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After half a century of bile-spouting, it was going to take more than a few cheesy photos with Martin McGuinness to prove that Ian Paisley had finally seen the light. Actions speak louder than words, and Paisley's refusal to meet Eugene Reavey this week or apologise to him for the sickening accusations he levelled against the south Armagh man shows the departing First Minister's true colours.Mr Reavey's three brothers were slughtered in Whitecross by the brutal Glenanne Gang in 1976. In the immediate aftermath of these brutal killings, a short distance away ten Protestant workmen were killed in equally cold blood by the IRA. Under Parliamentary Privilege in 1999, Ian Paisley made the ludicrous accusation that Eugene Reavey "set up the Kingsmills massacre", despite the fact that he had...

The latest stunt by the DUP and Sinn Féin threatening to pull down the Assembly is a damning indictment of both parties and an insult to the people of the north, yet will conveniently suit both parties' self-serving agendas.With the new regime installed at the helm of the DUP, the party will want to move out of Chuckle Zone given the criticism from the TUV and others of Paisley's jovial relationship with Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin over the past year. Of course, the DUP couldn't just manage this transformation back to the old-school style overnight without good reason- this 'crisis' gives them that good reason. It has created the perfect excuse to create the impression that there has been a chilling of the relationship. They even went so far as to appoint Jeffrey Donaldson as...

This week's announcement by Education Minister Caitríona Ruane that she would be bringing forward new plans for secondary transfer which included an element of examination was interpreted in one of two ways: as a climbdown in an attempt to win support from the other parties, or a climbdown because she realised she couldn't follow through on her "exciting" plans to abolish the eleven plus.It's quite clear that Ruane is crumpling under the pressure- she doesn't know where she's going and has given no indication of what her plans are. If Margaret Thatcher was the Iron Lady known for not turning, then it's becoming apparent that Caitríona Ruane is the Tin Foil Lady. After all, her plans are shapeless and amorphous, lightweight, crumple under any pressure and are easily torn apart.And if...

A decade has passed since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, and things have changed utterly since then for the people of Northern Ireland. Of course, they could have changed a lot earlier had the extremists now in power endorsed the Sunningdale Agreement in the 1970s, but the track record of those slow-learners is now the stuff of the history books.I read Peter Robinson in the News Letter the other day pouring cold water on the Good Friday Agreement, claiming it was a failure. In reality, of course, today's Assembly and governmental institutions are based almost wholly on the 1998 document. The St Andrews Agreement was nothing more than a stage show, a mere poor imitation of the Good Friday Agreement organised at the taxpayers' expense to give the impression that the DUP and Sinn...

In a move which some will see as an attempt to emulate Sinn Féin's ill-fated 'unionist outreach' charade, the DUP is to create an 'explorative' Irish Language Unit to examine how the island's native tongue can be sidelined handled in a way which is consistent with unionism.Clearly this is as a way for Paisley's party to portray itself as somewhat progressive without having to actually concede anything to the Irish language.However, this shouldn't come as such a big shock. After all, at the Ulster Unionist Convention of 1892 in Botanic Gardens, 20,000 delegates were greeted by the banner 'Erin go Bragh', which appeared on the pavilion, surmounted by a harp and shamrocks.Wonders never...

Rumours have been circulating for some time that the end of Ian Paisley's political career was nigh, and today we got confirmation from the horse's mouth that indeed the DUP leader is to resign from the office of First Minister and from the position of head of his party.It's not really any surprise that the comments from some quarters have practically ignored the decades of frustration that Paisley caused for democrats in the north of this country. Indeed, Martin McGuinness led tributes to the North Antrim MP, offering such glowing references that one would almost think that Sinn Féin are to write to the Pope asking that Paisley be considered for beatification. Perhaps it suits all concerned to airbrush out the full horrors of the past.There are also those who are congratulating Paisley...

DUP leader Ian Paisley has announced that he is to resign his position at the head of his party and as First Minister in May.He is to remain on as an MLA and MP for North Antrim.More to...

In a shock result, the Ulster Unionist Party has retained its seat on Banbridge District Council after a bye-election in the Dromore area. The DUP, which had forced the bye-election following the resignation of UUP councillor and former rugby player Tyrone Howe, thought it would be a walk in the park. But they hadn't budgeted for the arrival of Jim Allister's Traditional Unionists on the scene.I was on the ground in the area last night during polling. A lot of people were of the opinion that TUV transfers would go back to the DUP and see them over the finishing post in first place. However, the animosity between the DUP and the two smaller Unionist parties was palpable, and I must admit I had a strong suspicion that the TUV would extract enough support from erstwhile DUP voters for the...

