Editors Viewpoint
Viewpoint: Trouble-makers must be isolated
There seems little doubt that the violent scenes witnessed in Craigavon this
week were orchestrated by sinister elements, most probably linked to
dissident republican groups. While the level of violence was a mere shadow
of the mayhem which was once commonplace in Northern Ireland, it was
nevertheless deadly in intent.
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Inside Editors Viewpoint
Iain Osborne: Decisions over our long-term energy needs can’t be delayed
Thursday, 28 August 2008
After NIE Energy and Phoenix Natural Gas gave notice of forthcoming tariff
increases, Utility Regulator Iain Osborne looks at the diverse challenges
facing Northern Ireland’s energy sector.
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Viewpoint: Do the job you were elected to do
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
The honeymoon for the new administration at Stormont is well and truly over,
just 15 months after the unlikely marriage of the DUP and Sinn Fein. Both
parties are raising the stakes over the devolution of policing and justice
powers to the Executive.
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It’s time to show true governance
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
The recent history of devolved government in Northern Ireland has been riddled
with threats by one political party or another to pull out of agreed
arrangements unless their demands are met. Such an approach to politics may
seem juvenile, but in the context of this province is hardly surprising.
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Few hiding places for Gary Glitter
Monday, 25 August 2008
The return of the UK’s most loathsome pop star is nothing to celebrate, but it
is a welcome reminder that our world is a smaller place. And in this case,
that’s a very good thing.
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Viewpoint: Wounded boxer made his point
Saturday, 23 August 2008
Poor Paddy Barnes. The 21-year-old from north Belfast was undoubtedly
frustrated with himself for losing yesterday’s Olympic semi-final flyweight
bout, and he was rightly angry at the judges. His opponent, world champion
Shiming Zou, clearly won the fight, but it was not the whitewash that the
judges scored.
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Jet disaster: the crucial questions
Friday, 22 August 2008
News of the Spanish air disaster which claimed 153 lives sent a shudder
through all of us who have ever boarded a holiday flight.
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An unhealthy decision for us all
Thursday, 21 August 2008
An innovative and worthwhile healthcare service has been suspended because of a dispute between the Department of Health and around 500 community pharmacists in Northern Ireland.
Rain or not, the crowds still come
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
The incessant rain of the past two summers has made most people in Northern Ireland yearn for a holiday in the sun, but it does not appear to have put off the many tourists coming to these shores.
Time to sink cash into drainage
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
One image, above all, summed up the freak flooding which hit Northern Ireland on Saturday. It was the picture of the province’s newest road, the underpass at the Broadway section of the Westlink, flooded to a depth of 20 feet. It was a surreal sight which left the public bewildered. How could what had appeared to be an engineering marvel fall foul of the weather at its very first test?
Why Gusty’s call should be heeded
Monday, 18 August 2008
Gusty Spence was there at the start of the modern UVF, when the group began its reprehensible campaign against random Catholics under the guise of combating the IRA. That was 42 years ago, when John Patrick Scullion and Peter Ward were shot and Mr Spence went to jail for murder.
O'Loan comments out of step with changing attitudes
Saturday, 16 August 2008
Dame Nuala O’Loan stepped into controversial terrority with her comments on a national radio programme that Protestants were brought up to distrust Catholics. She was unwise to suggest that she was referring to all Protestants and not just some.
Omagh: A name blackened with infamy
Friday, 15 August 2008
For a decade now, Omagh has been a name known around the world. In distant places, people who have little notion of any other place in Northern Ireland can still recall the town. They may have never heard of Tyrone, may only have the vaguest ideas of Ireland, north and south, but they remember there was a place where one shattering August afternoon our divisions reached a shocking and terrible climax.
Holding out for the silver lining
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Most of us consider this summer’s wash-out as an inconvenience rather than a real hardship. The constant downpour means we cannot enjoy days out or summer evening barbecues. The solution, for those who can afford it, is to book a sunshine break abroad. It is obvious by the traffic on the roads at the moment that many people have taken that option.
