In Irish politics it is known as a stroke - an act of bare-faced hypocrisy which wrong-foots your opponent. As strokes go, the Ulster Unionist Party’s decision to cosy up to the Progressive Unionist Party in order to deny an executive seat to Sinn Fein takes some beating. Adding former Ulster Volunteer Force bomber David Ervine to the UUP’s 24 MLAs elected by Northern
My condolences to the family of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition (NIWC) who died peacefully in her sleep this week. I never supported the Coalition myself but neither did I bear it any ill will. A the time of its passing, it seems right to find a few nice words to say about the deceased. To me, the Coalition symbolises a more optimistic time, when la
As the years progress I find myself less able to summon up the fury which once propelled me. I have become afflicted by the disease of on-the-one-handism whereby I feel inclined to see things from other people’s point of view and accept that they may have a point. I am indebted then to the Church of England for causing me to swear at the TV for the first tim
History class with Russell Teacher May I therefore be the annoying swot at the front who puts his hand up to point out to the class that Jack Straw was not sacked, he was demoted to Leader of the House.
BakerStreet, "The sources of tension are many - oil, Iraq, Israel, ideology, religion. If Iran announced today that it was scrapping plans for an oil exchange, would the stand-off with the US magically disappear? Of course not." Before making sarcastic remarks, it helps to actually read what you are criticising. Your argument that currently high oil prices prove that the US invasion of Iraq was not about oil is absur
Slowly but surely the war drums beat louder between the US and Iran. Last weekend the celebrated American journalist Seymour Hersh claimed the US had drawn up plans to attack the Islamic Republic's with nuclear bunker-buster weapons. Iran has been refered to the UN Security Council for "defiance" of its international obligations not to develop nuclear weap
The taxes which low paid private sector workers pay go towards a multiplicity of things. The vast majority of their taxes do not go towards supporting "average/low paid workers in the public sector who feel they are entitled to retire at 60 because they pay subs to a bellicose trade union." Even if public sector workers were taken outside and shot on their 60th birthday, it would have very little effect on the level of taxation.
Mr Locks, For the record I am not now, nor have I ever been, a socialist worker. As for your argument, it basically goes like this: "People get treated like shit in the private sector so it's only fair that public sector workers also get treated like shit" Hardly a stirring vision for humanity.
Last week saw the fulfilment of a lifetime’s ambition as I attended a picket in the People’s Republic of South Yorkshire. From the perspective of the grubby-fingered trader in human misery I am becoming, Barnsley Town Hall 2006 was not Orgreave 1984. There were no cavalry charges to spice up my copy, just half a dozen strikers offering tea and gentle teasing. <B
Only in England could a leader be in danger of losing power because he sold admission to an exclusive club to those with the money to pay for it (the word ‘allegedly’ apologises for its absence from this sentence). This week’s scandal enveloping Tony Blair’s government concerns ‘cash for peerages’. Facing a financial crunch in the run-up to last year’s gen
I'm Irish born and bred (and proud). I don't really celebrate Paddy's Day. It's really a day for the diaspora rather than us native born. We're Irish for 365 days a year, not one.
This week was one of those rare occasions when I felt sorry for the British prime minister. The media furore over Tony Blair’s remarks about God on the Parkinson show has been unfair. It is simply wrong to insinuate, as some papers did yesterday, that the PM said that his disastrous Middle Eastern adventure had been endorsed by the Big Guy. He said no such thing.
What is it with New Labour and money? For years senior government ministers have seemed obsessed with hoarding personal wealth. First there was Peter Mandelson who used a millionaire snake to climb the property ladder. Then there was David Blunkett doing a bit of consultancy during his gap year. Now it’s Tessa Jowell’s many mortgages. The common th
For those of us who lived through the Drumcree stand-offs of the 1990s, along with the fear and the tension of those days, there was also the base comedy of it all, the sheer ridiculousness of a society brought to a standstill by this little local difficulty. Much of the mirth stemmed from the obvious mismatch between the slick PR of republicans against the
My anonymous friend, I have been blogging on Joeuser since 2003. I need no advice about the site's nature.
Absent from most of the coverage of the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election result was any analysis of what it meant for Britain’s newest political leader, David Cameron of the Conservative party. Here in the UK, Mr Cameron’s every utterance and gesture is greeted by gushing press coverage from a media infatuated with its latest plaything. Aged just 39 an
I wrote this in a blog about secularism a few months ago, it deals with the issue of political correctness as raised by MythicalMino: "Why then is the left reluctant to defend secularism? Unfortunately the much-maligned political correctness is to blame here. PC, in so much as it puts sexist, racist, bigoted and homophobic language beyond the pale of acceptable discourse, is a noble idea. But where it goes awry is in the elevation of inof
Thanks all for your comments. DJBandit, What is it you find unclear? MythicalMino, The title is a generic start to a punchline to a religious joke. It could just as easily be "And Then Buddha Says..."
I just did a word count on this. 666 words. Freaky.
A few months back an English newspaper published a cartoon showing the president of the United States of America buggering a camel. Now I fully accept that some people may find such a drawing offensive - to camels. However, political cartoons sometimes have to be blunt, crude even, to get their point across. It’s the nature of the medium. A few of the now
That was clear as mud.
You were both born in the same year.
It was a poor week for the conventionally wise. Virtually every article I have read about the Palestinian elections has described the result as "a shock". The vast majority of the commentariat have been caught flat-footed by Hamas’ thumping victory in last week’s poll. Am I alone in feeling that the result was no shock at all, that in fact it has been coming for a lon
I used to be a Scout. Dont remember pledging to keep the white race pure. I did have to pledge allegiance to God and the Queen but I had my fingers crossed
Wise words, Furry. "It never ceases to amaze me that there are British citizens that despise their own history" LG, I don't despise British history at all. In any case, I am not British, as anyone who actually read my article would have realised.
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