“…but latterly Robinson has performed well enough in this regard”

The northern Irish media have been camped for so long on Peter Robinson’s lawn that there will be very few people left when he eventually does retire from politics who cannot say they hadn’t predicted it already (and in some cases, long long ago). In yesterday’s Irish News Newton Emerson has written something of a valedictory (just in case he is actually going to go this time). It’s a fittingly unsentimental account for such a cold fish of a politician: …

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Cartoon – “The unelected and unelectable…”

The soundbite of the week past probably came from Westminster and from David Cameron at PMQs. Probed repeatedly by the leader of the Opposition on the cost of cuts to tax credits to the ordinary family, the Prime Minister simply said the reform was blocked by an alliance of “the unelected and the unelectable.” Stormont had an eventful week itself, and I suppose you could argue those adjectives apply to the First Minister and new Junior Minister. Brian SpencerBrian is a writer, artist, political cartoonist …

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Cartoon – ‘The ghost of Peace Process past’

PEACE PROCESS RULES: The parallel between Robinson and former First Minister David Trimble has been made, and it is plain to see. We know how Trimble’s career ended, and that ghost hangs over the ongoing debacle.

Is Peter Robinson’s time as DUP leader coming to an end?

In todays News Letter, Sam McBride has a report on the mounting pressure for Peter Robinson to step down as DUP leader and First Minister. McBride reports the concern within the party about how the DUP would do in an Assembly election led by Robinson; There is concern within the party at how it would fare if an election was called, with one senior figure telling the News Letter that the DUP has been “haemorrhaging” support over recent weeks. In …

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[Cartoon] #BackToTheExecutiveDay

October 21 2015 was ‘Back To The Future Day‘, the date in ‘Back To The Future II’ that Marty McFly travelled forward to in order to save his children. That date was also the day when Peter Robinson travelled back to Stormont to save the power sharing executive. A nice historical coincidence. Brian SpencerBrian is a writer, artist, political cartoonist and legal blogger. Actively tweeting from @brianjohnspencr. More information here: http://www.brianjohnspencer.com/ www.brianjohnspencer.com/

“My colleague Mr Girvan described this entire mess as a “dirty scheme”: do you agree with that?”

It may be that Mairtin has had second thoughts, possibly after reading Slugger… “Attempts to score cheap political points totally miss the real purpose of the inquiry which is to investigate allegations of corruption and possible conflicts of interest. “Instead of trying to use the inquiry as an opportunity for party political grandstanding, all members should be working together to get to the truth of this major public interest issue.” Quite. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has …

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Rogue ministers: Preparing for an election?

Not quite the morning after the night before, the Assembly sits tomorrow for the first time since Peter Robinson’s tactical, though perhaps not strategic, masterclass. The resignation of four DUP ministers on Thursday leaves many unanswered questions, literally, the most pressing of which in the short term is whether the current Assembly has a future as it descends into farce.

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Robinson: “I am therefore standing aside as First Minister and other DUP Ministers will resign with immediate effect’

Peter Robinson pulls the plug on the Executive (We think); As someone who invested many hours trying to bring devolution to Northern Ireland, and to maintain it, I have tried to create space to allow these critical unresolved matters to be dealt with in a structured manner. Local Ministers making local decisions is best for Northern Ireland. The failure of the SDLP and Sinn Fein to implement the Stormont House Agreement together with the assessment from the Chief Constable of …

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Robinson: ‘We will have discussions with other parties about tabling the necessary exclusion motion in the Assembly’

Interesting statement in from Peter Robinson over the PSNI’s comments about the murder of Kevin McGuigan; Last week I indicated that the Police Service of Northern Ireland must be free to fully investigate the murder of Kevin McGuigan without regard to any potential political consequences. I have had an initial discussion with the Chief Constable who has indicated the direction of travel of his investigation as it relates to the involvement of Provisional IRA members. The PSNI has asked for …

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Robinson: “Nobody goes on forever and I had a timely warning on that in terms of having a heart attack”

Good scoop by Liam Clarke in the Belfast Telegraph with his interview with First Minister, Peter Robinson. The interview covered areas of welfare reform, Stormont collapsing but the most interesting bit was in Robinson’s future. Asking him about the issue he said; Nobody goes on forever and I had a timely warning on that in terms of having a heart attack, but I do want to hand over at the right time and I want to hand over in the …

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Sammy Wilson steps down from the Assembly

