January 2012 – Page 9 – Slugger O'Toole

SDLP: Deputy attacks Leader over ‘poverty’ pay campaign

Chris Donnelly on January 5, 2012, 11:11 am | Readers 74

Yesterday we reported how Alasdair McDonnell’s Save Politicians from Poverty Appeal had provoked the Mayor of Lisburn, Brian Heading, to publicly criticise his party leader. That provoked a stinging rebuttal by Alasdair McDonnell. Today, the SDLP Deputy Leader, Dolores Kelly, has publicly criticised Alasdair McDonnell over the issue, stating that she was “astonished” and “deeply unhappy” with her party leader’s comments. I am astonished with Alasdair’s comments given that they are not party policy and as someone who has been honoured …

Northern Ireland’s roads remain safe: possibly not at 111mph

Turgon on January 5, 2012, 10:46 am | Readers 219

Some good news was published by both the BBC and News Letter yesterday. There were 59 deaths on the roads in Northern Ireland last year, a rise from 55 the year before, but still vastly lower than in the past. Prior to 2010 the lowest number of deaths was in 2008 at 107. As the News Letter notes it is sometimes seen as distasteful to celebrate a reduction in deaths when people are still being killed but the reality is …

The politics of leaving the Euro not as simple as Govt’s critics make out…

Mick Fealty on January 5, 2012, 10:40 am | Readers 326

Nice piece from Brian Feeney in the Irish News yesterday… It’s worth quoting at some length, not least for those who imagine that default is likely to be a pain free option… Not least because of the political cost… Here’s the position. Over the next three months or so, the nuts and bolts of the Merkel/Sarkozy pact to stablise the Euro will be screwed together and what in effect will be a new treaty will emerge. The Republic will have …

The GOP knows what it doesn’t like, but…

Mick Fealty on January 5, 2012, 9:11 am | Readers 46

I’m hoping Ruarai will be able to give us more of a US perspective on the GOP’s Iowa Caucus, but before he does, this from Dana Milbank struck me as going to the heart of the matter for US Republicans: The Iowa Republicans’ indecision captures perfectly the existential struggle within the GOP nationally and within conservatism. They don’t know what they want — or even who they are. Are they Tea Partyers? Isolationists? Pro-business? Populists? Moralists? Worried workers? Do they …

East Belfast Speaks Out on Thursday 2 February 2012

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on January 5, 2012, 9:00 am | Readers 51

East Belfast Speaks Out 2012 leaflet

Update – click through to read coverage of the actual event. The motto of East Belfast Speaks Out must be “If at first you don’t succeed, try again”. Having been thwarted in November by the public sector strikes, a new date has been scheduled – Thursday 2 February 2012 at 7.30pm in Ashfield Boys’ School. The general theme of the evening is still: How responsive is the Assembly to the real concerns of the electorate? Due to availability and travel …

Trouble with the Troubles in the Irish Diaspora…

Mick Fealty on January 5, 2012, 8:53 am | Readers 779

I was talking to a friend in Limerick, who’s particularly well networked (virtually and in real terms) with the Irish diaspora. One of the things he suggested is that that the troubles plays a much larger role, certainly within the Irish diaspora in the states than is often appreciated at home, to the point where there are some profound disconnects between the diaspora and the reality on the ground, ‘back home’. As Richard McKibbin found recently, whilst those attitudes may …

Belfast City Council to invite Irish Government to Somme Commemoration

Pete Baker on January 4, 2012, 9:35 pm | Readers 70

Not a bad opening gambit ahead of all those anniversaries. Belfast City Council have agreed to invite the Irish Government to participate in the Somme and Remembrance Sunday commemorations in Belfast [this year?]. But it wasn’t unanimous. From the BBC report SDLP councillor Pat McCarthy proposed the move which was discussed at a city council meeting on Wednesday evening. There was no opposition to the motion. The two main unionist parties, the DUP and the UUP, agreed with the SDLP …

Tories and the UUP go their separate ways…

Mick Fealty on January 4, 2012, 8:29 pm | Readers 62

Acrrmoniously, according to Ken Reid. The Tories, at last, are to properly organise in Northern Ireland and run against the UUP… The BelTel points out the obvious problem for them: …there is an obvious difficulty for the Tories before they have even organised strongly here. By promoting themselves, first and foremost, as a pro-union party – which should be an unsaid given – they will undoubtedly divorce themselves for a sizeable minority of the population. That begs the question of …

Mitt Rom-paging

Brian Spencer on January 4, 2012, 7:34 pm | Readers 50

Your caption please

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/

Invest NI respond about their (lack of) relationship with Walsh Doherty and David Walsh

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on January 4, 2012, 4:50 pm | Readers 196

Following on from last night’s post, Invest NI have responded to questions that were raised about their relationship with Walsh Doherty and David Walsh. Partially (or wholly) in response to David H. Kirk’s criticisms about Invest NI’s “strategy and intervention in Northern Ireland’s investment ecosystem” and the report he gave Invest NI – concerns which are not universally shared across the sector – a meeting of the Access To Capital Stakeholders Forum was scheduled by Invest NI for mid-October, and …

“Time for the beginning of a calm debate” on Northern Ireland’s Demographics

Gladys Ganiel on January 4, 2012, 2:25 pm | Readers 1052

Today’s Irish Times carries a detailed piece on demographic changes in Northern Ireland. Northern editor Gerry Moriarity writes: THE BRITISH and Irish governments and the people of Northern Ireland are facing the prospect – and sooner than most people might think – of how to manage a transformed constitutional situation where the majority in the North are likely to be from a Catholic background. It’s going to raise serious questions for southerners too, who must also address complex constitutional problems …

SDLP tribes at war over Alasdair’s ‘poverty’ stance – UPDATE: Alasdair strikes back!

