I've been following a discussion on the Ulster Nation group about a supposed 'Ulster national anthem'. I thought it was interesting (not to mention quite ironic in that it ended with the words "a nation once again"). Not overly fussed on the God references, but a decent effort. (The tune, "Jesus Only" is here and a cheerier, if briefer, version is here).

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The fact that the hospital wing was the location for serial suicides is of insufficient historic moment.
Jim Allister, MEP

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... and their youth wing is equally petty.

Sorry, I've been in Lanzarote for 2 weeks so I've missed this gem. Apparently the SDLP youth (yes, they have one) leader has kicked up a bit of a stink (see also the BBC report) over Ulster's new Ikea store. What could possibly be bad about a cheap furniture shop? Economic concerns about smaller local retailers? Maybe environmental concerns? It must be something to do with employment practices.

The entrance to Ikea's store in Haparanda, Sweden (near the Finnish border) flies the Swedish, Finish, Norwegian and Sami flags.
[Image: GFDL 1.2]

Well no, it's something much more important. You see the artist's impression of the new store featured both the Union Flag and Northern Ireland flag alongside the Swedish flag. Those imperialist bastards! Ikea, like many other multinationals, make it a policy to fly the flag of their home country (Sweden) alongside the local national and, where applicable, regional flag outside their stores.

Thankfully, the SDLP youth wing have valiantly challenged this and saved us from the unthinkable: Northern Ireland being treated like the rest of the world. Ikea have thankfully stepped in and informed us that this is just how artist's impressions are done. A spokesman said "Ikea would like to reassure customers and co-workers that when the Belfast store opens towards the end of the year only the Swedish flag will feature on the outside of the building."

Well done SDLP Youth. Now we're left with the embarrassing situation that the only fag Ikea will fly at their store is a foreign flag. Well I for one will be refusing to buy furniture there until such time as they review this ridiculous decision and, at the very least, remove the Swedish flag. Don't get me wrong, I've nothing against Sweden, but I've a general interest in vexilology (and heraldry) and it's a matter of courtesy that when flying a foreign flag in a country that the local national flag is flown alongside, at the same height or higher. Anything less is insulting.

Forget logic and arguments; government ministers are trying their best to push Northern Ireland's new national stadium out to the Maze.
[Image: Patrick McAleer]

The DUP members of the executive have gone into overdrive trying to bully the populace of Northern Ireland into an unsuitable out-of-town stadium this week, just as a report (the first piece of independent work on this issue that was based on hard evidence) is released and advises them to locate it in a city-centre.

The University of Ulster report was carried out by experts in the fields of the built environment, economics and marketing, who were supported by a network of expert advisers from across the university. Of course, being based on hard evidence meant that it concluded that the stadium (like the proposals for Belfast, but not the Maze) be located in-town and seat 20,000-30,000 spectators. As a result, Councillor Bob Stoker called on the government to "stop wasting tax-payers' money" and work towards "a solution that will boost the Northern Ireland economy rather than be a constant drain." He also warned the government that "possible locations across the city need to be properly considered and not dismissed for reasons of political expediency."

But that won't stop Ian Paisley, Edwin Poots and friends from trying to ignore it. No, in fact, that's exactly why they're huffing and puffing, creating artificial deadlines and citing preposterous objections. Paisley, Poots and co. are trying to bury the report which, I repeat, is the first significant independent research undertaken into the issue of the stadium location. It's an age-old tactic of the "No" men – just shout louder than the other side and it doesn't matter if they're talking sense or not because, if you're lucky, nobody will hear them.

Thankfully not everyone in the DUP is being fooled. Today Nigel Dodds has come out warning that Unionists will not accept the terrorist shrine that is part and parcel of the Maze plans, and which has been downplayed and or ignored by Poots and Paisley. With questions arising about whether Ian Paisley will seek re-election he must ask himself if he wants his legacy as First Minister to be a shrine glorifying murderers.

These recent actions by the DUP leadership constitutes proof, were it needed, that the DUP can't govern. They are an opposition party and opposing things is all they're good at - when it comes to making decisions they can't help but fuck things up. It's becoming clearer and clearer that it's not just Sinn Fein who are unfit for government.

More on this story a StadiumForBelfast.com - DUP to Railroad NI to the Maze

Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are catching up to England for levels of broadband uptake according to figures released by Ofcom this week.

