Getting bits from Fair Deal watching the Tour of the North parade on the Crumlin Road. I must stress this is only from one particular vantage point and should not be read as a definitive account. Apparently there was one slight injury when a pensioner Orangeman was hit in the head with 2p coin fired from a catapult. He was carried away. Also a firework was thrown by protesters (who’d escaped the atentions of the marshalls) trying to hit the …
The appeal for a judicial appeal over the appointments of two Orangemen to the Parades Commission ended in a split decision in favour of the Secretary of State’s right to make an approach to certain individuals, ie members of the loyal orders, without having to balance that action by approaching other parties to the parades dispute – namely resident’s groups. Accordingly, there are two judgements: a minority and majority judgement. To my decidedly unlawerly eye, the key difference seems to …
Following the news of the breakthough agreement on the Ardoyne parade agreement, here’s the statement from the Parades Commission: The Parades Commission heard today [ie yesterday] from representatives of the North and West Belfast Parades Forum (NWBPF) and the Ardoyne Parades Dialogue Group (APDG) regarding the outcome of the discussions, which were facilitated by the Commission, which have been taking place around parades in north Belfast. A joint delegation from the APDG and the NWBPF met the Commission this morning. …
Kilkeel has long been known as a bitterly divided town, and famously has a catholic and protestant side of the main street. Indeed, Newry and Mourne Council’s says that ‘Kilkeel suffers from a sectarian image which is “strangling” the town – flags and graffiti, poor image. and reputation. – There is no vibrancy to the town …’ However, news that the local youths were united in endeavours at the weekend before last (update) could not be met with any enthusiasm…… …
Hearts and Minds last night grabbed an interview with Ken Loach (it’s in the last five or six minutes of the programme). He seems to be fighting a defensive rearguard for most of the time on air, muttering about right wing nutters in the British press. Indeed the controversy has been rumbling on the Guardian site all week since George Monbiot took up Loach’s comparison of 1920’s Ireland with present day Iraq. The conversation is long, but engaging. It was …
Interesting piece from Jason Walsh over at Comment is Free, which argues that “it won’t be enough for Peter Hain to issue a diktat: the permission must come from within the nationalist community itself”. He’s clearly no great fan of the Orange himself, but he enumerates several reasons why Nationalists should move directly to solve the problem and avoid the re-constitution of the ‘becalmed’ Parades Commission:- it’s undemocratic. – it upholds an important principle of both British and Irish legal …
Lindy McDowell argues that the question of whether the attempted assassination of Mark Haddock was or was not sanctioned by the leadership, is simply a cute evasion of responsibility. Haggling over irrelevances about whether or not it was sanctioned does not obscure that truth. The terror gangs which should by now have been history still hold this community by the throat. The people of this place never sanctioned their violence in the first place. They certainly didn’t sanction the post-ceasefire …
Belfast Telegraph piece on Mark Haddock, the UVF man reportedly shot by members of his own organisation, and the degree of penetration of the UVF by government spys. 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
Roy Garland explores the interesting twist the UUP’s co-option of the PUP leader David Ervine has given to Unionist politics. He believes that the move and the DUP’s apparent abandonment of plans to back Tommy Kirkham for Mayor of Newtownabbey are indicative of the emotional limitations of the DUP and an internal unwillingness to take risks. People throughout the community were shocked at Sir Reg Empey’s courage and honesty about the past deeds of some unionist politicians. Honesty about the …
Following on several detailed discussions on Slugger (here and here) of the accusations by Martin Ingram about the loyalities of Martin McGuinness based on what he claims is a confidential MI6 transcript document of a Kathy Johnston offers these thoughts on the protection of sources.From Kathy Johnston “Liam Clarke knows that the Now Chief Constable Hugh Orde told the family of Mr Notorantonio that my claims that he featured within the Brian Nelson files and that he had been involved …
A man and a woman are being questioned in Antrim PSNI station about the murder of six people in the Heights Bar in Loughinisland, including 87 year old Barney Green, the oldest record victim of the Troubles. It may well be related to information uncovered in the investigation of the murder of Raymond McCord Junior. 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 …
On Friday, Fionnuala O’Connor picked up a subtly important theme only now emerging from the botched co-option of David Ervine into the UUP’s group at Stormont. For it’s clearest expression she bring us back to last month’s Let’s Talk (Video link, about 29 minutes in). She notes: A telling line on the Let’s Talk programme was his “this isn’t simply an opportunistic thing” admission of the element that blighted his chance of taking the high moral ground in Stormont. On …
According to P O’Neill (the blogger, not the IRA) the accusation that Martin McGuinness was a spy first emerged officially through Commons previlege. It has of course been a topic of conversation here on Slugger since ‘Martin Ingram‘ floated it about the time of the outing of Donaldson as a British spy before Christmas. It’s clear he is still out to ‘get’ McGuinness. However, investigative journo Michael Smith has an interesting line on Ingram’s theory:He goes back to Ted Heath: …
According to Professor Henry Patterson speaking to an Irish Studies conference in Spain recently, Sinn Fein lent heavily on a local IRA unit to disband, because its activities put its attempts to broker a common nationalist front with the SDLP in jeopardy. His address made reference to the IRA in Fermanagh carrying out a number of widely condemned killings including the Enniskillen bombing in 1987 and the shooting of Jillian Johnston, a 21-year-old Protestant girl sitting in a car with …
There’s quite a few angles on the implications for the UUP of the attempted murder of UVF man Mark Haddock. Henry McDonald muses on how long it can be until UUP meltdown, given the Loyalist paramilitaries (despite the undoubted good intentions of David Ervine) are still acting well outside of both the spirit and the letter of the Belfast Agreement.Empey defends his decision on the basis that no one else is working to bring Loyalism ‘inside the tent’. Given Haddock’s …
Although it was written for last Saturday, Alex Kane’s Newsletter column is probably even less welcome today in Cunningham House that it was back then. It speaks for itself.By Alex Kane The decision to bring David Ervine into the Ulster Unionist’s Assembly Group has given me more cause for concern, and more pause for thought, than almost anything that the party has done since 1995. Ervine remains leader of the PUP. The PUP is the political voice of the UVF. …
Martin McGuinness, on the heels of Brian Rowan’s report in the Belfast Telegraph has categorically denied being a spy, and has even accused certain elements within the DUP of promoting the idea. Though it has come to Slugger’s notice that private speculation is not confined entirely to that quarter. Gregory Campbell’s only comment was that he didn’t know, and that no one would likely ever know for certain. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on …
As David Vance points out the Sunday World story on Martin McGuinness is now moved to the Daily Telegraph, who appear to have had sight of the same document the Sunday World had. McGuinness is not named in the document, but former British spy handler ‘Martin Ingram’ claims that the code name J118 refers to him. So far it is simply one man’s accusation against another. But whatever it’s veracity, it will do McGuinness (one of Sinn Fein’s most able …
Don McKay tells Clare Regan his version of how he came to resign from the Parades Commission: “…the story broke and I was made a pawn in a wider political game. I have been battling on three fronts. The SDLP and Sinn Fein were both demonising me. It’s been made out that I told a complete bundle of lies, like I didn’t even know Dolores or David. That’s not the case,” Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has …
Ian Paisley will not be attending the funeral Mass for Michael McIlveen today, although he has just conveyed his condolences in the Westminster parliament this afternoon. In the same session, Mark Durkan also noted that the sight of Celtic and Rangers shirts imprinted with Mickey Bo (the dead boy’s nickname), was indication of a hopeful future in the midst of tragedy. Martin McGuinness will attend, as will the current DUP Mayor of Ballymena, Tommy Nicholl. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor …
