Danica Thrall Is Back Again

Former UUP Peer Appears In Court

Lord Maginnis of Drumglass has appeared in court on an assault charge.

The former UUP peer, 75, of Park Lane, Dungannon, County Tyrone, is accused of assaulting a man on 7 June 2012, in what is understood to be a road-rage incident.

Representing himself at Dungannon Magistrates Court, Lord Maginnis said he wanted the justice minister to give evidence in the case.

He said the charge was based on "conspiracy and corruption".

A hearing has been set for 19 August. Lord Maginnis said he will have legal representation for the hearing.

Ken Maginnis is the former UUP MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone. He was MP from 1983-2001. He was also a UDR major and former member of the B Specials.

Well At Least Someone's Doing Well

The Queen of England has been handed an five per cent pay raise the day after £11.5bn of Government spending cuts were announced.

The Treasury will pay out a Sovereign Grant of £37.89m, up from £36.1m from the previous year.

While the Unemployed who have lost there jobs will have to wait a week until they can claim jobseekers allowance. And people who cannot speak English will have to learn the language in order to claim benefits.

We Don't Need No Education

The Belfast Telegraph has been getting on it's high horse in recent days on the subject of integrated education. It's editor Ed Curran has sought to lecture parents who send their children to Catholic schools. The key question in education is are parents allowed to send their children to a school of their own choice? Or will they be forced to send them to a School the Government tells them. It wasn't so long ago the Belfast Telegraph was running a campaign to save local Grammar Schools. It seems to Mr Curran that middle class parents are entitled to send their offspring to a school of their own choice. Yet Catholic parents are not allowed to choice a Catholic School for their offspring. Most parents want what is best for their children. The only people who fully support integrated education are in the APNI. The DUP have been making friendly noises towards integrated education in recent times but many see this as dishonest. Others such as the dregs of humanity that used to make up the Workers Party give support to the integrated education movement

DUP Health Minister Loses Court Case

The Court of Appeal has rejected a move by Edwin Poots to stop Gay couples in the North adopting children. Edwin Poots had challenged an earlier High Court decision, which ruled the current adoption ban was unlawful. The Court of Appeal ruling has been welcomed by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and Gay rights groups.

Nutters

According to UUP leader Mike Nesbitt that’s what DUP MLA Jimmy Spratt called those who are opposed to the peace centre at Long Kesh. Mr Spratt made his alleged remark at a OFMDFM committee meeting today. Mr Nesbitt who has taken umbrage at the comment and gone running to his friends in the local media.

The Truth Hurts

Doctor Alasdair McDonnell has called the DUP bigots in the House Of Commons. This is true as far as most people who don't vote DUP are concerned. When it comes to bigotry they leave most people cold.The SDLP leader has hit the nail on the head and should not be apologizing to anybody least of all a little guttersnipe like Jeffrey Donaldson. Well done to Doctor McDonnell for pointing out the facts when it comes to the DUP. Maybe if more people treated the DUP as the enemy instead of sucking up to them constantly Irish Nationalism would be in better shape in the North.

Celtic V Cliftonville

Glasgow Celtic have been drawn against Cliftonville in the Champions League. The North Belfast side will play at Celtic Park on the 16th/17th of July. The home leg will be played on the 23rd/24th of July. May the best team win.

William Hague's Sexuality Baffles The World

William Hague's sexuality still baffles the world. Many people ask me is he gay or not? I honestly don't know the messages are so mixed. Yes he is married but so was Oscar Wilde and he even had kids. And then there was that young guy he shared a hotel room with. Who he later employed as a advisor even though he wasn't qualified for the job. Some might say it is none of my business but I am not the one who is living a lie. It is all so confusing one thing that isn't confusing though is William Hague's recent intervention in the Scottish Independence debate. Even though it is none of his business and he doesn't even have a vote in the referendum.

Tory Taliban On The March

The Right Wing of the Tory Party is now in open revolt it has even published it's own version of the Queen's Speech. Setting out the 40 bills it would introduce to parliament these are:

1) Face Coverings (Prohibition) - Bill to prohibit the wearing of certain face coverings; and for connected purposes.

2) National Service - Bill to provide a system of national service for young persons; and for connected purposes.