Prevention always better than cure
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
From a policing point of view, the only thing better than solving a crime is preventing it happening in the first place. That is the rationale behind new public protection arrangements which will start to come into effect in Northern Ireland from October.
Policing powers must work first
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
The Northern Ireland Office was created in 1972, effectively to take over the task of running the province following the decision to suspend the old Stormont government. In the past 36 years there have been 16 Secretaries of State, starting with William Whitelaw.
Peace to be Omagh’s memorial
Monday, 11 August 2008
Even at the remove of a decade, the immensity of the Omagh bombing is staggering. Thirty-one lives brutally destroyed and hundreds more damaged beyond repair in one gruesome afternoon, at a time when Northern Ireland was beginning to show a tentative understanding that peace was finally at hand.
No winners in referees’ dispute
Saturday, 9 August 2008
The best referees are invisible. Any sport is enhanced when the official with the whistle fails to come the attention of the fans because the are performing their essential — and often incredibly tough — role in the background with perfect anonymity.
It’s time China cleared the air
Friday, 8 August 2008
Smog over Beijing should surprise no-one. A city of more than 16 million people who are becoming ever more voracious consumers of petro-chemicals is bound to create a lot of smoke.
The IRA - time for a decisive winding down?
Thursday, 7 August 2008
Have they gone away? The IRA, that is. The status of the Provos is back under close scrutiny, courtesy of the ongoing tug-of-war over the transfer of policing and justice powers to Stormont. Yesterday the British and Irish governments asked the Independent Monitoring Commission to issue a special report on the IRA, with particular regard to the standing of the Army Council.
Viewpoint: Explain the bill for agency nurses
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
The Health Service appears to be lurching from one crisis to another. Figures obtained by this newspaper through a Freedom of Information request revealed that three of the province’s five health trusts spent £30m hiring agency staff during the past three years because of a chronic shortage of workers.
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Poll: Tasers and the police
Do you support the use of Tasers by the PSNI?
Do you support the use of Tasers by the PSNI?
| Yes, it is better than using firearms |
 57% |
| Yes, but only in exceptional circumstances |
 22% |
| No, I'm genuinely concerned about the safety of Tasers |
9% |
| No, the police should not have these weapons |
11% |
Columnist Comments
• Victoria Brown: My husband has been kidnapped and sent to prison in Mexico
Recent readers of my husband Cooper's column will undoubtedly know that he was having some problems with the immigration authorities here in the United Kingdom.
• Frances Burscough: I ran as far as I could but Bolt still caught up with me in end
There was only one place on earth to be last week as the athlete Usain Bolt bolted his way to triumph at the Olympic Games. And it wasn’t Beijing.|On the other side of the world, the entire island of Jamaica was cheering and toasting and singing and dancing ... and I was there, slap, bang in the middle of it all joining in the celebrations even though 24 hours earlier I’d never even heard of the fella.
• Lindy McDowell: Why Hillary’s claws are still out for Obama
The news that Hillary Clinton is being backed by a group calling itself Puma almost has me warming to the woman. Puma stands for Party Unity My Ass. No beating about the Bush there. Or in this instance, bleating about the Obama.
• Gail Walker: Why Jade Goody isn’t that bad
Want to know how wretched one’s life can be? It’s confirmed you have cancer but everyone immediately by-passes concern and goes straight to suspecting the dark art of PR.
• Eric Waugh: How Olympics prove we can’t all come first in the race of life
I must confess I did not see much of the Olympics. Blame the clock. But the bits and pieces I saw in the news I liked.
• Ed Curran: Why the 2012 London Olympics offer us a real sporting chance
Those of us who were privileged to be at the Beijing Olympics can be certain we will never see such an extraordinary extravaganza again. No country, not even the United States, not even a Roman Abramovich Russia, could afford what the Chinese did.
• Alan Green: England's over-paid, over-rated footballers needed to show why their sport hogs headlines
A couple of month's back, before I went on holiday, the office rang. "You know, Alan, England are playing the Czech Republic in August? It's theday after you return from Beijing." "Yes." "I don't suppose you'd want to do the game?" "Err?no."
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