A Tory involvement with a difference...
When the Tories considered all the potential complications of getting involved in Northern Ireland politics, I don't think they ever imagined the difficulties a bizarre association with the IRA would end up posing for one of their councillors in Croydon.
I'm 
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~09~RS~)
Comments
Sign in or register to comment.
Mark:
It is very true, that involving themselves in Northern Ireland politics in not a very good in reality, specially--with the problems in the province's history.
Complain about this comment
The increasingly frantic press releases by an assortment of DUP MLA's regarding the Conservative /UUP link up followed by to-days revelation that good members of the DUP should refer to The Conservative Party as ' Tory Toffs ' or something similar ,as it has a more negative resonance with the public at large is in my opinion proof of just how rattled the DUP must be.To label the visit of David Cameron ,who has every chance of being the next prime minister of our United Kingdom ,as a 'non event' shows just how insular the DUP have become.In fact they are rapidly becoming Ulster nationalists rather than supporters of the United Kingdom.Still look on the bright side at least they will not need to invest in a new logo as memebers of the Democratic Ulster Party the letters DUP wont even need to change ! Seriously the visit of David Cameron is a major event in local politics because it marks the begining of the real bonus of the 'peace process' namely the long overdue normalisation of politics for N Ireland.This is something to be welcomed not to be sneered at
Complain about this comment
paulmegarity is totally correct the dup in their panic are reverting to their old ways and old oudated dogma. they are a party of negativity,the uup are at least being pro-active for the people of n.ireland
Complain about this comment
The powerful story here is about the reason the councillor was outed. She had refused to allow a parental vote on the merger of schools. The parents wanted their voice heard- sound familiar in Northern Ireland education issues?
The man responsible for bringing Maria Gatland's political career crashing down said he would have never mentioned her terrorist links if she had agreed to a public vote over the Ashburton schools merger.
Dr Latham said he had a couple of supplementary questions for Monday's meeting lined up - "a nice one" and the more hard hitting one, depending on how Cllr Gatland responded to his call for ballots of parents and staff before academies were set up. The Tory refused a parental voice through a vote- the rest is history.
Now remember David Cameron is a supporter of academies, also known as rebranded comps, so it will be interesting to hear him explain his position relative to Northern Ireland schools and academic selection at 11 The UUP support academic selection at 11. Remember too the Conservatives are anti-grammar schools in England but pro-grammar here. Until the honeymoon ends that is.
Saturday should be fun.
Complain about this comment
THE RIGHT-HAND GIRL OF THE IRA CHIEF OF STAFF
“With your ‘short’ blonde hair and your eyes of blue...You're out there playing your high class games of sorrow, sorrow…a few lines from the lyrics of the song recorded by ‘The Merseys’ came to mind when I saw the photograph of Councillor Maria Gatland, formerly Ms Maria McGuire (IRA Volunteer).
Mrs Gatland is quoted in the Daily Mail, “I accepted the bombing of Belfast and when civilians were accidentally blown to pieces dismissed this as one of the unfortunate effects of urban guerrilla warfare”.
Well, if Mrs Gatland happens to read this, I would wish to tell her that I was caught up in one of the IRA bombings in Belfast in the early 1970s. It would seem we are both around the same age so my injuries were “unfortunate”, according to her. She excuses herself as being very naïve, but not that naïve to to make money out of her book – no doubt there will be a rush to re-print!
While Mrs Gatland “deeply regrets causing problems for her colleagues”, I have seen no apology to the innocent victims she may have helped to injure and possibly murder.
Pandora
Complain about this comment
Pandora
Well said.
Susie
Carryduff
Complain about this comment
WHY ARE QUOTATION MARKS TURNED INTO QUESTION MARKS?
I just wish the software would interpret my inverted commas (quotes) correctly. Each time they are converted into question marks. This is very frustrating.
Susie, thank you for your comment.
Pandora
Complain about this comment
Pandora
Possible answer to your question.
I'm guessing that your contributions start off as Word documents which are then pasted on to the Dev Diaries comments section.
So, once you've pasted to the comments section you need to delete the quotation marks and type them again.
It's a bit of a pain but I'm afraid it's belt & braces until the software gets sorted.
Hope it works for you.
Susie
Carryduff
Complain about this comment
Write it in a non-formatted text editor eg Notepad or Crimson Editor as a .txt file and then paste from there, it should paste unformatted text.
Complain about this comment
HOW CLEVER!
Susie and patrick78 -
Thank you so much! I must remember your advice. I do in fact type my comments on a Word document and then cut and paste. I must refrain from doing so in the future.
Warm regards to both of you.
Pandora
Complain about this comment
View these comments in RSS