Highlights

Now lets see the colour of the MEP’s money

Andrew Charles on May 15, 2009, 11:10 pm

| Readers 2

Now that the MP’s expenses are all coming out in the open, how about seeing some transparency with regards to Europe? MEP’s receive a generous salary and expense allowance also. Google ‘meps expenses’ and you will find several links to articles written about MEP’s expense claims. From what I can make out an MEP earns roughly £60-70,000 per annum. In addition to this they can claim up to €203,000 (£180,000) as well as £40,800 general expenditure allowance for office costs …

IMC Report linked together

on February 1, 2006, 6:19 pm

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Access the full report Excerpts: 1. IMC on CRJ 2. IMC on PIRA – The good news 3. IMC on PIRA – The bad news 4. IMC on Loyalist Paramilitaries 5. IMC on Dissident Republicans 6. IMC on use of Violence/Exiling, key points 7. IMC on Leadership: Who’s in charge around here? 8. IMC on Leadership, continued 9. IMC Report: Conclusions and Recommendations

Out with the crystal ball…

Belfast Gonzo on September 28, 2005, 8:24 am

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SO where do we go from here? Read on, for a compilation of rambling late night thoughts , mainly about unionism and loyalism but with a fair bit on republicanism. Bet that’s got you hooked…IT’S the wrong question, but since you asked – has the IRA completely disarmed? Well, no-one ever can really know, whether you’re John de Chastelain or Brian Keenan. The offensive materiel will have gone, with heavy weaponry no longer of any real practical military use now …

Just a Mo…

Belfast Gonzo on August 19, 2005, 7:16 pm

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THE former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mo Mowlam, has died. I doubt the she will ever be forgotten, for different reasons, and her unique style was something NI had never experienced before from someone in such a position – remember Mayhew? She was much beloved of many here, although unionists had many problems with her irreverence and perceived sympathy for Irish nationalism. Few will forget her; she got a standing ovation longer than the Prime Minister‘s at a …

Commenting Policy

Mick Fealty on July 8, 2005, 7:40 pm

| Readers 0

Just to keep everybody up to speed, we have introduced a formal policy on what is expected from commenters in the comment fields. It is not intended to curtail honest debate. But it is important to remind commenters that their freedom of speech (which we unreservedly uphold) here on Slugger is nonetheless circumscribed by the law.Commenting policy: 1. We request that anyone wishing to leave comments refrains from posting material which is abusive, threatening or potentially libellous. 2. We reserve …

A backgrounder on the McCartney affair

Mick Fealty on March 17, 2005, 3:31 pm

| Readers 42

We’ve been following this question for some time. Keenly aware that many of our new readers may be coming to the murder of Robert McCartney without any sense of its context, this is a compendium of the outflow from the killing as noted by Slugger’s various bloggers on the hoof.Interestingly, nothing was reported on Slugger the day Bert McCartney was killed, or the day after. At the time Sinn Fein were denying that the IRA had anything to do with …

Northern Bank raid and political fallout, so far

Mick Fealty on January 18, 2005, 5:56 pm

| Readers 19

In what is just under two weeks, Northern Ireland has seen a tremendous amount of journalistic and political activity since the announcement by the PSNI’s Chief Constable that he suspected the IRA was behind the UK’s biggest bank robbery.Although Sinn Fein was emphatic from the beginning that the announcement was politically motivated, commentators were quick seize on the indirect nature of the IRA’s denial. The SDLP asked, given the areas in which the operations took place, who else could it …