Londonderry
“and it is all taking place during the 400th anniversary of the city being granted its Royal Charter…”
A UTV report acknowledging the contribution of PSNI Chief Superintendent Stephen Martin in Londonderry’s successful bid, against Sligo, to host the All-Ireland Fleadh during the UK City of Culture year notes another reason for denizens of the city to celebrate in 2013. From the UTV report The addition of the Fleadh means 2013 is shaping [...] more »
“Last January, the vast majority of families decided that the 39th Anniversary would be the last march”
Despite the declaration by the organising committee last year following the publication of the Saville Inquiry report, and the absence of endorsement by the Bloody Sunday Trust this year, a sizeable number of people took part in the 40th anniversary Bloody Sunday march in Londonderry yesterday. Estimates range from several hundred to almost 3000. And, [...] more »
Londonderry to host All-Ireland Fleadh in UK City of Culture year
After the application of some internal, and external, pressure the Ulster Council of Comhaltas reversed their earlier decision in time for the organisation’s central executive to select Londonderry to host their All-Ireland Fleadh during the UK City of Culture year in 2013. In the event, the only other candidate was Sligo… [Adds - Apparently Ennis withdrew [...] more »
“This further signifies the positive effect the City of Culture title is generating in the region…”
Whilst Comhaltas dither, and differ, over whether to hold their All-Ireland Fleadh in Londonderry during the UK City of Culture year in 2013, the UK’s Big Lottery Fund Chair, Peter Ainsworth, was in the city today to announce a £1million small grants programme to “support communities across Northern Ireland that want to play a part in [...] more »
“I am shocked, totally and utterly shocked.”
After dithering by the Londonderry branches, about being associated with the UK City of Culture, it’s now reported that the Ulster Council of Comhaltas have declined to support the city’s bid to host the All-Ireland Fleadh in 2013. From the Derry Journal report Moves to bring the 2013 All-Ireland Fleadh will now not proceed after [...] more »
Londonderry’s bid for All-Ireland Fleadh in 2013 to go ahead
At the second tiime of asking, Londonderry branch delegates of Comhaltas have agreed to bid to host the All-Ireland Fleadh during the UK City of Culture year by 13 votes to 1. As the BBC report notes Some Comhaltas members, who initially opposed the move because of the UK link in Derry’s City of Culture [...] more »
“The only way to neutralise the U.K. prefix…”
Nevin pointed at a rare tree of relevance in the comment zone yesterday. It’s the full statement from the former Sinn Féin “Director of Unionist Engagement“, now “Sinn Féin Junior Minister”, Martina Anderson, on the reluctance of some within Comhaltas to host the all-Ireland Fleadh in Londonderry during the UK City of Culture year. [That [...] more »
“we are a city of culture…”
More symptoms of that political psychosis in evidence in Londonderry. Sinn Féin’s Martina Anderson has informed the BBC that, at a meeting of the Irish music organisation Comhaltas in the city on Wednesday night, members failed to agree on a bid to host the all-Ireland Fleadh in 2013. From the BBC report “It is deeply disappointing,” [Martina [...] more »
“The restoration of this beautiful building, due to be completed in….”
