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Arlene has offered to help resolve the Enniskillen remembrance memorial. I assume she thinks that she is an honest broker!

Basically calling out the St Michael's trust to embarrass them.

What is the craic there alright?

Firstly I presume they gave the go ahead for a memorial in the first place as it would be bad manners for anyone to apply for something on someone else's property and then to pull the plug!

Is it to do with the size or wording on it as it being alluded to?

Unnecessary too - who cares what he does in his private life?

FFS,
   It's hardly worth talking about..

I see Stephen has finally come out

Where?

'How much it will cost' is a popular refrain, but its short-sighted and misses the point. Over the longer term, a single entity Ireland will be a greater economic unit than that of the current two parts, and everyone will reap the benefits of that. It seems particularly strange that those in the North, currently an economic basket case (and path to which can be directly apportioned to partition), would query whether it will be economically worth it - it would appear to be caution of a dangerous level to settle for what you have when the evidence points clearly to how much better you and your descendants could be doing.

Of course most people will just worry about the short term, and if they're told they'll be £100 worse off next year they won't go for it, but even that won't be the case. The economic benefits will become clearer as the situation develops; it will be in the interests of pretty much all those involved for it to happen, so the UK, Ireland, EU, US, will all pump money in to ensure there is the right vote - in other words a unification dividend will sort out the short term grumblers, and the greater economic power of a single Irish unit will deliver in the longer term

If the U.S.give anything substantial they will want something in return.
Hank in the Rust belt won't want to be subsidising us fornothing

We'll send his bleached chicken and steroid ridden beef to Cork....

It's all of the above.

Brexit brings with it many unknowns and Arlene has in her gift (or maybe wee Nige is the brains of the outfit) to make the wee 6 a gateway between both markets post March 2019.
If she does that and NI becomes economically interesting for global firms to have a foot in both camps then the United Ireland debate will be off the table, the small n nationalists won't be interested.

A hard brexit possibly could spell economic disaster for NI as it's already a basket case within the UK with a good bit of investment coming from the EU. With that cut off then Westminster governments may spend their time fire fighting in the more lucrative home counties to appease their voting base marginalising NI even further.
Then small n nationalists and small u unionists may have their heads turned towards Dublin as somewhere else to put bread on their tables.

[7pm Galway v Dublin (LSHC)]

Saturday, 9 June

7pm Kilkenny v Wexford (LSHC)

7pm Galway v Dublin (LSHC)


Will be in the vicinity and will maybe take that game in.

What happened around the Cup Final last week is further evidence (in my opinion) that 20 years after the GFA we now live in a more divided society than we did during the Troubles.

And it will unfortunately continue to be divided so long as the state reflects only one community.

That's the core issue, that pervades all problems here.

No recognition or respect from the state , never mind unionism For an Irish identity here.

Unionism and the state had the opportunity in the 20 years post GFA to positively promote Irish identity as equal to British identity, which was the basic tenet of the GFA. It still hasn't happened.

This falsely manufactured statelet has had every opportunity for a century , to get its act together , but has failed.

They don't even have to promote it, they just need to let those who want to promote it do just that without putting hurdles in their way.

Haven't seen this posted anywhere yet and not quite sure where to post it so here will do. . . saw this on Sunday morning and must have watched it about 20-30 times since. Rarely does something just nail it and this smacks you right between the eyes it's phenomenal!!

This is America

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYOjWnS4cMY

I've watched that quite a few times now myself.

Brilliant

First time watching is certainly a WTF moment as I didn't know what it was about.



Gotta love the comment "How is this not age-restricted? It literally showed him shooting a guy in the head with blood."

The answer is in the title of the song FFS.

Slightest sign of a bit of flesh there'd be loads of restrictions, but fire away, its' all good.

Sid, do you think he was right to name the two individuals?

Yes.

But they aren't even the individuals who come out of the article worst.

Stupid behaviour and breaches of protocol can and do happen.

The people who come out by far the worst are the people on the club executive.

They're the ones who have really dragged their club's name down.

And all because of pig headed ignorance.

