Sinn Fein/IRA/Republican criminality has been under the spotlight for some time now with the leadership of the DUP blaming such activity, along with the lack of support for policing, for the lack faith they have in the prospect of sharing power with Sinn Fein, however the police seem to be more worried about loyalist crime.

While Sinn Fein are showing signs of slow, reluctant acceptance of the rule of law, loyalists still seem to be having trouble with the same proposition. Figures released recently show that loyalists have been responsible for 90% of 'security-related shootings' in the last year.

152 people have suffered punishment attacks in the last year, split equally between beatings and shootings. Of these, loyalists have been responsible for 92% of the shootings and 75% of the beatings, while such attacks in republican areas are "almost zero".

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Absolutely digusted to read today that lecturers have rejected a 12.6% payrise over 2 years and will continue an "assessment boycott" effectively meaning that some of my 3rd year exams scheduled for next week may be cancelled and my degree classified without taking them into account.

All in all that means that the time I've spent studying the affected module(s) this semester will have been a complete and utter waste of time. Lecturers are unfairly playing God with their students lives. If they have grievances over pay, fine, there are other ways to air these without punishing students who have no wish to be involved in this dispute, let alone the victims of it. Both Queen's SU and the NUS have condemned the current action.

A petition has just begun calling on both sides to "wise up" and "Stop Punishing Students". If you're a student: sign it. There will also be an "information session" tomorrow night at 6PM in the QUB PFC room G06 for students worried about the impact of the action. Both Paul Hudson of the AUT QUB Branch and Prof. Ken Bell (representing the University) will be there.

Unfortunately some of us do have to work and can't make it.

What more needs to be said? Michael McIlveen, a 15 year old boy from Ballymena was brutally attacked at the weekend and last night died from his injuries after spending days fighting for his life in hospital. The family are understandably distraught. Michael was reportedly on his way home from the cinema when he was chased by a gang and beaten with a baseball bat before being left for dead.

The murder has come at a time when sectarian tensions are being stoked in Ballymena ahead of the summer season, and republicans are already trying to link it to Orange marches.

On reading a few posts on slugger, inlcuding one pointing out that accusations were flying over on bebo, I assumed it had been other kids from the town. On reading the BBC report on Michael's death this morning, it's become apparent that "four men and a juvenile" are being questioned by police. Four men?

I can only assume they mean boys over the age of 15, because nobody that you could call a man would gang up with 3 other 'men' to attack a kid this way. Not only was it a vicious and disturbing sectarian attack, it was pathetic in its cowardice. Given the way some of these people think, they may have no shame for taking away a life (sure he was just a Catholic) but for Christ's sake they should at least have the wit to be thoroughly embarrassed that it takes four of the scumbags to take on a child.

As you can probably tell I'm completely disgusted by the hurrendous attack. The family have my sympathies, as they should have from all normal people in this country. If anyone in the community knows who did this they have to inform the police, these prepubescent wastes of space posing as hardmen cannot be allowed to drag Northern Ireland back into the dark ages.

Two men believed to be connected to the Real IRA, the group behind the Omagh Bomb (in which 2 of the 29 victims were Spanish), have been arrested in Spain.

The men are being held in Madrid on suspicion of attempting to smuggle £683,000 worth of cigarettes from Spain to Britain, the proceeds of which could have been used to fund terrorist attacks. The police investigation that led to the arrests has revealed that several people from Northern Ireland, now living on the south coast of Spain, may be "collaborating directly" with groups linked to the Real IRA.

Update The men were both charged on 1st June and remanded in custody to appear in court on 20th June. This was not the first time they've been charged.

Mourne Mountains - top UK holiday destination

They've provided a challenge for climbers and Duke of Edinburgh Award candidates alike and even inspired a song. Today the Mourne Mountains can add top British travel destination to that list (hat-tip Slugger) as the Guardian's Stephen Moss has declared it number 1 of his top 10 truly great British holidays.

He describes the range as like the lake district but less crowded and points out that from the top of Sleive Donnard (the highest mountain in Northern Ireland) you can see all 4 countries of the United Kingdom at once - at least if the weather's good enough. Makes me wish I'd taken the time to look a bit closer when I was down that way last summer.

