England
Grammar schools and social mobility: a Northern Ireland contribution to the debate
Here’s something that won’t make relations between the Education and Finance ministers any easier.. An approving poll for a UK wide campaign to revive grammar schools has received a gushing review from Independent columnist Mary Anne Sieghart. It’s pegged to the general angst about stalled – even reversed – social mobility which all UK political [...] more »
Man City’s real triumph may be the undoing of Premiership’s featherbedding of past champions…
Well, they did it. I was in P4 when the team I (“Foolishly?” – Ed) chose to support in Primary School last won the championship of English football. Yesterday I watched them win again just round the corner from where I saw them gain promotion against Gillingham in 1999, when “typical City” similarly left their [...] more »
Community silence starting to break over abuse in Lancashire?
On foot of the conviction of nine Asian men in Liverpool on Monday here’s a long and considered piece by Michael White on the difficulty of tackling a particularly pernicious problem Writing in Tuesday’s Times, Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Rochdale-based Ramadhan Foundation, reports how elders in his own community have shrugged their shoulders [...] more »
Can Cameron get beyond “jejune policy and serial incoherence”?
I offer this as an addendum to Turgon’s piece… First, Matthew Parris in the Times on Saturday… To Mr Cameron’s critics first. Spare us, please, every sentence with the words, “bedrock”, “core”, and “traditional supporters”, abiding values or “traditional conservatism” in it. What do these words mean – what in terms of doable legislation that [...] more »
A “Boris in every city” rejected at the polls
David Cameron’s vision of strong elected personalities leading cities across England [Ed - aren't those called councillors?] has been rejected by nearly all those cities who held mayoral referendums on Thursday. With all the city referendums now counted, Bristol is the only new city to support the switch to having a directly elected mayor. However, [...] more »
UK lacks a ‘broader, stabilising and federalising political project’ (or any defence against Scots Independence)…
Great piece from Lallands Peat Worrier (H/T Phil!) who looks at the dilatory effects of the devolution project on the United Kingdom. And he starts with Salmond’s concept of ‘social union’, or ‘killing the union with kindness’: To move from Union to independence is not, on this theory, the foregoing of ties with England, Wales [...] more »
Premiership: Not all teams are actually ‘participating’ in the same competition
Stuart Brennan of the Manchester Evening News has a great piece on how gross forms of inequality drive out competition and depress open markets. Of course City, if they close out this season, have bought the Premier League. But then again, which Premier League winner hasn’t? The problem that United fans have got is that, [...] more »
Snap, Craickle and Pop: The Controversy of Popular Gaelicisation
Ever since Ireland was told that the black stuff might not be Irish, but rather a porter stout from Covent Garden, the country has descended into a frantic state of uncertain soul-searching and impassioned reflection to clarify once and for all what is actually ‘Irish’ (potatoes, Gaelic Storm, and Saint Patrick aside). But now [...] more »
City of Culture: badge of authority around which people can gather to work collectively?
I’ve always assumed there was more than a passing similarity between Liverpool and Derry. Neither is quite what they were, both have a long history as a major deep water port, with propensity to look outwards rather than inwards. As I passed through my old haunts in the English city the other day, I came [...] more »
The Biggest Issues – what happens when talk radio goes awry?
One day I’ll have time to listen to the Afternoon Play Afternoon Drama live on Radio 4 while sitting on a comfy chair with a hot cup of tea in my hand. Until the mortgage is paid off, I have to settle for dipping in and out every week or two. Last Tuesday’s play – [...] more »
Did Murdoch help lose election for a Tory only government?
