The following is the philosophy of Charles Schultz, the creator of the 'Peanuts' comic strip. You don't have to actually answer the questions. Just read the article straight through, and you'll get the point. 1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world. 2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners. 3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America. 4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize. 5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winner for best actor and actress. 6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners. How did you do? The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are...
His words can make stock markets quake. They pushed house prices down further when he failed to quash rumours of a cut in stamp duty. Yet here is that flinty character Alistair Darling confessing all to one of the most winsome women in the interviewing business, Decca Aitkenhead of the Guardian.
Confesses the Chancellor: “We knew the economy was going to slow down.” But he hadn’t the faintest inkling of the financial crisis about to unfold before him? “No, no one did. No one had any idea.”
“The economic times we are facing “are arguably the worst they’ve been in 60 years,” he says bluntly. “And I think it’s going to be more profound and long-lasting than people thought."”
“In the space of 10 months...
Every so often a ‘Battle of the Bands’ pops up on the radar, each one to be better than any before it. Last Standing with its emphasis on war rather than battle, may prove itself to be stronger than its predecessors of the genre of musician competitiveness.
Last-standing.com Is a social networking site for Northern Irish bands; trying to build networks between bands in NI to strengthen our collective position in the music industry. Also runs a Battle of the Bands which is open to entrants right now, heats are on around NI to to determine the finalists, the finalists will then battle for a chance to win £2000’s worth of prizes, including:
- cash prize
- demo recording at Shabby Road studio
- 100 copies of the demo
- expert advice from those in the music and promotion...
It’s wonderful how a little detail can scale down a story as a day develops...UTV and The BBC’s Mark Devenport report that changes to the “massive” strategy development document Conor Murphy failed to bring back to the Executive for clearance amounted to around “150 changes, many involve references to “Northern Ireland” being changed to “the north".” Are you being serious, First Minister? The air is going out of this story’s balloon. Sinn Fein ministers may well have a case to answer on possible breaches of the ministerial code by stalling on the prescribed fortnightly Executive meetings and much else, like the failure of Martin McGuinness to clear 30 papers for discussion by the Executive. ( see my...
It appears it is not easy to find a grave for an atheist in Donegal. There is no municipal graveyard and Roy Greenslade had been informed that a religious service would be required to use the various church graveyards (although this advice may have been mistaken). So instead his atheist mother’s remains were brought across the border and buried in Londonderry. Derry City Council has different designated areas for different religions within its graveyards but none for atheists, when asked where she would be placed a graveyard official said:
“...we’re putting her in with the Protestants.”...
Northern Ireland comes second among the four parts of the UK in the amount spent per patient, according to a breakdown just published by the respected Health Service Journal.
“Huge contrasts found between UK nations. Patients in the UK’s four nations have dramatically different experiences of the NHS.”
Scotland came highest in spending per patient at £1262, compared to NI at £1214, Wales at £1186 and England £1,086. NI has the second highest ratio of GPs per 1.000 patients, 0.63 compared with Scotland’s 0.76.
Among the comparisons:
Same day admissions discharged
43% rise in the proportion of emergency admissions discharged on the same day in England between 2004 and 2007.
In Wales the rise was 34% and 12% in Northern...
Breaking news... The Belfast Telegraph is selling hard the story of deepening crisis in the Executive, although as I type, nobody else seems to have picked up this latest twist. Peter Robinson’s charge is constitutionally a serious one, that the Regional Development minister SF’s Conor Murphy breached the code of office by failing to bring a “ massive” regional strategy to 2025 before an Executive meeting.
“Mr Robinson said he wanted an immediate Executive meeting to deal with the issue before it becomes a matter for the courts.”
In political terms, it’s clearly a straight challenge to Sinn Fein to come in or get out. Quite a gambit. Yet how does it square with yesterday’s story of a meeting with SF next week to try to...
Have you ever heard of Blanchflower ? You have now. To most of us, the name conjures up fond memories of two great Belfast footballing brothers of the 1950s and 60s. But now there’s a new Blanchflower – David. (no relation as far as I know). David Blanchflower moves into history as the first member of the Bank of England monetary policy committee (MPC) to break ranks and give a stark warning of deep recession – in public. You aint seen nothing yet, is his jist.
He forecasts 330,000 more people losing their jobs by the end of the year – banks and construction firms being the first to lay staff off. He’s got some evidence on his side. As the Guardian reports: “Fears of recession this winter intensified.. with High street sales in Britain...
