Chris Donnelly

And so, to the latest incident of the false rage contagion, which spread to Donegal yesterday, where a group of protestant youths stormed out of a cross-community gathering because of the fact that Sinn Fein MLA Martina Anderson had been asked to speak. Whilst Turgon’s thread contained the Newsletter version of the story- complete with false allegations of an IRA speech- the truth would appear to be a lot simpler than that and considerably less comfortable for the loyalist protestors involved. …

Read more…

The False Rage noted in an earlier post was on display again tonight as loyalists gathered to chant their tribal slogans, don their flags and sing God Save The Queen whilst engaging in the sectarian action of attacking cars believed to be carrying Sinn Fein representatives into and from the City Hall. Having rubbed the bottle hard to ensure this genie escaped, it will be interesting to find out if our purportedly more assertive media tackle unionist councillors on whether or not …

Read more…

Thanks to Pete Baker for posting a thread on Alex Kane’s reply to my Slugger post in his Newsletter column as, without it, I’d have remained blissfully unaware of the existence of the piece. Alex’s article is most welcome, not least because he further elaborates upon his rather contorted vision of a catholic-friendly but Irish nationalist-hostile unionism, therefore presenting me with a second opportunity to expose the utterly delusional nature of his thinking. Alex conveniently ignores the critical failing of …

Read more…

  Below are the words of Lord Morrow of the DUP made during an Assembly debate:  We hear constantly of police officers retiring, picking up their redundancy package and, in a very short time, being back in the policing service. Were there not a large pool of young graduates and ably qualified officers ready to take up those posts, that might be all right. That is another challenge for the Minister. He should take a long, hard, serious look at police officers who retire and …

Read more…

The draw for Euro 2012 has been made and Irish football fans are looking forward to some tough encounters with European and World Cup champions Spain, Italy and Croatia. The Republic of Ireland’s most recent tournament experience was ended by a crushing penalty shoot-out defeat at the hands of the Spaniards, whilst Ireland’s contest with Italy will mark the third encounter at tournament level between the two countries (Toto Schillaci and the legendary Ray Houghton scored the respective winning goals in the 1990 …

Read more…

It has been intriguing to watch the outplaying of what is clearly an orchestrated unionist political strategy in Belfast Council over the Duke of Edinburgh award ceremony saga. False rage that has involved calls for the Mayor’s resignation and even a return to loyalist street blockades. But what is most noteworthy is the contrast in reactions to the comments attributed to the Finance Minister, Sammy Wilson, during his party conference, and the actions and utterances of the Belfast Mayor. Regarding nationalist reaction …

Read more…

Mick has already linked a thread to Alex Kane’s article in the Newsletter regarding Peter Robinson’s Conference speech at the weekend. But the focus of that thread is on Kane’s observation regarding the importance of the DUP’s vocabulary in delivering on their ‘catholic’ project. However, the most significant aspect of the unfolding DUP strategy is what it reveals about the nature of the shared future and society which the main political leadership of unionism is advancing. Here’s the relevant paragraphs …

Read more…

Jude Collins has been writing about Peter Robinson’s comments in The Times last week which preceded the DUP Leader’s latest declaration that his party would like to attract votes from catholics. There are quite a few reasons why the sincerity of those comments should be questioned at this stage- as they were when similar comments were made before the summer. Perhaps Peter’s party may even find an interest in addressing underachievement amongst catholic boys in schools, or indeed refrain from boasting …

Read more…

Peter Robinson has used his Party Leader speech at the DUP Conference to make a particularly vindictive attack on the BBC Radio Ulster presenter, Stephen Nolan, including a jibe which could be interpreted as attacking the presenter for being overweight. Here’s the rather extraordinary text: That’s why I am tired of listening to the professional nay sayers who seem intent on talking Northern Ireland and democratic politicians down. They criticise politicians but are never prepared to stand for office themselves. …

Read more…

Now that a place in Euro 2012 has been secured, it really is possible to look forward to a summer of international football with Irish involvement for the first time in a decade. The already famous reference to the Estonian cat in the sack has provided an early taster of what should be a momentous few weeks for Irish soccer fans and non-fans alike. As would be expected, the Irish ‘victory’ (well, in Estonia at least…) was the main topic of conversation …

