Comment Archives for JH
Co-founder of a tech start-up based in Belfast. Divide my time between Belfast, Dublin and Galway.
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Books
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Talking to a brick wall: how to make politicians listen?
Tweet It took me a long time to warm to advertising agencies. The first time I worked with one I was working in sales management on Fairy Washing Up Liquid. I was due to attend a meeting at which I was to be told what consumers really thought of the brand. I remember my reluctance [...] read our review »
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Ulsters Last Stand?: Can Unionism Move Beyond Insurance Policy Politics?
Tweet How has Ulster unionism arrived at where it is today – fractured and uncertain, yet dominated electorally by the DUP, a party that tells us it offers unionists sure footing in uncertain times? In his latest book, Ulster’s Last Stand? Reconstructing Unionism after the Peace Process (Irish Academic Press, 2010), Prof. James McAuley from [...] read our review »
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Propaganda of Peace: Media and culture during the peace process
Tweet Extract from Greg McLaughlin and Stephen Baker: The Propaganda of Peace: The Role of Media and Culture in the Northern Ireland Peace Process. Bristol: Intellect Books. 2010. Political opponents Ian Paisley and Martin McGuiness were confirmed as First Minister and Deputy First Minister of a new executive in May 2007, closing yet another chapter [...] read our review »
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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!
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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?
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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).
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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.
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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.
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Comment on Futile Border Poll campaign to launch
on 9 May 2013 at 5:02 pm
Reader: “So, it’s Unionists + half-Crown + status quo vs. Nationalists + Celtic Tiger.”
No harm, but I find the idea of mooching off someone else, whether it’s a half-crown or half-punt, abhorrent. As I think most people do. Still more frustrating that major policies we all agree could change that, such as devolution of Corporation Tax, are put on the long finger by the British Government. It’s pretty clear what has to be done if there’s going to be any growth here.
As for the status-quo, well I hardly need to go into that do I? Celebrating 117 new jobs at an Administrator the day a local company supporting 600 goes into administration?
And then there are that growing number of panel show audience members and radio phone-ins simply showing an open mindedness to the idea. I remember one guy saying, “Show me how it’ll make me £1000 better off and I’ll vote for it.”
Well, regardless of your position in the social strata you’d almost always be substantially better off even than that. Whether it’s the increase in your dole or the high threshold for income tax.
Pound for pound, “The union will be here for a long time yet” seems like a bit of a bold prediction in the face of all this. Larger gaps have been turned around quicker in Scotland and Catalunya. And the former might just call your bluff before this campaign even really gets off the ground.
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Comment on Futile Border Poll campaign to launch
on 9 May 2013 at 12:20 am
Ah sure, if it was easy it wouldn’t need a campaign Reader
But I disagree anyway. That’s only true if you subscribe to a narrative that most people under 30, in my estimation, have largely deviated from. You don’t have to self-identify as `nationalist` to prefer a UI or to be prepared to vote for it on merit.
I sure as hell don’t but I’d vote for it on economic and what I consider common-sense reasons.
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Comment on Futile Border Poll campaign to launch
on 5 May 2013 at 5:58 pm
“You betcha! I’ve even got the popcorn to hand.”
Excellent! You don’t sound like you might ever be convinced. That’s OK though, so long as you’re sitting back with your popcorn we’ll go after the remaining 45%.
https://twitter.com/GrahamScobie/status/331025037853331456/photo/1
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Comment on Futile Border Poll campaign to launch
on 4 May 2013 at 2:35 pm
“Get as many “pro UI” whatevers sitting round stroking their chins and producing a blizzard of reports on the future Irish Shangri La. Unionists in the main will leave you to it.”
How do you know?
A good friend of mine comes from an old Scottish OO/military family and is the most passionate supporter of Scottish independence.
You might be surprised who gets involved.
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Comment on Futile Border Poll campaign to launch
on 4 May 2013 at 1:22 pm
Good post Ghobsmacht! Especially on the day there’s a post going around Facebook of a page called ‘PUL Views’ taking issue with Coke issuing bottles with Orla and Ciaran printed on them. Highly strung is right.
On Morpheus’ post, it’s worth remembering that pretty much every state runs some deficit. Some people even think it’s a good thing and contributes to the ideal of low, steady inflation.
The northern state’s subvention wouldn’t necessarily map directly to a deficit in the case of independence. Its subvention is around half that of the south’s entire deficit, the problem is that as a function of GDP it’s massive, though we only have estimated GDP figures for the north as far as I can see. But that would be the purpose of independence anyway, to devolve tax powers and grow the economy.
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Comment on Futile Border Poll campaign to launch
on 4 May 2013 at 1:42 am
“A parachute payment I’m sure they’d be only to happy to bestow in what is really, no more than a thorn in their side.”
