Drumlins Rock – Page 2 – Slugger O'Toole

1916-2016, is 16% likely to become 51% in less than 5 years?

Drumlins Rock on June 15, 2011, 4:24 pm | Readers 50

The most recent results of the Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey are out, showing once again support for a United Ireland at less than one in six people with almost three out of four wishing to stay within the Union, all the facts and figures of the survey are shown on their website, and if you are going to state the survey is in anyway unbalanced please provide evidence. Note. on another site the discrepancy between the party “support” …

My Guess at the New 16 – Just for fun!

Drumlins Rock on March 5, 2011, 1:21 pm | Readers 50

In light of the confirmation that we will have 16 new constituencies, and that they will probably be based on existing Wards, DEAs, Council boundaries, etc. I have made an attempt at redrawing the boundaries, I had posted these on the other thread, but thought it would be good to give the ideas a thread of their own. Have also included a map! In drawing it up I ignore the existing constituencies completely, they are un-natural and cumbersome in many …

Looking ahead – Three Quotes to ponder.

Drumlins Rock on February 26, 2011, 5:09 pm | Readers 5

It’s Saturday as I write this, listening to the RoI GE11 results come in, as well as the analysis we are already hearing predictions for the next election, will it be a revived FF, or FG going for a majority, Labour becoming the major party,or even SF making the it to the top table in some form. In light of this speculation may I be so bold to quote three statesmen, two Brit’s and a Yank to boot. Firstly, Sir …

A Sister City’s Suffering

Drumlins Rock on February 22, 2011, 6:46 pm | Readers 2

Exactly 5 years ago today I had arrived in the city of Christchurch, and immediately loved the city, here is what I recorded in my blog at the time, Thursday, February 23, 2006 Forever England I know yous are all probably getting fed up with me comparing everywhere i go with home, and much of that was probably intended by the builders of the new world, trying to recreate Britain across the vast Empire, and they usually got it at …

£16 million wasted, Hidden cost of A5.

Drumlins Rock on February 15, 2011, 12:22 pm | Readers 108

As reported on the BBC this morning, and hi-light by Roy Beggs East Antrim MLA two weeks ago, Conor Murphy has written off £16 million spent on a scheme up-grading the A2 at Greenisland, in order to fund his politically motivated A5 white elephant in Tyrone. It is a bit strange for a Tyrone man like myself to be putting the case for an infrastructure development in Greater Belfast in preference to one in Tyrone, but the Scot’s ancestry in …

The Curse of a Slugger?

Drumlins Rock on February 13, 2011, 3:05 pm | Readers 122

I’m sure its not our fault, having never happened before that I know off, but it seems one of our winners has, subsequent to receiving the nomination, been unceremoniously dumped from political office. Although not actually named it is widely acknowledged that Cllr. Philip Weir from Craigavon was the main organiser of last years DUP conference, introducing the innovations that secured the event success in the “Creative Engagement” category on Thursday evening. As one of the judges I was impressed, …

And the 12th* Grand Master of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland is….

Drumlins Rock on January 5, 2011, 1:51 pm | Readers 59

…Worshipful Brother Edward Stevenson, previously Deputy Grandmaster of Ireland, and currently County Grand Master of Tyrone. The 55 yr old Farmer from outside Strabane was elected by a majority of the members present at a delayed meeting of Grand Lodge hosted by County Londonderry Grand Orange Lodge. The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland comprises of current office holders, senior office holders from the 13 constituent Counties (9 Ulster, plus Leitrim, Dublin & Wicklow, Belfast and Londonderry City) and one representative …

Charolais Bull***t

Drumlins Rock on November 25, 2010, 12:06 am | Readers 110

That’s the closest i’ve come to swearing on Slugger, but reading the crap spouted on Eamonn’s twitter is driving me to it, it gets on my wick every time I log on, either it goes or I go! BTW Charolais is probably one of the most docile breeds, which makes it the most rather popular on small farms, hence the higher number of incidents (Mr. Mallie does not state what type of incident). Probably the bovines with a more aggressive reputation are Friesian bulls, which …

Is Cowan on his way to see McAleese?

Drumlins Rock on November 22, 2010, 5:55 pm | Readers 4

Rumours over on Politics.ie and TV3 are speculating that the following a meeting of the Irish Cabinet underway at present, Brian Cowan will make his way to the Aras and ask the President to dissolve the Dáil, this is just speculation at the minute but we shall wait and see… Drumlins RockI’m a progressive traditionalist, liberal conservative, left wing captialist, free thinking fundamentalist, am too fond of playing devils advocate for my own good, and a fondness for the occasional …

Irish General Election in January

Drumlins Rock on November 22, 2010, 12:15 pm | Readers 2

Breaking news, the Green party have finally said they will pull the plug on the government next month, with an election towards the end of January, will Cowan even survive that long? Update: More detail over on the RTE site. Drumlins RockI’m a progressive traditionalist, liberal conservative, left wing captialist, free thinking fundamentalist, am too fond of playing devils advocate for my own good, and a fondness for the occasional shock comment, put all that together with a tendancy to …

Northern Ireland LTD – financial status.

