Britain – Page 15 – Slugger O'Toole

“Treasury has not got too many estimates right..”

Pete Baker on April 22, 2009, 10:44 pm

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Before today’s UK budget I had noted that economists John Simpson and Richard Ramsey had both been critical of the Northern Ireland administration’s budgetary prowess – and, in particular, the budget projections contained in the 2008-2011 Programme for Government. Now, as the Belfast Telegraph notes, it looks like they’ve been joined by PricewaterhouseCooper’s Philip McDonagh, et al. Businesses advisors PricewaterhouseCoopers said if there was a little jam today there would be thin gruel tomorrow following the whopping efficiency savings. PwC …

“It is understood there were no immediate arrests..”

Pete Baker on April 22, 2009, 2:20 am

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The RTÉ report has more detail, as does the iol report, but the BBC report makes for more interesting reading. Solicitors and accountancy businesses in the Republic of Ireland were targeted in the operation. It was focused on one individual, according to John Whiting from HM Revenue and Customs. “He has been highly active in a very sophisticated fuel fraud, which has been costing the UK Exchequer many millions in terms of duty and VAT each year,” he said. Pete …

“It can be expected that these terrorist activities may continue in the future.”

Pete Baker on April 20, 2009, 4:43 pm

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Newshound notes a report in the Irish Examiner on the increase in the number of people arrested in Ireland [Republic of] on terrorist-related activities last year – “49 of the 52 arrests were related to dissident republican groups, while three were related to suspected Islamic terrorism.” The EU TESAT report 2009 is available here [pdf file]. The EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2009 said Ireland had the fifth highest number of terrorism arrests in the EU last year. The …

What political and media elites have to fear from blogs….

Mick Fealty on April 17, 2009, 6:46 pm

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My mischievous blogging buddy, Paul Staines, aka Guido Fawkes, finally did what he has been working for for most of the last the four years: bust the political lobby system wide open… With the fingering of Damian McBride, out came a flood of embarrassing stories of how political spin doctors had pistol whipped, cajoled and boycotted their way to civil stories about the government… As our scooped letter from the First and Deputy First Minister and their clumsy attempt to …

Hey, it’s the Internet guys. You make up your mind whether it is smoke or fire!

Mick Fealty on April 16, 2009, 4:42 pm

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Still with an eye on the Smeargate crisis across the water, Rod Liddle’s a man I thought I would never agree with on anything. Ever. Way too cynical for my weaker sceptic’s blood. But he nails something important in this piece in the Spectator: The internet is not the gospel; the stuff that appears there, from the foam-flecked rants about the Jewish world conspiracy and how Gordon Brown is actually an alien lizard creature who wishes to eat your children, …

Not all Bloggers admit their mistakes…

Mick Fealty on April 15, 2009, 9:05 pm

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I’m going to come back to that five day old scoop of ours in a later post. But first those of you who doubt the capacity of blogs to wreak merry mischievous Hell on both the mainstream media and politics, the current #smeargate panic is worth pondering. Not to put too fine a point on it, one lone blogger (and his legion of co-conspirators in Whitehall and Westminster) has Labour precisely where he has worked for four years to get …

Another take on Drapergate…

Mick Fealty on April 15, 2009, 2:15 pm

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This is just too good to miss… Manic’s 1 minute guide to the UK’s Political Blogosphere… (NOT work safe)… 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

Kilkenny marks 400 years of City status

Pete Baker on April 12, 2009, 2:04 am

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A Happy 400th Anniversary to Kilkenny City. As RTE reports. And from the Kilkenny 400 history Four hundred years ago, James I, King of England granted Kilkenny a charter conferring on it the status of a city, with the title of Mayor for its chief citizen. Four hundred years before that, in 1207, William Marshall, Lord of Leinster, had given Kilkenny a charter setting out the rights of its burgesses and freemen. Its first Council was elected in 1231 and …

“a single company law regime applying to the whole of the United Kingdom”

Pete Baker on April 11, 2009, 8:46 pm

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More of an aside than anything else but, whilst digging around in the background for this previous post, I came across this interesting nugget of information. When the Companies Act 2006 is fully commenced in October 2009 it will provide for a single company law regime applying to the whole of the United Kingdom. Companies will be UK companies rather than GB or Northern Ireland companies, and the same legislation will apply to all. Pete Baker

Would the Tories be better for the Union?

