Northern Ireland
Looks like the Minister really did find that extra £72 million down the back of a departmental sofa…
Interesting that with just over a month to go before Sammy Wilson puts all departmental budgets under scrutiny to see what he can claw back for DFP, the Education Minister managed to locate £72 million of ‘savings’ over the next three years. According to the Minister’s party political presser, this figure was as a result [...] more »
Martina Anderson to take over from Bairbre de Brun as MEP?
Looks like the one big prize in Northern Ireland for Sinn Fein is going to Martina Anderson who will succeed Bairbre de Brun as sitting MEP. Others mentioned in dispatches include Catriona Ruane, whom some commentators felt would have been out of her depth in Brussels and Strasbourg. A competent and safe pair of hands [...] more »
Would the legalisation of cannibis help reduce the drug problem in Derry (and elsewhere)?
Right, I have no personal interest in pushing this line (‘if you’ll forgive the pun’). In other words I don’t do illegal drugs. That may be a result of the happy accident of never having really smoked and on the few occasions I’ve been offered canibis (a long long long time ago), it made only [...] more »
Sinn Fein’s split political personality north and south…
Sam Smyth on a theme that could make things tough the closer Sinn Fein gets to actual power: ie, the degree to which they have managed to avoid it in Northern Ireland: In the Northern Ireland Executive, Sinn Fein ministers have implemented swingeing spending cuts — while objecting to budget cuts from the opposition benches [...] more »
Democracy and the Church of Ireland…
In the wake of last week’s controversial proceedings at Synod, Archbishop Harper explains how and why things are done in the Anglican Church of Ireland: I think it is important, therefore, to understand the extent to which the Church of Ireland recognises and embraces the status and role of the laity in the life of [...] more »
“Mr Varadkar said Ireland and Britain could become a ‘mini-Schengen’”
The Irish Times reports some odd comments by the Irish Government Tourism and Transport Minister, Leo Varadkar, at a meeting of the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly at Leinster House in Dublin. Odd, that is, given what we already know. From the Irish Times report Mr Varadkar said tourists and business visitors should not be forced [...] more »
“I don’t think this generation is any different than the last…”
The Guardian’s Henry McDonald reports from anarchic Londonderry on the continuing activities of vigilante group, Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD). Watch the accompanying video report here. From the Guardian report Some RAAD members are ex-Provisionals who back the peace process but still take up the gun against members of their own communities accused of antisocial activities. [...] more »
Anglican motion on sexuality and marriage a prelude to the fight over Harper’s succession?
To most of us who don’t count ourselves as Anglicans, the Church of Ireland is something of a mystery… But in advance of any future departure of the current Archbishop of Armagh’s departure, all hell seems to have broken loose at last week’s Synod (over sex, as Alan notes below), as various factions compete for [...] more »
Hasten slowly – though no tangible signs that the Anglican supertanker is turning
So those who had expected murder in the cathedral on either Thursday, Friday or Saturday, even on all three, were predictably disappointed. What they got instead was . . . sex! In this morning’s Irish Times, Patsy McGarry looks at the parallels between the Church of Ireland’s May 1982 Synod meeting which tackled the issue [...] more »
Ian Junior claimed £10,000 in postage in his six last months in office…
Hmmm… First we had Inkgate, then Inkgate II … Now it’s the DUP’s turn to answer some awkward question regarding a spot of free riding by Ian Junior this time… According to Diana Rusk in today’s Irish News that equates to about 112 letters a day… In response the North Antrim MP said that that [...] more »
JRF Poverty Monitor: An opportunity for the NI Executive to leave a more tangible legacy than the ‘eaten bread’ of peace?
Joseph Rowntree Foundation (the guys who funded the research behind our community asset transfer ‘debate’) Monitoring report on poverty and social exclusion in Northern Ireland put together a great morning of presentation and conversation last week. It consisted of three parts. The presentation, kicking off with presentations from the two authors, segueing into a very [...] more »
Pay your rates by credit card: you pay 2% extra. Pay by debit card: LPS pay 29p.