In 2005 England was leading the way with 36% of homes connected to broadband. Scotland followed with 31% while Wales and Northern Ireland brought up the rear with 25% and 24% respectively. In 2006 though, England was just in front with 45% while Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were all just behind on 42%. The Republic was still lagging well behind with just 13% of homes connected to broadband.

The UK average of 44% is just above mid-table for European countries which is led by Holland with 66% and propped up by Greece with just 4%.

I, like many others, see a lot of the problems in Northern Ireland today stemming from the segregation of society at various levels; none so damaging as at school level. As far back as 1968 Prime Minister Terrence O'Neill recognised that 'a major cause of division (in Northern Ireland) arises from segregation of education'.

But what if we had a chance to prevent this? What if there was no need for a 'Council for Integrated Education' because, shock horror, people actually went to school with those from other religions. What if religion was taught by churches instead of schools? I'm not a big fan of the way the French run their country, but the secular nature of their education system is one thing I admire.

What if, in the early years of Northern Ireland's existence, someone had the foresight to realise that dividing our children and segregating them from each other was going to cause trouble down the line and breed fear and intolerance?

Actually, someone did. Northern Ireland's first Education Minister, Lord Londonderry, proposed to enact a law that would:

• Have schools teach morals instead of religion. Religious instruction would no longer be part of any required curriculum (except where it was relevant under the wider scope of moral education) and would be banned in primary schools and schools run by local education authorities.
• Disallow the religion of an applicant for a teaching post being taken into consideration during the appointment process.
• Put schools under the control of local communities (something that had been supported by Protestants before partition but opposed by the Catholic church who had de facto control over Ireland's "national schools")

Baring in mind this was happening in the 1920s, it all sounds very forward-thinking. Unfortunately, not for the first time, Catholic and Protestant religious leaders found a way to work together (well, work separately against a common 'enemy' anyway) to destroy this idea.

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Belfast faces a tough but not impossible struggle to get on the new Here and Now monopoly board featuring UK towns and cities.

Monopoly are producing a new "Here and Now UK edition" (as well as a "Here and Now Ireland edition, mentioned on Slugger) and are running an online referendum to determine which towns and cities should feature on the board. Belfast's lagging well behind in the voting stakes (56th at the time of writing, up from 57th yesterday) and the other NI cities are nowhere to be seen.

With only 22 spaces on the board it'll be an uphill struggle; luckily you can vote every day. So go for it - Vote Belfast!

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It has emerged that MLAs are to get £70k a year on top of their salaries in the form of expenses ("expenses that allow the MLAs to employ people, in some cases close relatives, to help carry out their constituency work"). Just before devolution was restored, Peter Hain increased these allowances by 45% to £70k a year!

Prompted by this I've done a little bit of digging and tried to work out exactly what the farce at Stormont is going to cost us each year. Apart from the extra allowance for committee chairs which I had to estimate, the following figures represent the cost of bribing our politicians to doing their jobs.

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Smoking ban comes into force today, 30th April 2007... and not a moment too soon.

Today sees the coming into force of the ban on smoking in places of work meaning that smoking will no longer be allowed in bars, clubs and restaurants. I can't wait to be able to enjoy going out for a drink without some self-absorbed dickhead's cigarette smoke wafting into my face or getting my arm burnt in a club by some idiot too drunk to be realise that flailing his arms that way is not dancing by any stretch of the imagination.

In fact, it'll be nice just to not come home stinking of smoke.

Obviously many smokers aren't that fussed. One such person on BBC Newsline said he'd be staying at home more in the winter now smokers are to be shunted outside to smoke. "It's too cold to smoke out here so why should I make myself ill for someone else's health?" Is he serious? Methinks he should take a look at this.

Even more astonishing than that particular smoker's lack of shame was another man claiming there was no evidence that passive smoking is harmful. Even if this was true, it's still bloody stinkin'!

On my post on Getting Women Into Politics on Thursday I made reference to "some doll from the women's coalition." It seems my sense of humour may have been out of sync with some of my readers on this one so for the sake of clarity I began hunting the web for a definion of 'irony' and lo and behold Wikipedia led me to this explanation. It's a belter.

The relevant part runs from 30 seconds in until the end of the clip.