Profile for Conall
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Latest posts from Conall (see all)
Conall has posted 82 times (0 in the last month).
Never minds the pact, give the dinosaurs a vote this May
The Ulster Museum needs your support to become the first local institution to lift the prestigious Art Fund Prize. This is the most prestigious award in these islands. It has never been won by a NI museum/gallery but the experts believe this is the best chance we’ll have for many years to win it. The [...] more »
Facebook shuts down anti-Roma page
After four days Facebook has shut down the anti-Roma page which had attracted nearly 16,000 members. more »
Another racist Facebook page from Belfast
Another sad racist Facebook page targeting Roma rose-sellers has already recruited 10,000 fans. The creators have have left the ‘info’ page blank but a number of the pictures and comments are from Belfast. As usual the comment zone contains pretty awful stuff. Angelo Mulvey says: “dont be so horrible those poor smelly theifing c..ts they [...] more »
Convicted paedophile running schools resource website
A man convicted of downloading indecent images of children ran a successful education resource website widely used here in Northern Ireland. Sparklebox is run by Samuel Kinge (formerly David Kinge) who was found guilty of making and possessing indecent images of children, including ‘abuse of babies’. He is reported to have been discovered with over [...] more »
Holocaust Memorial Day Belfast
I am just back from the Holocaust Memorial Day Commemoration in the Great Hall at Belfast City Hall with its marvellous stained glass windows dedicated to the four great provinces of Ireland. Members of all the faith communities; Christian, Jewish, Muslim and none joined in the ceremony. I counted four MLAs including myself. Naomi Long [...] more »
Everyone is here but will there be talks
All parties have turned up at Hillsborough this morning for talks but the strange thing is there is very little evidence of an inclusive process. Word from inside the building is that Sinn Fein are resisting all party talks. The SDLP will be making it clear to both government’s this morning that unless there is [...] more »
All Party Talks Now!
The PM and Taoiseach are here and talking to the DUP and SF. Maybe they think a deal can be done between the big two. Unfortunately experience suggests that even if McGuinness and Robinson do shake on something the chances of it sticking are slim. Time is limited and the two premiers should move straight [...] more »
Justice Minister must be inside the Executive and allocated by D’Hondt
We all want to see an urgent and satisfactory resolution to the deadlock over the devolution policing and justice. Some of the rumours emanating from the talks, however, are worrying. I blogged earlier in the week about how Sinn Fein seemed happy to negotiate away a nationalist seat and the executive table. Today there are [...] more »
Are talks destined for discriminatory outcome?
Talkback is debating the ‘talks’. If the texters, twitterers and callers are anything to go by, the vast majority of people here want the devolution process completed. The DUP and Sinn Fein appear on course to produce a discriminatory outcome. Instead of rerunning D’Hondt, both parties appear determined to award the 11th executive seat to [...] more »
Helen Lewis RIP
Can I add my condolences to the family of Cahal Daly, a man who in my experience played an important role in bringing peace to our land. The BBC also reports today the death of Helen Lewis, one of the North’s few survivors of Auschwitz. I never met her but know many who’s lives she [...] more »
Latest comments from Conall (see all)
Conall has commented 16 times (0 in the last month).
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Books
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The lost art of reading (or drowning in too much information)…
Here’s a great review of a fascinating book (H/T reader Rory) on how the Internet is destroying our capacity for intelligent, focused and critical thought. It opens thus: …here is the news that Ulin brings in this slim, meandering book: that reading is “an act of contemplation”; that such an act becomes more difficult in [...] read our review »
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What has The Third Man got to say about Northern Ireland?
Short answer: very little, other than he enjoyed the environs of Hillsborough Castle, enjoyed working with the local politicians, and has Gerry Adams to thank for Bobby his dog. Peter Mandelson’s book The Third Man has captured media headlines in recent weeks as the Times serialised the most juicy bits. But what did he have [...] read our review »
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Ulsters Last Stand?: Can Unionism Move Beyond Insurance Policy Politics?
How has Ulster unionism arrived at where it is today – fractured and uncertain, yet dominated electorally by the DUP, a party that tells us it offers unionists sure footing in uncertain times? In his latest book, Ulster’s Last Stand? Reconstructing Unionism after the Peace Process (Irish Academic Press, 2010), Prof. James McAuley from the [...] read our review »
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Comment on Another racist Facebook page from Belfast
on 12 February 2010 at 2:47 am
Yes please Drumlins. The info page is blank though!
Appreciate that Jaggers. I am pretty sure there is racist content there and that no right.
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Comment on Another racist Facebook page from Belfast
on 12 February 2010 at 2:29 am
Jaggers. Take a look at the pictures and the comments. Its targeting Roma.
