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Books
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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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The peace process not such a good model after all
Which reminds me…. Platform for Change’s driving force Robin Wilson has produced a corrective to the notion that the lessons of the NI conflict are easily exportable. Like myself, Robin is associated with the Constitution Unit. He introduced his new book in a CU blog which I here reproduce. The water crisis in Northern Ireland [...] read our review »
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O’Toole’s New Republic – unfinished business or just a dream?
More as a trailer than a review – as it’s out on Thursday– I draw attention to Fintan O’Toole’s latest polemic “Enough is Enough – how to build a new Republic“. Fintan has been promoting the book vigorously on this side of the water, on Radio 4’s Start the Week and here at greater length [...] read our review »
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Comment on Why the sixth (fifth, fourth, third and second) edition(s) of the Belfast Telegraph had to go…
on 22 April 2012 at 10:10 am
On the other hand, sales in the morning are very poor, for the reasons Stephen has given.
I think it’s a terrible idea, even worse than when they brought the Final edition forward to 1pm, only half an hour after the lunchtime edition came out when it was reintroduced in the 1990s. In addition, I’m only too aware that the content barely changes apart from the death notices and the front page from morning edition to last edition, simply because going to press at about noon (if that late) gives you relatively little new material to print compared to the previous night.
Those who bought two papers a day, one in the morning and one at night, will be less likely to bother now. If the Tele intends to continue to rely on advertising to pay for the print edition, they may be in trouble if this move reduces their circulation.
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Comment on Belfast Telegraph to drop evening edition, while News Letter may (not) go weekly?
on 19 April 2012 at 7:41 pm
I think this will prove to be an absolute disaster.
My opinion is that current “evening” buyers (although how you can possibly describe a newspaper whose last edition goes to press at midday as an evening paper) won’t transfer to the morning edition in great numbers. Too many “evening” buyers will already buy a morning paper, and won’t want to get a second morning paper to read precisely the same news.
I honestly think that the race towards the morning, compared to the early 1990s when the Fourth edition was reintroduced (as an early Sixth) and available from 1pm in Newtownards and the Sixth late was out at 4pm was far better for “today’s news today” – how times change that irrespective of new technology, the last edition goes to press earlier than it ever did – even on a Saturday.
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Comment on Parking ticket post code lottery
on 5 April 2012 at 12:12 am
I read the specific article about the Lisburn Road. Having lived there, I know exactly what it’s like – and the road is plenty busy enough to merit being an Urban Clearway in both directions morning and night.
The Clearway has been there as long as I can remember, and it is extremely well signposted. Shoppers don’t have any excuse for not realising – and there are ample parking bays available. I’d actually like to see stronger enforcement on the Lisburn Road and an extension to clearway hours, because the parked cars are creating problems for other traffic well before 4.30pm, and drivers are extremely slow to come back to vehicles as it is.
Avoiding tickets is dead easy. You don’t even have to go to Dungiven.
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Comment on Addie Morrow service of thanksgiving
on 4 April 2012 at 11:29 pm
I never knew Addie, but I know quite a few of the family from Corrymeela. I was there representing myself and my fiancée as she had a meeting she couldn’t get out of – and ended up turning pages for the organist!
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Comment on The problem with uncorroborated evidence (and supergrass trials)
on 22 February 2012 at 7:16 pm
It’s worth remembering that one of the key aspects in a Diplock court is that the judge has to spend a lot of time justifying his opinion. A guilty verdict is likely to be pored over in the greatest detail by the Court of Appeal, so the judge has to be absolutely convinced that all the prosecution witnesses are telling the truth.
If the judge is any any doubt whatsoever as to their reliability, and having criminal records listing long histories of theft and other dishonesty offences is likely to lead them to that conclusion in the absence of independent corroborating evidence, the defendants are entitled to the benefit of the doubt.
For all those reasons, the diplock courts, when they operate properly, which I will recognise has not always been the case, should require a higher standard of proof than a conventional jury crown court.
