Profile for Alan in Belfast
Latest posts from Alan in Belfast (see all)
Alan in Belfast has posted 354 times (11 in the last month).
Belfast Black Taxi Tour – political insight or Troubles tourism?
A black taxi tour of Belfast? Chris Jenkins raised questions about the morality of troubles tourism in a recent Guardian Unlimited article. Matthew Symington followed up with an extended interview on Eamonnmallie.com in which Chris again challenged the trend of “money being made from human tragedy” and the DUP’s switch from opposing a “shrine” at [...] more »
Hasten slowly – though no tangible signs that the Anglican supertanker is turning
So those who had expected murder in the cathedral on either Thursday, Friday or Saturday, even on all three, were predictably disappointed. What they got instead was . . . sex! In this morning’s Irish Times, Patsy McGarry looks at the parallels between the Church of Ireland’s May 1982 Synod meeting which tackled the issue [...] more »
Seanin Graham named CIPR NI Journalist of the year; Belfast Telegraph wins Newspaper of the year
The CIPR Media Awards – or the Coca-Cola Chartered Institute of Public Relations Media Awards 2012 in association with SPAR to give them their full title – were held earlier tonight in Titanic Belfast the Europa Hotel. The awards are mostly print-orientated, with a nod to television, some new media mentions in the shortlists (and [...] more »
Pay your rates by credit card: you pay 2% extra. Pay by debit card: LPS pay 29p.
Northern Ireland ratepayers choosing to pay their rates bills by credit card contributed around £32,000 to Santander last year. How do you pay your rates? Pay the whole year off up front and get the small discount? Pay monthly? Direct debit? Post Office? Or maybe you put on your credit card? Increasingly, government bodies are [...] more »
Are public libraries under-appreciated and under-used?
From the 1880s, Andrew Carnegie began to give money to build libraries – the most widely recognised feature of his philanthropy. From that date, he devoted himself to providing the capital for the building of public libraries and the development of library services. Between 1883 and 1929, 2,509 libraries were built, including 1,689 in the [...] more »
Electronic counting
Electronic counting is being used at a number of counts at this week’s elections across Scotland, England and Wales. London Elects 2012 (the independent team that organises teh Mayor London and London Assembly elections) produced a detailed – ie, eight minutes long – overview of the electronic counting process. While awaiting confirmation of Boris’ margin [...] more »
A “Boris in every city” rejected at the polls
David Cameron’s vision of strong elected personalities leading cities across England [Ed - aren't those called councillors?] has been rejected by nearly all those cities who held mayoral referendums on Thursday. With all the city referendums now counted, Bristol is the only new city to support the switch to having a directly elected mayor. However, [...] more »
Imitation is the greatest form of flattery? Is the Belfast Telegraph standing on the shoulders of the News Letter?
Two articles in local newspapers this week show a remarkable similarity. On Monday, the News Letter published a story (also in Coleraine Times) following up Ian Paisley Jnr’s statement in Westminster Hall last week about the future of A&E at the Causeway Hospital. A tip off pointed to Tuesday’s Belfast Telegraph website which also carries [...] more »
Local papers well represented in the Society of Editors’ Regional Press Awards shortlists
Some local newspapers and journalists appear in the shortlists for the Society of Editors’ Regional Press Awards that celebrate the best of UK regional newspaper journalism in 2011. Good to see the local weekly The Ulster Herald making the list alongside Belfast Telegraph, Irish News and Sunday Life success. Given the entrance fee, some local [...] more »
The Biggest Issues – what happens when talk radio goes awry?
One day I’ll have time to listen to the Afternoon Play Afternoon Drama live on Radio 4 while sitting on a comfy chair with a hot cup of tea in my hand. Until the mortgage is paid off, I have to settle for dipping in and out every week or two. Last Tuesday’s play – [...] more »
Latest comments from Alan in Belfast (see all)
Alan in Belfast has commented 652 times (6 in the last month).
