Slugger O'Toole

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Latest comments from Lionel Hutz (see all)

Lionel Hutz has commented 983 times (5 in the last month).

1. Comment on SDLP needs a story that makes its opponents more uncomfortable than it does themselves..
   on 24 May 2012 at 2:33 am

   I saw the headline on the front of today’s Newsletter, and I thought it was a good story. I don’t see anything wrong with this at all. I didn’t vote at the time when the SDLP were the big Nationalist party but as I understand it, they got votes when they appeared to “stand for something” and they lost votes when they behaved like politicians.

   In any case, taking up an unpopular cause can have its advantages. Few could openly state that the SDLP are likely to benefit from it so it appears like a selfless act – and maybe it is. But that in itself plays into the idea that they will call it as they see it.

   Incidently I don’t think campaigning for a couple of possible dissidents is that harmful. In my view, most of the SDLP electorate would feel by and large detached from dissidents and the most it impacts upon them is the odd delay on their way to or from work. Clearly, the very serious attacks cut somewhat deeper but by large, the dissidents are seen as paranoid and delusional.

   In my own view, Marian Price’s detention is wrong. McGeogh’s I’m a little more ambivialent about – the only thing that bothers me about it is the way that it seemed a politcally motivated prosecution – but he deserved to spend some time for what he did.

   I don’t uncomfortable with the SDLP supporting these people. And I don’t see how it will harm them. Whereas it certainly makes Sinn Fein seem uncomfortable. So aren’t they doing what Mr Fealty’s article suggests????

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2. Comment on Grammar schools and social mobility: a Northern Ireland contribution to the debate
   on 22 May 2012 at 2:52 am

   When I hear about the grammar school debate, I would love to know what proportion of children get tutored. I am only 26 but I think I remember one girl in my primary school class getting tutored. Is it really so different now 15 years on or is it just a cliche?

   Im always conflicted on the selection debate. I will never forget that my best friend in primary school was not allowed, by his parents, to go to the open day of the grammar school that I eventually went to so that he would not get his hopes up and then the primary school principal advising him not to do the 11+ even though he wanted to. I saw that resentment that built up years later. So I’ve always been in principle against selection.

   But then I have this big unanswered question about what rural children are supposed to do. My wife-to-be grew up in the very west of Tyrone and went to school in a Grammar in Omagh. She just would not have gotten in had it not been for academic selection. She lived 30 miles away. The social mobility argument may be a cliche at this stage but for those in rural areas in particular, there seems to me to be a truth in it. With no selection, you have a choice, either be happy with the rural secondary school or move to a place with what you may consider as a better school. Only the well-off would have that choice. Those in the border areas, which are often already deprived will be hit hardest.

   Until I have an answer to that conundrum, I support Academic Selection.

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3. Comment on Enda won’t debate Gerry who in turn won’t debate Micheal on the Treaty…
   on 12 May 2012 at 8:47 pm

   When the constitution was rejected, they had to tweak things a little to get it through the second time round.

   The most compelling argument for the “NO” vote is that if we say no, we can get back to the table with a very different dynamic since the election of Hollande and events in Greece

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4. Comment on NI Attorney General: “Citizens are entitled to have confidence in the administration of justice”
   on 27 April 2012 at 1:12 am

   Perhaps wild turkey has the blueprint for a better justice system in mind

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5. Comment on NI Attorney General: “Citizens are entitled to have confidence in the administration of justice”
   on 25 April 2012 at 6:08 pm

   I’ve had my doubts about whether it was right to take this case. I think Hain’s comments were scandalous but I’m still not sure if it was in the public interest to take this case. But politicians routinely lambast judicial decision, often without showing any insight into why the decision was made. After hearing the MPs abusing parliamentary privilege to affect a judicialprocess, I’d be inclined to stick it up them.

   And I also doubt that if Dominic Grieve had taken such a cours, would Cameron on have criticized him

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6. Comment on Poots village idiot remarks showed poor handling from the Speaker…
   on 23 April 2012 at 8:01 pm

   It was still biased. The response to the likes of Jim Allister and I recall one incident with Dominic Bradley – hardly a disruptive influence- for speaking Irish for too long.

   Matthew Paris was right as far as his observation went. But this issue was not how inconsequential the statement was. It was the different treatment handed out to different parties. We all know that if McCarthy had said that to Poots, the result would have been different.

   And why shy away from calling the party bias when’s its there for all to see

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7. Comment on 16 Nationalist MLAs in the top 20 of free ink claimants…
   on 6 April 2012 at 1:54 am

   To be honest, I’m more surprised by the sdlp figures. Apart from election pamphlets I’ve never seen anything printed by them. You can’t move for Sinn Fein leaflets. And in West Throne, they seem to have massive posters everywhere which are regularly changed

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8. Comment on 16 Nationalist MLAs in the top 20 of free ink claimants…
   on 5 April 2012 at 5:15 pm

   Salgado, that may be right to. I dont know though because, Alban Maginness is third, McDevitt 7th, Adams 8th, Attwood 11th, Peter Robinson 13th. I suppose it depends on what counts as rural beyond that

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9. Comment on 16 Nationalist MLAs in the top 20 of free ink claimants…
   on 5 April 2012 at 3:56 pm

   Sdlps average rate is the highest. Sinn Fein has more shocking offenders. Doherty and then Adams. Adams makes the list even though he was out of ffice for most of the period.

   I wonder are there economies of scale with multiple reps from one constituency. You would surely expect Sinn Fein average in West Belfast to be less than what Atwood spent for example

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10. Comment on Is it time for unionists to make peace with Ireland’s Patriot Dead?
    on 5 April 2012 at 1:44 am

    I would ask when will Sinn Fein stay the hell out of using the easter memorials as a way of promoting their party. Apart from being simply crass, the effect is that many Irishmen, myself included, would feel too uncomfortable to commemorate the dead of the easter rising because Sinn Fein seek to join the provo into it. Indeed if a dissident were to die for their cause, are we commemorate them too. No-one can deny that they are patriotic

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