Police searching for Lion in Cavehill

Breaking news from RTÉ, that the PSNI are currently searching for a Lion near Cavehill country park in North Belfast.

The police statement says: "Police in North Belfast are warning the public to be aware of sightings of what appears to be a lion in the Upper Hightown end of Cavehill Park.

"Police are currently responding to the incident and would urge the public to avoid the area. Anyone who thinks they may have seen the animal should not attempt to approach it."

Although it is very close to Belfast Zoo, it has not yet been clarified whether it escaped from the zoo!

Heaven?

I'd imagine the Australian Embassy will be receiving a slew of visa applications in the very near future...

Remember The Disappeared

Patrick mentions on his Amnesty blog that today is International Day of the Disappeared.

The purposeful vanishing of murder victims by the IRA and INLA was among the most brutal and evil acts of the Troubles. As if it wasn't enough to snuff out the lives of these men (and women in Jean McConville's case), their killers took it upon themselves to put the families of the deceased through a lifetime of agony, unable to give their loved ones a decent burial.

Perhaps the most prominent of those family members was Vera McVeigh, whose son Columba was among those whose body has never been found, nor its location revealed. Vera died last year never having been able to lay her son to rest properly.

Meanwhile, other relatives of the Disappeared continue to wait in hope for details of the whereabouts of their loved ones.

Those who carried out these evil acts are not Irish Republicans- their actions are a blot on the cause of Irish unity and did nothing whatsoever to help reunification. The murder of these people and the subsequent hiding of their battered and bloody corpses was nothing short of a wanton and dispicable act of cruelty and depravity. Perhaps reflecting this fact, the terrorist organisations behind them have not had the guts to admit responsibility in some cases. How brave.

Let us all hope that one day the families get some sort of closure on this sad issue.

Kevin McKee: disappeared 2 October 1972
Seamus Wright: disappeared 2 October 1972
John McIlroy: disappeared 1974
Columba McVeigh (17): disappeared 31 October 1975
Brendan Megraw (24): disappeared 8 April 1978
Capt. Robert Nairac: disappeared 1977
Gerald Evans (24): disappeared 1979
Charles Armstrong (55): disappeared 16 August 1981
Danny McIlhone: disappeared 1981
Seamus Ruddy (33): disappeared 9 May 1985
Sean Murphy (25): disappeared 1986

Rest In Peace.

Obama's best speech yet.

Like many I'm sure, I was begin to tire of his abstract notions of 'hope' and flowery rhetoric but in last night's speech to the Democratic National Convention, Barack Obama finally nailed it. Obama focused his guns on McCain and the corporations and his policies at everyday working Americans for the first time in a speech that outlined a vision totally anathema to anything the 3 main British parties would dare to spell out. It's a sad thought that most of it was, to me, common sense but that it seemed so radical after 8 years of Bush, and even in a UK context with New Labour so willing to prop up the bankers that caused the current crisis rather than those who suffered at the hands of their reckless greed.

The Democrats at last have started to tear lumps out of their Republican opponents, learning the lessons of John Kerry's failure to respond to Karl Rove's dirty tricks in 2004. Asking why Republicans say they favour small-government while increasing government spending through arms contracts is something that hopefully will chime with many voters, as will attacking McCain's contention that Obama is out of touch with voters. How many houses does he own? I'm not sure either.

Obama's brand of populism and his humorous dismissal of the main tenets of trickle-down economics- "In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is - you're on your own"- is something that would have Gordon Brown and John Hutton dispatch the Whips but that should be second nature to a Labour government in the eve of recession. His call for tax increases for the super-rich are again common sense solutions to a widening wealth gap and perilously empty Treasury coffers, but Brown's government is resisting a windfall tax on the highly unpopular energy companies that are profiting from everyone else’s' fuel poverty misery.

To see real Keynesian interventionist policies coming from the mouth of the favourite to win the Presidency of the United States is a site to behold (especially as it is assumed that the political culture in the States is far further to the right than ours) and a much welcomed improvement from the free-market nonsense and corporatist cronyism offered by the Republicans. It is only a pity that these not-so-radical proposals are still out of bounds for senior figures in the British government. I am convinced that as households continue to feel the pinch, people will start to favour an interventionist government that will, to paraphrase one disaffected Republican voter speaking to the DNC, put Barney Smith before Smith Barney [the investment bank]. Unfortunately Brown does not realise this. Jon Cruddas anyone?

