I cannot find much about this apart from in the Mid Ulster Mail and the TUV’s comment on the issue but there appears to have been an arms find in Magherafelt last Friday. Jim Allister is claiming that these weapons appear to be linked to the IRA. The lack of mention of all this in the rest of the media is a little odd.
Some other thoughts about the new UK Supreme Court which takes over from the Law Lords in October. It’s basically the same lot with the same powers, but now formally separate from the legislature, which is the case in most countries. The modernising Blair government made the historic change almost casually because they felt the UK’s ( or rather England’s) historic concentration of the powers in Parliament was oudated and open to serious challenge on grounds of unfairness and incompatibility with the whole shape and form of European lawmaking. They cited the example of the Bailiffs of Jersey and Guernsey whose roles as judges and lawmakers in their own small areas was ruled incompatible with human rights. From the beating of such a butterfly’s wings are great storms created. The ECHR is not superior to the Supreme Court which however seeks to follow its rulings and individuals may of course continue to appeal direct to Strasbourg. The quite different European Court of Justice is supreme on EU matters. In practice, both European courts are gummed up and the UK Court will continue to deal with most relevant last stages of appeal. The Supreme Court will be different from the US Supreme Court in a key respect. It has no power to strike down an Act of Parliament as being contrary to the constitution. The UK has no written constitution remember. However, lawyers and others will be watching keenly to see how activist it becomes as it exercises its new-found formal independence in two areas in particular: human rights and devolution. How might the Supreme Court respond if a government of either party carries out their threats to alter the balance betwen rights and national security by amending or replacing the UK Human Rights Act? As devolution becomes more politically volatile, the Court will be expected to rule on any clashes of powers between, say, an SNP government and Westminster. Clashes might also arise once justice and police powers are devolved to Stormont. In a recent Constitution Unit book Constitutional Futures Revisited: The Constitution to 2020 authors Andrew le Sueur and Kate Malleson in the Judiciary chapter see it like this. ( below the fold)
“Attempts by politicians to clip the judges’ wings are likely to be thwarted by the very system of judicial independence the politicians themselves have created. The expansion of judicial review, the growing body of EU law, the operation of devolution and the application of terrorism legislation will guarantee that the judges’ roles are not diminished. At the apex of the system of more formal separation of the powers, the new Supreme Court will be keenly watched for the degree of independence its exercises.
Politicians’ ambitions to curtail the application of the Human Rights Act may not survive closer scrutiny and may be satisfied by adding duties to a Bill of Rights and Responsibilities.
Politicians and the judiciary will be keen to heal tensions through a more formal system of concordats and consultations, although in the end the smooth running of the relationship will greatly depend as ever on how the leading personalities rub along together.”
So for all its newness, the UK Supreme Court will probably be a typically “rubbing along” British institution.
The Guardian’s James Randerson has a satisfyingly link-full update on the research into the Antikythera Mechanism - as previously noted here and also here. Apparently it’s older than previously thought. Possibly from around the time of Archimedes.. And here’s part 1 of a fascinating Nature video on the 2000-year-old “box of intricate gearwork”. Part 2 below the fold along with a stunning animation of the mechanism by Massimo Mogi Vicentini of the Civico Planetario di Milano.
The new data concerns the four-year Olympiad dial, which has the names of significant Greek games etched into it – Isthmia, Olympia, Nemea, Pythia and Naa (plus one other that hasn’t been deciphered). The first four were major games known throughout the ancient world, but the Naa games, held near Dodona in northwest Greece, were a much more provincial affair that would only have been of local interest. “One possibility is that it was made by or for somebody in Naa,” said Marchant, who described the clockwork computer on the Guardian’s Science Weekly podcast last year.
This also helps to pin down the date because the Romans took over that region in the 2nd century BC. A Greek-inscribed gadget like this, reasons Jones, would not have been made after the Romans took charge.
Gerry Adams has responded to the Orange Order’s refusal to meet with Sinn Fein at a leadership level with an open letter to the Order carried in the Belfast Telegraph (though currently access only to the related story.) In the letter, he quotes from the King James Version of the New Testament whilst making the obvious hypocrisy charge regarding the Order’s stance on refusing to talk to republicans ahead of an apology for Order members killed during the conflict. As Adams points out, Orange Order members were killed by other armed groups, as well as doing a share of the killing through membership of other organisations, with numerous ‘Orange loyalists’ celebrated by many Lodges in banners and through the contracting of paramilitary-aligned bands for their parades.
