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Jude Collins isn’t a man afraid to make himself unpopular and I can think of few things more unpopular than a call to look at another side of allegations of sexual abuse against Catholic clergy. Jude substitutes the Catholic establishment in an article from the Guardian on the effect of false accusations against teachers. However, unlike the Guardian piece on teachers Jude does not presented a single case that supports his premise of clergy being subject to investigation of and …

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News that will have surely spooked both the Dodds and Kelly camps – a new Independent candidate seems about to enter the fray in North Belfast. Martin McAuley claims he is to join the contest. You can read his manifesto here, follow him on twitter or Facebook. Yes, the poster does say ‘Tough on crime. Tougher on women drivers’ Blank

The BBC is reporting a judge in Derry has refused bail in a case of alleged ‘attempted grievous bodily injury’ because ‘he had read that a travel website had advised visitors not to come to the city because of the violence there’. The only travel website I’ve come across mentioning violence in Derry is VirtualTourist and it only has a single reader comment on the topic not an advisory. I’ve scanned through the much larger Trip Advisor and can’t see …

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The first live Election Debate takes place on ITV tonight at 8.30pm. The Liveblog below will open at 8.15pm for your comments. You can watch it online here and also ‘Rate the Debate’ on Facebook. Please forward any useful twitter feed or hashtags. Live election debate blog Blank

The Straight Choice is hosting lots of election literature. For example this one from Ian Paisley jnr. Blank

I’ve been messing about with the SDLP walking to camera in gangs PEB….I’m sure you lot can do better with it and whatever else they and others throw our way: Blank

An election is mainly about one thing, the masses being given a voice for a short while and then their authority being delegated to mandated individuals. How people choose to use that voice varies but I have some categories: The disinterested Those who don’t register to vote so can’t participate and those who register but don’t utilise the option. The principled abstainers May or may not register to vote but consciously decide not to utilise the option. The endorsers People …

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In days gone by one of the most popular forms of protest in West Belfast was the ‘white line picket’ – SF seem to have given up on it as a ‘tactic’ but I was surprised to see the length of one recent picket on the Falls in support of political status for republican prisoners. Just as I was surprised at the numbers turning out for éirígí’s first proper Easter commemoration in Belfast. Tis the patriot game. Blank

The mostly (always?) excellent AlaninBelfast pulls off another wonderful piece of blogging with a trip around Belfast’s Big Wheel as it disappears. This blogger can do no wrong. Blank

With the election in full swing activity on social media and blog sites from political activists has inevitably stepped up a gear. Trying to glean anything of value from their canvass updates, for those interested but not involved, is almost as difficult as actually reading reactions on a canvass properly. Most of the political hacks will tell us ‘Excellent night canvassing area a, great response, main thing raised was issue b (something they focus on)’. We certainly won’t be told …

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Unlike most historical commemorations republicans remember the 1916 Easter Rising not on the actual date it began, 24th April, but follow the moveable feast of a Christian Easter. I have never really understood why a decision of the First Council of Nicaea on the full moon after the spring equinox should dictate when republicans remember their dead. I assume it may be the ease of an already observed holiday, some kind of undeclared Christian sensibility, an attempt to marry the …

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Eamonn McCann is running for People Before Profit in Derry. He has a campaign song. Blank

D Company based in the Lower Falls was a powerhouse of the IRA during the Provisional’s armed struggle. One of their most iconic figures was Brendan Hughes and it was them he had arrange his funeral. Some of his ashes were scattered at their memorial garden during a ceremony where members of D Company ensured, in line with his wishes, SF members were not permitted to speak. After attacks in An Phoblacht on Hughes from people loyal to SF, another …

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Some describe Suzanne Breen as a dissident journalist (some being SF members). However, yet again she turns out a series of articles in the Tribune that examine non-SF republicanism better than any other reporter around. The re-rise of the re-RA Attacks since Massereene Lack of mercy Blank

When I get round to giving my views on Moloney’s ‘Voices from the Grave’ I won’t be commenting much, if at all, on the allegations directed at Adams, other senior shinners and people loyal to their project. Those aspects have had a thorough enough airing elsewhere and to be honest are neither new or particularly enlightening. There is one aspect of this that is leaping out for me though and I’ll mention it here so I can keep it away …

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I’m remiss in not giving more coverage of Gerry McGeough and his farcical non-trial, but Mick Hall picks up the story just after McGeough’s legal team release details of Royal Pardons being given to former IRA members (I assume SF endorsing). for some reason the previous blog here ‘Whatever happened to Gerry McGeough’ won’t link – apologies Blank

A row that has been bubbling away in Tyrone has surfaced in the press. This article on Francie Molloy appeared in the Tyrone Democrat: “This year at the National Graves AGM in Galbally an attempt was made to hijack that organisation by dissident elements… We now have a number of independent dissident organisations in association with National Grave Tyrone organising counter commemorations in some graveyeards. It is clear that these people just want to hijack commemorations” Brian Cawley, Chairperson of …

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SF have been vigorously rejecting claims made by Brendan Hughes in ‘Voices from the Grave’. It is hardly surprising that party members would not want to pay for the book and enrich Ed Moloney for what they insist are false, agenda driven claims. They should be left with the options of not reading the book, waiting for a library copy or trying to borrow one. However, SF members (including one who works in their bookshop) are widely emailing a PDF …

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Ed Moloney’s ‘Secret History of the IRA’ was the first book that claimed definitive knowledge of why and how the IRA killed Jean McConville. It claims she was twice found in possession of transmitters and was a ‘spotter’ for the British Army. In that book Moloney attributed the claim to ibid. Given the interviews published in Moloney’s ‘Voices from the Grave’ it seems clear ibid, in this case, was Brendan Hughes and he is the only person that has presented …

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