It is expected that the successful city would see economic and social benefits which could leave a lasting legacy. The winner could host events such as the Turner Prize, BBC Sports Personality of the Year and the Brits.
From a great thread on Malachi O’Doherty’s Facebook page in which I expressed concern about the likelihood of the Slugger Awards running next Autumn… to which this reply:
“Perhaps you could introduce a “Scandal of the Year” award.”
It went hard with me that the end piece on the (excellent) UTV report on the Slugger Awards last week ended on a stalled video of the deputy First Minister… I’d given him a pretty deadpan intro to the effect that we’d often given his party a hard time on Slugger but in the certainty that he had a good riposte… He did, but technical difficulties beat us on the night… There is always a danger that when you do something like an awards ceremony for politicians that you will be seen to being trying to embrace people whom you should perhaps more properly hold at a distance… That may or may not be a calculable risk… But for now here’s Martin McGuinness on the importance of contention and dialogue that Slugger so often strives for and sometimes (if only fitfully) manages to pull off…
The art of politics is not just about the possible, it’s also about the plausible… There was a certain amount of disgruntlement with the choice of Martin McGuinness as Slugger’s Politician of the Year (and for good reason when you consider how his party has blocked the capacity of the Executive to progress any serious legislative measure in lieu of devolution of policing and justice)... But a poll of readers by the Belfast Telegraph came to a similar conclusion to our own:
“It suggests that we maybe moving into a different phase of political life here in which politicians are judged as much on their performance in the here and now as on their history. If so, that has to be seen as a positive step. If the message is that some people are recognising that politicians can begin the journey from conflict towards statesmanship it is to be welcomed.
“If the message is that our politicians must do more to leave their historical baggage at the door of the debating chamber that too is positive.”
It’s worth noting that no one scored particularly highly, even if Mr McGuinness is way out front:
The Belfast Telegraph/Inform Communications survey put DUP leader Robinson on just 7% — Mr McGuinness scored 27% — with a zero rating among Catholics. The DUP’s best performing minister is Arlene Foster with 9% of those surveyed endorsing her track record at Enterprise, Trade and Industry.
Party leader Mr Robinson was in a disappointing fourth place, behind SDLP Social Development Minister and leadership candidate Margaret Ritchie. A DUP spokesman said: “Obviously the DUP is aware of the sort of issues that have been raised by this poll and even before the poll was released our leader Peter Robinson was moving to address some of these issues.”
Sinn Fein’s Agriculture Minister is in second place overall with 10%, again with a significant approval level from Protestants (8%).
There is no getting over the fact of Mr McGuinness’s history (anyone who wants the full blown emotional impact of the past should read Brian Lynch’s powerfully moving epic poem Pity for the Wicked), but this poll (and the Slugger Awards) are unsentimentally about performance in the here and now…
Mr McGuinness is Sinn Fein’s (not so secret) secret weapon… whilst their number 1 (Mr Adams and his unconstitutional kitchen cabinet) dictates the party’s deeply obstructionist policy, the party’s number two (Mr McGuinness) plays a blinder and is - de facto - Northern Ireland’s public diplomat par excellence (as his acceptance speech amply demonstrates)...
And being a number 2, he is also impossible for other party’s number 1s to negotiate with… To anyone with a detached eye for the political game it’s a beautifully wicked stratagem… Although its limitations are amply shown by the disapproval rating for the one policy area in which the ‘kitchen cabinet’ (or as Pete calls it, the detached polit-bureau) is said to have predominated, Education:
A total of 24% of Catholics, as well as 39% of Protestants and 19% of others, contributed to Ms Ruane’s disapproval rating of 31%, almost double the next most disappointing, Mr Robinson.
