Turgon – Page 9 – Slugger O'Toole

Text of John McCallister’s speech to Sinn Fein

Turgon on November 26, 2011, 7:24 pm

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Mick has John McCallister’s speech to the Sinn Fein meeting in Newry on video below. I thought it might be worth reproducing the text as well. Willie Frazer is one of the few unionists to criticise the speech saying “We have nothing to apologise for” McCallister’s apology was for the failures of the old Stormont regime to live up to Carson’s injunction: We used to say that we could not trust an Irish parliament in Dublin to do justice to …

Compton Review due next week

Turgon on November 23, 2011, 11:29 pm

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The Compton Review into the future of the NHS here in Northern Ireland is due to report next week. There have been a series of articles about it recently: yesterday the BBC mentioned that Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry is likely to be downgraded whilst the Belfast Telegraph has suggested that the Mater in Belfast will lose consultant led maternity services but keep A&E. Amid all the speculation, educated or otherwise, the News Letter’s Ben Lowry, a couple of weeks …

The TUV why it will not just go away

Turgon on November 23, 2011, 9:26 pm

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The TUV stubbornly refuses to die. Despite their poor showing in the Westminster election they refused to go away and despite only getting Jim Allister elected to the assembly they are still there. The single biggest reason for their continued survival is of course Jim Allister himself. His opponents hoped he would be an irrelevant lone voice in the wilderness. He has indeed proved to be pretty much a lone voice of opposition. Alliance followed its leader David Ford to …

Peter Robinson: tactics, strategy and prisons

Turgon on November 23, 2011, 9:23 pm

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Peter Robinson’s recent comments about attracting Catholic votes are not especially new though he has developed his views a little further in his latest interview. I noted his attempts in such a direction some months ago following the assembly elections. Some have sought to juxtapose negatively these seemingly liberal comments with Robinson’s threat to resign as First Minister if David Ford made changes to the prison service such as removing the crown from the uniform and dropping the term “Her …

Unionists highlight Troubles border murders

Turgon on November 19, 2011, 7:42 pm

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The Belfast Telegraph is reporting that at the meeting of government ministers from Northern Ireland and the RoI in Armagh, Arlene Kelly and Danny Kennedy presented Enda Kenny with details of more than 150 republican murders in border areas during the Troubles. They have called on the RoI government to apologise for the fact that the IRA killers were able to escape across the border following these murders. Mrs. Kelly said: …that they should remind the Irish Government of today …

Ian Paisley to retire as Free Presbyterian minister

Turgon on November 14, 2011, 10:29 pm

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Rev. Dr. Ian Paisley is to step down from active church ministry. The 85 year old former moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster has announced that he will be preaching one more sermon in the Martyrs’ Memorial at Christmas but is going to devote his time to writing his memoirs. Dr. Paisley has always been a politically controversial figure and frequently also religiously. The Free Presbyterian Church was initially founded in Crossgar when there was a dispute over …

Of Greece Germany and Porsches

Turgon on November 3, 2011, 3:07 pm

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I am no economist but I thought I would try this: The interlocking woes of the Eurozone seem endlessly complex. The wasteful Greeks, Italians etc. are all denounced as compared to the hard working Germans living within their means and now being forced to bail out the profligate southern Europeans. A classic example is presented in the revelation that there are more Porsche Cayennes per capitia in the Greek city of Larisa, the capital of the relatively poor agricultural area …

Greek PM to resign Update: Not going to resign

Turgon on November 3, 2011, 12:39 pm

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The BBC are reporting that the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is to offer his resignation to be replaced by a coalition government, led by former Greek central banker Lucas Papademos. It is unclear but seems likely that this will prevent the referendum on Greece accepting the latest deal on its debts. Fortunate that: Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel could not have pesky Greek democracy getting in the way of their plans could they? Already the European Commission had said …

Changes to civil partnership legislation retain discrimination

Turgon on November 2, 2011, 3:11 pm

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The News Letter is reporting the latest change to the UK’s marriage / civil partnership laws. Civil partnerships are to be allowed in churches and other places of worship: this had been forbidden under the original Civil Partnership arrangements. From the News Letter: Equalities minister Lynne Featherstone said: “The Government is committed to advancing equality for lesbian, gay and bisexual people and to ensuring freedom of religion or belief for all people,” she said in a written ministerial statement. “To …

Thoughts on Robert Black’s conviction

Turgon on October 30, 2011, 6:13 pm

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Last week saw another of the murderers of the past brought to justice. In this case, however, there was absolutely no controversy. Robert Black was convicted of the 1981 kidnap and murder of Jennifer Cardy. Black had already been convicted of the murder of three other little girls and is suspected of a number more. The police investigation against him was apparently christened “Perseverance” and indeed the details are extremely impressive: 22 tons of evidence was accumulated; 2,500 potential suspects …