Well assuming the subvention continues at £10.5bn, and there’s no reason to believe it shouldn’t looking at the last 5-10 year trend, a staggered economic withdrawl by Britain over, say, 10 years, starts to look pretty pricey at around £50bn. But frame the question differently and consider it a 30 year withdrawl where the subvention ends at year 10 and suddenly it becomes a huge saving for the Treasury. Assuming a linear decline ending at year 10, it’s a saving of £260bn+ before the project needs to be appraised. And the turn around time is still nearly half that of Hong Kong.
It’s cigarette box economics aye. But it’s a good bit better than Michael McGimpsey adding a Euro deficit to a Sterling subvention and concluding that the project would be unworkable by the total. Which was presumably in Bitcoins or something. Still can’t believe he got away with that on national television without being widely ridiculed.
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Comment on Futile Border Poll campaign to launch
on 4 May 2013 at 12:59 am
Benjamin:
Certainly not. In fact I’d look forward to how the protestant people would help shape the new nation we’d build! That Presbyterian spirit of revolution might just live in Belfast again
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Comment on Shared future means “free and equal access to public and residential space”
on 3 May 2013 at 11:54 pm
That’s not to take away from this article tho; Mick, Alan and a few others are reliably good.
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Comment on Shared future means “free and equal access to public and residential space”
on 3 May 2013 at 11:51 pm
Fret not Keano, Pete Baker will be along soon with one of his regular DUP-sceptic articles and Kilsally will be along later to tease out the political nuances behind the story.
It’s a shame really because that’s what this blog used to be great for back when I merely lurked here, giving a bit of insight behind the story from people who were stepping outside their comfort zone rather than pontificating from within it. Hope it gets back there.
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Comment on Futile Border Poll campaign to launch
on 3 May 2013 at 12:39 am
“So, for sake of argument, any thoughts as to whom would be best placed to compile a report into ‘the pros and cons’ of a UI or indeed the mechanics of such a transition?”
Form a small steering group made up of pro-UI economists, strategists, business and cultural people, consulting with all pro-UI parties and members of the Orange tradition that would be open to a UI under certain circumstances. Task the group with producing, firstly, a set of hard data and, secondly, a short, digestable document on the data as applied to the most aspirational & achievable shapes of a future UI. The document should cover precedence in other nations as well as projections for our own situation.
Then hold a bloody poll.
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Comment on Futile Border Poll campaign to launch
on 2 May 2013 at 11:53 pm
Good input News_Meister.
Will be interesting to see how this plays out. I see absolutely nothing wrong with it in principle, there’s a precedent for this in many places, not least Catalunya. Whether it’s a good move or not and how it (re)frames the argument will be interesting to see.
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Comment on Adams’s extended RTE interview on political murder turns the southern clock right back for Sinn Fein…
on 30 April 2013 at 1:30 pm
I think it’s also the case that there is a growing proportion of the population that is disillusioned with the state and quick to see any part of it that taxes them, particularly RTÉ, as member of a cabal keeping the status quo in power. For a lot of people, some Sinn Féin voters but others simply disillusioned and bitter, this kind of interview just feeds into that perpective. Instead of being ‘chilled’ they just see it as irrelevant to them. Then it’s not a huge leap to see it as a smear against someone who should be ‘on their side’.
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Comment on News Letter relaunched with new fonts, new templates and perhaps fewer words
on 17 April 2013 at 2:32 pm
Looks good to me.
- One title story on the front page instead of two competing
- Liberated space used to deliver several story intros, wider catchment
- Dark text on light background everywhere instead of alternating, increased readability
Only downside I can see it that the masthead is about the only thing distinguishing it from several other papers it shares a rack with.
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Comment on NI = a hub of multi-millionaires; a dearth of patents; a society of minorities; differing community narratives
on 10 April 2013 at 11:30 am
@Ike
“we do have a Russell Group university in our city.”
QUB sign agreements with all students that the University owns everything they produce while studying. In the event that they create intellectual property worth exploiting the University will split any profits on it’s exploitation 50/50 but generally will not impart ownership back to the student.
The University is famously difficult to work with for enterprising students. I should know, I’ve been on the receiving end. I could give a number of examples (but won’t). Suffice to say, the only way to get back what you created is to raise your own finance and use the clout of the venture capital firm to pry ownership of the IP back from the Uni. This takes time and is very difficult (try raising money for a business on IP you don’t yet own..) but the only other option is to try to convince the University that your product is worth exploiting and then leave it to them to do a good job. No thanks.
Personally I think an institution that receives a huge subvention from the Government should be forced to open this up. I understand UU are much better to work with.
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Comment on John McCallister: Our politics has collapsed and retreated behind old barriers
on 7 April 2013 at 11:49 am
@Comrade Stalin
“various blinkered interventions on behalf of dissident republican prisoners”
You say ‘dissident republican prisoners’ CS. They’d say ‘victims of human rights abuses’. Which would at least be consistent with SDLP policy of yore.
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