In closing, it must be noted that Obama's message was spot on. Even so, I am still wary of getting too excited. The Democrat base is much to the left of its corporate backers and most of its leadership and this point often explains disappointment with Democratic administrations. Hopefully Obama is sincere in what he says and that his message will not be diluted too much by the moneymen if he gets into office. I hope too that Bush's fiscal irresponsibility and the state of the global economy gives him some room to actually implement his reforms. That last point may be the most crucial.

Happy 50th Birthday Michael Jackson!

Congratulations to the King of Pop who celebrates his half-century today. Let's hope he gets his act together and releases an album to match the quality of Bad and Thriller. Fingers crossed!

President Obama Gets The Nod From The Democrats

And so it is that Barack Obama has been selected as Democratic candidate for the White House. One-time presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton called a halt to the vote tallying at the Democratic convention in Denver and moved for support to be put solely behind Obama.

When all the fanfare dies down, the task of making sure that this historical story gets the ending it deserves commences.

Here's to President Obama.

Show Mugabe A Red Card - Sign The Petition

The SDLP Youth Blog takes a look at the state of Zimbabwe, and urges people to sign a petition calling for Mugabe to resign. This weekend, Mugabe is meeting with 15 other African leaders to discuss the progress of talks with the opposition in Zimbabwe. A massive group of trade unionists will march through Johannesburg calling for Mugabe to resign, supported by 100,000 people who have signed the petition.

Sign of the Times

Times Online includes the 2008 Sign of the Times photo competition.

There are 30 entries that you can vote on. The photos are from every corner of the earth, including Ireland, and are well worth having a look at.

Cultural night

As already noted here, the inaugural McCloskey Civil Rights Summer School will take place in Carlingford, Co Louth, Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd August - this weekend coming in fact. The theme is “40 years on: the Civil Rights Challenges in Ireland Today – Tackling Poverty, Sectarianism, Racism and Inequality”. As well as lectures, there will also be a cultural night on Saturday in Holy Trinity Church at 8pm. Traditional singer, Sean Donnelly, will attend; Anne Devlin, playwright, daughter of Paddy, will read as will poet Mebdh McGuckian. I will also be reading a few poems in Irish and in translation. The idea is to have a series of readings interspersed with songs. There will be wine and soft drinks available and all are welcome.

A full programme is available from www.nicivilrights.org

Omagh Bomb Victims- Rest In Peace

It is ten years since 29 people were slaughtered in cold blood on a busy afternoon in Omagh.

The people who carried out this heinous crime are not Irish Republicans. They are not Freedom Fighters. They are nothing but cold-blooded terrorist murderers.

The killers may never face justice in this world, but rest assured that they will be judged harshly in the next.

These are the people whose lives they extinguished:

Avril Monaghan, 30, Co Tyrone. Heavily pregnant with twin girls. Her daughter and mother were also killed. They had been in the SD Kells clothes shop, which bore the brunt of the explosion.


Maura Monaghan, 18 months, Co Tyrone. One of Monaghan's four children. Her body was found under her mother's. She was known as "Mossie" by her family.


Mary Grimes, 66, Co Tyrone. Avril Monaghan's mother was celebrating her birthday with her daughter and granddaughter.


Breda Devine, 20 months, Co Tyrone. Had been born three months prematurely. Her mother, Tracey, was the last victim to return home from hospital. Tracey Devine was in a coma for six weeks and on waking had to be told that her daughter had been killed.


Lorraine Wilson, 15, Omagh. Hoped to become a flight attendant. She had been evacuated from Oxfam, where she worked as a volunteer, after inaccurate warnings as to the location of the bomb.


Samantha McFarland, 17, Omagh. Friend of Lorraine and fellow volunteer at Oxfam.


Gareth Conway, 18, Co Tyrone. Student who lived with his family. He had just been accepted for an engineering course at the University of Ulster and was awaiting his exam results.


