Religion, politics and history…

Though I haven’t read it yet, Ronan Bennett’s Booker shortlisted novel, Havoc in its third year has brought him some serious critical acclaim. Although the fiction is firmly centred in Puritan Northern England, at times he may have been drawing on his background in Northern Ireland. Reviewer Kathryn Hughes: In taverns, in church and in the streets, men watch other men for signs that they are following the wrong party line. A certain glance, a particular ribbon, a prayer mumbled …

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Exaggerated misery…

Alan Greer writes to the Guardian arguing that life in Belfast in the 1980’s was not so bad as it’s been painted in retrospect. adminA slightly inhuman presence that bans bad comments and works late at night to remove the wrinkles in Slugger’s technical carpet. You will need to know about the comments policy to stay off the fightin’ side of me and there is a bit of background about me here. You can email me using this spam-proof link …

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Test post

This is a new entry to test your Movable Type installation. We have installed Movable Type on your server and configured the paths for the initial weblog in the system per your request. Do not delete this weblog (“First Weblog”) unless you know what you are doing, because it is already configured for your server. You also do not want to delete the author that has been created for this weblog. Edit the user information to change the name, password, …

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test

test rtgasdgdasrg adminA slightly inhuman presence that bans bad comments and works late at night to remove the wrinkles in Slugger’s technical carpet. You will need to know about the comments policy to stay off the fightin’ side of me and there is a bit of background about me here. You can email me using this spam-proof link if you really need to, and Slugger is @sluggerotoole on Twitter. But above all, remember, Play the ball and not the man.

Britain not ready for blog reporters…

According to James Crabtree, the response of all the major British political parties to the idea of allowing bloggers in to their party conferences has been a resounding No! It stands in marked contrast to the US parties’s accreditation of a small group of bloggers for their national conventions. adminA slightly inhuman presence that bans bad comments and works late at night to remove the wrinkles in Slugger’s technical carpet. You will need to know about the comments policy to …

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Peace as a 'public good'…

Jim Maguire of the Western People makes an analogy between Sinn Fein’s position viz a viz the Peace Process and the response of the drinks industry in the Republic to speculation that regulation on the sales of alcohol may be taken out of their hands: “Just as public health considerations must take precedence over the commercial interests of the drinks industry so must constitutional consensus replace the private ambitions of the physical force advocates”. adminA slightly inhuman presence that bans …

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Substituting trivia for politics…

This piece by yours truly in today’s Sunday Independent, is less of a review so much as a reading of some of the main themes of John Lloyd’s recent essay on how the media illserves democracy (registration needed) in an Irish context. IT’S hard to believe, but the presidency of the most powerful democracy on earth may swing on what two rival groups of Vietnam veterans say about some minor skirmishes in the Mekong Delta over 30 years ago. And …

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Slugger news…

We hope that we’ll have Slugger back early next week. Because of the way it crashed, we may have to start with only a limited amount of the site’s archives, and effectively begin anew. We will also have the very latest upgrade of the MT software. Though the site should look the same as before it should be faster and easier to reload. Night all! adminA slightly inhuman presence that bans bad comments and works late at night to remove …

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Friday, September 03, 2004

Chief Constable Hugh Orde has called into question the ambiguity of the rulings of the Parades Commission that allows police to prevent marchers to follow certain routes, but not supporters and followers. adminA slightly inhuman presence that bans bad comments and works late at night to remove the wrinkles in Slugger’s technical carpet. You will need to know about the comments policy to stay off the fightin’ side of me and there is a bit of background about me here. …

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Negotiations: no further delays, please?

