NI curriculum now includes lessons from ex-terrorists…

THE Education Minister snuck this press release out in the news graveyard of a Friday afternoon, but I think it’s worth highlighting, as it will probably provoke strong reactions one way or the other. A new resource for local schools entitled, ‘From Prison to Peace: Building on Experience’, has been launched. The resource, “which has been developed by a partnership of community and former prisoner groups from all sides of the community, provides a range of interesting, challenging and informative …

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It’s about more than tribal head-counts…

FORGET shifting demographics – not only it is a glacially slow movement, but may never result in a nationalist majority – argues academic Peter Shirlow. Instead, the “political tradition that first gains significant votes across the divide will be the one which inherits and shapes the future”. And that may be more about delivery on issues other than Northern Ireland’s constitutional position: Politics must be about delivery and persuasion is about effectiveness and the removal of threat. People on this …

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Sammy in early overture to UUP…

WITH Sir Reg ‘never to be’ Empey expected to quit today (or not long after), Sammy Wilson has decided to show a bit of leg to the weakened UUP with his declaration in support of unionist unity. He said: Our approach must now be one of unionist cooperation in establishing greater stability and improving our structures of government. We recognise that our present situation is not perfect but it is immeasurably better compared to what went before. It is clear the …

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Bad day to be a unionist leader…

THE BBC is suggesting that Sir Reg is beat in South Antrim. And with Robbo stuffed in East Belfast and Jim Allister trounced by Paisley Jr, the leaders of unionism are in a bad way tonight. While the personality cult of Jim will probably continue, the UUP and DUP could well be looking new leaders in the morning. Any suggestions? Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

Trying Wordpress…

THIS is just a tester to try out the new system. I’m also trying to blog from a BlackBerry but keep getting error messages. Sigh. What does “We could not find the XMLRPC endpoint of your blog” mean? Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

Snubbed During Labour’s Promises…

THE entire reference to Northern Ireland in the Labour Manifesto: For the first time, Northern Ireland can look forward to a stable and prosperous future as a result of the Good Friday, St Andrews and Hillsborough Agreements. Supported by unprecedented public funding, we will continue to invest in the institutions of devolution, so that the Unionist and Republican traditions can work together for all the people of Northern Ireland. Yawn – though I suppose if you’re not looking for votes …

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More fun at the SDLP’s expense…

FIRST McGregor, now this from an SF supporter. There’s something quite fun in the way the internet is being used to subvert party messages that are so carefully selected and controlled. PEBs aren’t cheap to make either, and to see them ridiculed so effectively and cheaply must be really annoying; anyone who’s seen the spoof billboards across the water knows what I mean too. There’s some excellent subversion of a DUP poster that the Tories have done coming up later …

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High noon in South Antrim…

AND so, at last, Reg Empey grasped the bull by the horns and decided that he too will enter the election fray. It might paint over the cracks in the South Antrim Association – since Watson was prepared to stand aside for Reg – but can he do the business? Of course, if he actually wins, Reg can’t be a double-jobbing unionist party leader given his opposition to such shennanigans, which would mean a new UUP Assembly leader (Danny Kennedy …

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Money isn’t everything…

THE Northern Ireland Assembly Members Bill has just been rushed through in the ‘wash-up’ before Parliament is dissolved. UTV’s headline is misleading – Bill to end ‘double-jobbing’ passed – as it will merely encourage members not to become MPs by only paying them one salary. They do, I think, have the ability to draw expenses if they are both an MLA and MP, and so, it is with great pleasure, I hand it over to Northern Ireland’s top experts on …

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Sir Reg wouldn’t have a gay about the B&B either…

THERE’S been a fair bit of speculation that UUP leader Sir Reg Empey might be the Ucunf candidate in South Antrim. This comes after his party colleague Adrian Watson was blocked by the Tories because of his view that gay couples would not be welcome in his family’s bed and breakfast – a view defended by the Shadow Home Secretary. But it is also a view shared by Sir Reg himself, if his vote in the transitional Assembly is anything …

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More history…

OVER at Dublin Opinion, Conor has dug up some a Communist Party of Ireland leaflet from 1941. Some of the rhetoric almost sounds like it could have been written today. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

Remember 1641…

HISTORY buffs should take a look at the digitised 1641 Rebellion testimonies; the Ulster depositions are the first online. According to the site, these controversial documents, rarely seen over the centuries are witness testimonies mainly by Protestants, but also by some Catholics, from all social backgrounds, concerning their experiences of the 1641 Irish rebellion. The testimonies document the loss of goods, military activity, and the alleged crimes committed by the Irish insurgents, including assault, stripping, imprisonment and murder. This body …

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Adams ordered McConville execution, says ex-IRA leader…

THIS voice from beyond the grave was widely expected, yet the claims are no less diminished for all that. The words of former IRA commander Brendan Hughes, pictured left with Gerry Adams: There was only one man who gave the order for that woman to be executed… That man is now the head of Sinn Fein. I did not give the order to execute that woman — he did. And yet he went to see [Jean McConville’s] kids to promise …

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The two faces of UUP policy…

“NORTH Down must be an interesting place to be these days,” the LibDem’s Northern Ireland spokesman told the Commons during Monday’s debate on the devolution of justice powers. Alistair Carmichael was, of course, referring to the constituency’s Ulster Unionist MP Lady Hermon’s support for the transfer of powers – in stark contrast to the Ulster Unionist position in the Assembly. But he was also referring to Conservative member Ian Parsley – UCUNF candidate for North Down – who has come …

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The murky war…

THIS might be worth a listen later on Radio 4 – the Army’s propaganda campaign in Northern Ireland. Details here. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

Bill Drummond remembers Belfast…

THE man who burnt a million quid and sprayed a toy machinegun at an unsuspecting Brits audience has been back to Belfast, to re-imagine the city. The wonderful Bill Drummond is no stranger to Northern Ireland, and I kinda wished I’d bumped into him, like Moochin Photoman did a while back. Drummond seems to have a genuine love for Belfast – he makes it sound like it’s really worth visiting. Oh well… maybe sometime. Click to hear the Radio 4 …

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Iris Robinson’s anti-gay adviser was, um, quite possibly homosexual…

IT has been already been noted that a former adviser to rhetorical gay-basher Iris Robinson has been reported to the General Medical Council for his unconventional practices. But – if we utilise the same logic former DUP adviser Dr Paul Miller applies to gay men to himself – we might wonder why a man who inadvertently appears to out himself as a repressed homosexual is trying to ‘turn’ them straight. Consider this: in the course of trying to ‘convert’ a …

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Will Nesbitt make DUP electoral victim..?

“DO you actually think that the commission can be seen as independent and neutral in this present context with Mr Nesbitt’s position as being party political within that? What effect or what has to be done to ensure that the perception people have in regard to the commission is actually rectified in the near future?” Mid Ulster MLA Francie Molloy whinged about the Victims Commission at the OFMDFM committee hearing yesterday at the Assembly. Is this a stupid question? Of …

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