I was recently required to do an analysis of an academic research paper. A colleague I was working with chose this one, which I hadn't read before. There are some fascinating things in the responses. Page 6 of the PDF shows the huge swing in support… more »

OK, so Peter Robinson is going to be confirmed as the new leader of the DUP on Thursday after being selected by the party's MLAs yesterday. Nothing unexpected there. I've been waiting for the day when Paisley would finally step down and I suppose what ha… more »

Slugger has highlights from Iain Dale's picking up on the Irish Daily Mail getting hold of a copy of an email. The email was sent from a UK diplomat in Dublin following a briefing from the Irish government. It lists the various underhand methods the gove… more »

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 a… more »

You'd scarcely credit it but Sinn Fein's Alex Maskey is fuming with Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde and is demanding an apology after the chief of police allegedly claimed the policing board had "gone a bit tribal". Supposedly Orde accused the elected m… more »

University of Ulster offers cash incentives for studying at Magee I got really pissed off with Queen's University in my last year or two, specifically with the School of Computer Science (as was), despite the university being short-listed for Sunda… more »

Downing Street have issued a non-response to a petition calling on them to prevent GP surgeries from using expensive, revenue-generating 084 and 087 phone numbers. The government has said that the patient shouldn't be expected to pay more than a loca… more »

So much to blog and so little time. It's like being off work and coming back to an inbox overflowing with emails. Let's start with this kerfuffle over flags in Kilrea. Long story short, some folk erect tricolour on Protestant church. Some other folk d… more »

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… more »

It's one of those times when life comes between me and my internet so I'll not be blogging for about a week or so; be good while I'm away! more »