Focal scoir...the last word

Passing on the baton.

This is the last posting in my Publisher’s Blog as this week I give up my position of pubisher of the Belfast Media Group titles to concentrate on the job of group managing director. 

With a business park to run, newspapers on both sides of the  Atlantic, a thriving conference and events division and a new TV production company up and running, the Belfast Media Group has many challenges ahead. As Group managing director, I plan to meet them all head-on — with the help of our many friends. I’m handing on the baton to the great editorial team we’ve built up in our newspapers over the past decade. 

As we gear up for the 14^th annual Aisling Awards this Thursday night in the Europa, this is a perfect time to say ‘thank you’ to all those who visited the blog on the internet, posted comments and kept the faith. Go raibh maith agaibh.

John Ging on the way

The Aisling Awards has had a series of high-profile guests of honour but none involved in as perilous a role as the head of the United Nations relief agency in Gaza, John Ging. The Guardian reported earlier this month that his life is believed to be under threat from extremists in Gaza. The same report also describes him as "charasmatic".

I look forward to his contribution to this Thursday's Aisling Gala — the fourteenth — when we will salute the heroes of the new Belfast.

This interview with the BBC detailing the "horrific" situation in Gaza during the Israeli invasion of early 2009 underlines the enormity of the task he faces. "There is no military solution to this problem. In fact, this conflict is the result of political failure. That lies on the shoulders of all politicians and it's on their shoulders now to actually stop the fighting and get back to a political solution."