Meanwhile, Mr Robinson subsists with a Zero rating from Northern Ireland’s Catholics… A situation the party cannot be happy with (though is likely not to be terribly surprised at) given the promise of his maiden speech as First Minister last year. It hardly scores as an existential crisis at this stage either, given the tiny amount of cross community churn either party currently gets. It may simply reflect the fact that the wider polity (not to mention the MSM) is still stuck in the Peace Process™ mode of rewarding ‘good behaviour’, rather than ‘good politics’...
But if Sinn Fein were to take a single warning from this poll it’s contained in the incredibly low rating the current settlement gets overall. Also, they already have an urgent memo from their own recent past, in their own over-extrapolation of the party’s potential in the south based largely (though not exclusively) on a consistently high personal rating for Gerry Adams during the lifetime of the 2002-2007 Dail. Topping a ‘leadership’ poll does not, of itself, vouchsafe further political success.
Rather such success will more likely arise from slow incremental ‘victories’, than from the current series of big, barrack-busting plays… And, paradoxically, as the unionist population becomes more acclimatised to an outwardly agreeable SF dFM, it becomes less likely that the Unionist meltdown one might reasonably expect if SF’s current Number 2 were to become Northern Ireland’s Number 1 (ie First Minister) will be as complete as some inside the kitchen cabinet may be hoping just now.
For those waiting on results last night, I’m sorry for the late arrival of this post (behind the MSM for once, must be getting old or middle aged or something)... Martin McGuinness won best politician of the year. Although he only received one nomination in the comments zone, both the readers panel and the judging panel felt that the moment when he stood with Hugh Orde and Peter Robinson on the steps of Stormont after the Masserene and Craigavon killings was the one moment in the year when the need for political courage was both required and fulfilled. (Davy Sims’ podcast for good interviews and honourable of Ulster is Doomed, 1169 and Counting and other). UTV Report gives a strong flavour of the night…
Up and coming politician: Simon Hamilton, bright and literate and very good communicator… Tipped by one voice on the judging committee as future MP material…
Blogger of the Year: Alan In Belfast... Another non political blogger who nevertheless went the extra mile at the European election campaign and has been showing a few of us middle-aged old stagers a thing or two about holding the system to account..
Councillor of the Year: Cara McShane youngest ever chair of Moyle District Council she is an example of next generation of young councillors coming through
MLA of the Year: Dawn Purvis MLA her party’s lone MLA, she’s been a tough campaigner on issues like abortion (where there is a general omerta is almost (with exception of Alliance) total in the other mainstream political parties
Local Council of the year: Down District… For an impressive redevelopment programme in Newcastle and an ongoing project in Killough not simply for the results, but the quality of the consultation process it’s used in getting to that destination.
Campaign of the year: Employers for Childcare Vouchers campaign… A quickly assembled response to Gordon Brown’s plans to cut childcare vouchers category is a new one which incorporate a poll
Participation and Involvement: Public Achievement… For its successful WIMPS project working to get young people to engage directly with the Assembly and its institutions. Also for its lobbying to establish a permanent Youth Assembly.
Journalist of the Year: Julia Paul… journalist whose impacts are often underated by her audience precisely because of her capacity to deliver tight informative stories on complex issue in a way that that makes it easy for the audience…
Stormont Committee Chair: Fred Cobain MLA Can’t put it better it than this, by the commenter NI Water: Loved by his committee for being fair to them, hated by officials for being tenatious in questioning, he gets the mix right.
There’s been a fair amount of speculation as to who has made the shortlist and who hasn’t. Some of the choices made themselves and there will certainly be some surprises. But this is who you have nominated, the readers panel with the judges finally picking the winners. The list is not, nor was it ever meant to be definitive. And I have no doubt there are potential winners not mentioned. Once in the year, it’s our attempt to recognise the moments in the political cycle when our politicians (and the people who have a hand in reporting them to the public) were caught out doing something good. So let us have your thoughts?