Drumlins Rock on November 22, 2010, 11:04 am | Readers 6

Now that we have official confirmation of Ireland (Republic of) PLC essentially being placed in administration and know the broad stroke of the restructuring in our parent company,UK PLC. what is the real financial status of the economy in our small corner of Europe? Lets start with the blindingly obvious, we are not currently a viable sector of the UK, we cost the parent company more than we contribute in cold hard cash terms, it is true the MD and …

Slugger Politics Award pitch: Let actions speak louder than words

Drumlins Rock on October 22, 2010, 3:24 pm | Readers 4

We all love the soundbite and those caustic comments that cuts to the bone, and occasionally we even like well thought out policy decisions, but what we should really award our politicians for is honest hard graft. Good constituency work is the only way you can get to know the people and form those policies, meeting people face to face means they remember you when it comes to election time, no matter how ugly that face may be! And by …

The Super Election 2015

Drumlins Rock on September 3, 2010, 11:37 pm | Readers 3

Recently we have seen the demise of two national institutions many of us have grown to love and possibly loathe in equal measure, namely Last of The Summer Wine, and Big Brother, proof if ever it was needed that the tide of change cannot be resisted. On top of these terrible blows to the culture of our nation, speculation is now rife that a whole raft of other institutions are now also be under threat, probably the most famous of …

11th bonfires – what FoI requests cost

Drumlins Rock on August 21, 2010, 12:46 am | Readers 10

In the spirit of these hard times I have also carried out some research into wasted public money on sectarian coat trailing exercises, for example did you know… “The total cost across central government of dealing with FoI requests is £24.4 million per year.” “For central government, the average cost of officials’ time for an initial FoI request is approximately £254.” “Individuals that request information under the FoI Act are entitled to ask for an internal review if that information …

This place, that place, the other place the rest…

Drumlins Rock on August 19, 2010, 7:59 pm | Readers 7

I had a Eureka moment the other night, and I believe I have solved the problem of what to call This Place! (also known as Northern Ireland, the Six Counties, The North, Norn Iron, The Province, the Failed Statelet, the Lost Field, the Occupied Counties, Our Wee Country, etc. ) I think almost all agree the present farce of multiple names is confusing, and one side is almost as bad as the other in this regards, I know those more nationalist …

“his Fermanagh location”

Drumlins Rock on August 9, 2010, 3:48 pm | Readers 3

Over on his threethousandversts blogspot Chekov has started the discussions on the UUP leadership race, although mainly speculating on a third “mystery Candidate” he also takes his first swipe at the two probable candidates, mentioning perception of McCrea as wishy-washy and Elliott’s Orange and unionist unity baggage, these points will be argued, debated and clarified in great detail in the next few weeks I am sure, so we will avoid them here for now. However the third issues that Chekov …

Same but Different?

Drumlins Rock on August 2, 2010, 12:26 am | Readers 8

Have seen this high-lighted elsewhere, but very similar stories seem to be reported in very different manners, what is immediately called a “Hate Crime” when it concerns a RC Church, is merely “investigating motives” when it comes to attacks on Rasharkin Orange Hall, and the contrast between the reporting of the two incidents below is quite stark from the headline down. Maybe it is the usual “whataboutery” and normally I take these things with a pinch of salt, but it …

The Marching Season – Whats it all about?

Drumlins Rock on July 8, 2010, 12:32 pm | Readers 42

We are now a week past the 1st of July, the day the Somme Offensive is remembered, and the “Glorious Twelfth” when the Battle of the Boyne is celebrated is just around the corner, these historic events are by tradition the main reason for the many parades and celebrations at this time of year and to a few history buffs they are a welcome reminder of one of Ireland’s periods of greatest significance on the world stage. …. however ask most …

What If…. Col. Wilford had not sent in 1st Para

Drumlins Rock on June 18, 2010, 11:56 pm | Readers 27

At present I’m reading one of those “What If..” essay books, you know type “What if someone had shot Hitler in 1935”, or “What if the Potato had never reached Europe”, intending to show that in some cases a small change seemed to make a massive difference, but also in other cases things were probably fated to turn out much the same, none of the scenarios are meant to be taken seriously, but what they are great at doing is …

Senior Unionist Speaks on Saville.

Drumlins Rock on June 16, 2010, 3:02 pm | Readers 17

Below I have posted the statement from the Conservative & Unionist Leader David Cameron, and having read it in full and not jut the soundbites I find it something most Unionist could probably agree with once things have calmed down. However it also hilights that underlying issue of Republican violence remains unresolved, and therefore makes empathy with the Bloody Sunday victims difficult for most unionists, direct parallels don’t have to be drawn but some process of establishing the truth and …