On a day when both Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams met Tony Blair, the ARA has swooped on 250 properties in Manchester as well as seizing a number of luxury cars in raids thought to be linked to senior IRA man, Thomas 'Slab' Murphy and (legitimate?) businessman Dermot Craven. The total value of assets being investigated is estimated to be around £30 million.

The NIO claim that the raids have nothing to do with the decommissioning act which was announced 10 days ago and that the ARA work seperately from the government. Frankly, I don't care. It's just nice to see justice actually being done for a change. Godfathers like Murphy and Jim Gray have got away with funding their luxurious lives with the money they extort and/or con from ordinary, (mostly) decent folk for too long.

Republicans attacked Greencastle Orange Hall in north Belfast last night while members of the Women's Orange Lodge and a Line Dancing class were meeting inside. Most of those present were elderly women who were left in a state of shock following the attack.

This came a night after stones were thrown at the building while the men's Orange Lodge was meeting there. The hall has been attacked before (on a semi-regular basis) and special security doors have had to be fitted. It was these that prevented the attackers from breeching the perimiter of the building.

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Despite Jim Gray's murder being less than 24 hours ago, police have managed to arrest 6 people in connection with the murder. I don't agree with so-called 'community justice' but it's very difficult to condemn the murder of a man so dispicable as the UDA's former chief in east Belfast Jim Gray.

For those not familiar with Gray, he was (allegedly), a drug-dealing, power-mad, nutter who lined his own pockets through exploiting sectarian tensions in Northern Ireland (he wouldn't be the first, admittedly, but that's not the point) and thought himself invincible, setting his heavies on anyone who he didn't like the look of. Such unfortunate souls included the father of the bride at a wedding Gray and some loyalist goons were disrupting. When the man in question told them to be quiet, Gray directed the goons to take him outside and give him a good kicking. I can't lie - I'm glad he's dead

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Sinn Fein MP for Newry & Armagh Conor Murphy is to attend a fringe debate at the Tory conference where he will take part in a debate with DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson and UUP MLA David Burnside along with Conservative Northern Ireland spokesman David Lidington. It will be the first time a Sinn Fein member takes part in a debate at the Conservative party's conference.

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I was absolutely disgusted to read about yet another attack on emergency services last night. As firefighters were tackling a blaze on a house in Tyrone, a man approached with a pitbull-type dog and tried to convince it to attack the firefighters. When the firefighters were forced to scare the dog off with a water spray, the man followed the dog off to return with a mob of people armed with petrol bombs and other missiles which they would hurl at the officers tackling the blaze. They also poured petrol over one of the vehicles.

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The scumbags of Derry were out in force again last night. A crowd of youths attacked police and fire fighters with fireworks and missiles while they were dealing with a burning car at around 10pm. The attacks took place in the same Galliagh area where paramedics were attacked the night before.

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A tribute to over 4,000 UK police officers killed in the line of duty is being held in Cardiff today. Around 1,000 people from around the country are expected to gather in St. David's Hall today and will be joined by Home Office Minister Hazel Blears and the Welsh First Minister Rhodri Morgan.

This is the second annual memorial service after last year's inaugural event, which took place in St. Paul's Cathedral in London and was attended by members of the Royal Family as well as politicians and families of the officers being remembered. Since that event, 14 police officers have been killed in the line of duty.

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I read about this horriffic attack on an ambulance in Londonderry which took place last night with absolute disgust. A gang of up to 20 people is said to have surrounded the ambulance and tried to break in, resorting to beating and kicking the vehicle when they couldn't.

It's lucky for the paramedic staff that the ambualance had central locking to keep them safe. It must have been terrifying! In circumstances like this I think the ambulance staff would have been totally justified (morally, if not legally) in starting up the engine and driving on regardless of who was in the way.

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Ian Paisley's "Martyrs Memorial" Free Presbyterian Church in east Belfast was attacked according to a report yesterday evening, as vandals caused an estimated £1,000 worth of damage. The caretaker discovered 12 windows had been smashed at the church on the Ravenhill Road.

Paisley claimed that one of these was a high-security window in his office. He also said that some months ago, £11,000 worth of damage was done to the church and that it has come under continual attack since, while the police have been completely unable to safeguard it, and that these incidents went unreported in the press. This last claim would seem to be backed up by the lack of "see also" links on the BBC website report, which would normally link to older related stories.

I'm no fan of Ian Paisley but there can be no excuse for attacking a church. I completely disagree with the Free Presbyterian hardline christian fundamentalism, but attacking a place of worship is unjustifiable - and that is true for a Free Presbyterian Church in Belfast no more and no less than a Catholic Chapel in Ballymena.

The members have been discussing this over at Our Wee Country but I felt it deserved a post. Apparently Caitriona* Ruane has attacked the SDLP's Down councillor Margaret Ritchie for not supporting the move to rename one of the council's parks after Northern Ireland's record goalscorer David Healy, who is originally from the village of Killyleagh in the borough. (The move started over a year ago when Healy became Northern Ireland's record goalscorer. It's amazing the speed with which local government can act here, isn't it?)

Cllr Ritchie said that it would impact the neutrality of the area! This all seems a bit arse about face, you'd normally expect the SDLP to be the rational and reasonable ones, while Sinn Fein denounce anything non-republican as triumphalist, bigoted and/or sectarian. Regardless of my opinion on her other interests at home and abroad, Ruane has to be commended for this particular action. Keep this up and people might actually start believing you when you talk about an Ireland of equals. Maybe not.

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