In Tyrone a star is born….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXucIL2ZV2g 3.47……sweet. DewiWelsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and Railways…
Dewi
The UUP Balance Sheet
I’m grateful to Quincey for highlighting the publication of political parties 2010 accounts by the electoral commission. Here (a small PDF file) is the UUP statement: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/party-finance/database-of-registers/statements-of-accounts/soa/pdfs/soa_27-07-11_10-15-16.pdf That’s worth a browse. As always it’s the notes that are interesting. Notes 12, 13 and 14 show: 1) A bank overdraft of £33k 2) Longer term bank and other loans of £454k Note 17 shows this debt fell by £60k over the year. Good going in a General Election year that….. These loans …
News International – What happens next.
Watch this and laugh That’s the younger Murdoch. Worth a look, as the Police should be doing as well. DewiWelsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and Railways…
Wales 2011 – One in Four in Poverty…and it’s getting worse.
Quoting the Rowntree Foundation Press Release below: New Joseph Rowntree Foundation research released today shows that meeting the Welsh Government’s target of eradicating child poverty by 2020 will mean the rate has to fall four times more quickly over the next ten years than it did over the last decade. The latest figures also show almost one in four people in Wales across all age groups – 680,000 – are in poverty. The research, carried out by Anushree Parekh and …
Murdoch – enough – boycott his stuff.
Hacking the phones of a missing schoolgirl- deleting messages giving false hope to her parents. Hacking the phones of missing girls’ parents in Soham. My personal advice is to stop subscribing to Sky or buying any News International output. Update – Paying off the Cops. from Vanity Fair. Andy Coulson, who edited Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World tabloid from 2003 to 2006, condoned payments from members of his staff at the News of the World to Scotland Yard, according …
From the weekend…
1) The Economist talks about getting back to business. Worth a read. Panos Lioulias, chief executive of Qubis, a venture-capital outfit that nurtures spin-offs from Queen’s University in Belfast, thinks indigenous entrepreneurs are a big part of the remedy. Northern Ireland’s universities turn out top-notch graduates in physics, life sciences, computing and the like—the basic stuff of start-ups. One of Qubis’s stars is Andor, founded in 1989 by a physics graduate student, Hugh Cormican, who hit on new imaging technology. …
Inverclyde result
Labour hold. Lab : 15118 SNP : 9280 Tory: 2784 Lib Dem: 627 (I’m not joking) UKIP: 288 DewiWelsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and Railways…
And so to Inverclyde…
The vote is on Thursday for the first Westminster by-election since the SNP Holyrood victory. Daid Milliband says: “Any vote other than a Labour vote is a vote for the Tories” Meanwhile the SNP in Inverclyde are exposing Labour: “Ms McLaughlin exposed the Labour – Tory plan to sack council workers in a televised debate last week. Challenged again by Ms McLaughlin on BBC Politics Show Cllr McKenzie who sought to shout his way through the interview was forced to …
Liz does in for Ieuan Wyn ?
Cynog thinks it’s time for Ieuan Wyn Jones to step down as Plaid Cymru leader (from Wales Online): Former Plaid MP and AM Cynog Dafis said he could see a “compelling” case for Mr Jones to go so that the party can secure a power-sharing deal with Labour. And there are others within the nationalist community who want Mr Jones to relinquish his position as leader so the party can move on. The Plaid leader came under fire this week …
New Boundaries for 16 seats..
>Here’s Lewis Baston’s Democratic Audit Model with his view of the proposed 16 seats for Northern Ireland at Westminster. It’s quite detailed. No change in North Antrim but everywhere else does… Belfast down to 3 (looks like 1 strong Nationalist and 2 Unionist to my eye but I’m certain that others will know better..) Upper Bann is shared around a bit with 40% going to the new seat of South Neagh, the rest coming from FST, Mid-Ulster and Newry & …
It’s all happening in Scotland..
