Following a series of searches and arrests earlier today, and arrests during the disruption to traffic from road blocks, further rioting has broken out in north Belfast tonight. Although seemingly not on the scale of previous nights, there is one line, in particular, I want to highlight in the BBC report, and it was part of the report before the rioting started Police cleared many protests off main roads, but were told they faced paramilitary attack if they tried to …
According to a survey by QUB, 10% of Northern Ireland 15-year-olds have become regular drug users. Academic’s did a survey of 3,500 young people in the first 5 years of secondary school. The study found risk factors identified for being a regular drug user at 15 included having a risk-taking personality profile, being involved in trouble at school and in delinquent behaviour. Green Bencher
In yesterday’s Daily Ireland Ciaran Barnes questions Unionist assertions of ongoing discrimination adversely affecting Loyalist working class areas. Unfortunately the PDF of the Deloitte report (scroll down) I’m guessing he’s based his findings crashed my own browser when I tried to open it, but you may have better luck. If you do, could someone send me a copy? Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider …
That’s the Grand Master of the Orange Order, Robert Saulters verdict on the three nights of violence. Good to see a recognition of the problem from that source.. Eh? He wasn’t referring to the rioters?.. he was referring to the police?!? *sheesh* and he thinks the Order are blameless?!? *sheesh* [again] Oh, and I’ll just draw your attention to this snippet at the end of the BBC report – The North and West Belfast Parades and Cultural Forum, a loyalist …
In today’s Sunday Business Post David McWilliams takes a deep breath and, following on from his participation in the Leviathan debate on the topic, puts forward an antidote to the blanket hysteria that surrounds the N word. – The N word breaks all the rules. So let’s just whisper it. Shush, quietly now. . . nuclear. That wasn’t so bad, was it? Say it again, nuclear. Yes, nuclear power. Is it time to revisit nuclear power? Given the depletion of …
Today marks the 4th anniversary of the terrorist attack on New York and I can think of no better way to commemorate those who died on that morning than to link to Sheila’s post of former American poet laureate Billy Collins’ “The Names”. Worth noting also, that firefighters in Belfast held their own poignant memorial this morning Pete Baker
There are a couple of threads already up on the violence in Belfast and elsewhere last night, but it’s worth highlighting the comments today of Chief Constable Hugh Orde, whose officers came under sustained attack from petrol bombs, blast bombs and gunfire, as reported here by the BBC.. and the reaction from the Orange Order to those comments.Hugh Orde said, and his comments are included in the online news video at the link – “I have seen members of the …
An interesting list [such things can happen] from Melvyn Bragg – Twelve Books that Changed the World. Although several reports mention the Anglo-centric and, indeed, eccentric nature of his choices it’s still an interesting consideration.. and the Daily Telegraph suggests an alternative list.. of course there’s a TV series behind it.. but that didn’t stop Lord Bragg[as he is now] from having a dig at his former LWT colleague Lord Birt, as the BBC gleefuly reported, “Perhaps he has joined …
One of the better features of RTE’s Morning Ireland (though it depends on the subject matter) is the length of time they give a subject to talk. It provides a more discursive interview than its UK counterpart the (often time strapped) Today programme. This morning they took advantage of Robert Putnam’s visit and spoke to him on his mobile as he was returning to the US on his theories of social capital (sound file). Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of …
Leviathan has a cracking opening debate as part of the BA’s Festival of Science. The BA has had a role in pioneering public understandin of science events, but they are not likely to have had the Leviathan experience before! Hosted by David McWilliams, the panel – comprising Evening Herald columnist and blogger Richard Delevan, TCD economist Constantin Gurdgiev, Green Party TD Eamon Ryan and other guests – will address the emotive and potentially explosive question: “Is Nuclear Power the Solution …
