...] read our review »
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Help me with the West Wing: Essential viewing or Party Political Broadcast?
Having somehow managed to avoid watching a single episode of the widely praised West Wing TV series I was delighted to discover the entire Box set in my Christmas stocking – and with enough spare time over the holidays to give it a good lash. But with 10 episodes of the first series under my [...] read our review »
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Comment on Ban on Irish radio outside Belfast
on 20 February 2012 at 11:14 am
As explained above, the real difficulty is that community licenses are location-based rather than interest-based. BFBS get around this by holding three community licences and sharing content across the three army bases.
Raidió Fáilte might find it harder to find the funding to set up a whole network of community stations across the north to achieve the same result.
It’s a shame that the definition of ‘community’ is so geographically focussed – something I’ve heard Fergus raise at Ofcom events over the years. It’s a pretty strong station, and as a non-Irish speaker, some of the evening music sessions are a good listen when driving home!
I wonder if there are other examples of disparate communities around the UK that face a similar difficulty with community licensing? Cornish fishing communities spread out along the coast?
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Comment on Freedom of Information – when the minister has access to the information the public can’t see
on 18 February 2012 at 10:28 am
Update – some of the figures have now been released and charted!.
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Comment on What has the Laganside Events Grant scheme been spent on?
on 18 February 2012 at 10:26 am
That’ll be the May Day parade and carnival they organise each year. It’s a pretty big event – rivals some of the more traditional parades!
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Comment on Freedom of Information – when the minister has access to the information the public can’t see
on 16 February 2012 at 10:46 am
I go to bed and wake up to discover Business & Charity Registration 101 has broken out on the thread!
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Comment on DSD withdraw funding for Laganside Events
on 14 February 2012 at 9:03 am
Iwerzon – Play the ball and not the man.
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Comment on Dead tree columnist prejudices public’s perception of bloggers?
on 10 February 2012 at 9:47 am
Mick -
> One, if no one reads your blog, then there’s no point in sueing you …
Except that if it’s not taken down, they can claim that anyone searching Google may be mislead by the search result and thus seek damages for that?
More generally, casually casting 140 characters into the stream of twitter is often less thought out than a longer facebook update, and certainly distinct from the kind of thought process that goes into crafting a couple of paragraphs of thought (or more) in a blog post.
Tweeting may be referred to as micro-blogging, but it’s a different beast, with a different risk. Lumping Barton in with bloggers is like lumping a cyclists in with motorocycling road racers … different sports, varying risks.
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Comment on Dead tree columnist prejudices public’s perception of bloggers?
on 9 February 2012 at 7:49 pm
Local hack – you thought Allison was saying
> journlists walk the tightrope of the legalities in publishing each and every day – while bloggers publish away and suffere no consequence.
Plenty of consequences.
I don’t think Allison’s point was that there were no consequences for bloggers. Being in contempt of court can lead to a blogger being summoned like anyone else. Neither ignorance nor amateur status brings any form of immunity.
If anything, by not having a legal brain in the background, both unwitting and boundary-pushing bloggers are possibly more vulnerable to receiving a shot across their bow from an allegedly damaged party … or an irate departmental press officer in my case a few years ago.
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Comment on DSD withdraw funding for Laganside Events
on 9 February 2012 at 1:53 pm
Alternative Ulster are running with the news too.
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Comment on Dead tree columnist prejudices public’s perception of bloggers?
on 9 February 2012 at 10:52 am
FJH – The mental decision to highlight the column came at the moment I burst out laughing at the effect Eamonn Mallie’s tweets had on Allison. It was a priceless description.
A few seconds later my eyes drifted left and I noticed the ‘go’ at bloggers, which in the context of at least one previous opinion piece by Allison deserved a wider airing (impossible to achieve by linking to the article on twitter or facebook due to the Irish News not being freely online).
I like you observation that Allison’s article reads like a blog. The lack of sub-editing and discipline does mean that some blog posts can ramble, switch subjects mid-post, and disguise their real point in the middle of rafts of other text.
Oh, and the final straw was a mischievous desire to get the last link in. Google delivered on that one. 30 seconds after the post went online, it was the top result for the pre-scripted query!
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Comment on Dead tree columnist prejudices public’s perception of bloggers?
on 8 February 2012 at 10:45 pm
The post wasn’t intended to turn into open season on Allison Morris, or game of guess the blogger. As many of you have already articulated, discussion on the issues she raises is welcomed.
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