Turgon Many regular readers will know of my on off move to Fermanagh and of Elenwë being from Fermanagh. As such I read the “Impartial” quite frequently. This one: a row about whether or not to have house numbers is interesting. Being an outsider I am not fully conversant with this issue and I do not understand why it seems to have become party political. Has it? I quite enjoy the fact that our Christmas cards to our relatives in Fermanagh …
Does anyone know what is going to happen to Northern Ireland’s house prices? I am not going to post any links because there are so many of them. Clearly there has been a colossal rise but are we in a slow down or a crash? Now in the Republic of Ireland or in Great Britain, a house price crash could easily spell major political problems for the parties of government. Of course the respective governments might be partially to blame …
“I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills…..” Thus begins Karen von Blixen-Finecke’s book of her time in Kenya, famous also as the film of the same name: Out of Africa. The area close to Nairobi is still called Karen (though possibly not after her – see link) and some of the remaining “white Kenyans” still live there. Nearby is the slum area of Dagoretti corner and, a bit beyond that the small town of …
Many years ago a naïve young Turgon attended a school debate; the motion “This House would ban the National Front”. One quote I remember was from Voltaire: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” (although it seems Voltaire did not actually say that – see link). If you are interested the motion was defeated and the first speaker for the opposition achieved greater things going on to become the …
Many years ago Ian Paisley stood outside Stormont ready to throw snowballs at the then Irish Taoiseach Séan Lamass. On Friday of last week the snow again intervened when the Free Presbyterian Church were due to elect a new moderator. Although there have been requests for Paisley to stay on and he will not comment; it seems likely that there will be a new Free Presbyterian moderator who is not also heavily involved in politics.There is a common misunderstanding amongst …
Michael McGimpsey has been one of the leading complainers regarding the recent PfG spending plans. He has requested (at least £300 million) extra funding with some significant backing. This brought opprobrium from both Robinsons (Iris and Peter) at one stage resulting in Iris’s ejection from the chamber. Now, however, the SDLP seem to be asking the department to make efficiency savings. Efficiency savings, like anything else involving decisions may be unpopular with McGimpsey. One of the many elephants in this …