Interesting blog post from Patrick over Belfast and Beyond, suggesting that the DUP should send a representative to the Pride event in Belfast… Not as off the wall as it may seem at first glance… if anything the fierce relations between the party and Northern Ireland’s gay community was underlined by the activism surrounding the Paul Butler Berry affair… If the DUP is serious about creating a pluralist future, this is one bridge that is long overdue repair…
Mrs Clinton said that the progress made since the Good Friday Agreement was forged means that the special envoy role has changed dramatically from the days when her husband first appointed George Mitchell to the post. “The problems that the continuing efforts toward finalising the agreements in the Good Friday Accord are really up to the parties themselves, and certainly in consultation with the British Government and, to a lesser extent, the Irish government,” she said. As such, she said that she doesn’t “see the need for someone fulltime”.
Irish Voice publisher Niall O’Dowd, who supported Mrs Clinton in the Democratic primaries, said the statement was unclear but warned that any weakening of US input in the North would be “completely unacceptable” to Irish-Americans. “A special envoy continues to be vital and necessary,” he said. “Wholehearted American support and involvement will also be vital in resolving the upcoming issues of policing and devolution.”
Due sensitivity has been observed over the thorny problem of how to symbolise Northern Ireland in new UK projects. The controversial ID card has already been discussed exhaustively in Slugger, where you can just about make out the shamrock ( for Irish citizens, you see). For the new Supreme Court which is more territorial, they opted for a flax plant, not that we have many left outside the Folk museum. From the BBC slide show ( sorry I can’t reproduce directly from my so-called new improved browser.)
“On emblems.. In the new Supreme Court due to open in September, Northern Ireland is represented by a flax plant.
A new “emblem”.., is emblazoned in the glass entrance to the court and illuminated above the judge’s bench in one of the courtrooms. It seems to have conspicuously replaced the royal crest that occupies a similar position in most courtrooms.The symbol, designed in close consultation with the law lords, “will provide a strong, memorable and consistent reference point for the UK supreme court both at home and abroad”, Lord Hope said.
“All four nations are equally represented in the design, and it is embraced by a symbol, which is both Libra, symbolising the scales of justice, and Omega, symbolising finality,” he added. The emblem – which includes a rose conjoined with the leaves of a leek to represent England and Wales, a thistle for Scotland and a flax plant for Northern Ireland – is a strong statement of independence, experts say.”
When we move to the new site, all manner of things will change, not least our capacity to change update and red out old or broken links in the blogroll… I’ve taken up some of the suggestions for the best Irish blogs from yesterday and put them onto a dynamic Netvibes page which we should be able to import into the new wordpress site… You’ll not be able to see this for a while, since the offline development will take quite a while… In the meantime, please let us know of any local blogs you think we’re missing… Only the political representatives section has yet been put in any order of merit, with Gerry Adams a clear all island winner at the top… For the crack we may run a poll for the top ten in each section… Other pages on Scotland, Westminster, Wales and Europe to follow later…
The legislation is a key part of the long-delayed process to transfer policing and justice powers from London to Stormont.
However, even if it is passed by the Assembly, it will still require a further resolution asking the British government to devolve the necessary responsibilities.
Beyond the eye-catching figure, from the official accounts for 2008 lodged with the Electoral Commission, that in Northern Ireland Sinn Féin topped the political parties total expenditure list at £1,148,992 - compared to the DUP’s roughly £440,000 across 4 accounts, the UUP’s £397,734, and the SDLP’s £290,169 - there are some interesting details. Sinn Féin’s largest single expenditure noted in the 2008 accounts [pdf file], their “Wages and related costs” bill, rose to £444,637 in 2008 from 2007’s £266,946 - in 2006 it was a mere £171,861.
In terms of income, the party has stopped separately itemising “Donations” and “Contributions from elected Reps”.
In the 2007 accounts, “Donations” for 2006 were listed as £103,377. 2007 saw an increase to £298,710 with a corresponding “Contributions from elected Reps” at £490,561.