One of our most colourful MLAs has stepped down from the Assembly. Former Finance Minister, Sammy Wilson has resigned as an MLA for East Antrim in order to concentrate on Westminster. Speaking about his decision he said; Having served as Finance Minister for four years it is deeply disappointing that I leave the Assembly at a time of such uncertainty caused because of the economic illiteracy of both Sinn Fein and the SDLP. Their refusal to live up to the …

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Round up on the NAMA/Tughans/Robinson story…

So, what’s been happening on the Project Eagle story today then? So the DFP committee is to investigate the matter, but the chair of that committee thinks it may have to be referred to the Guards and the PSNI. Oh, and Mick Wallace doesn’t see the point. On the Robinson side of the story Gareth (not Gavin who also it seems has links at Tughans) and his PR firm are making themselves unavailable for comment. Next, the Irish News lead …

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Propagation of patriarchy and restriction of female bodily autonomy is the unifying bridge between Nationalism and Unionism in Northern Ireland.

In October 2013, Sarah Ewart braved the public gauntlet by speaking on the Stephen Nolan show of her experience as a pregnant woman carrying a foetus with fatal abnormalities. Few could find themselves unmoved by Ewart’s tragic story – made worse by archaic laws in Northern Ireland forcing her to travel to England to pay for abortion services. Speaking to an audience that included an individual who would soon be convicted of harassing Marie Stopes director Dawn Purvis, Ewart argued …

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East Belfast: where the progressives met their Waterloo

It is the two hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. These days, however, the French seem to celebrate it as a victory rather than a defeat. So finally we can celebrate after five horrible years as the bastion of awfulness finally fell: oh yes and it was VE day as well. Excitement amongst unionists over the defeat of Naomi Long is tempered by the fact that she was hardly a terrorist cheerleader in chief. Rather much of the pleasure …

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It’s resignation Jim, but not as we know it

So Jim Wells has tendered his resignation. There’s something in the back of my mind about Peter Robinson threatening to resign before and withdrawing the threat when the storm had passed. Maybe I’m jumping too far ahead, though… A lot of commentators and journalists are proffering the opinion that the post-dated resignation is to allow for the outcome of the Westminster election and that Jonathan Bell, the current Junior Minister in OFMDFM, is the favourite to take up the health …

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Post-damage-limitation, challenge for DUP is not whether they choose to change, but how they choose to change

The boil has been lanced. To borrow from Oscar Wilde: “To become the news story once during an election campaign may be regarded as a misfortune; to do it twice in a week over the same issue looks like carelessness.” NI Executive ministers rarely resign. If it hadn’t been in the middle of an election campaign, I doubt that Jim Wells would have had to inform the First Minister of his intention to stand down from his post as Minister …

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#LeadersDebate: Blame it on the boogie

UPDATED A depressingly accurate piece on politics in Northern Ireland from Chris Buckler has been played repeatedly on the BBC news channel during the course of today. It comes on a day when seven party leaders in Great Britain fought it out in a televised debate /gameshow tonight . Despite protestations the DUP were NOT included in the debate. Peter Robinson tweeted his outrage last month: Perhaps after viewing the BBC piece we should be grateful for small mercies. The otherwise depressing report …

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When Manley met Martin: “Peter Robinson and I have never had a bad personal relationship”

Interesting interview in today’s Irish News with John Manley and Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness. It appears to be a much more relaxed and happy man than the person who was sitting in front of Manley a year ago. McGuinness spoke of the improvement in the mood between Sinn Fein and the DUP from last year, but he insists his relationship with Peter Robinson has always been solid; People talk about bad personal relationships between Peter Robinson and myself – …

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West Belfast Business Breakfast: Making small changes day by day.

This morning I ventured over to a business breakfast in West Belfast hosted by local entrepreneur, Gerry Carlile.The event which had nearly 100 people in attendance was kicked off by the local MP, Paul Maskey who preached the need for more investment in West Belfast and cited success stories like the Kennedy Centre which operates at full capacity. The Sinn Fein MP also spoke of his relief that the Executive decided to retain the funding for St. Mary’s which he …

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Unionist Pact still possible

The saga of whether or not there will be a unionist pact continues with Mike Nesbitt suggesting that he may still be open to an agreement. He stated: “Without a deal, without an understanding there is a real prospect there could be no unionist representing the capital city of Northern Ireland in Westminster on the 8th May,” he said. “With a deal, who knows? Maybe three of the four could be unionist but they can’t all be DUP.” The seats …

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