A Pint of Unionist Lite

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60080376331210355792009-11-25T11:22:59.912+01:00A Pint of Unionist Lite"Resignation is our biggest enemy"O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.comBlogger1398125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-63207848888937222522009-11-25T08:54:00.001+01:002009-11-25T08:54:00.388+01:00David girds his loins...

In the wake of The All Wales Convention report issued last week, curiously enough I was wondering about the True Wales' reponse. Despite Goliath's massive financial and logistical resources pitted against him, I'm pleased to report that the plucky David is continuing his struggle:This website is financed, produced and maintained by volunteers in Wales. No taxpayer, charity or trades union money

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-74547745629621315912009-11-25T04:15:00.000+01:002009-11-25T04:15:00.446+01:00Free the bloggers

Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty NI, is asking for help to publicise the plight of bloggers "locked up and bruised for real" by oppressive regimes throughout the world.You can read more about how you can assist here.

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-18885742020213562552009-11-24T17:44:00.002+01:002009-11-24T17:46:14.540+01:00Bertie's autobiography available at all good bookstores. And Unionist Lite

Advance warning for any of you in Belfast next Thursday:The Bookshop at Queen’sinvites you to meet Bertie Ahern Who will be signing copies ofBertie Ahern, The Autobiography In the Bookshop,Thursday 26th November 200912.45– 2.00pm All welcome.Just make sure he gives you back your pen, that's all I am saying;)For those unable to get to the Bookshop at Queen's have no fear, Mr Ahern's biography now

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-18003093725506982212009-11-24T11:55:00.001+01:002009-11-24T12:34:52.046+01:00Call the bluffer's bluff

From "Bagehot", one of the few commentators at The Economist still worth reading:There is a good reason why Scotland’s other politicians fear Mr Salmond: he is more charismatic and cleverer than them. He is clever enough to realise his chances of getting his referendum are slim and of winning it slimmer; he may well be content to see his adversaries vote it down, furnishing just the sort of

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-54533492931425152902009-11-23T19:55:00.001+01:002009-11-23T20:37:04.737+01:00Wade through the "quiet news day" hysteria and the warning signs are still there....

"SNP hails Cameron hint over election", another bewildering headline in The Scotsman."Hails" is surely a bit strong for the SNP merely acknowledging the fact that David Cameron (post the Ipsos MORI poll) reckons an outright Conservative majority is not a foregone conclusion; this wasn't really that much of a hint either: "I think, frankly, anything is better than another five years of this Labour

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-1480499167133348242009-11-23T07:56:00.003+01:002009-11-23T13:15:37.889+01:00Quote of the day

The perfect DUP conference on Saturday for The Dissenter...: Impressed at Robinson's speech and at conference organisation. And then McCrea started to sing. #DUP09...almost.

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-10857979309059260202009-11-22T15:02:00.000+01:002009-11-22T15:02:00.271+01:00Young Unionist Chairman at Conservative Future Scotland

Michael Shilliday yesterday became the first Chairman of the Young Unionists for forty years to address the Conservative Future Scotland Conference, Chekov has the speech here.One of the advantages to the Conservative/UUP link up, from a Northern Irish Unionist point of view, is exactly this kind of opportunity to exchange and debate ideas and beliefs with likeminded colleagues across the Irish

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-15805202188002917862009-11-22T11:28:00.007+01:002009-11-22T14:31:08.710+01:00A (War)dog inhumanely putdown?

A salutary lesson for all of us involved in political blogging I suppose:A UNIVERSITY has launched an inquiry into the behaviour of one of its lecturers after he used his pro-nationalist blog to mount a vicious attack on the Scottish Secretary, Jim Murphy.Robert Gordon University is investigating the online activities of Bruce Newlands, a lecturer in construction technology at the Aberdeen

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-46114954217753321642009-11-21T13:01:00.002+01:002009-11-21T13:04:12.928+01:00The UKIP and the TUV, a marriage made in heave...Brussels?

