Hi Joe,
Unfortunately it’s my own SWOT analysis, but I believe it would stand up to scrutiny! I can perform an impromptu SWOT I guess;
Threats: deep & unexpected cuts to the public sector and wastage of low-skilled, high-volume jobs as InvestNI’s incentive schemes expire.
Weaknesses: impediments to FDI inhibiting a suitable venture capital base necessary to grow our own indigenous businesses. We offer potential investors pretty much the same benefits as the south but with twice the CT and a history of political instability.
Strengths: semi-stability in that no matter how bad things get they won’t get too bad too fast while the UK Govt is around.
I guess opportunities are included in the economic pact!
Mick,
Right on. It’s super frustrating. Why invest your efforts and money in a state that won’t help itself? That willfully ignores the best course of action to go with gut impulse and ideology?
You’re right there is a lack of leadership on both sides. NI21 look good in the chamber, maybe a bit more like an opposition should. I’d like to see the media play their role as well though. In the south you have Vincent Brown, Prime Time; economic policy being grilled by guys like Constantin Gurdgiev and David McWilliams on a regular basis. How would our lads and lasses stack up?
Well look, we know that going into a United Ireland would bring political unrest, which would be considerably costly in the short-term.
But ostensibly, yes I do. In fact I think almost instantly, people from most social strata would find themselves better off economically to some extent.
It’s not to do with some fairy-tale, utopian future where all is at harmony in Ireland and we channel the spirit of Grainne Mhaol as we charge the global markets with some new found national zeal.
It’s a straightforward SWOT analysis of the state and it’s future in an increasingly globalised and competitive world. Frankly, we need the powers to raise our own capital on the markets, reduce our deficit, attract inward investment and build a more agile fiscal strategy that represents the interests of a small economy, which we are, rather than importing the strategy of one with much higher GDP and population.
That could happen in a united Ireland, a federal Ireland, an independent state. But it simply can’t happen under the current arrangements.
Stand-outs for me are the commitments to look at further devolution of fiscal powers and looking for opportunities at Belfast Port.
But that isn’t saying much. Because we won’t even have a decision on corporation tax until 2014, one would assume more than that will take much longer. And frankly we don’t have time to wait around for this kind of thing.
I don’t believe the lending schemes will work, there’s no precedent for that. We all bailed out our banks to the tune of tens of billions and they still won’t lend.
The rest reads like bluster. Extra borrowing powers? So. Assisted status? That’s nothing new. £20m for R&D is effective funding of maybe £7-8m, the rest will disappear.
One thing I can never get my head around is why people assume we’re economically better off, ‘for the moment’ or otherwise, in the UK when all the economic evidence goes against it.
And when you probe into why they think that the answer is normally some cigarette box economics; like combining the deficit and subvention and saying it’s unworkable, or akin to Tina’s response above.
“…look at the things we take for granted, for example the block grant, if we look at the sterling, from a business perspective we are much better off right now within the United Kingdom.”
No. Just no. The conditions that accompany the block grant stifle economic growth and Sterling is making it difficult to compete in our key export markets.
“I’m pro for staying part of the United Kingdom, absolutely. Now my reasons for doing that are mostly economical.”
Of all the reasons to stay part of the United Kingdom, economics is one of the least powerful.
It seems pretty clear that they’re in it because they’re driven by something other than grabbing power.
Their political position, socially liberal but fiscally conservative, might resonate with a lot of people who don’t currently vote; that might be the point.
They’re good operators in the chamber too. I’d like to see them do well, particularly at the expense of the DUP/UUP. I don’t know if I’d vote for their party, I might vote for one of them personally (I disagree with their view articulated above that it is economically better for this place to remain in union with Britain, especially that it increases stability).
“Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. ”
No offense, but the kingdom of God is starting to sound like a pretty dry place. I do at least three of those things and I’m not prepared to compromise too much on any of them. Is there anything else I can inherit?
