Profile for Tom Griffin
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Tom Griffin has commented 21 times (0 in the last month).
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Books
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A poem for the day – Launching the Whaler Juan Peron
A Belfast epic, and one of my oldest poems, the opener of my first collection, Grub. The gist of the story was found in Moss & Hume’s Shipbuilders to the World: 125 Years of Harland and Wolff, Belfast, 1861-1986, which tells how Eva Peron was due to launch a huge whaling vessel in Belfast, built [...] read our review » -
Do Words Matter?: Book Review of Political Discourse and Conflict Resolution – Debating Peace in Northern Ireland
I share many of the concerns of Andy Pollak, whose recent post ‘My Response to the Slugger Begrudgers’ zeroed in on the ‘relentless flow of negativity’ of some Slugger commentators. Pollak’s post was largely concerned with the medium of the blog. Indeed, I think the anonymity of the online world encourages extreme discourse and allows [...] read our review »
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“You can see Newton’s mind at work…”
To add to the open access treasure trove at the Royal Society, Cambridge University Library is putting online some of its collection of books, maps, manuscripts and journals. We have called the first phase of our work on the Cambridge Digital Library the Foundations Project, which runs from mid-2010 to mid-2013 and has been made possible [...] read our review »
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Comment on Queens visit: The Irish question finally resolved (adv Unionism)?
on 23 May 2011 at 4:00 pm
OneNI:
“The sensible course for a self confident unionism might be to develop issue based politics in common with the rest of the UK. The UUP could make themselves relevant again by mergering with the Conservatives.”
In contrast to the nationalism/unionism debate, integrationism/devolutionism really ought to be settled by now. And this is one area, where I think there is a useful parallel with Scotland and Wales, although I take Mick’s point that the dynamics are distinct.
Nobody has prospered in any of the devolved parliaments by emphasising UK politics. Contrast the disaster of UCUNF with the success of the DUP’s more particularist brand of unionism. Also, it is telling that Alliance has kept its distance from the Lib Dems at Westminster.
Likewise in Scotland, Labour prospered as long as it was seen to be the leading devolutionist force. The subsequent attempt to construct a cordon sanitaire around the SNP, prioritising the union above all else, led directly to the decapitation of all the Westminster parties.
To answer Mick’s point, Labour prospered in Wales by pursuing the opposite strategy, in a coalition with the nationalists that won a referendum for more powers.
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Comment on Queens visit: The Irish question finally resolved (adv Unionism)?
on 23 May 2011 at 1:44 pm
This is what I call a ‘methodological nationalist’ analysis in that it interprets the fate of the union, purely in terms of developments in Ireland.
To offer a ‘methodological unionist’ analysis, the big story in the territorial politics of these islands is the SNP’s overall majority in Scotland. The Queen’s visit arguably helps the SNP in that it shows that good relations are possible between independent nations in these islands.
Also, its worth pointing out that it was a northern nationalist, President Mary McAleese, who invited the Queen, and by all accounts, felt quite strongly personally about it.
I’ve no doubt there is some basis to the feeling of isolation that Alex Kane describes, but it would be a mistake to conclude from that that reconciliation between unionism and southern nationalism is not in the interests of northern nationalism.
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Comment on The true nature of the political upheaval in Scotland
on 26 April 2011 at 3:28 pm
“Given the DUP’s regionalist stance (well backed by the electorate) also, it could be argued that Henry94‘s idea is already being played out.”
I think this is true, and we are already seeing signs of the English response. One of the aspects of the “Blue Labour” debate is that the Labour Party is engaging with English nationalism seriously for the first time.
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Comment on The true nature of the political upheaval in Scotland
on 26 April 2011 at 3:23 pm
You also have to factor in the Scottish Greens who support indepencence. Some of the latest polls show the SNP plus Greens on around 47 per cent of the list vote. That’s extraordinary when you consider their up against the three main Westminster parties. On some of the projections they could have an overall majority between them that would allow them to pass a referendum bill.
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Comment on Clegg bubble boosts Brown
on 18 April 2010 at 5:50 am
If Dorset is anything like Brent East/Central, Mick should have a couple of binfuls of bumpf by now featuring the inevitable barchart and a photo of the liberal candidate about to go to work on the graffiti outside his front door.
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Comment on The British dimension is no threat to stability
on 17 April 2010 at 11:56 pm
Imagine this scenario:
Sean Woodward turns up at Ken Livingstone’s house for secret talks about pan-nationalist unity with the SDLP and Sinn Féin. On the agenda are joint candidates in Upper Bann and North Belfast and a single nationalist slate at the 2011 elections.
Do we think that the Tories would remain silent in those circumstances?
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Comment on Euro breakup – the warning signs
on 15 April 2010 at 10:43 pm
Martin Wolf has been developing an interesting line of argument in the FT that a lot of the periphery’s problems are less about fiscal incontinence, than the collapse of strong private sector demand that was the necessary counterpart to weak demand in Germany.
The project of monetary union confronts a huge challenge. It has no easy way of resolving the Greek crisis. But the bigger issue is that the eurozone will not work as Germany wishes. As I have argued previously, the eurozone can become Germanic only by exporting huge excess supply or pushing large parts of the eurozone economy into prolonged slump, or, more likely, both. Germany could be Germany because others were not. If the eurozone itself became Germany, I cannot see how it would work.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d598e6fc-3c2c-11df-b40c-00144feabdc0.html
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Comment on Popularity contest
on 7 April 2010 at 8:09 am
Trotskyism was the humane form of Communism that Lenin wanted to bequeath on us but was usurped by the murderer Stalin.
Not sure that Trotsky’s record in office actually bears that out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronstadt_rebellion
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Comment on A Bill of Rights will institutionalise sectarianism as a constitutional norm…
on 3 February 2010 at 9:39 pm
A written or codifed constitution is a very long term Labour aspiration. And while devolution is developing some federal characteristics, no main party will accept a federation, because of the assymtery between England and the rest.
Any written constitution would have to formalise the relationships between the different nations of the UK, and the asymmetry would make that very difficult.
I think this is one reason why support for the Union in Britain tends to correlate with support for the constitutional status quo in other respects, while reformists are more likely to be English/Scottish/Welsh nationalists, or at least more devolutionist.
Thre may be a parallel with Ireland there, in that some writers have suggested that it was the difficulty of reforming the UK as a whole that led some early republicans to become Irish nationalists in the first place.
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Comment on Kane resignation letter, and Trimble’s emails…
on 2 February 2010 at 2:45 pm
I think Trimble is talking about the voluntary coalition that Vanguard proposed a year after the collapse of Sunningdale, which they argued was different from the Sunningdale power-sharing model.
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