Humour
“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 »
Parliamentary Written Answer of the Week…
Tweet They don’t have to be dull. As demonstrated yesterday by the clearly well-read Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for Communities and Local Government, Conservative MP, Brandon Lewis. Here’s the nominated written question and answer Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether his Department has any plans to deregulate [...] more »
Story of St Patrick 60s style: “That’s all over not letting that little boy on…”
Tweet Not new, by any means. But still a bravura piece of native story telling… more »
Nordie OUTRAGE: Our speciality…
Tweet If there’s no good news about, why not make some up… The Donegal Dollop reports on continuing Nordie OUTRAGE… Unionists have yet to react to the following car models also set for the 2013 market: Ford RA Toyota Avengesis Honda Civic Unrest -All of which are planned to be advertised using a new song [...] more »
Weekend White House memes…
Tweet After US President Barack Obama mangled his sci-fi/popular culture references with his “Jedi mind-meld”, the White House twitter feed doubled down on the confusion… [The Farce is strong with this one - Ed] Meanwhile, also via the Professor, his critics are having fun with the latest in an occasional series of Presidential denials. Heh. more »
FFS, Give Us A HUG!!!
Tweet Sometimes, someone, somewhere just gets it right… This picture comes to you courtesy of the small but growing Northern Ireland community on Google Plus… more »
If Northern Ireland was a Hollywood movie…?
Tweet It’s been a pretty depressing couple of weeks all told. Flags, riots, official confirmation of state involvement in the murder of solicitor Pat Finucane. So, let me try and lift the mood, by asking a completely fatuous makey upey question: If Hollywood was to make a Movie about Northern Ireland right now, what would [...] more »
“The important thing to remember is dress like a crazy person with armor…”
Tweet Via the Professor comes the important news that today, 8th December, is/was “Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day.” Some starters: If you go the “prisoner who’s escaped the future” try shaving your head and putting a barcode on the back of your neck. Then stagger around and stare at the sky, as if [...] more »
David Cameron and the Sash his father never wore…
Tweet On a visit to the United Arab Emirates, lovely sash David!! And so, your captions place??? H/t to the eagle-eyed Stefan Stern … more »
Political Kombat ’12: Obama vs Romney
Tweet Too good to miss… especially the last scene… Not that long out so far as I can tell… more »
And now the political weather from the Irish “ministry of strokes”…
Tweet Ah, Ireland’s political problem writ large and metaphorically… A stroke is a temporary or permanent loss of higher brain function, generally caused by a blockage in the area that involves ethical decision-making. Ba boom… Nice one Frank! more »
“Obviously, people are never going to be seized by the exact same patently bullshit sense of destiny they were last time around…”
Tweet The Onion reports, prematurely it would appear, from the Democratic Party’s National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. From the Onion slice. According to sources, none of the students in attendance appeared to be discussing proposals for college debt-relief with quite the same degree of unthinking, asinine fervor as they did in 2008, nor did [...] more »
“some of us are looking at the stars. Just not very many of us…”
Tweet Reading Frank McNally’s An Irishman’s Diary today – on the number of comments here, compared to the numbers here – all I can say is that, fortunately, I don’t suffer from ‘comment envy’… Much. From today’s Irishman’s Diary. And all right, Mars might be a minority interest on most websites, never mind sites focused [...] more »
US Presidential Election: “I believe we can acknowledge the real truth here.”
Tweet In The Onion’s version of an op-ed, the Republican candidate for vice-president, Paul Ryan, has a message for Democratic Party attack dogs everywhere – “if we’re able to put aside the talking points for a few minutes and say what we’re all actually thinking and feeling”. I’m young, I’m handsome, I’m smart, and I’m [...] more »
Private Eye: Yeah guys, but maybe not that ‘A Maskey’…
Tweet A letter from “A Maskey, Belfast”… Hmmm… H/T to the eagle-eyed reader Kate… more »
“All we have to do now is talk to Mr and Mrs Fenian…”
Tweet All getting a little too hot and heavy round here at the moment, so here’s a view of the world from the early seventies, featuring noises off from Mr Faulkner and Mr Heath… more »
The ever changing rhetorical framework of a single term: Collusion…
Tweet Newton at The Detail at his withering best as he tries to grab that most Protean of Troubles/Peace Process™ watchwords, collusion… more »
Condemning homophobic prejudice (so long as it is from a unionist)…
Tweet In case you don’t see it, here’s Newton Emerson’s take on the week’s news over at the Detail… Of particular note it is unacceptable for an ageing Unionist peer to say what the Catholic Church in fact believes on the issue of homosexuality… [No, no, no that's okay, because 70% of Catholics don't actually [...] more »
“Christmas for intolerable Joyceans everywhere”
Tweet It’s that Day again! [Again!? - Ed]. You can spend the day listening to Radio 4. Or you can watch this excellent video again. It’s tradition! Those of a sensitive disposition are duly warned, again, that James Joyce enjoys the language in all its fecund nuttiness. more »
Pol junkies and their addictions: Elections are never never over…
Tweet I’m grateful to my cousin John for this one (who I understand very occasionally subjects himself to the ordeal of reading Slugger)… more »
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Books
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Do Words Matter?: Book Review of Political Discourse and Conflict Resolution – Debating Peace in Northern Ireland
Tweet I share many of the concerns of Andy Pollak, whose recent post ‘My Response to the Slugger Begrudgers’ zeroed in on the ‘relentless flow of negativity’ of some Slugger commentators. Pollak’s post was largely concerned with the medium of the blog. Indeed, I think the anonymity of the online world encourages extreme discourse and [...] read our review »
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Book Review: The McGurk’s Bar Bombing
Tweet The McGurk’s Bar Bombing: Collusion, Cover-Up and a Campaign for Truth with a foreword by Colin Wallace, just published by Frontline Noir, is the first book by Ciarán MacAirt, grandson of one of those killed in the bombing and the most visible campaigner on behalf of the victims and their families. The book pulls together the [...] read our review » -
John Laird for Christmas?
Tweet John Laird (Lord Laird of Artigarvan) is unionism’s jester. His memoir A Struggle To Be Heard ” by a True Ulster Liberal” (from Slugger’s shop on Amazon here) might serve more as a heavy stocking filler than anybody’s idea of a main present. In it he wears the masks of comedy and tragedy to turn [...] read our review »
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