The Stewarts might have been telling the truth, and perhaps a jury would have believed them, but we will never know – at least not until substantive evidence is found that could lead to a fair conviction.
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Comment on Tales from a Graduate: Suited and Booted and Nowhere to Work
on 12 February 2012 at 12:33 am
It’s worth noting that a direct consequence of forced later retirements is that fewer jobs are available for younger people. Of course, JSA is far cheaper than State Pension, but it’s still hopeless for getting young people good jobs.
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Comment on MLAs need better wages and pensions to avoid poverty- SDLP Leader
on 3 January 2012 at 11:09 am
Nice one Alasdair, you want a better pension at the same time as everyone else is fighting to keep the ones we’ve got against a Government determined to cut their value and charge more for what is left? Get a grip on reality, because that sort of nonsense will lose you even more votes.
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Comment on Why is it so difficult to downgrade local hospitals?
on 29 December 2011 at 12:11 am
Cardiologists need a pile of equipment which would have to be duplicated across more than 5-6 hospitals in your model. Transporting equipment between sites is an absolute non-starter – it would take far too much time, and would cause people to die while they wait if they go to one hospital while the equipment is at another.
You would also need extra consultants in particular and other doctors to cover all necessary shifts – more than you would need to cover a doubled workload on a single site. May I remind you that one of the reasons for the suspension of the City A&E was staffing?
It might not decrease the quality to have cardiology departments in ten different hospitals, but it would cost a hell of a lot of money. Centralise in five and you save a lot on overheads and staff costs for an equal level of care.
That applies for all acute/emergency medicine. If it’s all on one regional site, the patients will already have been brought there in a blue light ambulance and no time will be wasted taking them to another location to get to the appropriate doctor.
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Comment on Why is it so difficult to downgrade local hospitals?
on 27 December 2011 at 2:17 pm
If the job is done properly, clinical jobs will move with the patients to the larger hospitals to cope with the increased demand. In addition, a better Minor Injuries Unit could be supported for more hours in your locality – I would like to see an increased number available 7 days a week and preferably all day – these would take a lot of pressure off A&E if properly resourced. The jobs at risk are those of the administrators.
I think Turgon could be right about initial transportation to the correct hospital. Are we really saying that our highly skilled paramedics cannot care for and stabilise a patient well enough to ensure their lives and health are in no more danger if they are transported for an hour instead of just 20 minutes?
Also consider the effect of a patient being delivered to a local A&E and then having to be transferred again for another hour’s drive to a more suitable hospital. Which is better?
Finally – a point Jim Wells has made a number of times (this is not the first time I’ve agreed with a DUP minister this year – it may well be the last!) Too many people misuse A&E for issues which ought to be taken to a GP (including the out of hours services) or their local Minor Injuries Unit. Change that behaviour and the five acute hospitals will give everyone who needs them a far better service.
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Comment on Why is it so difficult to downgrade local hospitals?
on 26 December 2011 at 12:05 pm
No, you missed my point:
“Where this could all fall down is the capital investment required to do the job properly… So the question is whether the Assembly (and the Treasury) will be prepared to put the money in now to save money later”
If they do the job properly and invest in infrastructure and facilities, the outcomes in benefit to patients which you foresee ought to be achieved.
The price will be less accessibility for visitors, but the quality of care is far more important than whether your family can visit you as much as you or they would like. Of course I would like to be near my family if I were sick in hospital, everyone would, but if being further away is the price I have to pay to get the ideal treatment, so be it. That of course bears in mind that some very serious cases are already transferred to Belfast hospitals because they are currently best equipped to deliver them – this model might see the extension of some of those services to the other remaining acute sites.
It is however true that reducing the number of acute hospitals will save millions in running costs as beds are transferred to fewer sites. Like it or not, there is no way that DHSSPS would be even considering this if there weren’t cash savings to be made.
If they don’t do the job properly, we will be worse off than we are now – and they will have to revisit rather sooner than in 10-20 years, wasting billions of taxpayers’ money for the sake of a few million now. To use your appropriate metaphor, if they don’t grasp the nettle properly, they (and we) will get stung.
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