On first glance of the article it does look like the club were at best negligent in its attempts to resolve the issue as prompted to by the Galway Childrens officer to set up a review which the body of the article suggests they never bothered their arses, but the transcript of the call between the chairman and PK suggests that they did but the complainants didn't respond. Three sides to every story.
If I was anything to do with the Athenry club I'd be send Kimmage that correspondence and asking him to ensure that it gets in the public glare.
I get the impression there has to be more to this than a few fucks thrown about by a coach. I'd say the way the club closed ranks early on probably got the parents backs up and then the rule book was being read up on and the phones ringing. The crowd at the hotel for the second meeting is a bit OTT all the same.

I've had parents complain to me about coaches cursing and I'd have had a word with them and that would be the end of it. As Jinxy says some lads may curse but not at the kids directly and even at that there's a whole pile worse you could say to a kid and not curse. It's all to do with context which is lost in all these reports.

I've also had parents on the phone complaining about wee Jonny not getting on and saying its a child protection issue which really does my banger in. Do a bit of digging and wee Jonny is very seldom at training and expects to walk onto the team and I'm not talking fundamentals age groups where we do try to give them all a run out, I'm talking U16 and Minor.
Some parents really do need to have a word with themselves and the kind of children they want to rear.

just thought I would bump this thread up again. Exam season is upon us and kids all over are stressing about results. Just had a 4th year (uni) student end his life yesterday. So please talk to your kids, give them an extra hug, life is precious.

Flip sorry to hear that.

I know we as parents want the best for our kids and maybe push too hard and overemphasize education to a detrimental level.
It's hard to get it right.

If the CEO of a company of 1000+ employees returned to work after time off and some of the board resigned, would it make the news?

If the CEO of a company with around 100 employees returned to work after time off and some of the board resigned, would it make the news?

How many students is she looking after also?

If a CEO was incompetent and came back into the same role it might not make the news either

The students are the customers of the company.

If the CEO of a company was targeted by a small group of employees who did not like the fact that their actions had been challenged by the report, from an outside agency that had been called in by the previous CEO, it wouldn't make the news.

Not unlike the situation with a company in another area where the CEO was targeted by a small group of employees and felt sufficiently harassed that it resulted in resignation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-43758658

It is alleged there is MUCH more to that story than is reported. 

I was thinking that.

Care to share some of the insider gos?

[ignorance]

In other election news, across the water Labour fails to make significant gains in the English Council elections as the Tory vote holds up.

Despite some wishful thinking the Brexit support is holding and no rush into Corbyns arms by the British public

Despite some wishful extrapolation regarding Brexit, the British public and Jeremy Corbyn following the recent round of council elections in England, its a simple fact that Jeremy Corbyn was on a sum total of 0 ballot papers during the same council elections... and that the elections had nothing to do with Brexit...

Absolute rubbish. Immigration was a big factor in Brexit. It is the pressure on local services such as schools and hospitals caused by massive immigration that led the British working class to vote for Brexit. Schools and hospital services are controlled by local authorities so local elections have a big connection to the Brexit issue.

The Shinners wishful thinking want to break the May Foster agreement and bring their pal Corbyn in to No. 10

Immigration and ignorance were indeed big factors in Brexit, but the biggest issue with local services such as hospitals and schools is not immigrants who actually work in these places but the austerity policies of the last few Tory Governments.

And so the IFA spurn yet another chance of football for all by insisting on GSTQ before Cliftonville vs Coleraine. To add insult to injury Radio Bladh roll out Wee Seamy to underline the Britishness of the occasion. How can we take them seriously? The IFA that is?

Strange decision, given that the anthem was not played before the 2013 and 2009 finals both of which featured Cliftonville.

Illustrates that the majority within the IFA are n to serious about football for all, except on their terms.

I note that the IFA statement says that they are following "current board policy agreed in August 2013" (i.e. after Cliftonville's last appearance in the Cup Final).  It would be interesting to read what that policy actually is.

Any words from Mickey O'Neill as yet?

The 26 counties, though not perfect , is an example to northern nationalism in dealing with the past.

I'd like to come back with a more detailed analysis of your post later if I get the time, but for now, the line above really does need to be called out as sheer and utter BS.

