Advertise
-
Books
-
Round up of Tuesday’s Political Studies Association conference
If you want to get a flavour of the proceedings at the Political Studies Association conference on its opening day, then the Storify collation below will bring you some of the images, tweets and sounds of the day. Particular highlights included: the Opening Plenary with David Blunkett, Peter Riddell and Matthew Flinders; and the late [...] 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 » -
Eamon Nancarrow’s misadventures in Rock…
It’s the quiet ones you have to watch, they say. When I last saw Eamonn Namcarrow, back in the mid 1980s he was a congenial, good-natured and highly sociable young lad. The next time was 26 years later, in Lavery’s Gin Palace in Bradbury Place. He’d just brought out his first book, Holywood Star about [...] read our review »
-
Comment on “However, the Minister told us that she was too busy to see us.”
on 20 February 2012 at 10:19 pm
If ever there was a Minister who was completly out of her depth (excuse the pun), its got to be Ms Ni Chuilin. I know the phrase “poacher turned gamekeeper” is oft used to highlight a point, but it seems to work on so many levels regarding this issue and the environment in general!
Go to comment
Comment on Case for unification: “I sense that republicans don’t actually know the answer themselves”
on 13 February 2012 at 1:29 pm
“Alex Kane is right to suggest that intellectually, nationalism is at a low point”? Nationalism has never had a high point, be it the Irish variety that shot and bombed the hell out of this place for 40 odd years, or indeed, the BNP variety as espoused by Peter Robinson and Co. “Nationalism” has taken on a new meaning in Northern Ireland, one that suits all Parties who find it useful to paint everything in easily understood “Green/Orange language. But then again that is something politicos do well in Northern Ireland (change the original meaning of words) to make it user friendly for the electorate in order that we keep the “us and them” mindset in place.
Go to comment
Comment on Salmond invades Dublin in pursuit of Glasgow’s Labour vote?
on 13 January 2012 at 11:16 pm
Nationalism, be it Scottish, British or Irish seems to debase politics on an ongoing basis. If true politics are about the “art of the possible” then surely the sight of Alex Salmond backslapping his fellow “nationalists” in Dublin today would ensure that we are going nowhere fast in terms of progressive politics that will take Ireland (North and South) into the 21st century. Or else we continue on as we usually do, fighting the battle of the Boyne or Bloody Sunday on a weekly basis, in the hope that our “Cause” will trumph the “others”! What was on display today wasn’t politics, it was positioning.!
Go to comment
Comment on If you are *really* sorry, have this on my desk by Tuesday week..
on 7 January 2012 at 9:44 am
Mick, i think you owe Rory an apology!!
Go to comment
Comment on Northern Ireland’s roads remain safe: possibly not at 111mph
on 5 January 2012 at 9:35 pm
I would hazzard a guess that the price of fuel, coupled with a reduction in car journeys and the recession could well be a reason for the reduction in deaths on the roads. Speed does kill, thats just a fact. If anything we would need to be reducing the speed limit to 50 mph as they do in many parts of America. I know that a suggestion like that will go down like a lead balloon, however if you factor in fuel consumption whilst driving at under 50 mph, you begin to see the benifits of slowing down, it suits the character of Northern Irish people as well!
Go to comment
Comment on “we are a city of culture…”
on 5 January 2012 at 9:10 pm
What on earth are those philistines in Swatra, Garvagh and Ballinascreen on about? How dare they question the integrity of Irish musicians from Derry in a traditional context? Have they never heard of Joseph Locke, the Undertones, D-ream, Nadine Coyle the list is endless. Are these musicians any less irish than the diddley do brigade who batter borans as a cultural expression? There’s more talent in Derry than the rest of the county put together. Plus Martina Anderson was a beauty queen before she started her career as an adviser to the City of Culture board!
Go to comment
Comment on “and ‘Soon’ would have known this”
on 2 January 2012 at 4:13 pm
The tensof thousands of people who vote SF at every election won’t be too worried about what Gerry Adams did or did not do during the hunger strike all those years ago. Adams knows this, he also knows that all he has to do is keep saying that he has worked tirelessly to bring about peace in Ireland! Whatever it is about Irish people they seem to feel the need to erase anything in their “political memory” that doesn’t gel with their current world view, Fianna Fail voters are a classic example as are DUP voters. That philisophy was working until the wheels came of the economy, now the effects of “buying off” politicians is hitting the pockets of the rich and poor! Time for a new narrative, one that doesn’t mean paying vast sums of taxpayers money to keep “wannabe politicians” in a well paid job.
Go to comment
Comment on Danny Morrison’s Position
on 2 January 2012 at 12:31 am
@Carrickmore man, when the truth comes out (as it most certaintly will) about the cynical manipulation of the hunger strikers that took place in the H Blocks 30 years ago, will you at least have the grace to admit that the Provos (headed by Adams) were compromised at every level, including the level who were running the H Block committee on the outside? Running Northern Ireland three decades later with the DUP was probably not what the dying men envisaged as they starved themselves. Oh the damage!
Go to comment
Comment on “more to do with their reluctance to take the hard economic decisions…”
on 28 December 2011 at 9:55 pm
SF/DUP face many problems as we peer into 2012. Already they have had their “jewel in the crown” snached from the jaws of victory – the A5 £1 billion motorway that would have linked Dublin to Derry just in time for the 2016 celebrations. Now NAMA is stalking the 6 counties like the grim reaper and driving down housing prices. Because of the free market ideology of both SF and the DUP they are in no position to protest even though the “meddling” is from South of the border. Add on the £25 Million pound loan taken out on behalf of the citizens of NI at a premium rate in order that the PMS were bailed out because they lost while gambling their savers holdings on the money markets and you get a picture of pain, followed by more pain and finishing off with a collapse of Government, with both sides blaming each other. Nevermind, at least we aren’t blowing the hell out of the place!
Go to comment
Comment on Give us your suggestions for an Xmas reading list?
on 28 December 2011 at 9:35 pm
“The Sister Brothers” shortlisted for The Man Booker Prize 2011! Its not unlike the “Chuckle Brothers” who used to run Stormont! Touching and dark, this cowboy noir is compelling, absorbing and has a narrator who moves from thoughtful conviction to casual murder – again the similarities between the “Old West” and the “New Northern Ireland” are startling. It offers an unexpected meditation on life, and on the crucial difference between power and strength. The assembly hasn’t quite grasped that difference yet, nevertheless this book should be mandatory reading for any MLA.
Go to comment