I was delighted to read, from afar, that the DUP MP for East Londonderry Gregory Campbell deigns that the border in Ireland is not “a threat to anyone who feels Irish on this part of the island.”. I’m sorry, but “feels Irish”? Am I naïve in thinking we had moved on in “Our Wee Country” since 1998? Or does this typify a mindset that refuses to accept geographical reality? There is a Big Island called Britain, and there is a …
At Féile an Phobail’s Leader’s debate back in August 2019, I was fascinated to witness a microcosmic battle – perhaps skirmish – for the soul of Unionism take place (starting at 1h05): Doug Beattie got quite animated after listening to Gregory Campbell’s defence of his own Britishness, one which came across as unnecessarily binary and reductive. Campbell’s comments earned several objections, but it is Beattie’s that is worth quoting in full: Let me be clear here. I’m an Irishman and …
WATCH Monday’s political panel at the John Hewitt International Summer School in Armagh which looked back on the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement and asked What Went Wrong? Gregory Campbell, Bríd Rodgers, Colm Gildernew and Trevor Ringland, chaired by Peter Osborne.
TWO CONTROVERSIAL TV documentaries which Margaret Thatcher’s government tried to censor are being screened on Monday evening as part of FilmHubNI’s Cinema Day 2017. The BBC’s Real Lives: At the Edge of the Union and ITV’s This Week: Death on the Rock.
I’m back at work though suffering with a cold, flu or ‘man-flu’. I don’t like feeling congested at the best of times. Being back at work at the start of a cold and wet January doesn’t brighten my mood. This is all put in perspective by Martin McGuinness who has serious health issues, it seems. I wish him a speedy recovery. Nara fada go raibh tú ar do shean léim! In the light of his …
Contributions from Martina Anderson and Naomi Long were subdued in comparison with the robust exchanges between Gregory Campbell and Joe Brolly at tonight’s West Belfast Talks Back event, part of Féile an Phobail.
Former Mayor of Belfast and Sinn Fein councillor Niall Ó Donnghaile said not being able to place an order in Irish at McDonalds is an example of where equality of rights of Irish speakers isn’t being met. Brian SpencerBrian is a writer, artist, political cartoonist and legal blogger. Actively tweeting from @brianjohnspencr. More information here: http://www.brianjohnspencer.com/ www.brianjohnspencer.com/
This week saw Mitchell McLaughlin elected as Speaker of the Assembly. The News Letter pointed to his previous comments refusing to accept that the murder of Jean McConville was a crime. Leaving aside McLaughlin personally there is a certain symbolism in a Sinn Fein speaker being elected just a week before the 34th anniversary of the murder of the old Stormont speaker Sir Norman Stronge. Sir Norman was born in 1894 and fought at the Somme. His election as speaker …
UPDATED – Now with video DUP SPAD Stephen Brimstone had a stock answer (“I’m not prepared to answer questions in relation to internal party matters) for most questions put to him by the DSD Committee Hearing today in light of allegations made in BBCNI’s Spotlight programme into Red Sky, Nelson Mc Causland and Cllr Jenny Palmer. Ably put on the hook by the TUV’s Jim Allister, Brimstone looked more than evasive as he paused …
DUP Councillor Jenny Palmer appeared at today’s Committee for Social Development ‘Inquiry into allegations, arising from a BBC NI Spotlight programme aired on 3 July 2013, of impropriety or irregularity relating to NIHE managed contracts and consideration of any resulting actions’. Under oath Councillor Palmer restated her claim that Stephen Brimstone had telephoned her in an attempt to bully her to change her vote at a Housing Executive board meeting, considering the termination of a maintenance contract by the firm, …
Writing exclusively for Slugger O’Toole, the Chief Executive of Community Foundation Northern Ireland gets up on our soapbox to talk about equality and how we should focus on this important issue For those of us trying to make steps forward for our community, it takes us many steps back when politicians poison the very words we need to use. The Political Talks at Stormont trundle on. Three weeks out from Christmas and already the ghost of Christmas past appears to …
