Drumlins Rock – Slugger O'Toole

Election 2015 – The LONG Shots…

Drumlins Rock on April 17, 2015, 5:10 pm

| Readers 1896

(a slightly tongue in cheek and completely biased analysis of the “other” constituencies, candidates other than those mentioned are listed in the EONI & BBC websites! ) Common wisdom says a candidate on 52% share of the vote is unlikely ever to be beaten by an opponent on merely 11%, certainly not in one election cycle, until the 2010 East Belfast result that is. Many factors went into it, but they all resulted in opposition clustering around the opponent most likely to unseat the safe encumbent. …

“The Undertaker Who Resurrected Unionism”

Drumlins Rock on March 8, 2013, 3:38 pm

| Readers 65

Just resurrected myself after the count last night, always an experience in itself. Can I firstly congratulate Francie on his retirement elevation to the mother of Parliaments, he would pose quite a striking figure on the green bench if he chose to attend, and although not quite as good as the Lord’s the hospitality facilities are supposed to be quite good. When he steps down from Stormont he can at least be assured his place in history as the very first Principle …

Barking Mad Gerrymanders

Drumlins Rock on November 22, 2012, 1:32 pm

| Readers 157

Local government reforms are running up against it again, in The House of Lords this time of all places, Ulster Unionist Peer and former leader Lord Empey has described the proposed local government arrangements as “ one of Stormont’s worst reforms” and warned that local government elections planned for 2014 are on a knife edge in terms of the amount of time available to prepare for them. He was speaking following a debate in the House of Lords on Tuesday evening, …

Lest We Forget

Drumlins Rock on November 8, 2012, 12:12 pm

| Readers 204

Today is the 25th anniversary of the IRA massacre in Enniskillen, I was not a witness to the events or directly affected, but I have many friends who were and will leave it to a few of them to voice their reflections from that day. These are all comments posted on facebook last night or this morning, I have asked for permission to reproduce them here but have not included their identity. . ‎ “25 years ago today i helped a …

Parade of the Century

Drumlins Rock on September 30, 2012, 3:46 pm

| Readers 88

Its the morning after, it is raining steadily outside, it also seems to be “Raining on my Parade” from the usual suspects. But I don’t care there is still a smile on my face, my head is in the clouds and my feet are sore, the flutes are still singing and lambegs ring, the Parade of the Century lived up to expectations and more. Got up shortly after 7am, although the alarm was set for half past, suited and booted I …

The Excitment is Building!

Drumlins Rock on September 28, 2012, 12:26 am

| Readers 55

Only two sleeps to go till the big parade, and I’m starting to get quite excited about it. It has only been the last two weeks that it has dawned on me this is likely to be a special occasion, one to remember for the rest of my life. I still remember the Tercentenary Celebrations in 1990, the Belfast parade that year was extremely impressive, I had a bit of a role in it that time too, however the highlight of that year was taking part in …

Orange Hall Attacked

Drumlins Rock on July 17, 2012, 11:22 am

| Readers 103

From the BBC News Website– “17 July 2012 Last updated at 10:26 Clifton St Orange Hall in overnight paint attack An Orange hall in Belfast has been attacked with paint overnight. Damage was caused to the front of the building on Clifton Street. Belfast County Grand Master, Tom Haire, condemned the actions of the perpetrators and blamed republicans for attempting to raise tensions in the area. “We deplore the paint bombing of Clifton Street Orange hall,” he said. Police said …

Is Gerry Mander Alive and Well?

Drumlins Rock on June 19, 2012, 1:12 pm

| Readers 99

As some of you may know I am not a big fan of the proposals for the new Super Councils, previously I have posted on the financial white elephant , trying to explain (not very successfully it seems) that the proposals will COST us money for the foreseeable future. At the end I promised to give some of the social implications, thankfully others in the form of our MLAs have put it much better than myself. The recent Assembly Debate …

Robocop, Monkeyman & Boris V Streaker Sammy, Mr Leapfrog & Niall, decision time?

Drumlins Rock on May 2, 2012, 8:18 pm

| Readers 59

One thing Belfast has not lacked is Mayors with “character”, often it has been too much that has been the problem, the images over the years in peoples mind are usually quite different from the official portraits on the walls, and with the tendancy to use the position as a booster toward a seat in the House on the Hill rather than directing the show in the Dome of Delight, the position maybe isn’t what it used to be. Tomorrow Birmingham, Bristol, …

26 / 11 = 438,000,000 – 150,000,000 / 25

Drumlins Rock on April 27, 2012, 5:02 pm

| Readers 77

On Tuesday in the assembly the Minister of Environment laid down the “ 2012 Local Government (Boundaries) Order (Northern Ireland) 2012”, why he calls it “2012” twice I don’t knows as the current proposals won’t take effect till 2015, were drawn up in 2009, based on information gathered in 2008, from a process began by Peter Hain in 2005, as part of the Review of Public Administration launched in 2002. Tha’ts right for ten long years we have listened to …

