The above headline caught my attention on one of the daily newspapers as I left Tesco this evening. I was immediately drawn to the paper only to read in the subheading that it was in fact reporting on the British army plan to send in 2,500 paras to target heroin warlords in a certain province.

Unfortunately that province is in Afghanistan, and nothing is to be done about the druglords in our own province.

It was good to see Rangers duff Celtic on Saturday. It wasn't as good as it was to see Hearts beat Aberdeen and extend their lead at the top of the Scottish League (frankly anyone who tops the league above the Old Firm I'll cheer on, but I have a particular soft-spot for Hearts).

Of course the Celtic-supporting republican rabble of Belfast aren't known for their sportsmanship so whenever Celtic lose to Rangers, they throw the obligatory riot on the streets of Belfast. God help any protestants nearby. On this occasion, they decided Cluan Place would be the target, and it begins...

There were hours of rioting involving anything up to 400 participants (I was going to say 'people' but that's probably being too generous).

Residents said bricks and bottles were thrown from the republican Short Strand and there were reports of rounds being fired. Trevor "Maxy" Maxwell of Cluan Place was taken to hospital where he received three stitches to an injury to his head sustained thanks to a brick, but he said he didn't feel any ill-will towards those responsible.

Read more »

The News of the World carried a story on its front page (of the Northern Ireland edition anyway) today that loyalists had threatened an attack on the Dail, the Republic's House of Commons. The Dail was said to be among targets that included Shannon Airport and oil depots around Dublin. Michael Stone is said to have claimed that loyalist terrorists would still see such targets as legitimate.

None of the other papers I could see had the story, not even the Sunday Life (and we know how much they love a bit of sensationalism), so I've no idea how reputable it was, but that's not the point I wish to make.

What worries me is that I'm not overly surprised (except maybe at how long it's been in coming). The government have been consistently rewarding IRA terrorism for 10 years. With terrorist causes, be they of the IRA, PLO, Al Qaeda or whoever, attracting sentiment ranging from 'understanding' to sympathy from brain-dead hopeless do-gooders worldwide, is it any wonder that loyalist elements pre-disposed to terrorist attacks are thinking along these lines?

No doubt if something were to happen the first people to have the Sinn Fein oh so high and mighty finger pointed at them would be Unionist politicians. This would have nothing to do with the Unionist politicians' abilities to influence the terrorists (we've seen for nearly 2 decades now that they can't). But that won't stop Sinn Fein trying to make political capital out of it.

But who should we really blame? How about the UK government and the Republic's government? How about Sinn Fein and the IRA? They've been demonstrating for a decade now what rewards terrorists can expect to get for their deeds and it's not a lengthy prison sentence. It's government posts, fat public salaries, paid at the expense of the public and the government you've been bombing and shooting at for years, and trips all over the world to raise yet more money for 'the cause'.

This is why we've been begging the governments for so long not to reward terrorists, because when you reward one explosive-weilding maniac, you can't be surprised when half a dozen more emerge from the woodwork looking for similar treatment.

For those of you who aren't aware (where have you been?) a fifteen year old boy named Thomas Devlin was callously stabbed in the back (5 times!) in north Belfast 10 days ago. He was a BRA pupil and played the horn in school.

He and his friends were attacked as they walked home from a shop where they'd just been buying sweets after spending the evening playing computer games.

Last weekend 2 men and a male juvenile were arrested in connection with the murder but were released without charge, so once more, I won't be getting my hopes up of any serious developments.

One thing I will say is I sincerely hope they police catch the perpetrators of this disgusting attack. If this murder turns out to have been sectarian (which is what most people's suspicions seem to be telling them) I won't shed a tear if they hang the bastards that did it.

This week saw a leading community worker, Baroness May Blood, said that it was up to 'ordinary Protestants' to stand up to the 'loyalist' paramilitaries and tell them that their actions do not have the support of the communities they've left living in fear.

