UK News
Insights from the UK and beyond
from FaithWorld:
Catholic area riots after Protestant marches in Northern Ireland
(Nationalist youths and police in riot gear clash in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast July 12, 2011/Cathal McNaughton)
Police fired plastic bullets and water cannon at Catholic youths in Northern Ireland's provincial capital Belfast on Tuesday after rioting erupted when a Protestant parade passed their estate. Sporadic violence erupted across the British-ruled province on the culmination of a season of parades by pro-British Protestants to mark a 17th-century military victory, a tradition many Catholics say is provocative.
Around 200 people threw bottles, slates and petrol bombs in the mainly Catholic Ardoyne area of Belfast after police moved in to prevent them confronting the passing Orange Order parade. Two cars were set on fire and dozens of rounds of plastic bullets were fired. Police said a number of officers were injured.
Most of the 500 or so parades across the province passed peacefully, but police reported rioting in Londonderry, Newry and Armagh as well as the Markets area in central Belfast.
from Left field:
Don’t discount Ireland for the Six Nations
By James Illingworth
The 2011 Six Nations kicks off shortly in Cardiff with much of the pre-tournament hype suggesting a two-horse race between France and England.
England's favourites tag among English bookmakers looks unjustified if it is based on one decent performance in November against Australia, with the 2010 grand slam winners France surely still the team to beat.
from FaithWorld:
Catholic Church and UK colluded in Northern Ireland bomb cover-up: report
(Photo: Nationalist youths set a car alight in Belfast on July 13, 2010/Cathal McNaughton)
The British government and the Roman Catholic Church colluded to protect a priest suspected of involvement in a 1972 bombing in Northern Ireland that killed 9 people, an official report said on Tuesday.
The Police Ombudsman's report revealed that an Irish cardinal was involved in transferring Father James Chesney out of British-ruled Northern Ireland, highlighting again the role of the Church hierarchy in protecting priests against allegations of criminal activity.
Closer ties, but different political colours
Second only to body language, the colour of a politician’s tie can speak volumes.
Northern Ireland’s political leaders are particularly careful about the message they send out in a community in which green represents the mostly Roman Catholic aspiration for a united Ireland and orange symbolises centuries of Protestant affinity to British rule.
Should Iraq stay behind closed doors?
The government’s planned Iraq inquiry has come under withering fire on several fronts, notably the lack of consultation with other political parties, its apparent careful timing to avoid any possible political embarrassment just before the next election and for what several commentators feel is a hand-picked establishment team in charge of proceedings that is unlikely to rock the boat.******But the main criticism has been the fact that it will be held in private.******That way, the government says, witnesses will be more likely to be candid, the whole process will be quicker and, above all, it will obviate the need to have legions of expensive lawyers accompanying every witness.******Doubtless Gordon Brown had in mind the example of the Saville Inquiry into the Bloody Sunday killings in Northern Ireland which had been going on for 10 years and which has so far run up costs of almost 100 million pounds in lawyers’ fees.******The overall cost of that inquiry had reached 182 million pounds by the end of last year. It is not expected to report now until 2010.******Do you believe the government has a point in that respect or should it have given in to the repeated demands to hold an inquiry in public?
Rate politicians on grassroots website
If you are among the 51 percent of eligible voters expected not to participate in the European elections you can still cast a ballot of sorts — online and from the comfort of home.
Rate Your Politician, billed as an “e-democracy” website for users in Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales by its Belfast-based founders, provides a grassroots voting platform on politicians and political topics.
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The Wall