By 2008, however, the now apparently combined “Donations” amounted to £530,246 with a new category of income “Admin and secretarial support” bringing in £332,479 - that doesn’t seem to be solely the so-called Hain money which, according to this research paper [pdf file] in the Parliamentary library is around £97,000 for 2009/10.
Between 2007 and 2008 the party’s Northern Ireland “Admin expenses” rose from £91,554 to £246,122.
Interesting the BBC have the news that UK ID Cards (if they ever see the light of day) will offer Irish nationals in Northern Ireland a ‘personal’ rather than a ‘national’ ID card… One key difference as Pete points out below is that the national card at least has the utility of being a travel document, whereas a personal card does not. Travel cards can only be issued by the citizen’s own government. Straightforward enough? You’d think so. Except, that the vast majority of Irish citizens in Northern Ireland are already covered by their British citizenship.
Just as the vast majority of British citizens in Northern Ireland could receive travel documents from the Dublin government, since, under the jus soli principle (constitutionally enshrined in the Belfast Agreement), that group is substantially the same. At the heel of the hunt all people born in Northern Ireland are both British Citizens (unless renounced by lodging a declaration made to the Home Secretary) and Irish Citizens (unless renounced by lodging a declaration with the Minister for Justice). That won’t stop a lot of people rushing for the cards that don’t allow you to travel… If Mr Johnson gets enough time and space to force it into legislation…
And then there is the civil liberties argument about what any government should legitimately know about the business of its citizens. This from the General Secretary of NO2ID:
The report (ID cards will not display Union Flag, 30 July) that the Government is being “sensitive” to the feelings of Irish nationalists by issuing a UK identity card with a shamrock on it and a notionally
nationality-free version for Irish citizens, would be merely laughable if it did not at the same time insult the intelligence of those same nationalists.
The card is near irrelevant. It is the registration on the National Identity Register database that comes with it that matters, all the information recorded on it, and all the duties your will acquire to report your whereabouts and personal circumstances to it. That will be for life if you are British, and for all the years of your residence in Britain if you are Irish - provided are ever coerced or conned into “volunteering”.
Perhaps Whitehall thinks the Irish are stupid.
How many Irish nationalists does the Home Secretary suppose want to make the British Home Office the sole authority for their identity, whether that comes prettified with a shamrock or not? Given that they have an absolute right of residence, and he cannot force them to join his Register through their passport applications as he intends to do with British citizens from 2012, he is on a loser there. The interesting question is how many Brits he would be encouraging to discover an Irish grandparent and take up Irish nationality rather than submit to the scheme, when the time comes to renew their passport. Millions could.
Mr Johnson is not calming Irish nationalism; he’s creating a whole new cause of it.
Yours faithfully,
—
Guy Herbert
General Secretary, NO2ID
Box 412, 19-21 Crawford Street
LONDON
That means Irish nationals living in NI will be issued with a “personal ID card” rather than a national ID card. The personal card will not record an individual’s nationality and so cannot be used as a travel document. Only the Irish Government can issue an official travel document to Irish citizens.
However, cardholders will still be registered on the British ID national database and so will be able to use the card to prove their identity. The Home Office is also going to assure those who hold Irish nationality or dual citizenship living in Britain that they will continue to have the right to apply for an Irish passport even though they are on the UK national identity register.
That’s not to be confused with the identity card for foreign nationals resident in the UK. More on the UK national identity card here. Hmm.. does that mean that the UK government will, in effect, be issuing travel documents for Irish nationals living in England? Or will they too get the “personal identity” card?
JOHN Manley notes how our MLAs and ministers are keen to appear as though they are fighting our corner against the banks during the recession. The key word is ‘appear’, as the engagements between bankers and politicians are just for the optics, Manley argues. The semi-desperate and aspirational tone of this recent OFMDFM press release is revealing about how much control politicians here have over financial matters that really matter - close to zero.
