For anyone who didn't get Tickets for Northern Ireland vs Azerbaijan, the match is live on BBC One Northern Ireland. Coverage starts at 2:25 with a 3:00 kick off.

Not just republican murder victims. It seems some politicians have no sympathy for UVF murder victims either. The DUP's Ruth Patterson put forward a motion at Belfast City Council condemning the murder of Craig McCausland, murdered by the UVF.

David Ervine of the UVF-linked PUP got up and left the chamber before the vote. Obviously the man has no problem with the McCausland family having lost a son.

What's even more puzzling is that Sinn Fein abstained. I can see why Davy wouldn't want to expressing sympathy to the family of a victim murdered by 'his own' but what have Sinn Fein got to lose? Perhaps they were worried that they'd be seen as hypocritical, but this man, according to both the family and the PSNI, was not in any paramilitary organisation. Besides, when did Sinn Fein ever worry about being hypocrites before?

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A woman has blamed the UVF for a petrol bomb attack on her home in Glenlea Park in the Garnerville area. The woman, who wants to remain anonymous, lives in the house with her five children and said they were lucky to be alive, but said she won't let the attack drive her out of her home.

I think I'm too sickened for words to go on too long a rant about the self-appointed 'protectors' of our communities. If the sort of protection they're offering is trying to burn a young family out of their home, who needs it?

A new leisure centre will be built at Ormeau Park in south Belfast to replace the Maysfield Leisure Centre that was closed last July, running at a loss of £1.5 million/year. The sale of the site at Maysfield would be expected to fetch £8-10 million for the council.

However, Sinn Fein wanted a new facility on the old site at Maysfield. A Catholic Priest and Sinn Fein councillor (bastion of neutrality there) claimed that Maysfield's location was more neutral and that residents living in the surrounding area would not feel comfortable going down to the Ormeau Park site.

Awwh diddums. Well if you're carrying a tricolour and shouting "Kill All Huns" maybe you won't be safe - especially not if I happen to be in the area - so don't do it.

Now I'm not aware of the sectarian geography of the area, but I know the Ormeau Park is fairly close to the Ormeau Road and the "North of Ireland" sports ground there. I can only assume that it's slightly further up the Ormeau Road, but that would still put it within spitting distance of the Queen's University PE Centre. In fact, I've only walked to Ormeau Park once and had to go through the Holylands to get there. Did I feel unsafe? No, just dirty

Maysfield, on the other hand, is about equidistant (AFAIK) between the Markets and the Short Strand. Hmmm the plot thickens.

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The BBC reports that 30 police officers have been involved in protecting residents from sectarian attacks, following the arson attacks on 2 Catholic primary schools in Ballymena. Apparently Operation Striker, as it has been termed, involved security coverage of 50 Catholic-owned properties, churches, schools and GAA grounds.

There had even been plans for helicopter surveillance but this had to be abandoned due to the old British favourite: the weather.

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The man in court facing charges in relation to the Omagh bombing of 1998 where 31 people were killed has failed to have scientific evidence against him thrown out. Sean Gerard Hoey, from South Armagh (aren't they all?), had his defence lawyers object to DNA evidence linking him to three other bomb attacks. Their move to have the evidence dismissed failed yesterday. A voice analysis expert also said she believed that the telephone warning for the bomb in Banbridge just weeks before (in which the same codeword was used as the one for the Omagh bomb) was the same voice as Mr Hoey's, recorded during police interviews.

It's been 7 years so far and there's been nobody caught. I'm sure I'm not alone in hoping they've got the right man in the dock (and can prove it).

You're probably aware about a new "campaign" launched yesterday by the Shankill Mirror. It was called a campaign, but from what I can see it's really just a lot of hype surrounding the new "Special Ulster Edition" of the Shankill Mirror.

The campaign consists of the paper itself and the website at LoveUlster.com - which I'll get into later. One, apparently "in the know," poster had this to say about the Shankill Mirror's Ulster Edition:

Following its official launch this morning (Monday 29th Aug), 200,000 copies of the paper will be distributed around Northern Ireland this week, in order to encourage province-wide debate.

Province-wide debate? They're having a laugh. Flicking through the paper it seems nothing more than an attempt at scaremongering, encouraging 'loyalists' to impersonate the worst trait's of the infamous Sinn Fein/IRA propaganda machine with insightful headlines such as "We're All Victims". Yes, because one thing Ulster needs is more people with inflated victimhood mentalities.

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Europe is calling time on Britain's pints

People referring to a slippery slope are often viewed as paranoid and greeted with howls of derision. Yet this is exactly what's going on with the (other) EU's enforced metrification. It's true what they say about the European Union - give them an inch and they'll take a mile... and a pint!

The European Commission, effectively the executive branch of the European Union, has ordered the British government to name the date for completing the abolition of pints, miles and acres. Leaving aside the fact that nobody but the British people should be ordering the British government to do anything, this is still a worrying development.

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Four men are due in court today after attacking a Royal Black Preceptory parade in the Co. Tyrone village of Castlederg on Saturday. One man is up on charges of grievous bodily harm while all 4 face charges for public order offences.

One banner was torn, seven police officers were injured and one police officer and 2 elderly band members were treated for facial injuries including a broken cheekbone.

Then last night, a man in his 60s was beaten with bats by three masked men who broke into his house in Coleraine demanding money. When he refused to hand over any cash the men beat him about the head and body.

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I'm thoroughly bored and/or depressed by various instances of news today so I'm not writing up on any of them. What am I talking about? Well a man was beaten by a gang of 4 men in Londonderry. Hard bastards, 4 of them to take on one guy - they must be so proud. In other news, homes and cars were attacked in Ballymena by 60-70 spidey fucking wastes of space including millbags (female spides) proving they can be just as useless and ignorant as their male counterparts. Oh yeah and before I forget, the leader of the Royal Black Institution condemned all the recent violence across Northern Ireland. Not really surprising but fair play I suppose.

Ah well, at least Leeds and Hearts both won today - the top of the Scottish Premier League makes great reading!!

Meanwhile, in news much more important than all of the above, I've finished my placement year from university. For anyone not familiar with the concept it means you basically take a year out to do work experience. While I'm not sure how much experience of work I got, sitting in front of a computer for 8 hours a day gave me time to launch Everything Ulster, so it wasn't a total waste!

The downside of course is that I'm job hunting again. However, I did bump into a blast from the past (while I was out on the piss for my leaving do, ironically enough) who thinks she might be able to sort me out on the job front... Score!

While she's doing that I'll have a week or so to put extra time into getting my sports league website finished before the start of the new season, so it's all good.