After months of bizarre delay over the appointment of a Victims' Commissioner, it now transpires that four will be appointed. Quite why this has happened remains to be seen. The DUP's Jeffrey Donaldson claimed on today's BBC Politics Show that there was enough work to justify this many people being appointed. Perhaps, but why wasn't this made clear at the outset? After all, such an argument wasn't raised at the time of Bertha McDougall's appointment- the DUP seemed quite happy to have gotten 'their' woman into the post at the time.I think most of us would be forgiven for thinking that perhaps this odd outcome is the result of the DUP and Sinn Féin not being able to come to an agreement over who ought to have been appointed Commissioner, so they decided to appoint a whole pile of them to...

I don't often bring up the issue of religion on this blog as it's not something I care to speak of much- live and let live, I say. However it is hard to ignore the blatant intolerance displayed by a DUP apparatchik on RTÉ radio this week.Wallace Thompson, who is an advisor to DUP enterprise minister Nigel Dodds, said on air yesterday that the "Pope is the Antichrist." He also told the radio phone-in that he would oppose any visit to the north by the Pontiff.If a senior official of a governing party anywhere else in Europe spouted this verbal detritus, there would be public outrage. Yet here in good ol' Northern Ireland, we're just supposed to accept this kind of anachronistic nonsense as if it were somehow normal. Not only that, but if we dare to criticise Paisley's party and its clearly...

Jim Fitzpatrick has an amusing article which highlights how Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness have more in common than a shared inane propensity to giggle like schoolgirls when they come within a mile of a TV camera- it seems they may both have a rather embarrassing time as they lord it up in first class on their trip to America.The visa waiver form, which visitors from the UK and Ireland complete to avoid having to apply for a visa, has a number of questions about the applicant's past that most of us could answer 'No' to. That's not the case with the Chuckle Brothers though.One of the questions asks: "Have you ever been or are you now involved in espionage or sabotage; or in terrorist activities?" Given Martin McGuinness' involvement in the IRA, his conviction in 1973 after being caught...

You've got to hand it to Martin McGuinness- for someone without RADA training it must have taken some skill to keep a straight face yesterday when he described the SDLP and UUP as the "problem parties". Clap, clap, clap. Bravo.Perhaps Mr McGuinness suffers from amnesia (probably useful given his past), but if he casts his mind back just a decade, then he will see what real problem parties were, including his own- on one side we had Sinn Féin advocating the resurrected campaign of terror being waged by the IRA and refusing to condemn provo killings, and on the other we saw the DUP refusing to entertain the idea of sharing power with nationalists and displaying just about every sectarian cliché in the book. The only problem with the SDLP and UUP for Sinn Féin and the DUP in the current...

Over the course of the past few months it has become clear that the tight grip of power that Ian Paisley once had on his 'flock' is loosening. Just last week it was revealed that he will be stepping down as leader of the church he founded, and now eight DUP councillors on Coleraine Council have backed a move to oppose DUP Minister Arlene Foster's plans for the Giant's Causeway.The councillors in question supported a proposal by SDLP Councillor John Dallat backing the original government plan for the development of the Giant’s Causeway. The proposal was seconded by the DUP mayor Maurice Bradley.The proposal reads: "This council supports the original government backed planning application for the Giant’s Causeway lodged in 2002 and conveys our concerns to the Minister for the...

Well, I couldn’t let this week pass without some comment on the restoration of the Assembley. Is this the beginning of a bright new future for Northern Ireland? That was the burning question yesterday. It’s really too early to tell, but surely the signs are hopeful? I’m not sure what to make of Ian Paisley in the role of First Minister. Let’s face it, the man made his career out of opposing whoever held this (or equivalent) role in the past. In bringing down just about every ‘moderate’ attempt at peaceful governance, Paisley was the anarchist, the mixer, the organ grinder. He effortlessly roused the passions of paranoid Protestants in bigotted tirades against Catholics/Nationalist or anybody who looked at him squinty. And now he’s the head......

It was with sadness that I learnt of the death of Vera McVeigh, an 82-year old Donaghmore, Co. Tyrone resident. On the face of it, Vera was a normal, decent, family woman. However, like many other similar such people, Vera was bereaved when her son was murdered by the provisional IRA. Not only that, but the provo child killers who slew her son buried his body in secret. It was Vera's wish that she would get her son's body back to give him a decent burial before she herself died. Unfortunately this simple hope was never realised.The 'people' behind this terrible crime are below contempt. There was absolutely no justification for the murder of this young man, still less for the hiding of his body.The same goes for other murderous thugs such as those in that great slur on the good name of...