Excellent stuff from Alan Trench in the Scotsman It’s difficult to choose specific quotes so read the lot….How the SNP are strategising for independence. And in the here and now: (from the BBC) A by-election In Inverclyde on June 30. I thought Labour might let things cool down a bit before calling this. (Held the nearest comparable SP seat by 511 votes only). “Labour previously said a 30 June date was “unlikely”. The party said last week it was keen …
Scottish LibDems hell bent on oblivion.
Michael Moore, LibDem Secretary of State for Scotland, says that two referenda are required for Scottish independence. Here’s the BBC report. If we have an advisory referendum set up by the Scottish government I think there is a strong likelihood, and it is certainly my personal view, that you would need a second referendum on the formalities of agreeing what has been sorted out between the governments.” Mr Moore also said he would not be including any of the powers …
The Psephology of Scotland (3) – SNP – it could have been even better….
The SNP won 53 of the 73 FPTP seats in the Scottish Parliament. These are the other 20, with the winning party and the margin between them and the SNP. (From the BBC.) Coatbridge and Chryston 2,741 Lab Motherwell and Wishaw 587 Lab Uddingston Bellshill 714 Lab Glasgow Maryhill and S’burn 1,292 Lab Glasgow Pollock 623 Lab Glasgow Provan 2,079 Lab Glasgow Rutherglen 1,779 Lab Orkney 868 Lib Shetland 3,328 Lib Edinburgh North and Leith 595 Lab Cowdenbeath 1,247 Lab Ayr 1,113 Tory Dumfrieshhire 4,274 Lab …
Devolution – the Respect Agenda
The Devolved leaders’ statements from Scotland Alex Salmond, Carwyn Jones, Peter Robinson and Martin McGuiness set their stall for next week’s Joint Ministerial Committee meeting. There’s a bit of tension between Salmond and Jones on the next steps. To use one of those terrible business phrases it’s important to be on the same page….maybe I’m reading too much into it but unlike the FM and dFM Jones didn’t thank Salmond for his hospitality. Anyway – again from the BBC here’s …
Welsh Soccer the new Rugby…
Swansea City make the Premiership. With help from an Ulster manager..Brendan Rogers. Can they stay there? DewiWelsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and Railways…
Good grief – Wales win a Soccer match..
2 – 0. Not a classic, and a crowd of 529 people, but from a Welsh viewpoint every minute that Aaron Ramsey plays as captain is good. Any positives for you? DewiWelsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and Railways…
Adam ain’t lost it….at least you left “us” Canada…
Once again Thanks to Syniadau. – I’m becoming a bit of a conduit…. That’s a great video of Adam Price giving the Harvard graduate oration. It’s only 7 minutes odd long – well worth a watch. DewiWelsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and Railways…
Euskadi – out of the left field
Following the seismic events in Scotland a bombshell from the Basque Country. With an electoral ban only lifted on May 5,Bildu, a new leftish Basque nationalist party, made astonishing progress in municipal elections on Sunday. The forensic Syniadau has the detail. In the Basque autonomous region it claimed 953 seats v. the 872 of the EAJ/PNV. EAJ/PNV won on votes however, 31% to 26%. In addition in the “disputed” province of Navarre (outside the Basque autonomous community) Bildu took 13% …
The Economist – finger on the pulse.
I’ve subscribed to the Economist for twenty years. It’s wonderful on the Kurds in Turkey, the latest PNV election results in the Basque Country and anything happening in Quebec. Yesterday it gave us the honour of an article: The double act continues. You get: “In elections for the Northern Ireland Assembly on May 5th, the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein consolidated their positions as the biggest unionist and nationalist party respectively. The DUP’s Peter Robinson (left) and Sinn Fein’s …
Ieuan Wyn to quit as Plaid leader…
The BBC reports on Plaid leader Ieuan Wyn Jones’ decision to quit as leader (for the second time) sometime in the next two and a half years. From Ieuan: “I have also witnessed many historic and momentous events during that period, not least leading the party into government for the first time in its 86-year history and the referendum on law-making powers,” Also: “The party obviously needs time to reflect on the results, look long and hard at our message, …