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Comment on Another racist Facebook page from Belfast
on 12 February 2010 at 2:21 am
Yes I am Raven
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Comment on Holocaust Memorial Day Belfast
on 28 January 2010 at 4:15 am
Greenflag. You may be interested in this speech by Gerald Kaufmann the veteran Labour MP who also as it turns out lost his grandmother to genocide. Please do watch it and undertand that many jews believe like him that their grandparents did not die to provide cover for the murder of Palestinians by the IDF. I went tonight to stand with the suvivors and their families. People like the late Helen Lewis. I will go every year as an Irishman and a republican; and I will bring my children when they are old enough so they to can undertand. You should go. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMGuYjt6CP8
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Comment on Are we reaching the end of the education crisis?
on 18 December 2009 at 11:22 pm
Thanks for your comments as always PACE.
Unfortunatley, I just dont agree with your analysis.
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Comment on Are we reaching the end of the education crisis?
on 18 December 2009 at 11:19 pm
Wild Turkey.
Good questions.
Sorry for the delay in replying. Will never undertand how everything needs to be finished before Xmas!
Anyway on your points:
1. does the group have Terms of Reference?
Yes, six key areas of agreement between the parties taking part have been published, the agreed detailed terms of reference will likely be published in the new year following the educator group’s initial meetings..
2. is the groups immediate priority a short term compromise or a long term ‘solution’?
The educator group have been asked to look at a short term compromise as an immediate priority, but within the context of the need for a long term agreed solution.
3. if a short term compromise is the immediate objective, I’d be interested on your take on the probability that the short-term compromise transmutes into the long-term solution.
The likelihood of finding a short-term compromise which transmutes into long-term solution will be greatly enhanced by having a group of experienced educators working closely with the cross-party group.
4. when there is a new election for the assembly, do you have any sense that the four parties participating in the group have or will reach an understanding on what party will take-up the education portfolio to forge a long-term solution?
I understand the issue of the 2011 Assembly election and a possible change of Minister has been discussed in the talks, because as the SDLP outline in their policy document on the issue, “Following an Assembly election a new Education Minister may propose radically different guidelines for post-primary transfer involving a complete policy reversal, with the prospect of further upheaval and more distress for our children”
5. if you went to the bookies tomorrow morning, what odds would you find acceptable that this new initiative will go belly-up by springtime?
The odds on a new initiative going belly up would be short, however, I am pleased that the four parties are genuinely engaging on the issue and as Mark McGregor points out it is essential that Sinn Féin also engage. If these talks begin to produce answers it will become much harder for any one party to pull out or for Sinn Féin to remain disengaged.
6. all political parties take soundings on the ground, including formal and informal surveying. what percentage of past and potential SDLP voters favour the retention of the grammar school system and academic selection at age 11?
I don’t have a figure for you, however the SDLP have a long held view that academic selection is academically unsound and socially unjust. I imagine voters take that into account when voting SDLP.
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Comment on The speech Peter Robinson should give
on 21 November 2009 at 7:12 pm
Lads it is worth remembering that it was Carson who considered himself Irish. As did Burke. Two years ago at the opening of the Boyne Commemorative Centre Iain Paisley too described himself as proudly Irish.
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Comment on Equality – what equality?
on 2 November 2009 at 10:03 pm
Sammy the fact is this agreement does discriminate against nationalist voters. It denys nationalism the 11th seat and hands it to a party without a large enough mandate to be in government.
Drumlins I am advocating another nationalist seat in an 11 seat Exec. What SF have agreed to discriminates against nationalist voters.
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Comment on Equality – what equality?
on 2 November 2009 at 9:49 pm
So do I hear some people saying this should never be a DUP department in the same way we hear some say it should never be an SF one?
The issue is equality of respect for all mandates. The law has already been changed to allow another department. The issue is that SF and the DUP are choosing to allocate that department outside of D’Hondt thus disenfranchising SDLP voters who would be entitled to a second seat at the table in an 11 seat Executive.
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Comment on Equality – what equality?
on 2 November 2009 at 9:29 pm
Sammy
“I am therefore suggesting that your statement is a half truth and you should correct it – the UUP, SF, the DUP and the SDLP could not hold the position after the next election – any ‘discrimination’ as you like to call it applies equally to the 4 main parties.”
The point is SF have signed up in your words to a discriminatory deal. Why would any self respecting Irish person sign up to anything which so was obviously discriminatory?
It makes no sense to row back on the equality provisions in the Good Friday Agrrement and makes a mockery of SF’s claim to want an “Ireland of Equals”.
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