Bobby Sands
Went Hungry 1st March
Suicided 5th May

The most famous hunger striker, idolised by republicans across Northern Ireland (he was even compared to Jesus in the discussion pages at Wikipedia), Robert Gerard Sands was born and raised in Newtownabbey, alhough his family were forced to move more than once due to intimidation by loyalist paramilitaries. At the age of 18 (in 1972) he joined the IRA. He was captured that same year and interned until 1976: the year the government ended the policy of internment.

On his release he went back to his family who were now living in west Belfast. He also returned to active service with the IRA. He was only out of prison for a year when he was arrested for possession of a firearm. He was charged with other offences, including organising a bombing which had happened nearby, but was not convicted due to a lack of evidence. He was, however, convicted for possession of the firearm and sentenced to 14 years.

Bobby Sands was newly made IRA commander in the Maze when he started refusing to eat on 1st March 1981. Shortly afterwards the MP for Fermanagh & South Tyrone died and Sands was nominated – he was elected by a narrow margin on 9th April as MP for the constituency. 3 weeks later he succeeded in starving himself and was pronounced dead in the prison hospital. The announcement of his demise led to riots across nationalist areas of Northern Ireland and ensured the decades of idolation by young republicans and many MOPEs worldwide, from the USA, to Iran, through Twinbrook.

£86,000 a year. That's how much it costs to hold prisoners in Northern Ireland according to a report on an inspection of Magheberry maximum-security prison. The report said that the actual cost at Maghaberry would be higher, making it more than double the cost of any prison in England and Wales.

I'm shocked at the high costs involved in this. I appreciate the need for segregation, but that means each prisoner at Maghaberry costs the same amount as 2½ university lecturers or 4-5 nurses.

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This seems to be the essence of at least one of the points made by Hugh Orde today as he met with the new Policing Board for the first time. When questioned over the rising crime rate in Northern Ireland Orde defended the PSNI's record. Granted, I've no reason to doubt claims that 1,300 new offences (previously not counted in crime statistics) were now being included and that Trouble following that Whiterock parade in west Belfast accounted for 650 offences.

Orde went on to say (if I remember correctly) that generally the increase in reported crime was a sign that people are more likely to trust the police (particularly highighting a rise in domestic violence reports) and turn to them when they are victims of crime. Fair enough, I'll give Mr Orde the benefit of the doubt on that one too. The problem arises, however, when he then goes on to claim that an 1.8% decrease in burglaries and 22% in car-crime was a great success.

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Reports claim Ulster companies are dumping tonnes of Republic's waste here

No, I'm not talking about god-awful boybands. Is this what they mean when they talk about cross-border co-operation? Lisburn Council has written to the DoE demanding an investigation into reports that large quantities of waste are being illegally dumped in Northern Ireland, something I could have sworn was reported last July.

Apparently the waste is brought into Northern Ireland on the proviso that it is recycled, however when the recycling plants reach capacity, the excess is sent straight to landfill with the companies pocketing the cash regardless. It's been well publicised that Northern Ireland has a problem with the amount of rubbish it sends to landfill and we can ill-afford for unscrupulous companies to be importing it from elsewhere.

I stumbled across NorthernIrishBlogs.com this morning, which led me to this post at United Irelander (surprisingly, since I thought UI was Dublin-based, but I digress). Apparently United Irelander is concerned that us Nordies are being ignored by our countrymen on the mainland following reports about the Britain's new charities lottery, Monday. According to PlayMonday.com, "To play Monday you must be resident in England, Scotland or Wales". (On asking why this was so, I was old "Play Monday is a society lottery. Government legislation prevents us from operating in Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands. This is not our policy...")

This led to a warning from UI for unionists that "The British want nothing to do with [Northern Ireland] yet the South continue to offer help". Touching (and misguided) though his concern is, it did lead me to think about something. In practical, everyday terms (in other words ignoring abstract concepts like freedom and my British citizenship etc) what consumer goods and services are available to us in Northern Ireland precisely because we are a part of the UK?

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