Ambrose Uprichard Spiked-online carries a wonderful article by Brendan O’Neill on the resurrection of the pogues, “the best band of the 1980s. Fact“. Worth reading for the wonderful comparison between Donny Osmond and Shane MacGowan- “Donny and MacGowan are surely the Yin and Yang of popular music.“ Ambrose Uprichard
Poor man must be wondering what has hit him – Robberies, photographs, Calendars and now the Florida Arms-Smuggling resurfaces… Four in court over US gun smuggling. To borrow a phrase he probably regrets ever saying- “they haven’t gone away, you know!” Ambrose Uprichard
Fine Gael’s Bernard Allen is concerned at US treatment of Irish illegals and the American Ambassador is to be asked a joint Oireachtais committee on foreign affairs.Meanwhile Ireland is jailing and deporting illegal immigrants, some of whom have Children who were born in Ireland. From earlier in the year: Ireland deports 64 IRELAND chartered a plane and used 35 police officers to deport 64 illegal immigrants, underscoring the cost and difficulty of combating the flow of bogus asylum-seekers to the …
Regardless of the rights and wrongs of fox-hunting- a fox killed 10 of our pet hens a couple of nights ago – and angling, I’m pleased to see that our environment minister Angela Smith has announced that: The temporary ban on the killing, taking or sale of Irish hares has been renewed in Northern Ireland. Ambrose Uprichard
Dr John Coulter’s latest offering in the Blanket, Unionism in the Dáil argues that Northern Unionists should contest seats in the Dáil and demand representation in the Seanad.A wide ranging article, it looks at what some still see as Northern betrayal of Southern Unionists and discusses various options, past and present, most worrying being the possibility of modern loyalists repeating acts of savagery seen 30 years ago in the Dublin and Monaghan massacres. Ambrose Uprichard
Lord Laird’s contribution to Slugger is reported, along with the rather surprising news that the deputy grand chaplain to the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland buys Lá “every day”, in this article by Anton McCabe: Irish-language newspaper Lá blames unionists for funding cuts Ambrose Uprichard
One of Ireland’s finest writers, Colm Tóibín, has a short story published today in the Guardian. A song. Ambrose Uprichard
What IS it about Sinn Féin election workers and agents ? One of the Colombia three was a SF election worker. Aengus O’Snodaigh’s election agent has been jailed. “Last year, Sinn Fein TD Sean Crowe’s election agent was abducted in Dublin and taken to South Armagh where he was tortured, tried by the Provisional IRA and shot in both ankles, for what was described as “freelance fundraising”.” And now another one has been remanded in custody.Mind you – according to …
Newshound links to a story carried in the Impartial Reporter where in Enniskillen there was a Ban on press as Day of Reflection is held behind closed doors. There seems to have been poor communication and confusion. In Derry RTE were allowed to give full coverage. On Monday Sinn Fein Press office released an “erroneous” statement which seemed to distance the party from, and in fact be critical of the privacy decision in Fermanagh,but by the following day had changed …
The Belfast Telegraph ran a feature by Neil Johnston on what was known as the “wee blue blossom”, Flax and it’s huge role in the changes in the North East corner of Ireland to announce the release of a book “The Making Of Ulster Linen: Historic Photographs Of An Ulster Industry”, by Peter Collins. Modern Belfast is shaped by the boom in the linen industry which was to a great extent only possible because of the collapse of the Lancashire …
It’s Back. Saville hasn’t finished, it’s being reconvened to hear testimony from another witness. Surprise return for inquiry. May the Farce be with you. Ambrose Uprichard
As an attempt to relieve the overload, and tempers, on the NI representatives to sit in Dail? thread , I thought it might be interesting to post a letter in today’s Irish News, page 9, from Nelson McCausland, MLA. The GAA should be honest about its political agenda Is there anybody in Northern Ireland who thinks that the GAA are not open and honest about their politics ? Should Nelson have recognised the difference between the Northern GAA and the …
Two articles in the Irish Independent by Damian Corless today “look back in humour”. Ghosts of Christmas past compares 1944, 1964 and 1984, whereas in The secret’s out… it seems we’re all a little bit bonkers he ruminates on the annual treat that is the opening of the National Archives.1964 – The poet Philip Larkin famously wrote: “Sexual intercourse began/In 1963(which was rather late for me)/Between the end of the Chatterley ban/And the Beatles’ first LP.” Just as famously, the …
In a rather subdued way Ógra Shinn Féin — Béal Feirste (ÓSFBF) has gone online as of December 6th. I can see no mention of this on the Sinn Féin website, but happened upon a letter from Jimmy Madden, in the current edition of An Phoblacht.A well designed site, easy to read and with an interesting manifesto for 2004. The suggestion that elections should be held at week-ends is sensible, however I’m not impressed with the idea that the state …
Those Zany Irish-Americans! Have to laugh – According to Irish Voice Irish Americans Condemn Paisley Why Condemn Paisley ? Because he has acted like Yasser Arafat, the man supported and eulogised by none other than Sinn Féin ! President Arafat an inspiration to people in struggle – Sinn Féin MEPsAnd from Aengus O Snodaigh : “Yasser Arafat and his PLO were an inspiration to freedom fighters throughout the world. Gerry Adams? Throughout a lifetime in struggle President Yasser Arafat has …
The equality commission for NI has released it’s 2003 report on employment discrimination and is reported as describing “the Catholic-Protestant balance in the Northern workforce as “very fair”.” However, as reported in a story SF and equality body disagree over workplace discrimination carried by Breakingnews.ie, Sinn Féin are less than impressed. The Sinn Féin Newsroom carries a more detailed comment by Caitriona Ruane. Ambrose Uprichard
The BBC has announced that Independent Conservative MP Andrew Hunter, who is standing down at the next election, is joining the DUP and will become their first English MP. Tory MP Andrew Hunter joins DUP Ambrose Uprichard
The Belfast Telegraph has an article based on the work of David Graddol, author of The Future of English in which James Burleigh reports that English to be spoken by half of the world’s population within 10 years But it’s not all bad news… The report also showed that English was not the only language spreading, and the world, far from being dominated by English, was to become more multi-lingual. Mr Graddol said: “Chinese, Arabic and Spanish are all popular, …
Ambrose decided to take himself to the London Review of Books to counter-balance the arrival of jpegs on Slugger. For a second he thought he had strayed onto A Tangled Web! There he found Vindicated! by David Edgar, a review of two books about the Angry Brigade. Who here is old enough to recall the Angry Brigade ? One could consider them UDA-lite.“This delicately equivocal formulation comes from Stuart Christie, whose hugely engaging memoir includes an account of the Angry …
If you thought ‘sackcloth and ashes’ was unacceptably extreme, David Aaronovitch reflects on “provo students” at Queens and using history and the Bible exposes what Paisley really wanted …brought tears to my eyes! Castrate the younger men Ambrose Uprichard