Read more…

The vote is in and the SDLP have gone for Alasdair as the man to revive the fortunes of a party seemingly on the verge of permanent minority party status (at best) within northern nationalism. The party faithful clearly opted to put their faith in the only leader with a successful electoral record. Understandable, not least since the former favourite, Patsy McGlone, is elected to a constituency where he would have expected to remain under a Sinn Fein shadow with its …

Read more…

The PSNI have arrested and charged three youths with incitement to hatred after a photograph posted on a social networking site allegedly showed the individuals burning a poppy. The move is consistent with the pro-active PSNI approach to individuals who have used Facebook to post threatening messages to political figures in recent months. But, given the nature of this latest offence, it will be fascinating to see if the PSNI take similar action and charge those who, year in year out, …

Read more…

In years to come, 2011 may well be remembered as the most significant year in post-Good Friday Agreement Irish politics. The bail-out which decimated the once dominant Fianna Fail party has not only transformed the party political composition of Leinster House, but it has also provided the opening for Sinn Fein to make their inevitable entrance into the mainstream platform of southern Irish politics, a move effectively sealed by the performance of Martin McGuinness in the Presidential election race. McGuinness’ candidature has …

Read more…

 A DUP candidate in May’s local government elections, John Smyth Jnr (pictured with Peter Robinson following a previous pipe bomb attack on his own home), has been charged in relation to a racially motivated pipe bomb attack on the home of a Polish family in Antrim town. The BBC is reporting a DUP source as having announced that he has been suspended from the party pending the outcome of the case.  UTV have reported that the ‘Real UFF,’ a loyalist grouping responsible …

Read more…

24 hours ahead of Irish football’s latest big showdown (and on the day when Nigel walked from Windsor), the IFA’s elite player mentor, Gerry Armstrong, has signalled a volte face in the approach of the northern football authorities to the issue of player eligibility, complaining that players are being asked at too young an age to decide to represent the Republic of Ireland. Slugger regulars will know that, previously, the IFA complained that youngsters were entering into their youth structures …

Read more…

Eoghan Harris has taken to railing against the Irish Independent and RTE for not adopting a sufficiently anti-republican tone to their reports and interviews in the Presidential election campaign to date. Harris lambasts the Irish Independent for making an “extraordinary error of judgement” by allowing “northern nationalist” Martina Devlin to pen an article for the paper (linked by Mick in this post), comparing the historically anti-republican Indo to ‘An Phoblacht.’ Harris then attacks RTE and the Irish Independent for conspiring …

Read more…

Jude Collins is in fine form these days, and his latest blog offering deals with Fintan O’Toole’s hasty departure from this morning’s Nolan Show. Collins was also a contributor to a discussion including Gregory Campbell and others on Martin McGuinness’ nomination for the Race to the Aras which can be accessed here.  Meanwhile, the Phoenix magazine has a great cover, revealing Martin’s new chuckling partner….. Chris Donnelly

Sycophant. Fool. Traitor. Egotist. Motivated by financial gain. Lundy! Yes, a man of the cloth had the temerity to accept an invitation to a political conference and speak of his desire for a future characterised by mutual respect. His gracious words and actions were the focus for the bitter words spat at him by more learned brethren from within the Tribe. Crouched in their foxholes, they fight in defence of old certainties, vigilant against friends who may fall under spell or foes arriving concealed in Trojan Horse. …

Read more…

The loyalist parade through the overwhelmingly nationalist village of Rasharkin has served up a number of interesting points for discussion. Firstly, of course, the arrogance of seeking- and absurdity of being permitted- to process through a village in which the overwhelming majority of residents are hostile to your agenda can best be understood by those sympathetic to the loyalist cause if they were to concede that the equivalent to this parade would be a similarly demographically profiled majority loyalist town- …

Read more…

Civil liberties for all, just not in a Fermanagh newspaper. The UUP Leader, Tom Elliot, has joined the Fermanagh Orange Order in demanding that the Impartial Reporter editor remove a weekly columnist. Mary Lynch, sister of Sinn Fein MLA Sean Lynch, has been writing a weekly column in the local paper, much to the angst of Mr. Elliot and the Orange Order, who have written to the paper demanding she be removed as a columnist. Tom Elliot told the Irish …

Read more…