devolution
Embarrassment over Stormont Executive’s shameful failiure to support UK wide free speech and libel reform
Tweet I’m obliged to Jeff Dudgeon for drawing attention to the latest failure by the Executive. It has come to light that the Stormont powers that be failed to agree on bringing Northern Ireland into line with the English Defamation Bill and so bring much needed reform to the libel laws – if the Bill isn’t [...] more »
Unionists be warned. Negative campaigning against Scottish independence is not enough
Tweet A warning shot against unionist complacency in Scotland… Backing for independence among voters aged 18 to 24 stood at 58 per cent, according to the latest Ipsos MORI survey on voting intentions for the 2014 referendum…There were 34 per cent who supported Scotland leaving the UK, the poll of more than 1,000 people interviewed [...] more »
Book launches: Everyday Life After the Irish Conflict and Belfast 400
Tweet Two books were launched tonight in Belfast. A reception was held at the City Hall to mark the book commissioned to mark the four hundredth anniversary of the city’s charter. I reviewed Belfast 400: People, Place and History (edited by Sean Connolly) back in December. It tells the story of the city that “emerged [...] more »
Are our versions of history sundering or reconciling us?
Tweet Martin Kettle in the Guardian pens a lament for the ignorance of the English about their own history. The outcome, he claims is a” loss of national self respect” and the threat of a disintegrating Union. For once, the term “English” is used deliberately. It’s a long time since AJP Taylor’s superb English History [...] more »
Will the Scottish independence debate ripple south of the border and across the Irish Sea?
Tweet At last, it’s game on for the Independence Debate. London based comment has decided that on balance David Cameron had the best of Round One, or the “Edinburgh Declaration, “ as Alex Salmond dubbed it with typical initiative-grabbing grandiosity. Salmond of course hasn’t conceded any such thing. Leaving the wording of The Question aside for later debate, [...] more »
Stop pretending over welfare cuts
Tweet In practice because of the funding straightjacket, welfare is not devolved to Holyrood, Cardiff Bay or Stormont. So are the objections to the new universal credit in both Holyrood and Stormont any more than political grandstanding? Differential welfare payments make little or no sense without extensive tax raising powers. And there is no sign [...] more »
Deal announced on Scottish referendum
Tweet The deal between the UK and Scottish governments on the referendum is done and will be sealed on Monday. The Scotland Office and the SNP government seem to have jumped the gun on Downing St by announcing agreement on a single “yes, no question,” but with votes for 16 year olds added, if the Scottish Parliament [...] more »
What was the Ulster Covenant about?
Tweet What was the Ulster Covenant whose centenary is being commemorated on “Ulster Day” 29 September really about? 400,000 signed the Solemn League and Covenant and the Women’s Declaration in a vast demonstration of public opinion that still impresses today. The production of the largest Union Jack is history, 48’x25’was an example of PR sureness [...] more »
Big News. Innovation from the Executive
Tweet 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 [...] more »
Checks on the Scottish border Theresa? Come and look at ours?
Tweet 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 »
Scottish referendum: ‘Devo more’ could be a unionist runner
Tweet On the subject of greater powers for Holyrood, there’s something of a right wing split between the Telegraph newspapers and the darling of the Tory grass roots, blogger Tim Montgomerie of ConservativeHome. The Sunday Telegraph leader dealt with the subject with a knowledge of the subject that would disgrace an unpaid intern: To concede [...] more »
It’s the English question now, stupid
Tweet The Scottish media were a PhD dissertation about chippiness all unto themselves,” reflected Mr Blair in his memoirs, the Times editorial (£) recalled. By those standards, it seems Dave’s nervous apologia for the Union in Edinburgh fitted the bill after all, presentation wise. Substance was more problematical. In the Times (£) the august Scots [...] more »
The UK comprises four nations not two and its history is a lot more complicated than many seem to appreciate
Tweet Nice piece from David Torrence at the Steamie (H/T Phil) Is any of this important? I think it is, not only because the history of any state is important, but also because the story of the United Kingdom gave rise to much of the political terminology we still use today. For example the term [...] more »
How the Scots don’t yet understand the English…
Tweet Fascinating piece by Peter Jones in the Scotsman in which he highlights how Tory newspapers sowed a senior discontent not simply with the Scots, but with the United Kingdom: …the advent of devolution is one of the factors which appears to have contributed to this rising discontent. The fact that it has appeared some [...] more »
Unionists too distanced from the future of the Union debate?
Tweet One of the reasons I argued that making the proposed marriage between the Conservatives and the Ulster Unionists would work well for both parties was that it would shore up Cameron’s party colleague’s woeful lack of understanding of the constitution of their own country. Something at Reg Empey shows a residual grasp of: “I [...] more »
Only a fool would call the Scottish independence referendum at this distance
Tweet “Scots, wha hae wi’ Wallace bled – Scots, wham Bruce has aften led – Welcome to your gory bed. Or to victorie!” Punditry is not an art that suits the modest. Anyone asking people to take time and trouble to read their writing, let alone expecting them to pay for the privilege, is usually [...] more »
David Cameron has transformed the SNP’s long game of Scottish independence into a penalty shootout
Tweet David Cameron has hugely raised the stakes over Scottish independence by planning to give the Scottish Parliament legal powers to hold a binding referendum, provided it takes place within a tighter time frame than that envisaged by the SNP government. See the chess analysis by the doyen of Scots commentators Magnus [...] more »
Back to the future with IONA?
Tweet Three cheers for the Guardian for giving space to the future of the Union ( the English-Scots version) and two to Simon Jenkins for trying to shake the Westminster establishment out of its complacency. Partly, he has in mind the commission being set up to review the conundrum of the “West Lothian Question” under [...] more »
Devolution – the Respect Agenda
Tweet The Devolved leaders’ statements from Scotland Alex Salmond, Carwyn Jones, Peter Robinson and Martin McGuiness set their stall for next week’s Joint Ministerial Committee meeting. There’s a bit of tension between Salmond and Jones on the next steps. To use one of those terrible business phrases it’s important to be on the same page….maybe [...] more »
To protect the Union, recast the Scotland Bill
Tweet A strategy for recovery for Unionism in Scotland comes from the unexpected source of John McTernan, a New Labour strategist much respected in Cameron’s Downing St. He’s here talking about a revival for the Scottish Conservatives whose low vote is actually underrepresented in both Parliaments. But he could just as easily be talking about [...] more »
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Books
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Sunday Supplement
Tweet It being Sunday, we’ve all got time to consider and ponder things at greater length than during the working week, yes? If it’s good enough for the Sunday papers, it’s good enough for this guest blogger. So here’s the review section… Actually, it’s my introduction to a book published last year, Goin’ Down Slow: [...] read our review » -
Legion of the Rearguard – Dissident Irish Republicanism by Martyn Frampton, Book Review
Tweet Are you confused about ‘dissident’ Irish Republicanism? Anxious about its existence and its seemingly increasingly deadly capabilities? Martyn Frampton’s new book, Legion of the Rearguard: Dissident Irish Republicanism (Irish Academic Press, 2011) serves both as a primer on active dissident groups and a timely analysis of their historic significance and contemporary capabilities. This book [...] read our review »
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Round up of Tuesday’s Political Studies Association conference
Tweet 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 [...] read our review »
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