H/T do an Tuairisceoir… Agus seo iad na focail… Curraí my Yoghurt Is maith liom curraí, curraí le mo yoghurt Yoghurt le mo curraí, curraí le mo yoghurt Yoghurt le mo curraí, curraí le mo yoghurt Yoghurt le mo curraí, curraí le mo yoghurt Gaeilge sa leithreas Ag caint liom féin An doras faoi ghlas Agus mé gan srian An dtiocfaidh tú amach liom? Ta Gaeilge agam Labhróidh mé leat Gach aon am Gaeilge sa leithreas Ní féidir liom stopadh …
Not that he cares but Gregory Campbell MP’s recent remarks about the Irish language and his contemptuous dismissal of the campaign for an Irish Language Act has had some unintended consequences from those he may have imagined. It’s very easy to see why Gregory Campbell, drifting as he was to the margins of his party having been left out of the Executive by his leader in successive reshuffles, would want to make some grand effort to get back in the …
He’s been in the headlines recently over his comments about the Irish Language during question time in the Assembly and normally it is Sammy Wilson who grabs the headlines at a DUP conference for an interesting speech, but this year Gregory Campbell unbowed continued with his remarks and brought some visual aids to demonstrate his point. Following his comments I was keen to catch up with the DUP MP to just find out, why he made his remarks? Why he …
The DUP were in election mode at their annual conference this year. Gone was any outreach to soft unionist voters. Faced with a first-past-the-post election in May 2015, the DUP reverted to core values for core voters. Attendance in the main hall of La Mon Hotel for Peter Robinson’s address was a little down on the previous couple of years: the seats were all taken but there were fewer people standing at the back. New members I’d noticed a few …
Sinn Fein Councillor,Niall Ó Donnghaile appeared on the Nolan TV Show last week to talk about Gregory Campbell’s “Curry my yogurt” quote in the Assembly earlier that week. However, Ó Donnghaile has taken offence about how Nolan dealt with the issue as he kept repeating the remarks in an attempt to get Niall to laugh. Ó Donnghaile has said in a statement released yesterday offensive remarks were repeated ad nauseam in order to get a cheap laugh…The disrespect shown to …
Earlier this year, Alliance party MLA Anna Lo, hit the headlines for some of the racist treatment she had recieved. Writing for Slugger, Anna criticises the progress being made on the Racial Equality Strategy and argues for people to embrace different diffierent cultures in Northern Ireland. Sectarian politics gets votes in Northern Ireland, and yet sectarian politics continues to fail Northern Ireland over and over again. It is disappointing to see the draft Racial Equality Strategy, after being in the …
It must be very tempting in this current highly charged atmosphere to convert any turn of events into an attack on Sinn Féin and Gerry Adams. And God knows the party does provide the material for onslaughts. However the recent ill-informed and ignorant ‘Curry My Yoghurt’ remarks of Gregory Campbell, and the subsequent farce of barring him from speaking in the Assembly for a day he was due to be in Westminster, doesn’t seem to me to be a …
The Jimmy Savile affair and Iraq and the suicide of Dr David Kelly were two BBC editorial crises which cost BBC directors general their jobs. But the first in the sequence came in 1987 when DG Alasdair Milne was abruptly sacked two years after Real Lives: On the Edge of the Union, the documentary which featured Martin McGuinness as an ordinary person without horns, while at the same time being the IRA leader in Derry. The DG Alasdair Milne died yesterday. …
The Minister for Employment and Learning, Stephen Farry, was asked yesterday by MLAs Jim Allister and Gregory Campbell how many Protestants attended universities in Northern Ireland. The answer – only one third of students. Firstly let’s be clear – it doesn’t matter when students achieve a university place what religion they are. What I am more interested are the reasons behind the figures. Pupil numbers in terms of Secondary and Grammar schools in Northern Ireland can be found on the …
