Accountability
Interview with Matt Baggott: his view on PSNI transformation, confidence in policing, over-regulation, vocation & faith
Tweet We usually hear public figures speaking in sound bites. At most ten minute interviews about some topic of the day. We rarely get to listen in as they explain what motivates them to do their job and reflect on their rationale or approach. The PSNI Chief Constable has been given advice on what he [...] more »
Hiding your Publication Scheme defeats the purpose of having one … and raises your costs through needless FOIs
Tweet Publication Schemes are supposed to publicise what information a public body holds and regularly makes available. The Information Commissioners Office have a Model Publication Scheme for District Councils in Northern Ireland, listing the type of information that they must make available. You should publicise the fact that information is available to the public under [...] more »
Can you see your tax dollars at work? Boosting accountability, efficiency and transparency the Louisville KY way
Tweet How accountable and how transparent should public bodies be? Whether council departments within local government, Executive departments or their arms length bodies, do you wish you could see how your money – your taxes and rates – were being spent? These organisations all produce annual reports and high level financial figures. Relatively few councils [...] more »
To whom is a unity candidate accountable?
Tweet To whom is a unionist unity candidate (or any other brand of unity candidate) accountable? Obviously to the voters, though the opportunity to pull the big red handle and eject them from office only comes around once every four years. In-between elections, what party structure will hold them to their manifesto or campaign commitments? [...] more »
What exactly has OFMdFM done in the last six months (warning, it’s not impressive)?
Tweet The Irish News today goes back to a strange little communication from OFMdFM last July 18, which laid out ten achievements. As it notes in its editorial: The statement was sent out one evening during the holiday period via email without any form of briefing. Further details were said to be unavailable and interviews [...] more »
Haiti: ‘Baby Doc’ escapes justice for past abuses
Tweet Given the Slugger community’s interest in Haiti, I thought it worthwhile to note the regrettable decision by a Haitian court not to charge the country’s former dictator, Jean-Claude ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier, over allegations of torture and murder. Duvalier returned to Haiti this time last year after 25 years in exile in France. Since then, he [...] more »
Why intelligent criticism is good for government (and politicians)
Tweet I was uncharacteristically lost for words when I discovered, through Mark Devenport’s latest post, that a senior and highly capable Sinn Fein MLA was using material gleaned from a UK based right wing ginger group (funded so far as we can tell, by non taxpaying British expats) with a known record of rolling together [...] more »
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Books
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What Ireland did right (and what it needs to do)…
Tweet It is difficult to believe now that one country recently sent 19 delegations to Ireland to study how well our economy was managed. The revelation that our model of economic management featured positively in political and economic discussion in countries including Estonia, Greece and Scotland may also come as a surprise. As we survey [...] read our review »
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…if University education were universally available and availed of, the country would collapse in one generation
Tweet The words of Brian O’Nolan, variously Brian Ó Nualláin, Myles na gCopaleen, Myles na Gopaleen and, of course, Flann O’Brien. That O’Nolan was referencing his own dissolute student days at UCD only mildly distracts from the prophetic undertone of his words: I paid no attention whatsoever to books or study and regarded lectures as [...] read our review »
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Of the Old North and other Vanished Kingdoms..
Tweet 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 [...] read our review »
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