Slugger O'Toole This week on Hearts and Minds, “not for the first time, a leading nationalist has compared the Unionist treatment of Catholics to the Nazi persecution of the Jews. Like President McAleese before him, Father Alec Reid has apologized, but unionists are unconvinced”. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
The game goes on. Despite having his name plastered all over the shop last week in relation to an ongoing ARA operation, Tom Murphy has broken his self-imposed silence to deny that he is involved in any money laundering, or indeed that he owns any property, not even his farm which he states he had to sell in order to fight a libel campaign against the Sunday Times in the 1990’s. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads …
The Policing Board, to be reconstituted in April, is said to be seeking an urgent report from the chief constable after a High Court judgement which could cost the public £1 million. That’s in contrast with the criminal investigation into alleged corruption which the Belfast High Court judge in the breach of contract case had called for. The call came in a ruling in favour of NI Sheet Metal Works Ltd. after the Belfast-based company, whose managing director, Jim Kirkpatrick, …
Very perceptive view from Fionnuala O’Connor tonight of the recent line from some Unionist (and to be fair one or two Nationalists as well) commentators that if Nationalists want to foster peace, they should stop unnerving unionists by becoming unionists instead. She notes that it is both insulting about unionists, and “unrealistic beyond belief: a bit like dispirited rivals telling unbeaten Chelsea that they will have to give up soccer in favour of sudoku”. However, her critique cuts two ways: …
Richard Dunne was visibly ‘gutted’ after the Republic’s exit from the World Cup. Although manager Brian Kerr is reportedly upbeat about the team’s future, it seems as though in soccer Ireland (north and south) may have come to the end of an era which has lasted more than twenty years dating from about 1982 when Northern Ireland topped their group by beating Spain in Seville. The atmosphere around Landsdowne Road before the game was subdued. No one I spoke too …
We were temporarily offline on Tuesday evening. This was due to a leakage in the security script that allows us to keep the comment zone free of comment spam. I don’t want to risk another episode, so I’ve closed the commenting facility till we can get it fixed. Occasional threads will be left open until we can get it fixed. This will have to be done between other paid work. In the meantime, your monetary support would be very gratefully …
A further response to Stephen Howe’s Mad Dogs and Ulstermen essay at the openDemocracy site. This time from the director of Belfast-based Democratic Dialogue, Robin Wilson, who argues that Cosmopolitanism, as discussed here by David Held, holds the only way forward for a deeply divided society that “is not simply amenable to a political fix at the level of a deal between the political (now, ironically, including paramilitary) elites.” Cosmopolitanism is interpreted by Robin Wilson as – By cosmopolitanism he …
Confirmation from the Gardai that the money seized in Cork came from the Northern Bank robbery. Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy told a cross border police seminar yesterday that he was convinced they have provable evidence that there is a connection. Hugh Orde had already stated the same back in early June, and the Taoiseach as early as March. Conroy: “I’m satisfied at this stage of the investigation that we will show that the money recovered during Operation Phoenix is part …
Several papers pick up on the developments since his arrest in Belfast on Friday – the Press Association report that Worker’s Party president Sean Garland, along with 6 other men, has been formerly indicted by a US federal grand jury on charges he conspired with North Korea to circulate millions of dollars in counterfeit U.S. currency, and as reported in the Washington Post, Kenneth Wainstein, the U.S. Attorney in Washington has stated that prosecutors will be seeking extradition. The Washington …
NOT only has the UK got a new James B(l)ond in the form of actor Daniel Craig, but his bosses have decided to ‘go public’ – MI6 has just launched a new website, obviously designed to be an online recruitment agent in the war against terror. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
I noted Stephen Howe’s excellent essay Mad Dogs and Ulstermen previously, and Mick will continue to focus on some of the many points it contains. Meanwhile, at the openDemocracy site, Graham Walker responds to Stephen Howe’s arguments – Loyalist culture, Unionist politics. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a Professor of Politics at Queen’s University, Belfast, Graham Walker argues that Stephen Howe has not given sufficient weight to the debates “around Unionist politics in Northern Ireland (what might be called capital ‘U’ Unionism) …
A lot of coverage of the BBC’s bid to persuade government to increase the BBC’s budget by £5.5bn over seven years from 2007, also here, the proposal would mean a rise in the licence fee from £126.50 to a projected £186.89 in 2013-14 – in the Guardian the figure is reported as £150.50. This follows the cuts announced in December, and an expected 7,000 job cuts over three years, by the new director general, Mark Thompson. Unfortunately, for the BBC, …
Martin Walker with a review of some past winners of the Peace Prize. In the last 30 odd years there’ve been five familiar names amongst the winners. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
The BBC report that Belfast City Council have chosen Trillian, a design by Californian Portland, Oregon based artist Ed Carpenter as the Broadway Junction Public Art Project. [subject to funding – Ed] It’s certainly a striking artwork.. and will be even more so when it is illuminated at night. But.. and it’s a bugbear of mine.. unfortunately it falls into the time-honoured tradition of literalism in the artworks which civic bodies in Ireland, north and south, have a habit of …
Secretary of State Peter Hain fulfilled his role today, of taking a bow for someone else’s decision, by unveiling the design for the new Causeway Visitor’s Centre at Parliament Buildings in Belfast, from the 200 entries I noted previously. The design selected is by Roisin Heneghan of Heneghan Peng Architects, which relocated to Dublin from NY in 2001. Unfortunately they don’t seem to have much of an online presence.. that I can find. Heneghan Peng Architects have also won International …
Can I just thank a small flurry of donors who’ve contributed to the upkeep of the site last week. Every penny does count and helps to keep the Slugger show on the road. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Daily Ireland doesn’t believe Ian Paisley is serious about striking a deal. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
IFA president Jim Boyce has said it’s time for a new anthem at Northern Ireland matches. He was voicing his disapproval of the booing of national anthems after the Welsh anthem was booed at Windsor Park on Saturday, an apparent response to the Welsh fans disrespecting the British national anthem when NI played in Cardiff. Boyce believes it might be better to have a general football anthem. “I am considering taking this matter up with FIFA,” he told PA Sport. …
El Matador, previously of this parish has moved on to his own group blog. One of their number has a decent post on the recent set of proposals from the SDLP pushing for more attention on North South issues: I am unapologetic as an advocate of a radical and progressive North South agenda but I am not for whipping up Unionist fears or stirring up Nationalist emotions and I wont spend too long rehearsing the full range of proposals for …
In the time since the first ceasefires of the early 90’s Howe detects a break between the ‘post modern heaven’ of the rejuvenated (largely middle) Belfast of the “nightclubs or shopping malls”, and the self concious pursuit of authentic local cultural norms of the two communities which puts both at odds with the actual pre-occupations of the rest of the UK on one hand and the rest of the island on the other. He comes up with some interesting conclusions. …