What is it? It calls itself a charity ... brainchild of the notorious Tony Blair and his political advisor and clone Geoff Mulgan.

It can syphon public tax money at will from local councils and governments because many of its trainees work there; and it has many hybrids of itself such as the Young Foundation etc encircling the globe, all dedicated to the same pursuit and following the same script. Ostensibly to train the 'chosen ones' in leadership but, according to their worst nightmare Brian Gerrish, to harness their energies and minds to a bigger purpose which many are not even aware of.

Whether you are a sane conspiracy theorist who may be wrong most of the time but right some of the time or vice versa, or a sleeping sheep who sees no evil and knows no evil and couldn't care less anyway ... this organization still concerns you.

The question for all of us is "what is its influence in Northern Ireland and on the people who run it? Is the control freak virus sweeping Derry anything to do with it?
The recent 'public debate' concerning the museum plans at the Holywell Trust encampment where some twenty odd visitors found themselves the focus of four large video cameras on tripods in each corner of the room and a flitting stills photographer busy taking close-ups of those who asked questions left us all baffled and bewildered. Surely one hand held Olympus would have been more than adequate? People felt intimidated even before the spiel began.

At question time after several questions were raised the 'meeting' was halted because of what the female compere considered was "possible aggression". In other words, somebody had cracked up and raised their voice in order to be heard clearly. Freak out. Party over.

We leave you to figure it all out. One thing is for sure, The Cutting Edge video below strikes a chord with us, The Bogside Artists.

If Common Purpose is directly involved at any level in governance in Derry all is revealed. If not, we would suggest some of its 'graduates' certainly are. Or, is it a case, of whatever happens in Belfast stays in Belfast? What do you think?

The following is taken verbatim from the front page of common purpose's Belfast website.

Common Purpose Northern Ireland started back in 1997 and since then, many people have graduated from Northern Ireland based courses.

People who have completed a Common Purpose course in Northern Ireland include Keith Morrison (DARD), Conor Kieran (BT NI), Alan Watts (Halo), Susan Russam (Belfast GEMS) and Doreen McGrogan (Belfast Telegraph).

Local organisations that have recently placed people on Northern Ireland courses include BBC Northern Ireland, Northern Bank, Coca Cola Plc, NICVA, Belfast Health & Social Care Trust, Power NI, The National Trust, Arts Council, Belfast City Council, Business in the Community, Northgate Managed Services, Seagate Technologies, The Prince's Trust and Invest NI.