However there does seem to be something underhand in Sein Feins handling of this arrest. They vassilate every minute and are in dissaray- from slandering PSNI with acccusations of "the dark forces within".. to (hinting) threatening to withdraw support to the PSNI - thus endangering the Peace process. Meanwhile supporters carrying banners portraying Adams as a man of peace alongside Mandela try to legitimise to the world media that sentencing Adams will destroy the peace.
Now with Aams release we hear there was never any threat to the peace process.

Thankfully the SDLP had a midicom of wit, rejecting yet another SF's wobbly - that the arrest was "politically motivated". They point out that Adams himself presented himself and could have decided the timing. No one to blame but himself. SF's houdini antics in attributing blame to all and sundry continues unabated.

Someone has suggested SF will only be happy when they have their own police force. They may not be far of the mark. No democratic society should be held hostage like this.

You're reply seems to show no sympathy to the family who underwent seeing their mother abducted in front of her children. Surely we should all be glad to see whatever evidence is coming forward- and leave the consequecnes to the justice department

Tony the peace we have is welcome but it's a dogey one and having played with justice and left so many hurt and disallusioned - the prospect real peace seems just a mirage. Think if we'd had proper justice + peace. I think we'd be much further on

Why doesn't he just come clear !
He says he'll never dissociate himself from the IRA. He was influential in the organisation . and he must have know where the body was buried... yet all these years for the family of J McConville.

SF saying his presenting himself is politically motivated.. so what does this mean... motivated to get more votes if he walks out of Antrim police station? Is he using it as a SF football to make demands for security forces to be prosecuted? Or does SF hope he's held right up to the election- preventing him canvassing- leading to protests of unfairness.. we all wait with baited breath to know their tactics.

Only goes to show SF IRA Adams - all one and same thing- but that's no secret.
Awaiting the fallout in the Republic.

Yes your right -it does show the amazing grace and mercy shown by the Queen.. however I don't think for one moment that she forgets that the organisation McGuinness proudly associates himself with- mudered her cousin Lord Mountbattan. The fact that the Irish President 's itinerary included visiting Mountbattans memorial was not an accident.
I have always felt claims by Nationalists equating army and police brutality with that of their combatants unjustified. Sniping or bombing uniformed security officers was always going to be much easier than scrambling and weaseling out terrorist nests protected as they took refuge in nationalist supporting areas or across the border. Really there was no equal contest. Putting a gun to the heads of those 2 Lurgan police officer heads was repugnant and symptomatic of how IRA conducted their struggle.
I think you'll find that one day- it will all come out and all people will be repulsed by their brutality.
I can see why S Morrison is sickened but on the other hand I can see how this act can be interpreted from a Christian point of view ""If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." -so exercising kindness will tend to soften the person and melt his hardness separating evil impurities and bringing out the good in him. Let's hope this is so.

I would like some clarification on the results of the GCE A level results. They pit different schools together and make their assumptions on the % of students that get "A" level passes at grades A-C.

Theoreticaly if 1 school had 20 A level students and 19 got the target grades - they'd get 95% and place them in the best 10 schools counrywide.

Then take a school with 200 A level students. If 170 got the target grades - 85% - would knock them down -proabbaly aroung 20th countrywide (don't have figures).

Surely theres a greater chance of the larger number having varied results due to students ability, different teachers involved and perhaps bigger classes and wider choice subjects availabe because of larger numbers.

Finally there is no mention how many got A's. One school could have only 80% of students getting 3 A-C "A" levels. But of those 80% perhaps 70% got grade "A". This is not evident from the league table.

The comaprison results are arbitrarily devised but I notice their inventor wisely adds a disclaimer: that these results should be used with caution and not as a guarantee of the best schools.

This banter between the two is orchestrated for the election. just round the corner They are upping the heat and taking us all for fools. Fear tactics and squaring up to make their respective "fans" get out to vote ensuring their voters turn out en masse to vote the hard men back in again and give them the comeupance over the other if they get enough..

And where will that leave us. Back with the same circus and sectarian slogging.

I'd say change your voting pattern and put both these contestants in the corner to borrow a boxing term after the great win last nite by Framton - showing he can come from Tigers Bay and fight for Ireland without giving up his identity and background.

BTW unless SDLP and UUP come up with a 3rd way ...I'd say ignore them.

There are a few remaining options.. not hard to work out!

"Unionists were in the majority in four counties of the Ulster (Antrim, Londonderry, Down and Armagh), and formed a large minority in the remaining counties of Fermanagh and Tyrone".
So it seems they comprised a large minority in those 2 counties.

"Sir Edward Carson had expressly urged the new Prime Minister, Sir James Craig, to ensure absolute equality in the treatment of Catholics, so to guarantee the stability of the new state"

We know this didn't always work out.
"Discrimination, however, took place, particularly in the areas of housing, employment and local government representation, with the former Northern Irish prime minister, Lord Brokeborough proclaiming that the new entity was "a Protestant state for a Protestant people. The extent of such discrimination is disputed. and there was also widespread poverty among Protestants: for example, recovery operations in working-class areas after the Belfast Blitz of 1941 revealed that both communities had disadvantaged elements."

I got this from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unionism_in_Ireland

what else could be done about those parts that weren't pro-British. Could they have been annexed by the Irish Free State? Did that new State make any attempt to come to their aid or seek exemptions for them being governed by the new Northern Ireland? Did the constituents themselves protest?

I don't know the facts about how people felt then other than the Unionist persistence that Home Rule would not be tolerated. The Republic seemed to go along with partition in the sense that they didn't resist it. Does that not suggest they recognised the vehemence of opposition to Home Rule by Unionists and acquiesed to it? Why else were these areas included. It would be good to hear an impartial view on this.

Using your logic and jargon I could easily say you are a marxsist Iwho supports IRA murders of vunerable mothers and defenceless innocents.

I don't know how you get those chunks of N Ireland voting for Irish independence. The overall vote for Ulster resoundingly voted anti- United Ireland. Do you then create getto areas surrounded by Unionist dominated ones. I admitt I don't fully understand how it could have been different. Unionists made up 25% of the all island vote and the vast majority of their seats were from Ulster. That's the story coming from the 1918 election statistics you have provided and from which you proceed to slander Unionists as fascists.
You have persistently dragged these derisery labels into the discussion which only highhlights your mindset on these matters and hatred for anything that doesn't fit your worldview.
By reacting strongly I admitt I have erred through falling into the same mudslinging that does no favours to create tolerance and equality in an already divided society that goes back hundreds of years.