Parties
“in order to ensure the safety of the community and the officers responding…”
The BBC reports that the PSNI have defended the delay of over an hour before officers arrived at the scene of a car bomb alert in Newry on Saturday night. Unlike the security alert on Friday in the Newry area, this one was eventually declared a hoax. From the BBC report A hijacked taxi, containing [...] more »
NI Justice Minister: “While this area will obviously require careful handling in Northern Ireland…”
Some Northern Ireland MPs have united in opposition to suggested proposals to extend the UK Government’s powers to monitor people’s phone, email and internet records. Some don’t appear to have an opinion… Although there does seem to be some dispute about the actual proposals themselves. Meanwhile, as the BBC report, the UK Government has actually consulted on other proposals [...] more »
Hell hath no fury like a McNarry spurned?
Hat tip to Paul Adams for this one… It seems that the new leader at the UUP’s assertion that David McNarry will not be let back into the Assembly group, is already bringing dark mutterings from the Saintfield based MLA… And he’s using the Martin Niemöller defence: “I leave it to others to judge Mike’s [...] more »
After Peter Robinson, are we seeing the start of softer, more seductive politics?
From where he came from, Peter Robinson has made big strides. At the point Northern Ireland society has reached, he comes across as a cautious consolidator, making a distinct if so far unimaginative success of power sharing. In unionist terms, Peter is David Trimble’s heir in quieter times. After decades of often painful self discipline [...] more »
Mike Nesbitt: “A steely determination to get what he wants…”
Great piece from Alex Kane on Eamonn’s site looking at some of the realities of politics of Northern Ireland, against which he tries to measure the new leader of the UUP… First the winning team: The DUP and SF didn’t get to where they are with make-it-up-as-you-go-along ideas. They defined an end goal, put in [...] more »
“The intention is to appoint a single commissioner…”
Apparently the Northern Ireland Executive OFMDFM are advertising for a single Victims Commissioner to replace the four three current encumbents. According to the UTV report The decision to reduce the number of commissioners is understood to have been prompted by the accomplishments of the previously appointed three. Bertha McDougall, Patricia MacBride and Brendan McAllister – [...] more »
Chief Constable on NI Media: “they are part of the confidence-building…”
The PSNI Chief Constable, Matt Baggott, has been speaking to the Leveson Inquiry about the Northern Ireland media. From the BBC report Mr Baggott said: “The local media in Northern Ireland have an absolute commitment to the future of the province. “They have a stake in it. And they are part of the confidence-building and they [...] more »
“But throughout, his government and party turned a blind eye…”
In the Irish Times the peerless Miriam Lord tackles Micheál Martin’s “swift and decisive” response to the Mahon Tribunal report. From the Irish Times article SPARE US your indignation, Micheál Martin. Button your disgust, Fianna Fáil. We don’t want to hear it. You had your chance and you chose to do nothing. So don’t pretend [...] more »
McCallister promises to clear out the old guard…
Well, if nothing else, John McCallister knows how to grab a headline in a leadership contest… This time he is promising to axe the UUP’s long term chairman, David Campbell who was an integral and widely perceived to be a powerful part of David Trimble’s kitchen cabinet… “I think some people are actually very unfair [...] more »
Don’t underestimate McCallister’s capacity to disrupt some of the UUP’s best laid plans…
Interesting blog piece from Alex Kane over at Eamon’s place… not least for his account for how Danny Kennedy’s (the bookie’s favourite) bid came to a sudden, and crunching end: It was obvious from the outset that Danny Kennedy and Mike Nesbitt were keen on a deal that would embrace thirteen of the fifteen MLAs, [...] more »
UUP’s very public contest for leadership…
There are two striking differences between the UUP’s leadership campaign and that of the SDLP’s is its the current campaign’s brevity and the very public nature of this one versus the party only meetings of the minor nationalist party. Both main contenders have already racked up to public interviews, one each for the BBC’s Sunday [...] more »
“The last thing the Northern Isles want is to be ruled by Glasgow trade unionists and Edinburgh lawyers…”
At the Guardian’s Scotland Blog, Severin Carrell notes the independently-minded Shetland and Orkney Lib Dem MSPs Tavish Scott and Liam McArthur’s attempt to play Alex Salmond at his own game – with a joint, “at best provocative and, in constitutional terms, at least playful”, submission to the UK government’s consultation on the independence referendum. Short BBC [...] more »
Without Opposition, “the UUP remains trapped, un-influential and jointly culpable…”
Alex Kane on the virtues of embracing opposition for the UUP: …it strikes me that the UUP is in the same position as Clegg: it cannot be true to itself and carve out its own identity (which makes it hard to attract new votes) and it shares the general unpopularity of the Executive (which means [...] more »
“Enda sounded like Fr Ted trying to explain to a baffled Fr Dougal the difference between “small” and “far away”.”