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Total Politics: Top 20 NI Blogs…
Fair play to Iain, he managed to get over 2,200 people voting in his poll for the top Northern Irish blogs this year… We (just, I imagine) retained our top spot, with Splintered coming straight in at number 2, no doubt his pet subject du jour will have garnered him a lot of fans… I’ve [...] read our review »
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Debating the Churches’ Role in the Peace in Northern Ireland
This morning’s Sunday Sequence featured a substantial debate (about 35 minutes into the recorded programme) on a new book,Religion, Civil Society and Peace in Northern Ireland (Oxford University Press 2011), written by sociologists John Brewer, Gareth Higgins and Francis Teeney. The debate was framed in an opening vignette by presenter William Crawley in uncompromising terms, [...] read our review » -
“It was a trivial problem that… occurs every year”
Just your average family gathering at Christmas, with a bit of an argument about the seating cleaning arrangements… Scuffles have broken out between rival groups of Greek Orthodox and Armenian clerics over a turf war in Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity. Bemused tourists looked on as about 100 priests fought with brooms while cleaning the [...] read our review »
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Comment on Imitation is the greatest form of flattery? Is the Belfast Telegraph standing on the shoulders of the News Letter?
on 1 May 2012 at 11:48 pm
DR – I think – I know – that the author of at least one of the articles would disagree!
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Comment on The misunderstood Lord Mayor shuffle – timing, facts & Sinn Féin tying themselves in knots over friendship
on 1 May 2012 at 9:38 am
Trapattoni – nice BCC snap – but outside on the other side of the road from the church!
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Comment on The misunderstood Lord Mayor shuffle – timing, facts & Sinn Féin tying themselves in knots over friendship
on 30 April 2012 at 3:48 pm
Trapattoni – interesting. Hadn’t realised they’d used the church as part of the sculpture launch. Glad to hear Niall was there.
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Comment on The misunderstood Lord Mayor shuffle – timing, facts & Sinn Féin tying themselves in knots over friendship
on 29 April 2012 at 10:30 am
Very carefully coordinated. The peace process (with emphasis on ‘process’) continues …
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Comment on The misunderstood Lord Mayor shuffle – timing, facts & Sinn Féin tying themselves in knots over friendship
on 28 April 2012 at 6:30 pm
andnowwhat – thanks, you got it in one.
derrydave – A lot of us left this story on Monday believing that there had been some kind of knee jerk reaction to dodge any expected Royal visit. The full story took a while longer to realise. Ruth Patterson must have been out of the loop. And at the same time, Sinn Fein’s deliberate programme to use language of reconciliation and engagement (and handshake) seems to work for dFM but not a Lord Mayor.
Plenty of issues.
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Comment on The misunderstood Lord Mayor shuffle – timing, facts & Sinn Féin tying themselves in knots over friendship
on 28 April 2012 at 4:26 pm
I haven’t seen any comment from the DUP – though they’ve had two or three days to deny it, so the absence of comment currently points to acceptance of the narrative!
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Comment on SF Lord Mayor to step down before having to meet the Queen…
on 23 April 2012 at 12:51 pm
> BCC uses d’Hondt now so that can’t exactly be true – parties get their go on the allocation – no deals or backing required.
In this case, doesn’t d’Hondt give the proportions, but the parties agree (ie, negotiate and reach consensus) on the order. Wouldn’t do for a minor party to be mayor in the run up to council elections and get extra vote-winning publicity …
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Comment on Being an all-Ireland party has its downsides – Sinn Fein’s inconsistency on property taxes
on 21 April 2012 at 10:53 pm
> Frankly, I’m surprised at APNI.
As the comments were made solely by the Fine Gael guest, no need to be surprised at APNI!
Since there’s no local authority equivalent, then local services must be funded from the centre. So part of the €100 property charge will support local services … and paying off that whopping loan from the international/European banks …
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Comment on Round-up of today’s Alliance party conference [including audio of speeches]
on 21 April 2012 at 9:59 pm
Let’s head back to a discussion about the content of the conference …
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Comment on Round-up of today’s Alliance party conference [including audio of speeches]
on 21 April 2012 at 9:09 pm
tyrone_taggart – principles? One party’s values, another party’s platitudes? Perhaps …
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