Synchronicity? Or cribbing?
A quick aside. I see Tommy Burns MLA quite regularly at our gaelic club and we have an occasional chat. We’ve never discussed Slugger to my recollection and certainly haven’t chatted about my posts on the costs of 11th July bonfires.
I’m surprised to see that completely independently he has asked the exact same questions on costs to the Fire Service that I had answered back on 19th August.
The Irish News, Belfast Telegraph and UTV all say;
The figures were revealed by the Assembly after a freedom of information question from the SDLP’s Thomas Burns
mmmmm…..
Update: As per Nevin’s comment below – it was synchronicity. What are the odds on that?
Tsk tsk, Mr Burns :^)
But good on him for asking those questions, which can’t be asked often enough.
Like those thousands of ridiculous marches, the bonfires have burned for so many years that people have come to regard them as normal.
They are not. They’re insane, a throwback to ancient and primitive times.
see my last comment at 6:10pm on your last thread on cost of bonfires Mark.(or maybe you did).
Are these the answers to the questions that were listed for answer on July 21, 2010?
Mr T Burns (South Antrim)
To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety how many times fire crews were dispatched to bonfire sites during the period 1 May to 10 July, in each of the last five years; and the cost of dispatching these crews.
Nevin,
That is bizarre. Synchronicity it was.
What’s the odds on that?
Indeed it explains the amazingly prompt response from NIFRS – they had already commenced gathering the figures for Tommy.
I’m a bit spooked out. I’ll see Tommy tomorrow and see if I can read his mind on other things.
Mark: It is conditional probability, conditioned over the odds that the twelfth of July falls in July and that your right Hon MLA andchis constituents have an interest in the topic.
So, if we assume the twelfth of July falls in July, then the odds are not all that great.
So buy him a drink the next time you see him. Or give to dyslexia or youth GAA or one of his other good causes.
I’m more worried that I’m on the same wavelength as a ‘stoop’. I’ve decided not to speak to him again
Under age Blitz is it?
When you see him ask him what he was doing in Afghanistan? I dont recall you getting back to us on that one.
MMG,
Look at from his point of you.
Hes on the same wavelength as you are. That should worry him
FJH,
When I thought this entry couldn’t have got any more embarassing – you fire in your 2d
Suppose it is too late to delete it and hope nobody notices?
I should point out that I do actually like Tommy so torturing him on Afghanistan dropped off the radar during our chats after U10/8 football.
“I’m more worried that I’m on the same wavelength as a ‘stoop’. I’ve decided not to speak to him again ”
Could be worse, you might find yourself agreeing with Nevin. Now that is scary, especially when he confirms “you are coming round to my way of thinking”.
Could it simply be a case of great minds thinking alike.
It is all quite worrying. If Catholics/Nationalists did agree, then they would have to disagree to (be) agree(able).
william crawley had him today, sounded to me like an anti brit shock , 4 mil over 5 years anyone care to quess the total fire service budget for five years?.
hitting all the wrong buttons tonight
It would be nice if the loyalists would consult carefully with the fire services about the modalities of bonfires. It would also be nice if they provided safety equipment at their own expense and stewards who were trained in avoiding accidental fires and injuries.
Beyond that, though, Twelfth events obviously contain a message of social significance. The fact that many of us find that message sectarian, bigoted, reactionary, anachronistic, undemocratic, reprehensible, whatever, is irrelevant to the right of loyalists to express their views by having legal bonfires. If the implication is that the orders or whoever should pay the cost of policing their own events, you are at the top of a very slippery slope. Surely you can see that this could easily be used as a tool of repression, and that republicans and leftists like you are among the most likely targets. The cost of policing demonstrations is just the price the taxpayers have to pay for free expression. It’s an f of a lot cheaper than a police state.
Things could be so much worse, Mark. You could have made a tit of yourself and lip-synced with Ian McCrea:
“Mr I McCrea (Mid Ulster):
To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (i) for his assessment of the current legislation on breastfeeding in public places; and (ii) to outline what advice midwives give nursing mothers about breastfeeding in public places.”
“Things could be so much worse, Mark. You could have made a tit of yourself and lip-synced with Ian McCrea:”
Nevin, Would ye like to ask the mods to delete that?
or ……. ? Nasty….nasty knowing that most people can finish that !
What’s a police state?
If they get public money through grants etc then it becomes a public event and therefore should have to abide the health and safety laws and environment laws that everybody else would have to abide by. Would the organisers of a firework display at a public location that has council permission, have to pay themselves for all costs associated with having that event. So whats the difference legally with these bonfires.
MV
Oh I know the various stops on the train of thought. Had both of them had the same thought in January, well that would be unusual…bbut since both of them were on this train of thought along with with everyone else it must have been pretty crowded on that train! I
socaire
How fortunate for you, you will never know. Try being you in China…
Mr E Man,
“It would be nice if the loyalists would consult carefully with the fire services about the modalities of bonfires.”
See my earlier comment about insanity v. normality. To talk about the “modalities of bonfires” while presumably keeping a straight face is insane. But this is how far we’ve sunk when it’s considered to be normal.
Seems a bit like the NIwater thread me and Tommy are friends nothing more !!!!!
we’ve never chatted about Slugger and in no way did i ask him to ask about bonfires – he managed to ask that all by himself lol
Wouldn’t it be very interesting to know how much had been spent on Call-outs to Nationalist bonfires ?
While we’re talking about waste of MONEY !!
In the last 10 yrs the cost of Hoax calls to the fire service has cost them £31.6 million !!
And the cost to the fire service having to tackle gorse fires in the last 5yrs is £35 million – 9 out of every 10 gorse fires is started deliberately !!
I wonder what Tommy or in fact you Mark think of that ???
bj,
“Wouldn’t it be very interesting to know how much had been spent on Call-outs to Nationalist bonfires ?”
No.
So does that make the cost of all those call outs to deliberately started bonfires value for money or the costs associated with the damage to public and private property a worthwhile investment in preserving culture.
Why not ?
Easy answer NO
But lets not pick and choose our condemnation of waste of money and vitial sevices !!
As an ex-firefighter i know how tight things are within the service and if only people knew what they were relying on – they’d think twice about making hoax calls or deliberately starting fires !!