Northern Ireland ratepayers choosing to pay their rates bills by credit card contributed around £32,000 to Santander last year. How do you pay your rates? Pay the whole year off up front and get the small discount? Pay monthly? Direct debit? Post Office? Or maybe you put on your credit card? Increasingly, government bodies are [...] more »
Are UK (and NI) cultural attitudes the biggest block to regaining long term competitiveness?
Good to see Mark Langhammer back in the public domain a bit more regularly these days… Former Newtownabbey Labour councillor asks some good questions in the Newsletter today… Not least whether with all this talk of moving from austerity to growth whether industry is any fit state to take advantage of any growth agenda the [...] more »
Without a new approach to Education, the Minister is condemned to micromanaging micro outcomes…
Well, I didn’t hear it, but apparently the Education minister John O’Dowd let rip this morning on the Nolan Show (42 minutes). But some time earlier, his party colleague Daithi McKay gave a fairly calm account of the Department’s request to school inspectors to report primary schools found to be giving special tuition to pupils [...] more »
Licence fee freeze leads BBC NI slashes top journalist jobs…
Grim reading this morning in the Belfast Telegraph (h/t Nevin)… Hearts and Minds, as long expected, is to finally go. The production teams for three programmes will be to some extent amalgamated, and run on a rolling basis…. And some key assets are being got rid of, including Julia Paul who’s film pieces for Hearts [...] more »
“UK courts cannot force the handing over of journalistic material to foreign organizations…”
Just a quick note of the BBC reporting that Garda have failed in their attempt to force the BBC and UTV to hand over unbroadcast video footage of rioting in Dublin during Queen Elizabeth II’s visit last year. From the BBC report The request which was made through the Home Office failed after Senior Belfast Judge Tom [...] more »
If politicians in the south are feeling strong enough to ‘come out’, why not the north?
Whatever you think of Dominic Hannigan’s politics, the Labour TD took several goes at trying to represent the good people of Meath East… John Lyons came through at the first time of asking in the more working class constituency of Dublin North–West. They did so with the voters in full knowledge that they were gay. [...] more »
Perhaps politicians should check their own houses are in order before attacking the church?
On Saturday, I remember reading Noel Whelan’s sage, but ultimately hopeless, advice to politicians to steer clear of beating up on Cardinal Sean Brady, and shaking my head thinking, why would he think they could ever resist the temptation to get in on the act? As a former FF politico he knows the creature better [...] more »
Are public libraries under-appreciated and under-used?
From the 1880s, Andrew Carnegie began to give money to build libraries – the most widely recognised feature of his philanthropy. From that date, he devoted himself to providing the capital for the building of public libraries and the development of library services. Between 1883 and 1929, 2,509 libraries were built, including 1,689 in the [...] more »
“are you serious?” – redux
Having taken umbrage previously at the sight of the Union flag on a bit of turkey in his local Asda store, the now Sinn Féin councillor, Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, is bemoaning the lack of eggs “produced locally” in Sainsbury’s. Or so he claims… [He has photographic evidence! - Ed] Indeed. As he says in the Andersonstown News How [...] more »
Advertise
-
Books
-
Kevin Myers’ ‘Watching the Door’: Book Review
This reads as if a mad picaresque tale. Myers as first a reporter for RTÉ and then as a freelance journalist with no real experience, finds himself wandering into savagery as he hastens north as the Troubles explode. A soldier dies next to him; he witnesses an IRA ambush; he sees children shot to death [...] read our review »
-
“It was a trivial problem that… occurs every year”
Just your average family gathering at Christmas, with a bit of an argument about the seating cleaning arrangements… Scuffles have broken out between rival groups of Greek Orthodox and Armenian clerics over a turf war in Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity. Bemused tourists looked on as about 100 priests fought with brooms while cleaning the [...] read our review » -
Total Politics: Top 20 NI Blogs…
Fair play to Iain, he managed to get over 2,200 people voting in his poll for the top Northern Irish blogs this year… We (just, I imagine) retained our top spot, with Splintered coming straight in at number 2, no doubt his pet subject du jour will have garnered him a lot of fans… I’ve [...] read our review »
-
