Ian Paisley – “What did we do to members on those benches over there to be screwed over by this protocol?”

The right honourable member for North Antrim seems a little upset with how the Conservative Government is handling the Northern Ireland Protocol. Some might be inclined to say you reap what you sow, but I could not possibly comment. "What did we do to members on those benches over there to be screwed over by this protocol?" DUP MP Ian Paisley says the Northern Ireland Protocol has "ruined trade" between NI and GB – as he criticises Boris Johnson for …

Read more…

Paisley apology to MPs, DUP and constituents – but none for Sri Lankans

It is difficult, therefore, to avoid the conclusion that the reason why the third visit was registered and the two earlier ones were not, was that Mr Paisley was conscious of the potential embarrassment that would be caused to him were it to become publicly known that he had accepted very expensive hospitality, for himself and his family, from a foreign government accused of serious human rights violations. This key passage from the House of Commons Standards Committee report into …

Read more…

Arlene’s Valentines Day Massacre

Today could not have turned out any bigger a mess for the incumbent DUP Leader and would-be First Minister. If sources are to be believed the Fermanagh MLA was ready to sign off on a deal which would have seen 3 Bills introduced : An Irish Language Bill An Ulster Scots Bill A Joint Respect Bill What has happened since the weekend to put the Stormont train off the rails? A DUP Group meeting on Monday morning, 3 days of …

Read more…

Paisley: hundreds of millions…that would ease burdens in Northern Ireland (updated with Donaldson’s comments on Daily Politics)

This morning’s Independent [not printed in NI, but article available online] carries an interview by David McKittrick with Ian Paisley Jnr on its front page. The DUP’s shopping list has got longer … On the fifth day of electioneering the DUP said to me: stronger controls on immigration and border security, no more bedroom tax, an EU referendum, two percent of GDP spent on defence, and hundreds of millions to ease the burdens in Northern Ireland. The North Antrim MP …

Read more…

Kim Jong Paisley – Photos of the every other day

Remember the Paisley icon posters? Well the local artist TLO is at it again. This time its a mash up of Kim Jong-un and Ian Paisley Jr. The artist says: I’m interested in how people read and respond to the image. A woman in the holylands asked me who was missing? She thought the poster was of a real missing person. Lots of the posters have been defaced or removed. A large number remain in Antrim, Ballymena, Ballycastle and Belfast. There …

Read more…

Paisley Junior: SF ‘content’ for paedophiles and gangsters to run writ across NI…

Oh dear. Speaking in Westminster’s Public Bill committee Ian Paisley Junior has suggested that: Most of the illegal fuel that arrives in the United Kingdom is laundered in Northern Ireland, in south Armagh. It just so happens that it is laundered by a friend of the leader of Sinn Fein, a Mr Murphy. “It just so happens that it was his party that blocked this legislation. I do not know if you are getting the coincidence here, but I am …

Read more…

Paisley: I have nothing to apologise for…

And, it seems the former junior Minister is refusing to apologise for those £10,000 worth of free Assembly envelopes… North Antrim MLA Daithi McKay says he has questions to answer… and it seems he’s getting the same answer his own party gave after the Inkgate controversy… which is roughly, “I didn’t do anything wrong, now mind your own business…” Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the …

Read more…

Ian Junior claimed £10,000 in postage in his six last months in office…

Hmmm… First we had Inkgate, then Inkgate II … Now it’s the DUP’s turn to answer some awkward question regarding a spot of free riding by Ian Junior this time… According to Diana Rusk in today’s Irish News that equates to about 112 letters a day… In response the North Antrim MP said that that estimate would be about right, claiming that “I get 220 letters every single days. My post bag is incredibly heavy – ask my postman.” That …

Read more…

Spirit of St Patrick deserts Armagh for Rio de Janeiro?

In the digital start up, Newry Times there’s a good quote from Conor Murphy on Saturday’s Band Parade on Inside Politics… in which he points to the economic cost of the band parade… Although this seems to have been largely attributable to the bomb hoax left on College Street in the city by person or persons unknown on the band parade route itself presumably facilitating the evacuation and closure of several business that the parade alone would not have effected… …

Read more…