Well, maybe not. But Mike Smithson puts together some external reasons that the Murdoch endorsement may have brought more trouble than luck to Cameron’s door: By September/October 2009, the time of the Sun’s endorsement, the blues were in the 40s with a solid 17% lead and looked all set to be returned with a comfortable [...] more »
Johnston Press plan for survival: Social, Local, Mobile
The man who launched the BBC iPlayer on-demand service, who then jumped ship into Project Kangaroo before bouncing into Microsoft as a VP for UK Consumer and Online landed as the CEO of Johnston Press on 1 November 2011. Yesterday Ashley Highfield announced his plans to improve the viability of Johnston Press’ stable of 18 [...] more »
“….some senior Conservatives are privately starting to wonder…”
In case you missed it over the weekend, James Kirkup has done some digging into the workings of No 10 and finds that one of Cameron’s failings is that he’s just not political enough (for his many critics): Because Mr Cameron’s team is not regularly involved (meddling, some would say) in the daily work of [...] more »
The Imperfectionists (Tom Rachman) – an insight into a newspaper that’s maybe not so fictional
‘news’ is often a polite way of saying ‘editor’s whim’ Given the shift from print to online and e-ink, maybe Tom Rachman’s The Imperfectionists was a suitable first first book for me to finish reading on the Kindle. Considering the economic pressures on the newspaper industry, his novel perhaps captures the spirit and soul of [...] more »
The Ken and Boris show dominate’s London’s playground politics…
Well, in London the Ken and Boris show had it’s second outing with Ken grabbing the bulk of the news coverage for his emotional response to his own party launch… (the Guardian have even started their own poll to see if you were affected in the same way)… Well that’s one way to make a [...] more »
John Bercow: What should a 21st century Parliament look like?
The Speaker of the House of Commons was omni-present on the last day of the Political Studies Association conference. After a morning session with NICVA, a post lunchtime session on engagement and impact, he wrapped up the conference by delivering the closing lecture. School children studying politics packed the room, more than making up for [...] more »
Mr Speaker, the Lord Speaker, and no chance of a job swap with Willie Hay!
NICVA organised a fringe event at the last day of the Political Studies Conference in Belfast. Representatives from voluntary and community groups had a change to listen to and question the Speakers of the Houses of Commons and Lords, and think through ways in which they could contribute to a healthy democracy. listen to ‘Mark [...] more »
McGuinness: “open to using new language, and consider making new compromises”
The deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness spoke last night before the Political Studies Association conference dinner in the plush surroundings of Belfast City Hall. He initially covered the mandatory tourism information, quoting travel guides that say “Belfast is a must see city in 2012” and adding that “Derry city – or as some people call [...] more »
#PSA12 Conference preview and liveblog (Wednesday)
Day two in the Big Brother house Europa Hotel, and the Political Studies Association conference has another full day planned. Throughout the conference, a liveblog will capture tweets (hashtag #psa12) and photos and links to what’s happening. (You can also catch a quick round up of some of yesterday’s events in a previous post.) Prof [...] more »
Round up of Tuesday’s Political Studies Association conference
If you want to get a flavour of the proceedings at the Political Studies Association conference on its opening day, then the Storify collation below will bring you some of the images, tweets and sounds of the day. Particular highlights included: the Opening Plenary with David Blunkett, Peter Riddell and Matthew Flinders; and the late [...] more »
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Total Politics: Top 20 NI Blogs…
Fair play to Iain, he managed to get over 2,200 people voting in his poll for the top Northern Irish blogs this year… We (just, I imagine) retained our top spot, with Splintered coming straight in at number 2, no doubt his pet subject du jour will have garnered him a lot of fans… I’ve [...] read our review »
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Debating the Churches’ Role in the Peace in Northern Ireland
This morning’s Sunday Sequence featured a substantial debate (about 35 minutes into the recorded programme) on a new book,Religion, Civil Society and Peace in Northern Ireland (Oxford University Press 2011), written by sociologists John Brewer, Gareth Higgins and Francis Teeney. The debate was framed in an opening vignette by presenter William Crawley in uncompromising terms, [...] read our review » -
“It was a trivial problem that… occurs every year”
Just your average family gathering at Christmas, with a bit of an argument about the seating cleaning arrangements… Scuffles have broken out between rival groups of Greek Orthodox and Armenian clerics over a turf war in Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity. Bemused tourists looked on as about 100 priests fought with brooms while cleaning the [...] read our review »
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