the little bird
that whistled shrill
from the nib of
its yellow bill:

a note let go
o’er Belfast Lough -
a blackbird from
a yellow whin

A free translation from the 9th Century Irish by Ciarán Carson

Ireland With Emily by Sir John Betjeman

Bells are booming down the bohreens,
White the mist along the grass,
Now the Julias, Maeves and Maureens
Move between the fields to Mass.
Twisted trees of small green apple
Guard the decent whitewashed chapel,
Gilded gates and doorway grained,
Pointed windows richly stained
With many-coloured Munich glass.

See the black-shawled congregations
On the broidered vestment gaze
Murmer past the painted stations
As Thy Sacred Heart displays
Lush Kildare of scented meadows,
Roscommon, thin in ash-tree shadows,
And Westmeath the lake-reflected,
Spreading Leix the hill-protected,
Kneeling all in silver haze?

In yews and woodbine, walls and guelder,
Nettle-deep the faithful rest,
Winding leagues of flowering elder,
Sycamore with ivy dressed,
Ruins in demesnes deserted,
Bog-surrounded bramble-skirted -
Townlands rich or townlands mean as
These, oh, counties of them screen us
In the Kingdom of the West.

Stony seaboard, far and foreign,
Stony hills poured over space,
Stony outcrop of the Burren,
Stones in every fertile place,
Little fields with boulders dotted,
Grey-stone shoulders saffron-spotted,
Stone-walled cabins thatched with reeds,
Where a Stone Age people breeds
The last of Europe's stone age race.

Has it held, the warm June weather?
Draining shallow sea-pools dry,
When we bicycled together
Down the bohreens fuchsia-high.
Till there rose, abrupt and lonely,
A ruined abbey, chancel only,
Lichen-crusted, time-befriended,
Soared the arches, splayed and splendid,
Romanesque against the sky.

There in pinnacled protection,
One extinguished family waits
A Church of Ireland resurrection
By the broken, rusty gates.
Sheepswool, straw and droppings cover,
Graves of spinster, rake and lover,
Whose fantastic mausoleum,
Sings its own seablown Te Deum,
In and out the slipping slates.

Ferry operator Stena Line has announced it is slowing down its high speed ferry between Belfast and Stranraer route (sic) to save money on fuel.

[...]

The crossing will now take 14 minutes longer than its previous 105 minutes.

From the Property Pin forums on the nasty hangover after the long property party:

Sometimes I wonder if someone threw all of Irelands common sense into the back of a Hi-Ace and headed off to Italy to the World Cup in 1990, and all the common sense got stolen somewhere outside Genoa.

St. Nicholas' Church of Ireland, Galway There in pinnacled protection, one extinquished family wait, A Church of Ireland resurrection, by the broken rusty gate Sir John Betjeman

...Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer has died in a Jamaican hospital. He was found a few hours ago unconscious in hotel room, surrounded in vomit, just a day after Ireland's shock win over Pakistan in cricket's World Cup. Jubilation for us Irish after arguably the biggest shock in cricket history, but humiliation for Pakistan and for Woolmer. However he died - drink, overdose, suicide or, God help us, poisoning, yesterday's result must have been a prime factor.

This puts sport into perspective. May God have mercy on his soul.

To show there are things in life other than elections...

After the disaster in the last few minutes against France, we were either going to fall to bits or come out on fire against the English today.

When I saw the intensity and emotion on the lads' faces during the anthems, I thought we were going to be good, but I didn't dare hope for a record score against England of 43-13.

Nothing else to say, really, a great performance from 1 to 15 and from the subs' bench as well. Paul O'Connell, welcome back to form. David Wallace, you are God as much as Bod. And well done to all the Ulster boys on a great performance, especially Isaac Boss for a great cheeky last minute try.

And I'm particularly proud of the respect show to God Save the Queen by our fans in Croke Park. It's time for the people of this island and the one next door to end a centuries' old conflict and work out how we live among one another as good neighbours. This is a great day for Ireland and for rugby.

This is not the time to regret what ten seconds of concentration against France might have done... just shed a little tear and get back to celebrating!

I make it 256 candidates for 108 places. Easy to navigate list at the BBC, with the full Statements of People Nominated at the Electoral Office website.

( Number cruncing below the fold )

On a perfect February day in Dublin the dream died in the cruellest of circumstances. After all the hype about the ghosts of history stalking Croke Park as the GAA overturned 100 years of history and allowed a 'foreign' sport to sully its turf, it seemed almost impossible that Ireland could lose. Except for the minor detail that France have a bloody good rugby team.

And so it looked for 15 mintues as Ireland looked barely awake, with only the sterling contribution of David Wallace saving them from annihilation. But somehow Ireland were only two points behind at the break, and when they went ahread early in the second half, fortunes turned, and Ireland spent half an hour running the French ragged. When O'Gara sunk a tough penalty to take Ireland 17-13 up with two minutes to go, Ireland thought it was all over. All they had to do was field the kick off, keep it in tight for two minutes then boot the ball the hell off the pitch once the 80 minute mark passed.

But Ireland lost concentration and France had other ideas. France 20, Ireland 17. To the victors go the spoils. The Grand Slam dream dies for another year. 59 years of hurt and counting. And I am still in mourning.

After yesterday's genuinely historic Sinn Fein Ard Fheis vote to accept the police in Northern Ireland, it seems almost certain that there will be an election to the Northern Ireland Assembly on March 7. With both Sinn Fein and the DUP ditching some core principles to sign up to powersharing with one another, and with no significant force on the extreme side of either party at this point, the interesting thing will be the candidates running, on either side, on an extreme rejectionist platform.

