Roy Garland believes that Northern Irish politics continues to be plagued by the tribal politics of the street, but that the population must now move on by dialoguing across boundaries. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
We don’t usually go to party sites for news items, but this is an exception. Two former members of the UUP, Jeffrey Donaldson and Peter Weir, have welcomed the decisions of two districts of the Orange Order to cut links with that party, calling it a progressive move. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across …
Long taken for granted, but an unusual aspect of the relationship between the Republic and the UK is the ambigious concept of the Common Travel Area. The lastest Sunday Indo was outraged at the presence of British immigration officials working alongside Gardai at Dublin Airport, apparently there under the auspices of the CAT. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular …
I’ve not been reading the sites logs much in recent months. Accordingly I owe a lot of sites mentions for their links to Slugger. North Down UUP have managed to stream our latest comments. The John Wayne message board. Hits recently from Lean Left, Stray Toster, Milton (Italian), The Green Party, Manic Mr Ireland (more good stuff from him later), Richard Allan, Eammon FitzGerald, Anthony Wells, Lenin’s Tomb, Circa, Fistful of Euros, Harry’s Place, Conservative Commentary. If we’ve left you …
The Hansard Society has been doing some interesting work on politics and the internet. The most recent has been a six month long investigation of the potential of blogging to help reconnect parliamentary players with the ordinary punter. The report was launched in the historic Westminster Hall. The launch attracted a number of interesting speakers among them Richard Allan, the Lib Dem’s blogging pioneer, outlined a development in MP websites from brouchureware, to infoware, to conversation with readers. At the …
Paul T Colgan of the Sunday Business Post talks to Tom Kelly, who argues that talk of the SDLP walking away from their committment to the Policing Board is irresponsible and wreckless. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
The House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs select committee provides the only detailed democratic oversight of Northern Ireland’s government. It’s worth tracking. Reader Alan sent us this from a press release this morning When questioned (scroll down) about the fact that only 86% of the voter base was registered for the election, the head of the Electoral Office Denis Stanley claimed, “that they almost had to call the (November Assembly) election off because of the shortage of staff.” Mick FealtyMick …
Criticism on the use of external consultants by Government Departments in the North has reached Accountancy Age. DFP rules have been ignored, costs have soared, EU regulations have been broken and the DFP permanent secretary cannot be held accountable by a public accounts committee due to the lack of devolved government. A further report is available: Financial Audit and Reporting 2002-2003: General Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General for Northern Ireland Dry reading but with a feed like ‘However, …
In the last few days I’ve begun to recieve 419 scammers claiming they are based in the Republic, or acting for people supposedly based there. These are the first I’ve received from a developed country. The Register recently did a full blown analysis of the scams and how they work, and there’s the interview I did for the Daily Summit. The latest is from a Jack Moody. The prose has a distinctly African feel to it: “I am contacting you …
It’s the Spoof website, and this time it has an Irish flavour! Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
I know I’m a bit late on this, but what a great day on Saturday for Derry, Tyrone, and Fermanagh. Don’t mean to tempt fate, but at this rate we could have four teams in the all-Ireland quarters.. Predictions for the next round? Aaron_Scullion
NIce series on language from the excellent Open Democracy site. The initial contribution is from Welsh language poet Menna Elfyn, who talks about the word glas – one that will be familiar to Irish speakers. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
And while we’re on sport.. beating Brazil? Even in the Milk Cup, that’s fantastic. Congrats to all involved, and let’s hope some of that success filters through to the seniors. Aaron_Scullion
The IMC has found (full report here) that the troops numbers are still three times higher than was expected in peace time. Sinn Fein are highlighting (not for the first time) that makes more than a third more troops in NI than in Iraq. Have things moved on quickly enough? Aaron_Scullion
A complete list of public money distributed to victims’ organisations in NI since 1998 has been published after a question in the Lords. Aaron_Scullion
Republicans in the USA’s House of Representatives have approved a measure which could cost Ireland nearly $10 million in economic aid, intended to help promote peace in NI. If the measure becomes law, the Republic will have to agree not to transfer US citizens to the one-year-old International Criminal Court, or forfeit the cash. Aaron_Scullion
Ós rud é go bhfuair mé cuireadh ó Mhick roinnt seachtainí ó shin cuidiú leis an chuid Gaeilge den tSlugger a choinneáilt ag imeacht, is mithid domh anois an chéad chupla focal a bhreacadh síos, nó tá cúis mhaith ann: buaidh an Stádais. Chan fhuil mé cinnte dáiríribh an dtig liom ná le lucht Stádas go léir iomlán freagrachta as an chinneadh seo a ghlacadh orainn, nó is é mo ghéarbharúil mar shochtheangeolaí go bhfuil na ceisteanna seo go mór …
Though the move to make Irish an offical boost last week with Eammon O’Cuiv voicing his support to promote the language from its current ‘intermdiate’ status, the Republic’s government ability to seal a deal may lie with the Spanish who have their own set of language concerns. “A proposal from the Spanish government to give Basque, Catalan and Galician the same status as Irish was watered down. “The [Irish] Government argued that such rights should only be granted if languages …
RTE Radio did an interesting interview with David Trimble on the Twelfth (listen here, it’s about 1 hour 12 minutes into the stream), where he just cannot admit that nationalists are justified in finding the day threatening. His claim that “we’d love to see things return to what we regard as normal” seems to clarify that the Orange Order still haven’t come to terms with the fact that things have changed. If you continue to listen after the interview, Brian …
Henry McDonald says despite pundits peddling an illusion of peace, there’s ‘little or no chance’ of the restoration of power prior to the next general election in the UK. Aaron_Scullion