"The only way to cure this cancer in the Protestant community is to talk to these people (paramilitaries). We need a group of people who are prepared to say 'what you are doing isn't in our name'.

If anyone has evidence against them it should be handed over to police. If the ordinary Protestant community doesn't take a hold of itself we're going to go down a very dangerous path. People don't want this. The UVF and LVF are creating fear in the very communities they claim to protect."

Baroness May Blood

Read more »

Recently appointed Deputy President of South Africa, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (and I thought Orlaith was a dodgy name!) has called for South Africa's "land redistribution" scheme to be speeded up, citing Robert Mugabe's antics in Zimbabwe as an example.

"Land reform in South Africa has been too slow and too structured. There needs to be a bit of 'oomph'. That's why we may need the skills of Zimbabwe to help us."

Yes that's right. Apparently the burning out of farmers based on the colour of their skin, the murder of anyone who is less than pleased at the policy and the transformation of the "breadbasket of Africa" into a country facing expulsion from the IMF, 70% unemployment and over 500% inflation can be summed up as adding "a bit of 'oomph'."

Her spokesman later said the remarks were made in "a light-hearted moment." Yes, she's a right old kidder! But what would you expect from a country that blames Britain for the madness of Mugabe?

The mayor of Fucking, a town in Austria, has had to issue a plea to British tourists to stop stealing the town's roadsigns. While welcoming the tourists that the name of the town attracts, replacing the signs is becoming expensive.

A very funny item at The Register carried this story on monday: Brits steal carloads of F**king Austrian roadsigns

I got a job application form today with one of those monitoring forms attached.

"If the vacancy you are applying for is in Northern Ireland, please provide details of your religion:" It gave three choices

• Roman Catholic
• Protestant
• Other (please specify)

I ticked other, but I'm not sure what to write beside it. Technically I think I'm more agnostic than atheist, but neither sounds much fun. On the census, since there was no box for either of the above, I was one of those funny guys (err..) who ticked "Other" and wrote Jedi. Now you can do this on the census because you can't be prosecuted on the basis of the information you provide for the religion questions, but I'm fairly sure I remember reading on one of these monitoring forms before that it's illegal under NI legislation to provide false details on a monitoring form. Nevertheless, if anyone out there has any creative suggestions please let me know

Incidentally, they also asked me to provide my ethnic origin, stressing that it wasn't necessarily nationality or country of birth but the way you describe your ethnic identity or racial origin. "White" would seem the obvious choice. For some reason they also deemed it necessary to include "Irish" (surely they're not serious?) along with 3 (yes, three) types of "Black", "Indian", "Chinese", "Pakistani", "Bangladeshi" and "Traveller". Of course there was also the obligatory "Other (please specify)". I was initially tempted to tick "Irish", but my girlfriend told me I'm not Irish, I'm Protestant (OK, not her exact words, but a similar sentiment). So while I went for "White" I did, for a while, consider ticking "Other" and writing "Ulster-Scots" having recently discovered that yes, my ancestors did come from Scotland.

Actually, scratch that. I've just tip-exed out White in favour of "Other - Ulster-Scots". It just sounds more interesting than white, plus now I can be a minority and see what all the fuss is about!

If anyone has any ideas what I can write for religion, be quick, I'm posting it off tomorrow morning.

Even in England it seems the venerable Mr Adair can't keep his nose clean. The BBC reports that he's due up in court along with a friend in Bolton today over an incident on Monday. It's not clear what the charge is from the BBC report but the way I read it it appears to be harrassment.

Adair has been labelled as many things in his time but he's not fit to be called anything but a gangster; a career thug and an addict to crime. He and his like have never cared about Ulster or Britain, just themselves.

That Irish bloke from the X-Factor, or Louis Walsh as he is occasionally known, has branded Big Brother winner Anthony talentless amidst rumours of the geordie attempting to land a part in a musical and/or releasing a single off the back of his new found 'fame'.

Read more »