The 21 year-old, a Roman Catholic cafe owner, was named as the young lover of Mrs Robinson during a BBC documentary , which went on to make a series of allegations about her financial dealings.

Within hours of the documentary airing on the BBC, almost 2,000 people had joined a group, the Kirk McCambley Appreciation Society , on the social networking site.

via The Telegraph

More people gobsmacked that McCambley is apparently a Roman Catholic. A love lust that transcended age, the sanctity of marriage and the ginormous Northern Irish religious divide. Some wag quipped: she was reaching out to the Catholic community…

In the first instance – congratulations to Iris on having a rather sexually liberating affair, after living what must have been an awful sham of a repressed conservative Christian lifestyle. Sometimes a woman just needs to loosen up a little. And bravo on the efficiency of hitting the ‘sex scandal’ and ‘financial scandal’ targets with just one stone. That’s the kind of councillor you want in your area – someone who can pull strings and get our young folk set up in business. Even if it is just young folk we happen to be straddling

Note: If you’re not familiar with Iris Robinson, she’s the wife of Northern Ireland’s First Minister, Peter Robinson. Together, they form the ultimate Unionist power couple. Or did. They espoused a conservative Christian/hardline Unionist outlook that certain cliched corners of Northern Irish culture love (partly because they have no imagination, partly because most of ‘em are over 60). Until recently, she was most famous for telling the world that “gays are an abomination” and recommending a psychiatrist who”d talk them out of their filthy ways.

Wait 'til I get my hands on that b*****d...

Part of me feels a little sorry for her. She did try to kill herself. Her husband did just go on out to work as usual that day.

But then part of me thinks – why not? Let’s not try and wrap this up in outdated Christian blech about forgiveness and human frailty. This is a woman who publicly denounced gays as abominations. I don’t even wnat to know what her position on evolution is, or whether she’s a fully subscribed fan of Leviticus.

Or maybe the mental illness made her come out and make her anti-homosexual proclaimation? Maybe we should just ignore everything she’s ever said publically?

For me, this should be the final nail in the coffin of the DUP and those stupid, traditionalist Unionist movements. They’re corrupt to the core. This just proves it. How many scandals has Ian “walking liability” Paisley Jr been involved in? What about Sammy Wilson? Now Iris and Peter are up to their immaculately exfoliated necks in shit. It’s either endearingly human of them to err in this way, or it’s out-and-out corrupt. You decide.

The only thing to worry about is what effect destroying Peter Robinson’s political career will have on Northern Ireland. For all the Assembly’s ineffectiveness, handing it over to someone else within the DUP or the dusty old Ulster Unionists might be as big a mistake as sticking with Peter.

But at the end of the day, this is what you get when you elect a bunch of dusty, bible-bashing pricks into government: they feel they can lecture you ad-nauseum without having to adhere to their own chosen rule book. And don’t give me a lot of faff about forgiveness when your ‘party’ is a pseudo-religious movement well-known for holding everybody else’s sins to account.

This is why I’ve always had a problem with the established political order in Northern Ireland – they think they can get away with murder.

Is it still Peter Hain?

Is this the beginning of a bright new future for Northern Ireland? That was the burning question yesterday. It’s really too early to tell, but surely the signs are hopeful?

I’m not sure what to make of Ian Paisley in the role of First Minister. Let’s face it, the man made his career out of opposing whoever held this (or equivalent) role in the past. In bringing down just about every ‘moderate’ attempt at peaceful governance, Paisley was the anarchist, the mixer, the organ grinder. He effortlessly roused the passions of paranoid Protestants in bigotted tirades against Catholics/Nationalist or anybody who looked at him squinty.

And now he’s the head honcho?

Over the last few years, The Reverend Paisley has had plenty to say about the IRA and Sinn Fein gaining the trust of the people. Today, Ian Paisley still has a long way to go before he has my trust. Too many stunts, posturing and double-speak from Paisley have left me rightly suspicious of his intentions for this Assembley.