Chris Donnelly on January 4, 2012, 10:20 am | Readers 115

A very public war of words has broken out within the SDLP following Party Leader Alasdair McDonnell’s decision to launch a Save Politicians from Poverty Appeal in his Irish News interview earlier this week. Today, the SDLP Mayor of Lisburn, Brian Heading, has written to the paper strongly criticising his party leader. During his appearance on BBC Radio Ulster’s The Nolan Show this morning, Heading inferred that McDonnell owed party members and the general public an apology, whilst also indicating that he had received …

NI’s venture capital scene has a dark corner

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on January 3, 2012, 11:39 pm | Readers 341

Mick hinted at the details in his earlier post, but the story deserves a bit of unravelling. In the first part of 2011, David Kirk raised criticisms about Invest NI’s “strategy and intervention in Northern Ireland’s investment ecosystem” and followed them up with a written report. In response, Invest NI arranged an ‘Access To Capital Stakeholders Forum’ with investors and industry reps to be held in mid-October 2011, though they were reluctant to invite any NI angel investors with technology …

Bogus Belfast VC scammer busted…

Mick Fealty on January 3, 2012, 9:17 pm | Readers 42

If you thought all the best/worst scammers were Nigerian, think again. After some nice work from Lyra McKee, one scammer who drifted into Belfast and tried to bluff his way through the tech start up community was comprehensively rumbled… The surprising thing is that Invest NI seems to have been one of the organisations who seemed to have been convinced by the guy’s credentials… [Update – more detailed post now up on this topic] Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of …

Autocue!

Brian Spencer on January 3, 2012, 2:31 pm | Readers 45

Your captions please?

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/

“Investigations mean more locks are applied…”

Pete Baker on January 3, 2012, 2:27 pm | Readers 48

In the Belfast Telegraph, Brian Rowan picks up on former police ombudsman Nuala O’Loan’s call for a “unified investigatory body with powers to arrest and prosecute” to deal with the past and argues that this can only ever be a partial solution. From the Belfast Telegraph article. Investigations will only scratch the surface of what happened. The past is not just about who pulled a trigger, or who placed a bomb. It is about the orders and the thinking behind those …

Rowan, Duddy, Morrison

Rusty Nail on January 3, 2012, 1:24 pm | Readers 115

The Belfast Telegraph and the Irish News both feature articles on the hunger strike issue – more on those later today or tomorrow, time permitting. A comment by Dixie Elliott in the “and ‘Soon’ would have known this” thread is worth highlighting in regards the debate over Danny Morrison’s new claims that he brought nothing from the British into the prison (As he told Rowan, “At the time of my visit to the prison on the afternoon of Sunday July …

You cannot say that word in Dail Eireann (and schmarten up, ye great Yahoo ye!)

Mick Fealty on January 3, 2012, 12:40 pm | Readers 62

Apparently the Northern Ireland Assembly is well thought of in Dublin for the good dress code and nice language of its MLAs. Dail Ceann Comhairle Sean Barrett is fighting a gallant rearguard action against the ungallant denizens of the Leinster House parliament… And he wants more words banned alongside those already sent to parliamentary limbo, such as: …brat, buffoon, chancer, communist, corner boy, coward, fascist, gurrier, guttersnipe, hypocrite, rat, scumbag, scurrilous and yahoo. Whoops, there goes Jonathan Swift (one time …

Opposition not viable where incumbents have a virtual monopoly of voice

Mick Fealty on January 3, 2012, 11:24 am | Readers 41

Alasadair McDonnell made a couple of decisions yesterday worthy of note, besides that self administered hole in foot that Chris notes. One, was to can the idea that he would be leading his party into opposition. That will disappoint some, but most of them outside the party’s shrinking bounds. Sammy Morse thinks this new realism is a modest turn for the better: No-one disagrees that the Executive at Stormont is not delivering much in the way of government. Legislation that …

MLAs need better wages and pensions to avoid poverty- SDLP Leader

Chris Donnelly on January 3, 2012, 10:32 am | Readers 166

SDLP Leader Alasdair McDonnell would appear to believe that demanding a pay rise for politicians to help them avoid ‘poverty’ is a winner. Having made a faltering start to his tenure as SDLP Leader, Alasdair McDonnell must have hoped that his New Year interview with the Irish News would provide him with the chance to make a fresh start as leader, announcing a number of strategic decisions including the decision to rotate the party’s sole Executive Minister over the course of …