Sammy Wilson … Reason 254 why local politicians need Atlantic Philanthropies’ money & initiatives like PoliticsPlus

A little over an hour ago and about half way through a response to the rhetorical question “What has new or social media ever done for the peace process?” I suggested to the Critical Approaches to the Northern Ireland Peace Process symposium in Liverpool’s Edge Hill University that

it has made it harder for politicians to recover their balance when they slip on banana skins.

You can follow conference updates on the #CritAppEH hashtag.

And then I spotted a Facebook update from Sammy Wilson, that’s repeated on his new Twitter account @eastantrimmp.

While either one of the references on their own might have passed under the radar, suggesting that one or more Assembly colleagues are “jihadists” and claiming the “Je Suis …” mantra for himself within a week of terrorism in Paris pushes the boundaries of taste in public office, and emphasises why Atlantic Philanthropies identifies a gap in training and capacity in NI elected representatives and sees fit to fund initiatives like Politics Plus.

Sammy Wilson facebook

What are the odds Sammy will be back in the office of the NI Assembly Commissioner for Standards again before too long. The Code of Conduct has some relevant passages:

NI Assembly Code of Conduct

In the meantime Sammy – more leadership and less of the ill-judged wisecracks.

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