socialgandhi

In Flanders Fields In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In [...]

Well he may have beaten his big brother to the Labour leadership but judging by his first performance as leader at the Labour Party Conference today, it really doesn’t feel like Milliband E is ready to lead the country any time soon. We may be 5 years away from the next General Election, but it’s [...]

If you didn’t already, it’s worth getting a look at the front page of this morning’s Bel Tel. Two headline stories that should make us all think about what’s happening in our society as Peter and Martin go across to meet Gorgeous George to plead our case ahead of October’s spending cuts announcements. The Lost Generation – [...]

“The harsh reality is that Northern Ireland must raise more income or cost less to run, there is no alternative to this stark choice”. A report compiled for NICVA by Oxford Economics, ‘Cutting Carefully’, has said at least £1.2bn would have to be saved from public spending in Northern Ireland between now and 2015 to meet [...]

You wouldn’t have his job for a pension, or would you? On the day it was announced that BP chief executive Tony Hayward will get an immediate annual pension worth about £600,000 and a year’s salary plus benefits worth more than £1m ($930,000) when he leaves in October for ‘special projects’ in Russia, it’s not so [...]

Tremendous article from the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society’s Rita Harkin in this morning’s News Letter as she railed against the ‘regeneration’ of our towns and cities and what she calls ‘these government-backed mammoth retail-led schemes which are supposed to signal the rebirth of urban areas…but more often than not stamp a clumsy big elephantine foot over [...]

Just saw a recent suggestion on Nick Clegg’s Your Freedom website mentioned in my blog post on 1 July 2010. Latest idea under ‘Restoring Civil Liberties’? Conscription for delinquent youths! http://yourfreedom.hmg.gov.uk/restoring-civil-liberties/conscription-for-delinquent-youths What a brilliant idea…and so simple. Young people on the streets in Ardoyne, you’ve been warned! For more brilliant ideas, go to http://www.yourfreedom.hmg.gov.uk There is some [...]

Well it looks like it’s finally happened. According to reports in the weekend’s press, Nick Griffin’s BNP is facing financial ruin after featuring Marmite in its election broadcast. The party has been hit with a massive claim – up to £170,000 over its TV stunt in which the BNP leader was pictured beside a huge [...]

“I think we’re onto a really big idea, a really exciting future for our country”. David Cameron today launched his “big society” concept in Liverpool of all places, with among other things a suggestion that community groups should be able to run post offices, libraries, transport services and shape housing projects. He also announced radical plans [...]

Have you seen these buses flying round Belfast City Centre over the last couple of days. Think they’re part of an anti-sectarianism/anti-social campaign from Belfast City Council/OFMDFM/DSD. Say no to sectarianism. Say no to crime. Keep safe this summer. Don’t know how many buses made it as far as North Belfast, but the campaign’s obviously working? Summer has certainly arrived…and it [...]

With all that’s going on in Ardoyne, some good news in today’s Belfast Telegraph. Under the headline: ‘Amid the ruins, a community spirit triumphs over disaster’ Belfast man Simon Brown describes his work as part of Irish charity GOAL’s mission to support earthquake-hit Haiti. ‘It had been a while since I had any interaction with our beneficiaries, but [...]

Who’d have though that Orangefest would have had such an impact this year in Belfast? (and don’t say the dogs on the street could have told you!) It certainly seems to have brought people out onto the streets over the last 4 nights and is fast becoming the festival that just keeps on giving. EuroDisney for [...]

UK digital champion Martha Lane Fox (lastminute.com, remember that? etc) wants to get everyone of working age in the UK online by 2012! The Networked Nation Manifesto , published today (yip, another Manifesto), highlights the lack of net access “among the disadvantaged, unemployed and retired” throughout the UK, and what we can all do to help change things. [...]

As Northern Ireland braces itself for another OrangeFest (and that’s not just because Holland are in the World Cup Final on Sunday!), it looks like proposals for new legislation to deal with contentious parades are in chaos after the Orange Order rejected them earlier this week. Thirty-seven members of the Grand Lodge voted against the draft [...]

The Deputy PM today invited us all to take a trip with him in the heady worlds of e-democracy and political crowdsourcing with the launch of the Your Freedom website.  Not only can we now tell Nick about what unnecessary laws we want to see repealed, he also promises, nay guarantees  “that every comment, suggestion and rating will be [...]

For the next 2 weeks MCE Public Relation’s Chris Johnston will be blogging on his experiences at the TN2020 conference in Chicago. The theme of the conference is the use of social media/technology to effect change in society, so hopefully Chris will give us all some real insights from around the world on how technology can be used to deliver real power to [...]

Apparently Barack Obama has told David Cameron he has “no interest” in undermining BP over the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, during the first conversation between the two men about the spillage. Maybe not according to this picture of the American President taken during the 30 minute phone call that appeared in the press [...]

Check out a great new website that aims to help create real relationships between young people and the decision makers who influence their lives. The http://www.wimps.org.uk site aims to be ‘informative, inspiring, un-biased and accessible to everyone; creating, sustaining and multiplying educated and empowered young people as a significant force for good in Northern Ireland’ (by the [...]

“We have a once in a lifetime chance to put sectarianism behind us. The promise of peace is to change the conversation about the future. But there is a real risk that we are dangerously complacent about division.  We risk allowing sectarianism to define life here for the next generation and beyond”. This warning last [...]

Do you think he missheard when she said ‘where are they flocking from?’

Listen again and decide for yourself.