UUP’s link to PUP against rules…
THE UUP/PUP link is against the rules of the Assembly, Speaker Eileen Bell has ruled. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
Belfast Gonzo
Blair’s worth nothing any more in Northern Ireland…
THE St Andrew’s talks are a busted flush already. Who gives a **** what Tony Blair thinks any more, or his so-called ‘legacy’ over Norn Iron? One-up to the DUP? Well, we did warn about his diminishing influence… Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
Israelis snub Gerry…
LOOKS like Gerry won’t be going to Israel after all. Doubt if he’s bothered… Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
No shift on NIO rates policy…
FINANCE Minister David Hanson was adamant today that the only way rates will be capped is if the Assembly is restored and does it itself. He argues that it would only benefit around 3,000 householders, some of whom are undoubtedly well-off. Will others who are ‘asset rich’ but without an income to match – eg single or widowed pensioners living in a large property they have owned for decades, but which has grown in value because of the housing boom …
End to Royal Irish patrols…
THERE will be no more RIR patrols in Northern Ireland, marking the end of the controversial regiment’s service here – the longest deployment in the British Army’s history. However, non-Home Service troops are currently still in Afghanistan. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
Lindsay Mason: He did it his way…
NORTHERN Ireland’s most colourful independent politician, Robert Lindsay Mason, was buried today. Mason, an intelligent, affable and very talkative eccentric, was loved and loathed in equal measure, and I think that he will be missed in Larne Borough Council‘s chambers. He was someone who tried to keep politics honest – in his own inimitable style. “While he has been described as an itch that could not be scratched nobody disliked him and he will be missed,” said the DUP’s Bobby …
Agreement to be changed…
BEFORE the October talks begin, the Agreement will have been re-written, according to the News Letter. The paper says it “has learned that a Bill, making significant amendments to aspects of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (which enshrined the original peace deal in law), is being drafted. It will make changes to the Agreement with regard to the running of the Executive and Assembly, and the work of Stormont ministers on North-South bodies.”The article adds: ” The Government hopes to …
Oh God, please, not more ‘optics’…
ULSTER Unionists are supposed to feel right at home in a Big House, but I’m with Sir Reg (and Nigel Dodds) on the Government’s apparent ‘need’ to get away from Northern Ireland for negotiations in October. After all, the Agreement was worked out in Stormont and Castle Buildings, but the Leeds Castle talks were, largely, a failure in spite of the beautiful backdrop. The Government does this for different reasons, none of them particularly good.Sometimes a venue will be chosen …
GAWA: ‘Best football fans in Europe’…
THE IFA community relations chief Michael Boyd nominated Northern Ireland’s fans – the Green And White Army – for a Brussels International Supporters’ Award on the Our Wee Country website. Today, they, lifted the trophy. The transformation at Windsor Park isn’t going to please everyone, but the atmosphere at NI matches is, I would argue, not the ‘cold house for Catholics’ that it used to be. PS: there are still some tickets left for the Spain game, but you’ll have …
Voters say they want politicians to back mixed schools…
WHEN 1,000 people were asked if they would like to see their political representatives support integrated education, 80% replied ‘yes’, according to a new survey. And 59% said they’d be more likely to vote for a party or candidate that supported mixed schools. While the survey probably overstates the influence of the issue on elections (for many voters there’s still only one issue!), parental demand for integrated education outstrips provision by around 1,000 places each year. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
Hostages to fortune…
JUSTICE campaigner Raymond McCord has been told by the police that his life is under threat from the UVF (the second death threat from the UVF linked to McCord this month). McCord’s campaign has been strongly supported by Ulster Unionist MP Lady Sylvia Hermon, whose party, coincidentally, has the UVF’s political wing in its Assembly group. I’d love to know how she feels about this. The UUP was supposed to be in there stopping this kind of thing, yet neither …
Quick footie round-up…
JUST heard that the last Northern Ireland match against Finland had a 23% viewing figure (not sure if that’s the peak figure or not). A quarter of all NI viewers for an away game is pretty impressive. Meanwhile, Derry City are pondering where their big UEFA game is going to be, although NI’s ground seems unlikely to be the venue (although Steven Beacom remains optimistic). Candystripes chief exec Jim Roddy said: “You would have the issue of going to Windsor …
Correction…
MICK was good enough to forward me an email from academic Peter Shirlow, who took exception to a previous post which implied he’d carried out research suggesting growing segregation across Northern Ireland. Shirlow’s research argues that it’s only increasing in some places (eg Belfast interfaces). This is, as he wrote, “a very different thing”, and therefore means there’s not necessarily a conflict between Shirlow and other (earlier) research mentioned. Only too happy to provide the correction; full email copied below …
The Queen ousted from Ravenhill…
WHEN the Irish rugby team takes on Italy at Ravenhill next August, there will be no rendition of God Save The Queen, with the IRFU insisting on the neutral Ireland’s Call instead. The Union flag will be replaced with the IRFU flag as well. There’s been no complaint from the Ulster branch, but then rugby fans have always been an enlightened bunch(!) Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
A meaty issue…
FIRST I hear one supermarket chain is told it can’t advertise Monaghan beef as ‘local’, then a local wholesalers chucks out thousands of pounds of meat cos it has a little Irish tricolour on the packaging and some retailers returned it. Who would’ve guessed Irish meat was such a political hot potato? Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
Wanted: ‘Troubles’ hoarders…
THE ARK research project is currently cataloguing private collections of Trouble-related material on the internet, and is appealing for help from the public. If you have anything (political posters, for example) that might be of use to the project can click here for further details. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
Sinn Fein’s US supporters in the news…
FATHER Sean McManus of the Washington-based Irish National Caucus, police critic, and a powerful lobbyist for Sinn Fein in America, visited the PSNI’s (‘third world’) Garnerville police training college in east Belfast on Thursday. Wonder what he thought of its ‘appalling conditions‘, or about the resignation of its head, David Strudley, after less than a year – the fourth to quit in six years. Meanwhile, another friend of Sinn Fein in the US, Congressman Peter King, has backed racial profiling …
Presbyterian republicans on stage…
A FESTIVAL in Saintfield is celebrating the battle that took place there in the 1798 United Irishmen’s rebellion. This year, it is exploring the role of the Dissenters (mainly Presbyterians) in the uprising, and includes a play in Ulster-Scots. Vivien Hewitt, who wrote it, said: “Although fictional, the play is heavily based on the facts and community memories of those few June days in 1798 when the Ulster-Scots imagination caught fire and believed it would be possible to transform Ireland …
Time for some cool websites…
TIME magazine has listed its 50 coolest wesbites of 2006. So what’s missing, apart from Slugger, obviously? What are the coolest Northern Irish sites? Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
Nolan throws wobbly over weighty issue…
RADIO Ulster’s fatboy shock jock, Stephen Nolan, almost bust a blood vessel this morning after he was described in the Tele (not online) as ‘roly-poly’ and a ‘tubby talking machine’. This was in the context of a story reporting slagging off residents of an Antrim estate as ‘trailer trash’ and described Ardoyne as a ‘hell hole’. Laughing at yourself is never quite as easy as dishing it out others, even if it was ‘light-hearted banter’, eh Stephen? (I think he …