WELL, dunno about you but I’ve just watched Obama give what was billed as the speech of his lifetime. And what a show it was from a gifted orator. Was it enough to make him the next US president? I think that’s another matter, but tonight was a night in which Obama set out his stall - not in any great detail, but with an appeal for change and a vision for the future that will attract many undecided Americans. I’m not sure that it’s enough though…
A few stream of consciousness notes…
Obama tried hard to portray John ‘How many homes do I own?’ McCain as out of touch, with many appeals to the middle classes. Healthcare and education were prominent in his thoughts, and he tried hard to side with workers as opposed to big business....
Three cheers for that bureaucratic pain, but first defence of human rights section 75 for taking Gay Rights to the top- even creating a ruffle in the Robinson household perhaps? And two cheers for the Belfast Telegraph for digging out the story under FoI ( great headline guys, you kept it simple). And to Pink News for, well, celebrating the news.
“First Minister to authorise grants despite wife’s outspoken comments
80,000 to gay groups within the next seven months — despite his wife’s controversial views on homosexuality.”
Officials have also confirmed that Stormont grant-aid totalling £100,000 was allocated to the gay sector during Ian Paisley’s period as First Minister.
It has further been revealed that money from the Office of the...
In his column in the Irish News today, the always stimulating Brian Feeney raises one of the major issues emerging out of the population study I referred to frivilously on Tuesday. He in effect poses a 64,000 euro question: should government ( whatever that is these days ) abandon the fiction of one community and break it down into a range of different social and sectarian profiles?
“What is needed from the devolved administration at Stormont is a set of policies to take account of the different population profiles in the Catholic and Protestant communities, to answer their different needs and stop following the outdated NIO mindset of trying to pretend that everything here would be OK if everyone started behaving as if they lived in England”.
I want to be...
As August comes to a close, we announce the last couple of Slugger Awards categories. The late David Ervine MLA might have been an obvious and popular candidate for this award – because of his ability to transcend the normal babble of day-to-day politics, to cross from the boundaries of his Loyalism (he often polled as the most trusted unionist, by nationalists) and to communicate articulately (some commented that he often spoke too articulately, and teased about his having ‘swallowed a dictionary’. I know more than one colleague who signed up to http://dictionary.reference.com/ for their learned ‘word of the day’ in Davy’s honour!)
So, you have 108 to choose from – leaders, ministers, speakers, humble backbenchers, they come in all shapes and...
This Sunday sees the first Old Firm of the new season kicking off.On the pitch Celtic appear to have a few injury worries. Most notably prolific hit man Scot Mc Donald and big Jan, and now it seems the Prodigal Shaun, who set Parkhead alight on his return last week (which I was privileged enough to see). I think an awful lot of this is media hype, and I think that the Hoops should ease past the despondent Gers side. Their display against Falkirk was magical at times, with Samaras even grabbing himself a brace!More interesting will be the abuse the Gers fans direct at the Parkhead faithful. Over the years the situation has got progressively worse. It started off with the naked sectarianism of chants such as the Billy Boys, moving onto the racist monkey chants at Balde and now culminating...
I see that Wee Willie has came to the rescue of his FAIR crony William Wilkinson.The former DUP representative in Ballymena, was yesterday charged with raping and attempting to rape a woman. Wilkinson vehemently denies the charge and was released on bail by a high court judge yesterday.However at this point I must point out that I support the due process of the law. Being charged is by no means a sign of Wilkinsons guilt. He could very well be innocent. Only time will tell.Wilkinson was granted bail after the High Court heard that wee Willie was acting as surety for Wilkinson.Now if Wilkinson is proven guilty of the charges this leaves wee Willie in quite a quandary. Firstly he will have bailed out a rapist. Secondly he will have had a rapist as an integral component of the FAIR project....
Great to see that Ballymoney is right up there almost with Japan in the world tables of life expectancy. It’s not a comparison we’re used to, but we can make the link if we compare World Health Organisation figures out today with Irish Public Health institute results last week.
Their quality of life is so high in the north Antrim Shangri-la that men can expect to reach an average age of 78.1 years; while women live, on average, to the grand old age of 82.4.
The average life expectancy for the whole of Northern Ireland, stands at 75.9 years for men, and 80.6 years for women.
