Raw deal on Five imposed on NI viewers

Make whatever sense you can of this rigmarole about receiving that poor relation of a terrestrial TV channel, Five . If you have Freeview boxes that aren’t specified here, can you continue to get ITV3 and 4 if you don’t bother to retune? It’s a lousy deal anyway. It means you lose the best sports coverage in the world – the Tour de France on IT4! And what about those re-runs of Morse and Cracker? Brian WalkerFormer BBC journalist and …

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McCausland suggests changes to GAA funding

Nelson McCausland has suggested that GAA clubs which are named after IRA terrorists could have their funding cut. He said that officials were examining clauses in Sport NI’s grant-making arrangements to advise if changes should be considered. On Good Morning Ulster McCausland suggested that it was also inappropriate to name competitions after IRA members. Francie Brolly (also on Good Morning Ulster) dismissed the idea. He explained that a GAA club local to him in Dungiven named after INLA member Kevin …

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No need for unionist unity but unionist civility might help

Unionist unity is for unionist politicians a bit like belief in God is for American politicians: one has to claim to subscribe to it no matter what one really thinks. When asked many if not most ordinary unionists suggest that it would be a good idea. It has also in the past served unionism very well: the fairly united response to Home Rule was almost certainly a major help in the early twentieth century. More recently the united response to …

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Scotland is a foreign country…

IN case you missed this quirky, quixotic tour of Scotland by Englishman Jonathan Meades in Off Kilter, the wonders of the internet and digital TV mean it is still available to see. This is a passionately dispassionate, unsentimentally engaged journey, where neither Calvinism, caber nor kilt is celebrated, but other things – the abstract beauty of heavy machinery, ‘football pools’ town and the social cohesion brought about by old industry. It is hard to watch this beautifully shot, engagingly narrated …

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On that business of policing and justice…

Given this is a game largely played by two players neither of whom are particularly interested in sharing their inner most thoughts with the outside world, guessing when Policing and Justice is going to be devolved is a bit of a pointless game… Robinson appeared to indicate a stepchange in negotations back in July. The fairly positive voices emerging from Alliance indicate they are on board too. Last week the BBC appeared to indicate a breakthrough on the community confidence …

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1981 Hunger Strike: Deconstructing McGuinness

A couple of analogies to start. And then an extended deconstruction of McGuinness’ article from the Irish News. Picture Gerry Adams as manager of the team, Danny Morrison as Captain. Bik McFarlane is a star player. Gibney is a coach. Imagine the Irish News special as the Cup final. The manager, who never gave public interviews all season, has disappeared. The Captain has absented himself from the field, and taken his star player with him (probably after consulting with Coach …

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“That’s a decision for the Irish government”

The DUP took on the mantle of “defenders of Irish sovereignty” in the Northern Ireland Assembly today [Added link to the debate]. Being debated was a Sinn Féin private members’ motion calling for “an All Ireland economic summit to find alternatives to NAMA and an all-Ireland strategy towards mutual economic recovery” – the party’s statement is here. It’s as if they haven’t noticed what’s been happening in Ireland. RTÉ notes that the motion was defeated, and reports the NI Finance …

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Best of the Lisbon videos…

The Best No campaign ad so far… only just beating this more ‘serious’ one from Coir (great sound track)…. Send us your favourites or pin them up below… 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

“There is also limited evidence of efficient government.”

Difficult to disagree with the reported assessment by Derek Birrell, Professor of Social Administration and Policy at the University of Ulster’s Social and Policy Research Institute. His book’s a bit pricey but, although he argues that “Looking at the overall picture it is obvious that devolution contributes more to the better governance of Northern Ireland – particularly for realising an inclusive cross-community cross-party form of government” and that devolution helped address the “democratic deficit” of direct rule, here’s his assessment …

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Slugger Awards: Councillor of the Year?