Another example of the kind of openness, transparency, and forward-planning that makes Derry City Council the local government it is… They’re moving to facilitate restoration work. And the BBC reports that the £3million Guildhall Restoration Project, on which work began in August 2010, is not expected to allow the 19th Century Guildhall to re-open until Spring [...] more »
Derry City Council to meet charities over £10,000 ground rent debt
The latest BBC report promises to keep us up to date with any developments on the story of Raymond Saville Conolly de Montmorency Lecky-Browne-Lecky’s legacy to two charities - the Actors’ Charitable Trust and the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund. After his death in 1961 the amateur actor’s dying wish was that the charities would benefit from revenues from [...] more »
Presbyterian minister welcomed with a cup of tea at dissident protest camp at Free Derry Corner
Presbyterian ministers can’t seem to keep out of the news this week. Suzanne Breen reports in the Sunday World that Rev David Latimer (minister of the recently refurbished First Derry congregation, and a Territorial Army chaplain) made an unannounced visit to a dissident republican protest camp at Free Derry Corner over the weekend. In a [...] more »
It’s not Jerusalem, its Yerushalayim…
Last Saturday was my annual pilgrimage to the Maiden City to commemorate the Relief of Derry. Personally I have never been one of those Unionists who got overly hung up on the interchangeable use of the words Derry and Londonderry. I’ve been a member of the Apprentice Boys of Derry for 20 years this very [...] more »
“encouraged by a small number of people opposed to the peace process…”
Twenty-six people were arrested during last night’s rioting in nationalist areas of north and south Belfast and Londonderry. There were also reports of public disorder in Armagh, and the Dunclug estate in Ballymena. RTÉ lists Strabane, Newry, Ballymena and Armagh city, as well as Belfast and Londonderry. In Londonderry, we are told Sinn Féin Foyle [...] more »
A quick round-up…
Londonderry courthouse is the target of a car-bomb consisting of 50kg of home-made explosives packed into a beer keg and described as a “substantial viable device”. British Army technical officers carried out a number of controlled explosions on the device during Sunday night. They’ve also carried out a controlled explosion on a small suspicious object [...] more »
Calls increase for new investigation into Joanne Mathers’ murder
The call by Lowry Mathers for further investigation of his wife’s murder (which I covered on Wednesday) may or may not achieve justice for them and their son. Whilst the precedents for success are not good, his comments, after 30 years of dignified silence, seem to have struck something of a chord. It is worth [...] more »
“good fences make good neighbours”
Boundary issues of a different kind feature in another Belfast Telegraph report, although the BBC version seems to play it down somewhat… Derry City Council have agreed to apply for planning permission for a 1.8 metre high, 170 metre long, “fence” at an “interface” at the playing fields at Lisnagelvin in Londonderry - the UK’s City [...] more »
The Last Bloody Sunday March: Changing How We Remember the Past?
The adjective ‘historic’ gets used far too often in Northern Ireland, but yesterday’s Bloody Sunday March in Derry just might be worthy of the word. In the wake of the Saville Report, the committee of the Bloody Sunday Weekend decided that this would be the last year that the march went ahead. The rationale is [...] more »
DRD Minister intends to grant £8.6million to City of Derry Airport
Some £60-odd million has been spent by various administrations on the City of Derry Airport in recent years – including £19million in 2008 on “safety work”. And still no sign of a buyer… But, as the Irish Government prepares to cut the subsidy it provides for the Londonderry-Dublin flight, the Northern Ireland Regional Development Minister, [...] more »
Strand Road security upgrade: “the correct, necessary and proportionate thing to do”
The BBC reports an increase in security measures at the Strand Road police station in Londonderry in response to a “severe threat” . The station has been the target of bomb attacks twice this year. From the BBC report Bollards have been erected outside Strand Road police station in Londonderry to protect the building from [...] more »
“The clue is in the name.”
More symptoms of political psychosis in the UK City of Culture 2013. As reported in the Londonderry Sentinel A new call for the change to the title was made at the Cultural Partnership Forum meeting on October 5, when Donncha MacNiallais, a spokesman with the Bogside Residents Group, raised his concerns, saying the use of the [...] more »
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Books
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Debating the Churches’ Role in the Peace in Northern Ireland
This morning’s Sunday Sequence featured a substantial debate (about 35 minutes into the recorded programme) on a new book,Religion, Civil Society and Peace in Northern Ireland (Oxford University Press 2011), written by sociologists John Brewer, Gareth Higgins and Francis Teeney. The debate was framed in an opening vignette by presenter William Crawley in uncompromising terms, [...] read our review » -
Stay out of Libya: counterinsurgency doesn’t work
A moment of some significance in journalism perhaps, as the New York Times reviews the current talked about book, The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy, and the Way Out of Afghanistan by Bing West. The author is no bleeding heart but a former assistant Defense Secretary from the Reagan era who stomped his way round the Afghan [...] read our review »
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Spare us a phoney row about racism, we’ve got enough on
A silly media row about racism just had to figure in the riots’ post mortem. Was the Tudor history expert David Starkey racist on Newsnight when he said: The whites have become black. A particular sort of violent, destructive, nihilistic, gangster culture has become the fashion. And black and white, boy and girl, operate in [...] read our review »
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