I'd like to hold off a little to see who is likely to be nominated where before passing judgement on the unionist side, but on the Republican side things seem a little clearer. Therefore, below the fold, here are my predictions for the strongest bests for an anti-Adams/McGuinness, dissident Republican breakthrough in the 2007 elections.


( More below the fold. )

How do you know the Irish economy is doing well? Because a study has found traces of cocaine on '100%' of Irish euro bank notes.

Now, admittedly the survey covered a massive sample of 45 notes, so if I was in my usual form I would be highlighting this as an example of really dodgy statistics. But this is just too funny to nitpick.

The geniuses who carried out the study at Dublin City University also made the shocking discovery that:

The study also found that higher value banknotes, such as 20 and 50 euros, were more likely to contain greater traces of the drug.

No shit sherlocks. I could have told you that without spending the time and money doing a chemical analysis of the things.

Alan Harper, Bishop of Connor, has been elected Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.

A sensible liberal to moderate type who is good at building bridges and the nearest you get to a genuine liberal on homosexuality in the Northern C of I, barring a particularly silly statement on the Sexual Orientation Regulations just before Christmas. Genuinely nice guy too, Alan. I'm glad his Englishness didn't count against him.

We praise Thee, O God:
we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship Thee:
the Father everlasting.

To Thee all Angels cry aloud:
the heavens and all the powers therein.
To Thee Cherubin and Seraphin:
continually do cry,
Holy, Holy, Holy:
Lord God of Sabaoth;
Heaven and earth are full
of the Majesty: of Thy glory.

The glorious company of the Apostles: praise Thee.
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets: praise Thee.
The noble army of Martyrs: praise Thee.

The holy Church throughout all the
world: doth acknowledge Thee;
The Father: of an infinite majesty;
Thine honourable, true: and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost: the Comforter.

Good news: The House of Lords challenge by that cretin Maurice Morrow and his pals in the DUP to the Northern Ireland Sexual Orientation Regulations fails dismally. Hee hee hee. 3-1! 3-1! For probably the first time in history, Northern Ireland leads the way on gay rights issues, and as Jeffrey Dudgeon said on Sunday Sequence on New Year's Eve, we have now basically acheived the complete legal emancipation of gay people. The last little thing is to change the phrase "civil partnership" to "marriage" and that really is it, at least in the formal, legal, sphere.

Bad news: accordingto the Irish Times (hat tip, as so often to Slugger O'Toole), John Neill is not interested in becoming Archbishop of Armagh. Fanta Clarke is apparently the front runner, with his wide experience on both sides of the border. While Fanta isn't as bad on gay issues as Harold Miller, he's still pretty bad. There's lots of silent prayers here for my own home Bishop, Alan Harper (allegedly too English) and for Richard Clarke (too Southern). We'll see in less than four hours.

BELFAST (AP): Political leaders from a powerful coalition of countries have warned Northern Ireland’s political parties that the St. Andrew’s Agreement, announced last week, is their last hope of avoiding military action by the international community.

“The stability of Western Europe is a vital prerequisite for the economic development of the People’s Republic of China”, said Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing on a visit to London yesterday to present a series of ultimata to British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

“We cannot tolerate the continued presence of a failed state in such a critical and unstable part of the world.

“The continuing suffering of the people of Northern Ireland is an affront to all civilised nations”, continued Mr. Li, “Be in no doubt of the resolve of the Chinese people to bring an end to Northern Ireland’s agony, by force if necessary.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, following a lengthy phone call to Irish counterpart Dermot Ahern, warned that Russia too would consider joining a ‘Coalition of the Willing’.

“Russia is still committed to finding a peaceful solution to the Northern Ireland problem, if that is possible”, said the smooth diplomat on Russian TV this morning, “However, the international community’s patience with Britain and Ireland’s continued failure is wearing thin. The use of force would be a last resort, but one that we dare not rule out.”

Meanwhile, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has angrily rejected suggestions that the Coalition of the Willing is simply a front for a War on Christianity.

“Many important Christian countries such as Moldova, Zambia and the Federated States of Micronesia are part of our coalition”, said the bearded Imam before entering the Emam Khomeini Mosque in Qom for morning prayer, “This isn’t about Christians and Muslims. It’s about right and wrong.

“Besides, don’t you think we have enough trouble in the Islamic World at the moment without those nutcases joining us?”

President Bush was not available for comment. A Whitehouse spokesman said his new SpongeBob SquarePants jigsaw was taking longer than expected to complete.

Restoration Village the property pr0n programme you love to hate is coming to Northern Ireland.

Maybe a more appropriate programme given the number of racist attacks in South Belfast might be Restoration: The Village.

We move three immigrant families into recently renovated houses off the Donegall Road. The Jaruselskis from Poland move into Eureka Drive, the Nkosis from Zimbabwe move into Kitchener Street and the Shuklas from the Punjab move into Coolfin Street. Who will be the last to get burned out by the UDA? (And it should all fit into a forty minute slot before the ten o’clock news.)

The BBC is running a poll on the UK's favourite unsung landmarks, and of the eight entries, Belfast's Samson and Goliath ship cranes are languishing in fifth place.

Do your civic duty - freep the poll!!!

In Galway earlier this month... believe it or not the first time I have been in the Republic for six years and my first real taste of the New South. I liked. A lot more than I expected.

God, Galway has got very upmarket, hasn't it?

On Inis Oirr with the South Dublin and City of Belfast radio clubs on the Aran Islands a few weeks ago for this years IOTA Contest.

God, it was windy out there.