I don't normally comment on NI posts as there are people who know far more than I do - but the old RUC was absolutely riddled with UDA infiltrators - so infiltrated that we did not release certain int to the RUC because you knew damn well it would be passed on straight away.
Of course it was always denied and the line was that the Army was "fully cooperating" with their colleagues in the RUC. Both sides knew it wasn't true.
I have no experience of the PSNI.

GMG set up a holding company for its purchase of Emap

http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/insideguardian/200...

• Guardian Media Group plc, parent company of the Guardian, in partnership with Apax Partners, has incorporated a new company registered in the Cayman Islands as part of its proposed acquisition of Emap plc. The sale of Emap plc is due to complete later this month.
A spokesman for GMG said: "The tax arrangements of Apax Partners and GMG for the acquisition of Emap plc are completely legitimate, and are based on accepted practice and the recommendations of our advisers. This is not about GMG avoiding tax - indeed we have paid an average of 34% tax over the last five years.

"The purchase of Emap plc is structured as a UK Scheme of Arrangement which, as has long been accepted by HM Revenue and Customs, does not attract stamp duty on acquisitions. The new company will pay its full UK corporation tax."

Take The Daily Telegraph as an example. It's supposedly 'right-wing' yet it is the biggest peddler of the biggest corporate-scientific fraud ever perpetrated (global warming), and absolutely will not consider withdrawal from the EU.
Have you actually read The Daily Telegraph?

I don't suppose the loss of my two posts is a tragedy on a par with the sacking of the Library of Alexandria... I dare say the world won't miss their passing.

I don't want to appear paranoid - but, er, have a couple of my posts disappeared?

I don't think that can be accurate. Not unless the population of North London has swelled of late.

But if the Graun, with 14m uniques a month, is a "small circulation" paper, then what does that make a title with a reach 1/7th the size? Irrelevant per chance?

Two points:
1. If you measure the Guardian's online and print readership combined they dwarf the Express. The Guardian website gets 13,733,357 unique monthly users, the Express gets 1,937,030. By your metric (not one with which I agree) that makes the Graun 7.08 times as relevant.
2. I come back to my main question. What was the last story of any significance that the Express broke?

but where or when have I ever stated that I read, admire, respect or accept the Daily express?
Never as far as I know.

Could it possibly be that if I mention something, you are irretrievably opposed to it, on sheer principle?
I don't want to appear unkind, but don't flatter yourself.

I can't speak to the Belfast Telegraph, but the Guardian is certainly not irrelevant. It has a string of exclusives, it has a massive readership outside of the UK.
It may not be politically to your taste, but it is by no means irrelevant.
The Express, on the other hand, has no influence whatsoever. Name a single scoop in the last 10 years. It also has shockingly bad journalistic standards. It long ago gave up any pretence at balance and I don't think its writers even know the difference between news and editorial.
I realise that it is politically more your cup of tea, but if it closed tomorrow, it would not be missed.
Much as I utterly despise the Daily Mail and its loathsome agenda, it is a highly relevant newspaper and cannot be ignored. It too blends editorial and news in ways that are not good journalism, but it is nothing like as bad as the Express.
The Daily Telegraph - which has gone a long way downhill when the new owners took over - does at least make more of an effort to separate the two.

Oh for heaven's sake, I am not quite sure how many times I have to say this. I don't support Islam. I don't support ANY religion. People like me don't tend to do too well with organised religion. I think the bible describes me as an abomination.

Your example is a good one. And were that to happen it would be appalling. But the reality is that the vast majority of immigrants are not like that all. Most of them are no different from you or me.

I met a Ghanaian the other day. Had to take a car somewhere, this chap was driving it. I had some work to do - it was a long drive. I finished my work and we started talking. I thought he was a typical 1st gen immigrant doing a low-wage job. I could not have been more wrong.
He was a PhD student - having completed a BSc and an MSc in computer science. Before picking me up he had been teaching a class, then he finished the teaching, got in his minicab and was working as a driver. He had his laptop and a portable hard drive in the front so when he was waiting to pick people up, he could work on his programming (very sophisticated security stuff).
Yes there are some immigrants who abuse our hospitality - but the absolute overwhelming majority of them do not.

That is exactly what i look like.... in my dreams.

You will note that my avatar has a striking resemblance to a certain Iberian footballer in whom I have an unhealthy obsession.

If I put my real picture up, it would turn the milk sour and close the site in minutes.