Turgon

The possibility of a unionist pact in South Belfast and Fermanagh South Tyrone at the next election has been questioned by Sammy Wilson. Owen Paterson has apparently confirmed that the Conservative Party will be contesting every Westminster seat at the next general election. He refused to speculate on any deal between the UUP and Conservatives. If there was a joint Conservative / UUP candidate that would effectively end any chance of ousting Michelle Gildernew. Clearly this could be a very …

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Brain walker has commented on Armistice day below and I will not add to his comments save to say that it was particularly appropriate and poignant that there were three men who fought in the war there: one from each of the army, navy and airforce. On the way home this evening I was listening to radio 4 and this poem from 13 year old Rebecca Oughton was read out. I will reproduce it below the fold. War Silence. Except …

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The appalling nightmare for the family of one of the disappeared may be coming towards an end today with the possibility that Danny McIlhone’s body may have been found. Mr. McIlhone was murdered in 1981 at the age of 19. Gerry Adams has issued the following statement: “The apparent discovery of Danny McIlhone’s remains will come as a great relief for his family. It is also evidence that republicans continue to work diligently on this important issue. It will also …

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Pete has mentioned part of Jim Allister’s speech to the TUV conference below but I thought another blog on the conference and speech (here is the full text) might be acceptable. I know that I am biased but I am sorry to be forced to inform slugger readers that the members almost without exception had only one head each. They seemed relatively sane: no one said or did anything terribly mad. We all had a meeting where we selected the …

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Fermanagh is set to loose four more police stations according to the latest proposals. If accepted by the Policing Board this would result in Fermanagh having three police stations: Enniskillen, Lisnaskea and Irvinestown. Arlene Foster has condemned the proposals pointing out the issues of community confidence, terrorism and whether or not the money saved will be invested in the local area. The PSNI claim to have taken into account the results of public consultation, though it seems unlikely that they …

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In Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness one of the last words Kurtz says is “Horror.” Whatever criticisms might fairly be levelled at the novella, as a word to describe the last number of years in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Horror would be pretty close to ideal. The immensity of the problem there is difficult to comprehend. The Belgians had made practically no effort to help the country during their rule of it and made no more effort to …

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The following is an entirely personal set of musings about Poppy day and Remembrance etc. I know some people find some of my blogs at times too personal but I wanted to do this one: if you do not like it just move on to the next blog. It is poppy time again and I am back to wearing a poppy and yet feeling a bit uncomfortable about it. My discomfort exists at a number of levels:Firstly I do not …

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Sinn Fein’s position over the home coming parade has been analysed and discussed in withering, nay tedious, detail. In the absence of much else happening politically it has been the most interesting (and hence, the most over covered) event recently; apart of course from various BBC presenters and their behaviour. In the absence of much else to talk about and since I have not blogged for a while (due to a computer fatality) I thought I might add my tuppence …

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Mick has alluded to Eames-Bradley below but the likely outcome of their deliberation seems to be becoming clearer. In the Belfast Telegraph Brian Rowan suggests that there will be a five year period of reinvestigation and following that there would (if the families agree) an “Information Recovery Unit” to which information could be given. This information would be given in private and would not be admissable in court. As such although Eames-Bradley are stressing that they are not proposing an …

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Gregory Campbell has called for the proposed new council created by the merger of Derry City Council and Strabane Council to have a name which would make it acceptable to unionists and nationalists. His comments (from the BBC): “We are going to enter into a new era in 18 months time with 11 new councils with new names. “This is an opportunity if we want to draw a line under the difficulties.” “We want to avoid an unwieldy name but …

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The recent talks between the TUV and UUP along with the previous discussions with the Conservative party about a possible merger elicited a very sharp response from Edwin Poots as Mick has noted below. It was one of the best comments I have heard from Poots in a long time. Incidentally I am a fan of Edwin Poots’s pin striped suits. I have a couple but Elenwe is a bit dubious about anything other than the most subtle of pin …

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The TUV and UUP have held a joint meeting to discuss possible electoral pacts in any forth coming elections. I will reproduce the joint statement below the fold: Joint statement by Sir Reg Empey MLA and Jim Allister MEP ”Leadership delegations from the Ulster Unionist Party and Traditional Unionist Voice have met to review the unfolding political situation and to discuss ways of maximising the Unionist vote in upcoming elections. In addition the position relating to the Lisbon Treaty and …

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Driving around the roads of West Fermanagh as I do; I have noticed that there are lots of red and no grey squirrels. According to this pdf document in Fermanagh we should have grey ones as well but all the ones I see are red. The Forestry Service has extensive information about squirrels. Right now I have done an apolitical blog I want all of you to think of ways of bringing politics into the discussion of squirrels. TurgonThis author …

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There are many histories of how and why the First World War began. Not necessarily the best but one of the most readable is Dreadnought: Britain, Germany and the coming of the Great War by Robert J. Massie. One of the most interesting things about his book is the way that, having created the circumstances which led to war the politicians and rulers then scrabbled around in the last few days trying to stop it and were then personally horrified …

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I know some do not like my historical analogies but since I have not done one for a while, I hope I will be indulged. The British battleship HMS Rodney along with HMS King George V are largely credited as having sunk the mightiest warship then afloat, the German battleship Bismarck which itself had sunk the pride of the British fleet, the battlecruiser HMS Hood and damaged HMS Prince of Wales. Most credit Rodney with major part of the victory; …

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Sinn Fein’s discomfort and anger about the DUP allegedly breaking promises made at St. Andrews has been detailed repeatedly. No one has been more careful in documenting this than Slugger’s own Pete Baker. It has been suggested that SF took their eye off the ball during St. Andrews and that the DUP out negotiated and indeed out manoeuvred them. That may be correct but I would suggest that the critical error which SF made was to forget that Blair was …

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Pope Benedict has started off the reading of the whole of the Bible on Italian state television. The readings which will take a week and will involve 1,200 people will move to a satellite station. The Pope has said that he wants to encourage Roman Catholics to read the Bible. Here in Northern Ireland Dr. Paisley has welcomed the reading of the Bible but clearly disagrees with the Pope saying: “Any reading of the Scripture is something that I approve …

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A few weeks ago Barack Obama proposed possibly ending the US special envoy to Northern Ireland and in so doing handed McCain a stick to beat him with despite Obama’s previous lauding of the Northern Irish political process. Now in a move presumably designed to attract Irish American votes, Obama has called for an enquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane. TurgonThis author has not written a biography and will not be writing one.

Gardai arrested a man in Cavan town during the early hours of this morning in connection with the murder of Paul Quinn a year ago. The man in his 20s is being held at Monaghan Garda station under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act. He is the sixth person to have been arrested in the RoI over Mr. Quinn’s murder, with another six in Northern Ireland; all the others have subsequently been released without charge. TurgonThis author …

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After a brief appearance of possible civility: SF and the DUP seem to be back to attacking one another’s position in the executive. The problems of course are lack of trust, fundamentally differing aspirations, the legacy of the past etc, etc. but at the moment they are manifesting as differing views of the nature of the partnership government forced by mandatory coalition.Much as I may personally distrust one party and loathe the other: I can see that both are holding …

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