Julie Hughes, 21, Omagh. The 21-year-old accountancy student was home from Dundee University ahead of returning to complete her final year. She had a summer job working in Image Xpress, a photographic shop, and was evacuated due to the inaccurate warnings.


Brenda Logue, 17, Carrickmore. Sixth-year pupil at St Theresa's high school who played for the school's Gaelic football team. Her GCSE exam results arrived a few days after her death.


Elizabeth Rush, 57, Omagh. Was serving customers in her Market Street shop, Pine Emporium, opposite the centre of the explosion, when she was killed.


Rocio Abad-Amos, 23, Madrid. Teacher supervising a group of Spanish and Irish schoolchildren on a day out. The party was in Ireland on an exchange holiday, based in Co Donegal. It was her fifth trip to Ireland.


Fernando Blasco Baselga, 12, Madrid. One of the exchange party. His 15-year-old sister, Donna Marie, was on the trip and needed extensive plastic surgery for facial injuries.


Sean McLaughlin, 12, Buncrana, Co Donegal. Part of the same group. An avid footballer, he supported Manchester United and was an altar boy.


Oran Doherty, eight, Buncrana, Co Donegal. Also one of the exchange programme party, and Sean's neighbour. He was buried in his beloved Celtic football club jersey.


James Barker, 12, Buncrana, Co Donegal. Another of the exchange programme group, and a friend of Sean and Oran. He lived for more than three hours as doctors vainly pumped 18 pints of blood into him.


Philomena Skelton, 49, Co Tyrone. On a shopping trip with her husband, Kevin, and their three daughters. Her husband and daughters survived.


Esther Gibson, 36, Beragh. Sunday school teacher who had got engaged three months earlier and was due to be married on her birthday the following year.


Geraldine Breslin, 43, Omagh. One of three sales assistants working for Watterson's drapers who died. Breslin, married with a 15-year-old son, was walking down the street on a tea break when the bomb went off.


Ann McCombe, 48, Omagh. Mother-of-two, also working in Watterson's. She was with Breslin on her tea break.


Veda Short, 56, Omagh. Mother-of-four who had worked in Watterson's for 20 years. She was also on a tea break when she died. Earlier that day she had witnessed the birth of her grandchild.


Aidan Gallagher, 21, Omagh. Loved cars and worked with his father in a car repair business near the family home, where he lived with his parents and two sisters. He had gone into town to buy jeans and boots.


Alan Radford, 16, Omagh. Shopping with his mother, who was injured in the blast. He was due to start training as a chef the next month, and his GCSE results arrived three days after his death.


Fred White, 60, Omagh. Retiree and keen gardener. He was in a shop next door to SD Kells with his son when the bomb killed them both.


Brian White, 26, Omagh. Fred White's son. He had returned from university in England and was due to start a job with the council two days later. He was buried alongside his father.


Jolene Marlow, 17, Omagh. Student who hoped to study physiotherapy at the University of Ulster and was awaiting her A-level results. She was in Omagh with her sister and grandmother.


Deborah Cartwright, 20, Omagh. Her A-level results, which arrived on the day of her funeral, confirmed she had won her coveted place on a textile design course at Manchester University.


Olive Hawkes, 60, Omagh. She was due to celebrate her ruby anniversary a few days after the bomb. Hawkes was killed while on a shopping outing.


Brian McCrory, 54, Omagh. Left a wife, daughter and two sons. He was talking with a friend near the car that contained the bomb.


Sean McGrath, 61, Omagh. Died three weeks after the blast. He was the final victim, taking the death toll to 29. McGrath, a well-known local businessman, was fatally injured in the same street in which he had been born 61 years earlier.


May they rest in peace.

Severe Weather Warning

(Photo: © chris is' photostream)
The Met Office have issued a 'severe weather warning' for N Ireland. BBC News reports minor flooding in Newry and Lurgan (but it's passable with care). Should we be worried after the recent flooding in Dublin, that saw thousands of Armagh GAA fans unable to return home, stranded in hotels across Dublin, and also 10,000 Scouting Ireland members evacuated from Punchestown by the Civil Defence? I don't think we're going to see any scenes from The Day After Tomorrow, but major flooding in Belfast isn't unthinkable. It's happened in previous years along the Ormeau Road and Ravenhill, so get your sand bags out!