I Hereby Invoke …

Drumlins Rock on March 30, 2012, 3:13 pm

| Readers 78

Most of us regular contributors are well aware of “Godwin’s Law”, which states “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.” therefore invoking Godwin’s Law has become the standard method of countering reductio ad hitlerum, with the argument being lost by default. Such has been its success recent invocations have been extremely rare. Unfortunately, in this opening year of centenaries, another horrific event in our history has become overused in political and social analogy, …

The Unicorns are Multiplying

Drumlins Rock on March 6, 2012, 12:23 pm

| Readers 55

The Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey is often quoted on this site, and just as often its finding are disputed, primarily the figure of only 16% support a United Ireland. However another survey has also come to light in today’s Newsletter, conducted for Queen’s University, Belfast by Market Research Northern Ireland, and organised by Dr John Garry, the poll found that 29.3 per cent of people wanted to “remain in the UK with a direct and strong link to …

Long to Reign Over Us.

Drumlins Rock on February 6, 2012, 12:30 pm

| Readers 61

Congratulations to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth on achieving the milestone of 60 years devoted service. Sixy years ago a young woman was high up in an African tree watching the wildlife, when many miles away her father passed away, beginning the reign of one of the most devoted heads of state the world has known. Even during her early days, with the death of her father still so fresh, she quickly established her determination to serve, and is still doing so into …

Has McGuinness Breached the Good Friday Agreement?

Drumlins Rock on January 30, 2012, 6:29 pm

| Readers 72

The Deputy First Minister seems to have changed the Sinn Fein position of achieving a United Ireland by 2016, amending their pledge to that of referendum in 2016 or shortly after, in an article in today’s Irish Examiner Martin states “It just seems to me to be a sensible timing. It would be on the question of whether or not the people of the Six Counties wish to retain the link with what is described as the United Kingdom, or be part of a …

The Decade of BIG Dates ( and little ones too )

Drumlins Rock on December 14, 2011, 12:36 pm

| Readers 1301

Not the romantic kind, nor the edible one’s but anniversaries of significant events. Many are looking forwards to the years between 2012 and 2022 to commerate or celebrate various past events, others are equally dreading them, in particular the, 1916-2016 Easter Rising & Somme Commerations come to mind. But these are not the only significant dates coming up and I suggest we compile a list of some of the lesser known events worthy of our attention, as well as the big ones, we …

The Great Pretender lives on!

Drumlins Rock on October 6, 2011, 4:05 pm

| Readers 54

This one is espically for Fitzjameshorse, were you at the wedding? The Duchess of Alba, one of Spain’s richest and most flamboyant women, has got married again at the age of 85 to a civil servant 24 years her junior. The aristocrat married Alfonso Diez Carabantes at a palace in Seville, emerging to throw her wedding bouquet into the crowd and dance flamenco. The duchess, who has a record number of noble titles, had to overcome her children’s suspicions about …

Smaller Than an English County – Does Size Matter?

Drumlins Rock on October 6, 2011, 2:47 pm

| Readers 1876

With 18 MPs, an Executive of 15 ministers (including juinors), an Assembly of 108 MLAs and 26 Councils comprised of over 500 councillors the accepted wisdom is that Northern Ireland is over governed by international standards. It has often been stated, on this site and elsewhere, that we are no bigger than an English county, such as Yorkshire, and should be striped back to similar levels of elected representation. Plans for reducing the councils to 11, councillors by 20% , MLAs to 96 and MPs to 16 are well …

Is Newt on the Ball? – Unionist support Dana!

Drumlins Rock on September 28, 2011, 3:25 pm

| Readers 8

I will confess I’m loving the Presidential election, mainly because it is of little real relevance , but close enough to home to be interesting, and not least often amusing. Now that we know the final seven, yes SEVEN, candidates I have decided that I am going to support Dana, probably as the underdog in the race as much as anything, but still with a remote chance. It seems I am not the only Unionist thinking this way as this …

What about us…

Drumlins Rock on August 5, 2011, 2:30 pm

| Readers 4

Without getting too technical and ignoring the folks on the hill for now, what are the economic senarios for Northern Ireland over the coming months and years? We all know things are 99% beyond our control at present, wedged between the UK and Euro Zone which is the bigger risk to us? if one falls will the other follow? If (or as many think When) Ireland defaults, will the domino effect hit NI harder than elsewhere? or can we piggy …

The 12th of July Quiz

Drumlins Rock on July 7, 2011, 12:59 am

| Readers 472

Thought I would do a quick quiz based round the annual celebrations, its just for fun so any abuse or “in depth” discussions will be deleted but random fact and stories are encouraged! Hopefully you can avoid google or Wiki for most of them, Fitzjameshorse, give the rest a chance! they will be wee buns for you. 1. What 17c Irish Battle took place on the 12th of July, an easy one to start. 2. Who were the main commanders …