Post Archives for Belfast Gonzo
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Adams damning McGuinness with faint praise..?
IT would have been easy for Gerry Adams to be fulsome in his praise of Martin McGuinness’ presidential campaign. Instead, the intro to Gerry Adams’ latest blog entry seems both ambiguous and odd – although the former may be politically ingrained and the latter blamed on his a faux folksy writing style. And – for [...] more »
Every little helps…
I DOUBT if our Sammy has been down at Writer’s Square lately, or whether he’s been flicking through the pages of Tescopoly - but there’s little doubt he has managed to piss off one multi-national more than our tent-dwelling comrades have. And after reading Tesco director David North’s threats the other day about cutting job [...] more »
Fees gap to be paid by GB students…?
THE decision to freeze student fees here seems to be going down well, but it won’t come without cost. And that cost – half of it – will be borne by the Department of Employment and Learning. It would be difficult to argue that learning should come at the expense of employment services in the [...] more »
Last supergrass trial was, um, actually just four years ago…
JUST watching the BBC and it’s constantly reporting that today marks the start of the “first ‘supergrass’ trial in Belfast for 25 years”. It’s not. No-one seems to remember that just four years ago, this happened – and it wasn’t exactly a roaring success. more »
A Bonefire In An Empty Space…?
IF you’re stuck at the desk over lunch and need a laugh, check out PSNI West Belfast’s Facebook page. There are some gems of posts, such this possible attempt at haiku below. Profound. But fair play to the poor sod that gets lumbered with replying! Stroaking The Wood From The Bru In Andytonw. Wat Harm [...] more »
The Men Who Won’t Stop Marching…
THE (restricted) Tour of the North parade gets under way in a few minutes. But if you don’t fancy getting wet, and still want to sample loyalist culture – in the safety of your own home no less – you could do worse than watch The Men Who Won’t Stop Marching. It’s one of the [...] more »
A Dubliner’s Diary: The Visit…
“When The Visit was first announced, I guess most Irish people were a bit surprised that such a high-profile guest would be coming to Dublin. It’s not that they aren’t welcome, but there was a lot of animosity about stuff that happened in the past. Some people will never get past the association with the [...] more »
Dissidents win small political battle…
IF one of the aims of dissident republicanism is to disrupt normal politics here, they won a small victory on Monday. NIO minister Hugo Swire was quite explicit that the reason the identities of donors to political parties would remain secret was the threat of intimidation. It is possible he, and the unionists who called [...] more »
Leak lists Irish companies vital to US security…
WIKILEAKS’ latest instalment contains a list of facilities around the world the US believes is vital to its national security. There are just two Irish entries. The first is the Hibernia Atlantic undersea cable landing – one of a number of fast transatlantic communications links listed – while the other is Genzyme Ireland Ltd. (filling), [...] more »
DUP were first to lower Olympic expectations…
IF this contrite statement is anything to go by, DUP Sports Minster Nelson McCausland must have hauled Sport NI chief executive Eamonn McCartan over the coals for listing off on TV reasons why we weren’t attracting Olympic interest. McCartan told the BBC that no Olympic teams had committed to train here for the 2012 Games [...] more »
Paratrooper spotted on Falls…
THE times are certainly changing. Walk into the new Sainsbury’s store on the Falls Road, and you’ll see signs in Irish, as well as… Paratroopers in the aisles! Only a matter of time before Squinter spots this toy from the ‘HM Armed Forces’ range, whinges and it’s withdrawn, so here’s a pic to prove it. [...] more »
McCausland avoids the real debate on museum…
I’M not sure what to make of the Culture Minister’s latest blog entry on the Ulster Museum controversy. After waiting patiently for Nelson McCausland to address the merits of Creationism’s place in the museum, it now appears he doesn’t want to talk about the only genuine controversy in his letter to the trustees after all. [...] more »
Good riddance to Sir Alasdair…
AND so farewell to Sir Alasdair Fraser, the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland, who is to retire in September. Conveniently, this will mean that he won’t have to take any tough decisions over prosecutions after the Saville Report is published. Sir Alasdair has been criticised in the past for failing to account for [...] more »
NI curriculum now includes lessons from ex-terrorists…
THE Education Minister snuck this press release out in the news graveyard of a Friday afternoon, but I think it’s worth highlighting, as it will probably provoke strong reactions one way or the other. A new resource for local schools entitled, ‘From Prison to Peace: Building on Experience’, has been launched. The resource, “which has [...] more »
It’s about more than tribal head-counts…
FORGET shifting demographics – not only it is a glacially slow movement, but may never result in a nationalist majority – argues academic Peter Shirlow. Instead, the “political tradition that first gains significant votes across the divide will be the one which inherits and shapes the future”. And that may be more about delivery on [...] more »
Sammy in early overture to UUP…
WITH Sir Reg ‘never to be’ Empey expected to quit today (or not long after), Sammy Wilson has decided to show a bit of leg to the weakened UUP with his declaration in support of unionist unity. He said: Our approach must now be one of unionist cooperation in establishing greater stability and improving our structures [...] more »
Bad day to be a unionist leader…
THE BBC is suggesting that Sir Reg is beat in South Antrim. And with Robbo stuffed in East Belfast and Jim Allister trounced by Paisley Jr, the leaders of unionism are in a bad way tonight. While the personality cult of Jim will probably continue, the UUP and DUP could well be looking new leaders [...] more »
Trying WordPress…
THIS is just a tester to try out the new system. I’m also trying to blog from a BlackBerry but keep getting error messages. Sigh. What does “We could not find the XMLRPC endpoint of your blog” mean? more »
Snubbed During Labour’s Promises…
THE entire reference to Northern Ireland in the Labour Manifesto: For the first time, Northern Ireland can look forward to a stable and prosperous future as a result of the Good Friday, St Andrews and Hillsborough Agreements. Supported by unprecedented public funding, we will continue to invest in the institutions of devolution, so that the [...] more »
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Books
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Voices from the Grave
Coming up to the Halloween holiday, some people might be frightened of the idea of Voices from the Grave – but for others, the chance to hear an oral history of the Troubles from the mouths of two (in)famous protagonists, PUP leader and former UVF member David Ervine, and Brendan “The Dark” Hughes, is not [...] read our review »
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What Ireland did right (and what it needs to do)…
It is difficult to believe now that one country recently sent 19 delegations to Ireland to study how well our economy was managed. The revelation that our model of economic management featured positively in political and economic discussion in countries including Estonia, Greece and Scotland may also come as a surprise. As we survey the [...] read our review »
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Risk of going beyond either/or…
This is article was first published in Fortnight magazine back in February 2003. Chris Farrington is now a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences’ in the School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin. Although the circumstances it describes has changed radically and [...] read our review »
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