Profile for billythekid
20 year old Politics and English student at Queens Belfast. Nationlist by birth but really not quite impressed by any political group, though enjoy the theatre of it all.
Latest comments from billythekid (see all)
billythekid has commented 6 times (0 in the last month).
Advertise
-
Books
-
A poem for the day – Launching the Whaler Juan Peron
A Belfast epic, and one of my oldest poems, the opener of my first collection, Grub. The gist of the story was found in Moss & Hume’s Shipbuilders to the World: 125 Years of Harland and Wolff, Belfast, 1861-1986, which tells how Eva Peron was due to launch a huge whaling vessel in Belfast, built [...] read our review » -
Do Words Matter?: Book Review of Political Discourse and Conflict Resolution – Debating Peace in Northern Ireland
I share many of the concerns of Andy Pollak, whose recent post ‘My Response to the Slugger Begrudgers’ zeroed in on the ‘relentless flow of negativity’ of some Slugger commentators. Pollak’s post was largely concerned with the medium of the blog. Indeed, I think the anonymity of the online world encourages extreme discourse and allows [...] read our review »
-
“You can see Newton’s mind at work…”
To add to the open access treasure trove at the Royal Society, Cambridge University Library is putting online some of its collection of books, maps, manuscripts and journals. We have called the first phase of our work on the Cambridge Digital Library the Foundations Project, which runs from mid-2010 to mid-2013 and has been made possible [...] read our review »
-
Comment on Help me with the West Wing: Essential viewing or Party Political Broadcast?
on 21 February 2011 at 12:36 pm
Love the west wing, brilliant stuff. End of season two is at its peak, as Sorkin still very much involved. All hail Leo
Go to comment
Comment on Tele takes a hiding
on 21 February 2011 at 12:14 pm
All news outlets lean a certain way, we just have to use our own brains to figure out where we stand. I think that is a fine way to approach newspapers or broadcast news, the truth is usually somwhere between them all………….. However the Bellylaugh is crap, its demise may be more to do with the ipad than it being crap though.
Go to comment
Comment on Ranking the Sinn Fein Prospects
on 21 February 2011 at 12:03 pm
. The whole putting terrorists in government thing is soooooo 1990. If Paisley and Robo can handle it I’m sure the south can…..even though there is no chance of Sinn Fein actually being in government, god knows that’s the last thing they want.
Go to comment
Comment on Gerry, we missed you on TG4
on 21 February 2011 at 11:24 am
There is no shortage of balls here.
Go to comment
Comment on (live blog) And the UUP leader is … Tom
on 24 September 2010 at 6:23 pm
I hear ya,
But surly politically the aim was to have a UUP leader that can provide a debate in the unionist community, that will encouage them to at least vote for someone, for him or against him? This is where a level of unionist unity could have been found surly?
From the outset it coms across that Tom Elliot is just another nay saying, stand still unionist, so why bother voting for someone not that different from Sir Reg. Though oddly Mr Elliot has already started to grow on me, their is a humility in his victory speech that seldom came out on his campaign.
Basil would have done well at election time, I agree it would not have broke the DUP, but he would have campaigned well and performed well in debates. In all honesty its hard to see much change to the status quo come next years election.
Go to comment
Comment on (live blog) And the UUP leader is … Tom
on 23 September 2010 at 5:14 pm
One cannot help look open mouthed and dumb-struck at the the Ulster Unionists latest attempts to consign themselves to the past. The election of ‘establishment’ candidate, Tom Elliot is a further illustration of just how how of touch the UUP is.
Unionism is begging for a strong, articulate and broad-minded leader to unite them. One with out the baggage of family problems and financial questions that Peter Robinson posesses, one without the Basil Brooke sectariasm of Jim Allister and one without the ‘not sure what to do’ incompetance of Sir Reg.
I should say that when I say unite I am not talking about one Unionist party, but a leader who can communicate effectivly with other unionists to combat Sinn Feins growing straglehold on politics in the north.
Elliots election also proves nationlists belief that unionism is still in a place of saying no, Elliot is perhaps the most conservative Unionist leader in decades. He is uncomfortable with gay pride and the GAA, there are two sectors of the community alienated straight away. Ken Maginnis defended Elliots position on the GAA by stating he couldnt attend on a Sunday for religious reasons. Fair enough.
But Tom Elliot is now a party leader who has aspirations of being First Minister, he cannot afford to use the Sunday worship card anymore. He can’t work only six days a week, he must be able to work 24/7, if he can’t then he will fail in re-establishing the UUP as a serious party. Running a party is a serious undertaking, running a weak party with nearly no mandate is an impossible undertaking. A Part time leader who fails to woo or even try to woo the GAA or the gay community not only alienates them, but alienates moderate, liberal unioists such as Trevor Ringland and Basil McCrea, and where I live that is a lot of unionists.
What amazes me most is that the party workers in the UUP, who have Politics and PR degrees have failed to spot this or advise on this. One thing is for sure they need to get into the real world, Tom Elliot has the hardest job in Northern Ireland polictics now, they have to start by brining Tom into the 21st century.
Go to comment