Slugger O'Toole

THE Ethnomusicology Programme at Queen’s University has just set up a website on ‘Making Music in Belfast’. It takes a look at what kind of music is found in Belfast, and has started off with profiles of Ballyclare Victoria Flute Band, the Ulster Orchestra, Andersonstown Traditional and Contemporary Music School, Um Pouquinho de Brasil and the Ulster-Scots Folk Orchestra. New, and well worth a look – and listen! Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

AFTER recent concern about call centre jobs in NI being a bubble that would burst when all the jobs went to low-wage India, this story might come as a surprise to some – an Indian call centre company thriving in Belfast. The reason? NI’s low wage economy… Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

I was flicking through the new data Alexa has made available. It’s comparative scoring between Slugger and NI news sites makes for interesting reading. It should, however, be treated with an extra large dose of salts, being built from data received from those rare souls who still have the Alexa tool bar. Against the Irish News we are roughly pegging on reach, comfortably ahead on rank, and not so far on page views. However, this is not surprising as it …

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Is Sammy Wilson wise to take on fellow ex-Mayor of Belfast Alex Maskey in a paintball contest? Neither of the two are fading violets, but surely Alex’s experience in the ring gives him an edge? I suspect it will be a case of No Surrender till the end. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

A few years back there was some speculation about two new national parks, one in Scotland and the other in the Mournes. Well the Scots have their park, but where’s ours? Reader Stephen asks: Is this the product of a failed executive, or just an indication of how much less efficient sectarian politics will always be? Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

The Alliance Party seem to have spotted a gap in the ongoing public negotiations which the two main Unionist parties have neglected to nail down Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

Brice Dickson was a key speaker at the Seminar in Cork on Saturday. His presentation looked at three things: lessons to be learned from the Bill of Rights debate in Northern Ireland; what quality of relationship might exist between a future charter and a future Bill of Rights; and some concluding thoughts on the challenges it might throw up. He was speaking in a purely personal capacity, and no way reflects the official thinking of the Human Rights Commission. Note: …

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The following is a condensed summary of some of the main points from Saturday’s seminar in Cork. It contains four questions that I thought might useful to address in the comments. It would be useful if you could structure your contributions around them. There Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

Roy Garland recalls many of the colourful laybys on the way to his (possible) crossing of the Rublicon. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

IAN Pearson’s supercomputer has done its number-crunching and decided that SEVEN is the magic number of councils for NI. Assuming each has 50 members, that would mean 350 councillors – and getting rid of 200 elected representatives. Personally, as a Belfast resident, I’m really looking forward to taking on Castlereagh Council’s debt in my rates… Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

Irish language TV station TG4 is preparing to broadcast officially from Northern Ireland, according to industry sources quoted in the Tele. Ben Lowry writes: Don Anderson, a media consultant, predicted that some unionists may welcome the development. “Although immediately this will please the Irish language lobby, it could also be an opportunity for Ulster Scots as well,” Mr Anderson said. “TG4 have told me that if it got a reasonable signal in Northern Ireland, they would be quite happy to …

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Ruth Dudley Edwards rather neatly put a certain poster in his place in yesterday Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

AFTER his meeting with Sinn Fein today, the Taoiseach admitted that changes to the Agreement would have to be made to enable process. The SF team flew to London afterwards, with everyone seemingly in agreement that changes to the GFA are possible, so long as they are not ‘fundamentals’. And with troop levels set to be slashed by Christmas (by which time decommissioning may no longer be an issue), and IRA movement expected very soon, elements of a choreographed deal …

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For those with Broadband (and possibly headphones) this is a great radio programme on the cult of politeness: partly a function of civilising and codifying the sincere and deeply felt relgious sentiment of the English Civil War into the modern political enterprises of Tories and Whigs. Sound familiar? Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

Needless to say, I don’t get a lot of time watching RTE television, but I did catch a repeat of last Monday’s The Panel. Chaired by stand up Dara O Briain this week’s political guest was Sinn Fein’s Dublin MEP Mary Lou McDonald. She handled the often anarchic informality of the format exceptionally well for a politician. But the best line of the night was undoubtedly O’Briain’s. Regarding a future United Ireland he asked her, “Do you think we really …

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Bookies don’t seem to fancy Daphne Trimble’s chances in Lagan Valley, quoting her at 33-1 to beat incumbent Donaldson. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

There’s been a lot speculation about what the consequences of the so-far-mythical Plan B, much of it in nationalist quarters centring on the possibility of joint authority as punishment for the majority Unionist parties for ‘defaulting’ on the Belfast Agreement. But Henry McDonald believes closure of Stormont is a more realistic outcome, as a two way punishment for not finding a new interpretation of the old deal. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

Suzanne Breen’s piece in the inaugral issue of the Village, is about the most comprehensive reporting of the thinking at the heart of the DUP to the media mainstream – well worth reading from top to bottom! On powersharing: “If we don’t have a Fenian about the place, we won’t get power. If we constantly obstruct Sinn F Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

One of the tougher fights for the DUP in the next election will be in one of the most protestant constituencies in Northern Ireland – North Down. The party is currently applying gentle pressure to former MP Bob McCartney, to stand down in favour of their man Peter Weir. Weir, who after a short period as an independent defected from the UUP, hopes to unseat the current encumbant Lady Sylvia Hermon. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads …

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Tom McGurk is pleased to see the DUP prepared to do deals in Dublin, but believes the party will have problems selling anything they might agree to: “What complicates their problems is their multi-element constituency. In the same party, there are Paisley’s original religious and political groupings and the new politically opportunist lobby led by Jeffrey Donaldson. All want power, but they are prepared to pay very different prices for it. That’s the very complex political bill currently being calculated”. …

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