Westminster
No parallels with Ireland as a pro-union strategy in Scotland begins to emerge at last
Tweet There were risks in sending a posh English boy like George Osborne to Scotland to warn that it might be no doddle for an independent Scotland to continue using sterling as its currency. The move might yet backfire among thrawn Scots if the English try to put the frighteners on them. Like pointing out [...] more »
The Thatcher debate in the Commons
Tweet The speeches from our MPs Nigel Dodds and Alastair Macdonnell during the Thatcher tributes were bound to reflect the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. Neither speech was terrible. Both avoided a rant. Alastair McDonnell had the tougher job. His doctor’s experience in the face of death probably helped. But both of them followed the [...] more »
The pro-Union wheels are starting to turn in Scotland. But they could still come off the bus
Tweet Not before time, the wheels may be turning at last in the creaking pro-union machine to craft an effective reply to the SNP’s delivery vehicle for Scottish independence. The leader of the Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson has done a U-turn (£) to explore the idea of more and greater taxation powers for Holyrood. I wonder [...] more »
What will become of the May 2015 UK Parliament if Scotland votes “Yes” on independence?
Tweet Every so often – but not very often – a major theme enters political debate which nobody noticed much at first but when attention is drawn to it, it becomes completely obvious. This topic is one such I’m posting here on how a referendum vote in favour of Scottish independence in September 2014 could greatly complicate [...] more »
Salmond prepares to let Westminster take the hit over post-Leveson press regulation
Tweet It may surprise you to learn that a separate Scottish response to the Leveson report on press regulation is looking unlikely. Stage One was a separate report by an “expert group” headed by the former Scottish judge Lord McCluskey who recommended “draconian “ powers and a regulator appointed by the Scottish government. If the [...] more »
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 »
SDLP chooses Patsy McGlone to contest Mid Ulster…
Tweet This is worth noting since it’s a smart choice. And the SDLP have not been known for those in recent years. McGlone has a sound rural base of voters, and a decent local machine. You can almost certainly rule out a win against SF veteran Francie Molloy. In the last Assembly elections Sinn Fein’s [...] more »
The BBC has no business making a silly unionist dig at Martin McGuinness
Tweet Just a bit of New Year harrumping. I see the Bel Tel couldn’t resist joining the tease that Martin McGuinness took on an “English aristocratic title” when he had to go through the traditional form of accepting an office of profit under the Crown in order to quit as an abstensionist MP. The BBC website [...] more »
Happy New Year!
Tweet Wishing you all a happy, healthy and prosperous new year! Your captions are welcome. more »
After Finucane, “a new disaster waiting to happen, ” warns Justice lobby group. But why not a new inquest?
Tweet The de Silva report presents a challenge to the legal establishment and others in Northern Ireland over how to proceed in the light of the UK government’s refusal to hold a public inquiry. Accountability concerns are not confined to history. They remain a live issue today since the devolution of policing and justice. One [...] more »
Osborne’s Autumn Hidden Statement
Tweet As this goes live the UK Chancellor will have just polished off his briefing to the Cameron cabinet on the Osborne austerity budget. But there are just some things that don’t need to be spelled out as Mr Sammy Wilson explained when speaking to the UTV here. Sammy said that the budget arithmetic under [...] more »
Paisley jnr, Andrew Marr and a case of mistaken identity
Tweet Guido flashed it, so to speak. Then Quentin Letts, a graduate of TCD and therefore qualified to comment on all things Irish north and south picked it up in his sketch. Mr Paisley rose. Tall fella. He has his father’s shoulders and skull-shape and Northern Irish accent. As I say, the larynx does not [...] more »
Corporation tax: put us out of our misery
Tweet The Financial Times (£) carries a blunt warning from Bombardier, Northern Ireland’s largest employer, that it will lose its ability to invest in the province unless the end of regional aid at the behest of the EU is offset by a cut in corporation tax. This gets down to the bottom line after years [...] 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 »
Bursting Boris’s bubble
Tweet I’m not normally a great one for polemic – there’s more than enough of it already. But I can’t resist posting Max Hastings’ verdict on Boris, which my own experience echoes tamely. I have known the mayor for more than 20 years. He worked for me as EU correspondent of the Daily Telegraph and [...] more »
Radical Assembly reform. Going through the motions?
Tweet “The costs of division remain far too high”. Not a bad reason for wanting a shared society but not the best either. The new Secretary of State Theresa Villiers’ speech to the Conservative party conference was squeezed into a slot along with the other territorial cabinet ministers. Corporation tax had not actually been removed [...] more »
Pro Union campaign on the back foot without a decision on devo more
Tweet Appropriately enough, caution greeted Alistair Darling’s launch of Better Together, the pro Union multiparty campaign to counter the SNP and challenge the notion that extends well beyond the pro- independence ranks, that Alex Salmond is head and shoulders above all possible rivals. So far, not too bad. “Better Together” sounds more positive than ”No [...] more »
Enoch Powell at 100: trust in parliament, not Paisley, he told unionists
Tweet I hope Mick forgives me for not burying my brief precious memoir of Enoch Powell in a comment below. I had quite a bit to do with Powell in the late 70s and again in the early 80s. His belief in the supremacy of Parliament had a mystical quality. For as long as Northern Ireland [...] more »
DUP sending signals to the Conservative parliamentary party?
Tweet This morning the Conservatives launched in Northern Ireland [what, again? - Ed] Yes, they’re NI Conservatives now rather than Conservatives NI. Now, where was I? Oh yes. There were a few names there, many of them former (unelected) supporters of the UCU-NF. Yesterday however it was the DUP rather than the local Tories who [...] more »
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Books
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Kevin Myers’ ‘Watching the Door’: Book Review
Tweet This reads as if a mad picaresque tale. Myers as first a reporter for RTÉ and then as a freelance journalist with no real experience, finds himself wandering into savagery as he hastens north as the Troubles explode. A soldier dies next to him; he witnesses an IRA ambush; he sees children shot to [...] read our review »
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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 » -
Belfast port celebrated as hopes rise for lower corporation tax
Tweet The House of Lords was the suitably grand venue for the London launch of Alf McCreary’s magnificently illustrated tome Titanic Port, a history of Belfast Harbour. Before I got a chance to take a good look at my copy, my ears pricked up when the chairman of the harbour commissioners Len O’Hagan said hopes were [...] read our review »
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