By election
SDLP chooses Patsy McGlone to contest Mid Ulster…
Tweet This is worth noting since it’s a smart choice. And the SDLP have not been known for those in recent years. McGlone has a sound rural base of voters, and a decent local machine. You can almost certainly rule out a win against SF veteran Francie Molloy. In the last Assembly elections Sinn Fein’s [...] more »
McGuinness follows Adams to become Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead
Tweet Updated with a photo of the letter. Six a half months after announcing that he would resign as MP for Mid-Ulster to concentrate on being deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness today finally announced that he’d sent his letter to the Commons to kick of the process. Back in January 2011, Gerry Adams was disqualified [...] more »
And the #belw11 winners were … Paul Maskey (26% of the electorate) and the EONI (165 minutes)
Tweet It was going to be hard for either of them to trip up. Paul Maskey’s coronation to continue Sinn Fein’s reign in West Belfast would have required some kind of enormous scandal to have brewed up earlier this week to spoil his chances – and even the ongoing, rumbling Mary McArdle story wasn’t enough [...] more »
The small matter of a Belfast West by-election #belw11 … and two questions
Tweet It’s difficult to get excited about the Westminster by-election. Polling stations have been open again across West Belfast for the second time in five weeks. This time, it’s a simple one-ballot first past the post election to see who will replace Gerry Adams TD in Westminster. The count will start soon after 10pm in [...] more »
It’s all happening in Scotland..
Tweet Excellent stuff from Alan Trench in the Scotsman It’s difficult to choose specific quotes so read the lot….How the SNP are strategising for independence. And in the here and now: (from the BBC) A by-election In Inverclyde on June 30. I thought Labour might let things cool down a bit before calling this. (Held [...] more »
Donegal SW: Runners and (expected) riders…
Tweet So today the Irish government will move the writ for the Donegal SW. Wikipedia already has a page up and ready to go, with three candidates already named and ready to go: Frank McBrearty for Labour, Pearse Doherty for Sinn Fein and Barry O’Neill for Fine Gael. Its widely expected that the Fianna Fail [...] more »
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Books
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Spare us a phoney row about racism, we’ve got enough on
Tweet A silly media row about racism just had to figure in the riots’ post mortem. Was the Tudor history expert David Starkey racist on Newsnight when he said: The whites have become black. A particular sort of violent, destructive, nihilistic, gangster culture has become the fashion. And black and white, boy and girl, operate [...] read our review »
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At the current rate of progress, gender equality of MLAs at Stormont will only take another 65 years
Tweet Bronagh Hinds’ chapter of Everyday Life After the Irish Conflict: The Impact of Devolution and Cross-Border Cooperation [reviewed yesterday] examines women’s political participation points to limited progress in addressing the gender balance of political institutions. The proportion of councillors who are female rose to 24 per cent in 2011 from 14 per cent in [...] read our review »
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A poem for the day – Launching the Whaler Juan Peron
Tweet 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, [...] read our review »
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