Turgon – Page 2 – Slugger O'Toole

Selling salacious gossip rather than news

Turgon on March 14, 2016, 11:57 am

| Readers 3385

The Sunday Life / Belfast Telegraph has been running a series of stories surrounding the claims by a Kent based individual called Christopher Luke that he had some sort of relationship (possibly homosexual) with the late UUP leader Jim Molyneaux. These claims have been rubbished by a variety of unionist leaders: Lord Maginnis and Jeffrey Donaldson to name but two. Possibly the most comprehensive point has been made by Graham Craig who actually proposed Lee Reynolds as the stalking horse …

IRA weapons wholly beyond use: a once white lie now a blood stained black

Turgon on March 7, 2016, 8:30 pm

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The latest attempted murder by republican terrorists involved an attempt to kill a prison officer with a booby trap car bomb. This tactic was one of the IRA’s favourites throughout the Troubles (and occasionally adopted by others). Thankfully the victim survived and all decent people wish him well: though as so often one wonders how well he will recover both physically and mentally. Clearly the responsibility for this latest crime is borne solely by those involved in it. However, as …

Who could be afraid of equality?

Turgon on February 22, 2016, 9:17 pm

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The News Letter has an article highlighting a further use / abuse of a Petition of Concern to block equality legislation with somewhat less outrage from the usual quarters. Sandra Overend of the UUP’s attempted to repeal Article 71 of the 1998 Fair Employment and Treatment Order. This is the article which exempts schools from Fair Employment legislation. Ms. Overend’s attempt was defeated by a Petition of Concern by Sinn Fein and the SDLP. On the UUP’s website Ms. Overend …

Amazing occurrences: Sun rises in East and Boris backs Brexit

Turgon on February 21, 2016, 5:35 pm

| Readers 1427

In the most surprising news since the revelation that the sun came up in the east this morning, Boris Johnson has announced that he will support Brexit. The fact that Teresa May has stayed with Cameron means that none of the serious leadership contenders would have supported Brexit had Johnson stayed with Remain. This move will no doubt make him the grass roots darling for the meantime.

Brexit from the Centre Left

Turgon on February 21, 2016, 9:39 am

| Readers 1153

The Remain camp have so successfully monopolised the centre and especially centre left ground that they have reduced the political space for Leave. In reality perfectly valid arguments for both positions (Leave / Remain) can be presented from almost anywhere on the political spectrum.

Britain’s Postwar Wars

Turgon on December 2, 2015, 10:28 pm

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The list of wars involving the UK since 1945 is long and chaotic. Looking at some of them especially the most recent does suggest some themes which are not especially encouraging when one considers the prospect of British involvement in Syria. In the early post war period most of the conflicts Britain was involved in were either against expansion of communism (Greece and Korea) or else imperial entanglements. Greece and Korea had fairly clear objectives and the prospect of functional …

Young Conway Volunteers sail home

Turgon on December 1, 2015, 7:27 pm

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Thirteen members of Young Conway Volunteers have been found innocent of provocatively playing a sectarian tune outside St Patrick’s Church in July 2012. They played the tune made famous by the Beach Boys: “Sloop John B”. At their initial trial they had been found guilty as the tune is also that of “The Famine Song”. However, as demonstrated by the defence counsel the tune is also used with multiple different lyrics. At the initial hearing they were found guilty but …

Mike Nesbitt, the UUP’s resurgence and sea battles

Turgon on October 25, 2015, 12:00 pm

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I began thinking about this blog a few weeks ago just when the UUP first left Stormont but never go round to finishing it. As time has gone on though its accuracy seems to be to be increasing especially in view of Nesbitt’s speech which Alan has covered below. Five years ago I did a blog about the UUP and the Battle of the Nile. In brief at the Battle of the Nile Admiral Nelson divided his forces and attacked …

On the anointing of Corbyn

Turgon on September 13, 2015, 4:32 pm

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At 11.30am yesterday in the room where the Labour leadership result was to be announced there was an uninvited guest: a spectre who had hovered over every party gathering for almost twenty years. Then when the result was announced an older yet spritely man strode forward to do battle with the spectre. Wearing his priestly garb of not a tie (though he did have a dark sports jacket and had removed any Lenin style hats) he approached the lectern. Then …

Britain’s dependent independent nuclear deterrent

Turgon on September 12, 2015, 9:18 pm

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One of the major issues which is claimed to make Corbyn unelectable is his views on nuclear disarmament and the independent British nuclear deterrent. Whether this makes him unelectable or not is an open question – like many trusims it may be inaccurate. That though is an issue for another day. Rather it is interesting to look at the history of the British nuclear deterrent. British scientists were heavily involved in attempts to produce a nuclear weapon. Immediately before the …

Nationalisation is always a disaster: another truism in need of challenge?