Today is 8th May 2007: D-Day. Of course one could debate whether the 'D' stands for 'Devolution' or just 'Delay'- after all, we were in this position in 1998 but some parties failed to recognise the real opportunity we had at that time to make a real difference to people's lives here. Never mind.It has been a bizarre spectacle in recent weeks to see Paisley and the Provos practically salavating at the idea of governing together- all being well, this apparent goodwill will be carried forward to the executive table. After all, a battle a day will not result in any victories but merely bruised political egos and delay in delivering on the issues which affect people's daily lives.It will also be interesting to watch the SDLP and UUP- finally released to some extent from the burden of carrying...

Seeing Ian Paisley, the representative of everything wrong with my tribe, and Gerry Adams, the representative of everything wrong with his, trying it seemed to find a “final solution” to the “Irish question” - was for me not surprising. It was what both Sinn Fein and the DUP wanted all along, not peace necessarily, but power - the former to join Northern Ireland with the Irish Republic to fulfil the “1916 prophecy” and the latter to “keep Ulster free from Dublin interference”. Two polar opposite positions have now been brought to the middle ground, which sounds good for Tony Blair and Peter Hain, but is not the reality as far as I can see. Of course I welcome any move to bring our province into the 21st century, and peace is what I desire,...

As mentioned earlier in my post about the assembly ministries, Sinn Féin’s South Antrim MLA Mitchel McLaughlin appears to have flown in the face of his party’s apparent opposition to water charges by claiming that people will pay the "legitimate cost" of running water to their houses.On UTV news last night, McLaughlin said: "If we separate out the legacy cost and we set in front of people the legitimate cost of running a clean and healthy water supply to people’s houses, people are fair minded, they will pay that."I think the problem lies in the fact that McLaughlin says that people will pay the cost of running the system- the fact is that we already pay for water, so this future cost McLaughlin speaks of is presumably on top of what we already fork out.Following McLaughlin's...

There is no doubting that yesterday’s development which saw the four main parties agree which ministries they would seek in the assembly was a positive step forward- who would have thought that by April we would have seen the Paisleyites and the Provos sitting face-to-face divvying up ministerial seats alongside the UUP and SDLP?The choice of ministries the parties have made generally reflects the tack they will be taking when devolution is restored.Democratic Unionist PartyThe DUP took Finance, Trade and Enterprise, Environment, and Culture, Arts and Leisure. In recent weeks the DUP has been casting itself as the tough negotiator in terms of squeezing cash from a tight-fisted British Treasury- clearly it intends to continue in this role, opting to control the purse strings of the...

And the livin' is easy Fish are jumpin' And the cotton is high Your daddy's rich And your mamma's good lookin' So hush little baby Don't you cry One of these mornings You're going to rise up singing Then you'll spread your wings And you'll take to the sky But till that morning There's a'nothing can harm you With daddy and mamma standing by Summertime, And the livin' is easy Fish are......

I'd like to apologise to readers for mentioning Ian Paisley again.We've had a claim recently by Gary Mitchell that he's been approached to come up with a script for a film on Ian's life. Today we read Now there's a second film about Paisley in the pipeline Straight Faced Productions, a sister company of Straight Forward Productions, is currently is in negotiations with the agent of a...

A hideously rendered but nonetheless quite amusing...

Despite his claims that the March 26th devolution date was "set in stone", NI absolute ruler Secretary of State Peter Hain has agreed to the DUP's call for it to be moved to 8th May.So much for standing firm.But is there any need for a delay? Absolutely not. If the DUP has accepted in principle that it will go into government with Sinn Féin (and the SDLP and UUP for that matter) then it is wholly indefensible to leave control of the north in the hands of unaccountable direct rulers for a minute longer.This new delay is simply the DUP flexing its muscle- there is no legitimate reason for it, but rather Paisley and friends want to show who is boss of the block and that they call the tunes. And yet again, the British have given them exactly what they wanted.Thankfully it seems that water...

It looks like the Beeb are trying an early April Fool with this report DUP leader's life made into film The family of DUP leader Ian Paisley has revealed it has commissioned the writer Gary Mitchell to come up with a movie script about the DUP leader's life. If you've checked out Gary Mitchell's previous blockbusters you'll know why I think this is an early April Fool. Anyway, enough...

I almost let a significant birthday pass without mention this week, folks and I feel bad about it. Someone who has brought much pleasure and enjoyment to the human race turned 80, and - yes - he’s still going strong! Certainly, this great man has caused plenty of controversy in his time, and he is probably loved and hated in equal measure. However, I won’t hear a word against him. Happy Birthday Hef! *You didn’t think I meant this fella, did you?* Hugh Hefner, Ian Paisley,...