Deputy Chief Constable Paul Leighton in the News Letter this morning, after attending yesterday’s Gaelic Athletic Association All-Ireland football final in Croke Park: “My interest in the sport has grown through our own PSNI team and I would like to …

Bruce Arnold introduced the new EU Ambassador to the US John Bruton and his opening speech to the Reform Movement’s conference at the Mansion House in Dublin. He draws on the nature of the EU’s apparent ability to transcend nationalisms, …

Interesting and thoughtful analysis from someone on the Independent staff. In particular it notes the presence of a group of academics last week who “…were amazed that parties should get so near agreement and fail to make the final connection”. …

Ian McCartney is the first front bencher to make it to the blogosphere. There seems to be plenty of output from the man himself during the Labour Party conference. But it will be interesting to see if he can sustain …

Having liberalised the commenting regime on Thursday, we’ve been rewarded with a whole new epidemic of comment spam. So we have put back the requirement to register with type key again. Discover more from Slugger O'Toole Subscribe to get the …

As a warmer for tomorrow’s Charter of Rights e-debate, David Aaronvitch with an argument that the UN Declaration is too blunt an instrument to deal with the sensitivities of various religious groupings. Discover more from Slugger O'Toole Subscribe to get …

Two things worthy of note in last week’s Hearts and Minds: the degree of agreement in the round table discussions at the beginning; and the lively discussion on civil partnerships – Steven King who argues that the expected UK legislation …

A belated thanks to Eilis O’Hanlon who, I have only just discovered, wished us well in being shortlisted for the New Statesman Award back in June. Argh! Maybe we should have had the prize taken back off us for not …

Moves are being considered to enable the implementation of an All-Ireland Free Travel scheme for pensioners and other groups. The BBC quotes Irish Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mary Coughlan, “The use of this type of smart card [to …