A group of York students has won the opportunity to have their very own I-phone application developed after winning The App Challenge final, held at the Ron Cooke Hub on Wednesday, January 18.
YUSU Welfare officer Bob Hughes has warned students to be vigilant after a student loans phishing scam has been revealed.
Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting York on Maundy Thursday, 5th April, as part of the 800th anniversary of York’s Charter for the traditional “Royal Maundy” ceremony.
A flood caused by a heating system “failure” forced the university IT services to shut down many essential systems on Sunday night, causing problems for many students on the eve of their exams and assignment due-dates.
For those of you who haven’t followed the story, Iris Robinson, 60, began an affair with Kirk McCambley, then 19 shortly after the death of his father (with whom she is rumoured to have had an affair with). She found Mr McCambley a business opportunity and approached two property developers for £25 000 each for start up capital for the business, of which she demanded £5000 to pay her debts. She backed McCambley’s scheme when it came up on her local council without declaring any interest. After the relationship Robinson demanded the money back, with half going to her and the other half going to her church.
When Peter Robinson found out about the money, he made her pay it back through a solicitor. At this point he was unaware of the affair, but that was soon to change when a member of the family found a letter written by Iris to McCambley which outlined the nature of their relationship. Iris then attempted to commit suicide, but failed and was rushed to hospital.
Why, you might ask should the wronged husband’s career be circling the drain then? In most countries it wouldn’t but this is the strange world of Northern Irish politics and Robinson’s hardline Unionist and devoutly Protestant Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
Firstly it is a matter of the Robinson’s finances which the saga has pushed to the front. The DUP are a populist party, heavily reliant on working class Protestants when it comes to elections, and as such they have always tried to portray themselves as part of the community. Since the scandal broke, it has been widely reported that the Robinsons earn over £500 000 a year between the two of them, all from their political offices. It is also well known that the Robinsons were in their second home in Florida when Peter found out about the money. Add on top that Iris wanted the money back to pay her debts and the whole situation becomes ridiculous. Thus to the DUP’s core supporters who can’t imagine earning a tenth of the Robinsons’ income per year, the Robinson no longer seems less like a ‘man of the people’ and more like a cynical careerist in the business for his own good. Never mind that Robinson was obligated to report the money his wife was given under the ministerial code of conduct, that he even knew of it makes him damaged goods.
Next there is the matter of Mr Robinson’s character. When he learned that the story was about to break, Peter Robinson invited the cameras into his home for a tearful press conference in which he first announced that Iris had had an affair and had then tried to take her life when it was discovered. The initial reaction was one of sympathy to the poor man, but this quickly changed to cynicism when clips were shown of him making jokes in Stormont the morning after his wife’s attempt. The tears were attributed to a man broken, not by his wife’s infidelity and suicide attempt, but by the approaching end of his career.
Finally Peter Robinson is finished because the DUP leadership has too long acted ‘holier than thou’. Any hint of scandal from one of its members led to swift action. When Paul Berry was accused of hiring a male masseuse he was quickly deselected from forthcoming elections and expelled by the party. Even Ian Paisley Jr, son of the party’s founder and then leader Ian Paisley Sr lost his position as as a minister when there were accusations of inappropriate lobbying on behalf of a property developer.
Since the scandal broke, Peter Robinson has stepped down as First Minister for 6 weeks, but by the time he is due to return a UK general election will be imminent and few in the party leadership are likely to want what is now such liability to return to their ranks.
In an interesting way this scandal has shown something good, that Northern Ireland has moved forward as a country in the last 12 years. Of all the crude jokes being made at the Robinson’s expense none of them make light of the fact that a senior DUP member was having an affair with a Catholic.
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