Messages

Eugh.

My thoughts exactly.

Club Tyrone business breakfast with Peter Canavan and others on this day next week at Garvaghey - all welcome (no charge). RSVP to club.tyrone@gaa.ie
See Club Tyrone GAA LinkedIn page for more details.

You keep trying to compare me to Danny Kennedy. I'm really busy with work and wish I hadn't opened my internet mouth
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1. I didn't know (or care - still don't) that John Finucane was at an IRA commemoration event previously. When I voted for John Finucane in north Belfast when he became an MP (by the way, I voted for him), I didn't care either.  Nor do I know if it was reported on as widely in the media. I'll assume that it wasn't. Seems to me that there is no difference. Has the media influenced it? Sounds like it, and you should def pursue that. My comment was that it hasn't gone down well with certain sections of people. And like it or not, it is very easy for those who won't consider that SF is evolving beyond the IRA to quickly go back there. Would you deny that? Sinn Fein have to work twice as hard on their image as any other party IF they want to be at the forefront of the united ireland initiative. You can't just take extreme offence when people challenge you, whether that's on a selective basis or not.

2. Oh it absolutely would be better to let people do what they want to do in peace. How is that achieved?

And ok - hands up - all of your posts, both directly and indirectly, have accused me of naivety, bordering on stupidity around the media's influence. Yep, guilty. The problem for SF is, there's an awful lot of me out there. What will you do about it?

Rois, you've criticised SF for "not showing goodwill" despite the fact that they operate d'hondt voluntarily, and are now trying to suggest that even that isn't good enough to win over the middle ground, and that they should be showing "goodwill" by handing democratically elected gains over to unionism. No harm to you, but that's just Danny Kennedy levels of nonsense.

Are you attributing that quote to me?  Don't think I said that - stand to be corrected.  If you're turning what I said about them recently creating goodwill with gestures around to make it suit your rant, then jeez, you're going out of your way to pick an argument.

   

No harm to you Rois but that is absolute nonsense that just feeds into the unionist sense of entitlement.

Jeez snapchat, calm down.

I specifically said nothing about the content of John Finucane's speech - I heard bits of it on the radio this morning, but  I don't care what he said, quite frankly - that wasn't my point.  SF have to be whiter than white to win people over. 

I am a member of forum that is mainly GB people who know very little about what's happening here, but who are connected parties in the Unity debate.  When someone described that an MP was attending an event arranged to "commemorate the IRA", well you can imagine some comments.  And you, or more specifically John Finucane, may very well hold the power in a moral argument, but who cares? 

Look at the goodwill SF have created recently with the tone of the local election campaign, the attendance at the coronation of Charlie etc.  All good, magnanimous stuff, helping show that a future with SF at the helm can be accommodating for all. 

If it is more important to you to feel that you're right, and keep arguing why you are (d'Hondt etc), then you may forget about convincing the non-nationalist middle ground in a border poll.  The low hanging fruit is there, but if you're unwilling to take it, then how can we convince the undecided? 

I guess what I'm saying is could you not just make a gesture that would be a huge PR win for SF for something as inconsequential as this. 

SF have done a lot right recently, but probably do have to work twice as hard at it, given where they have come from.  John Finucane's speech (whatever about the content) has not gone down well.   

https://twitter.com/columeastwood/status/1667984392071913475

This is mad stuff from Colm. It's on a par with Danny Kennedys anti-democratic ramblings a few weeks ago. Unionists won't have a mayor in Derry for the next 4 years because they did not get enough seats to warrant one under the D'Hondt system, not because those pesky Shinners are up to their tricks.
I honestly almost put this in the WTF thread.

I find it amazing how this is such an issue for the local media when unionists are lacking representation in Derry or Fermanagh but is never an issue when nationalists are lacking representation in Ards and North Down or in Mid and East Antrim. Usual double standards from the usual suspects.

Can you not just aspire to be better?  Do you have to match the lower standards? 

It was really good because it wasn't just the usual talking heads from both sides, I found the UDA fella interesting to see how far he had come to realise how futile it all was

Only watched Episode 2 last night, but he had us in stitches, saying how he wouldn't give his 17 year old granddaughter a f*ckin milkshake, never mind a gun. 

Video from France of lunatic stabbing kids at a playground absolutely shocking

This was mental.  Annecy is my favourite place in the world, and I'll be going back in a few weeks to visit.  A complete nightmare.  We always go to playgrounds when we're away and would definitely have planned to visit this one. 

I hope everyone recovers ok.

Are the tickets out for the Round matches?

Yeah, got my email yesterday

Looking for an mot cancellation in the North. When is the best time to check the system? Thought it was 8 o'clock in the morning, but none available when I checked there

Keep checking when you can all day.  I changed my appointment three times this week already, and eventually got an appointment for next week.  I got a midday appointment at Balmoral when I went on at lunch time.

Also, keep refreshing the page once you've accessed the site, as part of your 20 minute access - it can change minute to minute. 

He's only 48 

That was my thought!

Well I imagine these people in my village aren't campaigning against the new A5 - the proposed new road is about 1km nearer the Foyle, away from their houses. For our stretch - north of Strabane towards Derry - the road is due to pass through sparsely populated agri land.

What came first... the houses or the road? That's madness.

The road was built in the 50s . Most of the houses would have come later.

Not in our village - the road through it must have become the A5. I'm fairly sure there are pictures of the houses (or the houses that were replaced by upgrades) from the turn of the previous century.

I grew up in a village along the A5 (and was knocked down crossing it as a child).  There are houses there whose front doors are literally (and I mean it) three feet from the A5 carriageway.