Consider the treatment of Martin McGuinness in his presidential election run, and then try to tell me that the 26 counties is an example in dealing with the past. There is a substantial population south of the border with minimal understanding of the conflict (having learned about it via the medium of a Section 31 state censored media) who are as vindictive and bitter opponents of Irish Republicanism as any north Antrim TUV voter. The DUP agreed to enter powersharing with SF almost 2 decades ago. To this day, FF and FG still for the most part publically maintain that "SFs past" makes them "unsuitable" to enter government with. Of course, they will insist on unionists sharing power with them in the north. Utter hypocrites.

The Southern establishment really do fear a resurgent Sinn Féin having a big say in the Dáil and will do almost anything to get in the way of that.

The hypocrisy from FF and FG is laughable but doesn't get called out in the media who're their lackies anyway.
By and large the Southern media fed the 26 counties population a very one sided view of the troubles.

Tubridy getting handed his arse back to him by Gerry Adams was a case in point;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIlTtudovPM

[the SDLP had no interest in working towards a UI]

The problem for the SDLP is basically that the majority of the nationalist community are republican at heart, those that vote anyway. The SDLP missed a trick as they turned light green and hung their hat on making NI work. At its inner most core the nationalist community is not interested in Westminster or in Stormont and that is why the Shinners get the vote. Add into that a growing younger generation of nationalist that refuse to tone down its identity or doff the cap to superior unionist culture. Had the SDLP really felt the heart beat of their community they would have understood this. The SDLP are still wed to the old unionist adage of SF/IRA and nationalists by and large don't accept this as a black and white situation.

Good analysis.  The SDLP fatally misread the result of the GFA Referendum.  They thought that a resounding "Yes" from nationalists (North & South) meant that support for a UI was on the wane amongst nationalists.  They started to talk about "post-nationalism" and occupying the "middle ground" in partnership with the UUP and started to become "green-lite" very quickly.  A lot of their supporters scratched their heads and concluded that the SDLP had no interest in working towards a UI and thus voted SF.  Also they didn't cotton on that Unionist support for the agreement was lukewarm at best and that Trimble & Co only accepted it as the least worst option and had little interest in making it work.

I'd say that was always the case but with Sinn Féin being toxic to most the SDLP was the only other option. Once Sinn Féin came in from the cold the SDLP didn't realign their policies accordingly and that maybe was because they misjudged their electorate and also their unionists bed fellows in that a "shared" entity that was NI was workable.

How wrong were they!

Not sure that many in Sdlp didn't want a UI. I have known several SDLP voters and politicians , who were as passionate about a UI as SF, just that the violence didn't sit well with them , sometimes  due to guidance from the Catholic Church .
Most were prepared to work in making this state as fair and successful as possible, in the knowledge that a UI was inevitable in the long term. A valid viewpoint as they wanted to ensure health education jobs and equality were not neglected as we wait on a UI
This state in its present form seems to be ungovernable, a spirit of generosity from unionism could still secure a strong future for British identity on this Island, but the DUP need to be put to the pin of their collars, as there's only one way to stand up to a bully. Their self obsessed shorttermism needs to be countered at every turn, and only an United equality agenda can do that . SDLP have an opportunity to lead that in terms of ethos if not numbers, but they are doing a disservice to that cause by tarring SF with the same brush as DUP. SF for their part need to put more meat on the bones of how they see a new ireland. Focussing on partnership with equality colleagues, and avoiding winding up middle of the road unionism is the key, in my opinion.

If they did then the party leaders hid those aims well for many's a year.

The SDLP were correct that getting equality in Education, Jobs, health are indeed day to day more important, but at the same time the nationalist electorate were beginning to make it clear that a UI needed to be on the table, the SDLP seemed to be more interested in keeping the middle ground and aspirations for a UI have only come to the fore in the last 10 years or so when the damage is done.
They were also banking on Unionism meeting them in that middle ground and that didn't happen.

They needed new blood with something to offer and that's a bit lacking at the minute.

In saying that the new offerings from Sinn Féin don't really instill much confidence either.