Comment Archives for Alan in Belfast
Normally to be found blogging over at Alan in Belfast where you'll find an irregular set of postings, weaving an intricate pattern around a diverse set of subjects. Comment on cinema, books, technology and the occasional rant about life. On Slugger, the posts will mainly be about political events and processes.
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Books
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A flexible library service for the 21st century?
Following Alan’s piece on libraries, I picked this ‘advertorial’ from Google plus this evening… about how a US county library system is cutting costs and improving flexibility in their free at the point of delivery services by enabling the whole library service act as a functioning unit as opposed to the one discrete library… read our review » -
The lost art of reading (or drowning in too much information)…
Here’s a great review of a fascinating book (H/T reader Rory) on how the Internet is destroying our capacity for intelligent, focused and critical thought. It opens thus: …here is the news that Ulin brings in this slim, meandering book: that reading is “an act of contemplation”; that such an act becomes more difficult in [...] read our review »
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…if University education were universally available and availed of, the country would collapse in one generation
The words of Brian O’Nolan, variously Brian Ó Nualláin, Myles na gCopaleen, Myles na Gopaleen and, of course, Flann O’Brien. That O’Nolan was referencing his own dissolute student days at UCD only mildly distracts from the prophetic undertone of his words: I paid no attention whatsoever to books or study and regarded lectures as a [...] 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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Comment on Round-up of today’s Alliance party conference [including audio of speeches]
on 21 April 2012 at 9:08 pm
Comrade Stalin – Best one yet? Maybe. Certainly wasn’t a great speech yet. It roused the troops but it in terms of reaching an outside audience via hourly news bulletins on the radio, by 5pm it wasn’t to be heard. Soundbites aren’t totally evil …
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Comment on Alliance Party conference preview #apni12
on 19 April 2012 at 7:52 pm
Should link to the animated Alliance party political broadcast that’s running before Saturday’s conference …
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Comment on Belfast Telegraph says “nothing is going to change”
on 19 April 2012 at 1:37 pm
Framer – I was commenting that the Belfast Telegraph’s trumpet blowing had neatly left out one of their significant competitors, a competitor who are described as a ‘public server broadcaster’. The pros and cons of a licence-fee/tax funded broadcaster is probably worth a post all on its own …
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Comment on The Imperfectionists (Tom Rachman) – an insight into a newspaper that’s maybe not so fictional
on 17 April 2012 at 6:39 pm
articles – will take a look. thank goodness you didn’t recommend Scoop!
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Comment on Johnston Press plan for survival: Social, Local, Mobile
on 17 April 2012 at 6:33 pm
cynic2 – as mentioned in the other post, the propsed changes to public sector advertising (which will favour UTV and the Belfast Telegraph over the current wider outlets) will have a big affect on local newspaper revenues.
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Comment on Johnston Press plan for survival: Social, Local, Mobile
on 17 April 2012 at 1:03 pm
Just pondering …
… can’t see that day coming, but it would have made a great April Fool!
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Comment on Belfast Telegraph to drop evening edition, while News Letter may (not) go weekly?
on 16 April 2012 at 10:48 pm
I’ve updated the post with the last audited sales figures for the Bel Tel. When you remove bulk and free copies, the morning edition was averaging 8,320 daily, while the Final was 31,658. Switching to the morning is a gamble.
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Comment on Who’s marching, where and when? And when is a parade a feeder parade?
on 15 April 2012 at 10:50 pm
Guys – keep to the post topic – future off-topic comments
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Comment on Orange Order trials new sponsored uniform?
on 13 April 2012 at 5:07 pm
A couple of suggestions from twitter …
@LCPolitics: and people thought they would go straight back to terror plotting after being released from Guantanamo.
@NInewsNOW: Sadly its only a FANTAsy
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Comment on Balmoral Review – fireworks, food, funfair, parades and speeches
on 10 April 2012 at 9:59 pm
As lamhdearg2 mentioned, from Ormeau Park to Carson’s Statue in the shadow of Parliament Buildings.
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