Messages

[The coke can kickers that lye about the house all day and sponge off the government will vote for a UI because they will get a higher rate of Dole in the republic.]

As someone has already said, i would love to know what a united ireland will look like? Sinn fein will struggle to convince a lot of people if it is going to effect their pocket, i.e higher taxes, price of living, etc. In the current economic climate the ordinary middle of the road nationalist will choose whatever is better for their pocket.
The coke can kickers that lye about the house all day and sponge off the government will vote for a UI because they will get a higher rate of Dole in the republic.
My honest opinion is SF's heads are in the clouds on this

They will lose their DLA though so there is no chance of them voting for it.

Suspected overdose

We should just put out Loughgiel reserves for Antrim

we're all a bit of a mixture of capitalist and socialist policies as far as i can see. if we were totally capitalist, there'd be no taxation and no safety net whatsoever. course the other way around, there'd be no free enterprise.

there is, i think, a movement to end universalism in the uk. no more unemployment benefit per se, now you have to prove you are looking for work to qualify for jsa for example. work = ethical and a way out of poverty apparently. shame we don't defend these rights better, as they're hugely needed and socially and economically beneficial if you invest in the right type of industries and manufactoring, but there you go.

i shall vacate the soap box for another of my bredren.

You don't have to prove you are looking for work, you could say you looked in the papers for example for jobs.

Game changer

Jamie Bryson of the Ulster Peoples Forum getting the run around from Nolan on 5Live.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pqm2g

An article about Jamie Bryson from a few weeks ago

Glad to see he wrote to his paymasters in Westminster to inform them he was resigning.

A loyal subject to the end.

There is plenty that happened during the troubles up for debate, the fact that Adams was in the IRA is not one of them.

You look like a fool for arguing otherwise.

[The IRA wouldnt have Adams for fecks sake - he was a talker never an activist!]

Someone must be getting a JCB for Christmas to assist with their digging!!

The IRA wouldnt have Adams for fecks sake - he was a talker never an activist!

Jeez , talking about sticking to ones blind prejudice and here say instead of facts/reality!
God rest Pat Finnucane. His family will never get justice in this lifetime - not while thatcher and so many other colluding partisan in government (retired) , army, police force, mi5,mi6 etc are still alive.

Slowly these little things are being admitted. Flegs and state support withdrawn.
Reunification is inching ever onwards - until the economies are completely entwined and reintegration will be seamless !
Happy Christmas all

Did the talkers wear different colour berets?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/northernireland/9560123/IRA-bomber-says-Gerry-Adams-sanctioned-mainland-bombing-campaign.html

Very nice wee story!
Pity it's untrue!
Adams wasn't in the org let alone in any position of power!
Only fanciful newspaper reports and loyalist/unionist wishful thinking!
Find any IRA person that would agree with that if you can!
Happy Chrismas!

Brendan Hughes

[Reunification is inching ever onwards]

Someone must be getting a JCB for Christmas to assist with their digging!!

The IRA wouldnt have Adams for fecks sake - he was a talker never an activist!

Jeez , talking about sticking to ones blind prejudice and here say instead of facts/reality!
God rest Pat Finnucane. His family will never get justice in this lifetime - not while thatcher and so many other colluding partisan in government (retired) , army, police force, mi5,mi6 etc are still alive.

Slowly these little things are being admitted. Flegs and state support withdrawn.
Reunification is inching ever onwards - until the economies are completely entwined and reintegration will be seamless !
Happy Christmas all

It really isn't.

Rooney was terrible today

It's an over hyped pre season competition lads, relax.

Any white smoke from Cushendall yet ?

Some of the protesters should be happy, was in the Irish News today that McGuinness & Robinson have approved millions in funding to ex-prisoners groups.

A jury has found that Sinn Fein libelled a former director of NI Water.

Declan Gormley sued the party over the contents of two press releases it issued in 2011 in support of his sacking from the NIW Board.

The party denied the press releases were defamatory, but the jury found the party had acted with malice.

There will be another hearing at the High Court on Monday when damages will be decided.

The businessman, who was dismissed from the government-owned company by former Sinn Fein Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy, spoke of his relief at the outcome.

"I'm delighted, I feel the verdict has vindicated the position I have held throughout that this was something that was wrong," he said.

"I'm also disappointed that I had to end up in court, I would have been happy to settle for an apology and a public acknowledgement that it was wrong."

Mr Gormley was sacked along with three other non-executive directors from NI Water in March 2010.

Mr Murphy removed them from the board following an independent review team investigation into the awarding of contracts.

A subsequent Stormont Public Accounts Committee report into procurement and performance at the company was said to have criticised the earlier inquiry and questioned its independence.

Reckless
Mr Gormley emphatically denied any wrongdoing.

He issued libel proceedings against Sinn Fein and two of its representatives, MLA Cathal Boylan and former Assemblyman Willie Clarke, over the contents of press releases backing the decision to sack him.

Over the course of a ten-day hearing at the High Court in Belfast, his legal team claimed they damaged his reputation and were reckless, if not dishonest.

Lawyers for Sinn Fein contended, however, that neither statement contained any defamatory content.

They also claimed a defence of qualified privilege, arguing that the press releases were in response to a campaign of attacks on Mr Murphy mounted by the SDLP with Mr Gormley's collusion.

But a jury of five men and one woman found for Mr Gormley on the balance of probabilities.

They decided that both statements were defamatory and that the defendants were guilty of malice.

Mr Justice Gillen then rejected a final defence of qualified journalism, ruling that no steps had been taken to try to verify the contents of the press releases before publishing them.

"I'm satisfied that the press releases in question fell below the acceptable standards of journalistic approach," he said.