Britain – Page 12 – Slugger O'Toole

Brit blog round up ‘Immigration, and what’s a Tory’ edition, 236

Mick Fealty on August 24, 2009, 3:17 pm

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It’s Slugger’s turn to host the Brit Blog Round up. It’s August and everyone seems to be on holiday at the moment, so here goes with a reduced version. Kicking off with the repatriation of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, Love and Garbage still thinks the Scottish Secretary should resign. Neil Craig, no faint hearted liberal thinks there had been a miscarriage of justice, and the man should never have been locked up in the first place…- At the FWord …

NTMA estimates distribution of toxic loans

Pete Baker on August 20, 2009, 5:02 pm

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The Irish Independent reports that the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has revealed the extent of Irish banks’ toxic loans for assets elsewhere which are “eligible for acquisition by NAMA”. Although the report notes that – “NAMA has yet to say how much Irish banks lent to fund developments on mainland Europe.” The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), which is seeking the valuers, still refuses to say what proportion of assets are development land, vacant properties, investments or hotels. But …

“All quiet on the Dungannon front”?

Pete Baker on August 18, 2009, 8:08 pm

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The Irish Times’ Irishman’s Diary today has an edited account of the “self-perpetuating cycle of provocation and retaliation [which] has bedevilled the North for decades” – from August 18th 1880. Along with the original, longer, report in the IT’s digital archive [which has the detail of the riot mentioned] there are also reports of disturbances in Belfast and Portadown, and of the discovery of “two large barrels of gunpowder [] at the Blackpool end of the Great Southern and Western …

“If you get a resistant strain that becomes dominant in the autumn..”

Pete Baker on August 17, 2009, 6:57 pm

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Speaking of forms of press populism.. The Guardian has an interesting report on the UK government’s response to the H1N1 swine flu pandemic. Below the fold I sketch out an apparent divergence in strategy here – and it’s worth noting Mack’s thoughts on swine flu there. Meanwhile, according to the Guardian’s report The government rejected advice from its expert advisers on swine flu, who said there was no need for the widespread use of Tamiflu and suggested that the public …

Martin Bell to lead a new insurgency in next Parliament…

Mick Fealty on August 17, 2009, 1:27 pm

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There’s a passibly good case to make that journalists are in part responsible for the decline in standards in public life. In part, because in the end it is the elected politicians who at least hold some of their fate in their own hands. It’s politicians own obsession with the press and the foresaking of a credible longer term agenda that might mean something once they get into government. Blair had Campbell; Cameron has Coulson. Both know the seek and …

“He’s promised they will be reasonably priced..”

Pete Baker on August 13, 2009, 4:49 pm

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With a new regime for MP’s allowances on the cards Sinn Féin have, apparently, decided that their expensive rental agreements with an un-named Irish landlord for underused properties in London no longer represent best value for public money. Still no word on Adams’ additional utilities bill. Hotels will replace those rented properties. Just be careful which films you choose to view, guys.. But Martina Purdy has a question He’s promised they will be reasonably priced – whatever they cost they …

“DUP-Sinn Fein partnership operating from an axis of denial”

Pete Baker on August 11, 2009, 4:19 pm

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The BBC report a new policy paper from the UUP [and Conservatives? – Ed] – “Putting Things Right” [MS Word doc]. The focus of the paper is primarily on balancing the “glaring holes in the budget” against promises of a feast of jam, an issue that’s caused problems before for the dysfunctional Executive, but the BBC picks up on what the party proposes on policing and justice powers and, in particular, the funding issue. From the UUP statement Given past …

“Good morning, tourists. Thank you for visiting our wonderful country.”

Pete Baker on August 9, 2009, 11:51 pm

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In the Irish News, Patrick Murphy offers “a special guided tour of Irish politics.” The capital of Ireland is Dublin. It has a population of a million people, all of whom will be shopping in Newry this afternoon. They travel to Newry because it is in the North, which is not part of Ireland. Under the Irish constitution, the North used to be but a successful 30-year campaign of violence for Irish unity ensured that it is now definitely in …

PMS auditors to be investigated

Pete Baker on August 6, 2009, 7:18 pm

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The Accountancy & Actuarial Discipline Board (AADB) is to investigate the auditors of the illegally operating Presbyterian Mutual Society (PMS) – whose assets may well be affected by what happens with Nama. According to the BBC report, the accountancy firm Moore Stephens “has welcomed the inquiry and said they consider the move ‘routine’.” From the AADB statement The scope of the investigation is as follows: “The conduct of Members and a Member Firm in relation to the alleged failure by …

“one of the probable defence arguments it considered was..”

