| When I heard on Friday that Belfast Christmas Market was closing on Saturday, a key day of the season, I feared it was overkill. Forecasts for Storm Darragh didn't seem so bad. In fact Northern Ireland was badly hit. as these pictures show, sporting fixtures were called off, albeit too late, causing the NI Football League to apologise.
Here is a video of the stormy seas from a ship that was unable to berth in Belfast. The Apprentice Boys did hold their annual shutting of the gates in Londonderry - but it was too blowy to light Lundy!
Since the storm we have had sunny, festive days and wintry weather, but mild temperatures too. I tend to take public transport at rush hour, not drive, but this morning I did and my windscreen was not at all frosted. For years unionists have been taunted about how people on the mainland don't consider us British, but as I write, the nationalist all-Ireland goal is not a priority for southern voters. Much punditry in Northern Ireland tried to cover for Sinn Fein, saying Fianna Fail and Fine Gael suffered too. Nonsense, they barely lost a vote, it was specifically bad for SF. And here is another of my vote analyses: I did predict Donald Trump's win, but his actual victory was one of the most narrow of any president in my lifetime. Today Stormont is voting has what Owen Polley calls a 'gerrymandered' vote on the Irish Sea border. Finally, here is a devastating critique by David Thompson of a Stormont committee's failure to hold to account the Sinn Fein first minister.
Enjoy your reading,
Ben | 
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น