Colum Eastwood new leader of the SDLP (updated with interview)
NEW LEADER Colum Eastwood is new leader of the SDLP. Fearghal McKinney the new deputy leader.
Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast)
Alasdair McDonnell’s lunchtime speech as SDLP leader – renewal and rebuilding #sdlp15
RENEWAL & REBUILDING – Alasdair McDonnell’s lunchtime speech to SDLP conference. His last speech as leader? Or the speech of his life that would sway undecided voters and help him pull ahead of Colum Eastwood?
#sdlp15 Dolores Kelly reaches out hand to UUP while Rev Norman Hamilton urges more effort around reconciliation
RECONCILIATION RULES – Deputy SDLP leader Dolores Kelly reaches out from Progressive Nationalism to Progressive Unionism suggests bilateral talks with UUP, while visiting Rev Norman Hamilton reminds party about reconciliation and points to need for further efforts.
Alliance for Useful Evidence – do NI politicians & government have good access to evidence when making policy? #A4UE
Do the departments in the Northern Ireland Executive – or indeed the eleven local councils – construct policies that are backed by a proper evidence base? Think tanks are scarce in Northern Ireland. Why isn’t there a What Works Centre for NI?
Gulwali Passarlay’s tortuous journey aged 12 as a refugee escaping Afghanistan #BelFest
GULWALI PASSARLAY moved the discourse about refugees away from statistics and gave it a human face at tonight’s annual Amnesty NI lecture at Belfast International Arts Festival as he described his 7000 mile 12 month journey through 10 countries aged 10 to escape Afghanistan.
Confident Mike Nesbitt challenges UUP party faithful on cold spots like same sex marriage and Irish #UUP15
REVIEW of the Ulster Unionist Party conference, at times self-indulgent as the party celebrated their success at Westminster but with an emphasis on how they are distinct from other unionist parties. Challenges to the party faithful about being on the wrong side of history over attitudes on same-sex marriage, some policy ideas and reassurance from the Shadow Secretary of State.
Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Julia Unwin: “Why Fight Poverty?” (Law Centre NI lecture)
LECTURE – On Monday evening Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s chief executive Julia Unwin deivered the Law Centre NI’s social justice lecture and asked “Why Fight Poverty?” She also spoke afterwards about the sweet-toothed man with a social conscience whose legacy she helps steward.
Amnesty launch #RepealThe8th campaign to challenge Ireland’s ban on abortion
My Body My Rights is one of Amnesty’s world wide campaigns. Their European focus [and online petition] is the repeal of Ireland’s Eighth Amendment which equates the right to life of a pregnant woman with that of an embryo or foetus and is the foundation of the ban on abortion. The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, …
Carál Ní Chuilín on arts equality and QUB ICRH’s #VoicesForTheVoiceless reflection on culture and resistance
VOICES FOR THE VOICELESS was part of QUB’s Celebration of the Arts and Humanities festival. Culture minister Carál Ní Chuilín spoke about her vision for equality in arts provision, followed by contributions from Anandi Ramamurthy, Feargal Mac Ionnrachtaigh and Ken Fero with his film ‘Burn’.
PUP party conference sees opportunities, but can they seize them?
PROGRESSIVE UNIONIST PARTY kicked off the new season of party conference. The Chief Constable George Hamilton visited along with Jude Whyte and Malachi O’Doherty. An eclectic bunch of motions were debated. And elected representatives talked about the opportunities for the party.
What are the issues for NI when imagining Brexit from the EU? (audio)
BREXIT – Has Northern Ireland even begun to discuss the European Union referendum that is likely to be held in September 2016? Have we a handle on how the issues peculiar to Northern Ireland? Listen back to the discussion at QUB’s event earlier tonight.
Cultural treats to get you thinking from the Belfast Festival programme (9 Oct – 1 Nov) #BelFest
BELFAST FESTIVAL : 134 events from 23 countries over 24 days in 30 venues across the city. Performances and productions to entertain you and challenge you to think. Lyndee Prickitt talking about We Are Angry, a refugee’s story nine years after entering UK in back of a lorry from Calais, opera and cooking.
Voices for the Voiceless: culture and community resistance (QUB ICRH)
EXCLUSION & MARGINALISATION: How do communities use culture to express and counter their exclusion and marginalisation? A screening of Ken Fero’s short film “Burn” looking at aftermath of 2011 English riots and killing of Mark Duggan followed by a discussion about culture and community resistance – Voices for the Voiceless on 15 October by QUB ICRH.
Colum Eastwood: “it’s a good time to move on from the Good Friday Agreement generation”
INTERVIEWED this afternoon about the timing of his challenge for SDLP leadership, Colum Eastwood defended his experience and suggested it is “a good time to change … to move on from the Good Friday Agreement generation”. He’s not keen on rushing into Opposition, but won’t rule it out. Making Northern Ireland work is a priority.
“Entrepreneurship is a physical contact sport” … yet NI has a poor record on tech incubators
ACCELERATORS: For all its hype about having a burgeoning tech scene, Belfast has been incredibly slow to bother opening low-cost, short-term incubator spaces for new ideas to be thrashed out before attracting investment. Alan caught up with accelerator expert JON BRADFORD before he travels across to speak at the ICONS Festival this Friday.
100 citizen-led projects in Bologne in first year of their urban commons – Michael Bauwens lecture at QUB
DON’T WAIT FOR THE POLITICIANS: Take the example of open source software and hardware movements and create your own urban commons says Michael Bauwens in a lecture at QUB on Thursday evening.
Things Left Unsaid at Ulster Museum – photographer Paul Seawright’s take on contemporary conflict and journalism
WEAPONS OF MASS COMMUNICATION: Things Left Unsaid is a new exhibition at the Ulster Museum by Paul Seawright. It examines contemporary conflict and journalism through a series of shots captured in US news studios which had reported on the war in Iraq. What things do the media leave unsaid?
Armagh-born reporter Jane Ferguson: “Shutting down cellular service is sometimes more effective than coming in with tear gas”
JOURNALISM STILL ALIVE AND WELL: There’s no true substitute for going somewhere. There never will be regardless of the technology and the communications. When you’re there of course you’re relying on your own ‘smarts’ and your own perceptions as a journalist.
2015/6 Party Conference dates + podcast
Party conference season is a bit like a prolonged pilgrimage for those of us who attend the annual gatherings of up to ten political parties operating in Northern Ireland. What what are they really like? The bulk of the conferences are squeezed into October and November, with the remainder running in January or March before election season begins. We’ll update this post with links to conference write-ups as well as new details when they become available. So far, the line-up – …
Corbynomics inspiration Richard Murphy on the dogma behind demands to lower NI Corporation Tax
Richard Murphy is the Quaker chartered accountant and blogger who is credited with inspiring Corbynomics. He spoke at Tax Haven Ulster: Faith, Justice & Corporation Tax in Northern Ireland, a Christians on the Left event held on Friday night in Belfast that examined the counter arguments to dropping our local rate of Corporation Tax. You can listen back to the full event using the playlist at the bottom of this post. With Irish roots, Richard Murphy first heard arguments being …