The UKIP are putting a line in with "Good guy" Jim and the TUV?Apparently so, more over at Open Unionism!

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-40692872130625070942009-11-20T16:00:00.001+01:002009-11-20T16:00:02.443+01:00I'm back!!!

Yes, I know a bit like Arnie in The Terminator it seems I've never been away but the last couple of months have been comparatively slow here due to work commitments, extended holidays, exploding computers and the like.All now sorted. My three rolling links sections (Friends of the Unionist, Nationalist Insurgency and Other Favourites) have also been updated; they total over a hundred blogs,

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-63349682394895978262009-11-20T14:28:00.003+01:002009-11-20T14:34:07.008+01:00The Future for England?

On Wednesday evening "The Future for England?" conference took place in one of the rooms at the Palace of Westminster.There were four speakers; George Monbiot (Guardian newspaper and environment campaigner) , Peter Facey (Director: Unlock Democracy), Paul Kingsnorth (author of 'Real England: The Battle against the Bland') and occasional communicant of this parish, David Wildgoose (vice-chairman

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-60756776881003818682009-11-19T20:32:00.001+01:002009-11-19T21:04:22.519+01:00The Poppy- what's the Irish language connection?

The Angrytown News is angry. Really Angry. Again. It's November, so obviously this time it'll be the right of people to wear their poppies in public which is disturbing their sense of equilibrium- and obviously,the usual "I've a right to be outraged" mob needs to be requisitioned for their views. But alongside those individuals, the kind who'd complain to the Met Office if the sun set with an

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-17395986134287228602009-11-19T16:25:00.000+01:002009-11-19T16:25:00.275+01:00Quote of the day

An outbreak of honesty from Hugh Henry, the Labour convener of Holyrood's public audit committee:"We all in each of our parties try to outbid each other in promising what we will do, and yet knowing privately that most of that is not possible."A comment followed, no doubt, by embarrassing shuffling of feet, looking at the ceiling, humming and haaing from his fellow committee-members.They'll need

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-44644460021614164252009-11-19T13:42:00.007+01:002009-11-19T14:52:19.081+01:00You scratch my back...and the Montblanc stays

Gordon Brown failed to include any of the legislative measures recommended by the Kelly Report in the Queen's Speech; notwithstanding 30 grand lunch allowances and hotel video channels, the main relevance of the Kelly Report to Northern Ireland is, of course, the end of double/triple jobbing- "the banning of MPs sitting concurrently in devolved legislatures".There are presently 16 Northern Irish

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-66320189409583353712009-11-18T03:45:00.000+01:002009-11-18T03:45:00.534+01:00Look out! There's a conspiracy about!

Who said:But the Catholic hierarchy seems to have disproportionate influence with the SNP government.Not who you'd probably first think. The Church's spokesman reaction was also surprising, "spirited", I think, is the best description!

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-23401036931336643402009-11-17T20:09:00.005+01:002009-11-17T20:40:58.647+01:00"It Takes a Nation of (English) Millions to Hold Us Back"

I’m still (thanks to DW) reeling from what can only be described as a quite astonishing ethno-nationalist diatribe delivered by the Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price.For students of the euphemistically labelled "cultural" nationalist theorists lurking throughout the United Kingdom today it’s a classic:1.The employment of what Conor Cruise O’Brien described as "ancestral voices" to support a present-day

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-49194950852663857202009-11-16T14:57:00.005+01:002009-11-16T15:06:27.717+01:00Quote of the day

Walcome tae the Scottish-Pairlament:"Ye hae mony weys tae mak yir views kent [known] whan ye hae strang feelins aboot issues. This leaflet will help ye finn oot mair aboot the Pairlament and weys tae involve yirsel in its wark.Ye can cam and veesit the exhibition, tak a guidit tour or hae a shot at the bairns ..."Ah, that last bit probably should read "hae a shot at the bairns quiz".Via the Mail

