Derry by appointment...... (43)

Gang violence fears after drugs bust uncovers huge arms find

The seizure of an arsenal of high-powered weapons has raised fears of an increase in violent drugs gangs in Northern Ireland the o6c similar to those which have plagued larger inner cities elsewhere in the UK and Ireland. A drugs gang selling thousands of pounds of deadly substances in the province had a haul of munitions including grenades, handguns and a sub-machine-gun.

A detective leading the investigation into the gang's activity in LondonDerry said the seizure showed the lethal capabilities of such organised crime groups.

Detective Inspector Tom McClure said there was a sinister similarity between the gang and those associated with cities such as Liverpool and Dublin.

There was no mention in court or by police of any link between the gang and paramilitaries.

Derry man arrested over activity in Syria

Police have arrested a man in LondonDerry over alleged activity in Syria.

The 25-year-old was arrested in the Creggan area of the city today.

He has been taken to Antrim police station for questioning.

Detectives from Serious Crime Branch are investigating reports of activity that took place in Syria earlier this year.

More to follow...





Cost blunder of rail link upgrade between Derry and Coleraine to be subject of probe

The blunder over the cost of upgrading the rail link between Londonderry and Coleraine is to be probed by a scrutiny committee


Transport Minister Danny Kennedy and Translink chiefs have been summoned by an Assembly committee after cost estimates for the project doubled.

MLAs on the Regional Development Committee urged Minister Danny Kennedy and senior officials to explain the multi-million pound underestimate of £20m-£22m which has now risen to £40m.

The committee will also undertake an inquiry into Translink procurement procedures and the department's "seeming inability" to budget for capital projects.

Committee chairman Trevor Clarke said it was a "shambles" which should "never have been allowed to happen".

I shop in Derry whenever im up that way, i imagine 20-30 years ago i would never have ventured into Derry alone or alone with my young kids, but people are just people, i can take a bit of biased hate on the chin if it comes my way....sure arent i a dub..we are hated by most the country anyway.

give it another 30-40 years who knows eh?

or do some people fear th

I must go find more dublinisms to learn to keep myself in such a state,..

Just reading the Belfast Telegraph (as you do)

Liam Clarke piece that goes like this...


The state we're in: Stark choices facing us about how we want to live in Northern Ireland - from education and health, to the economy and the past

(parts read like this)....


Do we want Northern Ireland to be a place divided into two main local communities who are educated separately and tend to live separately too? Or do we want a more shared society where we may have to accept cultural symbols, like Orange or nationalist regalia, which we don't feel entirely comfortable with.


(further on in the piece)

Do we prefer spending millions policing protests or getting to the bottom of communal disagreements and sorting them out.


(and more grim reading)


A Treasury consultation document in 2011 summed up the situation: "Northern Ireland is one of the UK's most disadvantaged regions on many measures. It has the lowest wages and one of the lowest labour productivity rates. It has a weak private sector, with strong dependence on the public sector. These weaknesses reflect a number of unique factors, not least the legacy of 30 years of conflict, the demographic structure and the peripheral location of Northern Ireland, as well as issues surrounding deprivation and rurality."

There you have it: we are a backward region with a weak economy. The best paid, and skilled, part of it is the public sector. As last year's Peace Monitoring Report, published by the Community Relations Council, points out "its dependence on the low pay/low skills equilibrium and its highest rate of economic inactivity mean that it has never been able to generate sufficient income to cover its expenditure".

(the icing on the cake)

Put in plain terms, November 2012 figures show us spending £23.2bn while taking in only £12.7bn in taxes. The balance, £10.5bn that year, is our subvention from London. That is nearly as much as it cost to stage the Olympics and the British are looking for a way to reduce the outflow.

Next year we face a cut of 1.6%. We also have "accumulated pressures" of around £850m and we face a major hit, £114m next year alone, for failing to implement UK-wide welfare reform measures which are intended to slow the level of increase in welfare spending here. Since we have so far refused to make the changes, London sees us as running a more expensive welfare system without having the income to pay for it and they deduct what they consider the overspend to be.




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In a nutshell it's exactly what I have been saying on every thread about the o6c.. So don't tell me I haven't a clue. You are only insulting yourself. People aren't loved up, hugging trees and picking up daises. People by an large are as separated today as they where in 1994, 1984, 1974, 1964.... Get the picture. And today not only haven't they a pot to piss in, most can't afford to buy a pot in the first place.

No Muslims go to state schools by and large. And I'm going out on a limb but in the 26 C's Irish history is taught in both schools. i know it in the o6c in state/protestant schools it isn't taught as a rule..

I was talking to a former UVF lifer the other week and he didn't learn Irish history until he went to prison..