Belfast Gonzo STUART Emmrish, editor of the Travel section of the New York Times, returns to find a very different Belfast from the one he remembers seeing in the late 80s. Apart from his disappointment at the empty city centre in the evening, he writes that “the “new” Belfast – the Belfast of outsized ambitions, and perhaps unrealistic expectations – clearly had far to go. But it had already come an awfully long way.”The Observer also takes a look at the changing …
SOME honest opinions on the underclass situation in Lisburn, Belfast, and, of course, Strabane, the third worst place to live in the UK, according to Channel 4.Remember to have a search on the Chavtown site to get an update on the spide situation in your neighbourhood. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
CELEBRITY rumour blog The Superficial reports Eminem’s publicist saying the rapper quit his European tour, which included Slane, because he’s addicted to sleeping tablets. Some wonderful put-downs on the site too: I’ve lost all respect for his misogyny and gay bashing now. Never again can I look at a woman or a homosexual and think “I hate you because Eminem told me to.” Now you know why Eminem ain’t playing Ireland. Allegedly. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
THE WILL to take on the UVF has been sapped from the top, writes Newton Emerson in yesterday’s Irish News. The UVF, which claims that its feud rival – the LVF – is riddled with informers who are protected by the State, would appear to have a similar issue with protected agents. Some of it is laughably obvious – the block on the publication of the coroner’s report into the murder of David McIlwaine on security grounds, as Emerson writes, …
THE former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mo Mowlam, has died. I doubt the she will ever be forgotten, for different reasons, and her unique style was something NI had never experienced before from someone in such a position – remember Mayhew? She was much beloved of many here, although unionists had many problems with her irreverence and perceived sympathy for Irish nationalism. Few will forget her; she got a standing ovation longer than the Prime Minister‘s at a …
A YEAR from today, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a front page with the headline ‘100% success for all A-Level students’. Perhaps it’s because the discredited exams are getting easier. Well aren’t they? Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
THE DUP is still coming under fire for not doing enough to combat sectarian attacks in the Ballymena area, and with a loyalist parade in Rasharkin tomorrow night, more trouble is expected from the knuckledraggers behind the violence. Concerned about future republican activity, the DUP is saying plenty about the imminent demise of the RIR and police station closures. Yet it has said comparatively little about those who present the biggest threat to both its unionist voters and Catholic constituents …
EMINEM has cancelled his appearance at Slane Castle, meaning disappointment for thousands of fans north and south. But fear not, as the far superior Alabama 3 (of Sopranos theme tune fame)are playing in Lisburn tomorrow night. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
AS Labour is in thrall to the large supermarkets, Lord Rooker’s arrogant and controversial decision to give the go-ahead to a John Lewis superstore at Sprucefield was perhaps unsurprising. Now it appears it may be coming back to haunt him already, as he announces the delay of planning policies until legal challenges to his decision have been dealt with. The NIO is reportedly split over the Minister’s decision, which – given that the new retailing policies were in the immediate …
A post-Patten PSNI officer has been pinned with of chanting pro-PIRA slogans at a staff party piss up, PA reports. The policeman is to appear before a disciplinary panel, and could face the possibility of severe penalties if found guilty. Paisley Minor is predictably perturbed.Alan Erwin wrote: A detective from the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Internal Investigation Branch has spent six months on the case. He was appointed to probe complaints made after staff at a PSNI station held …
ISRAEL is going through a painful, but essential, step at the moment, according to its leader Ariel Sharon. As Israel dismantles settlements built on Palestinian land seized in the Six-Day War in 1967 for the first time, troops have encountered hardline Jewish resistance to the Gaza pull-out, although the lack of extreme violence (at present) would seem to indicate that this is a last gasp act of defiance. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
THE use of plastic bullets in Northern Ireland has often been criticised by republicans (whose own ‘police’ prefer live rounds), but finding a ‘less lethal’ replacement to contain riots has proved difficult for the Government. In a story yesterday – which reads like a report about weapons experiments carried out by Q’s office in a Bond movie – we learn of the many failed attempts by State scientists to devise a crowd control weapon that doesn’t breach human rights legislation. …
ON the way to work this morning I saw a large police presence in Shaftesbury Square, not far from loyalist Sandy Row, which runs parallel to Belfast’s ‘Golden Mile’ of bars and restaurants. The news came later that another man had been murdered in the ongoing feud between the UVF and LVF. The police seem to be impotent, and most people seem to expect more bloodshed on the streets before this turf war ends. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
DID anyone see the British military watchtower (possibly being dismantled in Derry) that was ‘auctioned’ on eBay a day or two ago? It seems to be gone now, but had attracted a bid of just over a million pounds before eBay presumably took it off the site… Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
AS we await the fourth (and final?) act of IRA decommissioning, Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey has threatened to introduce sanctions – his party will refuse to co-operate with North-South bodies set up under the Agreement – if Northern Irish politicians are granted speaking rights in the Irish parliament, the Dail.Sir Reg said: “As you may recall when the deal with Sinn Fein was not completed last December, I said this was outside the terms of the Good Friday Agreement …
THE man you love to hate, Kevin Myers, gives us either a cynical or uncharitable view (depending on your own political outlook) of the IRA statement. Meanwhile, Tommy McKearney believes the IRA statement throws down many challenges to republicanism. Republican critic Anthony McIntyre believes little has actually changed, except that the IRA may now be used to quell republican dissent. On the other side of the fence, Eric Waugh believes there are many implications for republicanism if it is to …
IN Ballymena a group of young Presbyterians has carried out a “random act of kindness” and scrubbed unionist graffiti from two Catholic churches in the demographically-shifting town. The spate of recent unionist attacks on Catholic churches and property – and the threat of a resumed Harryville picket of the Church of Our Lady – was ostensibly in response to a proposal for the first ever republican parade in Ballymena – which the Parades Commission placed severe restrictions on yesterday. Belfast …
WHAT do you think of the front pages this morning? On days of such significance, newspapers often try that little bit harder to produce something memorable that catches the imagination. Mike Philpott takes a quick look at how the Press treated the IRA statement. Was the coverage good for you too? Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
BIT of a surprise at a pub quiz question last week in the Errigle. One of the questions asked was about a local website getting listed in Esquire’s top Fifty Best things in the media. The answer was, of course, here first, but it appeared in the Irish News shortly afterwards, the day of the quiz no less. And there were quite a few Irish News staff in the bar that night. Fix!I’m off for a week. Will pop in …
US Republican Congressman Peter King has been reported as saying that he had been told two large IRA arms caches would be destroyed later today, althugh he said he did not know where. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