And Ian Paisley Jr’s tough-talking press release before an Agriculture Committee meeting with bankers spoke of his determination to “to challenge the banks” about their practices with farmers, how there are “very clear instances of the banks inflicting further pain on the industry”. The committee itself spoke of how “[B]anks need to take a sympathetic approach to the issue of farming debts”. But the language is telling; the banks can only be “urged”, not “forced”. Even the first quote of IPJ’s release begins with the defeatist “Whilst the Northern Ireland Assembly does not have the power to force banks to act…”
But at least the statements are coherent. The left hand of UCUNF doesn’t appear to know what the right one is press releasing. UUP Assemblyman George Savage warmly welcomed the meeting between banks and the agri-committee, while Conservative spokesman Neil Johnston lambasted it and described it as “worthy but it is hard to see anything much coming from it”.
It’s clear that the global credit crunch is impacting on Northern Ireland, leading many individuals and business bodies to voice concerns about both the banks’ reluctance to lend and their imposition of excessive charges.
However, while a degree of political leverage may be necessary to encourage greater flexibility from the banks, it’s important to consider what exactly the executive or the assembly can do in this situation.
Of the north’s four main high street banks, two are based in the Republic, one is British and the other is Danish-owned. British chancellor Alastair Darling, the man who authorised the bail-out for Ulster Bank parent company RBS, is having difficulty gaining concessions from the banks, so what then can a regional government do?
When this question was put to the press office of the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OMDFM) last week, the reply was short and unsubstantial, merely underlining the apparent impotency of our devolved administration when facing up to international financial institutions.
While few would begrudge our politicians trying to represent us and engage with the banks, Manley notes that what achievements there have been came about as a result of work between the banks and central government, as opposed to the devolved insitution at Stormont. The most interesting part of his story is kept to last.
The Irish News spoke to a source involved in the “process of engagement” between the politicians and the bankers. On assurance of anonymity, he spoke candidly about what went on during the meetings and what the banks’ representatives really thought about the efforts their political counterparts were taking.
Among the concerns he noted was the sheer number of meetings. According to the source, in addition to the meetings with the First and Deputy First Ministers, three separate committees – Finance and Personnel, Enterprise, Trade and Investment and Agriculture and Rural Development – had all asked the banks to attend hearings at which they were asked what amounted to the same questions.
“There is a sense that a lot of time has been wasted through duplication. You have to ask why the assembly couldn’t coordinate these hearings so we didn’t have to go over the same ground all the time,” he said.
On more substantive issues, our source was less forgiving.
“The politicians know rightly that they are powerless in this process but they can’t resist playing to the gallery,” he said.
“There is a sense that they are just indulging in house-painting and point-scoring.”
Many in the banking and wider business sector were becoming frustrated by the process, he said, with some believing that by the time the executive takes real action to combat the recession, it’ll be over.
You can probably tell I am obsessing on a single subject, so apologies to those of you who will take this as a bit of a bore… Just picked up this nice story about a dismissal of a Tory blogger by a Tory Press officer as ‘not important’... who’s no doubt got him/herself into some hot water. Either he did not get the memo, or the Press Officer in question’s not been drinking enough of the ‘bloggers are important’ Kool-Aid:
PO: Bloggers don’t count as media so I cant send it to you.”
TP: “Right, so you don’t see blogs as important then, is that right?:
PO: “Yes.”
TP: “So what about the likes of Iain dale and ConservativeHome, are they media? are they seen as important?”
PO: “Yes we feel that they are representatives of the media, and yes we do see them as an important conduit?”
TP: “But you just said blogs don’t count as media.”
PO: “We see them as important conservative commentators not bloggers, we feel that independent bloggers do not provide an efficient means of communicating the Conservative message.”
TP: “Not efficient means of communicating the Conservative message - Im a Conservative blogger, all I blog about is politics and the Conservative party, I think that’s evident from my blogs title.”
PO: “Im sorry, but I have already told you that I cannot send you a copy of the press release you asked for.”
TP: “OK, can you add my details to the press release distrobution list so that future releases and notices are sent to me?”
PO: “No.”
TP: “Because bloggs are not important.”
PO: “Yes.”
Embarrassing? Perhaps. But it is probably an interesting insight into the way a lot of PRs still think. Dale’s important, not because he has a blog, but because of his status he has acquired through the blog, those are not the same things. He also has the utility of the big numbers of his blogging audience and the fact that his a extremely reliable multiplier for the Conservative Party’s Press Office’s core messages…
It begs the qualitative question of what makes a blog politically important? And do we yet have any examples in Ireland?
