Slugger O'Toole Following Peter Hain’s decision to restore Sinn Fein’s allowances, seven members of the US House of Representatives have petitioned the State Department to lift the ban on Sinn Fein’s fundraising in the US. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
A world competition Originally uploaded by Britain and Ireland. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
An amendment to a story we blogged back in August on a documentary on Guy Fawkes and the conspiracy to foment Catholic revolution in England he was involved in. It seems that despite attempts to block its broadcast, it is destined to go ahead as planned on ITV 1 at 9.45pm, next Tuesday 1st November! Unfortunately I’ll be in Denmark and won’t get to see the live version. But we hope to have the comments back by then. Let us …
Tom Peterkin examines the cost of a mothballed Stormont, now sitting at £100,000 over the last three years of inactivity. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
FOOTBALL legend George Best is on a life support machine, bleeding internally and is deteriorating rapidly, according to his former wife Alex. His doctor said: “It may be an exaggeration to say that Mr Best is gravely ill. But he is certainly severely ill and is fighting for his life.” Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
The recent appointment of Bertha McDougall brought some warm responses from Unionists recently. But, Mark Devenport asks, will she be able to change the current catchall definition without starting a major political storm? The Newsletter yesterday made the case that there is a substantive difference between perpetrators and victims. It seems that both nationalist parties are unhappy with McDougall’s appointment. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
The 271-page Ferns Report has been published. It looks like grim reading. It contains over a hundred allegations against 26 priests in one diocese. Some of the individuals are named, many more are given letters of the Greek alphabet. But the implications for the church are likely to run much wider than that, with questions already being raised over the effect of imposing celibacy on all its priests. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Susan McKay believes there is an unrealistic view in the Republic of what exactly was done in the 1920s by the ‘old IRA’. She argues that it was not that different from what the ‘new IRA’ did in the 70s, 80s and 90s. As such, southern politicians should be careful what they wish for. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
It seems to have gone missing in previously written annals of the history of the seaside town of Holywood that one its foremost sons left it to become one of the children’s literary giants of the 20th Century. CS Lewis is one of several figures who are slowly replacing paramilitary subjects of murals in Loyalist areas. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Jeff Jarvis has seen the latest movie version of the life of US broadcast journalist Ed Murrow, a man who firstly faced down Joe McCarthy’s anti American activities committee and then came to embody the mainstream anchorman. Jarvis argues that whatever claims to virtue that Murrow had, his claim to objectivity in the news has had a debilitating effect on the mainstream media’s capacity to tell a straight story (reg needed). He wonders: …whether Murrow’s triumph did not lead, if …
Nick Whyte has been doing a bit of sleuthing on the hidden literary enterprise of one WD Flakes, the BBC’s political correspondent and co-author (along with Sydney Elliott) of the Political Directory and finds one of Science Fiction’s more conservative writers of the fifties. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
One of the weak planks in Andrew Gilligan’s early morning reporting on the UK governments Iraq dossier was that it was based on a single unnamed source. Though the subject matter was less serious in terms of national interest, the misreporting of the circumstances of Liam Lawlor’s death at the weekend, across the Irish media, similarly seems to have been (or so the Independent alleges) based on a single source, a Guardian correspondent in Moscow. The story as published was …
Good news. The cost of the re-fit of Slugger is going to cost £500 plus VAT with an additional $150 for the new software. That just about matches the amount that your generous numbers of £10s and £20s have brought in in just under a week. We’re hoping to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. In the mean time we all owe Abi and River Path a huge vote of thanks for keeping us afloat in all kinds …
Noel MacAdam reports from the aftermath of Reg Empey’s first party conference as UUP leader, and finds a party ready to put the recent past behind them. The new officers in the party now include people like Basil McCrea and Kenny Donaldson. Empey has said that old style UUP dissent will have to have limits and Danny Kennedy has talked of the need for the party to speak to itself first: “We want to provide mechanisms for contact between constituency …
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern faces criticism in the Irish Times today – from two different angles. Ronnie Kasrils, the South African Government Minister for intelligence, and South African Communist Party member, who is visiting Northern Ireland as a guest of Sinn Féin, is reported to be shocked that the Taoiseach has been talking about reclaiming republicanism from those who have “debased” and “abused” it. While Fintan O’Toole argues that “The only way to reclaim republicanism, for Fianna Fáil and for everyone …
Rosa Parks, whose brave and dignified act of civil disobedience in 1955 inspired the modern civil rights movement, has died at the age of 92. At It Comes in Pints, Emily links to CNN’s obituary, and this one, and adds some thoughts of her own, as does Jo over at JoBlog. The Guardian, meanwhile, notes this quote, by Rosa Parks – “It was just a day like any other day. The only thing that made it significant was that the …
Jude Collins argues that whilst the economic questions raised by possible future re-unification cannot be ignored, the emotional need amongst nationalists generally can be seen in the widespread adoption of north south policies amongst all nationalist parties. He sees the popular outburst that first broke the Berlin Wall and led to unification as a model for the island. He is effectively appealing to those, perhaps, some 30% of Catholics that may emotionally feel themselves to be Nationalist, but who are …
Recently, while noting the decision by the Local Government Auditor[LGA] that serving and former councillors on Fermanagh District Council were guilty of wilful misconduct and faced being barred from public office, I noted that there had not been an update on a similar case involving Newry and Mourne councillors.. That update is now in. The LGA has upheld the complaint and the councillors have 14 days to appeal. Otherwise it’s a £10,000 surcharge and barred from public office for 5 …
The Big Blog Company has begun the process of moving the site over from a Moveable Type to an Expression Engine software platform. We hope this can be done smoothly, but there may be some small disruptions to the service. In the end, it should make the site much more managable and robust in facilitating ongoing debate here on Slugger. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
James Kelly wonders if there is actually a deal ahead. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.