Georgia and Russia at War

Georgian forces have entered South Ossetia and as a result Russian planes have bombed Georgian military targets and a 15-day state of war has been declared by Georgia. South Ossetia declared itself an independent republic in the 1990's after the Georgian-Ossetian War. However, the independence was never recognised by any UN members. It's technically still a Georgian region but since the war it's been guarded under international agreement by Russian 'peacekeepers'. Georgia has never had good relations with Russia - it has close links with the US and it recently wanted to join NATO.

Many South Ossetians want independence from Georgia. The South Ossetian administration held a referendum in 2006 which they say showed 99% support for independence and 95% turnout. Many South Ossetians also hold Russian passports, so Russia says it has a responsibility in the region.

US President Bush has called for Georgia's territorial integrity to be respected. Bush really doesn't want this war - partly because Georgia has urgently pulled its 2000 troops out of Iraq so they can be re-deployed in South Ossetia.

The Russian Ambassador to Georgia has said 2000 civilians and 13 Russian 'peacekeepers' have been killed. He told the media: "The city of Tskhinvali no longer exists. It is gone. The Georgian military has destroyed it."

Let's get our own house in order too.

As the opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olympics gets under way, commentators have expressed consternation at the omission of key aspects of Britain's past from the history-themed spectacle. Other discordant voices include human rights activists condemning the awarding of the Olympic Games to a state that has given itself the power to lock up citizens for up to 6 weeks without charge, and forbids peacefully assembly within a kilometre radius of its parliament buildings.

The opening took place in London city centre amid a security crackdown involving thousands of armed police. Earlier in the week 4 protesters were detained under the Terrorism Act 2000 for unfurling a "Free the 6 counties" banner from the London Assembly buildings and a rucksack-wearing man from Ecuador was severely injured by a police marksman in an incident condemned by international human rights organisations and the campaign group Liberty as "heavy-handed and disproportionate".

One of the ceremony's themes was "A Shared History" which saw children from each of the United Kingdom's constituent parts paraded in regional costumes. A plethora of issue groups from Anti-Slavery campaigners to Irish nationalist parties complained at the event's "selective airbrushing" of the events in British history that the establishment wishes not to highlight, including the legacy of slavery and colonialism, and the British involvement in Ireland. Other problems plaguing the 2012 Games have included Amnesty International's complaint that awarding the Games to the UK contravened the Olympic Charter, citing complicity in the United States 'extraordinary rendition' programme and Britain's position as a leading world arms trader, trading weapons to countries with dubious human rights records such as Saudi Arabia.

All in all the ceremony was an impressive spectacle with some of the host nation's top sporting and entertainment stars sharing the spotlight with various sectors of the UK's diverse population. Some commentators cannot, however, ignore the thought that it is also a skilled exercise in propaganda, selling the UK image to an audience of 4bn while covering over cracks that often threaten to come to the surface.

While in no way implying similitude in human rights records between the UK and China, nor excusing the latter's abhorrent record, our smug broadcasters may want to consider a view things at home before letting their criticism colour their coverage of this year's Olympic Games.

The People United Shall [hopefully] Never be Defeated!

While we are all distracted by the Fermanagh byelection, this weekend Bolivia goes to the polls to deliver its verdict on President Evo Morales socialist 'Bolivarian revolution'. Morales, elected with 53.740% of the votes in 2005, should have no problem winning another mandate for his program of peaceful democratic socialism but he faces a coalition of powerful forces opposed to his reforms. Wealthy areas of the country, now no longer able to impose their will on the indigineous majority, are threatening to secede and the country has become increasingly polarised.

Bolivia is a country that suffered greatly under Spanish colonialism in the past and IMF-imposed colonialism in recent years. Sánchez de Lozada's so-called free-market 'reforms' benefited a wealthy elite and subjected the majority of the population to great hardship when he sold off precious state resources to foreign capitalists for a fraction of their worth. In 1997 Hugo Banzer, elected on an anti-privatisation platform, mysteriously changed his mind once elected and continued to implement the IMF agenda with the vigour of the new convert. Hopefully now that Bolivia has a leader willing to carry out the will of its people the history of damning poverty and inequality in the country will be reversed.

