Turgon

I cannot yet find the report on the Sunday Tribune’s website but Sky News is reporting that the South Antrim brigade of the Real IRA have contacted the Sunday Tribune and claimed responsibility for the Massereene murders. The paper said: “The caller said he made no apologies for targeting British soldiers while they continued to occupy Ireland and also said he made no apologies for targeting the pizza delivery men who, he said, were collaborating with the British by servicing …

Read more…

Reactions to the latest murders here must be considered and careful. The first thing to state is that all our thoughts and indeed prayers should be with those injured and the families of those murdered in this attack. In the immediate aftermath that is the appropriate response. We must then await what we are told by the police and the army.I gain absolutely no pleasure from pointing out that I never believed that we had seen the end of violence …

Read more…

The BBC are reporting that soldiers were fired on during a drive by shooting at the Massereene Army base in Antrim. Unconfirmed reports said one person was feared dead and five others wounded, but it is not clear if they were civilians or military personnel. Update: The BBC are now reporting two dead and up to five injured whilst UTV suggest two soldiers have been killed and four people (two soldiers, two civilians) have been injured. TurgonThis author has not …

Read more…

I do not pretend to have an answer to this issue but it is interesting to note the two year sentence passed on Ciaran Brendan Laverty for the manslaughter of Aaron Montgomery. It must be stressed that Mr. Laverty immediately admitted his guilt and it seems completely clear that he did not intend to kill Mr. Montgomery. The contrast which might be worth noting is with Paulo Jorge Nogueira da Silva who was sentenced to three years after being convicted …

Read more…

I try to do only a few directly TUVish blogs but a couple of things on Jim Allister’s website struck me. Firstly Allister has called on the DUP to ensure efficiency savings in the funding of North South bodies; apparently last year these bodies received all the money they requested. In a time when public finances are under strain this does seem to be a sensible fairly non controversial suggestion. The other issue which caught my eye (living as I …

Read more…

Today is world book day. The BBC have the results of people’s lying about books they have read: 1. 1984 – George Orwell (42%) 2. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy (31%) 3. Ulysses – James Joyce (25%) 4. The Bible (24%) 5. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert (16%) 6. A Brief History of Time – Stephen Hawking (15%) 7. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie (14%) 8. In Remembrance of Things Past – Marcel Proust (9%) 9. Dreams from My …

Read more…

The News Letter is reporting the amount paid to the members of the Eames Bradley commission. It seems that a total of £1.2 million was spend on the group’s work with the eight group members paid over £500,000 between them. Apparently data protection laws prevent stating the totals per person but Eames and Bradley each received £680 per day and the other group members received £350 per day. It is okay to have paid them so much, however, because Mr. …

Read more…

Owen Paterson one of the leading members of the Ulster Conservative and Unionist – New Force; known hereafter on this thread as Fifth Force (to prove a large leap away from the Third Force, or possibly to sound like Fifth Column) has suggested that the Fifth force would like to negotiate with the other Stormont parties to reform the power sharing structures. He seems to feel the current arrangements are fine for the moment “But I don’t see this as …

Read more…

After the controversy surrounding the last film luvvie to tell us about the IRA, I suppose it should come as no surprise that another actor from the film “50 dead men walking,” Jim Sturgess has told us that some of the ex-IRA members he met “…were genuinely nice, passionate people.” He goes on to tell us “…it was a thrilling undercover ride, really. We would go into these pubs that we would never normally be allowed to hang out in, …

Read more…

Limavady Council famed for its “audit” of unionist symbols is back in the news as some of its employee have refused to wear a new uniform due to its bilingual (English / Irish) logo. Ulster Unionist councillor Edwin Stevenson said the council should abandon its policy of putting its logo in Irish on all council property whilst Francie Brolly has the following statement on the Sinn Fein website:“The placing of the Irish language on the logo of Limavady Council was …

Read more…

Many people who know a great deal more about Sinn Fein than myself have commented on the Ard Fheis and such like. I thought I would try to have a look at their Northern election campaign and what I think they should do. European elections in Northern Ireland were traditionally dominated by the fight between John Hume and Ian Paisley. As such, for SF they were never that huge an issue. Of course that changed at the last European election …

Read more…

Somewhat as I suspected Shaun Woodward has announced that the £12,000 payments proposed by Eames Bradley are to be scrapped. Brian has a report on Eames and Bradley at Westminster and it seems even Lord Eames has begun to understand that it was an utterly crazy and immoral idea. Whether he fully understands that this episode completely undermines his report is uncertain and I doubt he fully appreciates just how much damage he has done himself in terms of his …

Read more…

This is unconfirmed (as I did not hear the programme) but I am told that the Secretary of State has told the Nolan Show that the Eames Bradley £12,000 payments have been cancelled. Whilst this is clearly what the overwhelming majority of victims and members of society wanted this may as I have suggested before be a device to try to save the other equally repellent parts of the report. The other issue is where this leaves Eames Bradley’s credibility, …

Read more…

In this week’s Church of Ireland Gazette there is a response from the Church of Ireland Working Group to criticism of Lord Eames and the Consultative Group on the Past (Eames Bradley). The Gazette’s article is in replying to a letter written by Dr. Hazlett Lynch, the director of victims’ support group, West Tyrone Voice. In that letter Dr. Lynch has called on the CoI to apologise for former Archbishop of Armagh Lord Eames’ role in the Consultative Group on …

Read more…

It is effectively impossible not to know about Jade Goody; the BBC and others mention this young lady and she was discussed on Let’s Talk. I am not interested, however, in discussing her or the nature of celebrity but rather an issue surrounding her illness which I have not seen mentioned. Apparently since her diagnosis there has been a marked increase in women attending for cervical cancer screening which is clearly a good thing as cervical cancer is a terrible …

Read more…

I did a blog on this issue some time ago but recent events have brought me back to the issue. The current system of government with individual ministers being partially accountable to the executive inevitably produces inaction. The DUP are quite correct in stating that ministers can no longer go on a solo run in producing new legislation: Ruane’s inability to introduce a new system or stop academic selection is good evidence of that. This is a significant advance over …

Read more…

Farmers spent all night queuing outside government offices in several towns last night hoping to get grants which are to be distributed on a “first come first served” basis. Unfortunately Michael Mann, a spokesman for the Agriculture Commissioner, said the department’s methods were “unacceptable” and broke EC rules. The BBC are reporting him saying: “When it comes to modernisation methods like the ones we are talking about in the Northern Irish case, the rules say that you have to make …

Read more…

The News Letter is reporting that Diane Dodds has come close to suggesting that DUP voters transfer to either the UUP or TUV just as both the other parties have done. In her first major speech since being selected she stated: “In this European election there are two main requirements. One is to keep unionism at the top of the poll and the other is to ensure that we maximise the pro-Union vote to secure the two MEP seats.”The aim …

Read more…

The BBC is reporting that Gerry Kelly has suggested that the £12,000 for relatives of victims proposed by Eames Bradley was a mistake. He is quoted as saying: “In fairness to Eames-Bradley, no-one said that it was in compensation or anything like that,” said Mr Kelly. “They said it was in acknowledgement of the suffering across the board. I think personally that it was a mistake. It’s easy in hindsight to say that, but clearly it was a mistake because …

Read more…