Profile for Moderate Unionist
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Moderate Unionist has commented 607 times (0 in the last month).
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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 Are the Tories as rattled as they seem?
on 18 April 2010 at 6:58 pm
If the parliament is indeed hung then this may be the last chance for the Tories or the Labour Party to hold power on their own as surely the LibDems will demand electoral reform.
Cameron has the cut of the sharp salesman who thought he had sealed the deal only to find that the customer is now not so sure. His tactic in the first debate was to say little and rely on Brown’s unpopularity to keep him ahead – there will now probably need to be a re-think and if Cameron is not rattled then he certainly should be as his, perhaps only oportunity for power, may just be about to slip away.
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Comment on Magners League Weekend 16
on 16 April 2010 at 1:27 pm
Ospreys have 2 difficult games coming up (Leinster and Munster) – possibility no Welsh team will be in top 4 play offs.
Dewi,
have you paid your debts to Slugger?
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Comment on An English Debate
on 16 April 2010 at 1:18 pm
Didint mention Wales.
I thought the Plaid leader sounded really silly saying this straight after the debate.
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Comment on Irish Techies & Entreprenuers – Dublin Startup Weekend
on 15 April 2010 at 5:29 pm
Mack,
“with different skills and you can figure out if you can work together”
Yes, a bit of the old cliched ‘networking’ will probably give birth to quite a bit of business activity at the very least and it will be interesting to see what ‘product’ emerges.
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Comment on Irish Techies & Entreprenuers – Dublin Startup Weekend
on 15 April 2010 at 4:51 pm
Mack,
seems like a good idea, but wonder if some people will be put off by lack of confidentiality – after all you could turn up and pocket some nice concepts.
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Comment on DUP: tides and momentum
on 15 April 2010 at 3:26 pm
DR,
most Ulster political parties can take a hit, absorb the pain, appoint a replacement and resume their trade. You only have to look at the Iris saga to see that. Even if Adams and Robinson bite the dust in the coming months, over their respective ‘scandals’, Mc Guinness and Deputy Doddsy will step into the breech and the same old show will stay on the road.
No, what does it for Ulster parties is to get trapped on the wrong side of the arguement like the UUP are as we all watch on at their embarassing attempts to find a find an identity for themselves. They resemble an awkward teenager trying out different images, one day its non tribal UCUNF and the next it voting pacts with the DUP and the OO are their bestest friend again and one day they are pro-agreement and the next day they are being scolded by the US adminstration for trying to wreck Stormo whilst all the time looking over the shoulder at a confident DUP who seem to brush off any crisis they encounter. Similarly the SDLP having like the UUP done a lot of the hard work in building the Stormo castle have seemingly sat down on the grasss outside to have a rest and didnt seem to notice or care or do anything about SF going in and enjoying the benefits.
Now that the DUP (and SF) are sipping at the top table something really big will be required to shift the feckers.
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Comment on DUP: tides and momentum
on 15 April 2010 at 2:17 pm
PaddyReilly,
re. not understanding.
I say 1 or 2, you say 11 to 13. Perhaps it will be somewhere in betreen and perhaps you will be more right than me – but my point is that unless the TUV can show it is growing or consolidating it will probably fade – as that is what tends to happen to smaller Unionist parties and that will be to the DUPs benefit.
Turgon,
as Stormo settles down and perhaps education gets sorted it will be very dififcult for UUP or TUV to keep banging on all the time that the sky is going to fall in and that we are all doomed. They need I fear some type of crisis either resulting from marching going badly wrong or the dissers doing something really spectacular or the police/MI5 doing soemthing really stupid.
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Comment on DUP: tides and momentum
on 15 April 2010 at 4:17 am
Turgon,
Allister may survive the Westminsters but gradually wither on the vine after the Assembly elections if he only picks up a couple of seats and a relatively poor performance for UCUNF – perhaps only picking up one seat (probably the likeliest outcome?) – will also see the UUP coming under further pressure from the DUP.
The DUP have survived and may indeed thrive not because of political acumen but rather incumbency – they are in the right place at the right time when the last piece of Peace Process fell into place and now any moves towards Unionist Unity which now seem likley will also probably be on the DUP terms.
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Comment on “confused, narrow minded, ill-judged”
on 14 April 2010 at 6:03 pm
As SF do not take their seats in the Westminsters (where apart from reminiding British MPs about their current and historical imperial adeventures they would not have much influence) they should instead remind the Plain People of Ulster that the Tories are not to be trusted – having already gone back on their non-tribalism jibber jabber before they even got into power.
As a mater of interest will any party be standing in all 18 constituencies now that we know that UCUNF have bottled out?
Protocol warning: Please adjust your mindset
For those of a particulalry tribal and/or sensitive disposition and those unable to judge an arguement on it’s merits please be aware that the term Unionist in my name is not an entrirely accurate reflection of my political views though it should also be noted that my paternal grandfather was a keen supporter of the Union and I am invoking the FIFA grandparent rule and am opting to call myself so. (I’m sure he would have approved.)
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Comment on “Losing seats was never part of the inevitability narrative…”
on 14 April 2010 at 1:25 am
The Westminsters are increasingly irrelevant to SF – and excepting the possibility of a hung parliament to all parties – their only real purpose to SF is a bit of political bragging and pride and as bellweather of likely Assembly seats.
Of course they are not likely to say this publically and will chose instead to beat the green white and orange out of the SDLP for failing to agree an electoral pact.
To paraphrase Bill C. It’s the Assembly stupid.
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