Brian Walker In my earlier post about sporting loyalties, my comment has attracted attention: My definition of an NI liberal incidentally is someone who wants the Republic (when it is the Republic only) to come in second and even sometimes first. An NI bigot is one who wants the Republic to come in last. I’ve just remembered the most memorable comment ever on the subject, from sports lover Eamon McCann – ideologically consistent, but just a wee bit unexpected. It was on …
Dramatic evidence of Britain’s rapidly ageing population emerged yesterday as figures showed that the number of pensioners now exceeds those under 16 for the first time. The landmark demographic shift promises a future of pension shortfalls, a greater burden on the NHS and steadily increasing retirement ages. The research, from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), was held up as proof of Britain’s failure to prepare for an era when the over-80s represent the fastest-growing section of the population. The …
Sutherland loses out to DeGale in semi-final Who’s side were you on early this morning? Did you care? Do you despise fighting sectarian battles through the innocent medium of the boxing ring and the athletics track? I care passionately for about ten minutes, welcome Ireland’s scrap of salvaged pride and dash to the Olympics table to see if “Great Britain and Northern Ireland” can cling on to third place. By next week I’ll have forgotten about that too. My definition …
A reminder that frontiers at the heart of Europe can be changed, even after 178 years. “Belgium is “a country on the edge of the abyss” “Is there anything more holding Belgium together than “the king, the football team and certain beers” Georgia at one end, Belgium perhaps at the other. Who’s next? Brian WalkerFormer BBC journalist and manager in Belfast, Manchester and London, Editor Spolight; Political Editor BBC NI; Current Affairs Commissioning editor BBC Radio 4; Editor Political and …
Here’s a heart-warmer for some fellow Sluggerities, though from the Guardian again, I’m afraid. Secular philosopher AC Grayling has a lot of fun, speculating on the impact of declared atheist David Miliband as Prime Minister. quotes: “Atheist leaders will not be tempted to think they are the messenger of any good news from above, or the agent of any higher purpose on earth. Or at very least, they will not think this literally”. “Atheist leaders are going to be more …
From an official report leaked to the Guardian, it’s good to see that MI5 have caught up with established thinking that knocks the stereotypes of terrorism. Extracts: “…in the past radical clerics featured …but their influence has moved into the background.” “Suicide bombing is not just a religious phenomenon. It is employed by many secular organisations, including the Kurdish PKK and the Marxist Tamil Tigers..” “Ariel Merari, a Tel Aviv University psychologist, has profiled 50 suicide bombers and found that …
I’m using my privileges to start a new thread on the subject of RIR parades rather than come in at comment 47. page 2. Earlier in wrote in comment: “It is extremely difficult for the nationalist tradition to separate out what I might call peacetime Britishness from unionist triumphalism, just as many unionists find it difficult to separate Irish patriotism from at least implied support for the IRA. I know this sounds piously balanced but I believe it to be …
A confidential email sent by the DUP to me and several thousand others appeals to the majority on Belfast City Council to host a homecoming parade for the Royal Irish regiment after a service in St Anne’s Cathedral. “Councillor Robin Newton the DUP group leader, said that on Friday morning the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee will discuss the provision of hospitality for members of the armed forces following a Homecoming Parade to St Anne’s Cathedral. “I hope that all …
I see Lord Alderdice, the former Assembly Speaker Alliance leader and psychiatrist is turning over his familiar theme of the links between fundamentalism and terrorism in Trinity College today. As fas as I can see, opinion divides, not so much on the straight links but on how we look at it. Do we objectivise it as “terrorism,”as problems to solve ; or hold them, “terrorists,” morally responsible as people and treat them accordingly? viz, Alderdice: “”Fundamentalism emerges in particular political …
In the interest of fairness I simply have share this. I can’t help myself. Brian WalkerFormer BBC journalist and manager in Belfast, Manchester and London, Editor Spolight; Political Editor BBC NI; Current Affairs Commissioning editor BBC Radio 4; Editor Political and Parliamentary Programmes, BBC Westminster; former London Editor Belfast Telegraph. Hon Senior Research Fellow, The Constitution Unit, Univ Coll. London
