Colm Bradley has outlined some ways he thinks the GAA can remove the barriers to Unionists joining. Just over a year ago I outlined that the GAA has a de facto ban in Unionists joining. Unfortunately Google hasn't cached it, so some of the substantive points are below the fold. The main contention I have though, is that the GAA is explicitly a political organisation, and should not be treated as a sporting organisation unless and until it sheds the vestiges of a political pressure group.

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Nearly two years ago I wrote a piece outlining why I believe that the House of Lords is undemocratic and untenable in a modern democracy. I'd be interested to hear what EU's readers think. Rather unfortunately, Charter88's Elect the Lords campaign seems to have stalled last August.

Seems a novel (to say the least) way of recruiting electoral candidates, but the Northern Ireland Conservatives have a message on their blog requesting that:

"people - from all backgrounds - who might like to put themselves forward for the next Westminster election... Please, please contact us if you have the time, aptitude and interest to take on a campaign for a seat in Westminster"
Seeking Candidates - ConservativesNI.com

I can't decide if this is a bit desperate or a good way of taking advantage of new technology to reach out to like-minded individuals. Maybe it's both.

While I recently mentioned that Everything Ulster had hit the big time, it came as something of a surprise to find that the site has been nominated for Best Political Blog in the 2008 Irish Blog Awards.

Being up against the likes of Slugger O'Toole, the Mac Daddy of Northern Irish (and probably Irish) blogs, the odds of actually winning are about equivalent to those on Limavady Utd. winning the premier league this year, but it's an honour just to make the long-list, so thanks to whoever saw fit to nominate this little site of mine.

The Irish Blog Awards 'ceremony' will take place on 1st March at the Alexander Hotel in Dublin.

Life's been a bit hectic lately, hence the lack of posts. I just wanted to take a few minutes to point folk in the direction of A Better Union; a series of ideals put forward by a couple of bloggers with unionist sympathies, who feel like the mainstream unionist parties are neglecting them. The ideas are simple and the aim is modest (to make a few people think and see if there's anyone out there who feels the same).

In the context of the latest fudge agreement, talk of an Irish language act, devolved policing and the rest, not to mention more posturing than a bodybuilding competition, it seems an appropriate time to flag up their position.

Just a quick headsup about the new Everything Ulster Search page. I've developed this little tool to make use of NorthernIrishBlogs.com, which syndicates a number of (you've guessed it) Northern Irish Blogs.

If you have google as your home page at the minute then this might be a nice little alternative. As well as allowing you to search the web, it will let you do a google search on NorthernIrishBlogs.com and also syndicates the RSS feeds from BBC's Northern Ireland News, Everything Ulster (naturally) and the aforementioned Northern Irish Blogs. Any feedback would be much appreciated at this early stage. I've already found it handy for checking when local blogs post new stories.

This young man had forgotten to hide his face during the 'counter-protest'. Luckily, a local Footlocker had been looted and there were no shortage of Celtic tops.

It's taken a day or two for things to sink in and, unsurprisingly, Republican internet warriors have been out in force, equivocating, excusing and explaining away the disgraceful scenes witnessed in Dublin on Saturday.

Here's a few choice excerpts from the blogosphere over the last couple of days.

1. The damn prods deserved it
"We all know that the whole 'Love Ulster' enterprise is nothing but a cover for Unionist death squads and so-called 'innocent victims'". Balrog

I still can't take anyone seriously when they use the term "Unionist death squads." Sorry. That phrase itself betrays the agenda behind the rest of the statement.

"Were (or were not) Jeffrey Donaldson and Willie Frazer travelling on this jaunt in the company of Loyalist marching bands?" Right here at EU

Because that makes attacking and destroying people and things ok. It's ironic, Loyalist marching bands in Dublin, just walking about the place playing some tunes, while "Republicans" tear up their beloved nation's capital.

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The ever-aware Northern Irish Magyar (known as Paul here at Everything Ulster) has discovered, tucked away in a dark corner of the internet, the first draft of last week's IRA statement.

You can see a little work was done to transform it from draft form into the finished article we heard that nice old man read out on that newfangled video disc thing.

Find out what they really meant.

Recently Graeme of Incorrect Use of Soap fame has posted a few comments here at EU. As usual, my curiosity led me to investigate his site and I came across a post today called "It's Not Orange, It's Tangerine" (the part I was interested in had little to do with the title).

Aside from the fact that he plugs EU (thanks graeme) I found some very interesting tidbits of information in it, for example that Catholics are unlikely to join the police in the west of Scotland (and here was me thinking that particular problem was the exclusive preserve of Norn Irn). As such, Incorrect Use of Soap is now linked on the side of this site with my other regular reads.

Encouragingly from his writings, it seems a former republican sympathiser seems to have curbed his enthusiasm for Sinn Fein/IRA following a few home truths. Perhaps Unionism hasn't lost the PR-war just yet?