Kilsally

The coming Papal visit

Kilsally on September 13, 2010, 9:13 pm

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As the media frenzy over this weeks visit to Great Britain by the Pope continues, further protests have emerged. By far the highest profile protest is organised around the Protest The Pope website and includes organisation like the National Secular Society, the British Humanist Association, Atheism UK and Outrage as well as prominent atheist supporters like Richard Dawkings, Peter Tatchell & Christopher Hitchens. Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell hosts `The Trouble with the Pope` which airs on Channel 4 at …

Let`s keep Northern Ireland moving forward

Kilsally on May 8, 2010, 11:03 am

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Despite the goings on in East Belfast the election results have seen the DUP claw back voters. The 2009 Euro elections saw the DUP achieve 88,346 first preference votes (18.2%) whilst the election to Westminster has seen the percentage go up to 25% of the vote (168,216). Now this is still down 8.7% on the previous Westminster election but in overall terms considering the recent DUP `annus horribilis` I would think the DUP should be pretty happy with the result. …

The prospects of voluntary coalition

Kilsally on May 5, 2010, 2:16 pm

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Video: Peter Robinson on improving devolution Voluntary coalition seems to be a shibboleth connected with Jim Allister and TUV but in reality all three Unionist parties would prefer voluntary coalition with some form of qualified majority voting put in place to enable a more normal form of Assembly inline with Wales & Scotland which would include a formal opposition, compared to the mandatory coalition we currently operate where nearly all the parties are in government and will remain in government …

Parading resolution or stalemate?

Kilsally on February 2, 2010, 3:42 am

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In today`s News Letter, Victor Gordon argues that the parading issue will be hard to resolve and that Drumcree is a microcosm of Northern Ireland. Interestingly, the December issue of the Orange Standard contains an article entitled `Parades Resolution Essential For The Future`. Meanwhile Randalstown LOL 22 has donated £16,000 to the PSNI Benevolent Fund and the Royal Engineers Benevolent Fund! KilsallyIT Technical Manager for a CCTV company in the UK & Ireland. Christian, Orangeman, Unionist. Webmaster of Ulster-Scots Online. …

The chattering classes

Kilsally on February 2, 2010, 3:15 am

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Just picking up on Sammy Wilson`s disregard for the local media in his recent opinion pieces on Unionist Unity and devolution of Policing & Justice! “I don’t usually listen to local radio, watch TV or read local papers, but incarcerated with colleagues who are news junkies and with long periods when we were waiting for papers or meetings, I must have heard and read more local news coverage last week than I have in the previous six months. What I …

Unionist Unity has been a long term goal

Kilsally on February 2, 2010, 3:01 am

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A quick `google` shows Unionist unity talks have been going on for years contrary to recent media articles on the subject. Here`s a link from 2003 on the BBC in which it is the UUP doing the courting. And another citing Rev Robert Coulter MLA in 2002. Alex Kane who has resigned from the UUP and penned an opinion piece in today`s News Letter wrote a similar, but less harsh piece on unionist unity in 2007. KilsallyIT Technical Manager for …

Scots `leid` debate on both sides of the `sheugh`

Kilsally on January 26, 2010, 12:36 am

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Robert Burns "To a Mouse" Poem Animation MovieUploaded by Poetrylad. – Watch more music videos, in HD! In this week of Burns, the debate over whether Scots is a language or a dialect continues both in Ulster and in Scotland. A recent study by The Scottish Government shows that whilst 85% of Scots admit to using `Scots`, two thirds do not think of it as a language. Whilst a majority want to see it taught is schools. Update: Belfast Tele …

Royal Black to support African hospital in 2010

Kilsally on January 16, 2010, 12:58 am

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The Royal Black Institution has made Kiwoko Hospital in Africa its designated charity for 2010. The text below is based on a News Letter article which is not online…`rejigged` it a good bit to avoid any issues but just acknowledging the original. The hospital is a community-based facility of 245 beds in the Luwero area of Uganda and has been chosen by the institution to benefit from fundraising over the next year. Last year the Royal Black Institution raised money …

Selling Policing and Justice…if I were Peter Robinson…

Kilsally on January 16, 2010, 12:24 am

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Peter Robinson will need to sell any policing deal to a largely apathetic public and according to a secret poll of MLA`s , particularly among Unionists. He can also expect , predictably, scathing attacks from Jim Allister and the TUV. Presuming all the details and mechanisms are satisfactory, I would suggest that Peter Robinson builds a consensus across the whole Northern Ireland political and public spectrum with particular focus on other Unionist parties and organisations (UUP, PUP, UPRG, Orange Order, …

It`s policing Jim, but not as we know it

Kilsally on January 14, 2010, 3:39 am

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Jim Allister`s recent press release on the devolution of policing and justice is so full of holes I hardly know where to start. 1. `by surrendering to Sinn Fein’s key “Brits Out” demand over policing and justice.` – is Jim Allister saying Northern Irish people are not British? Was the previous Stormont Assembly with devolved policing less British than now when a local Northern Irish person was in charge of policing, as opposed to a Westminster viceroy like Secretary of …

An end to mandatory coalition?

