Comment Archives for Michael Shilliday
I used to write and get paid, now I read and don't.
Former UUP staffer, currently living in London. @mjshilliday
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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 Ian Junior claimed £10,000 in postage in his six last months in office…
on 14 May 2012 at 10:16 am
That, by the way, is not one per household per year, it’s one per voter per year. Every year. And he is only replying to half of them. Apparently.
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Comment on Ian Junior claimed £10,000 in postage in his six last months in office…
on 14 May 2012 at 10:11 am
There are roughly 250 working days in a year. If he gets 220 letters per day that is 55 thousand per year.
That would mean Ian paisley Jnr is getting one letter from three quarters of the North Antrim electorate each year. Which seems unlikely.
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Comment on For Unionists Only: What would you relish in a United Ireland?
on 18 April 2012 at 11:15 pm
British Government interference in internal unified Irish affairs would indeed be an interesting development. One would imagine that the British Government would be expected to become a persuader for repartition in the same was as the Government of the Republic is a persuader for Irish unity.
And I wouldn’t expect Government funding for Unionist statues in Dublin, as there has been no rebalancing of the Stormont estate as yet.
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Comment on For Unionists Only: What would you relish in a United Ireland?
on 18 April 2012 at 9:27 am
The anthem played at the rugby wouldn’t be so gratuitously offensive. It might also be nice to have Unionists and FG permanently in coalition together.
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Comment on 16 Nationalist MLAs in the top 20 of free ink claimants…
on 5 April 2012 at 6:38 pm
As far as I’m aware there is a list of stationary items that was drawn up in 1999 that MLAs would be able to take without charge including such essentials as floppy discs. Toner will be on there. In some ways its fair enough, they need stationary to function, but perhaps some are taking it a little far……
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Comment on 16 Nationalist MLAs in the top 20 of free ink claimants…
on 5 April 2012 at 12:43 pm
Did McGill claim anything at all?
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Comment on The Attorney General of Northern Ireland “accordingly considers it appropriate that the author and publisher of ‘Outside In’ should be punished for contempt of court”
on 28 March 2012 at 12:34 am
Erm, tried for, surely. Is the Attorney General the tribunal of fact in Contempt cases in Northern Ireland?
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Comment on John McCallister joins the UUP leadership race
on 13 March 2012 at 6:55 pm
“it was the SDLP which opposed the move away from election of FM and DFM by cross-community vote; yet it is the SDLP which now complains about the same system being used to elect the Justice Minister – instead advocating an 11th d’Hondt Minister in direct contravention of the 1998 Agreement it claimed to support 100%.”
Err, that’s nonsense. The Belfast Agreement had OFMdFM ministers elected by the Assembly, everyone else by d’Hondt. The SDLP and UUP want that system restored from the bastardisation we have now. The Alliance want to keep it because it suits their pockets and egos.
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Comment on UUP leadership election – the final triumph of civic Unionism?
on 12 March 2012 at 10:07 pm
McCallister isn’t in the Orange. It isn’t a consideration anymore.
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Comment on UUP leadership election – the final triumph of civic Unionism?
on 12 March 2012 at 8:55 pm
Good analysis emanonon. Except that you misspelt every name in your post. And you claim something to be obvious that in not only not obvious, but isn’t going to happen.
Otherwise spot on.
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Comment on UUP leadership election – the final triumph of civic Unionism?
on 12 March 2012 at 3:22 pm
The UUP is unleadable? Now where have I read that before this week?
I think dwatch is wrong on how those individuals will split, but even if he wasn’t none of them have or would use any influence to speak of in this election. This one is going to come down to who the rank and file like and don’t like. Kennedy won’t get whitewashed, but he wont win either. Key blocs in the party wont like his ties to the DUP, the A5 decision, the PT article, his position on opposition. Fermanagh will break evenly for Nesbitt and Kennedy, Nesbitt will take the east.
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Comment on UUP leadership election – the final triumph of civic Unionism?
on 12 March 2012 at 1:20 pm
I’ve updated it. Again. It didn’t make sense to me for Kennedy to stand 2 hours ago, and it doesn’t make a lot of sense now.
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Comment on Willie Clarke ‘allowed the option’ of working in Down council…
on 21 February 2012 at 4:14 pm
Willie Clarke isn’t the strongest link in the SF Assembly chain, but he certainly isn’t the weakest either.
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Comment on “the game for the UUP is virtually up unless it is able to come to terms with … the unpalatable reality”
on 20 February 2012 at 12:47 pm
What does it matter if the disciplinary committee substantiate his version? Why would they when the truth of the matter is not what he is under investigation for, rather his conduct after the Liam Clarke interview?
But on top of all that, what does it matter when he is on the wrong side of the unionist unity argument as far as UUP members are concerned?
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Comment on Ban on Irish radio outside Belfast
on 20 February 2012 at 12:40 pm
Example of why the Irish language lobby doesn’t get anywhere number 5286: heroic levels of hyperbole.
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Comment on UUP: Confused boxer without a decent right or left?
on 2 February 2012 at 3:40 pm
A NI Tory with no idea how Government works. How odd.
Danny Kennedy has no power to announce how that money is to be reallocated. If there is any money to be allocated, he can bid for it in a monitoring round, but the Minister for Finance has the power to distribute it.
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Comment on McNarry: “the party will close ranks and anybody who wants to be a hypocrite will get their photograph taken”
on 1 February 2012 at 9:21 pm
Hard to know what to say to that………….
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Comment on New Tories, old Tories, what’s the difference?
on 1 February 2012 at 9:41 am
What’s your point? Are you expecting me to disagree with you? Other than to say that the offer he rejected wasn’t really an offer at all, but we all know why it was so disingenuous.
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Comment on New Tories, old Tories, what’s the difference?
on 31 January 2012 at 9:04 pm
That’s hardly a surprise. But the Tory council candidates didn’t make up the difference either. Hence my statement ” The UUP and Tories can only hope for success together, it’s about time both sides came to terms with that.”
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Comment on New Tories, old Tories, what’s the difference?
on 31 January 2012 at 8:36 pm
OneNI,
Open your eyes. 100k votes is what the UUP have been getting at every election since 2004. Even in the isolated DEA’s Tories were standing in in 2011 they were only getting 2% of the vote. The UUP and Tories can only hope for success together, it’s about time both sides came to terms with that.
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