3) European Communities Act 1972 (Repeal) - Bill to repeal the European Communities Act 1972 and related legislation; and for connected purposes.

4) Young Offenders (Parental Responsibility) - Bill to make provision for the parents of young offenders to be legally responsible for their actions.

5) Foreign National Offenders (Exclusion from the United Kingdom) - Bill to make provision to exclude from the United Kingdom foreign nationals found guilty of a criminal offence committed in the United Kingdom.

6) Asylum Seekers (Return to Nearest Safe Country) - Bill to facilitate the transfer of asylum seekers to the safe country nearest their country of origin.

7) Prisoners (Completion of Custodial Sentences) - Bill to require prisoners to serve in prison the full custodial sentence handed down by the court.

8) Fishing Grounds and Territorial Waters (Repatriation) - Bill to make provision for the Government to designate certain fishing grounds and territorial waters as sovereign territory of the United Kingdom outside the control of the Common Fisheries Policy.

9) School Governing Bodies (Adverse Weather Conditions) - Bill to require school governing bodies and headteachers to make provision to keep schools open in adverse weather conditions.

10) Capital Punishment - Bill to allow for capital punishment for certain offences.

11) Government Departments (Amalgamation of Scotland Office, Wales Office and Northern Ireland Office) - Bill to make provision for the amalgamation of the Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland Offices.

12) Residential Roads (Adoption by Local Highways Authority) - Bill to require the handover of residential roads built by developers to local highways authorities within certain time periods; and for connected purposes.

13) Equality and Diversity (Reform) - Bill to prohibit the use of affirmative and positive action in recruitment and appointment processes; to amend the Equality Act 2010 to remove the special provision for political parties in relation to the selection of candidates; and for connected purposes.

14) Sentencing Escalator - Bill to provide that a criminal reconvicted for an offence on a second or further occasion receives a longer sentence than for the first such offence.

15) Leasehold Reform (Amendment) - Bill to amend the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 in relation to the permitted signatories of notices; and for connected purposes.

16) BBC Licence Fee (Civil Debt) - Bill to make provision to decriminalise the non-payment of the BBC licence fee.

17) Smoking (Private Members’ Clubs) - Bill to make provision to allow smoking in a separate ventilated room in a private members’ club if a majority of the members of the club so decide.

18) Margaret Thatcher Day - Bill to make provision that the annual Bank Holiday Monday in late August be known as Margaret Thatcher Day.

19) Department of Energy and Climate Change (Abolition) - Bill to make provision for the abolition of the Department of Energy and Climate Change and for its functions to be absorbed into the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

20) Married Couples (Tax Allowance) - Bill to make provision for a tax allowance for married couples.

21) Foreign Aid Ring-Fencing (Abolition) - Bill to make provision for foreign aid and development not to be linked to a specific percentage of Gross National Income, but to be set yearly, by Parliament, in relation to need.

22) Charitable Status for Religious Institutions - Bill to make provision for a presumption that religious institutions meet the public benefit test for charitable status.

23) Same Sex Marriage (Referendum) - Bill to make provision for a referendum on whether same sex marriage should be allowed.

24) Wind Farm Subsidies (Abolition) - Bill to make provision for the cessation of subsidies for the development of wind farms.

25) Withdrawal from the European Convention of Human Rights and Removal of Alleged Terrorists - Bill to make provision for an application to the Council of Europe to withdraw from the European Convention of Human Rights and to deport alleged terrorists subject to approval by the British courts.

26) Romanian and Bulgarian Accession (Labour Restriction) - Bill to make provision for restrictions on the residence in the UK of Bulgarian and Romanian nationals to continue.

27) BBC Privatisation - Bill to make provision for the privatisation of the British Broadcasting Corporation by providing shares in the Corporation to all licence fee payers.

28) Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Abolition) - Bill to make provision for the abolition of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, and its responsibilities to be allocated to other Departments of State.

29) Prime Minister (Replacement) - Bill to make provision for the appointment of a Prime Minister in the event that a Prime Minister is temporarily or permanently incapacitated.

30) United Kingdom (Withdrawal from the European Union) - Bill to make provision for the Government to give notice under Article 50 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union; and for connected purposes.

