Belfast Gonzo IN America, the family of a dead IRA gunrunner are suing the FBI because of an agent’s alleged involvement in the killing of John McIntyre, who was suspected of informing on the IRA’s Marita Ann arms shipment in 1984. Corrupt handlers, dead informers and state protection… sounds familiar! Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
MEN from Northern Ireland are the most stressed out in the UK – and more inclined to hit the bottle as a result, it’s reported today. Women, apparently, have better coping strategies… Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
ANYONE local and neutral looking for any tenuous link for a team to support in the World Cup might consider Australia. Blackburn Rovers’ defender Lucas Neill could have played for Norn Irn, but threw his hat in with the Socceroos. Rank outsiders, but at least they’re there, unlike us… and aren’t England(!). Oh, and the Aussies all have Irish great-grannies, are party animals and Maureen Coleman reckons he’s one the ladies might want to watch… what more reason do you …
IN a remarkable show of tolerance, Frankfurt’s police chief announced that England fans wouldn’t face police action for singing songs about World War 2. While he was saying this, about 100 yards away, fans were singing: “No surrender to the IRA”. On the other hand, I remember spotting ‘IRA’ graffiti in Koeln/Cologne when I used to visit. Funny old world. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
ALMOST 10 years after the IRA blew up the centre of Manchester in a huge lorry bomb, the city’s police have released previously-unseen images of the explosion, which you can watch here. Manchester Police say there is no realistic possibility of the bombers ever being prosecuted – a fact of life we’re well used to on this side of the Irish Sea. It’s likely the bombing was carried out by Tom ‘Slab’ Murphy’s South Armagh brigade, which was less heavily …
LORD Trimble of Lisnagarvey – a townland name which apparently translates as Fort of the Gamblers – has taken his seat in the House of Lords this afternoon. Not to be outdone, the DUP have three lords a-leaping – the party’s first ever. Ian Paisley’s wife Eileen is expected to be known as Baroness Paisley of St George’s after the ward which elected her to Belfast City Council in 1967. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
GOALKEEPING legend Gordon Banks is best known for saving an amazing header by Pele in 1970, but his greatest ever save may have been stopping a young Don Mullan from joining the IRA after Bloody Sunday. A book by Mullan would later pave the way for the Bloody Sunday Inquiry. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
AFTER a man was shot by an electric stun gun (also known a taser) recently in Belfast, a PSNI spokeswoman said: “The victim remains shocked by his experience”. Nice. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
CANNES’ Palme D’Or winner Ken Loach has been accused of having an anti-British agenda, after critics claimed his film ‘The Wind That Shakes The Barley’ was the “most pro-IRA film ever” and is “designed to drag the reputation of our nation through the mud”. In the Daily Mail, Ruth Dudley Edwards writes that Loach’s purpose is to “encourage direct comparisons between the Ireland of 1920-22 and present-day Iraq”. “This, of course, requires the portrayal of the British as sadists and …
THE top loyalist shot in north Belfast is said to be Mark Haddock, the alleged UVF commander and Special Branch agent. Haddock, who faces an attempted murder charge, was bailed last week. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
KEN Barrett, the man convicted of murdering solicitor Pat Finucane, has been released today after serving less than three years of a life sentence. Finucane’s murder was one of the most significant of the entire Troubles, leading to accusations that the State had colluded with loyalist terrorists. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
THE debate over who should have control over ‘national security’ in Northern Ireland has produced a couple of odd bedfellows in the SDLP and Tories…The Conservatives look to the report by the Intelligence and Security Committee (chaired by former NI Secretary of State Paul Murphy), which, in a nutshell, said that “if MI5 had had more resources for countering international terrorism it might have thwarted the July 7 bombers”. The Tories see the Al Qaeda threat in Great Britain as …
IT’S Friday, so I thought I’d share one of those emails that does the rounds… It starts: “One of the British national daily newspapers is asking readers “what it means to be British?” Some of the emails are hilarious, the first one is from a chap in Switzerland… Being British is about driving in a German car to an Irish pub for a Belgian beer, then travelling home, grabbing an Indian curry or a Turkish kebab on the way, to …
THE DUP has accused East Belfast Ulster Unionist Michael Copeland of attempting to “bribe” the father of a UVF murder victim with “the use of an office if he would keep quiet and not criticise the decision” of the UUP to link up with the PUP in the Assembly. Jeffrey Donaldson also claimed that PUP leader David Ervine was the third person approached by the UUP to join its Assembly group. UPDATE: Slugger has interviewed Mr McCord for his version …
SLUGGER editor Mick Fealty interprets some of our online debate over recent revelations on security force/ loyalist collusion in today’s Irish News. Non-subscribers can read the whole article below (hope the IN doesn’t mind too much!) and it’s interesting to note Stephen McCaffrey’s point on who carried reports on the Irish News’s excellent coverage – a significant story worthy of follow-up – and who only paid it no more than lip service. On the issue of collusion coverage, Patricia McKenna …
AFTER a decade of mixed fortunes, the Women’s Coalition finally throws in the towel and disbands. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
ALLEGED UVF leader/Special Branch informer Mark Haddock has failed today to have a charge of attempted murder dropped. A case worth watching. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
THE brutal murder of Michael McIlveen has sparked outrage in Ballymena, but there was controversy on Talkback today in a discussion of Daily Ireland’s front page which reported a local DUP councillor as saying: “As a Catholic, he [Michael McIlveen] won’t get into heaven. Catholics are not accepted into heaven”. One reason is because the full quote is not carried on the front page. The councillor quoted is Roy Gillespie, a Protestant hardliner with few media skills. But even Gillespie, …
MARY Jordan of the Washington Post seems to suggest there’s still hope of Protestants following Paisley into an executive with Sinn Fein. From Ballymena, she quotes the Doc: “We have said no, and we have no apologies. We have also said yes to very many things.” Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
AS mentioned elsewhere, something rather unusual is happening over at bebo.com, which (after 2 mins of skimming) appears to be a website for children from different schools to have a web presence and contact others. This is tricky territory, but as a phenomenon it’s worth recording; some children from Ballymena are openly accusing other teenagers of involvement in the tragic murder of Michael McIlveen, 15, who died a few hours ago. There are also a number of emotional threats, and …