I’ve booked a room at Jury’s Inn at the foot of the Grosvenor Road for next Tuesday evening… Meeting at 7.00pm and working through till 9-10… Tea and biscuits provided and may a pint afterwards before we all head home… Limited spaces I’m afraid, but if you want to come drop me a line… .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
This is my nomination for the music play list up to the point I make my welcoming remarks. I might even try to work some of the lyrics into those same remarks:
A little less conversation, a little more action please
All this aggravation aint satisfactioning me
A little more bite and a little less bark
A little less fight and a little more spark
Let us have your suggestions… And remember time is running out to add your own nominations (we finish next Tuesday when the readers’ panel will sift through to make the shortlists for the judges -more later!!)... For Politician of the Year (the currently unelected Jim Allister is walking it by a country mile just now), tell us who and why they deserve it… And Politicians, tell us which campaign has impressed you most throughout the last year!!
It seems that demand is a good deal higher than we were expecting for the Slugger Awards. All of the 250 tickets that we’d allocated are gone already with two more weeks to go (we only put the link on the site here on Thursday!) The capacity of the venue is slightly larger so we’re going to make another 70 tickets available on the assumption that one or two of you will have booked a free ticket but won’t turn up on the night.
But if you have booked one but you’re not coming, please let us know - there’s clearly a demand for them. It’ll be a bit of a squeeze, but it’s probably too late to get a bigger venue. If you tried this morning and were disappointed, go and have a look now - the new tickets are up there on http://sluggerawards09.eventbrite.com
This year and last year we have deliberately left out the big three newspaper titles from our local newspaper competition. The reason for that is that to lump them in with the Mourne Observer, Mid Ulster Mail and the Londonderry Sentinel would be uneven competition. But also because they have in the past been the pure life blood of politics at its most local. Now that has been under pressure for years. In today’s Guardian George Monbiot offers a case study of what happens when local papers stop caring:
I’m prompted to write this by a remarkable episode in my home town, Machynlleth, which illustrates the problem everywhere. A battle has been raging here over Tesco’s attempt to build a superstore on the edge of town. Its application received 685 letters of objection and five letters of support(2), but the town council, which appears to believe everything Tesco says, supports the scheme. The local paper, the Cambrian News, appears in turn to believe everything the council tells it.
A couple of weeks ago consultants hired by Powys county council published a retail impact assessment which supports the arguments put forward by the objectors(3). If the new store is built, the assessment says, it will cause trade in the centre to decline and generate longer and less sustainable shopping trips. How did the Cambrian News respond to this devastating blow to Tesco’s application? By running a smear job on its front page.
According to the town clerk, the consultants had fabricated a complaint by the local butcher. They had claimed to represent his views in their assessment, saying that he feared he would be forced out of business by Tesco - “but they haven’t even spoken to him!” (4) The News, ironically, ran this story without speaking to the butcher, the consultants, or, apparently, performing even the briefest check. Its only informants were the town clerk and the councillors, who lined up to say that the behaviour of the consultants was “disgusting”, that they were “scaremongering” and that they should apologise to the butcher. It took me 30 seconds to discover that the story was completely untrue: the assessment says nothing about the butcher or his shop(5).
I asked the editor of the Cambrian News to tell me whether her reporter had read the assessment before filing his story or whether anyone at the paper had checked it. Her response was priceless. “Any information that we obtain, we keep exclusively for the Cambrian News and do not pass it on to rival newspapers.”(6) I pointed out that I wasn’t trying to steal her non-story, but asking her to defend her decision to publish it. She has not replied.
This petty affair is a synecdoche for the state of local journalism. Most local papers exist to amplify the voices of their proprietors and advertisers, and other powerful people with whom they wish to stay on good terms. In this respect they scarcely differ from most of the national media. But they also contribute to what in Mexico is called caciquismo: the entrenched power of local elites. This is the real threat to local democracy, not the crumpling of the media empires of bigoted millionaires.
