The island of of Tristan Da Cunha has been given a post code by Royal Mail for the first time. The island is the only inhabited island in an archipelago by the same name. It's located in the South Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of South Africa. The island is a British dependency with 276 inhabitants and has been given the post code TDCU 1ZZ. The post code might even stop post to the island being sent to Scotland due to the island's capital being called Edinburgh.

Read more »

Many of you will have heard of the poor English girl who was raped by the same scumbag twice at the weekend. Once he had raped her the second time he then used her mobile phone to phone her mother and brag about his 'conquest'.

She was walking with some male friends when 2 older males, both, I believe, in their late teens, began their assault on the friends on Black's Road in west Belfast. One attacked the girl with a screwdriver, the other attacked her 3 male companions with a metal bar. The girl was raped on the garage forecourt before being dragged to the driveway of a nearby golf course.

Read more »

Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and James Monaghan jumped bail in Colombia after being sentenced to 17 years

The Republic of Ireland's tradition of harbouring wanted terrorists looks set to continue as the three men convicted of training Marxist terrorists in Colombia have resurfaced in the Irish Republic. I'm sure you haven't escaped the news over the weekend so I won't go into detail on it.

The Republic's Prime Minister Bertie Ahern has denied that any deal was done with Sinn Fein/the IRA to allow the men to come back to the Republic in return for the IRA statement. Since the Republic does not have an extradition treaty with Colombia, he said that it will be left to the courts to determine what happens to the men. Presumably they'll be given a slap on the wrists and told to be on their way.

There is one good piece of news to come out of it all though, the Northern Ireland Office has said that while the presence of the men in the Republic of Ireland is "a matter for the Irish authorities" should the men re-enter the Northern Ireland, or anywhere else in the UK "an extradition request will be dealt with without delay."

Read more »

You really can get a free iPod, even colour iPods

You may have read the post I made at EverythingUlster.com a few weeks back called "Free Colour/Photo iPods Hit UK" where I explained how you could get a free iPod by signing up to a free trial. If you haven't read it already, you might want to read it now.

In short you get a free iPod for signing up to a free trial with an online DVD rental company called ScreenSelect (it really is free, even the return postage on the DVDs is pre-paid by them). Like any TGTBT offer, there are catches, but if you follow a few simple steps you can make sure your iPod really is free.

Read more »

The final of the elite section of the milk cup is live on BBC 2 Northern Ireland. The programme has just started and they've already mentioned the 5,000 capacity crowd gathered to watch the match at Coleraine Showgrounds.

Tommy Stewart played a through ball to his teammate Kyle Lafferty in the 11th minute who was brought down by the keeper and Northern Ireland were awarded a penalty, which Stewart then converted. 1 - 0 to Northern Ireland.

Just 10 minutes later the USA were awarded a dodgy penalty for a handball by Andy Cleary in the box which was converted by Rodriguo Lopez to make it 1-1.

Charlie Davies put the USA 2-1 in front with a well taken goal in the 32nd minute and Davies made it 3-1 right on half time. America then went 4-1 up early in the 2nd half (just before the hour mark) and yes, it was another penalty. It wasn't looking good.

Johnny Steele had a good game and topped it off with a consolation goal 8 minutes from time, but the end was spoiled as Paul McDowell was sent off in the last minute.

Meanwhile, Brazil ended on a high, beating Serbia & Montenegro 5-0 to win the third place play-off.

Sorry I didn't get a chance to post yesterday, some of the students in work were having their leaving do (hopefully me and a couple of the other students will get a separate one in a couple of weeks time but we'll see). Anyway, I wasn't in the house long enough to do much by the way of typing but I'll make sure the songs keep coming.

Today's song is The Green Glens of Antrim, composed in 1950 by Kenneth North. This is another song that I only heard about when someone suggested it as a Northern Ireland national anthem on the Our Wee Country website. When I first heard it it reminded me vividly of Graham's Record Shop (RIP) in Portrush. It's that old country/folky type music with accordians and what to my untrained ear sounds like an accoustic guitar in the background (at least that's the version I heard by Foster and Allen). If you want to know what sort of song it is, Daniel O'Donnell has also performed a version for at least one of his albums! Sure yer granny'll love it!