In the Irish Times, the peerless Miriam Lord on the latest shenanigans in the Dáil Meanwhile, the saga of the Promiscuous Notes rumbles on. It was Gerry Adams’s turn this time to wave them provocatively at the Taoiseach. The Spanish have the right idea, said the Sinn Féin leader. They took the toro pos los [...] more »
“This has been custom and practice, I have just put it in writing.”
Apparently, 161 publicly-funded press officers are not sufficient to keep Northern Ireland’s troublesome press pack in check… The Belfast Telegraph has gotten hold of a “confidential memo” [not yet online] from the NI Minister of Culture, Sinn Féin’s Carál Ní Chuilín, to the various arms-length bodies (ALBs) within the department’s remit setting out “a proposed media communications protocol”. [...] more »
“I believe that schools are best placed to make decisions in light of what they believe is in the best interests of their pupils.”
So sayeth the Northern Ireland Education Minister, Sinn Féin’s John O’Dowd. He’s not, however, speaking about academic selection… Following a 12-week public consultation on GCSE reform, which ended on 30 December 2011, the NI Education Minister has decided to give no direction on whether schools should use unitised or linear GCSEs. [Let the market decide! - Ed] Indeed. From [...] more »
“We cannot impose; this has to come from within Northern Ireland.”
Nothing in politics, nor in life, is “inevitable” [except death and taxes! - Ed] Indeed. That includes a “border poll” – despite the protestations of the former International Representative for West Belfast, then temporary Crown Steward, now Louth TD, and Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams. The Irish Times reports his latest outburst “A border poll is inevitable. [...] more »
“One step forward. Two steps back. Very awkward.”
In the Irish Times, the peerless Miriam Lord with a useful corrective to more enthusiastic witnesses of the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis at the weekend. From the Irish Times article. IT WAS all terribly awkward. An excruciating comedy of manners where the anxious principals were petrified they might say the wrong thing and upset the whole [...] more »
‘New facts’ in abortion debate
In recent years I’ve tried to track the long slow path to easing the bans on abortion in both parts of Ireland. And while I support it, I know full well it is no magic bullet so to speak. And so in the cause of disinterested debate and acknowledging the existence of many awkward facts, I [...] more »
“I am delighted to hear that the people of Northern Ireland are the happiest in the United Kingdom”
Some good news! [Peter Robinson will be pleased - Ed] Possibly… According to the Office of National Statistics’ analysis of experimental subjective well-being data from the Annual Population Survey, April to September 2011, the people of Northern Ireland are the happiest in the United Kingdom. In fact the, admittedly subjective, data reveals that the people [...] more »
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The Written World
Here’s something to keep you occupied over the weekend. [Will there be a quiz? - Ed] Possibly… The BBC magazine has an short and interesting, but un-embeddable, audio slide-show of Melvyn Bragg’s Radio 4 five-parter, In Our Time: The Written World. The British Library has more online information about the texts and technology featured in each [...] read our review » -
What has The Third Man got to say about Northern Ireland?
Short answer: very little, other than he enjoyed the environs of Hillsborough Castle, enjoyed working with the local politicians, and has Gerry Adams to thank for Bobby his dog. Peter Mandelson’s book The Third Man has captured media headlines in recent weeks as the Times serialised the most juicy bits. But what did he have [...] read our review »
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Risk of going beyond either/or…
This is article was first published in Fortnight magazine back in February 2003. Chris Farrington is now a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences’ in the School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin. Although the circumstances it describes has changed radically and [...] read our review »
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