Belfast Telegraph – NI’s leading news site where you can have your opinion via blogs or letters

Latest:

21:22 Ex-Beatle Macca visits the Commons
20:02 Dublin mayoral election 'this year'
19:32 I feared for my future - Jones
19:32 Afghanistan deaths soldiers named
19:22 Katie offers support to Terry wife
19:12 Big financial presence for 70 years
18:42 Co-operation 'key to prosperity'
18:32 Kraft reverses Cadbury factory vow

Prime Minister should leave the goalposts where they are

Today MPs decide whether to hold a referendum on the introduction of 'Alternative Vote' for the Westminster elections. It is part of Gordon Brown's new plan to rehabilitate the damaged reputation of Britain's politics. It is also a spectacularly bad idea.
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The rocky road from crisis to co-operation

Given the recent threat to our power-sharing arrangements here in Northern Ireland, it is worth remembering how and why we have this system of government.
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Vanity is threatening the very nature of motherhood

She is the very epitome of beaming celebrity, airbrushed to near-oblivion, dolled up to the nines, radiating perfection. Oh, and what's that in the picture? Ah yes, her new-born tot.
Comment: 1

Inside Opinion

Why the deal isn’t the final piece of devolution jigsaw

The agreement on the devolution of policing and justice is probably the biggest con since snake oil vendors were in their pomp.

Hillsborough Agreement raises more questions than it answers

The Hillsborough deal is done, but is it really a done deal? I ask that question upon reading the agreement because the arrangement for the transfer of justice and policing is about the only certainty I can find within its carefully crafted wording.

Tall storeys as Arab princes engage in petty oneupmanship

Prince al-Waleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia is quite a man.

Why we’ve had enough of all the party games

By the time you read this, the chances are that Peter and Martin will have announced ‘Peace In Our Time'.

Horse first, then cart ... it’s time nationalists got real about unity

No political regime likes uncertainty. Talk of unexpected elections makes politicians twitchy. Meal tickets can be put at risk.

Ritchie can follow in Durkan's giant footsteps

The SDLP annual party conference in Newcastle marked a new dawn in Irish politics as the party elected its first female leader, Margaret Ritchie.

Editor's Viewpoint: Clock is ticking for Olympic contracts

In two years time the world’s biggest sporting event, the Olympics, will be held in London.

Will cagefighter Alex Reid pay a heavy price for marrying Katie Price?

I do try to refrain from celebrity name-calling but I have to admit a few ungodly adjectives came rushing from my mouth when I heard that Katie Price had marched poor old Alex Reid up the aisle this week.

Why life in the wild isn’t really Garden of Eden

Animals, eh?.... What are they about? We can't live with the big, fierce ones, and we can't live without the little, cuddly ones.

Take a cue from amazing Grace and slap the cuffs on Tony Blair

What a joy it is in these dour times to be able to exalt the name of Grace McCann. No relation, unfortunately.

The UUP’S spin doctor is right to spurn new pact

His may not exactly be a household name. But in unionist politics (small u — and large) Alex Kane has long been a central figure.

Peter must pack up politics and spend more time with his family

I'm no political pundit so I won't even attempt to comment on the state of play up at Stormont this week. But I will say this: if I were in Peter Robinson's shoes, I'd throw in the towel, resign from office completely and do it this week.

Former president and U.N. special envoy for Haiti Bill Clinton, right, talks to airport workers unloading relief supplies at the airport in Port-au-Prince, Monday, Jan. 18, 2010. Troops, doctors and aid workers flowed into Haiti on Monday even while hundreds of thousands of Tuesday's quake victims struggled to find water or food. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Mark Steel: Did Satan change his terms and conditions for Haiti?

Satan's terms and conditions must have got worse in recent times. The most prominent TV evangelist in the United States, Pat Robertson, announced that the Haiti earthquake was a result of a "pact with the Devil", made when they overthrew slavery 200 years ago.