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Sunday Supplement
It being Sunday, we’ve all got time to consider and ponder things at greater length than during the working week, yes? If it’s good enough for the Sunday papers, it’s good enough for this guest blogger. So here’s the review section… Actually, it’s my introduction to a book published last year, Goin’ Down Slow: selected [...] read our review » -
“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 » -
Ian O’Riordan’s Miles to Run: An invitation to madness?
Ireland is in the middle of a boom – a running boom. Chances are, even if you have never run a step yourself (apart from some painful P.E. classes many moons ago), someone you know has taken up running over the last little while. Road races in Northern Ireland and in the Republic have seen [...] read our review »
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Comment on Peter takes charge while Martin appeals to the British for help
on 1 May 2012 at 8:17 pm
Bigger Picture
“it’s simply something that just isn’t going to fly. End of the matter”
Except it really isn’t the end of the matter.
But like everything else, getting Unionists to move outside their comfort zone takes time, so you seed the idea early.
It’ll die for a year maybe. Then we’ll hear about it again and all of a sudden the likes of Peter Robinson will be all for it.
Just like the Maze conflict centre.
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Comment on For Nationalists Only: What’s great about living in the United Kingdom?
on 17 April 2012 at 7:08 pm
Much the same as above; the NHS and (usually) the BBC.
I like that it’s part of the national psyche that the poorest in society should be looked after. I like the principle that people like me pay over 30% in tax to help others less fortunate than myself and no one ever really questions why. However I dislike that I’m taxed by a government I don’t support and can’t elect.
I dislike that a large chunk of that tax is invested in arms and training for young people to bring misery and blooshed to countries that have nothing to do with my own. But I like that people like Adam Curtis are free to make fascinating documentaries about it.
Have to say, for the most part, I love the people and their sense of humour. There are always bad eggs but sure, they’re everywhere!
But ultimately I don’t see much of this lasting and I want out. I hate what British surveillance culture has done to my city, for example, and anyone driving into Belfast on the motorway up from Dublin might have noted the CCTV on top of every single lamp-post for a couple of miles around Dunmurry.
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Comment on Printergate: “How many printers has he gone through to print 3 million pages?”
on 28 February 2012 at 6:05 pm
Isn’t it better being spread out in the party to employ more people? That definitely saves the taxpayer money.
Call me cynical but it seems just a little coincidental that this happens a few days after SF receive their highest ratings ever in the polls.
€25k a year for ink to print off protest posters is nowhere near the import of the expenses scandals of previous Government TDs.
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Comment on Many Catholics are questioning whether they necessarily have to be nationalist…
on 22 February 2012 at 1:36 pm
I think there might be a little projection here. Fr O’Neill’s ambiguity seems to be based on fairly recent steps towards secularisation in the South. I think he might be overestimating the situation based on the company he keeps.
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Comment on Ban on Irish radio outside Belfast
on 21 February 2012 at 12:37 pm
It’d be nice if Raidió Fáilte could broadcast outside of belfast. I think Irish people expect a little bit more flexibility from organisations like regulators etc than they are prepared to give. This certainly seems like an edge case, the Irish language speaking community is diffuse.
It’s not an issue for me as I use the TuneIn app for the iFón and would recommend it to anyone!
I’d urge some of the more smug posters here to not underestimate the size and the growth of the Irish language, particularly in Belfast. 75,000 would not surprise me anymore.
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Comment on Don’t denude Stormont of unionist monuments. Let’s have nationalist ones too. What might they be?
on 17 February 2012 at 2:21 pm
Didn’t you just describe them as “off the boat” or out of the barracks?
Why would their name affect their attitude to British culture in the city?
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Comment on Don’t denude Stormont of unionist monuments. Let’s have nationalist ones too. What might they be?
on 17 February 2012 at 2:01 pm
Harry
“Look at the names in Derry, those that aren’t from Donegal, Gallagher, Hegarty, Sweeney etc came off the boat or out of Ebrington Barracks, Thornton, Winston, Whyte, Guthrie ”
This made me LOL. “If you don’t count the natives practically everyone is a planter!”
Seriously. What century is this?
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Comment on Don’t denude Stormont of unionist monuments. Let’s have nationalist ones too. What might they be?
on 17 February 2012 at 2:41 am
Mary Ann/ HJ McCracken
John Hume
William Drennan
James Hope
Wolfe Tone
And we’re living in history making times, so why not
Martin McGuinness
Ivan Cooper?
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Comment on Belfast street photography
on 13 February 2012 at 2:57 am
Have to agree with thon fella above here. There are any number of reasons why a person might not want their image to be held by a stranger, especially when the destination is a public forum.
State surveillance at the level that it happens here is already ethically unsound in my opinion. It certainly doesn’t excuse your actions here.
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Comment on Has McGuinness Breached the Good Friday Agreement?
on 1 February 2012 at 6:26 pm
Right on Billy Pilgrim.
I might have said it before on here but you should definitely get Hope’s autobiography out of the Linen Hall if you can. It’s a good read. Meanders a bit but some of the stories of old Belfast and Dublin are wild.
Excellent analysis though. Think of the things we wouldn’t have had on the island of Ireland had we never been partitioned; civil rights abuses on both parts of the island, maltreatment of deserters during the Emergency, out-sourcing of our morality to the Catholic Church, 80 years of bitterness and bloodshed… all because we’d have had the moderating influence of Ulster (and other Irish) Protestants within a national Government.
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