Post Archives for Chris Donnelly
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Willie Flags Up An Interesting Question
The ever vocal loyalist campaigner, Willie Frazer, struck an embarrassingly remorseful chord this week after his Tricolour fury was revealed to be a case of misplaced rage. Having labelled St Patrick’s PS, Donaghmore, as a “junior headquarters of SF/ IRA youth” after believing that he’d seen an Irish Tricolour flying from outside the school, Frazer [...] more »
Parading & the Lessons for Conciliatory Strategies
Yesterday I was in attendance for the annual Easter commemoration held in Ardoyne for local republicans from the Ardoyne, Ligoniel and Bone areas who had lost their lives in the struggle for Irish freedom. The occurrence of the event would not have likely registered with the neighbouring loyalist communities on account of the fact that [...] more »
PSNI officers suspended as result of sectarian and racist text messages
Four PSNI officers have been suspended following an internal police investigation which uncovered racist and sectarian text messages. Whilst not revealing the content of any texts, ACC Judith Gillespie did make this remark during her press statement on the matter: “I would be confident that if you had access to any of these texts, you [...] more »
Is it time for unionists to make peace with Ireland’s Patriot Dead?
Undoubtedly the most notable feature of Queen Elizabeth II’s state visit to Dublin last year was her laying of a wreath at the Garden of Remembrance, honouring those Irish republicans who had given their lives in the cause of Irish freedom throughout the centuries. Whilst such practice may be expected by Heads of State on [...] more »
On Robinson as leader & the limitations of his ‘slightly conciliatory’ strategy
Peter Robinson’s speech at the inaugural Edward Carson Lecture has already been the subject of one thread on Slugger, but I thought it worthwhile to provide a follow-up thread with analysis of the content and what it tells us about the thinking of unionism’s premier strategist, Peter Robinson. But I’ll begin with a bit of [...] more »
Trayvon Martin, the hoodie and new media
Many on this side of the Atlantic will have become aware of the growing controversy surrounding the killing of a black teenage boy in Sanford, Florida, on February 26th of this year. Trayvon Martin was a 17-year old black boy who was shot to death by George Zimmerman, a neighbourhood watch volunteer known for being particularly enthusiastic in [...] more »
Sinn Fein and new media
As one fairly new to the world of Twitter, I owe Mick and a number of others thanks for pointing me in the direction of this fascinating and seemingly effective use of new media by Sinn Fein in Mary Street, Dublin. As Mick put it, Sinn Fein appear to be streets ahead of the Irish [...] more »
The Siege of New Forge: Unionism’s latest pyrrhic triumph.
In the great tradition of unionist pyrrhic victories, the RUC Athletic Association has decided against following the policing service in the state and moving towards becoming a body reflective and representative of its new membership and the political future heralded in by the respective political agreements of Good Friday, Hillsborough and the Patten Reforms. The [...] more »
More on loyalism’s red, white and blue Paddy’s Day in Armagh
With loyalists intent on upstaging the St Patrick’s Day celebrations in Armagh this year, I thought it appropriate to highlight some of the contributions on the subject by individuals associated with the controversial parade. Let’s take a look at the parade organiser and some-time contributor to Slugger, Quincey Dougan. In 2010, Quincey penned this article. In it, he [...] more »
Peace Monitoring Report: Should there be a strategy to tackle long-term catholic unemployment and deprivation?