Pete Baker on August 6, 2009, 1:21 am

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The Irish Times has photos of sitting Sinn Féin TD Martin Ferris meeting Pearse McAuley and Kevin Walsh – two of the men convicted of killing Detective Garda Jerry McCabe in 1996 – as they were released from jail this morning. As an Associated Press report in 2005 noted – “The IRA unit shot McCabe three times at point-blank range with an assault rifle and badly wounded his colleague, detective Ben O’Sullivan, during a botched ambush on a cash-filled van. …

President Boris and the UK Republic of Entertainment…

Mick Fealty on August 5, 2009, 8:04 pm

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Tony Blair’s particular genius was in disrupting the political expectations of the time. It’s often said he was the best Conservative leader the Labour party ever had. He was the public schoolboy who perfected his estuary accent. But the new liberal Tories have in some ways tipped that recipe on it’s head. Old Etonians, enjoying being old Etonians in public. John Lloyd reckons that a programme exposing the excesses of David Cameron, Boris Johnson et al at Oxford’s corral for …

How TPA’s ‘dodgy dossier’ separated the smart mob from the cut and paste brigade…

Mick Fealty on August 4, 2009, 10:49 pm

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Let me say from the start that I have no quarrel with the editorial direction of the Taxpayers Alliance (TPA) report even though it makes sweeping and misleading claims about lobby groups being paid to lobby the government by the government. Indeed this is a big Westminster village story (the sums are pretty insignificant on any UK scale) since it simply presages the likely clearing out of left leaning think tanks when the Tories take power next year. That’s substantially …

Brit and Scottish blog round ups…

Mick Fealty on August 3, 2009, 8:29 pm

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The latest Britblog round up is here, Whilst Duncan’s Scottish round up leads on the Gary McKinnon debacle… There’s quite a few posts on the rejection of David Kerr, former BBC Journo, by local Scot Nat activists, ostensibly for being a member of Opus Dei… BTW, I’ve just started putting together Slugger’s Scottish blogroll… Any helpful pointers will be humbly received (along with any useful suggestions for how to classify them)… Here’s the modified Irish list… Mick FealtyMick is founding …

“cardholders will still be registered on the British ID national database”

Pete Baker on July 30, 2009, 7:20 pm

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UK Home Secretary Alan Johnson has unveiled the design of the UK’s national, but not yet mandatory, identity card. According to the BBC report, we’re a special case. That means Irish nationals living in NI will be issued with a “personal ID card” rather than a national ID card. The personal card will not record an individual’s nationality and so cannot be used as a travel document. Only the Irish Government can issue an official travel document to Irish citizens. …

The cost of covert human intelligence resources

Pete Baker on July 29, 2009, 5:45 pm

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A freedom of information request from BBC Radio 5 Live has revealed the cost of covert human intelligence resources, aka informants, to police services across the UK. Interestingly, the Metropolitan’s bill has fallen since 2007. Here, the PSNI have revealed that they paid out £299,000 to those intelligence resources last year, about the same as the West Midlands police. This has drawn a somewhat disingenuous response from Sinn Féin’s Martina Anderson. “There is also a widely held belief that many …

“Nor was it her disconcerting resemblance to Ruth Kelly…”

Mick Fealty on July 29, 2009, 12:43 pm

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I was speaking to a member of the House of Lords last week, who reckons this expenses scandal (which is still trundling on btw) may have prematurely ended the careers of up to 200 parliamentarians. The draconian rules now being brought in, are also having the undesireable effect of ramping up the continuing homogenisation (and venalisation, if there is such a word) of parliamentary politics, by rooting out anyone who earns money from anything other than politics. As Matthew Engels, …

“are you serious?”

Pete Baker on July 27, 2009, 6:23 pm

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Apparently, it’s not just chickens that are being enlisted in the “political wars” over identity, it’s turkeys too.. From the, erm, rarefied air of Máirtín’s Balcony Apparently not though at Asda in Andersonstown they insist in selling scores of products with British flags emblazoned on them. I fancied a bit of turkey to go with a sandwich today but couldn’t find a pack of turkey without the aforementioned flag. A complaint to a counter assistant sparked the comment, “are you …

David Cameron smoozes his way to power (with a little extra ‘Rupert’)…

Mick Fealty on July 24, 2009, 4:21 pm

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I went to see David Cameron in one of his Cameron Direct events in the highly marginal Lib Dem constituency of Mid Dorset and Poole North. Having put a note up on Facebook, I was warned by one, that I should be prepared to be impressed. That was unnecessary advice since I’ve been impressed by Cameron almost since he began his rise to the verge of Prime Ministership (albeit with considerable help from Labour’s warring factions). It was fascinating to …

“Is anyone clear on the logic..?”

Pete Baker on July 24, 2009, 2:40 am

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Over at Irish Election, P O’Neill picks up on an RTÉ report on NAMA’s intended administration of €22billion of “loans for properties based in the UK – the majority of which are within the M25 motorway around London”. And he asks Is anyone clear on the logic under which a huge overseas property portfolio should be managed by the state? As opposed to, for instance, immediate sale to other developers who would likewise be attracted by the 2012 Olympics? Well, …

#Murdochgate: “No efforts were made to properly control reporters activities and the finances”

Mick Fealty on July 22, 2009, 12:05 am

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That from Andy Coulson in the Commons today. He and the News International team are sticking to the story that Goodman was a single bad apple even though by their own admission they deliberately ran an extremely loose ship. That Goodman rather than Coulson took the jail term adds to the faint smell of corporate evasion. Here’s what wikipedia currently says about plausible deniability: …refers to the denial of blame in loose and informal chains of command where upper rungs …