Once again our esteemed MLAs in the Northern Ireland Assembly have managed to pass a motion with amendments that is not possible to enforce. Continue reading “and they’ve done it again in @niassembly – D’Oh!”
For many, the idea that a public park could have more than one set of swings and roundabouts is somewhat inconceivable, but that is just one working out of the divided society in which we here in Northern Ireland get used to. For the last 17 years there has been a so-called Peace Wall up the middle of Alexandra Park. This past week has seen a gate installed in it for the first time. And yes, for once, that gate is actually going to be opened – from 0900 to 1500 on weekdays, and currently only for a three month … Continue reading swings and roundabouts in North Belfast
With the DUP snubbing yesterday’s Belfast Pride event at Stormont, Michael wonders how long it will be before they come on board on the issue of LGBT rights. Continue reading Politician states Pride is ‘totally repugnant’ – when will the DUP learn?
As the English & Welsh Criminal Records Bureau procedures are being revised, so Northern Ireland catches up – let’s hope they can get them to being along the same lines. Continue reading NI plays catch up criminal records review
Updated on 13 March 2011 – thanks to Conor Prendergast
Last night, whilst most of Northern Ireland’s political bloggers were finding out about the stars of the Slugger Awards in the Cathedral Quarter of the city, some 50 or 60 people were observing UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects), aliens, planets, and stars in the Queen’s Quarter.
There was, however, some connexion between what was happening in Hill Street and in Elmwood Avenue. Three of the four of us that had been involved with the Hammering Out of the Slugger Awards were actually in one location and not the other. Guess which three and in which location we were to be found. Continue reading “UFOs observed in Queen’s Quarter”
The proposal that we should have the possibility of bilingual traffic signs in Northern Ireland is seen as divisive. However, I think it could have a much more positive benefit to our country in general.
Until many, mostly political unionists and cultural Protestants, stop seeing any language use other that of English as an attack on being British, we will have a hard job in using any such language. However, as I have said before, and has been said by many, if these self same people would look back in their heritage they would find that they are likely to have ancestors who used Irish, and if not Irish, then Scots Gaelic. Scots Gaelic of course like Welsh is in use on roadsigns in other parts of their so-beloved United Kingdom. In other words, they need to relearn the history of this island and come to the understanding that diversity is often a way of unifying a whole country. Continue reading linguistic diversity should be a positive benefit to all
In Northern Ireland the price of housing one prisoner for one year is £95,000, according to a recent report*: the similar rate in England & Wales is on average £45,000.
The Cost Per Prisoner Place (costs relative to the number of available places for prisoners) is high – at £77,831 – significantly in excess of the comparable position in England and Wales (£45,000) and Scotland (£41,724). The current occupancy level across the three Northern Ireland prisons was 82% compared with 106% in Scotland and 113% in England and Wales. Given the occupancy level of 82% the actual cost per prisoner is significantly higher at £94,804.§
As the report states there are reasons why it should be much more here,
… much of the prison estate is inadequate and according to a number of inspection reports, is not fit-for-purpose. The high security focus of Maghaberry Prison for example – Northern Ireland’s committal prison – means that a wide range of prisoners (remand, fine defaulters, short sentence, life sentence prisoners) are held in maximum security conditions. The decision to separate paramilitary prisoners incurs additional costs. Furthermore, the small scale of the Prison Service and its estate in Northern Ireland means that it does not benefit from economies of scale enjoyed by larger organisations. In addition, the ratio of staff to prisoners in Northern Ireland is almost two and a half times that of England and Wales and prison officers here are paid on average a third more.†
However, there must be reform Continue reading “£95,000 per prisoner per year: reform is much needed to prisons”
A programme for the reform of the whole system is what is wanted. State built and State equipped school buildings in every district; management by a State department of Education… When a thorough system of secular education is advocated it is by many thought that religion is thereby endangered. This is not so. Religious instruction in schools is apt to be a mere routine which does not touch the finer feelings. Religious instruction in the schools has done much to destroy religious teaching in the home. The indifferent parent has satisfied his conscience by delegating some of his most important duties to the schoolmaster. In a country which has no State Church there is no State religion to be taught in the State Schools and it is the duty of the various religious denominations to see that their children get proper religious instruction without unnecessarily sacrificing their secular education and thereby providing third-rate education and routine religious instruction… Continue reading “We’re in a time warp: 1910, 2010, 2110?”
A Pint of Unionist Lite has commented about a post of mine* about the reaction of Anna Lo MLA to the story from Fermanagh about Social Democratic and Labour Party Councillor John O’Kane’s comments on creating a centre ground grouping, I would like to confirm that I made my statements full in the knowledge that some could try to twist my words into saying what they do not.
This can happen to anyone who makes any public comment on any issue.
But, to go back to the original issue that I had then – and still do have – with what Ms Lo was saying, let me be clear about my thoughts on this important issue. Continue reading “Anna Lo: an update… a rather liberal take on what I was saying”
This afternoon, I happened to be in Belfast City Centre as the protest on tution fees was taking place at the gates of Belfast City Hall.
Earlier this evening as Northern Ireland Liberal Democrat Chair I issued a press release. I said: Continue reading “violence in Belfast as the vote loomed – reaction”
Gyronny Herald 