Tourism

Well, the votes have been passed to our Independent Polling Authority (yes, another unelected government quango) for ajudication and the results are now in.

The IPA have followed protocol and ignored non-Northern Irish places such as Spain and controversially…..bed. While the Mournes and the Glens of Antrim area have both been well represented, the result is a tie between Belfast and Mid-Ulster. Since Mid-Ulster isn’t particularly specific, and I’m calling the shots, it looks like we can officially call Belfast the winner.

While I wait for someone from Belfast City Council to pick up the prize - a free fish supper from Bishops, Shaftesbury Square! - I’d like to thank Ed, Sandra, Geoff, Paul, Nelly and Jimmy for helping spread the word. Much appreciated. That email I sent to the Stephen Nolan show didn’t do much good, so two fingers to him, eh?

Thanks to everybody who voted, especially the two others who voted for Ballycastle!

Thursday, March 16th, 2006 // General

Have you voted in the “Favourite Northern Irish Place” poll yet?

We’ve had a whopping 92 votes in the last week, but I Want More!!! Email your friends. Pester colleagues at work. Call your mother and make her vote!!

I’m going to let the poll run until close of play on Friday and we’ll post the results then. So far, mid-Ulster/Sperrins is poorly represented in the poll. Will they catch up? Who knows….

Calling All Bloggers

Thanks to those of you who’ve bothered to link back to the poll - you will be honored in the evening of the results, a star-studded celebration of everything Northern Irish!!

If you’ve got a blog/website, please, please, please help us promote the poll! This poll has had the advantage of generating lots of positive comments about Northern Ireland, and it’s been great. See Paul’s post about the Castlereagh Hills, for example.

One more thing. I won’t be counting the smart-arse comments like Spain and bed!!!

Calling….The Media?

I dropped a few emails this evening to places like the Belfast Telegraph and the good old Stephen Nolan show to see if we could get a mention. I’d be interested to see if anything happens!

If anybody out there has media contacts, point them this way and we’ll see what sort of debate this will open up!

Monday, March 6th, 2006 // General

Let’s have a bit of light debate (for a change) about your favourite places in Northern Ireland. We’re asking the question in the poll in the sidebar.

I’ve popped a few options in there for you: Belfast, Ballycastle (my home town), and Lisburn (Belfast-lite?) - you can add any other places or vote for whatever’s already there. At the end of the week, we’ll see what the most popular location is. Hopefully…

I’d like this poll to be a big one, so those of you with blogs out there…you know what to do

Friday, February 24th, 2006 // General