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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 TV revolution to begin in Fermanagh
on 20 May 2009 at 1:47 am
Concur with eranu, Seymour Major. Vodafone was cheap and cheerful for me (in the south) when fixed-line broadband didn’t suit. Family in Mayo are unable to get Eircom. They use O2 fairly intensively. Same with friends in Kerry too – very intensively too (watch a lot of YouTube).
Had Digiweb once in Dublin. Kept cutting out. But that was a few years back and was line-of-sight not satellite.
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3G broadband has really opened some previously inaccessible parts to broadband. I will be watching Fermanagh.tv with interest to see how it pans out.
A comparable project in the south is castlebar.ie, which has been running for over a decade now. It too is driven by a ground up approach to online (local) media and that approach has been the key to its success. While it is now looking very dated bear in mind the project (yes, project, not commercial venture) dates from an era when the internet was static text and dial-up. Kent TV and Fermanagh.tv look like a natural transition from this.
Fair play to initiatives like Fermanagh.tv for bringing online media to the local. In the glitz of Web 2.0 (and the hype about “the information super highway” from the era when castlebar.ie was set up), the potential for online media to be a local media has for a large part been ignored.
It doesn’t need to be just global. The big national media has discovered the online world in a big way in recent years. Time too for it to be local too.
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Comment on Cameron promises to elevate Salmond to his equal
on 19 May 2009 at 4:31 pm
“Perhaps he is trying to construct a trap whereby he is exerting Westminster’s authority;”
I had written a sentence to this effect but deleted it because I thought it was too paranoid sounding
“The Taoiseach doesn’t turn up in front of the Assembly to explain himself either. Look at the whole picture!”
The whole picture is that if that was the case then the two assemblies on this island would be far closer to unity. Unionists shake their head at Seanad seats with good reason. Meeting to discuss things as peer is all well, good and neighbourly (although hard fought), but the Taoiseach in front of an Assembly committee or the FMDFM before an Oireachtas committee would be an act of unity.
The difference is that the two jurisdiction on this island are partitioned – and “unionists” here want to keep it that way. The two jurisdictions on the neighbouring island are in union – and “unionists” there want to keep it that way too. A “unionist” here would never want to see a representative of one assembly on this island sitting before a committee of the other. “Unionist” on the neighbouring island would.
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Anyway, we’re not going to sort it out here. Let’s see how Salmond handles it and maybe time will tell.
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Comment on Cameron promises to elevate Salmond to his equal
on 19 May 2009 at 2:40 pm
It’s the “reporting to the English” part that I see as a step backwards.
* Before: Scottish government not responsible to Westminster. Scottish parliament independent of UK PM.
* After: Scottish government defending its policy/spending to a comittee at Westminister. Scottish parliament that has an annual PMQs with the Westminster PM.
Right now, the personalities involved (Salmond and Cameron/SNP and Conservatives) make this interesting but the personalities are transitory. The offices involved would be the First Minsiter of Scotland moving from being an office independent of Westminster to being an office that reports to Westminster.
I get what you mean but I don’t think that it is the way to go. A genuine equity between UK PM and Scottish FM would be for the two to meet as equals and discuss their mutual/respective spending and policy and agree joint ones. This kind of framework already somewhat exists in the British-Irish Council. The North-South Ministerial Council here is more like it.
Contrast Camerons “invitation” with a) the NI FMDFM explaining their policy/spending before an Oireachtas committee vs. b) the NI FMDFM meeting with the Taoiseach to discuss and agree mutual/respective policies.
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Comment on Cameron promises to elevate Salmond to his equal
on 19 May 2009 at 11:40 am
“Tired and sore after jujitsu and have limited patience.”
Well that explains a lot.
Still, I get it now. Me, CS Parnell, Bob Wilson, SM, Brian Walker, loki … in fact everyone here who has commented one-way-or-the-other so far is wrong. And Kensei is right.
“Go away.”
OK.
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Comment on Cameron promises to elevate Salmond to his equal
on 19 May 2009 at 4:27 am
“Prime Minster don’t have to offer turning up to the civil servant’s as a quid pro quo to induce them to it.”
*shakes head* Don’t you not think that Cameron might be playing a political game?
“Where did I claim this was about sovereignty? I don’t think I did.”
