What is it that makes that headline so unsurprising and so ordinary to readers from Northern Ireland? Can you imagine an American court carrying on like this in the current climate? Nevertheless, I came back from a brief holiday to discover this morni… more »

Thanks to Slugger and A Tangled Web for pointing out a story at UTV about republicans protesting at the jailing of convicted bomber Sean Kelly and forcing a meeting of EU employment ministers, to be hosted by David Blunkett at Springvale, to be cancelled… more »

George W Bush has publicly stated that the USA will drop its agriculture subsidies if the EU takes similar steps with the Common Agricultural Policy. The statement was made in an interview with Trevor McDonald to be aired today on ITV's Tonight program.… more »

DUP MEP Jim Allister is hosting an information session tomorrow at the Park Avenue Hotel, Belfast, (7:30 PM) to encourage groups from the Unionist community to apply for PEACE II funding. Pointing out that Unionist groups have hitherto been severely unde… more »

This weekend saw a tragic statement from a pathetic French president, seeking to hold on to what litttle popularity he has left at home and distract attention away from his own country's shameful selfishness by launching a nationalistic attack at his Eu… more »

Almost as if they heard me talking about it yesterday, the other EU's Council of Ministers, in a blatant act of self-indulgant waste, yesterday endorsed Irish calls for Gaelige to be made an official language of the union. What this means is that legisl… more »

The Times reports yesterday that the "first official language" of the Irish Republic is disappearing, even from the gaeltacht (the area of the Republic where supposedly Irish is the majority language). Gaeltacht teachers get an annual bonus of €1… more »

It looks like my good friend Tony has finally grown a pair. Following calls from France and other countries to scrap it, Tony Blair has pointed out that the UK annual rebate from the EU is fully justified. French president Jacques Chirac is deeply unp… more »

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern's government have been involved in a series of talks with Sinn Fein recently and apparently expects an IRA response to Gerry Adams's pre-election statement in the next few weeks. Bertie Ahern today said "there must be no… more »

There has been speculation recently that some of the eurozone countries, those who have replaced their national currencies with the European currency or '€uro', may contemplate reverting back to their former national currencies. An Italian minister… more »