The song tells of a traveller who has left Ulster and longs to return to the beautiful scenery of the glens and to one particular person in particular ("the one that's been aye in my mind") that he left behind in Cushendun (or Cushendall depending who you believe).

Read more »

The Apprentice Boys have had an upcoming parade banned from passing the Ardoyne shops, scene of the mindless violence and wanton disregard for human life of republican "protestors" on 12th July. This ban continues the trend from last year when the same ban was imposed.

My initial reaction on watching the story on the lunchtime news was "Right, republicans, if you want parades banned just go out and riot at them." Sounds like they're being given a free reign to cancel all parades. This view was soon to be backed up by the Parades Commission themselves whose ruling cited "potential for public disorder" and could have an "adverse effect on fragile community relations."

Read more »

It strikes me that all the arguments over whether the UK or the Irish Republic run Northern Ireland is a bit pointless. Everyone knows that in many parts of Northern Ireland, it's the paramilitaries that run the show, as amply demonstrated by the so-called "loyalist" scumbags rioting on the streets in north Belfast last night around the Woodvale/Crumlin Road area. Why? Because the police were carrying out a murder investigation!

A bus was hijacked and set alight, 10 cars were hijacked (probably suffering the same fate) and a blast bomb were thrown at the police among other targets. So many petrol bombs were thrown at the police that they lost count! This was no spur of the moment riot, this was clearly planned. 40 police officers were injured although none of the injuries are thought to be life threatening. There's a brief post on this from last night over at A Tangled Web.

So let's put this into perspective. These loyalists launched a mindless and brutal attack on the forces of the state that they're 'loyal' too (injuring 40), as well as transport services, because the police service of the state they're 'loyal' to investigated the murder of a citizen of the country they're 'loyal' to.

Read more »

Family members of victims of the Shankill Bomb yesterday met secretary of state Peter Hain. Michelle Williamson and Bobby Baird both travelled to London yesterday to convey their distaste for Mr Hain's "gutless" decision to let Sean Kelly out of prison. Michelle said she was left hurt and angry by the decision while Bobby Baird claims Mr Hain was treating victims and their families like 2nd class citizens and that the Northern Ireland Secretary was unable to give them a 'proper response'.

No big surprises really. Everyone knows victims don't matter a jot in New Labour's Age of Appeasement.

My take is this. The argument on Sean Kelly's release has little to do with his crimes. He was released under the Good Friday Agreement which is done and dusted. The issue of his re-release is purely about whether or not he had become re-involved in terrorism. Thanks to Mr Hain's cowardly decision to withold the evidence, we'll never know.

What this has undoubtedly done is cast up the awful memories of 1993 for the victims' families. Sean Kelly's hokey-cokey at Maghaberry has seen his face plastered all over the media and reminded the families that the twisted bastard who killed their relatives is walking the streets.

Peter Hain is the cause of this suffering because he can't make a decision and stick to it. The man's not fit to run Northern Ireland. It's a simple lesson most of us learn as children: You can't please all the people all the time. In his efforts to do just that, he's made the situation 10 times worse for those families affected.

But what does Peter care for the victims as long as he gets "Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when IRA called end to armed campaign" on his CV for when he's looking for a 'real' job?

The loyalist feud (more here) is disgusting and embarrassing. Does anyone actually know (or care) what it's all about? One bunch of drug-pushers evicting another to take over their territory? Some argument between families that's been going on for 5 years?

I don't know the whole story and to be honest it doesn't concern me. I'm bored of it. It really just seems that some people need to fight because it's all they know. It doesn't matter what they're fighting about or fighting for (if they even know). Fighting is their life.

What I want to know is what the police are going to do about it? Have they become so caught up in human rights that they no longer have the ability to actually police the country or is there another explanation as to why there's been no movement on the thugs so far?

We've been informed over the last little while that Northern Ireland doesn't need the army any more, while at the same time soldiers are guarding the streets of Co. Down and north Belfast at a cost of £30,000 a day or ~ £900,000 a month - all because of some fucking loyalist bickering about who runs the drugs trade. As if the fact that so many of them [terrorists] are cheating the benefits system isn't insulting enough, the money spent policing their spat would be enough to save Irish Premier League side Coleraine FC from bankruptcy, just one of many potential better uses of the money.

Expect to see the Divis watchtower return soon, coming soon to a council estate in Holywood.