31) Asylum (Time Limit) - Bill to require that asylum claims in the United Kingdom be lodged within three months of the claimant’s arrival in the United Kingdom; and that persons who have already entered the United Kingdom and wish to make an asylum claim must do so within three months of the passing of this Act.

32) Benefit Entitlement (Restriction) - Bill to make provision to restrict the entitlement of non-UK Citizens from the European Union and the European Economic Area to taxpayer-funded benefits.

33) Illegal Immigrants (Criminal Sanctions) - Bill to make provision for criminal sanctions against those who have entered the UK illegally or who have remained in the UK without legal authority.

34) Sexual Impropriety in Employment - Bill to require that claims by employees alleging sexual impropriety be limited to cases where the alleged misconduct is contrary to the criminal law and has been reported to the police.

35) Collection of Nationality Data - Bill to require the collection and publication of information relating to the nationality of those in receipt of benefits and of those to whom national insurance numbers are issued. 36) Foreign Nationals (Access to Public Services) - Bill to restrict access by foreign nationals to United Kingdom public services for which no charge is made.

37) House of Lords (Maximum Membership) - Bill to provide for a maximum limit on the number of Peers entitled to vote in the House of Lords, and to provide for a moratorium on new appointments.

38) Control of Offshore Wind Turbines - Bill to restrict the height, number, location and subsidies of wind turbines situated offshore within 20 miles of the coast.

39) Employment Opportunities - Bill to introduce more freedom, flexibility and opportunity for those seeking employment in the public and private sectors; and for connected purposes.

40) EU Membership (Audit of Costs and Benefits) - Bill to require an independent audit of the benefits and costs of UK membership of the European Union.

DUP Attack NI21 In Mid-Ulster

DUP MLA for Mid-Ulster Ian McCrea said "Having considered this statement from Basil, I think that he should concentrate on getting his own house in order instead of trying to make inroads in constituencies that are already stretched thin with unionist representation,” Mr McCrea said.

“Anyone I have spoken to regarding this new party have just laughed, but also expressed that they have no appetite for another split in the Mid Ulster vote and they especially don’t want a party that tweets in Irish for the sole purpose of vote winning.

Mr McCrea continued: “NI21 are positioning themselves to be a party that is different from the rest, but as far as I can see they are nothing but chameleons that change their message and morals to suit whatever area they are trying to win votes in.”

Crazy Nigel's Back In Scotland

Nigel Farage is out and about in Scotland again. The UKIP leader seems to turn the Scottish people to violence everywhere he goes. This time it's Aberdeen that doesn't seem to like this jumped up Englishman.Better off together better off apart if you ask me.

A Little Integration

I have started a new opinion poll on my blog. This one is about housing integration in the Six Counties. As Barack Obama pointed out in his speech in Belfast recently we in the North really need to learn to live together. So I thought which Town or City here was most in need of this. I include Towns and Cities which have seen the very worst of the troubles like Belfast and Derry. And other Towns who seen very little of the violence like Newtownards and Bangor. Obviously you could not do this overnight this whole thing will take time and patience. You couldn't for example take the residents of Ballymurphy in West Belfast and swop them with the residents of the Kilcooley in Bangor that just wouldn't work. Yes a lot of thinking and planning will have to go into this little Social Engineering project but I am sure President Obama is on to something. After all the forced racial integration of the schools in Boston worked out so well in the end didn't it Mr Obama?

Poor Nigella

Did you see those photographs in the newspaper yesterday? Of Nigella Lawson with her husband's hands wrapped around her throat. Shame on Charles Saatchi for doing such a thing to Nigella or indeed any woman. Nigella is the daughter of Nigel Lawson a former Chancellor under Margaret Thatcher and the sister of Dominic Lawson a MI6 spy. Hopefully Nigella will now tell the police everything about what this odious little man has done to her. And it will be a lesson to other women that they do not have to suffer in silence any longer. Turn the little creep in Nigella don't let him get away with it.

APNI Feel Threatened By NI21

So the Alliance Party feel threatened by new kids on the block  NI21. First out of the block is Ian Parsley who has been to more parties than Paris Hilton. All over Letsgetalongerists website Slugger O'Toole slagging off the New Party. But Basil and company won't take this lying down so we can expect him to unleash several of his 40 year old scorchers on the APNI. And others will no doubt get dragged into this political bun fight. The APNI and their numerous allies in the local media and blogosphere are determined to strangle Basils baby at birth. This blog wishes Basil all the best in recruiting APNI voters and maybe even NI Tories.