A week-long Festival of Science begins in Dublin today, launched by Micheál Martin – it’s a British Association for the Advancement of Science annual event. Unfortunately the Irish Times chose today to publish an opinion piece by Breda O’Brien, in support of scientific tolerance for the advocates of the new creationism, Intelligent Design[subs req.], which, arguably, displays a distinct lack of understanding of science.Although the majority of the article is centred on a dispute around an editor of a scientific …
Courtesy of the excellent Newshound. The rumours of Newton’s demise have, clearly, been greatly exaggarated – Quite simple really. ‘Love Ulster’ is a terror campaign. Not the old kind of terror campaign, mind you but a new political kind aimed at terrifying people into thinking that all those cows are about to stampede north and chew up our passports. Read the rest here Pete Baker
A COLERAINE couple made medical history today by cryogenically freezing some stem cells from the umbilical tube of their second child in South Africa – genetic insurance policy. They did it in order to treat possible future illnesses or diseases the boy might suffer from. The idea isn’t new for ‘saviour siblings’ (as another NI couple illustrated very recently), but as Marie Foy reports: “What is groundbreaking is the concept of storing stem cells in a perfectly healthy baby in …
Some chilling new figures have been released today. A survey carried out by the University of Ulster and the Department of Psychiatry at the Mater Hospital found that during the worst years of violence, suicides fell significantly but have now risen in a period of relative peace. Researchers believe civil unrest may have strengthened social bonds within communities, and thus “buffered” suicidal thoughts. Green Bencher
Jim Duffy, writing in today’s Irish Times, sets out the challenge for a 21st Century Ireland that claims to be pluralistic – “Editing the awkward bits out of our national narrative”[subs req.] – an Ireland, as he points out, which “loves its history. But it likes one-sided history. The side may change, depending on each generation’s fad, fashion or political correctness.” As he says in his concluding paragraph – The task 21st century Ireland faces is to become genuinely pluralist, …
A fascinating article in the Guardian’s Life section today – let down, unfortunately, by an over-emphasis on current events at the end – about the renowned Trantorian mathematician Hari Seldon’s predictive science of Psychohistory ecologist Peter Turchin’s, of the University of Conneticut, mathematical model of history – detailed in his book Historical Dynamics: Why States Rise and Fall, updated as War & Peace & War out this September. The article includes a great quote from the profoundly anti-deterministic historian Niall …
Now, where was I? *slurp* Oh yes.. The Belfast Telegraph focuses, just about [or is that you? – Ed], on the Northern Ireland aspect of a recent report on the drinking habits of the UK and other European citizens. It seems that drinking wine at home is on the increase *slurp* According to unnamed drinks industry experts, “the demise of the Troubles has fuelled a boom in wine consumption”.. hmm.. AND they helpfully reference a Belfast-based online store, Direct Wine …
[Spotted in the Guardian] A fascinating piece by Robbie Meredith on The Committee On Evil Literature, appointed by Kevin O’Higgins in 1926, and the history of censorship in modern Ireland, on Radio3’s Twenty Minutes on Tuesday – listen here[RealPlayer audio file].. or go here. Interesting contributions from writer John McGahern and Tom Garvin, Professor of Politics at University College Dublin.. over 12,000 titles banned throughout the 20th Century.. but not Jimmy Joyce’s Ulysses.. and while the report ends by pointing …
The Royal Mint have announced an open competition to replace the reverse designs on the 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p and 50p coins by Christopher Ironside, introduced in 1971, and the 20p reverse design by William Gardner introduced in 1982 [ N.B. not the obverse design as the Guardian reports *shakes head*]. You can download the full design brief here.. and, if you want to submit a design, you have until 14 November 2005. Pete Baker
Frank Millar, in the Irish Times, reports the comments of the chief constable of West Yorkshire, Colin Cramphorn, the last deputy chief constable of the RUC and then acting chief constable of the PSNI, from this interview in the Yorkshire Evening Post – A former Northern Ireland police chief has predicted that a united Ireland will emerge in about 15 years but that “it will be like Sicily” with “self-policing” by Mafia-type organisations. Millar picks out some of the comments …
