Scotland
Scottish independence: Can Alistair Darling at the head of the pro-Union campaign match Alex Salmond?
Alistair Darling is to spearhead a Save the Union campaign of all the pro-union parties in Scotland, according to a Mail on Sunday scoop. The former Chancellor has just confirmed the story on the Marr show, although the BBC website has still to catch up with it.The report says the plan was hatched in true Edinburgh [...] more »
Scotland – choose your narrative.
Gerry Hassan just gets better: Rupert Murdoch, the Referendum and Rangers FC: Self-government has to be a democratising process and project, or it will produce a change in name only which won’t affect the lives and experiences of Scottish people. That entails nourishing a culture which is both honest and humble, respecting different viewpoints and challenging [...] 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 »
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 »
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 »
Could Rangers make a virtue of their moral and financial crisis?
Yep, £170 million. That’s a shocking figure to rack up. It hardly helps the club’s case for decent handling that the last owner of the club takes such a cavalier attitude to the club’s predicament. His remarks came in response to the latest directive from the SFA that they cannot sign any new players for [...] 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 »
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 »
“To preserve a distinctively open-handed Scottish social model”, the UK may be the safest choice…
As per, Northern Ireland not included in these details, but The Economist as something of a rarity amongst London based papers notes that Scotland is the third most prosperous region in the UK: Scotland’s accounts of revenue and expenditure, based on Treasury data, show that it is not a ward of the state, grossly subsidised [...] 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 »
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 »
Media, politics and influence in the 19th and 21st centuries
It’s hard to talk about politics without the media encroaching on the conversation. In an after lunch session entitled Media, politics and influence three speakers presented papers that looked at a range of topics. Carole O’Reilly is a historian at University of Salford and talked about the influence (and funding) from municipal councillors that created [...] more »
In Defence of Politics, Politicians and Political Science: Blunkett, Riddell and Flinders
The PSA conference started this morning with an opening plenary involving three big hitters – one each from the world of politics, media and academia: In Defence of Politics, Politicians and Political Science. Each speaker’s 10 minute remarks are worth a listen. listen to ‘David Blunkett’s opening remarks at Political Studies Conterence opening plenary’ on [...] more »
#PSA12 Conference liveblog (Tuesday)
The Europa Hotel lobby was busy yesterday with Irish World Dancing Championship participants rubbing shoulders [Ed - and ringlets] and Political Studies Association conference delegates. The former had ringlets, the latter carried conference guides! Prof Paul Carmichael from the University of Ulster is co-convening the conference. listen to ‘In Defence of Politics’ on Audioboo Throughout [...] more »
Big News. Innovation from the Executive
Good to see Northern Ireland featuring on the UK national news agenda with a report on the “Tesco tax.,” (Today programme 7.25, Sammy and retail consortium rep interview). Despite the national coverage, inexplicably I can’t find news of the 1st April vesting date for the business charge on the local BBC News website. Old news locally [...] more »
Checks on the Scottish border Theresa? Come and look at ours?
Apparently Theresa May thinks there will be border checks along the Scottish border… Well, yes there may be… But not since Maastricht and 1992 has there been any serious commercial disruption along the UK’s only land border… more »
Rangers FC in crisis: A genuine Ulster Scots saga…
If the Ulster Scots Agency has any spare money they might think about giving it to Rangers Football club and quickly. Recently the players took a 75% pay cut till the end of the season. The Administrators said it was that or the lights went out. The future for the club is bleak. Rangers could [...] more »
“The last thing the Northern Isles want is to be ruled by Glasgow trade unionists and Edinburgh lawyers…”
At the Guardian’s Scotland Blog, Severin Carrell notes the independently-minded Shetland and Orkney Lib Dem MSPs Tavish Scott and Liam McArthur’s attempt to play Alex Salmond at his own game – with a joint, “at best provocative and, in constitutional terms, at least playful”, submission to the UK government’s consultation on the independence referendum. Short BBC [...] 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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