Profile for Comrade Stalin
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Comrade Stalin has commented 915 times (0 in the last month).
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Books
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The Imperfectionists (Tom Rachman) – an insight into a newspaper that’s maybe not so fictional
‘news’ is often a polite way of saying ‘editor’s whim’ Given the shift from print to online and e-ink, maybe Tom Rachman’s The Imperfectionists was a suitable first first book for me to finish reading on the Kindle. Considering the economic pressures on the newspaper industry, his novel perhaps captures the spirit and soul of [...] read our review »
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Lessons in Cute Hoorism: “Graft was accepted, for you were taking from the British…”
I’ve been catching up on some reading, recently. Most pleasantly surprised by John Drennan’s latest opus from Gill and Macmillan, Cute Hoors and Pious Protestors… It’s early days yet, but I was struck by this paragraph, part of a dissection of Fianna Fail near the beginning: One of the more fatal consequences of our colonial [...] 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 »
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Comment on No boys and girls you are not still MPs…
on 20 April 2010 at 1:48 pm
that assembly no longer exists and no-one can claim to be a member.
This really is daft hair splitting, I can’t imagine that a judge would take this very seriously. Proving that there were material consequences arising from someone who is campaigning to be re-elected again describing themselves as an MP would be very difficult.
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Comment on Robinson back on the attack with the media…
on 20 April 2010 at 1:36 pm
John,
Meanwhile Pro Agreement Unionism has moved on again – this time engaging with UK national politics and making friends there.
That’s a funny way to spell “making idiots out of our Tory allies by opposing their policy on the devolution of policing and justice”. Not forgetting that the incompetence of your local press corps allowed Seamus McKee to make a complete fool out of Theresa May.
But I’m not in East Belfast. Since TR and NL aren’t that far apart
There are a number of crucial differences. First, NL has been representing East Belfast for some time and has a wealth of experience in politics, which Trevor doesn’t. Secondly, Trevor is, unfortunately, a member of a party which is participating in a sectarian pact in FST, whose party leader and MLAs vote along homophobic lines, and who couldn’t even bring themselves to vote for an SDLP paper candidate for the Justice ministry despite saying they were going to for several weeks up to the vote. UCUNF are a joke party and Trevor is damaging himself by being associated with them.
I suppose David Vance could make a difference, this election should surely throw up some hope that REAL politics emerges here.
Vance won’t make a difference, he has no interest beyond self-publicity.
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Comment on Robinson back on the attack with the media…
on 20 April 2010 at 3:20 am
Hats off to Mallie and Davenport for persisting with the “awkward questions”.
Driftwood, you’re a joke. And not a very funny one.
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Comment on Team Martin McAuley for North Belfast…
on 20 April 2010 at 1:40 am
But seriously his policy on looking at the compatibility of Patten and the 50-50 rule is clearly a unionist obsession so that is the vote he is after. There is nothing at all wrong with that and I hope he gives Nigel Dodds a good fright.
Henry94, the idea that the police are no good if there are too many Prods in their ranks is fundamentally sectarian, and it’s not at all unionist to point that out.
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Comment on David Cameron Eclipsed? Party horsemen ride abreast in Tory Home Poll of Polls…
on 19 April 2010 at 1:24 pm
The one trump card Cameron has left to use against Clegg is Europe. Expect him to get that particular dog whistle out this Thursday.
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Comment on The Coalition scenario is emerging
on 19 April 2010 at 12:22 am
Malcolm, I think there’s a clear distinction between the populist right (flag, family and so on) and the economic right (small government, low taxes, privatize everything). Then you have the smaller-C Tories who have a bit of both but aren’t nutty about it. Both are presently housed within the edifice known as the Conservative Party. This results in a distortion, a government that doesn’t reflect the views of the population.
The prediction that PR will favour one faction or the other rests on the theory that the political structures in this country will remain unchanged after the reform. I don’t accept that; it will fundamentally change the way that political debate is conducted in this country by ending the inherent abberations caused by tactical voting.
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Comment on The Coalition scenario is emerging
on 18 April 2010 at 9:42 pm
Mickhall,
Agreed completely. I don’t think it’s right to say that an election system has virtues if it keeps undesirables out of power. Let’s face it, all European countries have these mad far-right movements. Usually, whenever they are elected to power, they prove themselves incompetent in domestic matters and quickly find themselves voted out again.
I have faith in the self-correcting nature of a working democracy.
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Comment on The Coalition scenario is emerging
on 18 April 2010 at 9:37 pm
Yes…. and the public will stand by and watch their right to kick out this Government stolen by the Lib Dems?
I appreciate that this might come as news to you, but the prospect of five years of the Tories forcing austerity on everyone while lining the pockets of tax-dodgers and their other rich mates mightn’t appeal to people much more than five years of Brown. When it comes down to it, people might go for the devil they know – especially if they feel persuaded that the Lib Dems will “put manners” on Labour.
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Comment on Unionist politics vanishing at Queens…
on 18 April 2010 at 8:01 pm
Irish language signs don’t inherently intimidate unionists. But the people who were agitating for them to be put in place were definitely doing what republicans going on about Irish are usually trying to do – use the language as some sort of culture weapon. It’s the same idea with Orange marching – for some it is about culture and heritage, for others (a lot of others), it’s about how “king billy bate the Catholics” – something to wave in the face of the taigs.
The Student’s Union, and student politics itself, is a joke that people take far too seriously. Student elected officials have pretty much no actual power. It does seem to get used as some sort of jumping off point for people looking to cut their teeth before getting into actual politics.
I do think Fitzjameshorse is right about a lot of this. The very distinct unionist aurora around Queen’s has been stripped away leaving something that is, broadly speaking, fairly neutral. People who are translating this into a feeling of a nationalist agenda are being very silly. That said, I don’t doubt Turgon’s story about the Halls of Residence being rather intimidatory, but the Halls aren’t the whole university.
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Comment on Unionist politics vanishing at Queens…
on 18 April 2010 at 5:49 pm
How many reports have the police received about people being “intimidated” at QUB by Republicans ?
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