I’m slightly disadvantaged in my attempts to get Slugger back up and working in that I’m in London today, primarily to give a talk about blogging and Web 2.0 to an international NGO. I have had a few generous offers of help, and am confident we can get back fairly quickly. Thanks to both Joe (a very regular donor to Slugger) and John for their kind help. It is much appreciated. adminA slightly inhuman presence that bans bad comments and …
You can catch David Liddington, Donal Blaney, myself, and Iain Dale on Doughty Street TV tonight at 10pm 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 …
Sorry for the outage today. We have another episode of the mysteriously missing template(s). I’m trying beg borrow and steal enough tech wisdom to get us back online. But it may take some time. You can help by throwing something in tip jar. 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 …
I may be on towards the end of the day, but I’m taking some time out for most of the day… I understand that Fair Deal also has other, more pressing matters to deal with today… Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
If you’ve never given it a go before, check out Iain Dale’s Issue of the Hour programme on Doughty Street tonight. It’s basically a four hander between David Liddington, Donal Blaney, Iain and myself. I certainly enjoyed the freedom the format gives to cover some of the topics raised in slightly greater depth than you can on mainstream TV. I stayed on last night for a lively discussion with Kerron, Andy and Tory hopeful Mark Fox. Will add the view …
Good News/Bad News. Bad News: We didn’t quite make the cut for Politics Online Top Ten. When you look at the heavyweight competition, it’s not hard to see why. But, Good News is that we’ve been shortlisted for the German based BoBs Awards: Best English language weblog. Once again, we need your votes! Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular …
While the BBC report focuses on, the Secretary of State for Wales etc, Peter Hain’s comment that he is not worried about the current NI political situation, the Press Association has more detailed quotes which suggest that he may be, at least, a little concerned – “Everybody knows the timetable, everybody knows the clock is ticking and counting down.”.. Well I did mention that ticking sound previously..From the PA report Mr Hain said: “I am not worried, the parties know …
Not that I’m disputing the undoubtedly elephantine memory of Irish President Mary McAleese, who is in Budapest to represent Ireland at the 50th anniversary commemorations of the 1956 Revolution.. but when, as the Belfast Telegraph reports, she states, “I remember the impact that it had on my home, my parish, my street. We were, to put it mildly, upset by it” [not part of the official speech – Ed], it’s worth pointing out that she was only 5 years old …
OVER in Ayr recently, and this dispute was the splash on one of the local papers – controversy over a republican parade through the town. Then there was the loyalist paramilitary who plonked himself down beside me on the boat… you just can’t leave Northern Ireland behind, can you? Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
An interesting snippet from Friday’s Irish News[subs not req], Sinn Féin’s Conor Murphy, MP, MLA and Barry McElduff, MLA were forced to cancel a planned trip to the US last week after they were refused visas.. or, as Conor Murphy has it, “the applications were declined because they were unable to be processed in time” [of course they weren’t – Ed] Updated Link. Thanks, John.As the Irish News reported[subs req] “I accept this explanation and I do not believe that …
COLONEL Tim Collins is presenting a show on BBC1 tonight (10.35pm) looking at the role of Ulster Generals in World War 2, as they defended Britain’s Middle Eastern front line in 1941. The BBC’s blurb is below the fold.Ulster Generals By the summer of 1942, the Middle East was Britain’s front line. During the Second World War, the British Army was being punched back towards Egypt at such speed that Rommel would take Cairo within a week. The Allies would …
It’s hard to know just what this augers for the Sinn Fein consultation, but the answer from Eugene Garvey of Ogra Sinn Fein is unambiguous: “If our generation now endorses the wearing of the RUC/psni uniform under the Saint Andrews agreement, we will be endorsing and accepting the British occupation of Ireland .” Rejectionist Republicanism anyone? Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and …
The UUP might have felt hard done by after the criticism of their St Andrews blog, even if it didn’t reveal any trade secrets, but others have utilised the medium in a much more profound way.. in this case UN Envoy in Sudan, Jan Pronk. As Austin Bay, quoted by the Instadude, put it – “He blogged the truth and the Sudan government now says ‘goodbye.’” And, according to the BBC report, it’s not just the Sudan government who didn’t …
Martin McGuinness riled El Blogador’s heckles when he claimed on this week’s Politics Show that Sinn Fein represented the Green in the Irish Tricolour. It’s true that the party has made a number of proposals to put the Irish flag back into the centre of public life in the Republic, but argues El Mat, it belongs to all Irish Nationalists. Now here’s some thoughts that might follow: – Does standing purely for the green in the flag signify an abandonment …
The situation in the UK viz a viz the radicalisation of Islamic youth is clearly much further on than it is in Ireland, north or south. The discussion of the veil controversy (video file) on a recent edition of the Late Late Show accordingly had an air of unreality about it. Mary FitzGerald, has been out and about amongst Irish muslims, asking them for their estimation on both sides of the border.Several of her sources, requested their names not be …
The Council for Catholic Maintained Schools is to undertake a review of its provision with up to 50 primary schools up for closure (pdf file) or amalgamation to address the 20,000 empty desks in the maintained sector. Are such decisions by CCMS and other educational providers before the completion of the review of education premature? Will this self-regulating approach enable the controlled, maintained and integrated sectors to entrench their own positions? Lee Reynolds
Alex Kane is not impressed with the St Andrews Agreement. He also recounts the rapid movement of the DUP from visceral (and distructive) opponents of any kind of compromise to accepting the broad outline of the Belfast Agreement. The only chance to improve on it, he argues is for the ‘moderate middle’ to act in concert and form a ‘voluntary opposition’ in any future Assembly. This column has had a fairly benign view of the DUP since it became the …
From Gary Kent in Belfast: Timing is everything in politics. It has taken time and determination to overcome official objections to holding the Body in Belfast. It took time for the DUP to swallow hard and send a delegation to the last meeting of the British-Irish Interparliamentary Body in Northern Ireland in the south. It was expected that the meeting in Belfast would be addressed by Tony Blair and perhaps joined by the DUP but the dominant timeline is now …
Suzanne Breen uncovers some of the strong feelings remaining in some segments of Northern Ireland’s nationalist community. It would seem that for some the consent principle applies to all aspects of state administration, except that of security. One respondent, Martin O’Neill, argues that the point is not that Catholics are now joining the PSNI, so much as what it stands for: “I’m not saying there are no good people in the PSNI. But what they are like personally is irrelevant. …
A Sinn Fein delegation is to hold a meeting with Archbishop Robin Eames and the four Anglican bishops with dioceses in Northern Ireland. Lee Reynolds
