Europe
“Adding more weapons to this volatile situation could destabilise the entire region…”
Tweet The Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers were in a sunny Downing Street garden yesterday, welcoming that suspect package, and extolling the virtues of demonstrating “peacefully, positively, constructively” [Is that with, or without, a Thompson sub-machine gun? - Ed] Without, probably… ANYhoo, on the same day Sinn Féin released the text of what appears [...] more »
If Ireland north and south can commemorate the First World War together, so should the Germans alongside the wartime Allies
Tweet A piece in the Indy by Matthew Norman on the UK’s plans to commemorate World War 1 has to be read quite carefully to register the satire against the (English) Culture secretary’s smiley moral equivalence approach to the vexed issue of war guilt. Were the Germans the clear aggressors or “were we all to blame?” [...] more »
Harry Fitzsimons arrested in Senegal
Tweet As the BBC reports A west Belfast man has been arrested in Senegal in west Africa. It is understood Harry Fitzsimons was detained in the capital Dakar last month. Earlier this year Italian police issued an arrest warrant for Mr Fitzsimons in connection with an alleged mafia money-laundering operation in Calabria in Italy. The [...] 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 »
Irish Justice Minister: “a tribute to how far we have come as a society”
Tweet As promised by the Irish Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter, in June last year, legislation has been passed by Dáil and Seanad providing for the granting of an amnesty and apology for the way the Irish State treated members of its Defence Forces who left to join the Allied Forces during World War II. I’ve noted previously the historical [...] 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 »
How do Robinson and McGuinness explain their anti- EU stances to Brazilian and other would be overseas investors?
Tweet The Financial Times (£) have another report warning of possible dire consequences if the UK voted to leave the EU in a 2017 referendum, not least for Ireland north and south. An UK exit from the EU would produce huge complications to cross border trade – you can just imagine trying to put in [...] more »
Italy: “Unless of course all polls and projections so far turn out to be wrong …”
Tweet They’re still counting the votes in Italy… But the early projections are contradicting exit polls predicting, as the Guardian reported, ”strong support for alliance led by Pier Luigi Bersani’s Democratic party and bloody nose for Mario Monti”. Not contradicting the bloody nose for the Borg Mario Monti, that is. But Silvio Berlusoni’s centre-right alliance seems to [...] more »
Irish Agriculture Minister: “I am seriously concerned about this development…”
Tweet I haven’t been posting on every twist and turn [Not "an isolated instance", then? - Ed] of the still unravelling story of the Europe-wide horse meat for beef scandal. But this looks like it could be a significant development. From the RTÉ report A processing plant in Co Tipperary has been shut down after inspectors found it [...] more »
Italy: “History risks repeating itself…”
Tweet The BBC’s Europe editor, Gavin Hewitt has been looking to Italy ahead of a general election brought 2 months early after Silvio Berlusconi’s party withdrew support for Mario Monti’s technocratic government – voting begins on Sunday. The FT notes that Strong, stable government will be needed to continue the reform process put in place by [...] more »
Giro d’Italia 2014 announcement expected tomorrow
Tweet It looks increasingly likely that confirmation of the rumoured plans to start the 2014 Giro d’Italia in Belfast, before heading to Dublin, will be made tomorrow. As Cycling Weekly reports The Giro d’Italia organiser RCS Sport has a lot on its plate this week, announcing the 2014 start from Belfast tomorrow and dealing with 19 WorldTour teams. [...] more »
“Two European countries, Ireland and Norway, have already banned all eel fisheries.”
Tweet But not in Northern Ireland. [Partitionist! - Ed] Indeed. Here the regulation of eel fisheries is the responsibility of the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure – and the current Minister, Sinn Féin’s Carál Ní Chuilín. As is salmon fishing… There was a brief flurry of press statements last week as the NI DCAL Minister suddenly [...] more »
Copernicus’ “Google Doodle” and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Tweet Sunday past was the 413th anniversary of the execution of Giordano Bruno (burned at the stake for heresies such as proposing that the Sun is a star and that the other stars in the sky are also Suns, probably accompanied by planets very much like ours). Today, more auspiciously, is the 460th anniversary of [...] more »
Irish Agriculture Minister: “Somebody is selling rogue product and somebody knows about it and is responsible.”
Tweet Still early days in the investigation into the discovery of more beef horse meat at a number of meat processing plants – and note Mick’s update here. However, the cause of the trace amounts of pork DNA and equine DNA in some ’beef’ products is still likely to be different. But there are a few quotes [...] more »
An Irish Borgen?
Tweet Dyspeptic Scots columnist Kevin McKenna (now where did that name come from?) is so right when he says Scottish politics are too boring to mount a drama like Borgen. But then, Alex might reply that Scotland is not an independent country – yet. Staying glued to Borgen though fits perfectly into Scottish culture. Manfully, [...] more »
Cameron’s Dunkirk?
Tweet So at last David Cameron delivered his long awaited speech on Europe. Arguably the most important speech, by a British Prime Minister, since Tony Blair’s speech proposing the case for war in Iraq. British politics, it seems, has entered the era of the referendum arguably started with the referendum on the voting system in [...] more »
Belfast Court refuses to order Liam Campbell extradition to Lithuania
Tweet Lithuanian authorities may be regretting their apparent preference for dealing with the Northern Ireland Courts in the attempt to extradite Liam Campbell, one of the men held to be responsible for the Omagh bombing, on weapons and terrorism charges. As the BBC reports, Mr Justice Burgess has refused to order Liam Campbell’s extradition to [...] more »
A troubling relationship
Tweet The ever fractious relationship between the UK and European Union seems to be at breaking point, or so it seems if you listened to the Eurosceptic’s of the Conservative Party. The Conservative Party has come a long way from the days of Sir Winston Churchill, who is held up in Europe as one of [...] more »
Stalling on abortion law reform North and South
Tweet Let me try to offer some context on abortion law, with the health warning that I’m not a lawyer. The law on abortion in both parts of Ireland is in question because of a judgment of the European Court of Human Rights almost two years ago which I among others drew attention to at [...] more »
Corporation tax: put us out of our misery
Tweet The Financial Times (£) carries a blunt warning from Bombardier, Northern Ireland’s largest employer, that it will lose its ability to invest in the province unless the end of regional aid at the behest of the EU is offset by a cut in corporation tax. This gets down to the bottom line after years [...] more »
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Books
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Legion of the Rearguard – Dissident Irish Republicanism by Martyn Frampton, Book Review
Tweet Are you confused about ‘dissident’ Irish Republicanism? Anxious about its existence and its seemingly increasingly deadly capabilities? Martyn Frampton’s new book, Legion of the Rearguard: Dissident Irish Republicanism (Irish Academic Press, 2011) serves both as a primer on active dissident groups and a timely analysis of their historic significance and contemporary capabilities. This book [...] read our review »
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Titanic: was it all right when it left here?
Tweet Not according to metallurgists Tim Foecke and Jennifer Hooper McCarty whose research has suggested that dodgy Harland and Wolff rivets were at fault for allowing the Titanic’s hull to be ripped apart by the pressure of the iceberg impact. With six of the hull’s chambers exposed to the Atlantic waters, the “unsinkable” ship lasted [...] read our review »
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The Written World
Tweet Here’s something to keep you occupied over the weekend. [Will there be a quiz? - Ed] Possibly… The BBC magazine has an short and interesting, but un-embeddable, audio slide-show of Melvyn Bragg’s Radio 4 five-parter, In Our Time: The Written World. The British Library has more online information about the texts and technology featured in [...] read our review »
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