Monthly Archives: November 2015

Show Trials…And Show Arrests

Posted on November 12, 2015 by fitzjameshorse

In Norn Iron, we have gone one step better than Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. They merely had Show TRIALS. We are much more civilized. We have Show ARRESTS. And like the regimes of Hitler and Stalin, it is all … Continue reading →

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Stormont Remembrance…Cunning Stunts

Posted on November 12, 2015 by fitzjameshorse

What would Bloggers do without Poppy Season? The annual commemoration of stories that define Norn Iron in all its crap-ness. So the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Remembrance and Silence. And the Hall at Stormont. … Continue reading →

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Poppy And Rugby

Posted on November 11, 2015 by fitzjameshorse

i have only ever been to three rugby matches. The first was in the winter of 1970-1971 at Maynard Sinclair Pavillionat Stormont. Civil Service “Fourths” or “Fifths” were playing. They were an unlikely sports team, drawn from civil service departments … Continue reading →

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At The Going Down Of The Sun…I Dont Give A Tinkers Curse

Posted on November 8, 2015 by fitzjameshorse

When I was a child, I used to think that people wearing poppies were going to weddings. Of course in the 1960s, there were a lot of sprightly 70year olds who had memories of World War One. But essentially the … Continue reading →

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A Nervous Week In SDLP

Posted on November 7, 2015 by fitzjameshorse

Again I emphasise that I am not a delegate at next weekend’s SDLP Conference. And I therefore do not have a vote…as instructed by my local branch. And again, I emphasise that I do not intend to be in Armagh … Continue reading →

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“Je Suis Uncle Andy”

Posted on November 6, 2015 by fitzjameshorse

Now here is a strange thing. Earlier this year, several French journalists were shot dead. Their “crime” in the eyes of Islamist extremists was that their satirical magazine (Charlie Hebdo)  had published unflattering images of the prophet Mohammed (peace be … Continue reading →

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Commemorating Easter 1916

Posted on November 5, 2015 by fitzjameshorse

When I fiirst signed into Slugger O’Toole, just about the first threads I read were about the so-called Decade of Centenaries, the series of events including Easter 1916 and the Somme 1916….rwo events that are divisive in Norn Iron and … Continue reading →

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SDLP Leadership Election …

Posted on November 5, 2015 by fitzjameshorse

First a few facts…I was a member of SDLP from 1973 to 1982 and voted SDLP until 1993. For personal rather than political reasons, I voted Sinn Féin until 2009. I must emphasise that my wife has never voted Sinn … Continue reading →

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Book Review….”The Canterbury Connection” (Kitty Davies)

Posted on November 3, 2015 by fitzjameshorse

One of the strange things about going Online in 1998 was the discovery that everyone I met from Boise, Idaho to Athens, Georgia….was an artist, poet, musician or writer. For the record, I was a novelist of sorts. Not all … Continue reading →

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SDLP Event…Civil Society.

Posted on November 3, 2015 by fitzjameshorse

A high-quality discussion last night. The panel….Brendan Mulgrew from MW Advocate, David McCann from Slugger O’Toole, Professor Deirdre Heenan from University of Ulster and Ryan Feeney a member of the Policing Board. Alasdair McDonnell in the chair. Audience….hard to judge … Continue reading →

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