Kilsally on November 17, 2009, 2:44 am

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Alex Kane responds to Jim Allister`s letter in the News Letter on Saturday, which itself was a response to Kane`s challenge for Allister to outline a realistic and achievable alternative to mandatory coalition. Jim Allister states: “I and TUV do not accept that we must continue to be the only part of the democratic world where by law you can neither vote a party out of government nor have an Opposition. This perversion of the basic tenets of democracy is …

Tory U-turn and DUP `isolationism`

Kilsally on November 17, 2009, 1:33 am

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There has been a noticeable presence of NI Tory correspondence in the letters page of the News Letter in recent weeks. A noticeable theme seems to be portraying the DUP as isolationist, which presumably builds on the UUP`s claims that the DUP are actually `Ulster Nationalists`. Meanwhile the DUP have been attacking the Tory stance on Europe over the past month or so. First we had Ian Paisley in his News Letter column with a piece entitled `European dream has …

Great British public in agreement with `our Sammy`?

Kilsally on November 14, 2009, 11:38 pm

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According to a poll by the Times, some 59% of the UK population agrees with former NI Environment Minister, Sammy Wilson, that the case for Global warming is not proven. It seems the Government and Green lobby has a lot of work to do with a sceptical UK public in the run up to next months climate change summit in Copenhagen. KilsallyIT Technical Manager for a CCTV company in the UK & Ireland. Christian, Orangeman, Unionist. Webmaster of Ulster-Scots Online. …

Kane throws down the gauntlet to Allister

Kilsally on November 9, 2009, 6:55 pm

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Alex Kane, in today’s News Letter, whilst taking a side swipe at the DUP, challenges Jim Allister to outline a ‘viable and available alternative’. Alex is of course the UUP’s Director of Communications. He asserts that neither the British or Irish Goverment will agree to enact legislation allowing voluntary coalition which would exclude the largest Nationalist party. Alex does however suggest that the ‘Allister dynamic’ may inject change to the Institutions. KilsallyIT Technical Manager for a CCTV company in the …

DUP entering election mode

Kilsally on October 28, 2009, 2:06 am

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Peter Robinson & Diane Dodds addressed DUP party members, supporters and Euro electioneers on Monday night at a buffet in Corrick House just outside Augher, County Tyrone. In his address ( passable mobile phone audio here ), Peter Robinson addressed several points: 1) That double jobbing will be phased out over the next two elections ,as the Assembly beds down and as Assembly members gain experience requiring less assistance from experienced MP`s. Anyone with a dual mandate in the meantime …

New Ulster-Scots funding arrangements

Kilsally on June 17, 2009, 5:23 pm

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Culture, Arts and Leisure Minister Gregory Campbell during Oral Questions at Stormont yesterday outlined increases to Ulster-Scots funding in response to a question by East Antrim MLA Alastair Ross ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxpgNojgjWk ) as well as outlining new proposals to allow the funding of Ulster-Scots community workers and for financial assistance for Ulster-Scots groups to travel to Scotland. KilsallyIT Technical Manager for a CCTV company in the UK & Ireland. Christian, Orangeman, Unionist. Webmaster of Ulster-Scots Online. Occasional blogger on Slugger …

Allister`s plan to scupper Stormont

Kilsally on June 17, 2009, 4:38 pm

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The News Letter has an report about Jim Allister outlining his plans to scupper the Executive. He plans to stand only in safe Unionist seats at the Westminster elections whilst standing for every Assembly seat. He hopes by taking enough seats and boycotting Stormont it will result in Sinn Fein taking the First Minister position and thereby topple the Assembly. That is a very credible plan, however it could backfire on him. Whilst his results were decent enough, the fact …

According to the Japanese…`Our Sammy` may be right

Kilsally on February 26, 2009, 1:53 am

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The recent furore over the Stormont Environment Ministers views on climate change have led many to claim that the DUP`s Sammy Wilson is a laughing stock. Sammy replied by comparing himself to Galileo. A recent report by the Japan Society of Energy and Resources for the Japanese Energy Commission has concluded that climate change is a natural rather than a man-made phenomenon related to natural cycles and solar events. Kanya Kusano, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science & Technology (JAMSTEC) compares …

Rabbie Burns 250

Kilsally on January 21, 2009, 2:21 am

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2009 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, the bard of Scotland and the Scottish Government is using it as part of the Homecoming 2009 initiative which seeks to foster Scottish emigrant links. A delegation from Visit Scotland were in Northern Ireland last week promoting Burns events in the Province in an effort to coordinate a record number of Burns suppers. The Ulster-Scots Agency and Visit Northern Ireland are also helping organise a plethora of events in …

Allister attacks increased North-South spending

Kilsally on December 4, 2008, 1:21 am

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The News Letter is reporting that Traditional Unionist Voice MEP, Jim Allister is rather irate after discovering that North-South funding expenditure is rising – from £119 million in 2007 to £130 million in the period 2008-10. He forgot to mention the 30% increase for the Ulster-Scots Agency. KilsallyIT Technical Manager for a CCTV company in the UK & Ireland. Christian, Orangeman, Unionist. Webmaster of Ulster-Scots Online. Occasional blogger on Slugger O’ Toole. Eurosceptic. @Kilsally www.ulster-scots.co.uk