Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) 
FAMILIAR VENUE BUT SOME NEW FACES at the UUP conference today. SDLP leader Colum Eastwood’s was received with a standing ovation, while Mike Nesbitt set out his stall to convince critics why his chosen path was the correct one. Confident performances, but still lacking the detail of Opposition policies that will be developed.
CONNECTED POLITICIANS report examines the digital footprint of MLAs departing at the end of the last mandate, assessing their website and social media presence, and how well they update constituents with information about the political and constituency activity, as well how easily you can locate their offices and surgeries.
Saturday will see a symbolic demonstration of finding common interests amidst other policy diversity when SDLP leader Colum Eastwood takes to the Ramada Hotel stage at the UUP conference in what he calls “a demonstration of what genuine cooperation looks like”.
This weekend a statement was read to the Second Donegore Presbyterian Church congregation informing them of the decision to remove David Ford from his position as an elder. It was noted that David Ford has not been personally disciplined.
PARTY CONFERENCE season has started with the Progressive Unionist Party meeting at Corr’s Corner Hotel. Both internal and external voices critiqued the party’s perception problem and hinted at ways that it could addressed. The impact of women in the party continues to grow. Deputy leader John Kyle was honest about the disappointing election result. And party leader Billy Hutchinson called for progress on legacy issues, economic growth, welfare reform, and the persistence of poverty and deprivation.
QUICK PREVIEW of the Ulster Bank Belfast International Arts Festival which runs from 11-29 October. The life and legacy of Roger Casement is examined, along with 100 years of women’s emancipation, the refugee crisis (with a lecture by MP Yvette Cooper on how the UK should do more), Aeschylus’ The Suppliant Women, a new adaptation of Chekhov’s Three Sisters by Lucy Caldwell, a play about RUC and Garda officers patrolling the border and three concerts by the flamboyant Taylor Mac.
INTERVIEW with David Ford MLA who has announced that he will stand down as leader of the Alliance Party tomorrow at noon. He speaks about the highs and lows of his time in office, the challenges facing the party in the future, and dodges the issue of how long he will stay as MLA for South Antrim.
David Ford has announced that he will step down as leader of the Alliance Party tomorrow (Thursday 6 October) at noon. It will be the fifteenth anniversary of his election to the position back in 2001. He will continue to serve as MLA for his South Antrim constituency.
PARTY CONFERENCE SCHEDULE – a list of the 2016/17 party conferences and gatherings most relevant to followers of NI politics. It’ll be updated with information as and when the parties decide and share their plans, and updated with links to Slugger’s conference coverage after each event.
MOUNT STEWART CONVERSATIONS – a weekend of ideas, debate and stories looking at relationships with Europe from Lord Castlereagh’s involvement in the Congress of Venice right through to Brexit and the kind of diplomacy that will be required in years to come. Throw in live music, food, and the gorgeous National Trust gardens and walks, you can see how country houses used to transact a lot of political business away from the cities and parliaments!
INTERVIEW with Jonathan Powell ahead of his appearance at National Trust’s Mount Stewart Conversations this weekend on a panel with Fintan O’Toole and others discussing “Can the Kingdom Stay United after Brexit?”
Between curried yoghurt, the Speaker’s mints, Boris’ bendy bananas, the European funding gravy train and helpings of revenge served cold, politics and food never seem far away. Describe a great political culinary dish and be in with a chance to win one of five pairs of tickets for the BBC Good Food Show in Belfast Waterfront that can be used on Friday 14 or Sunday 16 October.
The US Ambassador to Ireland, Kevin O’Malley, spoke on Wednesday to challenge the use of phrases like “tax haven” and “tax cheat” when discussing taxation of multi-national companies operating in Ireland. Watch/listen to his comments …
MOUNT STEWART CONVERSATIONS promises a weekend of debate, ideas, storytelling, art, music and food in the National Trust’s recently restored house and the surrounding gardens. Anne Applebaum, David Aaronovitch, Fintan O’Toole, Sarah Helm, Wendy Osborne, Jonathan Powell not to mention Urslua Burns, Iain Archer, Molly Sterling, Orchestre des Refugies et Amis, Bitch’n’Monk, and Lords of Strut.
The four year Centre for Economic Empowerment project at NICVA is nearing its conclusion but the full attendance at today’s event can be taken as a sign of the capacity that has been built in the community and voluntary sector around economic awareness and understanding.
Talking at this morning’s Big Ideas: Festival of Economics at NICVA, Finance Minister Máirtín Ó Muilleoir indicated that Northern Ireland was being left out of post-Brexit decision making in London. He also felt it was likely the British Government would not underwrite the “half of” current EU INTERREG and PEACE funding, adding that he expected farm payments would “fall off a cliff in 2020”.
Contributions from Martina Anderson and Naomi Long were subdued in comparison with the robust exchanges between Gregory Campbell and Joe Brolly at tonight’s West Belfast Talks Back event, part of Féile an Phobail.
LISTEN BACK OR WATCH Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson MSP’s lecture at the Amnesty NI Belfast Pride event.
Talking alongside Kinglsey Donaldson at Féile, Declan Kearney appealed to political unionism to stop holding back on reconciliation with its “active commission or omission [that] reinforces, incites and perpetuates sectarian mind-sets and division, and blocks progress and positive initiatives”.
Ruth Taillon, Dawn Purvis, Martina Devlin and Bernadette McAliskey reestablish women’s role in history in this panel discussion from the John Hewitt International Summer School in Armagh.
