Belfast Gonzo TODAY on Talkback, one of the topics was the movement of farmers from Northern Ireland to Scotland. Popular areas seem to be Dumfries & Galloway and Lanarkshire, with farmland in places around Stranraer, for example, attracting massive interest from easterly-mobile agricultural Ulstermen. ‘Protestant flight’ to the old homeland… or canny business sense in a difficult economic climate for beef farming? Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
DUP MEP Jim Allister has said the “big question hanging over [European] Peace funding is whether it is “distributed on an equitable basis to the two communities”. The Special European Union Programmes Body says it is, and PricewaterhouseCoopers have apparently concluded in their earlier report that Protestant applications and deprived areas were the most successful when it came to getting funding.Not much has been said about the PWC report on the distribution of PEACE II funding, as it wasn’t published …
THIS is maybe one for pub quiz fans, but there’s something about skyscrapers that captures the imagination, and there’s a certain ‘wow’ factor about a really big city’s skyline, even if they are pretty anonymous close-up. Anyway, you might be surprised to find out that the architect behind the proposed Titanic Quarter in Belfast is also behind plans to build the world’s tallest building (and it will be TALL) and has already designed the biggest shopping centre in Europe. UPDATE: …
ORANGEMAN David McNarry – who wants the Parades Commission abolished – went ballistic and stormed out of a BBC studio last Sunday when it was suggested that he had previously applied to be a member (not Chair, as I indicated in the first post). Since then, however, Mr McNarry has NOT denied that he applied for the position of Chair of the Parades Commission. So did the Parades Commission’s arch-critic once want the top job in the quango, or not? …
ATLANTIC Philanthropies, the American group headed by multi-millionaire Sinn Fein sympathiser Chuck Feeny and which funds restoratice justice schemes in Northern Ireland, has pulled the plug on money for the Centre for Public Inquiry. The CPI is headed by Frank Connolly, the brother of Niall Connolly, one of the Colombia 3 who is wanted by the government there for his alleged role in training FARC guerillas there with an IRA team. The decision comes just after the Irish Justice Minister …
WITH great fanfare, the UUP has launched it’s Let’s Get Real campaign on bread and butter issues. To get things going, party leader Sir Reg Empey has called for free personal care for the elderly. He seems to have forgotten that when he was in the Assembly, Sir Reg actually voted against free personal care for the elderly. It’s not for me to decide if that’s hypocritical, but it’s definitely another spectacular UUP own goal. Nice website though. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
ONE of today’s talking points was this Sunday Times article by Bryan Appleyard, bitterly criticising how Northern Ireland reacted to George Best’s death. Already Norn Iron supporters are talking of a boycott of the Sunday Times, and its owners might be having flashbacks about the Sun’s sales in Liverpool after it demonised the local team’s fans after the Hillsborough disaster (later leading to a grovelling apology after the paper lost millions in sales and advertising). Appleyard has a valid point …
AS Mick and Pete noted below (great link BTW), there are dangers with an uncontrolled information resource like Wiki. But it has it’s upside as well, as I discovered thanks to a reader – who appears to have found a valuable resource for Belfast citizens (like me!)After complaining that I couldn’t find out why there were posters on the hoarding outside the Opera House at the moment – the Council had covered them up before, for some reason – Beowulf …
CHUCK Feeny‘s bankrolling of some community restorative justice schemes that refuse to co-operate with the police is expected to run out in the spring. However, Government draft guidelines to be published today will propose making future State funding for these schemes dependent upon police supervision and sharing information with the police. The ‘guidelines’, even when finalised, can be ignored by CRJ… but at a price. The Sunday Times has predicted some of the Government proposals: An independent body, with police …
THE Secretary of State has finally succeeded in uniting the police and Sinn Fein on a single issue – opposition to his amnesty for members of the security forces suspected of terrorist acts or co-operation with loyalist paramilitaries during the Troubles. Gerry Adams believes those police and soldiers guilty of state killings or collusion… must be held to account, while the Superintendents’ Association of Northern Ireland opposes “equivalence” between “terrorist suspects who have fled justice” and “serving/former police officers, or …
