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Nordie Northsider has commented 159 times (8 in the last month).
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Books
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Hearing the Other Voice from the Grave: Why Should we Listen to David Ervine’s Stories?
Ed Moloney’s Voices from the Grave: Two Men’s War in Ireland has received considerable attention in the press and in the public realm since its publication earlier this year. Although the book relates the experiences of the Provisional IRA’s Brendan Hughes and the PUP/UVF’s David Ervine, much of the discussion has focused on Hughes’ stories [...] read our review » -
Help me with the West Wing: Essential viewing or Party Political Broadcast?
Having somehow managed to avoid watching a single episode of the widely praised West Wing TV series I was delighted to discover the entire Box set in my Christmas stocking – and with enough spare time over the holidays to give it a good lash. But with 10 episodes of the first series under my [...] read our review »
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Of the Old North and other Vanished Kingdoms..
I’m currently trawling through Norman Davies’s fabulous new tome – “Vanished Kingdoms” – Five stars in the (London) Telegraph’s review from Ben Wilson: All the nations that have ever lived have left their footsteps in the sand,” writes Norman Davies. “The traces fade with every tide, the echoes grow faint, the images are fractured, the human [...] read our review »
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Comment on Martina Anderson to take over from Bairbre de Brun as MEP?
on 15 May 2012 at 2:57 pm
So who will slug it out with the SDLP by the banks of the Foyle now?
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Comment on de Brun resigns as MEP
on 3 May 2012 at 3:47 pm
Don’t be surprised if they co-opt someone from the South. More border-melting.
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Comment on The Brendan Smith case and the church’s strange relations with the power of law
on 3 May 2012 at 8:55 am
Patsy McGarry, on last night’s Vincent Brown programme, went through the ‘Seán Brady was only a note-taker’ argument for a short-cut. When the swearing to secrecy element of this story broke two years ago, the Catholic press office issued statements specifically referring to Brady as the investigator in this case – their own words, which Brady could have corrected if he thought them inaccurate. Also, Brady admits to having interviewed a second boy on his own. Would a ‘note taker’ have authority to do that? Clearly not.
Those are damning facts, without even going into the matter of why an institution should use a theologian and Canon-lawyer in his mid-thirties as a glorified secretary.
There’s a linguistic point too: apologists for Brady take refuge in the word ‘notary’. ‘Notary’ has an coincidental similarity to ‘one who takes notes’ but in fact it indicates a specific legal role. Ask any ‘notary public’ or French ‘notaire’.
McGarry makes another, devasting point. Defenders of Brady paint a scenario where the then priest could not have followed the further handling of the case other than by a confrontation with his Bishop. Not so. The boys, on being sworn to secrecy, were ordered not to speak about the matter other than to certain ‘nominated’ priests. It’s hard to believe Brady wouldn’t have known the identity of the nominees appointed to handle the cases of the two children from Cavan. They were almost certainly local priests and Brady could have contacted them to follow up on the conduct of the investigation. He didn’t, despite staying in Cavan for a further six years after the events in question.
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Comment on Quit the messing lads and start managing your government’s politics….
on 27 April 2012 at 12:42 pm
True, but the behaviour of backbenchers reflects on the public perception of Government and Labour are failing miserably to prevent defections, resignations and public disagreement. But let’s stick to Cabinet level: Fergus wants to give the impression that Labour are a more choreographed unit than Fine Gael. He chooses to ignore Minister Joan Burton’s unveiled criticism of cabinet colleagues. That doesn’t do much for cohesion.
I like the style of Fergus Finlay’s pieces in the Examiner, but I never forget that he is a party man. I have not once seen him make a serious criticism of the Labour Party.
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Comment on Quit the messing lads and start managing your government’s politics….
on 27 April 2012 at 12:10 pm
For all its strong language, the article is really just more Labour Party fodder. Gilmore is deemed to be free of the incompetence of other Ministers and the named offenders are all from Fine Gael. Finlay has chosen to ignore the off-message pronouncements of Labour TDs like Patrick McNulty, the European spat between Neasa Childers & Proinsias de Rossa etc.
