Scottish Independence! Surely Northern Ireland Needs It!
Yet again, Northern Ireland is rioting and causing mayhem.
If we are giving the Scots and the Welsh a degree of independence, in these times of austerity, shouldn’t we cut Northern Ireland adrift and leave it to its own resources?
I just don’t like seeing bigots burning my taxes as a form of entertainment! Perhaps, they should impose a local income tax!
Do The Northern Irish Have a Morbid Sense of Pride?
Apparently there’s a joke in Belfast about the Titantic, which says that “She was alright, when she left here!”
I don’t think that if she’d been built on the Tyne or the Wear, they’d be celebrating the 100th anniversary of her launch, as they are in Belfast.
Titantic was one of three Olympic Class Ocean liners and only Olympic saw service of more than a few years. So they weren’t favoured with the best of luck. Although, Olympic, which served as a troopship in the First World War, was nicknamed Old Reliable.
Is Josh Carson the New George Best?
I just typed Josh Carson George Best into Google and found a lot of results, like this one.
Here’s an extract.
Paul Jewell has dubbed Josh Carson as “the new George Best.”
That might sound a bit far-fetched, considering that only a month ago 17-year-old Carson had not even played a League match.
But Jewell was referring to Carson’s colourful personality, as much as any potential footballing prowess, especially as Town’s new find actually forgot to go to training on Sunday.
The Northern Ireland Under-21 international, perhaps still basking in the glory of his two goals in Town’s 2-1 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday, was sitting at home when the phone rang – it was Jewell telling him to drop everything and get down to training.
In the end, Carson was only a few minutes late, but Jewell kept ducking the apologies from his new teenage sensation for the rest of the day.
And remember that was before he scored the only goal at Bristol City.
In my mind George Best was only a good footballer and not a great one. In the years I have been watching football, I have seen two great Northern Irish footballers; Danny Blanchflower and Pat Jennings. Both had long and illustrious careers. George Best’s could have been great, but he decided to blow it all!
So in some ways, I hope for his sake, that Josh Carson isn’t the new George Best! Carson has been playing much in the manner of that classic Northern Irish winger of the 1950s and 1960s; Billy Bingham.
PeacePlayers International
I’d never heard of this group, until I read William and Kate’s wedding list in the papers.
They are definitely worth supporting.
It does appear though that the royal couple have had the right idea over their gift list.
I was also impressed by his speech in Christchurch.
The Bus Powered by a 2-Litre Diesel Engine
The 141 bus passes the end of my road, on its way to Wood Green, where my father’s print works used to be.
A 141 Bus to Wood Green
The route is partly operated by hybrid buses, some of which are Wright Gemini 2 HEVs, which are powered by the 2-litre diesel engine from a Ford Puma.
I’ve always been a bit suspicious of hybrid cars, but surely this bus must be more fuel-efficient, than a similar-sized traditional bus.
An interesting aside here is that the bus is also built without a chassis, partly to save weight and the company that builds these buses, the Wright Group, is family-owned in Northern Ireland.
So does innovation and good design flourish in companies which benefit from not being under the control of unimaginative shareholders and wunches of bankers?
Northern Ireland Shoots the Messenger
It is being reported that the Chief Executive of Northern Ireland Water, Lawrence MacKenzie is being asked to step down.
It may be partly his fault, but as The Times said yesterday, non-privatisation and the consequent lack of investment is the real cause.
Why Should We Subsidise Northern Ireland Water?
According to The Times today, the rest of the UK subsidises Northern Ireland Water to the tune of £267 million annually. And they pay no water or sewerage charges in the province.
It also turns out that there is a mutual help agreement between all UK water companies and Northern Ireland Water didn’t use it until several days after it became obvious they were in the mire.
The Times has a very strong leading article criticising the situation and saying that everybody is playing pass-the-parcel with blame. They also say that privatisation is the only solution, but will any government have the guts to impose that sensible solution?
I doubt it, as with a few riots Ulster always says no and gets its way.
Let’s give Ulster with our blessing to Eire! But I forgot, they’re in an even bigger mess!
Is Privatisation Good for the Water Industry?
All of the English Water Companies are privately owned, but Northen Ireland Water is owned by the government. So according to the theories of the left, the water supply in the province should be better than that in England.
But it’s not, if these reports are to be believed.
Could this be because, if privatised industries fail to invest and do a bad job, as some have done in the past, they are an easy target and go bust, whereas government industries, like Northern Ireland Water have to fight for every small piece of investment against other things that the government needs to spend? So has Northern Ireland Water been starved of investment? You could argue too, that the South East of England has suffered one of the worst cold spells for over half a century and the water infrastructure has coped well.
So let’s solve Ulster’s ater problem by privatising water and sewage! A good company would surely do a better job than a bunch of politicians looking to win the next election.
I’ve just sent this e-mail to BBC Breakfast under the title of Northern Ireland’s Water Problems.
This surely lays the lie that privatisation is bad. The South East of England has suffered the worst cold spell in half a century and I’ve not heard of any problems with the privatised infrastructure.
Could it be that successive governments have starved NI Water of money? So let’s privatise it now! After all, everybody in the UK would benefit from the sale!
It won’t be read out.
Killing the Hand That Supports and Feeds You
Yesterday was a grim day, with four British soldiers killed in Afghanistan, three by their supposed Afghan colleagues. And then we had more rioting in Northern Ireland last night, with shots fired at police.
In these times of severe austerity, we should make sure that the monetary and people costs we spend on these trouble spots are well-spent. If we are not wanted in these places, then the troops, police and monetary support should be withdrawn. At least in Northern Ireland, the politicians seem to be condemning the violence. This is from the BBC’s report.
First Minister Peter Robinson and his deputy, Martin McGuinness, said there had been “outright thuggery and vandalism”.
Mr Robinson added: “There is no excuse and no place for violence in civilised society. Both the deputy first minister and I have been, and will continue, to work for a resolution of the difficulties around parading.”
BBC Ireland correspondent Mark Simpson said the violence had brought politicians together, “but the problem was the rioters don’t seem to be listening”.
He said so far police had been unable to stop the violence, but “they had been successful in containing it”.
The problem would seem to be the Orange parades, which give some the excuse for a bit of violence. I can remember these parades in Liverpool, when I was a student. We just used to go out and laugh at them, as to someone brought up in an area, where religious tensions were almost non-existent, they were an alien concept. Incidentally parades still go on in Liverpool, as this report from the BBC shows. But they are very different to those in Northern Ireland. I haven’t heard of any reports of violence for a start.
A Place To Save Our Money
Yet again, we have scenes of violence and bigotry from Northern Ireland as the Protestants march.
Why? Especially, do we have to subsidise the province and its outdated antics in a time of austerity? We will have to face cuts in the police in the rest of the UK. Does that mean we’re paying for the protection of those bigots? They should grow up!
The Anonymous Widower 