Slugger O'Toole I wonder if the Irish News had discovered what the mysterious flags erected on the Ormeau Road were a day earlier would this riot have happened?! During the trouble, loyalists threw petrol bombs into the police car park opposite Donegal Pass PSNI station. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Austin Hunter can certainly give himself a pat on the back if the latest ABC figures are anything to go by. From languishing in the doldrums less than two years ago, the News Letter has put on growth of 1.9%. Ed Curran at the Belfast Telegraph 1.8% growth overall and 2.2% Monday to Friday. Despite the campaign of some Loyalist paramilitaries, the Sunday World put on a whopping 7.5% to their NI readership figures, whilst remaining flat in the Republic. …
Former Clinton adviser, Sidney Blumenthal, pulls no punches and firmly lays the blame at Bush’s feet in his colums for today’s Guardian. He was also on the Today programme (R4) this morning discussing the same points with David From – Bush’s “Axis of Evil’ speechwriter. Katrina comes home to roost President Bush is to blame for the scale of the disaster as a result of his administration’s policies and actions Sidney Blumenthal Friday September 2, 2005 The Guardian Biblical in …
CHIEF Constable Hugh Orde and Policing Board chairman Des Rea both insisted yesterday that people with terrorist convictions will not be allowed to join the police. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
TONY Blair has called for parents to take their responsibilities more seriously, as he launched a new drive against bad parenting and anti-social behaviour. As Tony knows all too well, you can’t keep your eye on the kids all of the time (maybe he picked the wrong role model !), so he wants families to teach children to respect others. Closer to home, children are copping criticism from the Chief Constable for (allegedly) being involved rioting and sectarian attacks recently. …
A STATE of complete chaos and anarchy appears to have erupted in a New Orleans clearly unprepared for the after-effects of Hurricane Katrina. As bodies float down streets, people are being raped in the supposed sanctuary of the Superdome, explosions are going off and gunmen are firing at rescue helicopters. USA Today reports Gov. Kathleen Blanco saying that hundreds of National Guardsmen who served in Iraq have landed in New Orleans – and they won’t be using plastic bullets. “They …
A major new development in library lending strategies in The Netherlands – it’s taken its lead from a similar project first heralded in Sweden. It might be an interesting way to increase tolerance and understanding of ‘other’ cultures .. but maybe it only works in those countries that have a strong tradition of liberalism and social democratic style of governments…. By Guardian Unlimited / Arts and culture 09:44am A trip to the library these days is nothing like those of …
Rather belatedly, we have Alex Kane’s Newsetter column for 20th August. He believes that the Loyalist campaign of violence towards its rivals and ordinary, peaceable Catholics should be utterly condemned. He also believes that the government is compromised by its ongoing deals with Republican paramilitaries. By Alex Kane Journalists often refer to August as the silly season, a time when lack of so-called hard news allows more trivial matters to creep into the headlines. Sinn Feins Gerry Kelly has pushed …
THE DUP’S Ruth Patterson put forward a motion in Belfast City Council last night expressing sympathy to the family of UVF murder victim Craig McCausland (20) and urging politicians to urge anyone with information to contact the police. Councillor David Ervine of the PUP (which has links to the UVF) left the council chamber before the vote, while Sinn Fein abstained on the vote, saying it was politically motivated. It may well have been, but who should witnesses contact if …
The Belfast Telegraph has disclosed the page impression rate for their website. Over the last year it averaged at 5.5 million per month. Whilst that’s a good five million ahead of Slugger, our own monthly average is 1/2 million (it peaked at 710,000 in May). So, all told, we’re not doing bad for a humble weblog. Now where did I put that advertiser’s rate card? Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Amid the ongoing state of emergency, chaos and destruction, not to mention mortalities, in the three southern states due to Hurricane Katrina, questions are now starting to be asked re possible causes and if the disaster could have been limited if not avoided. Can lessons be learnt to avoid similar calamities in the future? Why city’s defences were down Cuts in spending to raise levees blamed on cost of war in Iraq John Vidal, environment editor, and Duncan Campbell Thursday …
Brian Feeney, takes the PSNI, the NIO, and the Secretary of State to task over their respective responses to what has been, in contrast to last year, a chaotic and for some, a tragic summer. He asks, Ever get the feeling there’s no one in charge? Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Magennis’s Bar, the scene of an altercation which ended in the murder of Robert McCartney on the street outside, has been put on the market by its owner. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
US blogger, Aaron Wall, is being sued for what some commenters said on his site about a internet advertising company. It’s even made the Wall Street Journal. He seems determined to fight it, and he’s currently collecting donations for a legal fighting fund – corporate law can be extremely complex and extremely expensive. Amy Gahran has some interesting things to say on the matter. Importantly, she flags up the SLAPP suit phenomenon: ie, a frivolous action intended to close down …
Mary Rafftery has a nicely argued piece on RTE’s consumer block buster Rip-Off Republic. She believes it is playing in a half way zone between bona fide current affairs and satire, and that the programme’s considerable polemical content is not subject to the forms counter balance that RTE normally provides. RTÉ’s factual programming, particularly in the news-current affairs area, is rigorously presented to a universally acclaimed high standard. Once again, scrupulous attention is paid to the matter of balance. Comedy …
Article from Reuters yesterday on cricket in Ireland Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
The ‘troubles’ in Ballymena continue with the targeting of a Catholic Primary school on the Cullybackey Road. The article is accompanied by condemnation from Nationalist politicians. It’s interesting to note that of all victims of these attacks, 75% were Catholic but, surprisingly perhaps, 25% were protestant. None of the reports we’ve seen so far seem to get to the heart of what has actually kicked these incidents off in the first place, nor what appear to have sustained them through …
A COLERAINE couple made medical history today by cryogenically freezing some stem cells from the umbilical tube of their second child in South Africa – genetic insurance policy. They did it in order to treat possible future illnesses or diseases the boy might suffer from. The idea isn’t new for ‘saviour siblings’ (as another NI couple illustrated very recently), but as Marie Foy reports: “What is groundbreaking is the concept of storing stem cells in a perfectly healthy baby in …
His funeral took place today at Westminster Cathedral in central London. In the Guardian’s report it only mentions the presence of prominent figures from the UUP (Trimble) and SDLP (Durkan and Hume) – are we to assume that no-one from SF or the DUP attended? Rivals unite in tribute to Lord Fitt Press Association Wednesday August 31, 2005 Figures from across Northern Ireland’s political divide gathered today to pay their respects to former Social Democratic and Labour party (SDLP) leader …
Vincent Browne, is clearly irked by a reference in a recent Daily Ireland article to Gerry Fitt as an ‘Uncle Tomas’ figure in Irish nationalism. In response he asks what benefits Nationalism accrued from Sinn Fein and the IRA’s rejection of the Sunningdale Agreement (subs needed): …there are a few elements to the Belfast Agreement that were not in the Sunningdale agreement – a more robust commitment to human rights and a commitment to devolve policing powers, but did they …