Slugger O'Toole One journo expresses his grief (and paranoia?) for the loss of one of the British blogosphere’s star bloggers, Harry (formerly known as Hatchett) from Harry’s place. Whatever way you look at it, there’s some weird stuff going on here! Update: Pete’s worked out what the real scoop is here. Harry’s been taken up into liberal heaven: the Guardian that is! Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Sebastian Barry was short-listed for this year’s Man Booker prize for A Long Long Way, winner to be anounced on Monday – You can still vote for the People’s Prize here. In today’s Guardian [Another Guardian link? – Ed] Lucasta Miller provides a timely, and fascinating, interview with one of Ireland’s foremost playwrights and novelists – “There’s a sort of despair that comes out of an absolute love of people. This is how things are. Whatever water you throw at …
Interesting Daily Ireland figures from ABC. The primary figure shows a slight drop from the last figures. It will be hard news for the newpaper’s bid to break into the difficult all Ireland paper market. It won’t do the paper’s campaign to bring in serious avertising revenues in any good. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
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, …
Brian Kerr’s team need to win to keep the ball in play for next Wednesday. Half time they are up by one goal against Cyprus. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
I’m going to bed after this. Check this sequence of digital photos out. Peter Canavan’s swansong goal is captured perfectly imperfectly by one Michael McGonagle. Just keep moving on for the next four photos in the sequence. Don’t you just love Flickr! Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
While Sinn Féin’s Conor Murphy defends the reputation of the multi-millionaire farmer from County Louth, the BBC name him, Thomas Murphy, as the UK’s richest smuggler on their Underworld Rich List – as running an oil and cigarette smuggling empire – and the Irish Times reports that, in addition to the Assets Recovery Agency raids in Manchester we noted yesterday, the Criminal Assets Bureau raided 7 properties in Dundalk From the Irish Times report – The North’s Assets Recovery Agency, …
Noel Whelan, in yesterday’s Irish Examiner, looked at the long history of demands for, and rejections of, speaking rights in the Dáil for northern representatives, and on the recent hype on the issue, and concludes – More importantly there are considerable constitutional obstacles which could only be resolved by a referendum. There is no prospect of such a referendum being held and less prospect of it passing. Bertie Ahern knows that. I suspect the SF leadership knows that too. The …
AFTER Ian Paisley’s belated-but-welcome stand against the loyalist sectarian campaign of violence against Catholics in his constituency, it should be noted that there have been quite a number of attacks on Orange halls recently too. However, this attack seemed particularly cowardly, and while I know most republicans who detest the Order will nonetheless condemn these attacks, perhaps it goes some way to explaining why the DUP gained the political concession of de-rating for Orange halls, as the insurance is often …
ARE thse nasty old securocrats sticking the boot in?! After the indignity of seeing one senior IRA leader (Retd.) splashed all over the papers today, it looks like another – the man believed by some to be the mastermind behind the Northern Bank raid – will be making headlines tomorrow. Did the State wait until they had the IRA in the bag before a crackdown on alleged republican criminality? Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other …
OVER at Our Wee Country, thoughts are turning to the national anthems that will be played tomorrow at Windsor Park. Could the Welsh booing of ‘God Save the Queen’ when NI played them in Cardiff lead to an especially loud ‘No Surrender’ from fans? Or will anyone take up this NI fan’s suggestion that the unofficial addendum to ‘the Queen’ be replaced simply with ‘Northern Ireland’? One Welsh fan on the board suggested the booing at the Millennium stadium was …
Dermot Ahern has been speaking at the SDLP’s seminar on cross border co-operation. Amongst other things he has called for Sinn Fein to give its support to the police in advance of going to see Dennis Bradley, vice Chair of the Policing Board. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
In today’s Guardian, Justine Picardie is apprehensive. Why? Because Disney are gearing up for this year’s Christmas onslaught on cinema audiences with the release, scheduled for 8th December, of Jack Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Check out the excellent official movie website, there’s a trailer and other clips in there if you look closely.. in various formats. Or you could watch the trailer at the Apple site [quicktime only]. Back when the movie …
Well it looks like the DUP source who joked about four years till the restart of politics may have been closer to the mark than was previously obvious. David McKittrick wonders that if the current investigations do find the large scale money laundering operations hinted at in the media, what are implications for the process – mandate or no mandate. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
As requested by Gonzo, another contribution from Flickr. This is a series of two ‘wallpaper’ pics that you can download and save to you desktop, just in case there’s any chance you’ll forget Northern Ireland’s big night in Windsor Park. BTW, Gonzo’s on the blag for a ticket for the Welsh game. Can anyone help him? Poor boy doesn’t get out much these days! 😉 Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
I’VE reached the age where every time I phone home, my mother wants to know if I’ve bought a house yet – but where I want to be and what I can afford are two different things. In Belfast and elsewhere in NI, first-time buyers are being squeezed by the stratospheric rise in house prices. The Government’s move to raise the stamp duty threshold was, let’s face it, no more than tokenistic. Here’s how Kevin McCauley of the BBC coped. …
Hearts and Minds has Jim Alistair and one of Sinn Fein’s coolest performers, Mary Lou McDonald each fielding some of the key issues that will dominate politics over the next six months. Allister lays out some of the keynotes from his party’s 64 page dossier handed into Downing Street – “there is no going back to the agreement of December 2004”. For her part McDonald plays every screw ball very deftly. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads …
Newton Emerson in excellent form, once again, in today’s Irish Times, foolishly bravely running the risk of comparison with a satirical giant of Irish literature with a modest proposal for the Secretary of State, Peter Hain, to consider I’d like to reprint the whole piece.. if you’re reading this, Newton?.. Until then here’s a few [a few? – Ed] paragraphs – Northern Secretary Peter Hain unveiled two new budget priorities in his speech to the British Labour Party conference: “Boosting …
The BBC News is dominated by the raids taking place in Manchester. It would be foolish not to caution people not to jump to conclusions too early, but they are very prominently tying this into the name of the IRA. Kevin Connolly, BBC London’s top man in Ireland: The new front line in the struggle against political violence in Northern Ireland will be the accountant’s desk and the lawyer’s mobile phone, not the fields of south Armagh. Michael McDowell seems …
Before it disappears out of mind, this piece from Morning Ireland a few days ago is worth a playback. It features a discussion of Peter Lennon’s controversial 1967 documentary Rocky Road to Dublin. The Ireland under discription is part of a world that seems to have almost disappeared, although it might be argued that there is still some reluctance to question national orthodoxies. It comes out in DVD version at the end of the month. Slugger O'TooleA general account used …