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-79584336444222222912009-11-14T13:03:00.010+01:002009-11-14T20:20:22.970+01:00Nutty Nats go pan-European

Almost beyond satire-The British National Party (BNP) has joined forces with far-right groups in a new European Alliance of National Movements.The movement will not be recognised as a political bloc in the European Parliament, but it might receive EU funding as a pan-European grouping.When I saw that "Movement", the immediate word association in this case was "bowel". And how can a collection of

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-37323310827434161162009-11-13T11:32:00.005+01:002009-11-13T11:44:19.271+01:00The Right Hon Member for W. Belfast's Toronto Poetry Reading

Gerry Kerouac's "World Whimsy Tour" hits Toronto:The auditorium at the Ontario Institute For Studies in Education (OISE) in Toronto was filled with Irish nationalism on Saturday....not filled with a very well-informed "Irish nationalism" it would seem though:Posters with photos of men and women such as Michael Collins, an Irish revolutionary leader and Bobby Sands, a hunger striker who was

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-6027405629941154492009-11-13T09:53:00.004+01:002009-11-13T09:58:11.255+01:00Apathy romps home in Glasgow North-East

The result:Labour - 12,231 votes (59.39%)SNP - 4,120 votes (20%)Tory - 1,075 votes (5.22%)BNP - 1,013 votes (4.92%)Solidarity - 794 votes (3.86%)Lib Dems - 474 votes (2.30%)Total votes cast - 20,595Voter turnout - 32.97%Rejected ballots - 43I really wish now I’d followed my instincts on Tuesday and put that fiver on Labour- I’d have been half a pint better off this morning. Not to worry. Labour

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-61514676412266368112009-11-10T11:41:00.004+01:002009-11-10T11:57:13.546+01:00US Homeland Security confirms we're British

UKIP MEP, Nikki Sinclaire:has secured a pledge from the US Secretary of State of Homeland Security to protect the British identity of UK citizens travelling to the United States.Seemingly a bad show that we're having to rely now on the US of A to protect our national identity but, as per usual from the UKIP, things are not exactly what they may seem...but first, the obligatory dig at Brussels:

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-14924225968748776732009-11-09T13:10:00.002+01:002009-11-09T13:18:13.720+01:00Glasgow NE- all bets (nearly) off?

More bad poll news for the SNP:The SNP has been dealt a heavy blow in the final days of the Glasgow North East by-election campaign with a sharp fall in support, according to polling evidence obtained by The Herald.Respected Scottish polling company TNS-BMRB (formerly TNS System Three) has found a ten-point swing towards Labour in General Election ¬voting ¬intentions over the past six

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-68089944145815871052009-11-07T14:57:00.001+01:002009-11-07T15:56:38.503+01:00Youth against the tired, predictable, stereotypical and cliched.

Another weekend musical treat from the far end of the spectrum to last week's trip to Scarborough Fayre. Today's tune, "Youth against Fascism (It's the song I hate)" by Sonic Youth doesn't actually deliver what the title appears to be offering. Instead it's a clever dig at those who don't bother moving outside the cliched to express their fashionable and often manufactured outrage and anger at

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-73967222632842489682009-11-06T15:30:00.003+01:002009-11-06T16:01:35.683+01:00Great War Portraits

This Remembrance Sunday will be the first with no living British survivors from the First World War- this BBC portrait gallery, based on this book, is a worthy memorial to that brave generation.

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6008037633121035579.post-38669430984392900222009-11-06T15:07:00.004+01:002009-11-06T15:18:49.479+01:00Nationalism = racism?

Despite the dodgy title (whereas the “N” word I think he’s getting at is definitely off the menu in all right-thinking circles, the latte-supping liberals he obviously has a problem with are more than comfortable with the the PCness of certain UK-based nationalisms ), a thought-provoking piece from Ewan Crawford.Are all nationalists racists? No. Are all racists, also nationalists? Not all; I’m

O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203ONeill1912@gmail.com4