Profile for oneill
Latest posts from oneill (see all)
oneill has posted 40 times (0 in the last month).
Dancing apart on the narrow ground
Tweet The explosion of Dance Culture, fuelled by rave music and Ecstasy, is often credited with being one of the causes for the reduction in football hooliganism in England and Scotland in the late 80s, early 90s. If you follow the popular mythology, then hooligan outfits such as West Ham’s ICF and Millwall’s Bushwackers, overnight swapped [...] more »
Peterhead, Annan, Elgin etc here they come…Revenge or Redemption?
Tweet The second (or third, depending who you listen to) most supported club in Northern Ireland will next season be playing against clubs who rarely break 700 as an average home attendance. To put that figure in context, on occasions there are probably more Rangers fans travelling over from Ulster alone to watch their team [...] more »
“The Progressive Patriot” by Billy Bragg: a book review.
Tweet After I had submitted my two previous book reviews to him (here and here), Mick suggested I also try one on “my favourite book”. Well, probably one of the most enjoyable and thought-provoking political reads I’ve had over the last couple of years is Billy Bragg’s “The Progressive Patriot”. For those readers not of a certain vintage, Billy [...] more »
Yet more devolved discrimination
Tweet Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities, which are the most popular in Scotland with students from the rest of the UK, have decided to charge £36,000 for a four-year course- their degree courses will be the most expensive in the nation. The SNP’s Education Secretary Mike Russell has (bearing in mind his party is the architect [...] more »
“Good Friday. The death of Irish Republicanism” by Anthony McIntyre: a review
Tweet This was a book that I first reviewed at the same time as “Unionism Decayed” back in 2008. Like Vance’s work, it is the author’s portrayal of a defeated political movement or ideal and as a Unionist it was instructional to read an interpretation of the immediate post-Agreement period from the other side of the [...] more »
“Unionism Decayed 1997-2007″ by David Vance: book review
Tweet I initially wrote this when the book was first published three years ago; whilst certain elements of it now sound dated, its basic premise that the period of 1997-2007 was a period of irreversible decay for Northern Irish Unionism can still be argued as a valid opinion. My own feeling is that it did [...] more »
Is O’Flaherty prepared to rattle *all* the cages?
Tweet Editor’s note: *See the bottom of the article for an important footnote from Professor O’Flaherty… In last Monday’s Irish Times, we were helpfully informed that “Michael O’Flaherty has carried out much work promoting human rights” which was a relief to read, especially bearing in mind his new position as Monica McWilliams’ replacement at the Northern Ireland Human [...] more »
Some serious Unionist thinking required…
Tweet Peter Robinson, July 2009: When I first became the leader of the DUP, I stated that one of my objectives would be to increase the confidence and understanding of the Unionist people concerning their history and heritage. My plans for the development of a Unionist Academy are at an advanced stage and will be [...] more »
An alternative (economic) Future
Tweet Conservative Future (the youth movement of the UK Conservative Party) is presently the largest political organisation on British campuses. Ben Howlett, as a candidate for the post of the organisation’s chairmanship, last year created a major political kerfuffle (OK, make that a kerfuffle within right-of-centre student political circles!) by answering the question posed during [...] more »
“The Committee continues to question whether it is possible to sit in two national legislatures simultaneously”
Tweet Only (as far as I am aware) the NI Conservatives have commented on this- it will be interesting to see what the other more directly affected parties make of it; probably busily sweeping it under the carpet as we speak… Anyway… the Committee on Standards for Public Life released its annual report (pdf) today and it made the following points [...] more »
Latest comments from oneill (see all)
oneill has commented 942 times (2 in the last month).
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Books
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Spare us a phoney row about racism, we’ve got enough on
Tweet A silly media row about racism just had to figure in the riots’ post mortem. Was the Tudor history expert David Starkey racist on Newsnight when he said: The whites have become black. A particular sort of violent, destructive, nihilistic, gangster culture has become the fashion. And black and white, boy and girl, operate [...] read our review »
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The Irish political journalist’s problem with partial disclosure…
Tweet The nod and wink politics of Ireland’s last two or three decades as practised par excellence by Bertie, Albert and Charlie is ultimately what has the Republic in the stew it’s in. Don’t get me wrong, the effective monitoring of those exercising of power does not demand full disclosure of everything all the time. [...] read our review »
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A Political History of the Two Irelands competition…
Tweet 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 [...] read our review »
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Comment on My Top 14 cross-border co-operators in Ireland
on 31 May 2013 at 7:23 pm
Linfield and Dundalk (among many others) have done a lot of meaningful work in this sphere but being “on the ground level” I guess it won’t register when the middle class give out the awards and commendations amongst themselves.
