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Threat to the Sunday World Originally uploaded by Mick Fealty. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Slugger O'Toole
Ulster Unionists should merge with Tories
Speaking in Blackpool today, David Burnside has suggested that his party consider merging with the British conservatives: “It is all very well the DUP talking about restoring confidence within the unionist leadership. It was not very apparent in Brighton last week where only the Ulster Unionist Party had any sizeable presence at the Labour conference. “Looking further down the track, unionist influence will never become real power unless there is a possibility of an Ulster MP becoming Secretary of State …
Paisley: loyalist attackers must be isolated
Ian Paisley visited one of the Catholic schools that recently came under attack from Loyalists, St Louis Primary School in Ballymena this morning. Of the attackers he said, “What we have to do now is to see how these people are isolated and that they know that all sections of the community are opposed to what they are doing.” Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Do the Tories actually like the electorate
There’s no doubt that this week’s conference in Blackpool is the most important of the big three in Britain. As Phillip Stevens points out in the FT (subs needed): “British democracy has suffered grievously these past few years from the lack of an effective opposition. Try as it may, the BBCs Today programme is insufficient substitute. So we must hope the Tories are serious”. However he concludes that the big question facing them is fundamentally whether the Tory party can …
Europe: nationalism is at odds with national interest
This jointly written piece from Ulrich Beck and Anthony Gidden (all round genius and progenitor of the Third Way) reads more like a power memo than an argument. In it they place generic nationalism at odds the cosmopolitan project of the EU: Thye put the case for the EU as positive, liberalising agent in the post Cold War era: It has influenced political change as far away as Ukraine and Turkey – not, as in the past, by military, but …
Window's in Paisley's church smashed?
Buried in this story carrying the remarks of Bertie Ahern on the Carnmoney threats to Catholic graves is a reference to dozens of windows being broken in the Martyr’s Memorial church on the Ravenhill Road. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Deprivation should be tackled on basis of need
Conor Murphy told Conservatives in Blackpool today that it was time for Unionists to get real: ” There is no alternative plan. The Agreement is as good as it gets”. Clearly targeting the DUPs 50 page dossier on Unionist grievances, he went on to remark: “If unionist communities are voiceless then that is a reflection on those elected to represent them. The figures for poverty and deprivation in the north indicate that the vast majority of areas suffering social exclusion …
Tories will oppose deal on OTRs
Conor Murphy is the first member of Sinn Fein to take part in a Conservative party conference almost 21 years after the IRA attempted to kill large numbers of the then Tory government Cabinet. Nevertheless, the Tories remain implacably opposed to any concessions towards the OTRs. David Liddington: Shadow Secretary of State, David Liddington: “First, on-the-runs. If the legislation you bring forward this autumn does not contain a proper judicial process that involves those returning to Northern Ireland appearing in …
Ahern: no speaking rights for Northerners…
According to the Irish Independent today, Sinn Fein will not be getting speaking rights for Northern Irish public representatives in the Dail that they’ve been pressing for – well not from Bertie at least! Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
should have gone to Madrid..
Just about all the news networks have reports on this morning’s solar eclipse, here, here, here, and here. A highlight movie is promised from Madrid.. and there are some good images online already, also from Spain. I would have checked it out here.. if it hadn’t been completely overcast this morning. The next time a total solar eclipse will be visible here, UK and Ireland, will be 2090.. I guess I’ll just have to book a trip to see one …
a derogation for 5 years renewable
Ciarán, at Neither Indifferent Nor Sceptical, picks up on a recent post at the EU Law blog on the occasionally controversial subject of official EU language status for Irish. As Ciarán points out the reports at the time of the announcement neglected to mention the newly introduced conditions of that amended regulation[pdf file], as stated by the EU Law blog – “there is a derogation for 5 years renewable according to which the institutions are not bound to draft all …
Profile: Reverend Harold Good
Exclusively on Slugger the Rev Harold Good, one of the two indenpendent witnesses overseeing the decommissioning of IRA talks to journalist John O’Farrell and about his life and his committment to his ministry of reconciliation. By John O’Farrell Last Monday, two shy men stepped forward into the cruel glare of mass publicity, and from the DUP, instant opprobrium, who accused Fr Alec Reid and Rev Harold Good of being appointed by the IRA, and by implication, dupes. At Mondays press …
On other celestial bodies
The team that discovered ‘Xena’, as they are still insisting on calling the so-called “10th planet” *ahem*, have announced that it has an orbiting companion, called Gabrielle, of course. According to Professor Brown – “Having a moon is just inherently cool – and it is something that most self-respecting planets have, so it is good to see that this one does, too.” Ignoring the implied slight to Mercury.. and Venus.. I’ll just point out that Prof Brown’s other recent discovery, …
How the Tories might just win next time..
