An ignorance of certain sensitivities has got me into enough trouble in the past when referring to Our wee province / Northern Ireland / Our Occupied Six / OUR wee country / the North of Ireland / Here … er there. This may help, but I do think that there’s a gap for someone to make a similar video simply explaining … there …. to visitors. Paul EvansLiving in London, working as a trade union official in the film and …
Guscott (booh) and Jonathan pontificate on the BBC. Eddie’s watching Ireland and England in the Guardian. Me, i just read the 14 pages of rugby in the Western Mail every day..rugby nation indeed (it’s as hard to keep up with as slugger…) What’s the tele saying? Ireland not in decline.. hmmm we’ll see. Anyway more predictions please. If France hadn’t got stuffed by Australia then it would be all over by now……but Scotland beat Argentina away in the summer…Wales are …
I’ll get on to a preview later but this seemed to work quite well last year so let’s have another go. 1 point for a correct home win, 3 points for a correct away win, 7 points for a correct draw. Tie break is the total points scored in championship. Fixtures are: 1. Wales v England 2. France v Scotland 3. Italy v Ireland 4. England v Italy 5. Scotland v Wales 6. Ireland v France 7. England v France …
Memorable line from Frazer Nelson of the Spectator who noted on the Daily Politics just now that the careers of all spin doctors end something like this… Guido reckons it is because Coulson’s junior at the News of the World as about to dob him in… Here’s how the story first broke the year before last… Interestingly Steve Richards thinks in the big round of things that this is one of the smaller stories of the day… I’d probably agree, …
Not entirely unexpected, but this would be on of those cornerstone ‘civil liberties’ issues that binds the two government parties at the hip… Damian Green: “This Government is clear that the power to detain terrorist suspects for up to 28 days before they were charged or released was meant to be an exceptional power. This was always Parliament’s intention. “But under the last government it became the norm, with the renewal of 28 days repeatedly brought before the House. This …
The UK’s coalition government has announced proposals to introduce minimum unit pricing on alcohol sold in England and Wales. But with it being a devolved matter, Northern Ireland doesn’t have to follow. Nevertheless, the NI Social Development Minister and the Health Minister have joined forces to announce their intention to launch a public consultation on the issue. Although there is already a wrinkle evident “I am meeting the Irish Minister for Justice and Law Reform Dermot Ahern in Dublin in the …
I’ve just seen that the MyPolice project has moved a bit further forward with the launch of their new beta site. As an idea, it’s been brewing for a while and Lauren Currie outlined some of the thinking behind it (and where it could lead) here on Slugger as part of the Political Innovation essay series a few months ago. It’s an example of what the Personal Democracy Forum’s Micah Sifry refers to as ‘WeGov’ – one of a wider …
A titan of the internet universe, Facebook is now said to be even more popular than google, and is valued at $50 billion after investment by Goldman Sachs. A quick glance over some Facebook profiles, however, and you would question how dumbed down English, cringe worthy tributes to the deceased and shocking status updates from some individuals could be part of such a phenomenon. Debate continues over privacy issues on the site, and while a lot of this will be …
Having pulled together the video round of the Politics Quiz for Haiti back in October, I’m now going through a backlog of DVDs with a political theme. A Very British Coup tells the story of Harry Perkins, a steel worker from Sheffield turned politician is elected as prime minister of a left-wing Labour government. Though the book behind the screenplay was written by Chris Mullins in 1981, it is a peep into a parallel universe to see what might have …
So Paul Chambers has been granted leave to appeal to the High Court over his Twitter Joke conviction, and the hearing should take place sometime between March and June next year. Just to refresh your memory, the whole farago started when Mr Chambers – commenting on disruption at his local airport – said this on Twitter: “Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky …
My first cartoon on Slugger. Give us your captions? For a starter, what about: “Vincent, go to your bed!” Brian SpencerBrian is a writer, artist, political cartoonist and legal blogger. Actively tweeting from @brianjohnspencr. More information here: http://www.brianjohnspencer.com/ www.brianjohnspencer.com/
For a day when it’s -3˚ in Belfast. Slightly off Slugger’s usual beat, but if you missed Alan Yentob’s rather classy (and querky) documentary “Imaginary Man” on BBC1 featuring The Kink’s lead singer and songwriter Ray Davies, try to find the time over Christmas to watch it, or keep an eye out for best bits on YouTube if you’re outside the UK. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on …
It’s worth reading Danny Kruger’s oped in the FT today if you want to get grips with Cameroonism from the inside out: All that Conservatives hold precious, the virtues of responsibility and independence, the habits of tradition and good order, the inclusive dignity of our institutions, are opposed; the benefit we derive from them is threatened by a league of philistines and profiteers, deluded do-gooders and residual socialists, not to mention the more overt social enemies who desecrate monuments and …
Victory to Tweeters! The UK’s Lord Chief Justice has ruled in my favour to tweet in court! Assembly committees please take note. – @EamonnMallie While the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales yesterday issued interim guidance to clarify that “an application, whether formally or informally made [to a judge] can be made by an individual in court to activate and use a mobile phone, small laptop or similar piece of equipment, solely in order to make live, text-based communications …
A Tory MP said yesterday that Northern Ireland should have its own recognised flag, but is it realistic to think that the people of Northern Ireland could ever become united under one flag, symbol and nation? The MP in question, Andrew Rosindell, dressed his dog, Spike, in a union flag waistcoat whilst campaigning during the 1997 election, and is known for being in favour of firearm ownership, the death penalty and the detention of asylum seekers. “Northern Ireland is the …
So devolution looks like producing four different solutions to the problems of student funding, at least in the short term. The latest from Scotland is to charge strangers from the rest of UK so that young Scots can continue to enjoy a no fees regime in their native land. The money follows Welsh students anywhere in the UK, as Dewi celebrates and recommends NI follow. Iain McWhirter may be right, that the SNP may take a political trick with this …
In the not too-distant, we are going to be offered a referendum to decide which voting system we prefer in the UK and Northern Ireland. This is the equivalent of being offered a trial-by-combat to decide who should be awarded a peace prize. There is little evidence that referendums make a vote fair. Nor are they widely seen as a means of forming good policies. Yet they have gradually slipped into the British constitution in recent years without much discussion …
Northern Ireland MPs were united in their comfort zone yesterday to oppose the big rise in university tuition fees, a position said to be endorsed by leading business woman Joanna Stuart conducting a review into the local scene. But what about Queen’s which is committed to keeping its place in the elite Russell Group as a leading research and teaching university? While Peter Gregson the Queen’s vice chancellor has stayed mum as far as I can see, Russell Group reaction to yesterday’s vote …
Great shots of a nasty riot and the stills are a picture editor’s dream. Being at the focus of the students’ wrath inside the besieged Palace of Westminster tempted the normally judicious Nick Robinson (rightly warning here that the story won’t go away you know) into overegging it on the 10, when he said ( I only slightly paraphrase). A few hours ago this was about winning a vote on student fees, which the coalition duly did. But a …
I’m not generally a fan of the mauling match that goes on at Wednesday lunchtime in Westminster, but this is something else… Mark has the detail at Devenport Diaries.. 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