BBC Radio Ulster’s Seven Days doesn’t appear to be online, but you can take my word for it that there was a blazing row on it yesterday, resulting in Ulster Unionist politician David McNarry walking out of the studio.McNarry’s premature exit from Broadcasting House was prompted by a debate over the Orangeman David Burrows appointment (not election, as McNarry rightly pointed out) to the Parades Commission – a quango McNarry wants abolished. But in the course of the discussion, a …
FORMER Northern Ireland police chief Sir Ronnie Flanagan gained a lot of experience policing a divided society while in charge of a transforming public service. Now he’s going to share that valuable knowledge with the new Iraqi police force, though republicans will no doubt question the ex-Special Branch leader’s ability to weed out terrorist sympathisers – a major part of the task facing him in Basra.The Guardian reported: [Defence Secretary] John Reid, acknowledged that there was a “problem” with the …
AS Mick noted, flickr has some great pics on it, and as I was idly clicking ‘refresh’ on the home page to look for new pics, I spotted this one. Nothing unusual about posters advertising a Christmas pantomime, but they wouldn’t have allowed a few weeks ago.Not so long ago, there was an anti-fly postering drive and Belfast City Council covered over all the Opera House posters on the hoarding near it, but they’ve all been replaced with these new …
SINN Fein MLA Francis Brolly has been arrested by the PSNI for questioning about the IRA bombing of Claudy in 1972, which claimed nine lives. The Claudy case will be one to watch, as there were major suspicions of a cover-up afterwards. While the politician’s arrest yesterday confirms nothing, there are unanswered questions about the involvement of Father James Chesney, Martin McGuinness’s position in the IRA at the time, and the secretive meeting between the Secretary of State and the …
THE Prime Minister has promised the relatives of the Omagh bomb victims that those responsible for the atrocity will not be given an amnesty. However, if the bombing had happened about four months earlier Blair wouldn’t have been able to give that assurance – and those behind the worst single slaughter of the Troubles wouldn’t be facing a day in jail, even if caught… Kinda makes you think. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
IT’S not just Greenpeace that’s unhappy with Tony Blair’s enthusiasm for nuclear power – there were rumblings of discontent in Ireland today too. Blair argues that its not as bad for the environment as fossil fuels, and perhaps Ireland isn’t in much of a position to preach… Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
ON the other side of the debate over the free return of paramilitary fugitives to Ireland, Gerry Adams – partially – opens the door to those exiled by the IRA. While Adams says the IRA as an organisation poses no threat to people on the run from them, does that mean no threat exists at all? Now that the IRA has been ordered to cease its activity, Adams can more plausibly argue that it is not/no longer in his gift …
NORTHERN Ireland has been trying to figure out how best to remember east Belfast footballing legend George Best. Some suggestions I’ve read so far have included renaming the City Airport after him, naming the forthcoming Maze stadium after him, erecting a statue at Belfast City Hall (though Old Trafford has also been mentioned), a George Best youth football school or scholarship, a tribute game (an all-Ireland team vs Man Utd has been mentioned!), an exhibition centre, a street or road …
SINN Fein sees dirty tricks emerging in the south, after Ireland on Sunday published (offline, hence this link) the contents of a leaked confidential Garda file linking Sinn Fein TD and former IRA Army Council member Martin Ferris to the beating of a small-time drug courier. Despite the report detailing an apparent abundance of evidence, Ferris was never prosecuted, prompting accusations that this was because of Ferris’ role in the peace talks at a sensitive time. Ferris argues he was …
WESTMINSTER wasn’t the only parliament discussing the thorny issue of how to allow suspected on-the-run terrorists home. There was an interesting exchange in the Dail, in which Taoiseach Bertie Ahern revealed plans for dealing with IRA fugitives south of the border – through a presidential pardon. Reading between the lines, it’s not hard to see why; it may be the only legal way of keeping the ‘get out of jail free’ card away from the suspected killers of Garda McCabe …
