Jeff Peel's Diary

Rumour has it that Ian Parsley, former Alliance/UCUNF multi-candidate and Conservative Party employee is planning a political “come-back” with a new rainbow coalition.

Composed mostly of nice people, The Parsley Coalition might include, I’m advised, former UCUNFian Trevor Ringland and Dawn Purvis – former front woman for the PUP (who left because of that organisation’s association with Loyalist paramilitarism).

Therefore Parsley’s People might have a slightly lefty hue. Although, no doubt, Parsley will sprinkle his fairy dust over everything – obviating the need for any coherent policy position. And he’ll probably sprinkle his new Party’s blog with the odd post about football as a cunning diversionary tactic.

I’m attending the Bled Strategic Forum. This is a global, strategic, geopolitical and economic conference run by a tiny Balkan country of around 2m people.

In short, just a little larger than Northern Ireland with a substantially bigger and more positive footprint. This is a society that has embraced democracy and outward focus instead of a fixation on Slovenia or even the Balkans.

I’ve just returned from the gala dinner where delegates from across the world – mostly diplomats – heard General Colin Powell outline why Slovenia punched above its diplomatic weight. Now I’m listening – admittedly intermittently – to a presentation by the OECD on why innovation and technology are drivers of economic growth.

Northern Ireland’s shambolic political parties could never put on a show like this because all they do, collectively, is contemplate their navels.

Well done Slovenia.

I’m languishing on a beach. As a result I haven’t been updating this blog as often as I should. Apologies to the handful of people this might bother.

Among my holiday reading is Fall of the House of Paisley by David Gordon. I hope to feature a review on my return. Just a few chapters in but enjoying hugely. In the tradition of great polemic.

Happy holidays all.

Over at the Belfast Telegraph Billy McWilliams (with a little help from David Gordon) suggests a few ways for distant folks to celebrate the big day.

Stan’ aroun’ in the field fur a while an’ make a few loyal resolutions. Ate a half cooked burger afore returnin’ til the car…

Billy’s command of the Morr Tung is impressive.

Read the full piece here…

I notice over on Ian Parsley’s blog that he has retained all his old Alliance Party posts – now aligned with his new-found commitment to Conservatives and Unionists (he seems to use some type of cut-and-paste function to type “Conservatives & Unionists” – always multi-plural). 

A new conjoined political brand is born – and Ian is there to defend it and the sectarian carve-up in Fermanagh South Tyrone. 

But not for long I suspect.  I suspect a certain Lady will remove his multi-brand puffery.

It was a particular pleasure to attend PZ Myer’s lecture on complexity at Queen’s University last night. 

The lecture focused on how complexity arises naturally (i.e. in nature) to produce apparently designed outcomes.  The apparent design, of course, is the reason why creationists and intelligent design advocates (such as the DUP’s very own Edwin Poots – living proof that Grammar Schools don’t always produce well educated people) argue that there must be a designer AKA, um, God. 

PZ used many examples of how nature does indeed produce – with designed-like qualities – complexity.

My preferred example was – bless ‘em – creatures with a penchant for eating nylon.  No I’m not talking about some fetishist here, I’m referring, of course, to the Flavobacterium Sp. K172 that chomps away merrily on the Nylon effluent produced by plastics manufacturers in Japan. 

Long and short, these bacteria evolved rapidly to attain this rather esoteric ability.  Moreover scientists have managed to replicate this particular process of natural selection in a test tube. 

Over on Wikipedia these celebrity bacteria have their very own page on the role they have played in debunking the creationist and intelligent design mumbo jumbo.