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Books
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A poem for the day – Launching the Whaler Juan Peron
Tweet 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, [...] read our review » -
Is Fianna Fail the new Woolworths of Irish politics?
Tweet It’s not published until 3rd March, but one book I recommend you place an advance order for from Slugger’s Bookstore is James Harkin’s Niche. Belfast émigré Harkin examines a number of stories from business, culture and politics and comes to a single insight: everywhere the broad middle is collapsing. He offers Woolworths as an iconic [...] read our review »
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“You can see Newton’s mind at work…”
Tweet 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 [...] read our review »
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Comment on Ulster People’s Forum plans denial of service attack on PSNI and Parades Commission
on 25 May 2013 at 9:39 am
Banjaxed: But if they want to play silly buggers, surely a couple of blatters on their doors by a PSNI officer at 3:00 am to check that the forms were filled in correctly would put a stop to that sort of messing.
The UPF proposal aims to be vindictive and destructive, redeemed only by the certainty of utter failure. Your proposal looks like political policing and an abuse of power.
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Comment on According to Question Time, SF=IRA, DUP=Goodies
on 24 May 2013 at 6:14 pm
An Sionnach Fionn: I presume then it is ok then to write or say DUP/UR? That’s “UR” as in Ulster Resistance?
Not many people have heard of UR. Whereas, for some reason, the IRA have imprinted themselves on the public consciousness.
Seamuscamp: By “Goodies” I’d assumed the reference was to a group of clowns.
I thought it was a reference to all three on that side of the table – Labour, DUP and Tatchell. Since conservatism and nationalism were on the other side of the host, the distinction seems reasonable, from a certain POV.
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Comment on Eamonn McCann: “People sometimes say these traditions have gone on forever. No they have not!”
on 24 May 2013 at 8:23 am
weidm7 – wouldn’t it have been much safer and easier to blow up and burn down ‘economic targets’ in nationalist areas rather than travel to Newtownards and Bangor to do those things? That sort of thing does create a bad impression.
By the way, I just flicked down your list, and you seem to have missed the fact that SARAF was merely the PIRA at play; and that the Enniskillen bomb was targeted at civilians. The IRA may have thought of them as ‘enemy’ civilians, but civilians nontheless.
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Comment on AG tells Allister his bill is NOT in breach of the ECHR…
on 23 May 2013 at 10:26 pm
socaire: Well,Reader, if someone from the British State forces shot a relative of mine, I would like to see them in court – even a British court – and convicted and sentenced.
Then there is still that unfinished business with the people who fired the shots, isn’t there?
And, as has been pointed out numerous times, SPADs are salaried members of the Civil Service, and should meet the usual requirements for CC employees with responsibilities and access to confidential data. The same rules apply to Loyalists and ODCs as well, of course.
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Comment on AG tells Allister his bill is NOT in breach of the ECHR…
on 23 May 2013 at 8:27 pm
socaire: She has seen two people convicted in the British courts and has hounded a woman from her job. What more does she want?
What would *you* want?
As for Mary McArdle – didn’t she get a well paid job on the public purse for which you (and very many others) would be better qualified? I’m sure SF will look after her financial interests.
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Comment on Lisburn City Council funds Unionist Forum meeting using Good Relations money
on 23 May 2013 at 1:40 pm
Morpheus: Right there is the problem with Slugger sometimes – I have read that four times now and still can’t see what point you are making. I don’t know if you are telling me off or being ironic in some way
Neither really. Maybe the second option, a bit. My point is that DSD throws money alternately to one tribe or the other to keep both sides sweet. That is one of its roles and no-one should be surprised to see a wodge of cash go one way or another so long as it balances out in the end.
Whereas a council accessing targeted funds needs to be much more careful every time. I see that much of the discussion above is concentrating on whether the allocation of funds is consistent with the terms, which is the way this discussion ought to go.
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Comment on Lisburn City Council funds Unionist Forum meeting using Good Relations money
on 23 May 2013 at 8:55 am
Morpheus: Sorry if that is a bit off topic.