Mick Fealty on April 8, 2009, 3:27 pm

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O’Neill thinks so (sorry O!)… Though I am not sure I buy all of his reasoning, not least that little bit of futuring about being the government of four parts of the Union (getting MPs elected is not being made any more likely by the continued lack of credible candidate matches for its three target seats)… The one, apparently (the Tories have been moving around a fair amount; NHS funding for instance) point he makes is worth repeating: The modern …

Sinn Fein dragged into Westminster expenses row…

Mick Fealty on April 8, 2009, 1:42 pm

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Whilst at the heart of this story there is a question over why the UK taxpayer should be shelling out on rent for 2 flats in London for MPs who are rarely there and never take there seats, again there is nothing illegal about the £437,405 Sinn Fein’s MPs have claimed over the last eight years.. Still David Cochraine does raise one interesting question arising: If they are not travelling to London to take their seats, what are they using …

Working for the ‘sleaze department’ of the Conservative party…

Mick Fealty on April 6, 2009, 7:15 pm

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Peter Robinson gave a press conference this afternoon picking up the News of the Screws story yesterday suggesting the Swish Family Robinson, ie, he and his wife, were picking up over £500,000 a year in salaries and expenses… He accused local UUP MLAs David McNarry and Danny Kennedy of working for the Conservative Party’s sleaze department… You do have to wonder at the capacity of this story to generate both genuine and mock rage, in an atmosphere where sums of …

“this is not a trillion dollars spent now”

Pete Baker on April 2, 2009, 8:56 pm

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Everyone’s hero, Robert Peston, has a look at some of the detail in that comminque from the G20. Apparently, the Special Drawing Rights “will be most useful for middle-income, emerging market economies.” And, apparently, Stephanie Flanders says it’s also particularly useful for poor, reserve-starved countries. Meanwhile, Nick Robinson adds this Remember, of course, that this is not a trillion dollars spent now. It is a pledge to make funds available up to that level if countries can convince international institutions …

Strengthening the Common Travel Area.. – Redux

Pete Baker on April 2, 2009, 2:37 am

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The Common Travel Area may have a future after all. The BBC are reporting that the House of Lords “voted by 193 to 107 to remove a clause from the Home Office’s Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill” which “would have introduced the right to impose controls over those travelling between the two jurisdictions.” Presumably that would be Clause 46 noted previously. [Update It appears that the debate was on an ammendment referring to Clause 48. Adds Ahh.. It looks like …

Westminster media in garage sale of MP’s secrets…

Mick Fealty on March 31, 2009, 2:19 pm

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There is something of an anti democracy frenzy gripping the Westminster village at the moment, which I fully expect to end the moment the Tories take charge of number 10. A Tory friend tells me this is what happened to Major; but then the effects were not quite so destructive of the democratic since the fight is so narrowly drawn (down to the price of a bathplug for goodness sake), and the casualties are being carted out on either side …

As Gordon travels by plane, Hannan follows by YouTube…

Mick Fealty on March 27, 2009, 1:21 pm

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In many respects becoming an MEP is equivalent of being sent to Siberia… However, my colleague at the Telegraph Dan Hannan may have just sprung himself from jail with a video of his withering attack on Gordon Brown in the Brussels parliament… There is now talk of him being considered as a candidate for the safe seat of Woking… Nadine Dorries notes on the Tories own Blue Blog it was the top viewed video on YouTube yesterday… By my calculations …

Economic tragedy is London GAA’s gain…

Mick Fealty on March 21, 2009, 4:31 pm

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http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2009/0321/1224243190799.htmlAccording to the Irish Times: GAA clubs across London, some of which were struggling to field teams in recent years, are reporting a major surge in the numbers of young Irish men and women joining. National insurance figures compiled by UK authorities indicate that thousands of Irish-born people have registered to work in recent months. And, for the first time in years, support groups such as the London-Irish Centre in Camden are being contacted by young economic migrants in need …

“those are decisions for the Chief Constable”

Pete Baker on March 10, 2009, 10:29 pm

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Mick’s already mentioned the cant from a tightrope walking Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams about Hugh Orde’s request for technical assistance from the Special Reconnaissance Regiment. But there’s another point to be made about the statement Adams issued on Saturday on the same subject. “There can be no place for so called British Special Forces within any civic and accountable policing structures.” As Frank Millar reported in the Irish Times, speaking in the House of Commons yesterday the Northern Ireland Secretary …

First casualty of the UUP/Tory Meet up…

Mick Fealty on March 6, 2009, 5:18 pm

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Slugger has just received an email from the Vice Chair of the Conservatives in Northern Ireland, Jeff Peel, announcing his resignation from the Joint Committee. He lays out the reasons in the full text of the email below… Today, as Vice Chairman of the NI Area of the Conservatives, I took the decision to resign from the Joint Committee set up between the Conservatives and the Ulster Unionist Party. The purpose of this email is to explain why. Last Thursday …

“The only door that has been closed is that of the IRA.”

Pete Baker on March 6, 2009, 1:48 am

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Co-chairmen of the Consultative Group on the Past, Robin Eames and Dominic Denis Bradley, were in Dublin today appearing in front of an all-party Irish parliamentary Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement which included Member of [the UK] Parliament, Sinn Féin’s Pat Doherty. From the iol report “The only door that has been closed is that of the IRA,” Mr Bradley told the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, in Leinster House. Addressing …