In a sense Morales's struggle represents that of South America as a whole. A continent pillaged first by imperialist nations and then by Washington-imposed dictators and multinational corporations, South America is asserting its independence from these foreign interlopers through greater co-operation on a number of social and economic issues. The IMF was wholly discredited when the Argentinian economy collapsed in 2001- an economy run according to IMF recommendations and previously held up as a triumph of neoliberal reform- and the new Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (Alternativa Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América or ALBA) is beginning to form an alternative. Started following from the Cuba-Venezuela Agreement in 2004, under whose terms Chavez's oil-rich nation provided oil to Cuba in return for Cuban-trained doctors to alleviate conditions in Venezuelan slums, ALBA has been since extended to Bolivia, Nicarague and Dominica, with Ecuador's President Rafael Correa promising to join soon. Set up on ideals of social welfare and mutual economic aid rather than cut-throat free trade, ALBA will be an initiative to watch if it successfully expands throughout the region.

Good luck to Morales this weekend, and good luck to South American's attempts to establish a socialist alternative to neoliberal capitalism; el pueblo unido jamás será vencido!

Paris Hilton runs for White House

Paris Hilton presents her US presidential campaign where she solves America's energy problems. It's nice to see something a little different from the squabbling going on between Barack-for-Change-Obama and "super-old" McCain. Loves it.

USA v China: A Sham Fight

Lame duck President George W Bush delivered a barely detectable slap to the face of China when he criticised their human rights record this week. The Chinese retorted by saying that they "firmly oppose any words or acts that interfere in other countries' internal affairs."

This, of course, is a pointless charade, given the circumstances.

Rebuking the USA for commenting on China's affairs when they have previously invaded Iraq and Afghanistan is like criticising Jack the Ripper for poking someone with a toothpick- it's hardly the biggest chink in their moral armour. Likewise, the Chinese are in no position to be criticising anyone given their record in Tibet and Africa.

Of course, while this performance of amateur dramatics is played-out on our television screens, much like the pointless antics displayed by the axis at Stormont, multi-billion pound trading between the most powerful country in the world and the most highly-populated country in the world will continue unaffected.

And the subjugation of the rights of the people of China will also continue unaffected.

Congratulations Cllr Seán Rodgers

It comes as welcome news that Seán Rodgers has been co-opted onto Newry and Mourne District Council to replace the late, great Michael Cole.

It has been somewhat of a silly season lately with by-elections being called at the taxpayer's expense for the purposes of political oneupmanship. Thankfully this hasn't been the case in the Mournes.

Good luck to Seán.

Policing and justice matters

BBC reports that: “The DUP and Sinn Fein have signalled they are moving towards a deal on devolving policing and justice powers from Westminster to the NI Assembly. The parties have agreed there will be a single department of justice with a minister needing cross-community support to be elected.

“The two parties have said they will not nominate candidates themselves. But Alliance, the party most likely to supply a minister, has said it is not interested in taking on the post. Transferring policing and justice has been one of the most contentious issues since devolution was restored to Northern Ireland.

“The failure of Sinn Fein and DUP to agree on the issue has been a key factor in what some have described as a deadlock at Stormont. However, the parties have written a letter to the Assembly Executive Review committee outlining common areas of agreement. But there is still no agreement on when transfer of powers would take place.”

The BBC are also reporting that “The SDLP and Ulster Unionists have yet to say whether they will nominate anyone for the job.”

The SDLP’s justice spokesperson, Alban Maginness, posted a press-release on the SDLP’s site yesterday which accused the DUP and Sinn Féin of performing an “Executive Gerrymander”:

“It seems that the only thing that the DUP and Sinn Fein can agree on is that the SDLP should be denied a Ministry to which we are entitled under the rules. This is yet another example of how both these parties remain fixated on practicing the politics of the past, and as is becoming clear for all to see, they have not got the answers to the problems of today and tomorrow.