Turgon on August 30, 2015, 7:18 pm

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Corbynmaina has gone a little quiet recently centrally due to repetition. Personally I am still unsure whether he will win or not. However, after having looked at some of the potentially questionable truisms regarding the unelectability of Labour in 1983 and the disaster which was the 1970s, I thought, to take our minds off the current excitement of UUP politics, a look at another truism would be reasonable. Another supposed suicidal policy of Corbyn’s is nationalisation: he has specifically mentioned …

UUP leaving the executive: anti agreement unionism for slow learners

Turgon on August 28, 2015, 5:58 pm

| Readers 2901

So the UUP have finally done something exciting and left the Executive (or at least will once their own party executive rubber stamps the decision). The internal unionist politics of this: both why it was a politically good idea and the potential ramifications are significant and worth a separate blog (which I may get to at some point). For the meantime, however, looking from a pan unionist point of view why this matters is also important. There have always been …

The disaster of the 1970s: truisms in need of challenge?

Turgon on August 22, 2015, 5:59 pm

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As I noted previously in relation to the 1983 election campaign there is a tendency in political analysis to accept truisms which are historically inaccurate or at least highly incomplete. One of the recent manifestations of this tendency (also related to the current Labour leadership campaign) is that Corbyn is going to take the UK back to the 1970s: the implication being that this would be dreadful. Whilst I make no comment on whether or not Corbyn would do this, …

Labour leadership: Corbyn, his opponents and The Vision Thing

Turgon on August 14, 2015, 3:55 pm

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The Labour leadership contest has every appearance of a soap opera. I noted below that the historical precedents that Jeremy Corbyn would be unelectable as Prime Minister were strong but by no means overwhelming and were based on a post hoc deterministic analysis. One of the most fundamental problems for the non Corbyn candidates is that they have singularly failed to outline their vision in sufficiently persuasive terms to become newsworthy. They may indeed have a vision but have failed …

Amnesty International votes to support decriminalisation of prostitution

Turgon on August 12, 2015, 4:00 pm

| Readers 1026

Amnesty International have voted to campaign for the decriminalisation of prostitution provided it is within an environment whereby the sellers of sex are not underage and are not coerced. This is the latest part in a debate which has been going on for some time on the topic. Amnesty’s argument is that sex work has always and will always exist and what is required is harm reduction – along with an assertion that sex workers should have the agency to …

Thoughts on Jeremy Corbyn and Labour’s un-electability

Turgon on August 10, 2015, 3:30 pm

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I have been trying to write something on the Labour leadership election for a while now but keep getting put off. Rather than look at the election itself it might be interesting to look at two of the supposed truisms with surround the election and specifically Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign: that Corbyn as Labour leader would be unelectable and that only a Blairite Labour position can win a UK general election. The standard view is that Corbyn is unelectable. He is …

Public Appointments Commissioner calls for change to “elite” membership of NI Boards

Turgon on August 8, 2015, 5:46 pm

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This one seems to have one a bit unnoticed in the media. The BBC reported two weeks ago, the comments of John Keanie the Northern Ireland Public Appointments Commissioner. He complained about a lack of diversity in the membership of the boards of public organisations. According to his publications (here and here) there is a gross over representation of older white men: even worse than their over representation on such organisations in mainland GB. He also suggests that there is …

Questions for slugger readership on the Labour Election

Turgon on August 4, 2015, 11:49 am

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Mick is on holiday and has asked me to do the following: Clearly the Labour leadership election has been the source of many stories both on slugger and elsewhere (helped by both it being the silly season and the interesting nature of the campaign). Unusually for such an election, any of us can vote by becoming a registered supporter (see link here). To try to get people to think about it and to try to see their reasoning we would …

Greek referendum: a lose lose for Europe

Turgon on July 5, 2015, 10:48 pm

| Readers 870

I have always tried to avoid making predictions as unlike Mr. Ashdown, I have few hats and no desire to devour any of them. It does seem, however, as though the Greek population have rejected the terms of the latest bailout. The saga of the Greek Eurozone experiment and its travails seems to have gone on rather longer than the Trojan War. How one analyses the blame depends to a large extent on one’s views on economics and the whole …

Bernadette Smyth: conviction and restraining order quashed

Turgon on June 30, 2015, 7:15 pm

| Readers 1781

Anti abortion campaigner Bernadette Smyth was cleared on appeal yesterday. She had initially been convicted of harassing Dawn Purvis at the end of last year. At the original trail the judge Chris Holmes made a number of interesting comments. He stated: “I want to make it absolutely clear that I do not feel it’s appropriate for anyone to be stopped outside this clinic in any form, shape or fashion and questioned either to their identity, why they are going in …