Writing just before yesterday’s statement, Lindy McDowell looks forward to the end of the Blair and Bertie show. She reckons it’s not much more than lights, smoke and mirrors. A re-run of show-stoppers like the old set-to between Sinn Fein and the DUP over whether the lilies in the Stormont jug should be Easter or orange, may be all people need to remind them of just why they turned off in the first place. It’s very commendable for Blair and …
Daily Ireland reports that Gardai in Donegal have not yet ruled out the possibility that Donaldson committed suicide. If such proves to be the case there will undoubtedly be a lot of egg on a lot faces. Mind you it seems to be only one of a number of possibilities the Guards have not yet ruled out. It seems unlikely, but worth noting for future reference. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts …
Interesting piece from Robin Wilson on Open Democracy, the director of Democratic Dialogue. He maps some of the highly speculative lines of thinking about the Donaldson murder but then suggests that somewhere in the last thirty years
Glenn Patterson wonders why in all of the speculation about who killed Donaldson, most of the analysis ignores the fundamental moral reality that ‘killing touts’ is always wrong. It is, he argues, inimical to the pre-requiste of peace: openness. A few years ago I went into a print shop in Belfast to have a T-shirt made. The T-shirt was a very pale pink. The lettering I wanted was red flock, two inches high. I told the printer the four-letter word …
Brian Rowan former BBC Security Correspondent explores the maverick Republican theory (subs needed): Inside the republican community there were many who wished Denis Donaldson dead. As news of the shooting broke at teatime on Tuesday, one source remarked: “There would be no shortage of people prepared to shoot him.” Indeed, in the words of this source, they would have been “queuing up to do it”. But asked was it the IRA? he replied “definitely not”. Others would not be so …
Yesterday in New York Peter Robinson spoke at a lunch time seminar at the National Committee on American Foreign Policy. He remembers his friend 23 year old Harry Beggs, who died on 25 August 1971, in an IRA bomb attack on the Electricity Board’s headquarters. He notes, “the murder made me angry, left me wanting retribution and very bitter. Over the years, as the grey hairs formed, I have observed from life that bitterness consumes the vessel that contains it …
David Vance expresses some of the ascerbic scepticism felt by many Unionists at any of the explanations likely to arise of the killing of Donaldson. 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
Niall Stanage on the Guardian’s comment for free site, argues that most theories arisings don’t actually make sense when you work them through logically. 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
LIke most of the political establishment, Tony Blair is not rushing to conclusions. But he does point to the intriguing element in all of this: the timing. “The timing of this does suggest that whoever did this wants to derail the peace process. Our response should be to deny them what they want. Sometimes these things can be perpetrated by people in disagreement with their leadership. He added that if the IRA was responsible, it would have “serious implications”. Northern …
Danny Morrison blogs on the Guardian, and wonders why few early speculations gave serious credence to the possibility of British involvement in the killing of Donaldson. Given the ambiguity surrounding his death it allows for any of a number of possibilities. Although it pays to be sceptical about all or any conspiracy theories, nothing at this stage should be ruled in, or out. That’s not to say with the propensity of all sides in this conflict to bury the truth, …
Citybeat has a short profile of the Short Strand born Denis Donaldson. 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 London Independent’s Ireland correspondent is in no doubt, that this was a quinntessential killing of an informer in the time honoured, if ghastly, way. There is no mystery about why he was killed, since the IRA makes no secret of its hatred and contempt for informers and agents in its ranks. Republican organisations have killed many over the centuries, including scores in recent decades. But the question is exactly who killed him and whether his assassination was sanctioned by …
The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee is working on Organised Crime in Northern Ireland. Some of the sections of uncorrected evidence make for fascinating reading, even if it takes them a while to get it up on the site. Here’s a few snippets from concerning the Assets Recovery Agency‘s proposal that its powers be beefed up to make it comparable to the Criminal Assets Bureau in the Republic, and a question from Alisdair McDonnell on why most of the asset recovered …
Gerry Kelly has said Sinn Fein will work the Assembly, but will not participate in any function outside that ascribed to it in the Belfast Agreement. Does that sound like the none too subtle dropping of a timetable for restoration?As is often the case Sinn Fein is notoriously hard to interpret in such tight situations; their statements are often more important for what they don’t say as what they do. On Saturday for instance Pat Doherty sounded as hard line …
I was footering about in the back end of the site looking through the archives when I came across this thread, just days after the Northern Bank robbery. It’s remarkable for the candid, intelligent and largely civil nature of its conversation. 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 Cold War continues. Apparently there’s a battle of wills about to ensue over a poster campaign to commemorate the hunger strikes of 1981 in North Antrim. 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
With the ninetieth anniversary of the both the Battle of the Somme and the Easter Rising coming up this year, the Republic’s government has a number of things in train. Dermot Ahern speaking the Seanad yesterday introduced a report compiled by his Department for Foreign Affairs on 26 Irish born soldiers in the British Army who were shot for desertion during the First World War.Ahern provides the link between the two historic events: One testimony from a member of the …
Polish Radio reports on a campaign against migrant workers living on the Donegall Road. The report cites anti social behaviour, but speculates the real reason may be their religion. The protest took place last week, the day after three houses of migrant workers were attacked. 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 …
Well not necessarily. But the Observer has been through some of the siezed assets of Tom ‘Slab’ Murphy and discovered that the alleged mastermind behind the bombing of Harrods bought a small flat in the exclusive area just behind the UK’s top department store for £80,000 in 2002. At that price in that location, it mustn’t have been much bigger than a broom cupboard. In the same year the cheapest two bed flat in one small town in Dorset was …
Tony Blair’s remarks about Protestant bigots have kicked off a minor furore in Northern Ireland, and some of the most intense verbal frays on Slugger O’Toole we’ve seen for some time. For all our obsession with politics in Northern Ireland, it’s clear that we’re still not greatly skilled in the art of confronting awkward truths. The rest is on Comment is Free. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on …