Reader: “I don’t know where it will be in ten years time. That’s something I need to know before I commit the life chances of my children to someone else’s idea of Nirvana.”
I hear what you’re saying but to be honest I think the long-term economics are an easy win for the Yes camp. I see the short-term (what’s-in-it-for-me) debate being the one to win. You have to convince people why they should take a hit, if indeed they will need to, to provide a better future for their kids.
After all, none of the concerns you’ve raised are specific to a UI, they apply here anyway. Do you know where this place will be in ten years if we stay with Britain? Looking at the trends I could have a rough guess. And if you’re a civil servant in an economy with as huge a deficit as this place has your fears would be justified. At least with independence there’s a chance to use fiscal policy to grow the private sector, so you might have other options.
Tweet A valuable resource on local history went digital last week with the launch of a new website called ‘New Perspectives’ on Home Rule,hosted by the Braid Mid-Antrim Museum in Ballymena. The content of the website is based on a book by Philip Orr, New Perspectives: Politics, Religion and Conflict in Mid-Antrim, 1911-1914, published last [...] read our review »
Tweet I’m currently trawling through Norman Davies’s fabulous new tome – “Vanished Kingdoms” – Five stars in the (London) Telegraph’s review from Ben Wilson: All the nations that have ever lived have left their footsteps in the sand,” writes Norman Davies. “The traces fade with every tide, the echoes grow faint, the images are fractured, the [...] read our review »
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Comment on NI21′s chair Tina McKenzie on why she got involved, party labels and Alliance
on 15 June 2013 at 10:44 am
Hi Joe,
Unfortunately it’s my own SWOT analysis, but I believe it would stand up to scrutiny! I can perform an impromptu SWOT I guess;
Threats: deep & unexpected cuts to the public sector and wastage of low-skilled, high-volume jobs as InvestNI’s incentive schemes expire.
Weaknesses: impediments to FDI inhibiting a suitable venture capital base necessary to grow our own indigenous businesses. We offer potential investors pretty much the same benefits as the south but with twice the CT and a history of political instability.
Strengths: semi-stability in that no matter how bad things get they won’t get too bad too fast while the UK Govt is around.
I guess opportunities are included in the economic pact!
Mick,
Right on. It’s super frustrating. Why invest your efforts and money in a state that won’t help itself? That willfully ignores the best course of action to go with gut impulse and ideology?
You’re right there is a lack of leadership on both sides. NI21 look good in the chamber, maybe a bit more like an opposition should. I’d like to see the media play their role as well though. In the south you have Vincent Brown, Prime Time; economic policy being grilled by guys like Constantin Gurdgiev and David McWilliams on a regular basis. How would our lads and lasses stack up?
Go to comment
Comment on NI21′s chair Tina McKenzie on why she got involved, party labels and Alliance
on 15 June 2013 at 1:52 am
Well look, we know that going into a United Ireland would bring political unrest, which would be considerably costly in the short-term.
But ostensibly, yes I do. In fact I think almost instantly, people from most social strata would find themselves better off economically to some extent.
It’s not to do with some fairy-tale, utopian future where all is at harmony in Ireland and we channel the spirit of Grainne Mhaol as we charge the global markets with some new found national zeal.
It’s a straightforward SWOT analysis of the state and it’s future in an increasingly globalised and competitive world. Frankly, we need the powers to raise our own capital on the markets, reduce our deficit, attract inward investment and build a more agile fiscal strategy that represents the interests of a small economy, which we are, rather than importing the strategy of one with much higher GDP and population.
That could happen in a united Ireland, a federal Ireland, an independent state. But it simply can’t happen under the current arrangements.
Go to comment
Comment on Theresa Villiers Pre G8 package for Northern Ireland…
on 15 June 2013 at 1:40 am
Stand-outs for me are the commitments to look at further devolution of fiscal powers and looking for opportunities at Belfast Port.
But that isn’t saying much. Because we won’t even have a decision on corporation tax until 2014, one would assume more than that will take much longer. And frankly we don’t have time to wait around for this kind of thing.