My hope for the future is that Paisley decommissions his bigotted rhetoric the same way the IRA put their weapons away. Is it too vain to hope that he has seen the damage he has done to Northern Ireland and that in this late stage of his career (and life) he wants to finally be a force for change?

I hope so. Peace be with you, people…

Judging by his blog, Hanson appears to take the stance of an anti-Agreement Unionist, though I won’t hold that against him! His writing is very opinion-based, which I like, and he holds a healthy degree of scepticism for Unionists and Nationalists alike.

Of course, I can’t agree with everything he says. Take for instance his comments about political progress:

The other Unionist on the panel, UUP leader Reg Empey, on the other hand did say something interesting:
Remember what this country was like twenty years ago. We were shovelling people into plastic bags.

Exactly Sir Reg. Lets remember that Sinn Fein/IRA (and loyalist terrorists for that matter) spent thirty years blowing people to bits. There are precious few public representatives who remind us of that fact.

However, Sir Regs next comment was strange: Lets recognize the progress that has been made.

What progress is that? Putting people who put people in plastic bags into government as a reward for not doing it any more?

I think that’s indicitave of anti-Agreement Unionism, that unforgiving, unflinching attitude of “not putting terrorists in Government”. Always failing to acknowledge that some of the Unionists currently in Government aggitated and helped bring about the Troubles through their bigotted sectarian campaigns.

I think it’s telling that every Unionist leader since Carson has eventually recognised the need for conciliation with Catholics/Nationalists. More telling that Paisley – the great agitator – has joined their ranks.

Anyway, differences aside, Hanson’s blog is highly recommended and helps to blow a good deal of bullshit out the window.

Who would you recommend?

I’ve lamented the state of the Northern Irish blogosphere a while back, and now that I’m starting to get back into the flow of things I’d like to update my reading list. Damien Mulley pulled out a good list of Irish political blogs late last year.

I’d like to see something similar for Northern Ireland specifically. Roll up your sleeves, and help me out with your suggestions in the comments below!

The Portadown News was one of those sites that literally had me in stitches laughing. I’d check the site each week for new material, and within 5 or 10 minutes, I’d be getting told to shut up and stop laughing to myself.

Whatever you think of Newton Emerson, he’s got a sharp wit that cuts straight through all the bullshit and political rhetoric that gets spun around here. He can expose a double-standard in his sleep.

Anyway, I got a copy of The Last of the Portadown News for Christmas this year. Needless to say, I was doubled over laughing yet again. I know this is juvenile, but the names of the reporters really got me started (Billy Shootspatrick, Reg Empty, etc) to the point where I wondered if Emerson’s own name wasn’t made up (Newtown-emerson, anyone? No?).

Anyway, despite the fact that it’s freely available online, get yourself a copy! You never know when they’ll pull the plug for good.

My political blogging has run out of steam to a degree – when all you’re shooting for (pun not intended) is people to settle down and live in a civilized Northern Ireland, you don’t have history on your side! You certainly don’t have a guerilla movement and hundreds thousands of dead bodies to lend legitimacy to your argument!

Unlike my compadres in the Unionist/Nationalist blogging communities, I can’t abide repeating myself ad nauseum, even though I think my argument makes more sense.

Frankly, in Northern Ireland the same issues still exist: one part of the population wants to be Irish, the other British. Will Nationalists be happy to argue for a United Ireland in a perpetual talking shop, or will their politicians let it slide, happy with their slice of the power-sharing cake?

I don’t know. And to be honest, right now I don’t care.

I’ll continue to post political pieces, but I’m not as motivated by it as before, mostly because there’s nothing I can change. Most idiots are only too happy to swallow up the garbage their politicians sell to them. They’re not listening to me or attempting to broaden their perspective. Are they?

Ah, who cares? I’ve still got jobs to hunt and a family to worry about. I’m still reading most of the main blogs, although I’m lamenting the loss of others (not JoBlog for some reason).

I’ll be having a wee think about my life as Levee and maybe try to do something different with the site to make it a bit more fun. Remember when blogging was fun?