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is not going to be the special envoy to Northern Ireland. “She is the Secretary of State, not a special envoy,” State Department spokesman, PJ Crowley, told the Echo.
And Secretary Clinton does not have any plans to visit Ireland in the immediate future, though she did say during the recent swearing in of U.S. ambassador Ireland, Dan Rooney, that she looked forward to going there eventually.
Today I’ll mostly be working on my yearly review of the Irish blogosphere for Total Politics magazine… I’m going to focus primarily on the way the political classes have taken (or rather not taken) to engaging with net conversations… With a mind to contrasting progress in Northern Ireland with that of the Republic… In terms of political blogs, I have my own favoured round of regulars but I’d like to hear who, other than Slugger of course, you are reading these days… I’d like to get a sense of whether the base is shifting, or whether people are beginning to take their reading more from their own social media networks, (ie on the like of Facebook or Twitter) than directly from bloggers these days… If you do have people you want to recommend, please remember include their shortened URLs (though tinyurl.com, url.ie or shorten.ie) ...
I mentioned Will Crawley’s blog on Pastor Jim McConnell in the blogburst... Malachi put his sound segment up on his blog and the conversation has fairly taken off… Much of the piece is about how the pastor of the Whitewell Metropolitian Church‘s reveals an amazing story about how he personally destroyed a children’s home he had established in Romania last year…
It all seems to be going smoothly but make no mistake there is nervousness within the Sinn Fein ranks. If the devolution does not take place by the end of the year there are all the necessary ingredients for a full scale crisis.
Well, they might need another distraction by then.. Update As Mark Devenport reports - “The latest moves may answer the question about where justice powers will be wielded from, but we still do not know when it will happen.” Whilst from the NI Secretary of State - “It is for the local politicians to decide when the time is right to do that, but the completion of devolution would be the best signal to send out to those opposed to democracy and stability in Northern Ireland.” If those parties agree that “the time is right”. But Sinn Féin deliberately destabilising the NI Executive for their own party political reasons, again, would send out what message? Adds BBC report after the NI Executive meeting.
Or at least the potted highlights (including one cracking little satirical riposte from a very naughty boy who I’ve banned too many times to remember - eh, William?)... Here ya go… Go check and see if you’re there… (Oh yes, and the Strand’s in Down Latch!)
We will reinstate these on a daily basis when we move to the new site in the Autumn, but I’m doing this one now so I can clear my browser of some of the good stuff that’s been collecting there over the last week… Kicking off with Fergal’s not to be missed run down of the snake oil projects that have slowly been flooding the Republic over the last few months since Mr Lenihan was forced to admit the cupboard is now officially bare… He doesn’t blog often, but when he does, he hits the mark pretty sweetly, the oul’ barrister...
- Karl Whelan reckons NAMA will cost the Irish government a fortune… Far better, he argues to go down the British route and nationalise any bank that fails... (for all the stamping a shouting, Northern Rock seems to have made a remarkable recovering in a very very short period of time)...
Unless we decide to borrow, future Irish budgets must be sharply contractionary to deal with the estimated shortfall. The key policy choice for Ireland is now how deep to cut spending on public services and increase taxes on income, property, and carbon usage, while avoiding widespread social unrest. California, here we come.
- And Gavin finds one of the Anglo Ten, trying the oldest trick in the book: signing his assets over to the missus…
- I’m sorry, but I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this one… P O’Neill picks the most cringeworthy note from the expenses of Minister Cullen, the boy in charge of Arts, Sports and Tourism…
A visit to India included a claim of €80 by the official for tips “forked out to the Indians for moving the luggage around airports, hotels etc”.
- Oh, and it pays to stay clear of the those “questionable” surveillance activities of the kind apparently routinely indulged in my Mr Murdoch’s minions… In the banking industry, where trust was once commonplace and renewal of which will be crucial to any renewed confidence… it is a sackable offence before prosecution rather than after...