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Comment on England Football: “What’s so funny ’bout peace, love, understanding (er, and intelligent surrender)?”
on 28 May 2013 at 9:36 pm
Only 10 comments??!!!
When I were a lad, posts like this on Slugger would have reached the double/century by now.
Don’t know about Wembley but by golly, I guarantee twitter will be a battlefield of buffonry and centuries-old bigotry tomorrow night.
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Comment on Ferguson’s departure: Rivals must work to burst “the incumbency bubble” of the EPL
on 9 May 2013 at 9:19 pm
“What do they all have in common?”
Adams and Ferguson knew how far to push the boys who provide them with the real power. Adams probably ran the slightly higher risk doing so in that Fergie was never going to get a bullet in the back of the head from the Glazers for the crime of overspending in the summer transfer window. Murdoch was the exception of the three, making the mistake of pushing too far the sheep that had propped up his media empire.
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Comment on The tricolour and its multiple meanings: Open thread
on 4 April 2013 at 9:06 am
s a southerner, can I ask what kind of compromises you feel should be forthcoming? Is there any substance to this vague sense of displeasure with us? Genuinely curious.
SK,
You’ve got the wrong end of the stick or possibly I didn’t explain it well enough.
The ROI doesn’t have to make any compromises or justify the Orange in their flag because to all intents and purposes that “orange” element of their society has gone. It would be a bit like the US incorporating an apache or comanche emblem into the Stars and Stripes- a nice gesture but a bit pointless after both tribes have more or less disappeared.
Nationalists in Northern Ireland, on the other hand, do still live amongst the “orange” and they really do have to think much more deeply and carefully why that colour is included in the flag they believe in. So, it’s missing the point republican waving the flag at the same time as they hurl out sectarian or anti-British abuse.
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Comment on The tricolour and its multiple meanings: Open thread
on 3 April 2013 at 9:57 pm
People born of Ireland are Irish, I know some identify themselves as British but they are still of Ireland, im not religious so whatever christian denomination people are from is irrelevant to me.
There’s nothing whatsover I would disagree with there. It’s just when you spoke of “compromises” given by the “Irish people” to a “British minority” that I took a step back.
I am Irish and British and I don’t see that classification of my national identity as a contradiction in terms. Again, theoretically, the flag of the ROI doesn’t either.
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Comment on The tricolour and its multiple meanings: Open thread
on 3 April 2013 at 9:18 pm
First widen your definition of the Irish people, then let’s start from there.
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Comment on The tricolour and its multiple meanings: Open thread
on 3 April 2013 at 9:16 pm
“What compromises should the Irish people give the British minority tradition then oneill, is it all just about parades ?”
If you are seriously asking that question tacapall, then you won’t ever the answer.
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Comment on The tricolour and its multiple meanings: Open thread
on 3 April 2013 at 8:12 pm
I am somewhat relieved that Mick hasn’t followed up his original challenging thread with a reverse “What does the Union flag mean to you?” because I’d be struggling tom give a 100% positive answer that would also be honest.
So… with relief back to the Tricolour. The “orange” in my understanding was never included to mean solely those trying to get passed the Ardoyne shops on the 12th but the alternative tradition in this part of the island; call it Hun if you like, unionist, Brit or even “British Unionist” minority.
If you want to keep the orange in your national flag (or purpose) then please make a much stronger case as to why it belongs. The “orange” third means diddly squat in the ROI because they are making no real practical compromises for it remaining there; Northern nationalists or republicans do or at least should.
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Comment on What does the Irish flag mean to you?
on 2 April 2013 at 9:50 pm
In a Northern Irish context, its whole concept is a complete hypocrisy.
The green and orange together when those who would worship the flag most fervently hate with exactly the same fervour what that Orange was supposed to symbolise.
Draped over provo coffins and used a FU and a tool of intimidation by sectarian spides.
In a ROI context, it is a flag of a fellow EU country, no more no less
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Comment on Can the slow death of Irish Nationalism be averted?
on 31 March 2013 at 11:31 am
Today nationalist community activism lives more in the collective folk memory, gable walls and bar songs than ongoing advocacy
As a Unionist, it is not my place to give advice or even express an opinion on the drift or otherwise of Irish nationalism.
However, as a general point, today it is true to say in the EU and USA political activism as moved much more down towards the micro and single, achievable target level than the big, more abstract ideas of old.
So, it is much easier for SF to mobilise anti-Orange demos on a district level for example, than to motivate the same potential *market* for the intangible longer term Irish Unity project.
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