This story was on 5 Live yesterday evening. According to the media, Poole Borough Council used "laws to track criminals and terrorists" (the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act) to determine whether they were lying about living in a school catchment area.

So what powers were these? Phone tapping? CCTV cameras pointed at the house 24/7? SWAT teams on standby?

No. They sent a man to check if the family left the house they claimed they lived at each morning and returned there in the afternoon. The BBC did their best to sensationalise this as "spying" - despite listeners texting in telling them to stop trying to 'sex up' their stories. Others went one better, using attention grabbing headlines claiming that 'spies stalked' the family. If this is spying, the government have been 'spying' on suspected benefit cheats for years now. Why is this any different?

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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.

There's nothing like seeing a criminal, particularly a violent one, get their comeuppance. Those last couple of pictures are doozies.

What can I say? It seemed relevant.

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The Patten Commission was not a pleasant experience for Unionists. The abandonment of the historic name and symbols of the RUC GC was needless, insensitive, and damaging to Unionist confidence in the political process of the time. While this was not the only negative experience to come out of Patten, what we can say is a great many of the recommendations (PDF) in the report were good ones that have improved the already high standard of policing in Northern Ireland. One of these proposals, detailed at pages 62 and 63 of the Patten report, was the civilianisation of many tasks that were being undertaken by fully trained Police Officers. Police Officers are expensive to train and retain, this training is extensive and produces an excellent public servant for the betterment of the community. It is therefore demeaning to the officers, as well as a massive waste of public resources to have uniformed police officers manning reception desks of stations, and other such basic administrative tasks.

Despite the poor way in which the report was handled, the handful of appalling recommendations which were insensitively implemented, and the bad taste left by it in Northern Ireland, it has had a positive net effect on day to day policing. Therefore it is of note that the former Chief Constable of the RUC GC, who himself was "hurt" by the Patten report, has used his experience to implement Patten best practise across forces in England and Wales. The DPPs, the Ombudsman’s Office (which I think may have predated Patten slightly, but the point nevertheless stands), as well as civilianisation of administrative functions are positive developments in the policing of Northern Ireland, and the rest of the country can learn from our positive, if in places painful, example.

When a Londonderry man living in England is forced to resign over "racist" Irish jokes [alternative source: BBC], is this just more evidence of political correctness gone mad?

Denis Patrick Lusby, an Ulster-born Catholic, was editor of a community magazine in Cornwall for 11 years when Ginny Harrison-White, Cornwall County Council's equality and diversity boss, who had previously complained about the publication of Essex-girl jokes, wrote to local schools querying whether it was appropriate to publish school news in a magazine that included jokes about characters called "Murphy" and "Paddy" (remember Mr Lusby's middle-name?), urging headmasters to boycott the publication.

Mr Lusby pointed out that as an Irish Catholic living in England while IRA bombs were going off, he probably knows a lot more about anti-Irish racism than Ms Harrison-White does.

Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are catching up to England for levels of broadband uptake according to figures released by Ofcom this week.

In 2005 England was leading the way with 36% of homes connected to broadband. Scotland followed with 31% while Wales and Northern Ireland brought up the rear with 25% and 24% respectively. In 2006 though, England was just in front with 45% while Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were all just behind on 42%. The Republic was still lagging well behind with just 13% of homes connected to broadband.

The UK average of 44% is just above mid-table for European countries which is led by Holland with 66% and propped up by Greece with just 4%.

Something of an alarming (or alarmist) poll in the Sunday Telegraph today (coinciding with the discussion here at EU about the various nationalisms in the UK) stating that 68% of voters in England want Scotland to leave the Union while 48% want to see England break away from Wales and Northern Ireland as well.

I won't go into the details because you can read the rest yourselves, but I thought I'd highlight one response in particular.

The union between England, Scotland and Wales is good for us all and we are stronger together than we are apart. The last thing we need is yet another parliament with separate elections and more politicians spending more money.
David Cameron, Conservative Leader

The union between who Dave? I'll be interested to see if the Northern Ireland Conservatives have an explanation for and/or response to this.

Flights into and out of Belfast and Londonderry have been among those hit by delays and cancellations today due to a major security alert at Heathrow. In particular, flights to and from the London airports have been affected, and passengers are being made to check-in their hand-luggage (including ladies' handbags) which will be flown in the hold. The Washington Post reports that the crackdown is in response to a specific terrorist threat to blow up planes crossing the Atlantic from Britain to America and the BBC reports there were plans to commit "mass murder on an unimaginable scale", blowing up 9 trans-atlantic flights.

Flight Information
Belfast International Airport have an announcement on their web site, as do Belfast City (George Best) Airport. City of Derry Airport don't have a specific announcement but it may be worth checking their arrivals/departures pages.

The major airlines serving the province FlyBe, easyJet, British Airways, British Midland and Ryanair have announcements on their website with passenger advice.

MPs from the DUP and UUP have joined with the SDLP and Sinn Fein in urging the Minister for Social Development, David Hanson, not to repeal Northern Ireland's antiquated licensing laws by bringing the licensing procedures inline with those in England and Wales.

According to the UTV report the politicians warned "pressing ahead with liberalisation proposals could result in every corner shop being able to sell drink." and we could never have that (among other things, on the mainland, you can buy alcohol at your local corner shops with your groceries).

Among the outrageous proposals being put forward by the DSD were such destructive ideas as:

• New powers for police to enforce licensing laws (including temporary closure or restricted hours for offending premises)
• A penalty points system for licensees
• Dedicated liquor licensing officers
• Test purchasing powers to allow the police to catch out vendors selling to underage drinkers
• Extension of opening hours by an entire hour to 2AM (except on Sundays) by mid 2007

"There is no need to tamper with a system that has worked well for the people of Northern Ireland for decades just so he can say he has brought our legislation into line with that of the rest of the UK."
Jeffrey Donaldson, DUP MP & MLA, Lagan Valley

Wee Jeff knows best. I hope the irony of a Unionist arguing so hard against legalising something that is perfectly normal in the rest of the UK wasn't lost on him. Thank goodness that we have enlightened fresh-thinking politicians like these to save Ulster from the horrifying prospect of picking up a well-earned six-pack from the Co-Op at the end of a hard day's work.

There has been a small but noticeable upsurge in English (as distinct from British) patriotism in England in recent years

Today is Saint George's Day and will see celebrations across England, although probably on a smaller scale than Saint Patrick's Day (even Saint Patrick's Day in England possibly?).

The Royal Society of St George has been working in recent years to revive the day, which has gone largely uncelebrated for years as the English wrestle with some of the same demons as Ulster's unionists in the form of misconceptions about their patriotism. While it's hard to be proudly Northern Irish or even British in Northern Ireland without being construed or portrayed as sectarian, many English folk have played down their English identity for fear of being offensive and/or thought of as racist.

Now, groups are working to promote the celebration of England's patron saint in the same way as Ireland's is celebrated. A campaign has begun promoting the day to the business community as potentially very financially rewarding, particularly to pubs. Landlords had noticed that English people would always go out drinking on Saint Patrick's day, and yet many didn't even know when Saint George's Day was, but that seems to be slowly changing with many towns now organising Saint George's Day events.

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