Belfast Gonzo

BREIDGE Gadd has picked up the theme we’re discussing here about the reluctance of Protestants to tell their story (subs req’d), although it’s more in the context of summer schools and the like, which Brian Feeney might appreciate. Gadd’s advice to Protestants is to “shake off some of the defensiveness and self-pity” and realise that critical analysts within the unionist community are not “disloyal”, but “have the best interests of unionism/Protestantism at heart”. Protestants must tell their own story Opinion …

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LOCAL snooker fans – and there are more than a few – wanting to keep up with the first ever world-ranking tournament here can watch action from the final 32 players in the Northern Ireland Trophy on British Eurosport and Eurosport 2. Disappointingly, neither the BBC nor UTV opted to buy the rights for terrestrial-only viewers. Nor is there much ‘local interest’ left, despite NI’s past achievements on the baize. Nevertheless, I’m hoping to get down the Waterfront during the …

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MICROSOFT, Google and Yahoo have been criticised by MPs for ‘collaborating’ with state censorship of the web in China. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

WHEN a film maker appealed to Protestants and unionists who fled Derry/Londonderry city due to violence and inimidation to tell their stories in his documentary, the response from exiles was disappointing. Unionists believe this is a story worth telling, but if reluctance to do so continues, it will diminish the unionist argument that no-one ever gives them a chance to explain their side of things. While there’s something in the unionist psyche about not airing problems and feelings in public, …

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AFTER receiving a loyalist death threat, Ballymena’s only Sinn Fein councillor says she took comfort from the DUP’s condemnation of it. While Monica Digney couldn’t resist having a wee dig at the SDLP for (disgracefully) not doing the same, fair play to Maurice Mills for making his condemnation public. Aside from being the decent thing to do, his credibilty with hardliners in the town may even reduce the level of threat to his political opponent. Let’s hope the DUP stay …

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SITTING in a Belfast cafe earlier reading the papers, a couple of stories on the terror alert referred back to the case of Abbas Boutrab, described in as a terrorist with Al Qaida links. The Newtownabbey resident was jailed for six years after being convicted of downloading instructions on how to blow up a plane with home-made liquid explosives. The FBI recreated a viable bomb using his instructions, which he had downloaded in Belfast’s central library, just across the road …

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A FORMER mole inside the IRA explains why he’s fighting a new war against his old employers, the Government. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

ABOUT 75 jobs are to go after News Letter owner Johnston Press announced it would be closing three of its presses in Northern Ireland. As the company also owns Morton Newspapers now, it seems fairly likely that the News Letter will be printed at Morton’s modern presses in Carn Industrial Estate, just outside Portadown. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

“THE announcement by Sinn Féin of a new position within the party to address the unionist question must be seen as a welcome one, and one hopefully that will bear fruit for all concerned with building peace,” wrote the Daily Ireland editor today. “[Former republican prisoner] Martina Anderson will have her work cut out, but it can only be hoped that logic will prevail and unionists will accept that this is a genuine attempt to communicate and address their concerns …

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IT might be the sixth cheapest place in the UK to go to university, but more students hold part-time jobs in Belfast than any other part of the UK. What with all the intensive studying no doubt going on, sightings of traffic cones on car roofs are becoming increasingly rare on University Street… Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

MORE and more married couples in Northern Ireland are getting divorced. Women are twice as likely to file for divorce as men, with unfaithfulness and unreasonable behaviour the main causes. If there’s any consolation from all this, maybe it’s the implication from the statistics that women are less likely now than in the past to endure years of physical or mental abuse. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

MURDERING rapist Trevor Hamilton has become the first convict in Northern Ireland to be told he will never be released from prison. Some comfort, perhaps, to the heartbroken Harron family, who conducted themselves with dignity throughout their ordeal. They were badly let down by serious failures in the system to monitor a devious and sexually violent man released into the community half-way through a sentence for rape, known to be likely to re-offend and an obvious danger to women. The …

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THE UDA feud appears to be over. After the flight of Shoukri supporter Alan McClean to England last night, the remnants of the north Belfast ‘dissidents’ were accepted back by the ‘inner council’. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

GEORGE Cross recipient Lieutenant-Colonel George Styles has died. He was probably best known for his work disabling IRA bombs during the Troubles, pioneering techniques that are still around today. A man, I’m sure even his opponents would agree, who had more balls than most. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

THE debate over restorative justice continued yesterday with two attacks on CRJ Ireland. Alternatives, the loyalist equivalent of CRJ, blames the Government for allowing CRJ to hold up funding for other schemes until Sinn Fein accepts policing. In the Irish News, Dominic Bradley reflects SDLP concerns over CRJ’s willingness to work within the structures of the law. Bradley’s letter is copied below the fold.If CRJ isn’t good enough for Tony Blair’s constituents it’s not good enough for you and me …

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ABOUT 200 people – mostly women and children – told the mainstream UDA leadership that its “interim leadership” in north Belfast is “nat wanted” in Ballysillan leisure centre tonight. This discussion, ostensibly to prevent an internal feud, seemed more motivated about getting a local leadership the local loyalists are happy with (rather than the team imposed by Jackie McDonald) and preservation of the local UDA men, rather than having the malign influence of terrorists removed altogether. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

WHAT do farming and terrorism have in common? Fertiliser, of course! And now farmers are being warned to lock up their ammonium nitrate supplies, in case Islamic extremists try to emulate the techniques Irish republicans used in the Docklands in 1996, Omagh in 1998 or mainland Britain in 2001. Check out the new Government website here. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

HOW long before unionists adopt the language of Brian Feeney and refer to the Secretary of State as ‘proconsul’? The News Letter comes close with its description of Peter Hain as “ruling this part of the United Kingdom like a colonial-style British viceroy”, after the cost of his various jaunts to sporting events was revealed. Hain told his critics to get a life, which I’m sure will endear him to them further. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

THE Government intends to close a loophole that still allows some discrimination against gay people, and plans more funding for gay support groups. Meanwhile, a new survery suggests we’re becoming more accepting of the gay community in Northern Ireland. Something to celebrate at the Gay Pride Parade next Saturday? Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

WHILE the media focus on recent legislation was on foreign political funding, the Tele analyses how the Government has decided that parties in Northern Ireland will continue to receive donations anonymously for years to come. There’s good reason; a genuine-if-diminishing fear that donors will be intimidated. However, what is perfectly legal here is prone to what the rest of the UK and Ireland calls “corruption” – and voters here will never even know about it. For example, the DUP and …

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