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Books
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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 »
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“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 »
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Comment on Justice Minister must be inside the Executive and allocated by D’Hondt
on 18 January 2010 at 4:09 am
The Raven – I sympathise with you voting advice, but I’d love to hear the responsible alternatives.
So the NI big five are failing us (yes there’s an argument that the system is failed but I’m going along the lines that a bad workman blames his tools and focusing on the workmen – and not wanting to get into a chicken/egg debate)… so we don’t vote for them – who do we vote for?
The thread here has approached a pretty grim stage:
P&J as a current issue is dominating the political sphere & has even threatened the future of the Peace Process yet there is general agreement that it has no real implications on the ground.
There seems to be general feeling is that policy decisions (in this case P&J) are being defined along Unionist / Nationalist lines rather than informed debate regarding the befits to the electorate.
There is insinuation that a large portion of voters are choosing ineffective politicians, for a variety of essentially sectarian reasons, rather than considering policy goals.
But what are the alternatives. What parties even pretend to communicate their policy goals (beyond ultimate ideals of nationhood)? If we are talking about changing the system and finding new representatives I’m afraid we have come to a crisis in supply and demand.
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Comment on Jim Allister the latest prophet
on 14 January 2010 at 4:27 am
“Unionists need to unite and ditch the sectarian baggage rather than fighting between ourselves”
Posted by Moderate Unionist on Jan 13, 2010 @ 08:21 PM
Isn’t this a bit of a contradiction in terms? Or are you talking in shades of sectarianism? A more socially acceptable version?
Straying dangerously towards a them versus us argument.
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