It was though – much of the function of DSD is to hose money around the usual suspects. It would be a pity to distract from the serious issue raised by Chris by linking it to post-GFA Business as Usual.
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Comment on “Republicans should remember that the third colour in the Irish flag is Orange…”
on 22 May 2013 at 11:06 pm
Carl Marks: Perhaps you could show your proof of the number of people in the maze who were members of the GAA
Well, we could start with Danny Morrison, who may have some sort of clue:
http://www.dannymorrison.com/wp-content/dannymorrisonarchive/198.htm
If you have material on OO membership in the Maze, you could post it here too.
Carl Marks: Bringing in the GAA is nothing more than whataboutry…
I disagree. You were the one insisting on the significance of overlapping membership. I am the one who is sceptical of both its level and its significance. I used the GAA to try to get that across to you.
Carl marks: would you care to comment on the burning of tricolours and are you still attempting to claim that there is no overlap between the holy cross barbarians and the OO, perhaps we will get the “just old men going to church nonsense”
I think that burning Tricolours is deliberately offensive and childish. I am baffled by the mentality of people who would do such a thing, and also baffled by those who get overly worked up about it.
My issue with the “overlap” is that basically it appears that you have assumed it exists, then used it to vilify (and seek to penalise) all of the members of a particular lodge. You seem assured that you can recognise specific individuals across a ten year gap, but you have not been at all specific, in spite of the fact that I am sure there is loads of youtube footage of both the protest and the parades. I haven’t denied that there may be an overlap – there are after all only about 100,000 Protestant males in Belfast, and we could probably narrow it down to north and west Belfast plebs at that.
As for “old men going to church”, I wasn’t going to use the term, just as I am sure you weren’t going to use the term “legitimate targets”.
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Comment on “Republicans should remember that the third colour in the Irish flag is Orange…”
on 22 May 2013 at 6:27 pm
CoisteBodhar: The GAA does not promote supremacist ideals or cause agitation on the streets so examine its responsibility for its members as much as you see fit but remember it is not institutionalising divisions or flouting parades commission regulations
Then *that* is what CM should be complaining about instead of overlapping memberships. I suspect that a statistical comparison of overlapping memberships with terrorists in the Maze would reflect relatively badly on the GAA compared with the OO, but that may be because testosterone beats beer guts in the ‘activist’ section of the two communities. Or that getting all het up under a tricolour every Sunday pumps up the adrenaline. Or that marching all summer makes people old and crusty before their time.
By the way, is (to paraphrase) “we’re right and you’re wrong, and it matters.”, a “supremacist ideal”? Because if it is then there’s a hell of a lot of it about round here. Not just from the OO.
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Comment on Eamonn McCann: “People sometimes say these traditions have gone on forever. No they have not!”
on 22 May 2013 at 6:00 pm
weidm7: …evidence online or off, that the IRA were a “band of sectarian killers”. I ask in good faith, for the purpose of furthering my knowledge, I’m not wishing to stoke any shouting matches.
Well, the ability to gather a dozen of them to carry out Kingsmill, and then have the rest of the Provisional movement in south Armagh protect them to this very day – that’s a bit of a giveaway.
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Comment on Sinn Féin: Hyde Park bomb charges “vindictive, unnecessary and unhelpful”
on 22 May 2013 at 5:52 pm
There was no amnesty in the GFA
There was no amnesty in the StAA
Third time lucky?
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Comment on Challenges for Protestants in “Dealing with the Past”
on 22 May 2013 at 10:31 am
Chris Hudson: There is no coherent voice on the left for them to vote for. So the logical thing is they vote for the party that they believe at least to some extent represents their interest. Which is the Democratic Unionist Party.
If the left did exist it would be no use to them. We live in a parasitic economy so their best calculated option is to vote for a house-trained, populist party that will represent their interests. The only party that even pretends to do that is the DUP. I think the DUP is cynical; manipulative but otherwise ineffectual in that role – but who else is there?
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Comment on “Republicans should remember that the third colour in the Irish flag is Orange…”
on 22 May 2013 at 9:06 am
carl marks: Can we also admit that the OO has had many members guilty of sectarian murder and many other terrorist offences!
