Bombs, bullets and bodies

Newry Courthouse after bomb went off

Well, once again we are hearing about things that we thought had been consigned to the history books to remind us of how man can be so inhuman to man.

From security alerts, to shooting at police stations, to bombs going off, to car booby trap bombs, to murdering army and police personnel, to punishment shootings, and now to brutally murdering a man and dumping his body at the side of the road.

Proof our 'normal society with normal politics' is not quite as it seems yet.

These people, if i can call them that, have no place in our society.  They have no mandate. They have no political goals. They are continuing to fight a lost war.  


The vast majority of the people of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland do not want these people to continue in what they are doing.

But they will not listen?  They seem addicted to inflicting pain, suffering and misery on the people of the Island of Ireland.  They refuse to accept the majority of the people of Northern Ireland do not want a united Ireland, nor do they seem to realise that the Republic of Ireland would not be able to subsume 6 more counties into the national remit.  

I accept many people in Northern Ireland have the aspiration for a united Ireland.  Unlike these murderous thugs, they also accept and respect the majority wish of the people of Northern Ireland to remain as part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.  We are now trying to find a way to ensure political ideologies that embrace democratic and peaceful means of governance can work together, regardless of aspirations of one type or another, to ensure a stable society at peace with itself and prosperous for everyone.

There has been far too much bloodshed. It has to stop now. 

Anyone with information has a duty to society, their family and themselves to pass on information in any way they can in order to stop these blood thirsty morons from continuing their acts of terror.

The Nine sally forth

The BBC is reporting that the Conservatives and Ulster Unionist Party have agreed on nine of their joint candidates for the general election, still being touted as 6th May.


This will get things moving as they ready for a General Election.  however a minor headache would be if the rumours of an Assembly election in May were true.  This would come about if the wheels fell off the Hillsborough wagon (which they may yet)


The ominous number of the first swathe of candidates (i love Lord of the Rings) are

1. Mike Nesbitt (Strangford)
2. Daphne Trimble (Lagan Valley)
3. Danny Kennedy MLA (Newry & Armagh)
4. John McAlister MLA (South Down)
5. Harry Hamilton (Upper Bann)
6. Sandra Overend (Mid Ulster)
7. Ross Hussey (West Tyrone)
8. Bill Manwaring (West Belfast)
9. Trevor Ringland (East Belfast)

Nine more are to come. This should be interesting.

Yes Minister - Local government reforms.

Why does Yes Minister still hold so much relevance? Still, love the series.

How do you solve a problem like Sylvia

Well, one half of the UCUNF team have been assembled with the UUP releasing their list of 17 nominees seeking to become UCUNF candidates for the forthcoming election.

But don't we have 18 constituencies? Ah, yes. North Down. With the incumbent Lady Sylvia refusing to take the Conservative whip and refusing to put her name forward for the project that has left a vacancy for the UNCUNF candidacy. Cue Ian Parsley stepping in to birdie that 18th hole. (I promise I will not refer to golf any further)

Lady Sylvia has been a conundrum for the UUP for a while. Voting more with New Labour, a party that was even more ambiguous on the whole NI in the UK thing than the Tories and of course has quite few 'Brits out' supporters such as 'Red' Ken Livingstone, and has always had a warm place by the fire for what had been physical force republicanism. Lady Sylvia, while a great constituency worker, seems to have been less than friendly to the UUP cause. Indeed, she dropped the clanger in the middle of the European election putting Jim Nicholson in an awkward position.

I suspect she intends to run as an independent, which kind of puts her in the position of not standing as an Ulster Unionist Party representative. Recently, she spoke at an SDLP dinner in North Down attacking the Conservative Party and the UUP link up.

It will be a very interesting election in North Down. I would guess that Ian Parsley will be the candidate to take on Sylvia. However, with Sylvia being the incumbent and having a good reputation as a constituency MP, Ian will have his work cut out for him. North Down also has a reputation for backing mavericks. But it is also a constituency that would be a conservative stronghold were it in England. I think it will be a politico's nightmare to properly predict.

The other UUP nominees (to be a candidate, the two parties of the UUP and Conservative Party have to ratify who is standing where) are:

• North Antrim Robin Swann;
• South Antrim Adrian Watson;
• East Antrim Rodney McCune;
• North Belfast Fred Cobain;
• West Belfast Bill Manwaring;
• South Belfast Paula Bradshaw;
• East Belfast Trevor Ringland;
• Strangford Mike Nesbitt;
• South Down John McAllister;
• Lagan Valley Daphne Trimble;
• Upper Bann Harry Hamilton;
• Newry and Armagh Danny Kennedy;
• Fermanagh and South Tyrone Tom Elliot;
• Mid Ulster Sandra Overend;
• West Tyrone Ross Hussey;
• Foyle David Harding;
• East Londonderry Lesley McAuley.

Owen Polley, in his 3000 Versts of Loneliness blog post 'Better late than never. Or 17 out of 18 ain't (too) bad!', gives an excellent run down of the UUP nominees and I think a fairly accurate rating of the chances.  He is unkind to a few, but that would be a discussion for another day!


The DUP are in diffs at the moment, but I think they will keep a large number of their MPs seats.  I think the UCUNF project could potentially pick up 3 seats.  The SDLP have a good chance of retaining their 3 seats, though what happens in South Belfast will be a deciding factor in the retention of the third seat.  Sinn Fein will hold on to their seats, but their performance will be closely watched.  

Castlereagh and the vacant council seat

Iris resigned from
 Castlereagh Council

Well, its going to be a by-election for Iris Robinson's seat in Castlereagh Borough Council.

Councillors tonight voted to hold a by-election to fill the seat, which was left vacant by the resignation of Iris Robinson. The DUP put up a candidate for co-option but two objections scuppered that plan. A by-election will cost upwards £30,000.

Will be interesting to see the turn out. Not sure if anyone but a DUP member will win. However, the actual voting numbers will make interesting reading.

It will break the UUP by-election record, but i don't think there is much that can be done.