One of the inconvenient truths of the peace and political processes to date has been the fact that all available statistical evidence continues to confirm that catholics remain considerably more disadvantaged in socio-economic terms than their protestant neighbours in the north of Ireland. The Community Relations Council’s Peace Monitoring Report reaffirms this fact, highlighting that [...] more »
A Deja Vu moment from Dunphy to set up the summer
Last night was hardly a memorable one for fans of both Irish international teams, with the Republic of Ireland needing a late Simon Cox goal to draw with the Czech Republic, whilst Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland lost 3-0 at home on his debut outing as new manager. But Irish soccer fans will certainly have fond [...] more »
Football eligibility row illustrates unionism’s inability to respect ‘The Other’ tradition
One issue which illustrates perfectly the inability or unwillingness of unionist politicians to understand their Irish nationalist neighbours is that of the ongoing whingefest surrounding the ability of Irish citizens born in the Six Counties to represent the Republic of Ireland international soccer team. Having stoked the flames of this fire for several years now, [...] more »
Super Bowl XLVI: Patriots seek revenge against Gotham’s Giants
Tom Brady and his teammates will be seeking to gain revenge against Eli Manning and the Giants when the two teams meet for Super Bowl XLVI (46) in the impressive Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis later today. The Giants sensationally denied the Patriots what would have been a famous Super Bowl victory four years ago, ending [...] more »
The Detail on post-primary exam results
Over at The Detail, Kathryn Torney has compiled a very interesting report examining the academic performance of schools in the post-primary sector in the north of Ireland. At one level, the results merely confirm what is already known- and expected- due to the continued existence of the selection process which determines entry to the grammar [...] more »
Shifting ground in the land of dreary steeples
A day which began with the news that Derry had succeeded with its bid to host Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in 2013 has ended with the news that Peter Robinson has joined Martin McGuinness in attending the McKenna Cup Final between Tyrone and Derry, the first time the DUP Leader and First Minister has attended a GAA match. [...] more »
Unreconstructed Unionism in Cookstown: Whither catholic outreach?
Whilst the unionist unity debate rages on, Mick’s thread linking to an article by Michael Shilliday, a vocal opponent within the UUP to the idea, is interesting for highlighting both the dangers of the aspiration for a unified unionist (or nationalist) voice and the gulf between the infrequently lofty rhetoric of the DUP’s Peter Robinson regarding his party’s [...] more »
“We would end up like West Pakistan-” Empey on the nightmare of Scottish Independence
The Scottish Independence debate has clearly unnerved our local unionist political leaders in recent days, leading to at times sensational and contradictory messages from the political elite (past and present.) But Reg Empey’s latest missive, delivered in the House of Lords, warrants special mention. From the BBC Report: The former Ulster Unionist Party leader said Northern Ireland had [...] more »
Chuckle Brothers reunite to warn local unionists over Scottish intervention
The once dynamic duo of Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness appear to have briefly shared the same script through their complimentary calls for local politicians to butt out of the Scottish Independence debate. In his Newsletter column last week, Ian Paisley said the Scots “probably would greatly appreciate it if we left them alone to make [...] more »
Newt hears echoes of Lawrence in PSNI probe of sectarian attack; UUP mixed messages exposed
The vicious sectarian attack on James Turley in the Village area of Belfast was in the media spotlight throughout the week. However, in today’s Irish News, Newt Emerson raises a number of issues regarding the handling of the incident by the PSNI: Why did the PSNI issue no statement on the attck of James Turley, [...] more »
SDLP: Deputy attacks Leader over ‘poverty’ pay campaign
Yesterday we reported how Alasdair McDonnell’s Save Politicians from Poverty Appeal had provoked the Mayor of Lisburn, Brian Heading, to publicly criticise his party leader. That provoked a stinging rebuttal by Alasdair McDonnell. Today, the SDLP Deputy Leader, Dolores Kelly, has publicly criticised Alasdair McDonnell over the issue, stating that she was “astonished” and “deeply unhappy” [...] more »
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Round up of Tuesday’s Political Studies Association conference
If you want to get a flavour of the proceedings at the Political Studies Association conference on its opening day, then the Storify collation below will bring you some of the images, tweets and sounds of the day. Particular highlights included: the Opening Plenary with David Blunkett, Peter Riddell and Matthew Flinders; and the late [...] read our review »
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“Unionism Decayed 1997-2007″ by David Vance: book review
I initially wrote this when the book was first published three years ago; whilst certain elements of it now sound dated, its basic premise that the period of 1997-2007 was a period of irreversible decay for Northern Irish Unionism can still be argued as a valid opinion. My own feeling is that it did indeed [...] read our review » -
Eamon Nancarrow’s misadventures in Rock…
It’s the quiet ones you have to watch, they say. When I last saw Eamonn Namcarrow, back in the mid 1980s he was a congenial, good-natured and highly sociable young lad. The next time was 26 years later, in Lavery’s Gin Palace in Bradbury Place. He’d just brought out his first book, Holywood Star about [...] read our review »
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