Slugger O'Toole 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.
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 …
Pete linked to this excellent essay on loyalism and Unionist identity yesterday at Open Democracy. I thought it might worth re-visiting in a series of posts. Professor Stephen Howe’s starting point is the Loyalist rioting in Belfast and elsewhere during the summer which contains, he believes, some indications as to where things may be headed in future: Much media and political comment has explained the profundity and rootedness of this feeling in terms of bigotry and criminality, of archaism and …
The demographic trend throughout the western world is towards an ageing population. In Northern Ireland Protestant communities have cohered to this norm much earlier than their Catholic counterparts. This, Professor Howe argues, created a particularly problematic dymnamic for Loyalist working class communities. Previously: reflecting a modern condition The working-class Loyalist communities of west and north Belfast are in a probably irreversible territorial, demographic, economic and political retreat hence, in large part, the rage and fear of those who mobilised …
As Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern meet today, the top of the agenda will be the IRA. However, there is little prospect of anything moving until the Unionists are convinced that the IRA has effectively gone away for good. As Tommie Gorman pointed out on Morning Ireland this morning, the generation of wish lists is something of an art form, compromise isn’t. Welcome to the realm of watching paint dry. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and …
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. …
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 …
I’m not quite sure how they worked this one out, but apparently Northern Ireland is only at low risk from a pandemic of Avian Flu. Although the risk of it ever breaking out is incalculable, overall, the UK is one of the best prepared countries in the world, with enough anti viral Tamiflu to treat 25% of the population, compared with 5% of the Canadian and 1% of the US populations. Thanks to David for the figures. Slugger O'TooleA general …
October is compromise season in the GAA, as you probably know. The annual double-header against the Aussie footballers gets the most publicity, but the games against Scotland’s shinty players are interesting too. Ireland lost the first game 20-17, but this Scottish report on the game is worth reading if you’re a hurling fan. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Well, I noted the announcement of the long-list.. and the resultant short-list of nominees for the 2005 Man Booker prize, including, notably for us, John Banville and Sebastian Barry.. Sinéad has money on Ishiguro, who seems set for the People’s Prize.. and so does the Guardian Culture Vulture’s Sarah Crown.. hedging her bets somewhat after her last prediction *ahem*.. half an hour[ish] to go.. and Barnes still seems like a possibility.. but Barry’s getting a lot of praise.. I’ll update …
As noted previously, The Sunday Times’ initial report on the ARA/CAB investigation predicted an absence of a paper trail directly connected to Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy. At a press conference today, one of the two businessmen whose homes and offices were raided in Manchester, Dermot Craven, said “I have never met this man, spoken to him or carried out any business dealings with him. There is no connection with Thomas Murphy.” However, he admitted he has met, spoken with and done …
Damien Kiberd with a comprehensive review of comments in the last week from various southern commentators all hanging questions over the political re-unification of the island. But he argues: The problem for these people is that Northern Catholics and republicans have not gone away. They are becoming increasingly self-confident. And they do not want to live under constant physical threat from the drugged-up unionist lumpenproletariat that thinks it can terrorise Catholic districts on an annual basis, safe in the knowledge …
The Guardian carries a heavily contracted version of Stephen Howe’s detailed and fascinating essay, Mad Dogs and Ulstermen: the crisis of Loyalism, published in two parts at openDemocracy, [part one here], in which he argues that “the combative cultural and political worldview of Northern Irelands working-class Protestant communities is not an atavistic residue but part of a complex response to modern global conditions and national pressures.” His concluding paragraphs emphasise the difficulties facing this distinctively Irish culture – It could …
Dick Geary responds in today’s Irish Times to several respondents to his original letter calling on Nationalists to lift the siege on Unionists. This time he takes the tack that Nationalists have a very prejudicial view of what the consent principle means: While agreeing with my general thesis, Dermot Meleady (October 3rd) still hankers after a “united Ireland” based on genuine consent. Few could argue with this, except that we nationalists don’t seem to know the meaning of the word …
LAST BOOKS READ: “The Art of Insult” and “How To Insult Art” NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT: Their pacemakers. Indeed. Hahaha Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
LORD Laird has taken up the case of a family from Northern Ireland who have been refused permission to buy a house in the Connemara Gaeltacht (Irish speaking area). It’s not because the family don’t speak Irish, but apparently don’t speak it well enough. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
The Irish News yesterday carried more detail on the Billy Mawhinney story: the senior Orangeman who was suspended from his job as doorman at Stormont after remarks made on Spotlight last week. It stems from a longer interview with a local tv station: Last night [Friday], community television station Northern Visions broadcast an interview with Mr Mawhinney in which he appeared to signal that the order would take to the streets to march without first seeking the permission of the …
You are Statler or Waldorf. You have a high opinion of yourself, as do others. But only because you are in the balcony seats. ALSO KNOWN AS: Those two old guys in the box. SPECIAL TALENTS: Heckling, complaining, being cantankerous QUOTE: “Get off the stage, you bum!” – What Muppet are you? brought to you by Quizilla Via Merk LAST BOOKS READ: “The Art of Insult” and “How To Insult Art” NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT: Their pacemakers. Indeed. Slugger O'TooleA …
THE next IMC report is due out next week and is expected to point to an ‘inactive’ IRA. However, this will be seen by unionists as an interim or ‘holding’ report, with another in January expected to lead to real pressure on unionism to re-enter government with Sinn Fein. Liam Clarke also reports that the reason decommissioning lacked enough transparency for unionists was to avoid a split in the IRA. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and …
Back in 1996 the US General Accounting Office discussed efforts to combat international counterfeiting of US currency, in particular the high quality counterfeit known as the superdollar. Last year the BBC’s Panorama programme alleged that Sean Garland President of the Irish Worker’s Party [formerly the Official IRA] was involved in its distribution in an investigation which highlighted North Korea’s, and the former Soviet Union’s, involvement in the operation. On Friday, at the party’s ard fheis in Belfast, he was arrested, …