Tourism and the Twelfth
The Twelfth period seems to have gone well for Belfast hoteliers, some tourist opinions here. Although West Belfast is claiming discrimination by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board. Lee Reynolds
Lee Reynolds
Another hall attacked
There was another attack on symbolic property last night in Moy, the sixth attack in eight days. The First Minister has raised the matter with the Security Minister. On the Eleventh there was an incident at a Coleraine bonfire and on the Twelfth, youths attacked the parade on the Crumlin Road and buses and cars stoned in Armagh. It was also revealed that a victim of an attack last year is still in a coma. Lee Reynolds
Fair Deal’s Twelfth
This started as a short reply to merrie’s query about how my day went but somehow kept growing.I kissed my wife goodbye responding to her gentle chides to drop-out/get in car/rest if my legs/feet get sore with the non-commital ahah and walked down to Sandy Row Orange Hall. For the first time in a few years the Lodge has decided to take the large banner out. Two young eager volunteers saying they would carry it the entire way. So there …
The Twelfth
Well I am suited and booted and after an Ulster fry ready to head off for the Belfast walk and my annual constitutional of about 10-12 miles. Here is the mandatory annual news piece on today’s events. For those not participating or spectating here is some travel advice. Today will also be a test for the PSNI promise to act on public drinking, my money is on proactive up the country but no/little action in Belfast. Lee Reynolds
Two more attacks on South Armagh Halls
There were two attempted arson attacks on Orange Halls in the South Armagh area last night. Four people have been arrested. This follows a serious attack at the weekend on Crosskeys Orange Hall. UPDATE For those who have developed an obsession with geography rather than illegality, I give you the official tourist website for south armagh. If you click the list of places to visit you will see it includes Keady as part of south Armagh. UPDATE II Here is …
“An Phoblacht-style coverage”
Nelson McCausland (not online) and Peter Robinson have both called for the BBC to investigate its coverage of the Operation Banner Report. The News Letter coverage went with “Army hails its Ulster success” and the Irish News went with “Structures that ‘defeated’ IRA were in place by 1980” while the BBC went with “Army paper says IRA not defeated“. The BBC earlier this year admitted a culture of bias, is this an example?The first BBC report said: “The Army has …
PSNI to appeal
The PSNI are to appeal a FET ruling that it discriminated against an employee. They say they were not notified about the proceedings . Lee Reynolds
Linfield are alright Jack
Whether or not the Maze goes ahead or other options it seems Linfield will still be sitting pretty. The IFA signed a 100 year agreement in the 1980’s but apparently failed to include basic opt-out clauses. It may even be a unique agreement: “…the issue of “termination wasn’t sufficiently addressed”. Dermot Rooney, a specialist commercial negotiator, said that there “wasn’t a precedent” for this type of agreement.” UPDATE The IFA has decided that today is a good time to start …
Pledge a pint (of beer) for a ‘local hero’
The cult of John Smeaton continues to flourish, one of the people at Glasgow airport who tackled the wannabe suicide bombers, now famous for his no nonsense interviews. So feel free to show your appreciation and pledge a pint for John at the Airport Bar, 1400 pledged so far and counting. ITV Interviewer asked: “What message do you have for the bombers” John replied: … “This is Glasgow we’ll set aboot yae” John was interviewed yesterday on CNN CNN Interviewer …
The public sector
Buried among the latest Assembly questions the scale of the public sector and its distribution is highlighted. The latest figures available show 219,403 people employed in the public sector. Details below the fold.Listed by ranking (by number of employees), name, number of public sector employees (as defined by Census of Employment DETI, September 2005), the number of full-time equivalent public sector jobs per 100 economically active people. 1. South Belfast 32,183 (62.3) 2. West Belfast 16,629 (45.6) 3. North Belfast …
Police to act on drinking
The PSNI has pledged to take action on public drinking at 12th of July parades. This will include confiscation of alcohol. This follows an appeal by the Loyal Orders and band organisations for people not to drink and respect bye-laws.Personally think the police should go further and use their discretionary powers and close the off licences along the route as they do at the ABOD parade in Londonderry and the last time the 12th parade was in Glengormley. Lee Reynolds
PSNI found guilty of discrimination
The Sunday Life reports a tribunal has ruled against the PSNI in a discrimination case. The tribunal accepted that a Protestant photographer, Stephen Murphy, was subjected to ongoing victimisation by an Inspector and Acting Sergeant and then unfair dismissal because of his plans to marry a Roman Catholic. Following an appeal by DUP MLA Mervyn Storey to the Policing Board, the Board accepted his treatment had been too harsh but the PSNI hierarchy refused to reinstate him. The tribunal awarded …
Death threats still flying about
The Sunday Business Post reported that Castlereagh break-in suspect, Larry Zaitschek, was informed by the FBI his life would be in danger if he returns to Belfast. The article said that Zaitschek’s wife was under continuing threat from the IRA. Now, Jim Allister has confirmed from the PSNI that the life of his wife is under threat and she remains in Witness Protection. Lee Reynolds
A house of cards?
Martin McGuinness has attacked the suggestion that the protected buildings at the Maze be delisted. The decision lies with DUP minister, Arlene Foster but McGuinness warned: “I would be shocked if any minister in the executive thought it was a good idea to de-list the buildings,” However SF made it clear earlier this year that the national stadium and conflict transformation centre were inter-dependent projects: “Both the stadium and the preserved prison buildings projects must proceed simultaneously” So if one …
Rossnowlagh parade
The main parade for Orange lodges in the Republic of Ireland will take place in Rossnowlagh today. They will be joined by brethren from Northern Ireland and England. Meanwhile, there was an arson attack on a South Armagh Orange Hall (link updated) with the Lodge flags and banner destroyed as well as the hall damaged. The number of attacks and amount of damage on halls has been increasing in recent years.. Lee Reynolds
Happy 6th July to our Czech readers!
Today the Czech nation mark the life of Jan Hus, who was burned at the stake for his religious beliefs. The teachings of Hus ultimatley led to the establishment of the first ‘reformed’ church in Bohemia, a century before the Lutheran Reformation. Lee Reynolds
Operation Banner
While how to deal with the past continues to be discussed, the Army has produced its official analysis of its operation in Northern Ireland, Operation Banner (pdf file). The document does not claim victory rather that it had “shown the IRA that it could not achieve its ends through violence” “The violence was reduced to an extent which made it clear to the PIRA that they would not win through violence.”. The document was released under an FoI request by …
Tax can be taxing
It was revealed today that 1 in 20 self-assessment tax returns are assessed incorrectly by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. This comes the day after the HMRC sought the end to judicial oversight to their seizures. Iain Dale also points out the UK now has the longest tax code in the world with almost 10000 pages with 1600 pages were added in the last year. Lee Reynolds
And this morning
One of the suspects in the Glasgow Airport attack lived and studied in Northern Ireland for three years, maybe people will not be feeling as safe this morning. UPDATE Orde adds his concerns. Lee Reynolds
Voting – Snail mail beats email
Research into various methods to increase voter turnout has concluded that only postal voting leads to an increase in turnout. E-voting had no noticeable impact and it seems to have been used by people who would have voted by other means. However both e-voting and postal voting are open to issues with fraud. Lee Reynolds