Given there are 582 councillors in 26 councils in Northern Ireland, our problem here should be an embarrassment of riches. Local councillors are often the workhorses of democracy, often undertaking work with the minimum of resources. The majority of them working hard far beyond the metropolitan attention of the Belfast bubble. And yet it is not yet clear what makes a good councillor. Under the current dispensation where councillors have only an advisory role with regard to planning, the practical …

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Lisbon Essay (21): Europeans cannot opt out of globalisation and its problems…

Richard Gowan notes that with the changing of the guard at the US Whitehouse President Obama is not likely to constrain himself to old alliances to deal with the problems of a much larger and more complex (not to mention more dangerous) world than most of us knew growing up… Richard notes that already huge amounts of time are being chewed up in 27 sets of bilaterals on different sets of policy initiatives … And he argues that since the …

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1981 Hunger Strike: A Case to Answer

WAS THERE A DEAL? ask the Irish News in its two part special on the Hunger Strike. Today’s issue is damning, featuring commentary by Deputy First Minister and, according to the Ed Moloney’s Secret History, Chief of Staff of the IRA at the time of the hunger strikes Martin McGuinness, who admits to his role as the Derry messenger between Mountain Climber Brendan Duddy and the Belfast cadre of Adams, Morrison, Gibney and Hartley. Former Hunger Striker Laurence McKeown also …

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Iran: missiles and nuclear sites

The news that Iran had another previously secret nuclear site came out last week. This site at Qum is apparently completely peaceful despite western concerns. Due to its completely peaceful nature there is presumably no need to be remotely concerned that Iran has test fired missiles with a possible 1,200 mile range (Iran seems quite into missiles). The rest of the world has reacted pretty negatively to the news of the nuclear plant and there is the possibility thought by …

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“Avoid clichés like the plague.”

Will Crawley passes on William Safire’s wise counsel on the “rules”. From Will and Testament Safire has died, aged 79. Inevitably, the first line of his obituary mentions his role as a speechwriter for Richard Nixon, and the first line of an obituary should aim to note a figures principle accomplishment in life. In fact, Safire’s greatest achievement was his work as a speechwriter for the English language. Amongst Safire’s rules for the proper use of English are these: ‘Remember …

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Slugger’s Daily Blogburst…

And welcome to our first crowdsourced blog round up… And we kick off with one of the primary reasons for doing the bloggburst on a daily basis: one, there is such a lot of good stuff out there… But says Crooked Timber, the general story in the blogosphere is that since people don’t link out as much as they once is the blogosphere is burning itself out as a useful eclectic tool… – And impartiality how are ya? Not a …

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Lisbon Essay (20): After eight years of intense political negotiation it is time to move on…

Margot Wallström the current Vice-President of the European Commission lays out her case for Lisbon. In particular she notes the high level of distrust lingering in some circles with regard to the changes agreed (ie Ireland’s right to a commissioner, and the legal guarantees), but argues that these are political decisions the unbinding of which would have severe political consequences for whomsoever tried to do it. She also argues that whilst the dangers of a race to the bottom are …

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Slugger Awards: Best local newspaper nominations so far…

So before we open nominations on the new category, let’s review what we have for local newspapers: – An Druma Mor, not exactly local, but an Irish Language portal which has a heavy emphasis on politics and current affairs… Not absolutely sure it fits the category, but perhaps it should be… (what do you think??) – “The Dungannon News and Tyrone Courier” from, er, Dungannon… – The Andersonstown News, covering new in the west of Belfast for nearly forty years.. …

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The week ahead that’s in it…

So just a heads up since we have a lot of stuff coming up this week, not least the last four days of the Lisbon essays… Guest essayists include Margot Wallström, Vice-President of the European Commission and Richard Gowan who this afternoon will provide US centric view of Lisbon and its potential impact on international relations. Others include Eammon Gilmore, leader of the Labour party, John O’Farrell of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Jimmy Kelly of the Unite Union, …

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Magners League Weekend 4

Results: Munster 27 – 3 Newport-Gwent D’gons Cardiff Blues 19 – 15 Scarlets Edinburgh 19 – 21 Leinster Connacht 6 – 30 Ulster Glasgow 16 – 26 Ospreys Table below – both Scottish teams lost at home. I caught Blues, Glasgow and Munster. Have to say that Munster look like a team that know what they are doing. 1 Edinburgh 4 @14 2 Munster 4 @13 3 Leinster 4 @ 13 4 Ulster 4 @ 10 5 Ospreys 4 @ …

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