Holylands Hell
There's an interesting discussion over at Slugger centred around the Holylands blogger (who was today exonerated of all, apparently trumped up, charges of "harassment"). He recently republished an article by Suzanne Breen describing the terror inflicted on on the few remaining residents in the Holylands by the "slack-jawed bog-trash from west of the Bann" (not his quote).
According to reports the police have been even more inept and useless than we've come to expect; multiple commenters claim the police in south Belfast are happy to ignore the whole area, refuse to take statements (or occasionally even turn up) when violent assaults are reported, and I'm sure I remember reading one comment that claimed officers in other parts of the country describe their south Belfast colleagues as lazy bastards (or words to that effect) and that's saying something [that comment seems to have been removed]. It's been suggested by multiple commenters that the police are reluctant to alienate significant numbers of middle-class Catholics, but one would question whether it's any worse being seen as an enemy than a joke.
The more I read into it the more depressed I get. Comments suggest the culprits seem to be disproportionately University of Ulster students (though I'm sure Queen's has it's fair share), culchie and (according to a republican former prisoner, up until recently resident in the Holylands) Catholic, but the blame goes much wider than the students themselves. On top of the police refusing to do anything about it, the universities don't seem to be doing enough either. Sure there are a few posters around the Student's Union every now and again but the "punishments" for those identified as behaving anti-socially amount to no more than a strongly worded letter or a small fine. There is also something fundamentally wrong when students are able to repeat first year practically as many times as they like and universities.
There needs to be an end to the idea that university is a place to go solely to drink and doss on free money, so here's what I suggest (just for starters).
- End bursaries for students from "low-income" families immediately. Loans should bypass students altogether and go straight to the universities for tuition fees, with an extra £3k or so on top to go towards living expenses.
- Put serious effort into identifying anti-social students and actually take some action, e.g. expel repeat offenders.
- Put a limit on the number of times students can repeat first year/transfer after failing so if you fuck up there are actually some consequences.
- Universities should make more of an effort to stop students from east of the Bann leaving for universities on the mainland. The extra competition for places would raise the entrance requirements overall and remove the extreme morons from the equation.
Other suggestions welcome.
The Skills Shortage Degrees Won't Fix
While skills shortages in areas like IT (which has its own bizarre story) make good news, Northern Ireland is experiencing another skills shortage at the minute. Apparently Newtownabbey and Belfast are suffering from a chronic shortage of tradesmen: plumbers, electricians and so on. Out of regions across the UK, Belfast had the sixth-lowest concentration of tradesmen per population (1/825) and Newtownabbey had the eight-lowest (1/804).
Meanwhile more and more young people are being encouraged to go to university to study oversubscribed shite like media studies, psychology and art.
More Driving Law Changes
Coming hot on the heels of the Republic updating it's rules on learner drivers, an announcement that Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are to have mutual recognition of driving disqualifications and that it should be in place by next spring.
Not before time either.
Belfast Blogger Gets Beaten then Arrested
I bet you thought this only happened in China and Zimbabwe. It could never happen in Britain...
Belfast blogger Alan Murray has apparently been cautioned by police twice last year and then arrested over for content posted on his blog, Holylands Warzone, in which he criticised a public figure. The blog documents the "raping of the Holylands" by greedy landlords letting out houses of multiple occupancy to the scummiest students.
He also received a beating from the boyfriend of an Andersonstown News Group reporter he had criticised and had a public row with. He alleges that the reporter's father, a Sinn Fein member, was present when the kicking was dispensed and intimidated witnesses who were videoing the incident.
Malachi O'Doherty has a synopsis from the horse's mouth.
Christmas Cancelled in Ulster!
Santa will boycott Northern Ireland this year leaving hundreds of thousands of children without presents and all because greedy football fans want a new stadium built in Belfast and not the Maze. There have also been warnings that the sky 'may' fall and unconfirmed sightings of the four horsemen.
OK, Christmas is still on but according to what passes for the local "media" Northern Ireland will lose out on 10,000 jobs and the 4-Nations/Celtic Cup will have to be cancelled.
You see the tournament will have to be scrapped because the plan was to host all the matches in the same country in any given year and Northern Ireland's current facilities just aren't up to the job. I know what you're thinking: with the tournament starting in 2011 and running biannually, if Northern Ireland was to go last of the 4 nations, we wouldn't be hosting it until 2017 (that's 9 years, just in case whoever penned that BBC story is unable to do challenging mental arithmetic like that).