So has the GAA. To what extent are these organisations responsible for the ‘off-duty’ actions of their members?
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Comment on Gove calls for a split with Wales and NI on GCSE and A Level reform…
on 21 May 2013 at 2:29 pm
crockaleen: It just strikes me as odd, with the Bologna Process in full swing to (try to) ensure comparability of degrees across borders, that anyone would want to do the opposite with qualifications within the UK.
Oh look. All the other boys in the squad are out of step apart from our wee Johnny (Michael, Leighton). Maybe everyone is doing what they think is best.
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Comment on “Republicans should remember that the third colour in the Irish flag is Orange…”
on 21 May 2013 at 9:44 am
carl marks: All Huns (your words not mine) do not look alike to me, i can spot those who scream sectarian abuse at my niece even when they are wearing a sash or a bandsman’s uniform.
I’m sorry to hear about your niece, but I still think you are turning a general categorisation into specific accusations, which is personally unhealthy and politically unhelpful.
So, on your point above, I am asking you to be specific.
How many of each did you recognise? Was it 4 Orangemen and 2 bandsmen or vice versa? Will you be able to recognise them again this year?
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Comment on “Republicans should remember that the third colour in the Irish flag is Orange…”
on 21 May 2013 at 8:15 am
carl marks: At Ardoyne the same people who spat ant threw urine filled balloons at primary school girls are the same people who demand the right to walk in formation past the very people they insulted and whose children they attacked,
That’s a fairly specific charge. Do you have the names? Or do all Huns look the same to you?
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Comment on Challenges for Protestants in “Dealing with the Past”
on 20 May 2013 at 9:38 am
danielsmoran: the sectarianism was around since the Orange Order came into existence at the close of the 18th century and will never be eradicated while orangeism exists, even after NI ceases to exist…
Sectarianism was invented when the fire worshippers beat up the followers of the water God tens of thousands of years ago. The modern problems with rival followers of the sky God are nothing new, and Not Invented Here. So blaming themmuns is not a solution, and is probably part of the problem.
And the rules of the Orange Order, which look so ridiculous now, were not in the least bit exceptional when the OO was formed.
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Comment on Taking years off your life – NI life expectancy deprivation gaps show increase over last decade
on 20 May 2013 at 8:59 am
Malcolm Redfellow: Or is it a matter of hearing the messages?
Or is it a matter of listening to the messages? After all, who doesn’t know that they shouldn’t smoke; should go easy on alcohol, fat, sugar and salt; should try to eat some fruit and veg; and ought to get a bit of exercise? Personally, I fall far short of perfection, but every day I walk past loads of people doing worse.
Malcolm Redfellow: So, someone, somewhere is “responsible” (which, in my book, means “answerable”).
I am responsible; I am answerable. It is, after all, my life at stake.
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Comment on Radical Independence & The Jamaican, Ugandan & Pakistani UKIP candidates
on 19 May 2013 at 8:38 am
Malcolm Redfellow: Huh? Give me a clue? Date? Context?
UPC may have misremembered the culprit. A year or two ago there was a scandal about a prostitution/people trafficking ring; and the ringleaders travelled backwards and forwards between Scotland and Northern Ireland. Based on the premise that only Celtic supporters and the UVF travelled between those destinations, a Sluggerite concluded that the criminals were loyalist paramilitaries, and added people-trafficking to a list of other UVF offences. (I may be simplifying here).
UPC seems to think you were that Sluggerite.
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Comment on Radical Independence & The Jamaican, Ugandan & Pakistani UKIP candidates
on 19 May 2013 at 8:26 am
Malcolm Redfellow: the twitterati have spent half their weekend obsessing and conflicting over the better hash tag: #loongate or #swivelgate?
It has to be #loongate. There is certain to be a better use for #swivelgate in the future.
Neil: UKIP are pretty much the anti immigration party – a perfectly legitimate stance, but one which is attractive to racists.
Or it’s “entryism”. Look what happened to the Labour party. UKIP may remain unelectable until we get “New UKIP”; and then they will be harmless.
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