Firstly, I like the Shankill Road. I can’t stress this enough. Along with the Falls Road, the Shankill has been at the epicenter of Northern Irish news and politics for many years. There’s no doubt that the Shankill Road harbours a colourful (deadly? murderous?) array of paramilitary characters, but aren’t there aggressors on all sides of our conflict?

A few weeks ago, as I was passing through the Shankill, I had to smile when I realised that the vast majority of shop fronts and buildings along the way were painted some combination of red, white or blue. I chuckled to myself: was this accidental or by design?

In the intervening weeks, the Shankill Road has been decorated from top to bottom with Union Flags and bunting and banners on every lamppost, supported by local orange lodges and businesses. The thing is, it’s a bit much. Looking up or down the road, your view is hazed by Union Flag bunting, like an Impressionist panting done by a Loyalist! Comes across as a wee bit insecure, if you ask me.

From Belfast City Centre to the Woodvale Road

As you come up the Shankill Road (from the City Centre), there is a lot of dereliction to deal with. You get that a lot around interface areas – no man’s land.

However, in the last seven days, a portion of waste ground on the lower Shankill has been fenced off. It looks like there’s some construction work about to begin.

Further up the road, the 12th of July is being built. Instead of the usual “Dump Wood Here” sign, a board cockily announces “Carlsberg don’t do bonfires, but if they did this would be the best!“. The structure is massive – that’s going to be some inferno when they light it.

As you pass the traffic lights up the road, you’re entering UVF territory (note the PUP office on the right-hand-side past the junction). The Shankill (like the Falls) is still the bastion of local businesses, and like its Nationalist counterpart is a bustling, busy community. I’ll always maintain these people have much more in common than they’ll ever admit – those steely, hardened faces are pure Belfast…

Pass The Rex bar on the right, marked by serious Loyalist murals – it was the scene of a Loyalist turf war a few years ago. I saw some tourists taking pictures last week (and I wonder if they visisted the bar for a drink, did they get served?). On up the road, there are some posters where waste ground has been fenced off. I must stop there someday to read them.

Stream of Consciousness

Sorry if that was a bit muddled, but I have conflicted impressions of the Shankill. On one hand, it’s the ‘home’ of mindless Loyalism (don’t start me on the cock-eyed portrait of the Queen Mother!), but on the other, the people of the area have come through their own Troubles, coupled with the decline of many local trades. Nothing has risen to take the place of those trades, and the area has fallen into decline, the people represented badly by the mainstream Unionist parties.

We talked quite a bit last year about Protestant/Unionist disenfranchisement. Well, the Shankill’s not that bad, as far as I can see. What it’s really crying out for is to have the paramilitary element removed. How can kids on the Shankill grow up normally when they have gang wars and ‘brigadiers of bling’ on their doorstep? They need and deserve something better, but no-one’s there to give it to them.

Regardless, everyday life continues as normal on the Shankill Road, just like everywhere else…

That was a long sentence! What I mean is, can blogs like Slugger encourage a wider variety of debate than what we’re exposed to when it’s just one-way propaganda from the party press office?

I specifically mention Slugger O’Toole, because Mick Fealty and the team have done a fantastic job of creating an open forum for debate. In fact, a few people (who don’t know about my double life as Levee) have recommended Slugger to me. They’re always enthusiastic. Many can see from the comments how regressive the ‘old’ attitudes are, and biggoted commentary exposes the futility of the traditional stances (my opinion).

There are other sites which impress me due to their seeming desire to explore new avenues. For instance, Big Ulsterman regularly challenges traditional ideologies by putting forward an alternative viewpoint and trying to reconcile ‘his’ culture and background with Nationalism and (to a lesser degree) Catholicism. He too, appears tired of politics here running around in circles with nothing ever being resolved and rarely ends a post without suggesting something Big that his subject might undertake.

Can Northern Irish Bloggers Make A Difference?

Over to you. Can those of us who blog on politics here make a difference? Is our audience wide enough to make a dent in the old school? What was your motivation for starting a blog in the first place (assuming you have one)?

Update: Slugger has recently run a more detailed commentary on this subject. Worth a read.