Written for the eve of the Conservative Party conference in Blackpool, Simon Kuper has written an outstanding analysis of the challenges facing them. Worth reading by anyone involved in politics. Especially if you’re a member of any of Northern Ireland’s former ‘big fish’ parties! Worrying signs of disconnection: Before the last election on May 5, candidate Nicholas Boles had thought he would at least win Hove for the Tories. He didnt. Boles later realised that his sums had been wrong. …
Have we the mindset required bring peace?
Eric Waugh, now a columnist for the Belfast Telegraph, was a BBC correspondent for most of the troubles. He recalls two gruesome episodes from the early stages of the ‘war’ with great (and disturbing) clarity, the IRA’s firebombing of the La Mon House Hotel in which twelve people were incinerated. And one of the earliest atrocities, the UVF bombing of McGurk’s Bar in which 15 perished in the run up to Christmas 1971. He wonders whether in decommissioning military materiel …
Was decommissioning really that difficult?
Ed Moloney with one or two pertinent questions that arise from last week’s events He asks: …was IRA decommissioning really such a difficult nut to crack? After all, it began when the peace process itself was well advanced and the floor was already littered with the cadavers of republican holy cows. The IRA ceasefires were seven years old and the Provisional leadership had long since conceded the sacred tenet of post-Treaty republicanism, the principle of consent, when General de Chastelain …
In sport and politics, the Northerners are coming!
Interesting southern take on how Kerry’s footballing genius has been eclipsed by Tyrone’s northern (Protestant?) virtues of hard work and discipline. Although on the day, I counted at least two blows to the face landed by frustrated ‘Brazilians’ of Kerry, its the eye gouging of Colm Cooper that features up front analysis of ‘hard’ northern football. Check out last week’s sports call programme before it’s lifted from the site tomorrow evening. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads …
IRA passing baton back to Sinn Féin?
Martin Mansergh in the Irish Times (subs needed) argues that IRA decomissioning, following the statement that it was committing itself to a peaceful, democratic path is a major landmark for this island and finally redresses the “dreadful act of responsibility” by the surving members of the Second Dáil. “For more than 80 years, since the war of independence, successive Irish governments have wanted the IRA to go away. Eamon de Valera, in the 1930s worried about the guns still in …
They're quare and cocky and confident…
Ruth Dudley Edwards has been travelling in Northern Ireland and finds the Protestant inhabitants west of the Bann subdued and wary of some the younger generation amongst their Catholic neighbours. In an area where RTE is no stranger to local protestants, she detects some shift in attitudes around the GAA: “Once,” said a woman from a loyalist enclave, “we’d have wanted Tyrone to beat Kerry in the Gaelic football final. Now, because of the way their supporters carry on these …
Unionists and Republicans must fight productively!
In a response to Michael McDowell’s call for Republicans to reclaim the Orange heritage implicit in the Irish flag, Trevor Ringland argues that there is now the opportunity for Unionists and Republican to engage each otehr in a democratic struggle for hearts and minds. But, he notes, in order to be productive that struggle will need to be fought in terms of delivery rather than philosophy. Minister McDowell’s call to republicans and nationalists to build relationships with those of us …