Kicking off a brief blogburst what’s happening beyond Lisbon (in case you all thought I had completely lost my marbles)… Madelaine Bunting stands up for Gordon Brown but as Longman Oz notes “It feels sort of academic though, if the polls are to be believed.”- It’s worth pointing incoming readers back at Reg Empey’s (pretty accurate) remarks on Brown’s inheritance…
– But the ghost of that great Irish Tory Eamon de Búrca pans Harriet Harmon’s speech and reckons that the challenge for future governments of right or left is to find some way of re-moralising the markets…
– In at the quirky end of the British blogosphere, Donal Blaney serves a writ via Twitter and tells impersonator ‘Tweet for yourself”…
– (Via Alan in Belfast) Did you know the Scottish Parliament had an e-petition site?
– And Alan himself was there when East Belfast spoke out, video interviews and everything… Great work Alan!!!
– Chekov cautions that there is no margin to be gained for the UUP in collapsing Stormont, but the deal should be rolled out to Stormont where much of the internal resistance remains hardest to shift:
There is a degree of self interest there which the leadership is reluctant to challenge. In conjunction with a grassroots hardcore, who might be more comfortable cooperating with Jim Allisters TUV, they present an obstacle to an early Stormont deal with the Tories. If it were perceived that republicans had cynically collapsed regional government, in order to get their own way, it would be difficult to run a successful moderate, secular campaign.It is unlikely that UCUNF will be extended to regional government, voluntarily, until the Westminster dispensation begins to yield positive results.
– John O’Farrell’s doing a double act today with another piece on Lisbon over at the place where all the cool Irish lefties hang out…
– J Arthur reckons the Sun’s call for the Tories in the south is The Record’s opportunity in the north…
– And finally, Prospect magazine’s expose on the idiocy of English soccer…
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty