Mirror reports of the Parsley ‘defection’…

Ian Parsley, one of those being touted as an Up and Coming politician in the current nominations (which are still open by the way) for the Slugger Awards, is reported today as joining the Ulster Unionists, something the man himself appears to be denying on his blog this morning… It’s thought the speculation was stirred when it was revealed that the think tank he’s joining an outreach of Ian Duncan Smith’s Centre for Social Justice, which is opening in Belfast next Wednesday… For now, Mr Parsley (IJP, to you and me) remains an Alliance councillor for Holywood…

UPdate
: BBC has an email which suggests he’s ready to go… Expect a statement at 3pm… Stephen Walker:

“I have certainly seen an email that was addressed to him and talked in such terms as though he was a would-be candidate. It talked about a timeframe so if he comes out and says he’s not going to join the party he’s certainly had discussions with them and he has certainly been down that road.”

There is a story on page 15 in one of today’s newspapers which contains significant inaccuracies, including with regard to conjecture about my political future.

I will be speaking at the NI launch of the independent thinktank referred to at the Richview Regeneration Centre (339 Donegall Road) at 11am on Wednesday, 16 September. This is a very exciting project which will, I trust, be of significant benefit to the promotion of a “Shared Future” for the entire community. Media will be welcome.

We are reader supported. Donate to keep Slugger lit!

For over 20 years, Slugger has been an independent place for debate and new ideas. We have published over 40,000 posts and over one and a half million comments on the site. Each month we have over 70,000 readers. All this we have accomplished with only volunteers we have never had any paid staff.

Slugger does not receive any funding, and we respect our readers, so we will never run intrusive ads or sponsored posts. Instead, we are reader-supported. Help us keep Slugger independent by becoming a friend of Slugger. While we run a tight ship and no one gets paid to write, we need money to help us cover our costs.

If you like what we do, we are asking you to consider giving a monthly donation of any amount, or you can give a one-off donation. Any amount is appreciated.