The all-Ireland life expectancy is 75.6 years for males and 80.6 years for females. “
So it would seem the Celtic Tiger’s slightly greater prosperity doesn’t give them the...
The fate of Aer Lingus ‘s Belfast hub, launched with such a fanfare only a year ago in a highly controversial move from Shannon must now be in the balance as the airline posts frightful losses of 22 million euros. And with a “3-figure” million loss possible for 2009, as chief financial officer Sean Coyle admitted today.He added that the company’s cost per passenger is roughly double that of rival Ryanair.
With fierce competition raging between all airlines flying in and out of Aldergrove and City, it was a stinging blow to to reveal that after all the rows with staff in the Republic, Belfast passengers numbers were 60,000 behind their abandoned Shannon/ Heathrow link.
Aer Lingus sold just 176 seats on its Belfast Aldergrove to London Heathrow...
Here’s a topic to stir the blood.. Oliver Cromwell is the subject this week of a major reappraisal by Irish historian Micheál O Siochrú and the main feature of the BBC History magazine. I can do no better than let the excellent Fintan O’Toole introduce him, quoting his Observer review:
“Even in these times, when all the talk is of putting history behind us, the easiest way to tell the difference between the Irish and the English is to utter the word “Cromwell.” Is Cromwell merely a folkloric bogeyman for the Irish?
Given the dominant mood of contemporary Irish historiography, one almost expects Micheál O Siochrú’s forensic and fastidious account to conclude that Old Ironsides really had a heart of gold. The...
The éirígí website has provided footage of the RUC/PSNI house raid believed to have lead to the disturbances in Craigavon.
“I was outside the family home when the raid began and I was inside immediately afterwards speaking with the family, who are close friends of mine. The reality of the RUC–PSNI was here for all to see in broad daylight and the residents of this estate remain justifiably suspicious of the force”
ADDS: This may inform some of the discussion here on how the disturbance in Craigavon started and dispel some of the claims on what/who initiated the violence. ...
Expect the blogging here to be even more erratic over the next couple of weeks as we take the show on the road: as of tomorrow it'll be coming from France, as I immerse myself in the local culture (trans: drink my weight in vin rouge). Might get messy. Expect...
Saw this over at Newsarama and had a chuckle:Screenwriters Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay (Aeon Flux, The Tuxedo) will pen Columbia Pictures’ adaptation of Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s series The Boys. Columbia optioned the comic back in February. [The Hollywood Reporter]It must be disheartening when the writers entrusted to adapt your book are clearly a pair of idiots. Ennis must be sitting at home (or more accurately, in some dive of a bar in New York), wearily thinking "couldn't it have been William Goldman or Andrew Davies, just this...
200 orgasms a day is probably not cool after while, but what about collapsing every time you laugh? Or actually being allergic to modern technology, that’d be a bit shit.
Some cool kids furniture, not so sure how practical the accordian dresser is though.
Some stunningly beautiful motion blur photographs.
Common sense is just plain lacking in some people.
Hot Chicks with Douchebags. This is what the internet is for.
Canon 50D specs leaked, then announced. I cannot afford any of this but its still fun to ogle.
Banksy’s opinion on advertising.
A very relatable comic, thanks noclarity.
A very cool optical illusion. Just a bunch of squares.
Ubiquity looks like a very cool app. I need to read the tutorials though.
Lots of pretty rainbow colours.
I actually think I’ve been...
The “casus belli” - not the cause as is often wrongly thought, but the opportunity for war, is always argued about furiously after the chips have fallen. Did the Georgians start it or did they fall for a Russian trap? Unfortunately, the arguments tend to divide according to where your sympathies lie, even in nuanced, well-informed and well-intentioned commentaries. Thus over Georgia, the Financial Times is clear.
“Most accounts agree that it was South Ossetian separatists who committed the first act of escalation when they blew up a Georgian military vehicle on August 1, wounding five Georgian peacekeeping troops. Georgia responded in kind, killing six South Ossetian militiamen….
FT cont.
“Capt Ivanov and Eduard Kokoity, the pro-Moscow...
Just to be clear: “Eyesight of thousands to be saved after NICE approves drug” applies to Northern Ireland although NICE is of course a UK wide body
The ruling applies to England, Wales and Northern Ireland - the drug is already approved in Scotland.
In Wales and Northern Ireland extra funding was promised to pay for all suitable patients to receive the drug.