Terrorists: the good, the bad and the ignored

Turgon on October 30, 2011, 1:02 pm

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I blogged my views about Gusty Spence previously. However, Mr. Spence’s death also raises the issue of how ex-terrorists (or ex-combatants for those who prefer the term: exactly how the actions committed terrorists could be called combat is bizarre, but I digress) are viewed especially by the media. The way in which the media views ex paramilitaries differs radically between different individuals and groups but there is a certain common thread especially amongst what might be termed the “establishment media” …

Royal succession laws changed

Turgon on October 28, 2011, 10:56 am

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The BBC are reporting that the rules of succession for the Royal Family are being changed. The leaders of the 16 Commonwealth countries where the Queen is head of state approved the changes at a summit in Perth, Australia. As she opened the summit, the Queen did not directly mention the issue but said that women should have a greater role in society. David Cameron said the marriage of Prince William this year meant the issue could not be deferred …

Gaddafi dead

Turgon on October 20, 2011, 4:22 pm

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The BBC are reporting that Col Muammar Gaddafi has been killed in his home town of Sirte in Libya. Al-Jazeera TV has broadcast video apparently of Gaddafi’s body being dragged through the streets. It is unclear whether Col. Gaddafi was killed by forces of the National Transitional Council or in a NATO airstrike which apparently destroyed two vehicles earlier today. TurgonThis author has not written a biography and will not be writing one.

Tears in the Rain comes to Golden Thread Gallery

Turgon on October 19, 2011, 1:15 pm

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The Belfast Telegraph is reporting a new exhibition at Belfast’s Golden Thread Gallery called “Tears in the Rain” curated by Máirtín Ó Muilleoir. This exhibition “concentrates on the role art plays in keeping hope alive through the darkest of times and conveying a sense of a shared humanity” The exhibition at the Arts Council and Belfast City Council funded gallery will include the painting “Silver Liberties” by conceptualist artist Conrad Atkinson which was banned from the Ulster Museum in 1978, …

Thoughts on the Liberal Dissidents

Turgon on October 15, 2011, 4:43 pm

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The Liberal Dissidents is a sluggerism coined months ago by Fitzjameshorse but one which makes sense in Northern Ireland. There is a heterogeneous group of people who are interested in politics and the nature of Northern Ireland’s society who are in the middle in orange / green terms yet seem highly disenchanted with the political and social system we have here. This group is clearly varied and varying in membership: overall its members support the agreement but not its practical …

Hyperlinks, italics and other clever stuff

Turgon on October 11, 2011, 9:38 pm

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When I started commenting on slugger a number of years ago I was a bit less sad, had a bit more hair and was away from home a lot. Now I am at home every evening, have even less hair, am much more sad and have no closer a relationship with my family. All this is secondary to my involvement with slugger: I appreciate few republicans will have much sympathy, nor many loyalists and probably precious few other people. Right …

Thoughts on the death of Gusty Spence

Turgon on October 9, 2011, 4:19 pm

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The day after Gusty Spence died the Irish News had the story on the front page. The News Letter instead led with the story of an eighteen year old deeply religious maths student from Kilkeel who was studying at Queens and who was tragically killed in a road traffic accident. In many ways the News Letter’s position would be typical of the views of Northern Ireland’s unionist community and on this subject it picked the mood pretty accurately. Firstly lest …

Sinn Fein release Martin McGuinness bank statement

Turgon on October 5, 2011, 11:47 am

| Readers 159

The BBC are reporting that Sinn Fein have released a bank statement purporting to be Martin McGuinness’s. The statement over 6 months details his receipt from Sinn Fein of £1515 in May which rose in June to £1569 and then in August to £1605. It also details assorted withdrawals made by Mr. McGuiness: he mainly seems to shop at ASDA but has also been to TK Maxx, B&Q and Tescos. It is of course unclear how many accounts Mr. McGuinness …

Mary Lynch in the Impartial: saying things that need to be said

Turgon on October 3, 2011, 9:29 pm

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Mary Lynch was mentioned on slugger a couple of months ago when there were complaints about her column in the Impartial Reporter. Ms. Lynch refers to those comments in her latest piece saying: “I may not say things that people want to hear but these things need to be said.” On this occasion one of the things Ms. Lynch felt the need to say was about her “illegal and inhumane treatment in 1978” (by the RUC). This treatment seems indeed …

Gusty Spence dies

Turgon on September 25, 2011, 4:30 pm

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The BBC are reporting that former UVF leader Gusty Spence has died in hospital after a long illness. He was 78. TurgonThis author has not written a biography and will not be writing one.