Fergus suggests that if the coalition doesn’t get its act together it will revive the chances of a Fianna Fáil government. It’s curious how Labour people talk up Fianna Fáil. It’s obvious to everyone that Sinn Féin are just as likely to make electroral gain from the public’s anger – but Sinn Féin must not be named and SF arguments must be studiously ignored. On TV and radio Labour spokespeople pick up on Fianna Fáil positions and ignore the Shinners as much as they can. I’m beginning to think Labour and Fianna Fáil need each other.
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Comment on Official Languages Act falling into disuse in the Republic?
on 25 April 2012 at 1:49 pm
Sadly, all debates on this issue get side-tracked into revival vs anti-revival punch-ups. In fact, an Official Languages Act is not an idea up for debate or potentially the object of legislation – it is actual Government policy. The real issue here is whether or not the State is implementing its own law. From the evidence presented by the Commissioner, you’d have to say that it isn’t.
Complaints to the Commissioner have risen greatly. State bodies simply flout their duty to come up with language schemes or to improve existing ones. The only intervention by the Minister has been to suggest merging the Language Commissioner’s office with that of the Ombudsman.
Colmán Ó hUallacháin, a linguist and educationalist, once memorably summed up the attitude of the Irish state towards language planning for Irish as ‘bású le faillí’ (which he translated rather freely as ‘negation through delay’.) I think he would hold the same view now, only things seem to have speeded up a bit. Údarás na Gaeltachta is much diminished, only recently appointing a CEO. Contradictory proposals on its future fly back and forth – merging it with Foras na Gaeilge, merging it with Enterprise Ireland.
No one is sure if the Gaeleagras body, set up to promote Irish in the civil service, has been abolished or not. Education policy is a joke. An example: native speakers of Irish follow the same syllabus as learners: right down to being taught how to say hello to each other. I was told recently by a lecturer in bilingual education that he uses the Irish experience as an example of bad practice.
Over all this presides Minister Dinny McGinley. I’m aware of policy over ad hominem arguments of this site but it’s legitimate to worry about a Minister who only seems to have been given the job as a kind of honourary post for long service and keeping a Fine Gael seat in Donegal. A good man for opening a Feis, but has he got ideas about how to sort out the mess that is Foras na Gaeilge, for example? I don’t think that anyone would claim that he has.
I believe that this abject failure to implement Government policy should be a cause of concern to all, even to those who are hostile to Irish. If we’re going to do it, we might as well do it right, as opposed to the listless, ineffectual drift of successive Irish governments. Otherwise, it really is an obscene waste of money.
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Comment on Sinn Fein’s South Down selection sows seeds for a new post conflict generation…
on 24 April 2012 at 7:50 pm
Ah now, a Shocaire, that means that Mick’s grammar book is getting worse. ‘Gramadach’ is the word you’re looking for. http://www.aistear.ie/cruinneas.php?l=G
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Comment on Why are there not more Nationalist blogs?
on 24 April 2012 at 4:17 pm
“I can think of Jude Collins, Mark McGregor, Splintered sunrise, end game in ulster of the top of my head and Im sure Bavarian orange is really a closet shinner.”
Some of those blogs are more active than others though. The last entry on ‘End Game’ was on January 28.
Is it possible that Nationalists prefer their on-line comment on all-Ireland fora like http://www.politics.ie? (Which, ironically, has a partitionist format).
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Comment on Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore calls for delivery on Northern Ireland Bill of Rights
on 21 April 2012 at 7:16 pm
Alias wrote: ‘If you look at the waffle, it has Iveagh House fingerprints all over it …’
In fairness, he may well be speaking from the heart. A Bill of Rights was Workers’ Party policy for many years. At times it seemed to be their only policy.
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Comment on Sinn Fein move up 6 points in latest Irish Times poll…
on 20 April 2012 at 3:59 pm
Grandimarkey wrote: ‘I’d imagine that there would always be a Northern aspect to the leadership team anyway…’
I think that’s right. In fact, the reason why I put quotation marks around ‘Southern’ leadership is precisely because Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Pearse Doherty are in border constituencies and are likely to be pretty clued up as to Northern politics.
I remember some poor media performances from Adams where he showed a lack of detailed knowledge about affairs South of the border (not knowing what the VAT rate was, for example). They weren’t as disastrous as some made out, but it did look bad. It’s easy to imagine a similar situation with Mary Lou or Peadar Tóibín in a BBC interview. It’s a big ask to expect a leader to have an exhaustive knowledge of two jurisdictions.
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