“It is clear that the DUP and Sinn Fein are attempting to play a game of Executive gerrymandering that will deny the SDLP a Ministry that would be rightfully ours. The DUPs influence over Sinn Fein continues to grow. So much so that Sinn Fein is now a willing, albeit junior partner, in initiating a policy of Executive exclusion against the SDLP. This says it all about the stagnant and impotent position of Sinn Fein. Happy to insult from the sidelines when the SDLP defended their right to inclusion, Sinn Fein are now desperate to exclude the SDLP at the first opportunity they get.

“The DUP have held up devolution of justice long enough. They should not now be allowed to exclude a nationalist party from taking any new ministerial portfolio which may arise and they definitely should not dictate that a future Justice Ministry should be gifted to the Alliance Party. If that is the outcome it will be proof positive about who is running the country and whose party interests are being advantaged.

“The devolution of Policing and Justice powers to the North is the final piece in the jigsaw of implementing the Good Friday Agreement. Bending and breaking that agreement to serve narrow party political interests is not a basis to ensure a stable and effective ministry. That is what the public want. It is what all political parties should be striving for. What have either the DUP or Sinn Fein got to fear from another SDLP Minister, or a SDLP Minister for Justice in particular? The answer is simply electoral. As the party which delivered the new beginning to policing, we are best qualified to take on the task of a devolved justice ministry. For the SDLP, this is natural territory..."

Maginness's concern that the Alliance Party would take the ministry seem to have been addressed. BBC quote Alliance leader David Ford as giving a "a very definite and a very emphatic no" to taking any policing and justice ministry.

An All-Ireland Approach to Freeview TV

The Irish Times reports that 80% of households in the Republic will have freeview coverage by the end of 2009. The switch-over for the Republic is meant to take place in 2012. As well as RTE1, RTE2, TV3 and TG4 there will be four new channels to encourage people to convert to digital earlier - those channels are Dáil TV, Irish Film Channel, RTE3 (mostly archive material) and RTE1+1.

The SDLP are lobbying for all the southern broadcasters to join the free-to-view platform in the North. They believe "the government has a duty to extend the scope of availability of Irish broadcasting in Northern Ireland"(1) under the Good Friday Agreement and when the recent funding for the Irish Language Broadcasting Fund was renewed, the SDLP said that there is a "huge opportunity to boost the Irish language in the north of Ireland being missed"(2) because many Irish speakers in the North cannot receive these Irish language TV and radio channels.

Post-2012 when the analogue TV signal is turned off, there will still be some signal spill-over along the Border, but it won't be as much spill-over with digital as there is with the analogue signal. People along the Border living in the South are already taking advantage of Freeview TV broadcast from transmitters in the North, so they can continue to watch NI channels. However, people who don't live near the Border could be cut-off from the TV channels they watch every day. That's why it's so important that an all-Ireland agreement is reached so people throughout Ireland can watch the same TV channels - whether they are British or Irish.

Ofcom have also been discussing whether this is achievable and how this would affect commercial channels like UTV and TV3 who both share ITV network content, and both RTÉ and the BBC are in favour of some kind of agreement - but there would need to be an agreement on how the license fee for these channels in both jurisdiction will work in the future. This needs to be agreed now - but there isn't any visible progress from Minister Eamon Ryan and his DCENR colleagues. When the Minister says the new service will be "accessible to all", does he include northern viewers in that? As Tommy Gallagher MLA points out "There are whole areas of the north where RTE is in fact the primary television station of choice."

Also, and a point that the media is picking up on, since the Digital Terrestrial Television system for the Republic is being developed several years after the UK system, the Republic will start by broadcasting using MPEG4 (which can be used to broadcast High-Definition better quality TV). The UK broadcasts most channels using MPEG2 but there are plans to upgrade MPEG4 in the future. However, and this is the bit that will annoy people, most of the current digital TV receivers will be fitted with MPEG2 chipsets which won't be able to handle MPEG4 channels - so people will need to buy a new set top box. This will cost money, but if I knew RTÉ were broadcasting on Freeview in Belfast, I'd buy one tomorrow.