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Wild Woods Of Tyrone
Kilsally`s thoughts on Life, Culture and Northern Ireland
June 24, 2010
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Kilsally
Ulster-Scots enthusiast, born again Christain, Orangeman, Ulsterman, Loyalist, Unionist, Carer, Technician.
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Slugger- IT Poll suggests pre-Christmas Brexit euphoria around Taoiseach is starting to wear off April 19, 2018I’m generally not minded to bother readers with polls unless they tell us something new or challenging. Today’s Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI contains some details I think are well worth noting. Here are the headline figures… Not a lot of change in the general pattern (note that independents still sit on shrinking ground), though as Damian Loscher notes Sinn Féin i […]Mick Fealty
- The civil service must share the blame with the politicians for our faltering administration April 19, 2018Newton Emerson has written a thoughtful piece on that neglected topic, now blindingly exposed by the RHI inquiry, of how Northern Ireland is administered. He had already decided that the region is too small to sustain a comprehensive health service. The inquiry’s verdict on specific blame could be years away. In the meantime, the first overarching theme to […]Brian Walker
- Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government… April 18, 2018This morning I came across this classic clip from The Monty Python and the Holy Grail film. Ever after 40 years, it is still a great send-up of our political system. Enjoy. A self-perpetuating autocracy King Arthur: Old woman! Dennis: Man. King Arthur: Man, sorry. What knight lives in that castle over there? Dennis: I’m 37. King Arthur: What? Dennis: I’m 37 […]Brian O'Neill
- The Border Force row exposes differences between British and Irish citizenship that have to be settled April 18, 2018Leaving aside the delicious irony, I would guess that Sinn Fein are right: the attempt to limit recruitment for the UK Border Force to British passport holders is discriminatory and would be overthrown in court. Why should anyone have to produce a passport for a job in Northern Ireland anyway? This has echoes of the malign Windrush problem. without feelin […]Brian Walker
- We can acknowledge Powell as a significant historical figure, without resurrecting his politics… April 17, 2018The decision by the BBC to broadcast Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech on Saturday was always going to be controversial. The speech, made by Powell 50 years ago on 20th April, had a long-term impact on British politics, and transformed the climate on race relations in Britain. In the speech, Powell spoke out against Britain’s liberal immigration laws, […]Soapbox
- RHI Inquiry: “Dr Crawford I’m not inviting a comment from you, thank you.” April 17, 2018Coming back to Slugger (after a few weeks mostly out of the saddle), the most interesting item appears to be the RHI Inquiry. It is clear Sir Patrick Coghlin does not share the view of previous members of the judiciary that Stormont is a delicate flower. The BBC reports that he… …cautioned the public that if they heard something “sensational” in media covera […]Mick Fealty
- Cowardly attacks on female politicians’ appearance not just the work of social media’s losers April 16, 2018DUP MLA Carla Lockhart has today rightly highlighted the unacceptable nature of personal abuse that was directed at her on social media recently. Comments were directed at her and party leader, Arlene Foster, after the latter had posted a photograph of the pair on Twitter. Lockhart’s intervention was welcomed by Sinn Fein’s Northern Leader, Michelle O’Neill: […]Chris Donnelly
- Only structural change will deliver better education April 16, 2018Maddy Bridgman who is the Public Affairs Officer for the Integrated Education Fund writes for Slugger about the Alternative Manifesto published today by the IEF The Integrated Education Fund (IEF) has published its Alternative Manifesto for education based on the premise that we need to change our education system. Recent research (commissioned by the IEF fr […]Soapbox
- I voted for peace, and all I got was this lousy culture war April 15, 2018I found this week’s 20 year commemoration of the Agreement quite surreal. Maybe it was because I was sick at home in my pyjamas and missed out on the bling of the big events. No basking in the glow of disgraced elderly politicians for me… Instead, I was more struck by how sad and stuck everything feels right now. It feels like we voted for peace, but all we […]Claire Mitchell
- The Future of Referendums: What Role Should They Play and How Should They Be Conducted? April 13, 2018Referendums are now established as part of the UK’s political landscape. They are widely seen as necessary before some fundamental constitutional changes are made. Politicians will continue from time to time to find it useful to manage conflicts by proposing to put certain decisions to the people. Yet, despite their importance, there has been little concer […]QPol
