Northern Ireland go top: Stan to get reprieve?

Yep, heard the cheering from down below, now it’s all quiet because it’s all over… (till the pubs get out)… They just expect Healy to score and he does… Meanwhile, with a 1-0 against Slovakia, maybe some of the blatantly pernicious salami slicing of Stan will stop… 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, …

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Amazon’s Irish language section…

Not sure whether this has been noted elsewhere but Amazon has established an Irish language section as part of its new (?) foreign language section. 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

Fabians launch in Northern Ireland..

Looks like the British Labour Movement is taking baby steps to organise politically here. The Fabian Society, was, according to Google, “founded in 1884 by Beatrice and Sidney Webb, George Bernard Shaw and HG Wells as a group promoting non-Marxist evolutionary socialism”. It’s now here in Northern Ireland as an official “Local Society”.Steven Twigg, Director of the Foreign Policy Centre, former MP and Secretary of the Fabian Society, addressed the inaugural meeting at QUB last week. He outlined the history …

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Slugger Radio tonight

After our haitus last week, we resume Slugger Radio tonight. We have David Stephen on, co-author of A Long Peace? to discuss what lessons from Northern Ireland’s peace process might prove useful in other conflicts in other parts of the world… 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

On the difference between the man and the ball…

I see Pete’s getting a fair old knocking for his ‘rough treatment’ of Peter Hain. Pete (our Pete that is, I wouldn’t dream of addressing the Secretary of State for Wales, etc in such casual terms) tells me it’s nothing personal: he’s just keeping an eye on the machinery of government. But, if you want real Hain bashing, try Simon Heffer in the Telegraph. He wants to be deputy leader of the Labour Party. His website proudly announces that 32 …

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“Let no one interfere with that”

Entirely unrelated to the previous post.. In this online clip [RealPlayer video] Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams, after praising what he describes as an “indigenous” deal “put together by SF and the DUP”, upbraids the BBC’s NI political editor Mark Devenport – “Journalists have the right and the responsibility and the duty to ask questions.. you don’t have the right to ask stupid questions” – and, in response to concerns raised by former DUP MEP Jim Allister yesterday, insisted that, …

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Are political journalists too timid?

Prominent, and controversial, blogger Guido Fawkes ventures onto the BBC’s Newsnight patch tonight – there’s a short online report here [RealPlayer video] – to blame an overly cozy relationship between political journalists and their party-political sources for the timid coverage politics gets in the wider media – a viewpoint that Jeremy Paxman describes as a “pathetic conspiracy world”. Pete Baker

Caught Red-handed … Except

Not caught, by the PSNI that is. A savage attack caught on CCTV, but still no justice. So what exactly do the police do, again? Is it that hard to find someone in Newtonabbey? Rusty Nail

On being nearly famous…

A while back I meet Professor Stephen Coleman, who being a fan of Slugger described me to a colleague as household name. When I looked at him sideways, he amended it to ‘a name in many households’. Those who either by dint of profession or obsession are into Northern Irish politics. Then yesterday in Bedford Street in Belfast I met an old friend of my brother’s who told me I’d got a mention one of the commercial radio a station …

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Following Paisley’s star of hope?

No, I’m sure he doesn’t mean those kinds of stars. Does he? Frank Millar has it from the good doctor’s mouth: The Rev Ian Paisley told MPs “a star of hope” was guiding Northern Ireland towards a better future, as the Commons passed emergency legislation yesterday confirming the May 8th commencement date for Stormont devolution. The First Minister-designate said it was “only a star of hope” at this stage, adding: “We are not nearly across the river and we have …

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Unbelieveable pile up in fog…

Yesterday’s pile on the M9 doesn’t seem to have sunk into some drivers. Yesterday’s crash resulted in nearly 100 vehicles piling into one another in various incidents between Kildare and Naas and this morning comes the sad news that one woman died shortly after falling into a coma. One taxi driver told me this morning that one his way into work this morning the fog was just as thick, and people were traveling past him at a good 50 mph. …

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Anti-Protestant discrimination renewed

The discriminatory 50-50 recruitment policy of the PSNI was passed in the House of Lords last night. Will the establishment of a power-sharing Executive a few weeks away and the PSNI endorsed by all political parties not have a strong impact upon the recruitment pool? Have events not made the law obsolete and an unnecessary source of resentment? Lee Reynolds

Internet spend outstripping newspapers in the UK…

Was on Newstalk doing the newspapers with Noreen Hegarty from the Sunday Tribune. This story (subs needed) came up in the discussion which notes that in the UK online advertising spend has outstripped that going into newspapers. It’s a challenge to big paper institutions to invest in the Internet, whilst they can still make a decent profit out of their premium content.Good news for bloggers? Maybe, but not in the short run. The big winners are Google who have a …

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The Rot at the Core of Stormont

Patrick Murphy asks, “Have our politicians created a culture in which honesty, decency, respect and trust are regarded as weaknesses? […] the most important questions relate to the nature of our wider society. How can our children be taught to respect authority when those who wield it are seen to abuse it for party political purposes? Who will tell our children that their education system was not planned for their learning and development but for the political gratification of Ian …

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Bums on Executive seats

There is increasing speculation that the four Executive Party leaders will meet to agree the departments each will take, making the later nominations a formality. Hain has indicated he will allow preparatory briefings of the notional ministers. Martina Purdy gives her form guide to who may be included. Interestingly, there may be four female ministers in the full 14 member Executive with Foster, Ritchie and Ruane tipped for full ministries and a possible junior ministry for Martina Anderson. All of …

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“We did get the promise that something would be done.”

Whilst we wait to see if the DUP MP William McCrea follows through on the implications of his comments in the Commons, and joins MEP Jim Allister in resigning from the party, there was an even more intriguing comment – lacking a response, so far – from the DUP leader Ian Paisley in the middle of this BBC report He said they had raised with Sinn Fein the issue of the killing of Belfast man Robert McCartney, and said: “We …

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The UDA bail saga continues

Having noted reports that there would be an application to revoke Ihab Shoukri’s bail, on charges of membership of the UDA/UFF, after he was arrested and charged with handling stolen property… an update. The application has been refused. It seems the “stolen property” is currency and, whilst the police are connecting that currency to a raid in Larne on St Patrick’s Day, “The judge said there was room for argument as to how Shoukri came to be in possession of …

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Bertie on Northern Ireland…

Great blog compedium of Bertie’s wise words on the Process™ 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

Thanks for the link…

http://awightman.wordpress.com/That Sun headline was in the Ulster version of the paper, duly noted by the BBC in its Paper Monitor page. Overdue thanks to: Alan; Eolaí gan Fhéile ; Ciaran; Ed; P O’Neill; Matt; Andrew; Ford Street; Sam; Global New Media; South Belfast Diary; Green Ribbon; Kenny; UK Daily Pundit; and Mamam Poulet. To mention, but a few… Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider …

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St Andrews Act (second attempt)

As I type Lembit Opik is on his feet in the Commons. If anyone is interested, this is what he is talking about. Michael ShillidayI used to write and get paid, now I read and don’t. Former UUP staffer, currently living in London. @mjshilliday