“Most people believe social care should be free, but there’s a lot of confusion out there”

Social care must be reformed. If it wasn’t clear before the Covid-19 pandemic, it has become tragically obvious over recent weeks. So this is an opportune time to hear in the latest Holywell Trust Forward Together podcast from Deirdre Heenan, professor of social policy at Ulster University and joint author nine years ago of a major study into Northern Ireland’s health and social care system. “The vast majority of people accept and want the NHS to be free at the …

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#HeenanAnderson report published + some home truths & requests from shadow SoS Ivan Lewis

The shadow Secretary of State Ivan Lewis established the Heenan-Anderson Independent Commission this time last year (and the group formally launched in November) to make recommendations on intergenerational poverty and social exclusion in Northern Ireland. Ed Miliband addressed one of their public meetings in the UU Belfast campus in January. On Tuesday morning the co-chairs Deirdre Heenan and Colin Anderson delivered their report [PDF], based on written and oral evidence gathered from over 600 participants Deirdre commented that while poverty …

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Xchange Summer School 2015: bravery in the face of challenge #xss15 (updated with audio from Jo Berry, Patrick Magee, Ann Travers conversation)

Living through the challenge of austerity mean that the Third Sector in Northern Ireland will “have to show bravery, take decisive action, be willing to change, celebrate diversity and yes, think the unthinkable” according to the organisers of the Xchange Summer School. The sofa set from the inaugural event in Enniskillen has been traded in and this year’s contributors are sitting around a kitchen table that has taken over the stage of the Great Hall in UU’s Magee campus. Introduced …

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Ed Miliband in Belfast – no gaffs, little charisma, but a definite listening ear at the Heenan-Anderson Commission

When it comes to visiting English political party leaders, the people of Northern Ireland are unexcited. The hand of history is wobbling over the shoulder of Labour’s Ed Miliband and few really expect the DUP to hold the balance of power after the May 2015 election. However, it has been many years since Ed Miliband called in on this side of the Irish Sea, and the Labour party leader was over to sit in on the Heenan-Anderson Independent Commission’s listening …

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Join Ed Miliband and address a public meeting of Heenan-Anderson Commission on Thursday 22

Members of the Heenan-Anderson commission will have their listening ears on as Labour leader Ed Miliband joins them to hear from local individuals and groups in a public meeting on Thursday 22 January in the Ulster University Belfast campus from 10am to 12.30pm. The Labour leader will also deliver a keynote address. [Ed – bet he doesn’t mention One Nation!] The commission – launched by the Shadow Secretary of State Ivan Lewis back in November – are keen to views …

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Heenan-Anderson Commission launches with appeal for ideas to tackle economic marginalisation & deprivation

Shadow Secretary of State Ivan Lewis launched his Heenan-Anderson Commission at lunchtime. The co-chairs – academic Deirdre Heenan and businessman Colin Anderson – were announced nine weeks ago and together an expert panel will examine the reasons for economic marginalisation and deprivation in Northern Ireland and provide recommendations to address the long-standing issues and improve opportunities for those who “currently have no stake in the economy and are at the margins of their communities”. With expectations being actively managed downwards …

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Ivan Lewis (shadow SoS) sets up Heenan-Anderson commission to address worklessness & intergenerational poverty

English MPs with an interest in Northern Ireland are coming along like buses today. Labour MP and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Ivan Lewis delivered a speech to the Labour party conference in Manchester this afternoon. He joked that the city was home “to three institutions in serious decline … the Tory party, the Lib Dems and Manchester United.” When people tell you politics can’t change anything, politicians don’t make a difference, give them a two word answer, …

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