Sport Benefiting from Economic Boom
Article from Reuters yesterday on cricket in Ireland Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Slugger O'Toole
Diversity requires a common bottom line
Fascinating piece from Martin Wolf at the FT. Evidently he is not thinking of Northern Ireland, but there may be relevant lessons to be drawn from his argument. He praises British multiculturalism but warns that it has limits and that no political entity can hold with a certain number of key requisites to retain the loyality of its entire population: Human beings, said Aristotle, are political animals. For a political community to flourish there must at least be agreement on …
Gerry Fitt is laid to rest
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 …
What was lost in the rejection of Sunningdale
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 …
Clarke candidacy highlights Tory dilemma…
Leading on from where Gonzo left off. Clarke is 65, and this is his third bid for the leadership. Precedent suggests he’s not well matched to an aging party suspicious of his pro-European views (though he’s getting distance between himself and the Euro), and his anti war stance (only five other Tories followed him into the no lobby). But the serial failure of his previous rivals hardly recommends a hard man of the right either. The Times doubts he has …
"there's a slogan to motivate the masses"
Courtesy of the excellent Newshound. The rumours of Newton’s demise have, clearly, been greatly exaggarated – Quite simple really. ‘Love Ulster’ is a terror campaign. Not the old kind of terror campaign, mind you but a new political kind aimed at terrifying people into thinking that all those cows are about to stampede north and chew up our passports. Read the rest here Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
What is eating people in Ballymena?
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 …
Blair backs banned Muslim scholar
Is Tony Blair finally trying to put some ‘clear blue water’ between himself and the White House given that Professor Tariq Ramadam (who has been banned in the US and France) has been appointed to a government taskforce? Also it sounds like the White House is getting increasingly peeved by the fact that Tony still hasn’t gone to pick up his Congressional Gold Medal (highest civilian honour) which he was awarded two years ago. Blair backs banned Muslim scholar Vikram …
The trouble with Belfast…
For a time, Troubles Tourism (subs needed) did its fair share in attracting the world to its doors. However, according to the New York Times the weekend before last, it’s not up to scratch for the modern tourist. The Belfast Telegraph took up the gauntlet with Mary FitzGerald’s interview with Alan Clarke, head of Northern Ireland Tourist Board. Its leader went on to argue, that a multiplication in domestic flights into both Belfast airports requires movement beyond old strategies. Getting …
Rounders: the fourth Gaelic game…
Right, hands up. Who knew that Rounders was one of the four original sports included in the GAA of 1884? Well I didn’t. It was only the sport’s inclusion as a warm up for one of the recent big games at Croke Park that alerted me to it. It even has its own rules (PDF). It’s a popular but mostly informal game in England, although there are over thirty adults teams playing on a regular basis. But is it the …
Suicides Risen Since Troubles End
Some chilling new figures have been released today. A survey carried out by the University of Ulster and the Department of Psychiatry at the Mater Hospital found that during the worst years of violence, suicides fell significantly but have now risen in a period of relative peace. Researchers believe civil unrest may have strengthened social bonds within communities, and thus “buffered” suicidal thoughts. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Ireland loves its history
Jim Duffy, writing in today’s Irish Times, sets out the challenge for a 21st Century Ireland that claims to be pluralistic – “Editing the awkward bits out of our national narrative”[subs req.] – an Ireland, as he points out, which “loves its history. But it likes one-sided history. The side may change, depending on each generation’s fad, fashion or political correctness.” As he says in his concluding paragraph – The task 21st century Ireland faces is to become genuinely pluralist, …
Fitt recalled with great affection…
Despite the political wrangling over the meaning of Gerry Fitt’s political career, Laura McDaid in yesterday’s Andersonstown News found that ordinary people in West Belfast had little else but praise for a man they remember with great affection. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Belfast's heart of cultural diversity?
Not every part of Northern Ireland is divided and contentious territory. Noreen Erskine examines the rising cultural diversity on display in St George’s Market in Belfast. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
The price of policing..?
ALLIANCE leader David Ford has acknowledged that members of the IRA could end up in the police on Inside Politics. Meanwhile, the SDLP appeared even more perturbed than Sammy Wilson over talk of people with terrorist convictions joining the PSNI. Perhaps Sammy – like others – thinks it’s a non-starter. Mind you, there must be some republican who watched events unfold in Garnerville recently, and wondered if signing up to policing wasn’t such a bad thing after all. Community policing …
Words deployed in new phase of war…
THE launch of the ‘Love Ulster’ unionist campaign against a United Ireland yesterday was steeped in symbolism. Echoing the arrival of the Clyde Valley arms shipment for the UVF at Larne in 1914, Shankill Mirror newspapers were unloaded from a boat at the port yesterday. The aim was – I think – to illustrate that the unionist side of the argument against republicanism was capable of being made through democratic means. Wullie Wilkinson’s statement that one of the aims of …
eppur, si muove
As Galileo Galilei may, or may not, have said. Worryingly, some people still don’t know that it does.. muove, that is – as Instapundit notes, from this profile of political scientist, Dr. Jon D. Miller in the NYT, “One adult American in five thinks the Sun revolves around the Earth..” So, as part of an ongoing effort to avoid a similar situation developing here *ahem* I present the latest Notes on the Solar System. From details of Saturn’s moon Enceladus …
Bus Driver Wins Lifesavers Award
A Translink bus driver who saved an 11 year old boy from accidentally hanging himself has been presented with the prestigious Vodafone Northern Ireland Lifesavers accolade. Brian Chambers will now go on to a national shortlist to be judged by a celebrity panel. We wish him luck. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Parents will have last word on Grammar schools
Newton Emerson compares the impending reform of the education system – ie the plan to abolish the eleven plus and move towards a comprehensive system – with the coercive integration of black and white children in Kentucky. The Catholic school system, which has already embraced the concept, may be the first victim, as parents move their children to non Catholic Grammar schools in pursuit of the best education on offer. By Newton Emerson: Last November I spent five days in …
Pakoras in the Park
This weekend saw the return of the Mela festival to Belfast. The festival which celebrates Indian culture took place yesterday in Botanic gardens. Mumbai dancers flew in to entertain the crowds and artists from across the world took to the stage from 12 noon. Traditional food was also prepared by chefs. Festival organiser, Nisha Tandon, said she hoped the event would become an annual one for Belfast. She thanked the variety of volunteers from the “the Indian, Chinese and local …