Slugger O'Toole Paul Colgan reports that announcement of the conclusion to the much heralded Adams’ initiative is to be further postponed, according to government sources. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Ian Paisley Junior has suggested that the organisation of a Republican parade to mark the 34th anniversary of the introduction of internment on 9th August in Ballymena is a cover for what he calls Gerry Adams’ ‘failed initiative’. Does he know something we don’t? In any case, he accuses Republicans of deliberately raising tensions in the town. Over the past year, republicans have deliberately increased tensions and now we have a real concern that such a parade will lead to …
Like him or loathe him, the Republic’s minister for Justice has a knack for getting to the nub of certain issues. This week he’s been in Glenties, Co Donegal addressing the MacGill Summer School waxing lyrical on what he sees as the heavy and fixed charicaturing by sections of the media of right or even centre right politics (subs needed) Update: Full text of the speech. Thanks to Nevin for the heads up! He said there was a strong element …
The bizarre official silence over the precise reasons for the revocation of Sean Kelly’s licence appears to have landed the SDLP in a difficult situation in Derry City Council. They are not giving any indications as to which way they will vote on Sinn Fein’s motion calling for his immediate release. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
So the Independent Monitoring Commission are to examine the feud between the UVF and LVF?.. or as the BBC headline has it “Ceasefire watchdog to probe feud”.. but no specific report is to be produced. No doubt Peter Hain may be encouraged to think that this will ease the pressure on him to recognise the obvious.. but it’s worth pointing out, again, that the IMC has already made its view on the UVF clear – “In our previous report we …
A couple of Republican writers that are always worth reading are Danny Morrison, and Deaglan at the Res Publica blog. Both tackle the London bombing this week. Deaglan takes Bernard Crick to task for seeking to blame fallout from the Israel/Palestine conflict as the primary cause of the bombing. Meanwhile, surprisingly for some, Danny Morrison supports the UK’s right to pursue the bombers, but argues that so far too little effort has been made to address the circumstances that give …
YESTERDAY, former Assembly Public Accounts Committee chairman Billy Bell complained strongly about the “callous penny pinching and indifference shown towards the elderly” by the Government. Bell is furious that it refuses to pay the full economic cost of caring for the elderly – fair enough. But one wonders why Bell voted AGAINST free personal care for older people when he was a member of the devolved government at Stormont in June 2002. Alliance’s Kieran McCarthy takes Bell to task for …
If forced to make an uninformed guess as to when we can expect the IRA’s response to Gerry Adams’ call to abandon military means it would probably be after the 12th August and before the Black Preceptory walk at the end of the month. It is rumoured that the consultations within the IRA have been completed. Tensions in north Belfast make it unlikely that the IRA will cramp their potential to act through a complete stand down when there are …
A RESIDENT Magistrate who wanted to send five football hooligan rioters to jail yesterday felt he couldn’t – as a previous rioter had successfully appealed against the two-month term the same magistrate had handed down. You’d almost wonder why the Government bothered introducing stiffer sentences. Magistrate Desmond Perry said he imagined the lack of an immediate sentence wouldn’t please the two football clubs involved. Really? We’ll see if Linfield or Glentoran ban any convicted rioters from their grounds – but …
On 20th July 1969 Neil A. Armstrong took a small step from the Eagle landing module.. and became the first man to set foot on the Moon, followed shortly afterwards by Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin. The NY Times has the front page of the day.. as well as their coverage of events. To mark the date Google has expanded its mapping facility.. zoom in close for the Moon’s real secret. [Via Gavin] Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily …
On a suitable anniversary too.. Once dubbed “the craziest pilot in the Canadian Air Force”, James Doohan will forever be known as Scotty, Chief Engineer on the USS Enterprise – although his parents apparently lived in Belfast before emigrating to Canada a few months before his birth on March 3, 1920. The BBC reports here.. CNN obit here.. and StarTrek.com has much more on James Doohan’s life and career. and if my Gramma had wheels she’d be a wagon.. The …
Probably unionism’s favourite southerner, Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell, believes Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic can become political partners on a reconciled island very soon. I believe that the great project of reconciling Orange and Green will succeed, and that both parts of Ireland will become partners in a common political enterprise,” he told the Patrick MacGill Summer School in Co Donegal. I believe that a much more diverse, heterogeneous sense of Irishness will replace the narrow official self-image …
TWO workers at a Co Antrim MoT vehicle testing centre have been suspended in a probe into “irregularities”. This is not the first time I’ve heard of “irregularities” involving the Driver and Vehicle Testing Agency. The DVTA promises impartial testing, but with stories surfacing about the manner in which some tests have been conducted, it begins to raise questions about the agency’s ability to retain public confidence. If you have an MoT horror story, publish it in the comments – …
INVEST NI’s aim is to “role is to change Northern Ireland into a high growth economy driven by innovation and enterprise”. For Invest NI, that seems to include investing £4 million of your money in companies linked to the board members of Invest NI. Conflict of interest? No – apparently “the transactions “were all conducted at arms length” and “were subject to normal project and programme rules and tendering procedures, where appropriate”.” Quite… The Tele reported that the Invest NI …
John Laird makes a pitch for changing the way the Twelth of July Orange demonstrations are seen, by participants and non-participants alike. He notes that history suggests that the ancestors of modern Orangemen found themselves on either side in the 1798 rebellion for instance: ….members of my own lodge, and our American guests, recreated the Battle of King’s Mountain, where Ulster-Scots settlers from the Carolinas and East Tennessee inflicted a crushing defeat on the British, in October 1780; and the …
Not sure how many of you were up bright and early this morning and heard Ken Livingstone’s interview on R4’s Today programme where he spoke very candidly about his views re the bomb attacks on 7th July. The mayor stresses he does not condone suicide bombings Decades of British and American intervention in the oil-rich Middle East motivated the London bombers, Ken Livingstone has suggested. The London mayor told BBC News he had no sympathy with the bombers and he …
Christian Churches in Ireland have suffered because of a lack of ecumenism, Church of Ireland primate Most Rev Robin Eames has told the McGill Summer School in Donegal. “Christianity in Ireland has suffered because of our total allegiance to denominationalism. In the naked sectarianism of Northern Ireland, ecumenism for some is a sign of failure, surrender and weakness, he said. Eames says religion in Ireland is now divided into two parts – north and south – with the Catholic Church …
A FUTURISTIC coach built in Ballymena has been turning heads in Wales this week, as the latest Wright bus hits the streets. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
It seems that Sylvia Hermon some interesting answers to a recent question (scroll down) in the House of Commons, regarding the affliation of people applying to become members of the Human Rights Commission. Interestingly, Labour and the Alliance Party come top of all original applicants with any party affliations: eight each. The SDLP scored 6, the UUP 4 and the DUP 3 applicants. Strangely, Sinn Fein had none. Even the Lib Dems (who don’t organise in NI) had 2. Thanks …
CONGRATULATIONS to Slugger contributor Rebecca Black, who has been appointed by Sir Red Empey to be an assistant to the UUP’s new education spokesman, David McNarry, who had previously contended for the party leadership. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.