The front runners in the councillor of the year award so far... Cara McShane currently Chair of Moyle District Council; Councillor Walter Cuddy, UUP councillor for Dungannon town; the SDLP’s PJ McAvoy in Ballymena; the DUP’s Adrian McQuillan in Coleraine; Sinn Fein’s Lord Mayor of Belfast last year Tom Hartley and his party colleague Conor Maskey. Matthew McDermott of the SDLP on Lisburn City Council. UUPs Alderman Michael Copeland from Castlereagh Borough Council. UUP veteran politician at various levels, Jim Speers. Michael Carr, of the SDLP in Newry and Mourne. Cllr Ian Parsley newly Conservative Councillor for Holywood. Sitting Councillor of the Year, Deirdre Nelson whose also move to the Conservatives. There’s also a nomination for ex councillor Domhnall O’Cobhthaigh of Fermanagh District. Naomi Long for her energetic role as Lord Mayor of Belfast. But of all the contributions this was the most challenging:
A good Councillor should be hard working, honest, and not be too ambitious. They should have the ordinary person’s needs at heart.
Party politics should not take precedent over common sense.
A good Councillor will not care about getting into photos and hearing themselves talk at meetings just to be seen in the press. They should only speak if they have something to contribute to a discussion - they should not be repeating what four or five other Councillors have already said. They should not care if one Councillor has taken on a particular issue that they may be getting some glory for - jealousy should not come into the work of Public Representatives but it too often does.
Councillors are public servants - they should be working for the people as best they can. They should not be feathering their own nest or that of their party or party colleagues. They should take into account and accept other people’s opinions. Respect for the way others do things is important.
I am a Councillor and I have seen it all since I was elected. Jealousy and ambition play too much of a part. I dont know many Councillors, or people who would like to be a Public Representative, who is genuinely there for the people and not just for themselves.
A few are there for the right reasons - I hope I am one of them although I am prepared to accept I am not if my Constituents feel different.
The Councillor of the Year should be someone who we can genuinely see as having made an impact in their own community in however long they have been elected. Many dont shout about what they do from the rooftops - this doesnt mean they dont regularly work hard within their community. PR is a wonderful thing and many representatives (and parties) are very good at using it.
If anyone can name a Councillor who fits the bill I will happily give them my vote.
This is the last category to be announced and comprises all categories of politician in Northern Ireland, including Westminster MPs and MEPs. But it also includes parliamentarians sitting in both the UK and Irish upper houses, who increasingly are being called upon to play significant roles both inside and outside government.
Who represents us well? Who articulate expresses their a strand of opinion, whether or not you agree with it? Who do you admire? Or, who simply does their job better than anyone else in this category? Who’s unsung story of untold hours put in on obscure committee deserves a wider audience?
1. A brief account of the qualities your candidate has brought to the job.
2. What s/he has achieved in the last 12 months.
3. What you believe are the critical qualities required by an MP/MEP/Peer/Senator.
Please make your nominations below. Be as expansive as you wish, so we can make the best pitch possible to both the reader and judges panels who may not be as familiar as you with your favoured candidate.
Welcome to any U105 listeners! This is just a quick note to let you know that you can get your tickets for the awards online now - hurry before they’re all gone! Also, nominations are still open (see the appropriate ‘threads’ below the follow). Please visit them and give us your suggestions. Remember, we’re being a bit more attentive to these threads than most and we’re enforcing something of a ‘positivity rule’ - we want know who you do like, not who you don’t!
You can see from the side bar that we have nearly got through all the categories for the Slugger Awards… Next Monday we’ll be looking for politician of the year… But we are still looking for new names and reasons for voting them the champions of their category. Please note, that if you prefer you can lodge your nominations with me and I will post them to the appropriate thread… my email address is: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
This is open to all journalists who have contributed to the political health of Northern Ireland, whether writing for any of the local newspapers, nationals, or working as a freelancer. The last year has been a tough for purveyors of political news: not least since for 150 days plus last year that the Executive did not actually sit.
It’s been a frugal year for politics, when journalists have had to be resourceful and begin to find ways to educate their audiences about what representative democracy entails. Not just here but also at Westminster, and perhaps most notably in the year of European elections.