Well, actually you wrote: “Personally as a fan of national sovereignty I think it is a great idea, and can’t think of many better things to get people used to the idea of an independent Scotland with equal relations to England. ”
Despite this, it is my argument that you neglect to see the erosion of Scottish sovereignty as being the crux of Cameron’s “invitation”. Straw man, indeed.
“Or it’ll make Salmond look even more like PM of Scotland…”
What PM of any country defends his/her policy and spending to a parliamentary committee of another?? Does the PM of Denmark answer to a committee of the German Bundestag? Does the PM of New Zealand defend his/her policy and spending decisions to a committee of the Parliament of Australia? What relationship would you think existed between those states should that be the case? Independent? Sovereign? No way!
What business would any future PM of Scotland have defending his/her governance of Scotland to a committee of the UK parliament? (I do, however, agree where you hint that cordial relations are a genuine mark a sovereignty.)
“…the Scottish Parliament feel more important and even less minded to take direction from Westminster.”
How? By it’s First Minister annually defending his/her spending and policy decision to a committee sitting … where? … oh, yeah … Westminister! Do you not think that that comittee might be inclided to direct the First Minister one way or the other? And that the First Minister might feel obliged to answer to answer to those directions?
What kind a colonial think would make the Scottish parliament feel “important” by sending it First Minister down the road to explain himself to a committee at the London parliament?
“CUMBLA”
I don’t know what means. What is it?
“,..look outside the box…”
Looking outside of the box is a fine thing. And a thing to be encouraged.
“Have you lost the plot / No. Next question.”
OK. I’ll put it another way: have you lost the box?
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Comment on Proof Northern Ireland is not a country……
on 19 May 2009 at 3:14 am
PROOF: NORTHERN IRELAND IS A COUNTRY:
See here or here. (You will need to click on “More”.)
Sorry Kensei!
(And Intelligence Insider, click here.)
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Comment on Cameron promises to elevate Salmond to his equal
on 19 May 2009 at 2:51 am
Kensei,
Have you lost the plot?
“Cameron is essentially promising to place himself, as PM of the UK, on the same level as Alex Salmond, FM of Scotland.”
No. Civil servants appear before committees every day. That doesn’t make them prime ministers.
The substance of Camerons invitation is to strengthen the union. You will not hear of the Taoiseach appearing before of committee of the UK parliament or the UK prime minister appearing before a comittee of the Oireachtas. The reason is a simple one: sovereignty.
Camerons invitation to Salmond would eat away at Salmond’s drive towards Scottish sovereignty. It would make their relationship clear: Salmond, the elected administrator of a UK region, explaining his actions to the UK parliament; Cameron, the prime minister of the UK, explaining his actions to the parliament of a UK region.
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Comment on Proof Northern Ireland is not a country……
on 18 May 2009 at 11:58 pm
Fair play to Britannica: “Although the term British Isles has a long history of common usage, it has become increasingly controversial, especially for some in Ireland who object to its connotation of political and cultural connections between Ireland and the United Kingdom.”
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Comment on Are the Greens getting the jitters?
on 18 May 2009 at 11:47 pm
I fully support the Greens being in government. As a Green, I’m indifferent to whether that government be formed with Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael (Tweedledum or Tweedledee). But I am very uncomfortable about the current polling of the major coalition party. Democracy is not a thing that happens once every five years. It is a thing that happens every day and this government has lost its mandate to govern.
Parties dip and rise in the polls throughout the lifetime of a government but the mood of the people has palpably changed. Following the local and European elections (and their inevitable results) it will be morally wrong for the Greens to perpetuate this government against the will of the people.
The right thing to do, whatever the political consequences, will be to end the coalition and (as a practical consequence) put it to the people. If the Greens do not, they will have lost sight of fundamental Green principles. That would not only be a very sad thing indeed but a choice that would cost the party dearly for years to come.
Doing the honourable thing, on the other hand, might genuinely separate the Greens from the lazy and power hungry of the Irish political mainstream and demonstrate to the people that Green politics is about more than just windmills and incinerators.
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Comment on Proof Northern Ireland is not a country……
on 18 May 2009 at 4:38 am
(Click “Use as a class of islands” when you follow the above link.)
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