Advertise
-
Books
-
A Political History of the Two Irelands competition…
It’s not often we get free things to give away to our readers, but courtesy of Palgrave Macmillan we have a nice paperback copy of Brian M Walker’s excellent history of partition of the island and how identities shifted in both the north east and the south and west: as most of the territory that [...] read our review »
-
Voices from the Grave
Coming up to the Halloween holiday, some people might be frightened of the idea of Voices from the Grave – but for others, the chance to hear an oral history of the Troubles from the mouths of two (in)famous protagonists, PUP leader and former UVF member David Ervine, and Brendan “The Dark” Hughes, is not [...] read our review »
-
Graphic portrayals: Northern Ireland, graphic novels and the peace process
Dr Gordon Gillespie, a researcher at the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen’s University Belfast, gave a presentation on “Graphic Portrayals: Northern Ireland, Graphic Novels and the Peace Process”, at the Linen Hall Library. Gordon started with a clarification that he was going to talk about graphic novels/comic books, not cartoons, and material that was [...] read our review »
-
Comment on DUP: tides and momentum
on 15 April 2010 at 3:52 pm
Turgon,
It is indeed funny how you simply dismiss Jim Allister’s record on expences etc as irrelevant. That’s remember there are some key facts involved here;
a. Jim indicated how many flights he had got and the European Parliament paid him EURO1200 for each return flight regardless of cost. If he got flights for £400 why did he simply NOT submit the details of his next flight to the Parliament and he wouldn’t have been given the full amount. Therefore ensuring he was only recieving around what he had spent in stead of EURO1200 each time??
b. Jim admitted in the court, and it is included in the judgement that he had worked on at least 17 civil cases as a Barrister after he took his seat as MEP. This is despite speaking out against double-jobbing. He therefore did indeed work as a barrister after becoming MEP. He has admitted taking payments for his work as a Barrister while he was MEP.
c. he has admitted that he employed 3 of his family members (wife, daughter and son) some full-time and some part-time etc through his MEP allowances
d. he has made claims about not taking all the expences and benefits available to him through Europe but doesn’t seem to want the public to know that he received durng the first years he was MEP substantial payments for legally aided work he had done prior to becoming an MEP . This is not to say he worked as a criminal barrister during this time but surely relevant when he is asking people to congratulate him on not taking all he could get in Europe??
e. Many people out there would find criminal legal aid fees disgustingly excessive. This is tax payers money yet we aren’t allowed to know what they charge for a 1 hours work, a day’s or week’s work to the tax payer?? Why doesn’t Jim break the mould and let us know exactly what fees the taxpayer is giving to defence lawyers and what for?
Go to comment
Comment on Appeal of judicial review of “smoke filled rooms” appointments rejected
on 16 March 2010 at 10:26 pm
The “wildly inaccurate” was based on the allegation of no srutiny because leave was refused. Any case going through a judicial review and then appeal would have had a very high degree of judicial scrutiny. In addition to this, it should be pointed out that Hain was not called to give evidence in his review (as such a thing as called witnesses would be very unusual in judicial review cases). Something tells me he wouldn’t be big into notetaking either!!
Go to comment
Comment on Appeal of judicial review of “smoke filled rooms” appointments rejected
on 16 March 2010 at 10:06 pm
Pete,
You need to check the factual basis for your post since it is wildly inaccurate. The Judicial Review was given leave. The Judicial Review happened and was dismissed. This was then appealed to the Court of Appeal and heard fully. This was then dismissed in a judgement given this morning. ALL ALLEGATIONS WERE REFUSED AND REJECTED BY THE COURT AFTER HEARING THE CASE TWICE!
Go to comment