Andrew McCann has noted the publication of the 2005 Northern Ireland Life & Times survey this week and, much like last year, the results aren't great for those who want to leave the United Kingdom. This year's survey had a sample size of 1,200. I'… more »

Are the UDA preparing for peace or milking the media? Just what are the UDA actually doing, I wonder. Today saw two more high profile expulsions in the form of the Shoukri brothers (even though the courts didn't have enough evidence to convict them of m… more »

Dermot Ahern and the Republic's Foreign Ministry may have grabbed the initial headlines on FIFA's reversal of an earlier decision to require Northern Ireland players to carry UK passports, but the IFA have said that their negotiations with FIFA were resp… more »

The Chancellor is in Belfast today and will meet with the local political parties (lucky guy) as well as business leaders (I wasn't aware we had any). This quote stuck out to me: "The first message to him has to be that you can't penalise people now for… more »

Excessive spam has resulted in EU implementing a Captcha verification mechanism. Those of you who have commented here over the last couple of days will already have noticed the new captcha here (the image/word verification field on the comment form). Yo… more »

Just what is a good distance to stay from a bonfire? If you're adorned in paramilitary regalia, I'd suggest as far away as possible. If we are ever to see widespread public acceptance and/or support for bonfires then the paramilitary connection, particul… more »

I wasn't sure whether to be amused or angry when I first learned of the government giving consideration to taxing rubbish collections as part of council tax reforms for England and Wales (and Scotland?). In principle, it would be a good incentive for peo… more »

I've been saying from I began blogging just over a year ago that I'd like to see the Conservatives perform better in Northern Ireland elections, so you'd naturally expect that I'd be happy at the prospect of UUP members defecting to the Tories. Well you… more »

This is one for the fans of loyalist paramilitaries out there. On Saturday, the Mount Vernon UVF sent an 8-man gang into Rathcoole to torture Robert McCord for information he didn't have - ie the location of his estranged cousin, Raymond. Paramilitari… more »

Yes folks, another prominent republican has been involved in an altercation with the police - and of course you know what that means. Yes, another whinge about police "heavy handedness". Now that they've accepted claims of 'brutality' were taking the pis… more »