election
Iceland election result: two parties blamed for economic meltdown returned to power
Tweet Back to Iceland to look at the election result. The BBC report that: Centre-right opposition parties in Iceland are set for a return to power with nearly all votes counted after Saturday’s parliamentary election. The Independence party has 26% and the Progressive party 24%, putting them on track to win nearly 40 of the [...] more »
A historic vote just took place in the USA. Oh, and Obama won too…
Tweet I’ve no idea how this flew under the radar, but the outside world (bar the BBC) has largely ignored the most historic American plebiscite since the 1950s. Obama’s re-election, important though it is in itself, might find itself eclipsed by what just took place in Puerto Rico – a clear popular vote in favour [...] more »
Adams damning McGuinness with faint praise..?
Tweet IT would have been easy for Gerry Adams to be fulsome in his praise of Martin McGuinness’ presidential campaign. Instead, the intro to Gerry Adams’ latest blog entry seems both ambiguous and odd – although the former may be politically ingrained and the latter blamed on his a faux folksy writing style. And – [...] more »
Stratagem TV: Hurtling towards our uncharismatic election day…
Tweet Episode 4, the upcoming election… Not much change it seems, but Quintin’s tip towards the end (so you’ll have to watch the rest of us to get there!) that there will be big changes in the Executive make up is worth noting… Does he know something the rest of us don’t? I’d have liked [...] more »
“The days of the Assembly as a novelty are over…”
Tweet This classy little video from Stratagem is the first of a series with comment from a range of voices (yours truly amongst them)… It starts with a review of the last four years… more »
UTV North Antrim Election Twitter roadshow
Tweet So next Wednesday we are going to the Braid Arts Centre in Bridge Street Ballymena to host a discussion of the issue facing the voters of North Antrim. We’re hoping to draw in opinion from across the constituency, from Ballycastle down through Ballymoney and Ballymena not to mention the vast rural hinterland. As you [...] more »
SNP steps out into the post Obama election era…
Tweet Here’s a fascinating story from the Scottish political space, not least wearing my own Slugger Consults hat. There is, and I think rightly so, some scepticism about whether all this activity and emphasis on social networking means anything in real political terms. As you know we’re running a series of Twitter election meet ups [...] more »
#AE11 Open Thread: North Down (#ndo11)
Tweet Every year, North Down is a lottery. It has in the deep past been a bit of a no go for the DUP. That broke with the defection of Peter Weir from the UUP. The party now have two MLAs going into this election with a third candidate who has a chance of picking [...] more »
Dump d’Hondt: The UUP’s suggestion for improved Executive
Tweet There are still some folk in the SDLP who see their role (as Mark Durkan undoubtedly did) as the guardians of the institutions set up by the Belfast Agreement. But as we’ve seen with the shift in the rules for the election of First and deputy First Minister’s roles, that’s not a position held [...] more »
McNarry apologises for Nolan outburst…
Tweet Interesting. Ken Reid reports that even though technically speaking David McNarry was right in suggesting Basil McCrea and John McCallister were unforgiveably breaking ranks on a party line (in suggesting the matter of Martin McGuinness becoming First Minister was not important to them), he has apologised for his outburst on Stephen Nolan’s show last [...] more »
Preparing for another Groundhog Day Election?
Tweet Nice piece from Alex Kane again this week, in which he points to the current stasis in which Northern Irish administration suffers: 13 years since the 1998 referendum and weeks away from the fourth assembly, there is still no evidence that the parties have any interest in agreeing a radical, era-changing agenda for what [...] more »
#GE11 Profile: Sinn Fein achieves national currency…
Tweet It’s tempting to overwrite any profile of Sinn Fein’s spectacular move out of its stronghold areas. There were obvious highlights: Gerry Adams topped the poll in good style in Louth and likewise his two Donegal colleagues, Pearse Doherty and Padraig MacLochlainn. And the party performed particularly well in Dublin where there had been concerns [...] more »
Count day open thread
Tweet Mick is on the road again and will be feeding in content when he can. In the meantime he has asked that I open the liveblog. It is only following a few twitter feeds so your comments don’t get buried. If you spot any hot twitter feed we should include let me know. Election [...] more »
Ok, put your cards on the table
Tweet A few weeks ago Paul opened up a blog on election predictions. Now, a bit older and wiser, its time for everyone to put their cards on the table and, rather than risk money, to stake their invaluable credibility as pundits on predicting the outcomes of the election. I’m going to qualify mine by pointing [...] more »
GE11 preview from the south-east: Waterford
Tweet After Wicklow, Wexford and Carlow-Kilkenny, the last ‘south-east’ constituency that I’m going to preview is Waterford. Unlike the others it is a mere four-seater, although it has been an effective three seater since Martin Cullen’s resignation last year. Fifteen candidates are standing in the election in Waterford this time out. Since the quota in [...] more »
GE11 preview from the south-east: Carlow-Kilkenny
Tweet There are a total of 19 candidates standing in the Carlow-Kilkenny constituency. Last time out 3 FF TDs were returned, one of whom (MJ Nolan) is the only one of the five sitting TDs not to stand again. In 2007, a certain amount of conservatism was evident as FF received nearly 48% of the first preference vote, while [...] more »
GE11 preview from the south-east: Wicklow
Tweet I’m going to try and fit in previews of the unfashionable constituencies in the south-east for the general election (you will barely spot them, or the candidates, in the headline debates). Nineteen of the one hundred and sixty-five Dáil seats are located in four constituencies covering five counties. One constituency where the strengths and weaknesses of the various [...] more »
Irish General Election called for 25th February
Tweet So, that’s a contraction from the end of March, then back to the 11th now we have one in February. Interesting times ahead. more »
vote early, check how it was counted often
Tweet Continuing on from a post on 1 November about “faith-based” e-voting. Some interesting ideas from David Bismark at TEDGlobal 2010 about e-voting that tries to simultaneously increases transparency and reduces fraud. One of the main objections to e-voting is that it’s difficult for each voter to know that her vote was recorded accurately and [...] more »
SF win at a canter: Senator Pearse Doherty now Pearse Doherty TD
Tweet The Liveblog is still running but Sinn Fein’s Pearse Doherty has now been declared TD for Donegal South West. In a stunning performance he was elected slightly under quota as the two remaining candidates were unable to catch him. Perhaps the most encouraging factor for SF is Doherty was collecting transfers at high levels [...] more »
-
Books
-
Trimble: Biography of an enigma
Tweet Just finished reading Henry McDonald’s biog of Trimble (US). One of those last minute impulse buys waiting for an early morning flight out of Aldergrove. And still Trimble largely remains the enigmatic creature he was before. However the book is a useful reference for some of the action we’ve had since April 1998 (though [...] read our review » -
The Creative Class and Northern Ireland
Tweet As part of NICVA’s series of masterclasses from its Centre for Economic Empowerment project, there was a morning seminar on the topic of the “creative class” (as popularised by Richard Florida) and its applicability to Northern Ireland. The agenda was to: Explain Richard Florida’s idea of the “creative class” and the link between economic [...] read our review »
-
It’s Derry again – with London and Liverpool, commemorating the Battle of the Atlantic
Tweet From the Dalai Lama to a “ VVIP” at the weekend, Londonderry is proving quite a venue, one of three for commemorating the Battle of the Atlantic this weekend. Good to see the UK City of Culture grafting this on to the programme and the recognition given to its role as a major port [...] read our review »
-