Let’s give Iris Robinson a pat on the back for a change for running at least one decent campaign.
February 2007
Mrs. Iris Robinson (Strangford) (DUP): What is the Secretary of State doing to ensure that people have the same opportunity to receive treatment for macular degeneration right across the country? In particular, Northern Ireland seems to be the last part of the United Kingdom to...
Barack Obama’s decision to review the need for a special envoy to Northern Ireland may be overdue on our side of the pond but it’s “completely unacceptable” to the influential Irish-American lobbyist Niall Dowd. Firmly Democratic Irish America is not happy, it seems – suggesting Obama was either bold or rash to raise the issue at the very moment when party unity is everything. This issue exposes a split from the Clinton camp at exactly the wrong time. In March, at the height of the bitter battle of the primaries, Dowd’s paper Irish Voice ran a strong piece slapping down Obama’s lack of experience on Northern Ireland. At exactly the strategic moment, St Patrick’s weekend,
“Clinton’s deputy national policy director Jake...
How good of the Republic’s Broadcasting Complaints Commission to strike a bold blow for freedom and decide not to punish RTE and News at One Sean O’Rourke for asking the harmless question: “Did Biffo Blink?” At least he didn’t use the f-word version of the big fellow from Offaly’s nickname. What a crisis it would have provoked had they found against the broadcaster. Instead of solemnly poring over the case the way such bureaucrats do, they should have dismissed the complaint out of hand as merely frivilous. Not that the UK is immune from stirring up a fuss over lack of reverence to the high and mighty. The sacking of the BBC1 Controller over Queengate was an example of ridiculous over-reaction. These may seem minor cases but...
[This is taken from A Note from the Next Door Neighbours, the monthly e-bulletin of Andy Pollak, Director of the Centre for Cross Border Studies in Armagh and Dublin]This ‘Note’ will contain personal opinions which some strong traditional unionists and nationalists may take exception to - although I believe many ordinary thinking Northern Irish and Irish people will find them uncontroversial. So I should begin with a disclaimer: on this occasion these are my own ideas and do not at all represent the views of the Centre for Cross Border Studies.
Here is a provocative question. What if we already have a kind of a united Ireland – while at the same time continuing to have a kind of United Kingdom? And what if, in this globalised age of small national...
THE IRA : the new IRA is younger , more radical and has seen little of life other than violence.......By Ed Moloney. From 'Magill' magazine, September 1980. A vital element in the new structures is recruitment : the old days when virtually anyone could join the IRA are seemingly over . One IRA leader says that vetting of potential recruits is now so thorough that only 2 out of every 13 applicants are accepted and sent on for training and then placed into the 'cell' structure. The IRA also says that the average age of new recruits is 18 or 19 , an assertion that would seem to back IRA claims that the organisation has passed through the generation gap problem that has always spelled defeat for past campaigns . However , it's clear from a number of recent arrests such as that of an M60...
The most populous country in Europe in 50 years, bigger than Germany. 77 million compared to only 71 million!
“605,000 long-term immigrants arriving in the year to mid-2007. The EU projections show that the wave of migration to Britain, boosting both the workforce and fertility rates, is out of step with many other European countries where deaths are expected to overtake births after 2015”.
And with Ireland (Rep) growing even faster by 50%? Eurostat says it expects Ireland’s population to grow to around 6.7 million by 2060.
Not to be outdone, NI will almost hit the 2 million by 2031, says the Office of National Statistics. So far I haven’t been able to find a smoking gun on sectarian balance.
Here’s how it looks, set in the UK...
Good news! Surely it’s high time for Seymour Sweeney to back off with dignity? Enough damage and delay have been caused. (In any comment about Mr Sweeney or another party, please remember the laws of defamation.) See here for a look at the development plans for the reception area. ...
The Summer Experiment play Auntie Annies on Wednesday 27th August. Then disappear into the night. Never to be seen again.
They said it better than I could
What happens when a band is faced with its own end before it even gets off its feet? Would this knowledge change their plan of action? Could it change the band’s dynamic? Could it even change the music? The Experiment is exactly this: a ‘band’ in its dying days from before you had even heard of them….it is what it is…no strings attached…just creativity. Doing what you can while you can. This is what we decided to make of Summer 2008 and we hope to remind everyone of the amazing things that happen when artists just allow themselves to create.”
The Summer Experiment taking place in Auntie Annies,...