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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 The “Top Secret” Press Release
on 12 November 2010 at 12:58 am
First let me say that my family always voted SDLP until the last election and will vote again for them in the next set of elections but I must set some things right as my father pointed out to me about that time in the 80′s. I have also included an article my father kept. http://www.flickr.com/photos/55866575@N08/5167695393/
Richard O’Rawe claims that “a sinister explanation” for the death of Joe McDonnell and the deaths of five other hunger strikers was that “a powerful few made a decision to delay any settlement until after a by-election for the Fermanagh/South Tyrone seat.”
Richard has a problem with this theory: the facts.
According to the Belfast Telegraph (published on 29th July, 1981) the writ for the by-election was only moved on 28th July. A week earlier, with rumours in Westminster that a writ might be moved before the close of the parliamentary session, the National Smash H-Block/Armagh Committee selected Owen Carron as a candidate in the event of a by-election being called. They chose Carron because Thatcher by amending the Representation of the People Act that July changed the law so that republican prisoners, North or South, were disqualified from standing for election.
Given that Joe McDonnell died on 8th July how could that “powerful few” (code for Adams etc) have known before Joe’s death that a by-election would be called? How could they know that Thatcher would change the law (which is why Carron stood and not a prisoner)? How could they know that Owen Carron would be selected? How could they be sure he would win if selected?
Richard’s theory has been cobbled together by bits of string and a rusty nail here and there.
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Comment on Fearghal McKinney to run for Fermanagh South Tyrone…
on 21 April 2010 at 12:56 am
Is there anyone listening in the SDLP leadership? Why will they not put the rights of people before the fortunes of their party? If Ferghal can wait this long for a new career in politics then surely he can hold his water for another day. Surely he does not want to serve the Orange Order’s agenda. If the SDLP fail to heed the need of the people of Fermanagh South Tyrone, they’ll lose all honour.
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