Added to the above disaster, Northern Ireland will lose out on 10,000 (yes, they said ten-thousand) jobs because, you see, if we don't agree to the blackmail proposals for the Maze, there are no other sites where we could build a stadium and those hundreds of millions of pounds will evaporate into thin air.
Won't someone think of the children?!
Republic to close Learner Driver Loophole
At the moment, the Republic of Ireland is the only country in the EU where learner drivers can drive a car without an experienced driver present in the car alongside them as long as they're on their second provisional licence (this only applies to provisional licences which were discontinued in October 2007 and replaced with learners' permits, which have tighter restrictions). The unsurprising result of this is that many people never feel any particular need to apply for a full licence.
It's a rather silly situation; I mean why bother going through all those lessons and the pressure of a test when you can already drive largely unrestricted and unhindered without it. The exception is that you're barred from motorways but outside Dublin and the south-east this probably wouldn't rank highly on one's list of concerns.
As of next week, however, the Republic of Ireland will be brought into line with the rest of the British Isles and indeed Europe in requiring learners to be supervised by an experienced driver (in the Republic 2 years is considered sufficient experience as distinct from the 3 years stipulated in the UK) or face a €2,000 fine or 3 months in prison.
Something for nothing? Methinks not
I'm currently immersed in my postgraduate dissertation, which is on the Data Protection Act (and CoK can be assured that I'll be making the appointment this time!). Thinking about why the legislation is there, makes me highly suspicious that this is simply a rouse to get access to thousands of Facebook profiles for the purpose of commercial data mining.
Anyone who signs up (and I see a number of my friends have) - don't be surprised to find zero benefits but that your personal information pops up in ways you didn't expect.
Possible Demise of Deez?
I have heard a rumour today which I'm hoping to God is true (and I've no reason to disbelieve it).
If what I've heard is true I know at least one other Northern Irish blogger who will be celebrating for apparently Deez (née Hunters) bar 600 capacity venue is to undergo another change of management.
Several months ago Hunters was taken over. The new owners/management, with their obviously vast aptitude for marketing, decided that they would attempt to attract the scummiest, most brain-dead and most yobbish segment of the market they possibly could (reports of punters spitting on the floor should really come as no surprise therefore). In pursuit of the lowest-common-denominator they renamed the bar "Deez" (yes, with a z), purchased a small yellow car and plastered it with pink spots and the new logo, deemed that the establishment was no longer a simple pub, oh no, it became a "600 capacity venue" and finally decided that the bar should have it's own (completely tasteless) Bebo page rather than a web site.
Chairing a statutory scrutiny committee is ok, but has nothing on Castlereagh Borough Council!
Will Crawley reckons Iris Robinson missed a meeting of the Health Committee at Stormont (which she chairs), because she was at a Castlereagh Borough Council meeting instead. You do despair sometimes.
David Davis. Nearly a bold statement, but actually just pointless
It's quite hard to know what to think about David Davis forcing a by election in his own constituency. The Daily Telegraph on Friday suggested that this was at its core a shot across the bows of David Cameron, borne of frustration at his treatment at the hands of the leader. This got Conservative Home quite angry, as they believe that to be totally false.
This morning we hear that an ICM poll for the Mail on Sunday has Davis not only being returned with a larger majority than in 2005, but with large support for his actions amongst his constituents. This makes Tim Montgomerie very happy.
But for me, this is precisely why Davis' actions are a bit pointless. It is true that this has turned a government win in the commons into a story about a principled member of the opposition, it its true that it has caused a headache for the Prime Minister with his own MPs coming out in support of Davis, and it is true that Davis is almost certain of victory, but it is still quite pointless.
The 15 by elections in Northern Ireland in 1986 achieved the sum total of nothing. In fact, all it achieved was the defeat of Jim Nicholson and the further erosion of Enoch Powell's majority. In these by elections the result in most cases was certain, no one was surprised that Paisley, Beggs, Molyneaux et al were returned with massive majorities, of course they were. The electorate being asked to ratify the politician's position were the same electorate that backed them only three years previously at a General Election. And here we are with Davis Davis. If Gwyneth Dunwoody had passed away a few weeks later, and Davis had resigned to contest the Crewe by election, THAT would have been a bold step taking something new to the electorate. Crewe was a solid Labour seat. But Davis is not asking Labour supporters to punch the government in the nose over a specific policy, he is asking people who punched the government in the nose in 2005 and 2001 to do so again at a time of his, perhaps whimsical, choosing, over a specific policy that they were probably likely to agree with him on anyway.
And what's the point in that?