So who has helped throw light onto an increasing complex and at times arcane political set up? Asking tough questions is part of it, yes. But who was it who brought clear and accurate stories and/or analysis?
With your nominations, please try to include:
His or her best qualities as a journalist?
What you think they have achieved in the last 12 months?
Why they came ahead of the rest of the field?
You can make your nominations beliw. Be as expansive as you wish, so we can make the best pitch possible to both the reader and judges panels who may not be as familiar as you with your favoured candidate. Remember these are nominations. The pressure is to determine who is best, rather than the worst…
Right, here’s a variation on last year’s theme. This time, although we’re asking you for nominations, it will be the politicians themselves who vote for the winner of this category. It’s the best campaign of the year. Now, for this, it can be an ad campaign, a website, good use of Facebook or Twitter or Pledgebank… And it only has to be focused on some aspect of politics or public affairs in general. It can be pretty public facing like the countmeout.ie campaign, a fairly raw response to those who feel strongly enough to leave the Catholic church after various scandals… Or it could be more directed at specific lobby issues… but in this case it is the politicians, often the intended targets, who are the electorate rather than the other way around…
There are 108 of them. Some of them household names across Northern Ireland, some better known in the local corner of their own constituencies. Some have made (or tried to) their mark as party leaders, others as ministers, or as one of the team working out of the Speakers Office, who have tried in some challenging moments to keep the lid on proceedings in the chamber.
So who was it caught your eye this year, either in the chamber, or on television? Who kept their nerve whilst others around them were falling apart? Which maverick made the parliamentary tedium of some of the last year still worth tuning in? Who was the star player in your favourite set piece?
A brief account of the qualities your candidate has brought to the job.
The reasons s/he and their committee have achieved in the last 12 months.
What you believe are the critical qualities required by a committee chair.
Make your nominations below. Be as expansive as you wish, so we can make the best pitch possible to both the reader and judges panels who may not be as familiar as you with your favoured candidate.
In a year when the Executive has spent a significant amount of time not actually working, and where the Assembly’s plenaries have struggled to gain and then sustain the Northern Ireland public’s attention, the committees have been probably been responsible for some of the most useful work done. Albeit most of it unacknowledged and therefore unseen.
There is a clear role to be fulfilled by a committee chair - to ensure the smooth running of committees; facilitating engagement with interested outside parties in an open and constructive manner; holding both the relevant minister and officials to account as well as providing a forum for the development of policy and legislation.
So tell us who you think has performed their role better than any other?
A brief account of the qualities your candidate has brought to the job.
The reasons s/he and their committee have achieved in the last 12 months.
What you believe are the critical qualities required by a committee chair.
You can make your nominations either here or on the main Slugger site. Be as expansive as you wish, so we can make the best pitch possible to both the reader and judges panels who may not be as familiar as you with your favoured candidate.
A reminder of last year’s winner and commended… And remember it is the quality of your nomination rather than the number of them that’s likely to sway the judges…
For years, despite their limited powers, councils were the only democratic representatives you could reasonably expect would retain their jobs from one election to the next. In two years time, 26 councils will be slimmed down to 11, and with it will come considerable responsibilities . The new responsibilities will require a new calibre of local politician.
So which of the local councils you know best have been taking on their responsibilities with imagination? Who listens to the local populace, and is seen to be effective in carrying forward their decisions effectively> And which have sought to involve the general public in policy consultations? And pay heed to them?
1. Do they outreach to the public and ask them to participate in, and respond to council policymaking.?
2. What do councils do to make the role of local councillor an attractive one?
3. Tell us some of its biggest achievements/stories in the last 12 months?
You can make your nominations below. Be as expansive as you wish, so we can make the best pitch possible to both the reader and judges panels who may not be as familiar as you with your favoured candidate.