- And Chekov picks up on what is a thoroughly weird Scottish outcrop of Irish sectarianism (it’s not just the silly season, Chek, I nearly got crowned once for wearing a blue scarf in the Celtic end at Easter Road): the imbuing of mere colour with unmitigated sectarian inference…
- Subrosa notes that Cameron’s decision to bin the Calman report is not going down well in Scotland... Also worth reading Simon ‘Knute’ Heffer, whose sworn aim is to hold back the Red Tory tide… Last week in Dorset Cameron promised not do anything that would bolster the SNP in the face of his incoming UK project… then promptly told the assembled masses that he was planning to cut seats in Westminster to 400… Nobbling the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish blighters who steadfastly continue to not vote Tory…
- Yousef takes a look at the SNP’s claim that an ‘Oil Fund’ would help make an independent Scotland much more prosperous and finds it severely wanting…
- Matthew Taylor asks Boris why a sports committee convened, with customary public flourish back in April this year, hasn’t actually met yet...
- Mick Hall, more familiar to Slugger readers on Irish politics once had the retiring Labour MP Andrew McKinley as his local MP… At the time of the Iraq war debate in the Commons. Mick told McKinley (in his inimitably direct style):
that Iraq simply did not have a delivery system to attack the UK with WMD’s and he would be making a dreadful mistake if he supported Blair, as the man was either a liar or a fool
It’s a refreshing perspective on a story that I suspect would otherwise remain pretty distant from most of our readers…
It seems odd to me that people are put in charge of huge sprawling departments with thousands of people working under them and budgets of billions of pounds often without any experience of running anything except a constituency office. Also, the skills required to be a good minister are in some ways different to those required to become and remain an MP. It is crazy that we just drop people into these jobs with minimal if any training. Our political system of course makes it almost impossible for it to be any other way.
Bit like putting your lawyer in charge of auditing your accounts, or, ahem, shifting your Minister who was happy dabbling in Justice across to Finance, eh Brian?
This has lead to the farcical situation where those affected by the findings are up in Dublin Castle at the moment trying to argue their case and get Moriarty to change his mind while not being allowed to explicitly refer to what they are disagreeing with. These are public hearings but the public is the only one not in the know. Still, it doesn’t take a genius to decrypt questions like this one asked of Martin Brennan, the civil servant in charge of the award process back in 1995. “Does it alarm you or surprise you that there might be a suggestion out there somewhere that you had in some way obscured details or concealed details or misrepresented matters to your Minister?”
- And finally, Will has an interview with the pastor with five men from his congregation who went to Romania to destroy an orphanage they had helped build because they feared that the building would fall into the hands of “a paedophile ring in the Romanian government”...
-Tomaltach notes the decimation of Irish language journalism. Then launches a passionate broadside against cack handed (largely bureaucratic) attempts to stem life blood of the language:
...money is still dished out to absolutely hideously bad private operators for unused online courses and the likes.
But this exposes the insanity of the way the Irish language strategy has been piloted. All sorts of grants were available for Gaeltacht schemes - even thought about 70% of the Gaeltacht is now a fiction - and money doled out on making Irish a working Eu language. Imagine - the intricies of Eu protocols being tranlsated into Irish by Irish-trained linguists in Brussels while the last remaining Irish language news publication is allowed to die. There is no more perfect symbol for the self-defeating, wrong-headed, vested-interest driven thing that is state policy on the so called preservation of the Irish language.
There is some dignity in a genuine failure, an honest best-effort which just cannot succeed. But there is nothing noble about the shambolic, incompetent, rivalrous, clique-infested, and costly failure that is our nation’s effort to preserve its still-dying native tongue.
Earlier this month we pulled together a team of citizen journalists to report on the events of the Orange demonstrations in Belfast and at various sites across Northern Ireland. Now we are considering doing one for the Apprentice Boys of Derry celebrations, which falls on Saturday 8th August this year… Not sure what format it will take yet, but if you are about and happy to come along (possibly for the first time) and to watch and/or chat to ordinary folk about the impacts it has on the cultural and commercial life of the city, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)... And we’ll do our best to pull together something fun (and useful) for the day itself…
Earlier this month we pulled together a team of citizen journalists to report on the events of the Orange demonstrations in Belfast and at various sites across Northern Ireland. Now we are considering doing one for the Apprentice Boys of Derry celebrations, which falls on Saturday 8th August this year… Not sure what format it will take yet, but if you are about and happy to come along (possibly for the first time) and to watch and/or chat to ordinary folk about the impacts it has on the cultural and commercial life of the city, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)... And we’ll do our best to pull together something fun (and useful) for the day itself…
