Britblog Round Up 246: the “liberals versus the rest” edition…

Okay, its our turn to host the peripatetic Brit Blog Round Up… and this week it’s dominated by Professor David Nutt sacking as the UK governments chief advisor on drugs (whose troublesome lecture now appears to have come within the remit of that same government’s own guidelines)… Mark wonders why the Home Secretary’s Tory opposite number is playing ‘mini me’ to Alan Johnson… (whatever else Alan Johnson is, he is not now nor has he ever been a liberal politician)…- …

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“People are free to travel to Northern Ireland.”

No doubt with his mind on the recently published figures on the activities of Irish shoppers, the BBC have picked up on comments by Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, as reported in the Sunday Independent. Mr Lenihan is confident that the expected ending of the VAT reductions in the UK as well as increased taxes will eliminate the attraction of heading north, but he is not ruling out a move on VAT in the Budget. Speaking about his plans to react …

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A proud Republican can wear the poppy…

In the first of what I hope will become a series, John McGuirk argues that there is no conflict in interest in an Irish Republican wearing a poppy in remembrance of those who died in past wars… For him it is about standing up for what you believe in, not against what you don’t believe in: specifically, the universal freedom of humanity that saw the liberation of the death camps of Bergin Belsen and other places…By John McGuirk Over the …

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The exchange of ideas between Britain and Ireland is drying up

Why is there a dearth of public intellectuals in Ireland? Andreas Hess, an American sociologist currently teaching in UCD poses the question in an Irish Times opinion piece pegged to a RIA symposium later this week. The exercise seems prompted by the fall-out from the recession, recognising that the roots of Irish problems lie deeper than in a discussion about money. The interplay of ideas and events shapes the future. In Britain and Ireland we like to preen ourselves as …

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Equality – what equality?

David Ford has told the BBC a £1bn package to pay for devolution of policing and justice could be lost if agreement is not reached before the next general election. There is probably some truth in this but as Fionnuala O’Connor pointed out on Inside Politics yesterday it is a very strange arrangement when a party (Alliance) with no mandate to sit around the Executive table will end up in government as a result of a deal to set aside …

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News Letter interviews Iris Robinson

The News Letter is carrying an interview with Iris Robinson. It is not really a political interview but it does provide a few interesting human interest points which were not generally known such as the fact that her father died when she was very young and her earlier health problems. As a separate piece the News letter also have her comments about the expenses scandal. She again defends herself and her husband stating that they were “legitimately claimed” and “I …

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Slugger Awards: Journalist of the Year…

This is open to all journalists who have contributed to the political health of Northern Ireland, whether writing for any of the local newspapers, nationals, or working as a freelancer. The last year has been a tough for purveyors of political news: not least since for 150 days plus last year that the Executive did not actually sit. It’s been a frugal year for politics, when journalists have had to be resourceful and begin to find ways to educate their …

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Sean FitzPatrick and “those establishment f**kers”, aka southern Protestants…

Excellent quote from McWilliams’ Follow the Money which uncovers the calibre of the man running the dirtiest (so far as we know) bank in Ireland… which were obviously not intended for publication… “Then he came closer, squeezed my arm and practically hissed between clenched teeth: “No f***ing Protestant is coming near us. Those establishment f***ers and Bank of Ireland have been running our country before we came along, and those f***ers are not going to bring me down. None of …

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There is no hiding place for the SDLP…

Liam Clarke with a description of the SDLP’s predicament that resembles that guy who recently followed his sat nav and took his truck down a forest footpath only to get horribly stuck… In favour of McDonnell: “What we need is a bruiser and an organiser. Alasdair fits the bill on both,” one supporter said, pointing also to his thick skin, his pragmatic attitude and an ability to weather personal attacks from opponents. The bruiser part has a downside, however. McDonnell, …

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Sunday World’s shocking photo…

THE front page of the Sunday World yesterday has to be one of its grimmest yet – the body of a man dangling by his neck from a bridge in Bangor. There have been efforts quite recently to try and change the reporting of suicide, and indeed the Press Complaints Commission’s Code of Practice recommends that “When reporting suicide, care should be taken to avoid excessive detail about the method used.” It does have a little asterisk beside it, listing …

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Salmond’s first wobble

News that the Scottish Lib Dems have decided to sink the SNP’s referendum 2010 Bill is a dog bites man story . Alex Salmond will hardly be surprised. But is his strategy of blaming the unionist majority in Holyrood for denying the People’s right to have a vote on independence still paying off? The latest You Gov poll may be a significant straw in the wind. It’s Alex’s first setback with public opinion since the SNP minority government was formed …

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Magners League Weekend 7

Bona nit from wonderful Catalunya: Managed to catch last 10 mins of Ospreys v Glasgow in mate´s flat in Barca. Interested in how Munster v Ulster went… Scores: Edinburgh 8 – 9 Newport-Gwent D’gons Leinster 23 – 6 Cardiff Blues Munster 24 – 10 Ulster Connacht 16 – 10 Scarlets Ospreys 9 – 9 Glasgow Table below: Welsh teams clustering quite snugly in bottom half….Bring on the All Blacks! 1 Leinster 7 – 22 2 Edinburgh 7 – 19 3 …

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OFMdFM: Collegiality, my eye…

When Peter Robinson refused to go to Downing Street to meet Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister jumped on a plane and came to Stormont House. It was something of a rebuke for the First Minister. Portraying himself as ‘a cool dude’ after the meeting with Mr Brown Peter Robinson asked “Do I look under pressure ?” He was under pressure. Sources close to Mr. Brown spoke of his ‘tetchiness’ at Mr. Robinson’s behaviour. Gordon Brown was genuinely concerned that the …

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Particles are back in the Large Hadron Collider!

After a successful switch-on in September last year there was a slight electrical mishap, and a large helium leak, at the Large Hadron Collider at Cern. They completed the £14million £24million refit back in May this year and, after testing the high-current superconducting electrical connections, have now started to test fire particles through one sector of the super-cool collider. Beams are expected to be in full flight, if not full power, by the end of the year. For those of …

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British xenophobia over top EU posts

While it’s great crack if you’re an anorak, the frantic speculation about the top Euro jobs doesn’t show off my old colleagues in the Westminster lobby at their best. Some are helping to keep Tony Blair’s candidacy for the presidency alive, others are floating David Miliband as “ foreign minister” while the Indy in Sunday thinks it sees a dark plot in it all to make Mandy the Labour leader. It’s all so parochial . At times, it even touches …

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The genesis of the banking guarantee

The Indo are carrying an excerpt from David McWilliams new book (Follow the Money) that details a late night encounter with Brian Lenihan that lead to the Irish Banking Guarantee. If something radical was not done and done quickly, it was crystal clear to me that the Irish banks would experience a traditional run, with depositors taking out their savings, and the banks would go bust. That one thing, at least, was certain. The minister walked straight through the hall …

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Tim, Clip, Urbs and a dodgy Belfast

I ended up stuck for a book and am now trying to work my way through a borrowed copy of Tim Collins: ‘Rules of Engagement, A Life in Conflict’ (it’s even signed). I’ve got to page 44 so far and already found two of the 20 footnotes to be inaccurate (both on the IRSP/INLA funny enough) – that’s a 10% rubbish rate – and an incorrect translation for Béal Feirste. I’m not holding out much hope his views on places …

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