Belfast Gonzo

THE Irish News reports that the Orange Order resolution calling for members to take on “a role of civic and community leadership within these islands” has been described by SDLP North Antrim assembly member Declan O’Loan as on the whole “very encouraging”. The report adds that Mr O’ Loan said that the positive wording of the resolution should be considered alongside unprecedented moves by the Order to open up conversations with the Parades Commission, the Catholic Church, the SDLP and …

Read more…

QUOTE of the week goes to the community psychiatric nurse in the Co Down who recalled one shocking home visit in a Royal College of Nursing study on nurses working alone. She said: “I asked the client when his problems started, to which he replied ‘Earlier in the year when I killed my wife’.” Today, nurses have something to be more cheerful about – the Assembly Health Minister has announced a long-awaited 2.5% pay rise for them. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

THE Sun is urging the Great British Public to follow the new Prime Minister’s call to fly the Union flag on every government building by waving their own as “the gesture would help create a new sense of Britishness. And send a message to extremists that the nation will not be beaten”. Of course, Gordo’s appeal to the patriotic doesn’t include her majesty’s most loyal subjects in Norn Iron, who have a little more experience of extremism than most – …

Read more…

NORTHERN Ireland Office staff received bonuses totalling £686,425 in 2005-06, an average of just over £670 each. Elsewhere, it was revealed that the total annual amount paid in salaries to OFMDFM staff in 2006/07 was £14.4 million. There were no salaries paid to special advisers in the 2006/07 financial year. The total amount paid in salaries to OFMDFM staff in 2005/06 was £14.1 million. This included £61,000 for Special Advisers (though who they were advising is anyone’s guess, as there …

Read more…

ORDE: Does this count as collusion? ADAMS: Only if I call for a public inquiry. Your turn. Be funny. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

“THERE is no more money in the kitty,” the new Secretary of State, Shaun Woodward, told Northern Ireland yesterday. But then he said: “A very good settlement was agreed with the Chancellor and the Government in Northern Ireland – £51 billion over three years – which I am sure has given to the Executive here certainty which I am sure the Scottish Executive look at greenly.” They certainly will, as Gordon Brown had told us it was £50 billion over …

Read more…

AS Tony Blair prepares for his Middle East envoy role, bringing all his experience of Peace Processing to bear on it, Tel Aviv University professor Carlo Strenger recalls one lesson he learned from ex-Alliance leader John Alderdice’s father. Strenger argues that Israel needs to start seeing Arab states as partners with a common interest in resolving the problem and start a process of talking. He also sees long-term external support as important, something else that typified our Peace Process. Belfast …

Read more…

THANKS to Microsoft’s Virtual Earth, Alan Turnbull has been able to trace the development of MI5’s new base at Palace Barracks (pictured), just outside Holywood, Co Down. This aerial view from 2005, according to Turnbull, shows where the ground was cleared in preparation for building, while this one shows the Portakabins for the construction workers. This image from Google Maps in 2003 shows the old building being demolished for the new base (yes, that was 2003… three years before we …

Read more…

IN its continuing efforts to differentiate itself from the DUP, the UUP has accused Paisley’s party of being “Ulster nationalist” rather than “British unionist” – something we’ve explored on Slugger recently. Ulster Unionist Rodney McCune said: ” I see Ulster Unionists as the only Northern Ireland party continuing to use the language of British Unionism. That is set against the Irish nationalism and republicanism of the SDLP and Sinn Fein and what I see as the Ulster nationalism of the …

Read more…

HAT tip to the Beeb’s Will Crawley for spotting this rather amusing YouTube prank call in which two calls were put in to two Garda stations on mobile phones – and then the two phones talked to each other. “Listen out for the meteorite,” says Will. Heh! Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

IN July 2001, paramedic Michael Brett was called to the scene of a shooting in Newtownabbey. He had been called to numerous scenes of terrorism in the past, including the Omagh bomb, but he couldn’t have guessed that this time it would be his own teenage son Gavin who would end up cradling in his arms as his life ebbed away. Tragically, this brave man passed away today, aged just 51. The murder, carried out under the UDA’s cowardly flag …

Read more…

AS expected, the Parades Commission has banned loyalist provocateur Mark Harbinson’s Pride of the Village Flute Band (see above) from entering two mixed areas of Stoneyford. The Commission noted that intimidated residents of Stonebridge Meadows and “that an illegal parade took place through Stonebridge Meadows and The Beeches on the evening of Tuesday 26th June 2007″. The determination continued: “The Commission is deeply disappointed that this incident occurred and may have a detrimental effect on community relations. The Commission notes …

Read more…

WATCH the YouTube video to see how an armed car hijacker on the Falls Road discovered he couldn’t scare everyone. As he attempts his carjacking, members of the public intervene and prevent him taking the car. According to the Andytown News, police had failed to act when warned about the hood beforehand and the gun was handed over to the PSNI when the matter had finally been “prioritised accordingly”. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

LISBURN loyalists have been puzzling drivers by hanging the skull and crossbones below their Union and Ulster flags on lampposts outside the ‘city’. It seems that the pirate flag is a symbol associated with local football team Ballymacash Rangers, although one local source said: “The UDA adopted it as a flag of convenience so they wouldn’t be accused of putting up paramilitary flags.” It’s not hard to see why the team is associated with loyalism, but could they not have …

Read more…

MARK Devenport speculates over who could be announced as the next Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on Thursday. Could Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Paul Goggins leapfrog a Minister of State’s position into Hillsborough? Or is there more to the former Tory shadow SoS Quentin Davies’ defection to Labour? Davies denied a deal over a Cabinet position earlier today – though someone who carries out a surprise total U-turn might fit in nicely Here. My guess is no – …

Read more…

LIAM Clarke argues that Sinn Fein’s abstentionist policy towards Westminster continues out of habit, not principle. He writes: “Now that McGuinness and his colleagues hold ministries whose powers are devolved from Westminster, and regularly bargain with British ministers for budgets, this position lacks any logic.” The oath is a sticking point, but could be dealt with, and with Sinn Fein’s major cards having been played – arms, policing support – it may find leverage in London if Labour has a …

Read more…

ARCHBISHOP Desmond Tutu was in Dublin yesterday, and said a South African-style Truth and Reconciliation Commission may not work in Northern Ireland. “One of the things you have to be very careful of is not to be prescriptive, that one size fits all. Each country and situation are unique and it is up to the people involved to decide,” he said. Whether it is ‘The People’ or ‘The people appointed by the Government’ who decide is another matter, though the …

Read more…

THERE isn’t enough evidence to charge any police officers or soldiers with involvement in the murder of Pat Finucane, the Prosecution Service revealed today. Collusion investigator Lord Stevens has already established how the state collaborated with loyalist terrorists in the lawyer’s murder, but no-one will be prosecuted. While republicans will see this as another whitewash to cover up state involvement in the political murder of a nationalist, it will be interesting to see what practical help a mainstream Republican Movement …

Read more…

JIM Allister continues to put pressure on his former DUP colleagues. Today, he calls on DUP Environment Minister Arlene Foster to de-list the protected H-blocks at the Maze Prison site, which her DUP Sports Minister colleague Edwin Poots said on Saturday “will still be there, irrespective of whether there’s a stadium developed there”. Allister is capitalising on fears within his former party that the preserved prison blocks will become a “shrine” to the IRA hunger strikers. Will Poots be hung …

Read more…