That this award only had one nomination last year tells its own story about public participation in Northern Ireland. And yet, as more and more citizens find their voices online, it is crucial that public institutions turn and face the concerns of the public they seek to serve, before rather than after their plans take effect. All too often public bodies undertake consultation exercises simply because they’re demanded by law rather than because of the value it may bring those institutions or the communities they seek to serve.
As a result such public dialogue as there is are often conducted in an atmosphere of cynical tokenism or are seen from the outside as bland exercises in public relations. And yet we persist, because we believe more and more it is critical that politicians and others find meaningful ways to connect with the people whose interests they seek to represent.
So what forms of public consultation do you know that worked, however modestly? It might have been cheap and cheerful, or complex and expensive. So long as it was effective and a real example of democratic or other public institutions reaching out to the community
With your nominations, please try to include:
1. What was the subject of the consultation?
2. What format/structure did they use?
3. Why would you say it worked?
You can make your nominations below. Be as expansive as you wish, so we can make the best pitch possible to both the reader and judges panels who may not be as familiar as you with your favoured candidate. Remember we are looking for best practice here in order to encourage others to take the process more seriously and treat it as a crucial part of their management cycle…
Given there are 582 councillors in 26 councils in Northern Ireland, our problem here should be an embarrassment of riches. Local councillors are often the workhorses of democracy, often undertaking work with the minimum of resources. The majority of them working hard far beyond the metropolitan attention of the Belfast bubble.
And yet it is not yet clear what makes a good councillor. Under the current dispensation where councillors have only an advisory role with regard to planning, the practical fixer is clearly a popular role. But what else adds up to the best councillor YOU know? A thinker? A doer? A conciliator? A starter of fires? An independent curmudgeon who refuses to give any cosy consensus an easy ride?
Let us know below. Be as expansive as you like, with specific examples of the kind of thing you consider to be best practice. With your nominations, please try to include:
1. A brief account of the qualities your candidate brings to her/his council duties.
2. The kinds of things s/he has achieved in the last 12 months.
3. What you believe are the critical qualities required by a local councillor.
You can make your nominations either below. Be as expansive as you wish, so we can make the best pitch possible to both the reader and judges panels who may not be as familiar as you with your favoured candidate.
- An Druma Mor, not exactly local, but an Irish Language portal which has a heavy emphasis on politics and current affairs… Not absolutely sure it fits the category, but perhaps it should be… (what do you think??)
- “The Dungannon News and Tyrone Courier” from, er, Dungannon…
- The Andersonstown News, covering new in the west of Belfast for nearly forty years..
- East Belfast Herald a newbie which is making an effort at covering all areas of political and community interest since its launch in January
Good nominations, but as yet its a pretty small field… I make that one country and three Belfast titles. We know there are good titles out there bringing home the political bacon for their readers… BUT the judges cannot consider them until they are put in the ring by YOU… Add them here or, preferably, to the original thread here
It went hard with me that the end piece on the (excellent) UTV report on the Slugger Awards last week ended on a stalled video of the deputy First Minister… I’d given him a pretty deadpan intro to the effect that we’d often given his party a hard time on Slugger but in the certainty that he had a good riposte… He did, but technical difficulties beat us on the night… There is always a danger that when you do something like an awards ceremony for politicians that you will be seen to being trying to embrace people whom you should perhaps more properly hold at a distance… That may or may not be a calculable risk… But for now here’s Martin McGuinness on the importance of contention and dialogue that Slugger so often strives for and sometimes (if only fitfully) manages to pull off…
There’s been a fair amount of speculation as to who has made the shortlist and who hasn’t. Some of the choices made themselves and there will certainly be some surprises. But this is who you have nominated, the readers panel with the judges finally picking the winners. The list is not, nor was it ever meant to be definitive. And I have no doubt there are potential winners not mentioned. Once in the year, it’s our attempt to recognise the moments in the political cycle when our politicians (and the people who have a hand in reporting them to the public) were caught out doing something good. So let us have your thoughts?
