Slugger O'Toole Chris Thornton has been ruminating on the fast moving events of Monday pm, and traces what details that actually did emerge despite the General’s concern to maintain a degree of secrecy. It included a flame thrower. I can’t remember that one ever reported being used! Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
The Irish Times leads with Danny Kennedy’s criticism of the DUP’s attack on the IRA appointed clergyman witnesses. As apparently does today’s Daily Ireland front page – but it doesn’t normally go on line until 3.30. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Government, according to Prime Minister Tony Blair, is a bit like learning to unicycle.. No, really! The admission came during a Question and Answer session with party delegates in Brighton.. chaired by Eddie Izzard.. whose presence may, or may not, have had something to do with the somewhat surreal flights of fancy between more scripted serious questions. From the transcript – Eddie Izzard[EI]: Okay. Thank you very much to the ladies and gentlemen of the media. Well just wait a …
Danny Morrison in his Daily Ireland column today confesses to more than once playing Paisley the man rather than the ball. He goes on to make the point that the DUP will need to be shown patience, but that they face a challene to play a postive move in response to the disarmament of the IRA. By Danny Morrison: I received a letter on Monday from a reader, John, in Ballina, County Mayo. He was talking about Sinn Feins response …
Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
IF certain news stories weren’t recorded on camera, would they be seen to be as important? I doubt it, but anyway, ITN is asking the public to vote for its ‘Shot that Shook the World’. A fair selection? Locally, the Omagh bomb figures in the ‘Global Conflict’ category. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
You may want to look away from the screen now. The Guardian’s funniest [religious] joke follows. Thanks for the heads up Dom! Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Ian Paisley is to meet with General de Chastelain today. The process of consideration begins for Unionists. And a potentially open-ended period of tight control for the IRA. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
The Irish Times carries Ed Moloney’s view of the final act of decommissioning by the Provisional Movement[subs req], as announced yesterday by John de Chastelain, the retired Canadian general, who, when first appointed, “had so many strikes against him from an Irish nationalist viewpoint that Dublin and the Provos recruited Bill Clinton’s assistance in trying to get him replaced.” As Ed Moloney reminds us, all has changed – Ten years on the Provos and the Irish Government have nothing but …
Interesting blog from Michael at the Young Unionists. He welcomes what he calls the surrender of the IRA, but is still suspicious that Sinn Fein have a hidden agenda. He bemoans the DUP’s refusal to be engaged in any position that might put a brake on Sinn Fein’s capacity to wring further concessions out of the governments. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
I asked a nationalist friend what he thought about the big event. He just replied, “you mean Sunday?” He wasn’t the only one: Ulster Rugby fans for Tyrone! Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Not surprisingly, the IRA decommission made the headlines all over Europe. For example, Le Monde carried a special dossier with an interview of Adrian Guelke. Back in the European Parliament, it is business as usual, with the expected acrimonial relationship between SF and DUP MEPs to continue. The inability of SF and DUP MEPs to work together on a certain number of issues might have some serious consequences for Northern Ireland. The absence of working relationship between DUP MEP Jim …
If a newspaper’s primary role is to speak truth to power, the last place you might expect to find it is amongst a tabloid press, more associated with raking for scandal to end a politician’s career. In this week’s Blanket, Mick Hall argues that the Sunday World has been speaking its truth in the teeth of some nasty recriminations from one potent seat of power in Northern Ireland – Loyalist paramilitaries. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads …
Open discourse, freedom of speech, new and independent voices, knowledge tools, navigation guides to the net, new news carriers, nodes in a global network, virtual conversations. Take your pick. Alan Connor on the BBC Magazine looks at a range of challenges to the independent blogger. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
As we said in A Long Peace (chapter 3 – facing the dilemma), in a settled conflict situation, people should judge their opponents by their actions, not their words. It was true of the Northern Bank robbery and the ruthless killing of Robert McCartney. But the same is also true of the decommissioning of the IRA yesterday. It’s a big move and bold one. It represents a profound (even sublime) challenge to Unionists to make a positive response. Something many …
IN the Irish Examiner, Fergus Finlay calls yesterday’s announcement, of decommissioning, a welcome step.. but not one we should be grateful for. He also has an interesting view of the process so far, and of the still distant prospect of SF in government. From the Irish Examiner – Those who believe, for instance, that Sinn Féin might be a part of our next government, assuming (which looks almost inevitable now) that Fianna Fáil and the PDs can’t make up the …
Tony Blair opened his speech to the Labour party conference with Northern Ireland. Amid all the change and progress since our first election victory, it was interesting to see in the film there the pictures of the Good Friday Agreement in April 1998, and then finally, yesterday, the completion of IRA decommissioning. It has taken many years, and a lot of hard work, but every minute of every hour of every all-night negotiation will have been worth it if it …
Michael McDowell on his brand of Republicanism. He argues that for unification to happen at all, Republicans need to work on re-integrating the Orange tradition back into their own concept of an all Ireland Republic before it can stand a chance of fulfilling its long term aim of re-uniting the island. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Too early for reaction. The General is still talking. But Mary Fitzgerald has been out in East Belfast talking to ordinary people on recent security and political moves. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Joint statement from Harold Good and Alex Reid. “The arms of the IRA have been decommissioned beyond any shadow of a doubt”. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.