Belfast Gonzo ALLEGED Superdollar conspirator, FBI fugitive and Irish Workers Party President Sean Garland made a bizarre appearance at an Irish Labour Party conference at the weekend. Perhaps his weird way of trying to distract from the fact that the three men who put up £9,000 each to bail him have had to forfeit the lot after Sean went south of the border? I bet the court clerk is just warming up his counterfeit detector right now… Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
THE UDA and UVF are, according to reports, slowly shifting away from crime and paramilitarism. We’ll believe it when we see it, and that will take time to evaluate, but news that one of the most fascistic factions of loyalism – the UFF – is going first, is welcome. The carrot appears to have been British ‘investment’ in loyalist communities, and the stick appears to have been the crackdown on illegal loyalist assets by law enforcement agencies, such as the …
IT’S one year on since the savage murder of Robert McCartney, and as his sisters prepare for a morning press conference, new appeals are being issued – to everyone from a British spy in Sinn Fein, to the revving driver of a blue car who has yet to come forward. Yet, McCartney’s sisters still firmly believe there is much more that Sinn Fein could do much more to help their fight for justice. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
CAMPAIGNERS have two days to raise the £175,000 needed to buy the Nomadic – the Belfast-built Titanic ferry – at auction and save her from the scrapyard. With plans to reinvigorate the Titanic Quarter well-advanced, it looks like the last ditch efforts to save the last floating link with the legendary ship could sink without trace. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
BLUE Peter presenter Zoe Salmon was savaged by Kate Figes in the Guardian recently in the latest controversy to surround the Bangor beauty. And once again, the criticism has provoked considerable reaction. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
…you have greater human rights protections in post-Agreement Northern Ireland than you do in the Irish Republic, even though the Irish Government was a signatory of the same Agreement. So says Colm O’Cinneide of UCD in this report for the northern Equality Commission and southern Equality Authority. If he’s right, then that puts the Irish Government in breach of the Agreement, doesn’t it? Expect more histrionics from Leaping Lord Laird, but how will the southern electorate regard proposals for ‘civic …
THE conflict in the Middle East has often been compared with our own, and today, Palestinians go to the polls for the first time in a decade. The hardline group Hamas is fielding candidates for the first time, and it is expected to do well against its rivals in Fatah. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
AFTER Eric Waugh voiced regret and suspicions over the INLA assassination of Tory intelligence supremo Airey Neave, the former political adviser to the Thatcher cabinet member disputed his theory in the Belfast Telegraph.Waugh drew parallels between Neave’s “one or more regional councils”, which the MP believed would better integrate Northern Ireland into the UK, and the outcome of the recent Review of Public Administration some 25 years later. But Neave’s old adviser doesn’t see the comparison, arguing “they will carve …
ED Moloney bumps into an old friend while giving an interview (downloadable in mp3 format here) to Democracy Now in America, in which he charts the movement of mainstream republicanism from an armed to an increasingly democratic position. Meanwhile, this left-wing analysis of the NI political situation post-Donaldson raises questions about how the mainstream republican movement (was) shifted.While Moloney pays tribute to the SF leadership in many respects, he argues that its authority should be measured on the basis of …
A NEW report suggests that young people in Northern Ireland are disillusioned by politics. Having said that, both the DUP and Sinn Fein appear to have attracted growing numbers of younger members in the recent past.PA reported: Even though nearly half of them [young people questioned in Northern Ireland] believed issues such as health and education were relevant in their lives, many were disengaged from mainstream politics. A study into the attitudes of 16 to 24 year-olds by the Institute …
FROM ‘modular devolution’ through to ‘civic administration’, there are now a variety of options on the political table to mull over. As we await the publication of the DUP’s proposals, Mark Devenport takes a look at what’s on offer. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
THE SDLP is really going for Sinn Fein’s jugular at the moment. Before Durkan suggested that something “short of suspension and direct rule” might be possible, Eamon O’Neill had the temerity to suggest that Sinn Fein in South Down were still adhering to an agenda laid out to them by a British spy, Denis Donaldson. Local SF representative Caitriona Ruane has come out fighting. She has to; she was parachuted into the constituency by Denis. Even the SWP are having …
RTE and others report that British troop levels in Northern Ireland are about to drop to their lowest level in 30 years. The departure of the Royal Welch Fusiliers from south Armagh before the end of the week will see troop levels fall below 9,000, lower than at any time since the beginning of the 1970s. Not enough for some yet. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
MICK’S been getting excited about podcasting lately, and it’s given my Sony PSP a new lease of life, so I was delighted to see the BBC have launched a new video archive. There are only a few clips for downloading right now, but Northern Ireland is featured on a few already. Direct links to the clips are in the extended text, for the lazy amongst you.Reaction to Good Friday Agreement Good Friday Referendum results Clinton visits Northern Ireland What do …
HERE’S the situation, one we’ve started exploring below, but just to spell it out… The Security Minister says the IRA isn’t involved in criminal activity. The police’s most senior detective says it is. The IMC will have the final say in a few days time. They all, presumably, are receiving the same intelligence, so it’s all in the interpretation. Does anyone get the feeling we’re about to have a big debate over the difference – if you see one – …
THE DUP is to confront the Attorney General over the three-year delay to extradite US citizen Larry Zaitschek, who was suspected of involvement in the Castlereagh break-in and raid of Special Branch files. The former chef recently denied any wrongdoing in an extensive interview with Jim Dee. Zaitschek, who knew Denis Donaldson from his US visits, also denies that the spy or anyone else involved him in the break-in. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
THE Beeb reports the DUP’s Nigel Dodds saying it would be “ludicrous” if people thought Sinn Fein could have ministers in a devolved administration, but not support the security forces. On the face of it, it looks like another one of those pretend ‘who’ll blink first’ debates is under way; the DUP want SF to sign up to policing before entering an executive. Sinn Fein appear to want the reverse. However, the positions are not mutually exclusive, so we’re not …
JUST as they seemed to be making some headway, the SDLP appear confused. Durkan says the DUP’s proposed “two-stage process isn’t open” and the SDLP will apparently not consider any measures short of giving the Northern Ireland Assembly back its full powers. Yet: “If parties aren’t willing to form an inclusive executive, we then have to look at what other options there are short of suspension and direct rule again. But parties are only going to get real about how …
AS we await the IMC’s next report on paramilitary activity, Brian Rowan points to an IRA in transition. The recently retired veteran BBC journalist, whose most recent book pointed towards an inevitable future deal between the DUP and Sinn Fein, writes that the IRA “is waiting for political progress and for the proof that there is a viable alternative to its “armed struggle”.” Rowan writes: The men of the Independent Monitoring Commission have been in Belfast this week as part …
CAITRIONA Ruane, Sinn Fein’s ‘human rights’ spokesperson, has been giving off about South Down MP Eddie McGrady not attending Parliament often enough. Maybe Caitriona wants into the House of Commons more badly than her recent poor performance in the last general election would indicate, dirty tricks campaign or not. Or could it be that Caitriona’s bid for the South Down seat was actually designed to fail? The Down Democrat reports that Sinn Fein activists are re-evaluating Ruane the Replacement Republican, …