Alway's Look On The Bright Side Of Life

NILT survey:

Irish not British. 24%
More Irish than British. 14%
Equally Irish and British 17%
More British than Irish 16%
British not Irish. 23%
Other description (please specify). 6%

Hat Tip to BangorDub.

The BBC Defend Danny Baker

Danny Baker the BBC Radio 5 live  presenter made the following tweet only a few hours after the Boston Bombing:

Disgusting news from USA. Tragically, in 70s & 80s you couldnt drink in many Boston bars without putting money into a bucket for "the cause"

Really Danny many Boston bars? The IRA never raised more than 800,000 dollars a year in the USA. No more than 5 million dollars over 30 years of armed conflict. Considering it cost 15 to 20 million pounds a year to run the IRA that really wasn't very much money. Maybe Danny boy should leave politics to somebody who knows something about the subject stick to football Danny.

SDLP Turn Down Pay Rise

The SDLP MLA's at Stormont have turned down a £5,000 pay increase. They are the only party to do so. All the other parties excepted it bringing their MLA's salaries up to £48,000 a year.

The SDLP MLA Mark H Durkan has told the Nolan Show: "Actions speak louder than words and we have all refused to take it.

"In this undoubted time of austerity where you have people in work facing pay freezes, pay cuts and pay-offs and then people out of work, and with disabilities, facing cuts to their benefits, it's completely unjustifiable, in my opinion, for elected representatives to take a pay rise."

Mr Durkan said the independent panel that recommended the pay increase was "not only unaware of the public mood but also completely oblivious to the public need".

Southern Comfort

Barnet
Buckinghamshire
Cambridgeshire
Essex
Hampshire
Hertfordshire
Kent
Oxfordshire
Richmond upon Thames
Surrey

Above are the top ten local council areas for student admissions to Oxford or Cambridge University in England.So if you live in the South East of England your children are far more likely to go Oxford or Cambridge University. More students from Surrey gained admission to Oxford or Cambridge than in the whole of Wales and the North East of England combined. The British Elite should be called the Southern Elite of England. As todays Oxbridge students are tomorrow's Cabinet Ministers and High Court Judges and Business CEO's.

Another Unionist Party

Another Unionist Party was launched last night. Basil McCrea's new party NI21 has a lot of support already judging by how many people showed up. It starts off with two MLA's but no MP's or councillors. I would criticize the new parties new policies but according to their website they don't have any yet. Many people will say Unionism needs a new party that respectable unionists can vote for. The Alliance Party have the most to lose from this new development. The new party says it will form a opposition at Stormont to the Power Sharing Executive. Reg Empey of the UUP accused Basil of Salami slicing the Unionist vote. But Reg has a short memory. Reg alongside his pal David Trimble and Bill Craig starting slicing up the Unionist vote in the 1970's with the Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party. Of course the real problem Unionism is to many parties to little voters. Basil says he will fight the next European election. In which Unionist voters will be spoilt for choice. Between the UUP the DUP and the TUV not to mention UKIP and maybe the BNP as well as APNI and the PUP. Eight Unionist candidates for three seats. Nine Unionists of the DUP decide to run two candidates. Which can only be good news for SF and the SDLP.

A Weekend In Watford

Those attending the Bilderberg Conference this weekend in Watford England:

Chairman: Henri de Castries, Chairman and CEO, AXA Group

Paul M. Achleitner, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Deutsche Bank AG

Josef Ackermann, Chairman of the Board, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd

Marcus Agius, Former Chairman, Barclays plc

Helen Alexander, Chairman, UBM plc

Roger C. Altman, Executive Chairman, Evercore Partners

Matti Apunen, Director, Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA

Susan Athey, Professor of Economics, Stanford Graduate School of Business

Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, Columnist, Milliyet Newspaper

Ali Babacan, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister for Economic and Financial Affairs

Ed Balls, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer

Francisco Pinto Balsemão, Chairman and CEO, IMPRESA

Nicolas Barré, Managing Editor, Les Echos

José Manuel Barroso, President, European Commission

Nicolas Baverez, Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

Olivier de Bavinchove, Commander, Eurocorps

John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine, University of Oxford

Franco Bernabè, Chairman and CEO, Telecom Italia S.p.A.

Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO, Amazon.com

Carl Bildt, Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs

Anders Borg, Swedish Minister for Finance

Jean François van Boxmeer, CEO, Heineken

Svein Richard Brandtzæg, President and CEO, Norsk Hydro ASA

Oscar Bronner, Publisher, Der Standard Medienwelt

Peter Carrington, Former Honorary Chairman, Bilderberg Meetings

Juan Luis Cebrián, Executive Chairman, Grupo PRISA

Edmund Clark, President and CEO, TD Bank Group

Kenneth Clarke, Cabinet Minister

Bjarne Corydon, Danish Minister of Finance

Sherard Cowper-Coles, Business Development Director, International, BAE Systems plc

Enrico Cucchiani, CEO, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA

Etienne Davignon, Belgian Minister of State; Former Chairman, Bilderberg Meetings

Ian Davis, Senior Partner Emeritus, McKinsey & Company

Robbert H. Dijkgraaf, Director and Leon Levy Professor, Institute for Advanced Study

Haluk Dinçer, President, Retail and Insurance Group, Sabancı Holding A.S.

Robert Dudley, Group Chief Executive, BP plc

Nicholas N. Eberstadt, Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy, American Enterprise Institute

Espen Barth Eide, Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs

Börje Ekholm, President and CEO, Investor AB

Thomas Enders, CEO, EADS

J. Michael Evans, Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs & Co.

Ulrik Federspiel, Executive Vice President, Haldor Topsøe A/S

Martin S.Feldstein, Professor of Economics, Harvard University; President Emeritus, NBER

François Fillon, Former French Prime Minister

Mark C. Fishman, President, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research

Douglas J. Flint, Group Chairman, HSBC Holdings plc

Paul Gallagher, Senior Counsel

Timothy F Geithner, Former Secretary of the Treasury

Michael Gfoeller, US Political Consultant

Donald E. Graham, Chairman and CEO, The Washington Post Company

Ulrich Grillo, CEO, Grillo-Werke AG

Lilli Gruber, Journalist - Anchorwoman, La 7 TV

Luis de Guindos, Spanish Minister of Economy and Competitiveness

Stuart Gulliver, Group Chief Executive, HSBC Holdings plc

Felix Gutzwiller, Member of the Swiss Council of States

Victor Halberstadt, Professor of Economics, Leiden University; Former Honorary Secretary General of Bilderberg Meetings

Olli Heinonen, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School of Government

Simon Henry, CFO, Royal Dutch Shell plc

Paul Hermelin, Chairman and CEO, Capgemini Group

Pablo Isla, Chairman and CEO, Inditex Group

Kenneth M. Jacobs, Chairman and CEO, Lazard

James A. Johnson, Chairman, Johnson Capital Partners

Thomas J. Jordan, Chairman of the Governing Board, Swiss National Bank

Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Managing Director, Lazard Freres & Co. LLC

Robert D. Kaplan, Chief Geopolitical Analyst, Stratfor

Alex Karp, Founder and CEO, Palantir Technologies

John Kerr, Independent Member, House of Lords

Henry A. Kissinger, Chairman, Kissinger Associates, Inc.

Klaus Kleinfeld, Chairman and CEO, Alcoa

Klaas H.W. Knot, President, De Nederlandsche Bank

Mustafa V Koç,. Chairman, Koç Holding A.S.

Roland Koch, CEO, Bilfinger SE

Henry R. Kravis, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.

Marie-Josée Kravis, Senior Fellow and Vice Chair, Hudson Institute

André Kudelski, Chairman and CEO, Kudelski Group

Ulysses Kyriacopoulos, Chairman, S&B Industrial Minerals S.A.

Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund

J. Kurt Lauk, Chairman of the Economic Council to the CDU, Berlin

Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership, Harvard Law School

Thomas Leysen, Chairman of the Board of Directors, KBC Group

Christian Lindner, Party Leader, Free Democratic Party (FDP NRW)

Stefan Löfven, Party Leader, Social Democratic Party (SAP)

Peter Löscher, President and CEO, Siemens AG

Peter Mandelson, Chairman, Global Counsel; Chairman, Lazard International

Jessica T. Mathews, President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Frank McKenna, Chair, Brookfield Asset Management

John Micklethwait, Editor-in-Chief, The Economist

Thierry de Montbrial, President, French Institute for International Relations

Mario Monti, Former Italian Prime Minister

Craig J. Mundie, Senior Advisor to the CEO, Microsoft Corporation

Alberto Nagel, CEO, Mediobanca

H.R.H. Princess Beatrix of The Netherlands

Andrew Y.Ng, Co-Founder, Coursera

Jorma Ollila, Chairman, Royal Dutch Shell, plc

David Omand, Visiting Professor, King's College London

George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer

Emanuele Ottolenghi, Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

Soli Özel, Senior Lecturer, Kadir Has University; Columnist, Habertürk Newspaper

Alexis Papahelas, Executive Editor, Kathimerini Newspaper

Şafak Pavey, Turkish MP

Valérie Pécresse, French MP

Richard N. Perle, Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

David H. Petraeus, General, U.S. Army (Retired)

Paulo Portas, Portugal Minister of State and Foreign Affairs

J. Robert S Prichard, Chair, Torys LLP

Viviane Reding, Vice President and Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, European Commission

Heather M. Reisman, CEO, Indigo Books & Music Inc.

Hélène Rey, Professor of Economics, London Business School

Simon Robertson, Partner, Robertson Robey Associates LLP; Deputy Chairman, HSBC Holdings

Gianfelice Rocca, Chairman,Techint Group

Jacek Rostowski, Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister

Robert E. Rubin, Co-Chairman, Council on Foreign Relations; Former Secretary of the Treasury

Mark Rutte, Dutch Prime Minister

Andreas Schieder, Austrian State Secretary of Finance

Eric E. Schmidt, Executive Chairman, Google Inc.

Rudolf Scholten, Member of the Board of Executive Directors, Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG

António José Seguro, Secretary General, Portuguese Socialist Party

Jean-Dominique Senard, CEO, Michelin Group

Kristin Skogen Lund, Director General, Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise

Anne-Marie Slaughter, Bert G. Kerstetter '66 University Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University

Peter D. Sutherland, Chairman, Goldman Sachs International

Martin Taylor, Former Chairman, Syngenta AG

Tidjane Thiam, Group CEO, Prudential plc

Peter A. Thiel, President, Thiel Capital

Craig B. Thompson, President and CEO, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Jakob Haldor Topsøe, Partner, AMBROX Capital A/S

Jutta Urpilainen, Finnish Minister of Finance

Daniel L. Vasella, Honorary Chairman, Novartis AG

Peter R. Voser, CEO, Royal Dutch Shell plc

Brad Wall, Premier of Saskatchewan Province, Canada

Jacob Wallenberg, Chairman, Investor AB

Kevin Warsh, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University

Galen G.Weston, Executive Chairman, Loblaw Companies Limited

Baroness Williams of Crosby, Member, House of Lords

Martin H. Wolf, Chief Economics Commentator, The Financial Times

James D. Wolfensohn, Chairman and CEO, Wolfensohn and Company

David Wright, Vice Chairman, Barclays plc

Robert B. Zoellick, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics

Opinion Poll Update

Mick Fealty 12 votes
Duncan Morrow 9 votes
Quentin Oliver 7 votes
Ian Parsley 7 votes
Dawn Purvis 3 votes
None of the Above 2 votes
Robin Wilson 1 vote
Andy Pollok 1 vote
Allan Leonard 1 vote
Gladys Ganiel O'Neill 1 vote
Rev Norman Hamilton 0 votes
Rick Wilford 0 votes

Lord Laird Resigns Ulster Unionist Whip

In a statement, today the Ulster Unionist party leader Mike Nesbitt said: "Having reviewed the video footage on the Daily Telegraph website, and other media reporting of Lord Laird's engagement with alleged lobbyists, I telephoned his home this morning and as a result he has relinquished the Party Whip, pending the outcome of the review of his behaviour that he has already requested of the relevant authorities at Westminster.