sheesh.. another shameless plug? ;)

I hope it's a bit more than that Pete... I'm interested in getting reactions/responses from anyone who's managed to track down a copy - mine won't get here until Tuesday at the earliest. If it's only a shameless plug, then red faces here at Slugger Central. :-)

Why not post the article here for reactions, Mick?

you've already given the obligatory plug for The Village :)

Mick - will John at NH central be carrying your piece ?

I have a scanned copy of it if anyone wants me to e-mail it to them.

Yes Please Gerry!

On its way, Davros.

I think Mick, and a few others, would be interested in a response to the article, Gerry.

Many Thanks Gerry :)

Excellent piece, possibly one unfortunate turn of phrase ( Provisional Journalism ? ) and at last I have a face to put to the 10 letters.

p.s. does this mean that Mick and david Vance can now be described as "Village People " ?

(runs and hides )

I think Mick, and a few others, would be interested in a response to the article, Gerry.

Mick's piece is basically a history of the origins of Slugger, which will probably be familiar to many of the most regular readers of the site.

However, he does bring up a very important point: "The DUP and Sinn Féin might not engage in direct talks, but on Slugger their members routinely hammer out issues and share gossip from lost pumas in North Antrim, to the latest political defection, to the parties' odds with Paddy Power for the elections."

He goes on "Former Stormont Ministers Nigel Dodds of the DUP and Seán Farren of the SDLP, for example, spent several weeks on Slugger sounding out each other on the scope for acceptable change to the original Belfast Agreement."

When Mick wrote "a rough and ready review of the parties' election websites" a discussion soon got underway between a Sinn Féin activist and a DUP supporter "not about politics, but the business of doing politics. This kind of discussion, which bridges party loyalties, in the interests of hoe to do politics better, may be commonplace elsewhere. In Northern Ireland, it's rare."

The main point is that it helps people to talk to one another. I visit Slugger because I don't get much chance to interact with unionists, and I would like to be able to hear what they have to say.

Sometime we talk at rather that to one another, and occasionally a discussion gets bogged down in semantics (A potential new rule, perhaps: "play the ball, not the semantics"), but as Winston Churchill said: "Jaw-jaw is better than war-war"

"lost pumas in North Antrim"

Any news on this critter?

Sighs - No James, you cannot come hunting for it ;)
I can however e mail you a copy of the form you need to bring your gun here if you really want to try !

"lost pumas in North Antrim"

There were a few Pumas with lost expressions in Lansdowne Road last weekend...

(Sorry, Mario, if you're reading this. If it's any consolation, Felipe Contepomi won Man of the Match in Leinster's 92-17 destruction of Bourgoin this evening.)

"I can however e mail you a copy of the form you need to bring your gun here if you really want to try !"

Gotta have dawgs too. Trees help as well. Real lousy cougar huntin' on the bog.

I can arrange Dawgs :) Plenty of Trees!

I read the article earlier today. Not bad. It was nice of the village to give you a free-run like that and it made for an interesting peice. I wonder if they edited-out much? The Price article it appeared beside was also interesting.

I haven't seen the finished piece to know whether they have or not Carrier. I should have a copy by tomorrow or Wednesday. I can let you know then.