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sbelfastunionist has commented 15 times (5 in the last month).
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Hearing the Other Voice from the Grave: Why Should we Listen to David Ervine’s Stories?
Ed Moloney’s Voices from the Grave: Two Men’s War in Ireland has received considerable attention in the press and in the public realm since its publication earlier this year. Although the book relates the experiences of the Provisional IRA’s Brendan Hughes and the PUP/UVF’s David Ervine, much of the discussion has focused on Hughes’ stories [...] read our review » -
Help me with the West Wing: Essential viewing or Party Political Broadcast?
Having somehow managed to avoid watching a single episode of the widely praised West Wing TV series I was delighted to discover the entire Box set in my Christmas stocking – and with enough spare time over the holidays to give it a good lash. But with 10 episodes of the first series under my [...] read our review »
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Of the Old North and other Vanished Kingdoms..
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 human [...] read our review »
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Comment on Poots village idiot remarks showed poor handling from the Speaker…
on 23 April 2012 at 10:02 pm
Danielsmoran
I would actually, an apology is an apology no matter where it is delivered. If McCarthy had have attended, I’m not sure how he could have lost out by announcing that the Minister was summoned to apologise personally to him rather than a performance in the chamber. As I indicated earlier my view on this is that Poots was foolish to make the remark and he should have apologised himself at the time but unless it is something particularly obscene or offensive MLAs should be big boys and girls and not drag things out.
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Comment on Poots village idiot remarks showed poor handling from the Speaker…
on 23 April 2012 at 9:10 pm
Mick, that’s a fair enough point though the fact that the Assembly went into recess probably didn’t help.
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Comment on Poots village idiot remarks showed poor handling from the Speaker…
on 23 April 2012 at 8:12 pm
Just on the biased remark – who are the only two Members Hay has put out of the Assembly Chamber? Iris Robinson and Nelson McCausland. Biased of course
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Comment on Poots village idiot remarks showed poor handling from the Speaker…
on 23 April 2012 at 8:03 pm
Not sure Hay did handle this weakly. He made clear the Minister was out of line and called a meeting in his office to ensure the Minister apologised and Members in the past have been given a chance to apologise before any other action is taken However, his other comments are interesting on how other Members dealt with the issue and it is clear that Alliance mishandled the issue by playing politics with it and demanding blood. I am sure Hay was highly impressed with McCarthy going on Nolan and giving a detailed account of his discussions with him. But overall, I think most people will join in despair that this schoolboy squabble was a big issue and it was right to move it on. I would like to see the Health Minister dealing with health issues funnily enough.
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Comment on SF Lord Mayor to step down before having to meet the Queen…
on 23 April 2012 at 7:34 pm
Fully agree with Drumlins Rock. I don’t see what all the fuss is about. SF have supported funding for those who wish to celebrate the Jubilee but don’t wish to part of the celebrations themselves and are facilitating a Mayor being in place who will happily take part in any Council led festivities. Surely that’s fair enough.
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Comment on Spiteful Peter launches broadside at Nolan during Party Speech
on 26 November 2011 at 5:37 pm
On a slightly deeper analysis, thought it was interesting that Robinson singled out Nolan for comment but not Elliot or Allister. Is the subliminal message that only Nolan is coming close to acting as an opposition?
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Comment on Reg Empey to step down from leadership
on 15 May 2010 at 9:41 pm
Yet again the UUP turns to internal process and another party review. Ever consider that the people contributing to this review are part of the problem and don’t have the answers. The DUP will be rubbing their hands if they continue the UCUNF disaster. I thought a common problem during the campaign debates and interviews etc was that the UUP failed to articulate any real benefits from the tory link. Every UUP member interviewed constantly went on that they were fighting to be in the government and to have seats in the cabinet but it just sounded as if they were after the perks themselves rather than explaining what they would do with them and how it could benefit NI explicitly. On a related point, has Lord Trimble not received a call from Downing Street yet?
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Comment on A weekend of political uncertainty
on 9 May 2010 at 5:55 pm
Slug
I agree with you that we do not need to be talking about one big party but there will be a focus on better cooperation especially as the next election will divert attention to who should be first minister.
I think tone is important. I think unionist voters are more mature than thinking unionist unity has to be complete agreement. That is where the UUP went wrong in continually counting how many statements the DUP had issued criticising them. I have no objection to constructive criticism of policies and giving the voters a choice. However too often it has been sneering at each other both ways. Unionism is not greatly served by those old party stagers who see their party brand being more important than all else and can’t see forward (in both DUP and UUP). I was canvassed by a veteran UUP councillor and the new Westminster candidate. When I raised various issues the new candidate was prepared to listen and engage. The councillor just went on the attack trotting out tired party lines. I then asked about unionist unity – an answer which outlined some areas of policy disagreement would have been fine. However, the candidate said there was too much personal animosity for it and the councillor said it couldn’t happen “because Paisley started it.” I told him I couldn’t vote for someone who was going to hold grudges from the sixties and couldn’t move forward with a vision.
Grannie Trixie – I also agree that in East Belfast and other cases we are clealry seeing that the electorate is more fluid and less tribal than ever before. No party or candidate can take the vote for granted. They are happy to switch back and forth and will clearly do so when they don’t like the candidate.
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Comment on A weekend of political uncertainty
on 9 May 2010 at 3:35 pm
Mick your points are actually fair but I actually think this election was a step towards a maturing of the unionist electorate and unionism moving forward. It was always going to be an incremental process so it is important to compare it to the Euro elections. In that campaign, the DUP were still uncomfortable and unsure of the support they had for powersharing and spent all their time looking over their shoulder. As a result, they reverted to familiar territory and fought Jim Allister on his turf – a strategy that was always going to lose them support. Let us all remember though the predictions that were made then about how the DUP would perform at this general election. This time they stood clearly on the hard decisions they have made and focused a lot more on bread and butter issues and had a strong performance retaining 8 seats. Yes the vote was down but in the circumstances and against the euro campaign I think most DUP members would be happy with 8 seats. TUV’s vote shows the arguments within unionism on powersharing are now dead. It was also remarkable that the party managed to largely isolate the impact of the recent scandals to East Belfast. I guess that Robinson will be given a few months to bow out gracefully and then the DUP can have a new broom in place in time for the Assembly elections. East Belfast shows that if the election is going to be about who is First Minister then Peter Robinson will be a liability. I also think it would be more merciful to let a broken man bow out rather than put him through another year of media scrutiny. If he goes, I think the DUP can still pull in over 30 seats next year. Some comments I have seen today from UCUNF saying that the prospect of David Cameron in government puts them in a strong position to take 4 of their target seats next time is great news for the DUP. It is exactly the same sort of complacency after the euro election and cloud cuckoo land talk which will put UCUNF more out of touch. The future now is for greater cooperation and a more civilised tone to debate within unionism from both sides.
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Comment on Let`s keep Northern Ireland moving forward
on 8 May 2010 at 11:43 pm
I do think Nicholas and others have been a bit unfair here. You can’t just judge the DUP result against 2005 when they were on a high and ignore all the things which have happened since. This time the DUP were in government with SF and were being challenged by TUV and a Tory blitz after 6 months of negative headlines and scandals. Now, in the weeks after the Euro elections few people would have predicted that the DUP would hold 8 out of the 9 seats. I actually think it is remarkable and a sign of the maturity of the unionist electorate that the most of the damage from the scandals was isolated to East Belfast. It is also a clear message for the DUP that their future lies in a positive campaign standing up for the deals they have done which was not what they did during the euro election. To lose only one seat in the circumstances is excellent.
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