Armagh bid to become UK City of Culture 2025…

Cllr Brian Pope is the Alliance Party Group Leader on Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon should be given all the local powers necessary to win the race to become UK City of Culture 2025. It is fantastic news that Armagh and the surrounding borough have been officially listed to compete for this coveted title. We share an impressive heritage both architecturally and socially, and the area has been a centre of cultural and …

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Review of the Year: Top 5 stories

  President Obama’s Re-Election This has to be one of the major stories of this year, President Obama was under immense pressure from all quarters and pulled off a great victory. He now faces the long road of securing his legacy as a President, which, could be decided over the issue of the economy. He has already faced major challenges with his CIA Director resigning over an affair and his first choice for replacing Hilary Clinton pulling out. However, he …

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For what is Northern Ireland going to be known in 2013?

As NI2012 Our Place Our Time comes to a halt, does Northern Ireland Tourist Board have a fight on its hands to maintain this year’s impetus? Competition comes from Tourism Ireland’s The Gathering (which Tourism Minister Arlene Foster made no mention of in her party conference speech at the weekend) not to mention VisitScotland’s three month Winter Festivals promotion. On top of a series of high profile events, The Gathering’s website has a call to action, encouraging Irish families and …

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Derry Essays 6: So good they’ve named it several times…

Whether it is the Derry Air, the Londonderry Air or Danny Boy you sing, one sure thing is that if you’re from the North West you have a more than reasonable chance to have a fine voice and musical talent – and as a musician born from the musical Cassidy clan from Derry I don’t need to throw the stone too far at all! Of course another feature is the modesty of those in all of the Arts field whose …

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Derry Essays 5: Culture bid can help with Derry’s image problem

We have to admit, there’s something absurd about the idea of Derry as a city of culture. It would be OK if the other contenders were Beirut, Kabul, Baghdad and Tehran. But Derry’s competition for The City of Culture title comes from tranquil English cities where history stopped years ago. The maiden city is better known as a city of strife. Its big quarrel has only been going for 300 years. Where else would a competition about culture start with …

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Slugger ‘talking local’ in Derry next week…

I’m going to be in Derry for a few days next week. I’m keen to organise an informal get together for people already involved in social media or keen to get more involved in it. In particular I want to look at how the bid for the City of Culture might be made more open and facilitate greater input from ordinary citizens.  But we are also planning to set up a freestanding and independent hyperlocal social media hub to help, …

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Derry Essays 2: A city on the border…

Derry is in the UK, true enough, but not only in the UK. The potential ‘UK City of Culture’ now stretches well beyond the boundaries of the state. Housing estates full of Derry commuters have sprung up in recent years on all the roads that stretch north, south and west of the city centre and across the nearby international boundary. Some people jokingly refer to Golan Hill on the outskirts of Buncrana in Co Donegal as ‘Golan Heights’ because there …

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