Slugger O'Toole

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Latest comments from BluesJazz (see all)

BluesJazz has commented 353 times (27 in the last month).

1. Comment on Sectarianism in Northern Ireland is common (and popular) across all classes…
   on 21 May 2012 at 11:53 pm

   http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-the-belfast-hotel-where-you-check-in-but-never-leave-7769707.html?origin=internalSearch

   Back in the day…

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2. Comment on Sectarianism in Northern Ireland is common (and popular) across all classes…
   on 21 May 2012 at 11:43 pm

   Alan N/Ards
   Your thesis is seriously compromised.
   You say religion has nothing to do with sectarianism?
   Then equate protestants supporting SF and catholics supporting unionism?
   So what about the educated people who are of no religion/superstition.?
   They include marxists and neo-cons, but have little time for parochial disputes. And a wider agenda that supercedes petty local disputes. Church going people are just sheep. And just as devoid of education as their supposedly ‘working class’ deviants.

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3. Comment on Grammar schools and social mobility: a Northern Ireland contribution to the debate
   on 21 May 2012 at 10:27 pm

   aquifier
   True about the ‘resit’ for borderliners, but you should have added that secondary schools could transfer very bright puplils across to grammars pre O level, back in the days of CSE’s and GCE O Levels.

   The 11 plus was a basic Eynsenck IQ test of numeracy and literacy. Some late developers failed at 11 but went on to shine when transferred to grammars later, some shone at ‘Tech’ when they all did academic subjects as well as vocational. Only BMC does that now.

   Some grammars regarded QUB as ‘basic’ -ie below mainland Russell group- and UU ‘Poly’ as fail. Which is fair enough given their status.
   Queen’s is mid table premiership (WBA) and UUJ and UUC are Blue Square league Kidderminster Harriers.

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4. Comment on Grammar schools and social mobility: a Northern Ireland contribution to the debate
   on 21 May 2012 at 7:50 pm

   “grammer schools” dd?

   Good grief, at least get the grammar right.

   Actually the point about selective schools having better teachers is anecdotal at best. They tend to be exam factories these days. However Gove’s changes to the GCSE and A level examinations are not being mirrored here in NI. These are intended to make exams in England more rigorous. Altough schools can take the option of the mainland exam boards, possibly leaving a 2 tier exam system to mirror our school system.

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5. Comment on Willie Flags Up An Interesting Question
   on 20 May 2012 at 11:21 pm

   Hardly a big deal’
   The Southern Irish tricolour is a foreign flag here in the UK. But so what….
   If people want to fly Turkish flags or Danish, or even the swastika, it’s not illegal.
   Government buildings fly the only true flag.
   If people want to fly swastikas ot trciolours, so what, the United Kingdom is a free country.

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6. Comment on The withering of Irish Catholicism sees Sunday attendance plummet in the cities…
   on 20 May 2012 at 10:01 pm

   The ‘structural problem’ might be a bit narrow. It’s not just Richard Dawkins, it’s science in general. Faith is belief without evidence. At school, in any subject, apart from RS, you need to provide evidence. Unless you want the Scopes trial ‘ressurected’, then all religions are just social constructs. Actually that’s what they are, medieval relics. They shamelessly make it up as they go along.
   Cargo cult thinking.

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7. Comment on Normality and rugby
   on 19 May 2012 at 11:35 pm

   Sports story of the day is Heart of Midlothlian (Hearts) destroying their pathetic Edinburgh ‘rivals’ in the cup final.
   Men against boys.

   Well done to all British clubs :Hearts and Chelsea won, and Ulster were beaten, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.

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8. Comment on The withering of Irish Catholicism sees Sunday attendance plummet in the cities…
   on 19 May 2012 at 12:09 am

   DR has mentioned how so called protestant churches are faring.
   Pretty badly in South Down.
   As a sunday school kid (CoI), my query on the timeline of Noah’s Ark with polar bears and kangaroos didn’t go down well with the ‘teacher’. I smelled a big fat rat.
   And the ritual(s) were just crap. Apart from the Xmas carols it was tedious.
   Same with many others. Science, especially evolution, has blown the ritualstic superstitious tradition away.
   The demographic of all religions-bar Islam in GB – is pensioners.
   It wasn’t a bad influence on my generation, quite nostalgic about some of it. But when you get educated , it just seems like Santa. I can see the community cohesion part of it, but economics has torpedoed that.
   Like the duckpond, pardoner and witchfinder, just a medieval mindset coming to a natural end.
   And good venues for Tesco Express, sunday morning redefined.

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9. Comment on Unemployment in Ireland: a tale of two countries…
   on 17 May 2012 at 10:59 pm

   Wild Turkey

   http://www.paulgosling.net/2011/12/inactive-unemployment-business-month/

   Even this rate does not include the massive public sector ‘employment’ like the majority of the NI Civil Service, who are in paid ‘employment’ but do not actually do any substantive work. They might pretend to, but they are of no productive value whatsoever.

   Then we have the hugely underemployed council workers, psni, quangos who are part time workers earning a (highly paid) full time wage.

   London pays, so no-one complains.

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10. Comment on Licence fee freeze leads BBC NI slashes top journalist jobs…
    on 14 May 2012 at 10:48 pm

    The Dan Snow documentary (1of 3) tonight on NI and WW2 was excellent. Was that a local production? The (Southern) Irish army couldn’t believe it when the Spitfire’s guns still fired after 70 years in the Donegal mud.
    And free Guinness and whiskey to the Allied internees at the Curragh?

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