I don’t believe the lending schemes will work, there’s no precedent for that. We all bailed out our banks to the tune of tens of billions and they still won’t lend.
The rest reads like bluster. Extra borrowing powers? So. Assisted status? That’s nothing new. £20m for R&D is effective funding of maybe £7-8m, the rest will disappear.
Go to comment
Comment on NI21′s chair Tina McKenzie on why she got involved, party labels and Alliance
on 15 June 2013 at 1:29 am
One thing I can never get my head around is why people assume we’re economically better off, ‘for the moment’ or otherwise, in the UK when all the economic evidence goes against it.
And when you probe into why they think that the answer is normally some cigarette box economics; like combining the deficit and subvention and saying it’s unworkable, or akin to Tina’s response above.
“…look at the things we take for granted, for example the block grant, if we look at the sterling, from a business perspective we are much better off right now within the United Kingdom.”
No. Just no. The conditions that accompany the block grant stifle economic growth and Sterling is making it difficult to compete in our key export markets.
“I’m pro for staying part of the United Kingdom, absolutely. Now my reasons for doing that are mostly economical.”
Of all the reasons to stay part of the United Kingdom, economics is one of the least powerful.
Go to comment
Comment on NILT for 2012 suggests passion for constitutional issues is dropping fast…
on 6 June 2013 at 2:14 pm
Hang on a minute, am I reading this right?
7% of Protestants couldn’t live with it if there was never a united Ireland?
and 18% wouldn’t like it but could live with it?
what?
Go to comment
Comment on Team Jasil – that’s John and Basil – say: “Get off your backsides and vote for people that are trying to make a difference”
on 15 May 2013 at 9:16 am
Comrade: Not good enough!
Go to comment
Comment on Team Jasil – that’s John and Basil – say: “Get off your backsides and vote for people that are trying to make a difference”
on 14 May 2013 at 9:49 pm
It’s one thing to be able to debate, it’s another to know your brief Comrade.
Highest unemployment since the GFA and youth unemployment at a record high. It must be 13 consecutive quarters of rising unemployment now?
Go to comment
Comment on Team Jasil – that’s John and Basil – say: “Get off your backsides and vote for people that are trying to make a difference”
on 12 May 2013 at 8:44 pm
It seems pretty clear that they’re in it because they’re driven by something other than grabbing power.
Their political position, socially liberal but fiscally conservative, might resonate with a lot of people who don’t currently vote; that might be the point.
They’re good operators in the chamber too. I’d like to see them do well, particularly at the expense of the DUP/UUP. I don’t know if I’d vote for their party, I might vote for one of them personally (I disagree with their view articulated above that it is economically better for this place to remain in union with Britain, especially that it increases stability).
Go to comment
Comment on Sinn Fein undermining the sanctity of marriage
on 11 May 2013 at 3:58 am
“Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. ”
No offense, but the kingdom of God is starting to sound like a pretty dry place. I do at least three of those things and I’m not prepared to compromise too much on any of them. Is there anything else I can inherit?
No, I’m not telling you which three.
Go to comment
Comment on Futile Border Poll campaign to launch
on 9 May 2013 at 6:31 pm
Reader: “I don’t know where it will be in ten years time. That’s something I need to know before I commit the life chances of my children to someone else’s idea of Nirvana.”
I hear what you’re saying but to be honest I think the long-term economics are an easy win for the Yes camp. I see the short-term (what’s-in-it-for-me) debate being the one to win. You have to convince people why they should take a hit, if indeed they will need to, to provide a better future for their kids.
After all, none of the concerns you’ve raised are specific to a UI, they apply here anyway. Do you know where this place will be in ten years if we stay with Britain? Looking at the trends I could have a rough guess. And if you’re a civil servant in an economy with as huge a deficit as this place has your fears would be justified. At least with independence there’s a chance to use fiscal policy to grow the private sector, so you might have other options.
Go to comment