Note the bold outflanking move by boyish shadow chancellor George Osborne in the Guardian today. parking his tank on Gordon Brown’s lawn in advance of the beleaguered Prime Minister’s fightback expected from next week. Quote “We have discovered that state attempts to guarantee fairness through monopoly provision by monolithic public services turns out to be as unfair as previous ideas of 98% tax rates and forced equality of outcome. So if monopoly state provision is not the answer, what is? …
Despite the fact that team Slugger aren’t always the Pope’s greatest fan, the pontiff should surely be praised for what was in papal language, a forthright denunciation of the racism now emerging from the government of Silvio Berlusconi. In spite of denials from the Italian political and media boss’s camp, media coverage confirms that he didn’t miss and hit the wall. Whatever intellectual strait jacket he may otherwise be wearing, Benedict’s stance on a scourge that threatens to destabilise the …
OK, if you drink coffee you read books. Costa coffee think so otherwise they wouldn’t be bothered to run a poll of Britain’s’
First you see him “McLeish tipped for Glenrothes by-election” Then you don’t McLeish out of by-election race. Fancy resurrecting one former Labour leader who resigned over expenses, just after defenestrating the last one. What bait for Salmond. It just shows the depth of Labour’s despair. Brian WalkerFormer BBC journalist and manager in Belfast, Manchester and London, Editor Spolight; Political Editor BBC NI; Current Affairs Commissioning editor BBC Radio 4; Editor Political and Parliamentary Programmes, BBC Westminster; former London Editor Belfast …
ADDS Kenneth Egan makes it to the light heavyweight quarter finals. Michael, glad to include this to dispel a little more gloom but I’m not equipped for a running commentary – unless one of us as Team GB or Ireland or hell whatever, strikes more precious metal. OLYMPICS UPDATE. Just to dispel a little of the two speed Olympics gloom, it’s a Bronze at least for Belfast’s and Ireland’s Paddy Barnes!, But the way to Gold aint no picnic. “The …
So the pastors are still in the saddle. Are reports of the eclipse of the religious right in this Presidential campaign premature? The prequel to the Obama-McCain main bout has just been held in a “Megachurch forum” in Saddleback Church California, moderated by the pastor no less, Rick Warren. The BBC’s Justin Webb appears to deplore this but EJ Dionne jnr of the Washington Post invites us to think again. Quote: “The notion that Christianity in general and evangelicalism in …
The speed of change in media consumption amazes me almost as much as how some things remain the same. Guardian media identifies a “new generation” of affluent American “netnewsers” who are transforming media habits ( with a little help from marketing depts perhaps). “The biennial Pew Research Center report on changing news audiences describes 13% of the US public as “net newsers” – affluent, youngish web users under 35 who read more political blogs than watch national news coverage, rely …
A pretty sight for Slugger, don’t you think? I’d just got used to seeing “Glenarm salmon” proudly displayed at the chic London chain of fish shops Fishworks, when the monsters struck. The Independent reports: “The growing threat from swarms of jellyfish around Britain’s coast is to be investigated for the first time by British and Irish scientists. Using the latest technology, researchers are planning to tag jellyfish to explore their life cycles and movement in a project known as Ecojel. …
Brace yourself for some necessary staring into the entrails of economic forecasting for “these islands,” the smaller island in particular. “Shoot the doves” is the FT’s message to those who hanker after a relatively quick return to faster growth; inflation is the deadly enemy, with the latest reports forecasting the UK teetering on the brink of recession and prospects for next year “dimming.” Households are £700 a year worse off, with rising food and fuel bills, according to the latest …
The only open gay in the village no longer. Nothing expresses the turn-round in public acceptance of gays better than the news that MI5 – including presumably its Holywood Co Down branch – is asking for Stonewall’s help in recruiting gays, in order ” better to represent all sections of society”.From the austere Financial Times, to the nowadays less socially conservative Daily Telegraph (which can’t resist the tongue in cheek ref to Matt Lucas’s character Daffydd), and even to the …