Both the UK Secretary of State and the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs are on message saying that we cannot afford further delay beyond the three weeks of negotiations this month. But there are no obvious signs of either of the two main parties turning the ten year process into product in such a short time. adminA slightly inhuman presence that bans bad comments and works late at night to remove the wrinkles in Slugger’s technical carpet. You will need …

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JCB assault on pub…

In what has to be one of the most bizarre incidents of the last 35 years, the Thirty Two Degrees North pub on the Crumlin Road was attacked last night – by a JCB with burning rubble stoked in its bucket. adminA slightly inhuman presence that bans bad comments and works late at night to remove the wrinkles in Slugger’s technical carpet. You will need to know about the comments policy to stay off the fightin’ side of me and …

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Paisley's health based on groundless speculation

Ian Paisley is loosing patience with the multiple speculations about the true state of his health. adminA slightly inhuman presence that bans bad comments and works late at night to remove the wrinkles in Slugger’s technical carpet. You will need to know about the comments policy to stay off the fightin’ side of me and there is a bit of background about me here. You can email me using this spam-proof link if you really need to, and Slugger is …

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Rove stirs Irish Americans

According to Ray O’Hanlon of the US based Irish Echo Karl Rove’s comments spurred the prompting of Irish American lobbyists to highlight the efforts of George Bush to find a solution in Northern Ireland. However it seems to have stirred a controversy that Democrat Irish American lobbyists are happy to exploit. adminA slightly inhuman presence that bans bad comments and works late at night to remove the wrinkles in Slugger’s technical carpet. You will need to know about the comments …

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Settlement needs to end ambiguity…

The Newsletter editorialises on the prospects of success of the current round of negotiations, and insists that whatever is agreed must be clearly and commonly understood by all parties – and leave no major issues outstanding afterwards. adminA slightly inhuman presence that bans bad comments and works late at night to remove the wrinkles in Slugger’s technical carpet. You will need to know about the comments policy to stay off the fightin’ side of me and there is a bit …

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Sinn Fein on consistent course to peace…

Dissident Republican Tommy McKearney believes that Gerry Adams’ advice to the IRA should not be dismissed. He argues that it is consistent with the long term direction his party has been taken since he became leader 20 years ago. adminA slightly inhuman presence that bans bad comments and works late at night to remove the wrinkles in Slugger’s technical carpet. You will need to know about the comments policy to stay off the fightin’ side of me and there is …

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Parallels with Bush's 'war on terror'?

Belfast Telegraph’s journalist of the year Mary Fitzgerald is on secondment to the newsroom at the Washington Post. She was at the US Republican National Convention to get David Trimble’s reaction to Karl Rove’s view that the war against terrorism was exactly comparible to that fought by the British against the IRA during the troubles. On a lighter note, Slugger has word from one New York reader that DT attended the convention in the company of a rather dapperly dressed …

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Unionists cannot share power

Returning to an old theme of his, Brian Feeney argues that Unionists are politically incapable of sharing power with nationalists and looks forward to the day that London and Dublin run Northern Ireland directly. adminA slightly inhuman presence that bans bad comments and works late at night to remove the wrinkles in Slugger’s technical carpet. You will need to know about the comments policy to stay off the fightin’ side of me and there is a bit of background about …

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UUP: lacking in ideas

Just in case you thought intra tribal rivalry had taken a back seat for the negotiations – Jeffrey Donaldson has been teasing his former colleagues on what he claims is their lack of new ideas. adminA slightly inhuman presence that bans bad comments and works late at night to remove the wrinkles in Slugger’s technical carpet. You will need to know about the comments policy to stay off the fightin’ side of me and there is a bit of background …

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Paisley: stable settlement will take time

The leader of the DUP has said there is no rush for a settlement. Just how long is a matter for lengthy conjecture. In fact there is nothing in any negotiations timetable to prevent things dragging on until past the next general election (expected in early summer next year. That would then give the two main protagonists another two years before facing any further democratic tests. Just the kind of space we might expect to see radical developments. adminA slightly …

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Slugger away from home for another while

Getting Slugger transfered back to its home is likely to take a bit longer than we’d hoped – probably not until next Tuesday, when I hope to be blogging from Northern Ireland. We’ll keep you posted here of further progress as we have it. adminA slightly inhuman presence that bans bad comments and works late at night to remove the wrinkles in Slugger’s technical carpet. You will need to know about the comments policy to stay off the fightin’ side …

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