- SDLP to hold special conference on abortion in private April 13, 2018From John Manley in the Irish News; The SDLP has confirmed that next month’s special conference to review abortion policy will be held behind closed doors. The party will hold a conference on Saturday May19 dedicated entirely to abortion policy after it was decided that there would not have been adequate time to discuss the contentious issue at last weekend’ […]David McCann
- “I have no ideological objection to Sinn Féin being part of a government.” April 12, 2018AFTER months of denials that FG would contemplate a coalition, here’s an interesting and telling story breaking today in Dublin… A Fine Gael minister has denied he was slapped down after declaring no objection to Sinn Féin in government, adding that many of his party colleagues share his view. Jim Daly said he spent two hours with Leo Varadkar on Wednesday a […]Mick Fealty
- UUP Advisor recalls how the party eventually backed the Good Friday Agreement April 12, 2018Final word on the Agreement 20th anniversary.The highlight of the week.An eyewitness account told to @MarkCarruthers7 on @bbctheview about exactly what happened inside the UUP room on Good Friday 1998. pic.twitter.com/PIltKjVdL7 — Mark Simpson (@BBCMarkSimpson) April 12, 2018 More here After Tuesday night’s appearance on @bbctheview I thought I would share a […]David McCann
- What’s happening to our health service? April 12, 2018Director of Communications for the health and social care system David Gordon shares his thoughts after six months in the job So where do you start when describing health and social care here? Serious problems are in the news almost every day. It would be wrong to ever downplay those problems. And yet they are not the full story. Great care is still being de […]David Gordon
- Hear My Voice – a cinematic companion piece to Colin Davidson’s Silent Testimony April 11, 2018Hear My Voice is a cinematic companion piece to Colin Davidson’s Silent Testimony, a 2015 exhibition of 18 portraits of people who suffered loss during the local conflict, developed in conjunction with the WAVE Trauma Centre. The paintings are back in the Ulster Museum until Sunday 22 April and the exhibition is well worth a visit.Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast)
- For me and my mum, Belfast was a sanctuary. And we have the Good Friday Agreement to thank for that April 11, 2018Last night, as I sat with my fellow council colleagues listening to President Clinton and Senator Mitchell being awarded the Freedom of the City for their part in bringing peace to Northern Ireland, I thought of my mum. Seventeen years ago in Zimbabwe, we were down to just two (my brother, sister and father all living in different countries) and I was at boa […]Kate Nicholl
- Framing Public Memory: What if a play park was to be named after Michael Stone, Wesley Somerville or Lenny Murphy? April 11, 2018Growing up I was very conscious of my nationalism. It wasn’t that I came from a very political family but my grandfather had nurtured in me a love for History, especially Irish History which I retain to this very day. I grew up with pictures of James Connolly, Patrick Pearse and Robert Emmet adorning my bedroom walls. My contemporaries had the Bay City Rolle […]Soapbox
- Peter Robinson speaks to Nolan about Jim Wells comments April 11, 2018Just a quick catch up on this story; Mr Wells accused party leader Arlene Foster of not standing by him. “Peter Robinson made the commitment that I would return,” the South Down MLA said. “Then Arlene took over as leader and Arlene, as leader of the party officers, ignored my two written requests for that commitment to be honoured,” he added. Former DUP Lead […]David McCann
- Political ferment is reflected in the GFA junketings, but no sign of a breakthrough April 11, 2018Will the DUP and Sinn Fein pay any attention to the eloquent pleas of the elder statesmen to return to the Executive? On the surface the answer appears to be no, unless something is going on behind the scenes we don’t know about. Local politics suffers from elder statesperson fatigue. This generation has learned how to take in their stride the high sounding […]Brian Walker
- Happy birthday Agreement. May you be brought back to health and may you take us all on the road to peace and reconciliation once again… April 11, 2018Twenty years ago this month my wife and I had a child- our first child. As all parents are, we were absolutely jubilant at the birth of our son. Wow! We had created this wonderful, if fragile, thing together! We adored (and still adore) him. A year or so later, I got a call to my work to say that my son was ill. He had a tummy bug and was vomiting. I was ask […]Jim Deeds
- IT Poll suggests pre-Christmas Brexit euphoria around Taoiseach is starting to wear off April 19, 2018
