EU
“Where do the Swedes go to let out their aggressions?”
Tweet At a time of unrest in Sweden, I picked this sideways take on the communitarian social model from a good Swedish friend (almost completely proving the national cliche in the video)… more »
Expressing Identity — Addressing Division: CRC Annual Policy Conference 2013
Tweet Expressing Identity: Addressing Division Apologies for tardy posting; thanks for Mick for posting snippet by Eamonn McCann: This year’s annual policy conference of the Community Relations Council (CRC) was held in Derry-Londonderry, a fresh change from the usual Belfast venues. Indeed, the Maiden City has demonstrated leadership in community relations for many years. In [...] more »
Bad news for Sweden as the social model slowly unravels…
Tweet One of the big challenges for all the Scandinavian countries (or at least those without oil reserves to fall back on) has been how to cope with waves of immigration. It’s particularly challenging for what has been remarkable homogenous societies like Sweden. Now it seems a politically unwatched pot is boiling over. Really, not [...] more »
Azerbaijan Presidential Inquiry over Eurovision Vote
Tweet Denmark may have won this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, due to last year’s winner, held in Malmö, Sweden, but Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev is reported to have ordered an inquiry into why his country, apparently, failed to provide any points to their neighbour, Russia. Russia gave maximum points, 12, to the Azerbaijan entry. From [...] more »
Radical Independence & The Jamaican, Ugandan & Pakistani UKIP candidates
Tweet With all the furore over the Radical Independence protest at the UKIP press conference in Edinburgh (ahead of the Aberdeen Donside Scottish by-election on June 20) I couldn`t help but notice the rather vociferous use of the words Nazi, Racist, Bigot, Scum & Fascist aimed at Nigel Farage. The Belfast News Letter website has a [...] more »
UKIP: We’ve proved we can get votes in Wales, England and Northern Ireland…
Tweet Fascinating little line here (h/t Malc) from Nigel Farage: “We’ve proved we can get votes in Wales, England and Northern Ireland. We’re still untested in Scotland,” he [Farage] said. “We’ve not had an opportunity to test Ukip policies with the Scottish people for a very long time.” Asked about Ukip’s chances, he was optimistic. [...] more »
If you live in a glass house, don`t throw stones…at UKIP
Tweet Much ado about Ken Clarke`s comments on `UKIP clowns, closet racists and fruitcakes` over the weekend. It is amazing however what turns up when you Google various configurations of the words Labour, Tory, racist, nazi & BNP. For example, BNP leader Nick Griffin’s father was a Welsh Tory aide to Ian Duncan Smith in 2001, [...] more »
Icelandic dinosaurs, elections and the fate of their crowd-sourced constitution … and a link to equal marriage
Tweet Slugger should take a look at Iceland more often. An article in yesterday’s Guardian described intriguing democratic and constitutional processes. About a third of the North Atlantic island’s population live in the capital city of Reykjavík, another third live in the greater Reykjavík area. Apparently two thirds of the island’s population are on Facebook: [...] more »
Political Drama: What Drama?
Tweet As part of its 15th anniversary celebrations, Stratagem hosted a political drama film and discussion event at The MAC. Stratagem Director, Quintin Oliver, explained how he was motivated by a gift request from his son for a box set of the West Wing series. “He said it would be educational. I realised it was [...] more »
Margaret Thatcher roundup (1): Britain’s growth in wealth and poverty
Tweet Listening watching the reams of coverage on Margaret Thatcher, whether you loved her or loathed her, she certainly had impact. I’ll come back to her contentious Irish legacy later, but first a round up on today’s coverage… - Richard Branson covers his back somewhat over some of the warrior queen’s more extreme social interventions [...] more »
One more domino for Labour: Nessa Childers’ ‘resignation’…
Tweet The European Parliament is a sort of parallel universe. So the news that Nessa Childers has left the parliamentary Labour Party is an odd creature to process. As she says in her presser: Labour Party members, who have lost the whip, are immediately expelled from the PLP but retain party membership. Members of the [...] more »
The grapes of Rathlin Island…
Tweet The following feature piece should have been published under the byline Beck, but we’ve been having problems getting the site to behave itself. As a business venture, it might seem like something that would elicit a unanimous “I’m out!” from the Dragons’ Den, or it could put you in mind of an enterprise that [...] more »
Cyprus: So what happens next?
Tweet The Guardian’s still live-blogging, for now, in the aftermath of Cyprus’ parliament’s rejection of an, albeit amended, EU/IMF cunning plan bail-out which included the public seizure levying of €5.8billion from private depositors in Cypriot banks – 36 votes against, 19 abstentions, none in favour. The paper’s economics editor, Larry Elliot, answers the title question …there are really only [...] more »
“2013 *can* be the year in which Ireland exits its Programme”
Tweet No forgone conclusion then from the Taoiseach speaking at the LSE in London yesterday, who is clearly trying to make the most of his government’s billing as poster child for austerity. We are implementing a very challenging budgetary adjustment of about 20% of GDP over the period from 2008 to 2015, with most of [...] more »
Italian Police believe Harry Fitzsimons had reason to fear for his life…
Tweet So, an update on yesterday’s post on Harry Fitzsimons, courtesy of eagle eyed Pete. Paddy Agnew for the Irish Times in Rome: Arrest warrants for 20 people allegedly involved in the Calabrian scam, including the man from Belfast, were issued yesterday but a spokeswoman for the European Anti-Mafia Commission said last night he could [...] more »
West Belfast Property developer wanted by Italian police…
Tweet INTERESTING ‘developments’ in Italy… Harry Fitzsimons former IRA man and director of a property development business which, in the words of his business partner Antonio Velardo in his award winning company: …despite the fact that the company is now so successful, it really is just over two years old, and came about following a meeting between [...] more »
Ireland: Europe’s poster child for austerity or fall guy?
Tweet “The plan is working” declares the Taoiseach, in an article above his name in the Irish Times. While I acknowledge that we still have a long way to go, it is clear Ireland is headed in the right direction and there is light at the end of this tunnel .. Other banks have been [...] more »
EU considers the Horsemeat in the food chain…
Tweet From 6.50 in, Tonio BORG, Member of the EC in charge of Health and Consumer Policy gives an account of what the EU has done and is doing on the horsemeat crisis… more »
Italy’s Five Star Movement – is this what The End of History looks like?
Tweet In 1992, Francis Fukayama predicted in The End of History that the end of the Cold War would impend not only an era of triumphant liberal-democratic capitalism, but one where political evolution had reached its final form. Western democracy, he argued, was the best form of state organisation practically achievable by humans. The folly [...] more »
Grillo’s 25% demonstrates the extent Italy’s disbelief in Politics…
Tweet So, those of you who have just finished sniggering at Gerry’s tweets, listen up to the news from Italy. Berlusconis has not gone, and the left have not arrived. In fact the big ‘clown’ is in control of the Senate. Still not laughing I hope? Well, Demos have some research that gives us some [...] more »