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There are some interesting ‘peace facts’ quoted: “Since the peace accords, foreign investors have taken a greater interest in Ireland, and the country is enjoying an upswing in building and commercial development, the likes of which has not been seen for decades. The rate of unemployment, particularly in the Catholic community, has gone down significantly, from 23 percent in 1991 to 9 percent in 1999. Among the Protestants, unemployment has dropped from 11 percent to 5 percent. The number of …

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Seán Mac Cárthaigh believes that St Patrick’s day has been set as the unofficial deadline for the successful conclusion of the interparty talks. This would accord with Hillary Clinton’s planned visit to Enniskillen at around that time. However he also believes that the task of reaching consensus at that time is deeply problematic, particularly with regard to the policing issue: “The British see the key issue as getting Sinn Fein onto the Policing Board, believing that it would boost nationalist …

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In a piece we’ll come back to several times today, the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz draws some revealing thoughts on the peace process from the leader of the UUP David Trimble: “If you are going to have a stable political structure, then you are going to have [to have] some way in which that 30-40 percent [his estimate of the proportion of Nationalist voters in NI] becomes involved and participant. You can tolerate a situation where a small percentage completely withdraws …

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The Tory shadow spokesman on Northern Ireland is to spend a week living with families in interface areas. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

Jim Dee talks to members of a Loyalist community on the very edge of South Belfast, and finds little but suspicion of Sinn Fein and their motives. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

Interesting interpretation on events around the time of the suspension of the Assembly, by Republican Tommy McKearney. Again thanks to the Badger’s Radio. This interview with McKearney in July 2000 provides another view of Sinn Fein’s political motivations. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

Niall O’Dowd editorialises on the New York Post editorial we covered earlier. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

Eammon McCann on another book review, this time for the Sunday Tribune, kindly reproduced in The Blanket. Of the book he is, frankly, disparaging. But the interest lies less in the book and more in McCann’s view of the life of Joe Cahill; one of the last republicans to have been born before the partition of Ireland. The author, McCann says: “…gives no impression of him as a irregular individual riven with the complications inevitable from half a century’s immersement …

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I was out at a conference yesterday, so the blogging was not as comprehensive as I would have liked. Gail Walker explored the human angle on Mark Durkan in Thursday’s Belfast Telegraph. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

David McClarty one of the Unionist representatives on the recent South African trip defends his decision to talk with representatives of Loyalist paramilitaries in the face of accusations from Alban McGuinness of hypocrisy. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

Andrew Hunter, currently MP for the Hampshire town of Basingstoke, is making overtures to the voters of Lisburn. The DUP may see his defection to them from the Conservative party as part of its strategy to push their credentials as a mainstream Unionist party, and decisively take a position, which has been held, historically, by the Ulster Unionist Party. Mind you, not everything is light and roses in the good ship DUP. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily …

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I owe this one to Newt at the Portadown News. The Irish Independent in its editorial on Thursday said: “Earthquakes and floods are rare indeed in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown. Malfunctioning traffic lights are about the nearest that favoured location ever comes to a disaster.” But in less that 24 hours flooding in the area was severe enough to prompt calls for the setting up of a new strategic government agency. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other …

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Jude Collins feels like no one is listening. No one who is Unionist that is; he has something approaching a cult following amongst some online nationalists. This week he poses a series of rhetorical, questions. But of all of them, point one is by far the most enlightening: “At the rate of 400 recruits a year, with a 50/50 split between Catholics and Protestants, it will take the Police Service of Northern Ireland between 15 and 20 years before the …

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Anthony McIntyre is critical of the public splitting of Sinn Fein, the political party and decision makers on the IRA Army Council, in his reveiw of Eammon Maille and David McKittrick’s Endgame in Ireland. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

Further thoughts on the subtle change in the attitudes of Irish American, particularly with regard tot he Republican movement. As over fifty percent of the Letter’s readership is in the US, please let us know if this accords with your own understanding of the situation in the comments field. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

Ian Graham reports on multiple punishment shootings in South Armagh, Co Down and Co Antrim. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

The New York Post’s unfavourable editorial on Gerry Adams looks like it may spark a boycott by American republicans of the tabloid. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

Secretary of State Paul Murphy has stated that the next Assembly elections may not take place in May 2003 as scheduled. Probably an early indications that the inter party talks are likely to take longer than some had hoped. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

The Irish Examiner welcomes the British government’s plans to press forward with wholesale police reforms, as indicated in the Queen’s speech yesterday. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

Steven King is not always consistent but he is always worth reading for an intelligent view of the Unionist case. This week he interprets some of the finer nuances from Blair’s interview with Frank Millar in the Irish Times last week, and suggests that any coming globalising conflict involving the US’s War on Terror campaign is likely Sinn Fein at a much greater distance from Irish America. This is something of a reprise of a previous theme. Slugger O'TooleA general …

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