Lord Patten: “… the problem at heart is not the sausages you get from Sainsbury’s but the porkies that we all get … from Downing Street”

Chris Patten delivering inaugural Seamus Mallon Lecture for Hume Foundation over Zoom

Lord Patten delivered the inaugural Seamus Mallon Lecture this evening, organised by the The John & Pat Hume Foundation. His talk looked back at his time as a direct rule minister: “An appointment to the Northern Ireland Office was often compared with being sent by a Communist Party general secretary in the Soviet Union to manage a power station in Siberia.” He recalled some of his encounters with Seamus Mallon, wishing that there were: “more political leaders in Northern Ireland …

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SluggerTV – the DUP melodrama episode

Commentators Tim Cairns and Sarah Creighton joined Slugger O’Toole’s deputy editor David McCann to discuss the dramatic loss of a second leader and the challenges ahead for the DUP in the latest episode of SluggerTV. What tipped the balance to end Edwin Poots’ leadership? How will the next leader be different? If there’s a by-election in Lagan Valley, might Brenda Hale run for the DUP, and what about the chances of Alliance’s Sorcha Eastwood and UUP’s Robbie Butler? What’s Edwin …

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Poots announces reshuffle of DUP ministers and committee chairs/vicechairs

DUP leader Edwin Poots has announced his new team at Stormont. The changes will not come into immediate effect as Arlene Foster is expected to remain First Minister until after this Friday’s British Irish Council summit in Fermanagh. The ministerial changes will not be official until they are made in the Assembly, where the renomination of First and deputy First Ministers will also occur. First Minister – Paul Givan Junior Minister – Gary Middleton Economy Minister – Paul Frew Education …

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Robbie Butler rules himself out of UUP leadership ‘at this stage’

Robbie Butler has ruled himself out of the race to be UUP leader in a statement issued this evening. Having listened to Doug speak on the media this week and spent some time with him personally, I believe we have a candidate who possesses the skills and attributes that are currently needed and it will be my pleasure to play any supporting role in the UUP Assembly team to make Northern Ireland a place we “ALL” want to live, work …

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David O’Sullivan: The EU at 70 – still going strong?

Watch back this evening’s Hume Foundation inaugural European Spirit of Peace Lecture, delivered by David O’Sullivan (former EU ambassador to the US) which looked at the EU 70 years on and asked whether it was going strong. He had cautionary words for those conflating the Irish constitutional issue with practical aspects of the NI Protocol which he said was “unhelpful” and could “destabilise many in the Unionist community”.

Edwin Poots’ camp suggests Paul Givan could be First Minister with role split from party leadership

The process to depose and replace Arlene Foster as DUP leader and First Minister is turning into the kind of page-turner James Patterson could be proud of. This morning’s new chapter comes from Ciaran Barnes in the Sunday Life and Suzanne Breen on BBC NI’s Sunday Politics. Edwin Poots’ camp is briefing that he wants to be party leader but not First Minister. Breen suggested that fellow Lagan Valley MLA Paul Givan is in line to be his pick for …

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Lecture – Rory Montgomery: ‘The Good Friday Agreement and a United Ireland’

The former Irish ambassador to the EU, Rory Montgomery, delivered his inaugural lecture as honorary professor of practice at the QUB Mitchell Institute on Tuesday evening. His topic – The Good Friday Agreement and a United Ireland – had a contemporary feel as the civic conversation intensifies around whether to and how to hold border polls. The 45 minute lecture was followed by half an hour of questions from the audience moderated by Professor Christopher McCrudden.  While Belfast Agreement …

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Edwin Poots (currently) bookies favourite to be next DUP leader

Arm wrestling

I wouldn’t know one end of a betting slip from the other, but over the years I’ve been fascinated to hear how bookmakers calculate the odds on political events. It’s never just about probability. It’s also about attracting bets, managing potential liabilities by compensating for large bets. Bookmakers are interested in profit over the actual result! Back in 2012, Paddy Power originally had Danny Kennedy (1/2) as favourite for the UUP leadership and lost money when Mike Nesbitt (who started …

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Arlene Foster to step down as leader on 28 May and as First Minister at end of June

Arlene Foster’s statement this afternoon … A short time ago I called the Party Chairman to inform him that I intend to step down as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party on the twenty-eighth of May and as First Minister of Northern Ireland at the end of June. It is important to give space over the next few weeks for the Party Officers to make arrangements for the election of a new leader. When elected I will work with the …

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Scottish hustings … via NUS Scotland

Election anoraks in need of a regular fix of political argie-bargie may want to dip into last night’s NUS Scotland’s Big Election Debate last night with Anas Sarwar (Scottish Labour), Carole Ford (Scottish Lib Dems), Douglas Ross (Scottish Tories), Nicola Sturgeon (SNP) and Ross Greer (Scottish Greens). Compared with any similar encounter with NI politicians, it felt remarkably calm and devoid of simple point-scoring.

Bill Wolsey on his idea to turn Belfast city centre into a living museum for Belfast? And the role of awkward individuals in making change happen! #imaginebelfast

Bill Wolsey outlines his idea for Belfast city centre to be a living museum with museum artefacts displayed in shop windows, bring the museum to the people. His idea hasn’t had much traction with the Ulster Museum,but he’s pitched it again as part of Imagine! Festival’s Build Belfast Back Better initiative. He also explains the role of awkward individuals in making progress happen.

To 2031 and beyond … Neil Hegarty’s vision of this island in ten years’ time #imaginebelfast

Talking to writer and novelist Neil Hegarty about the talk ‘2031’ he will deliver at next week’s Imagine! festival, imagining what this island might look like in a decade and asking whether we’re prepared for the political, societal, environmental changes that will surely have a huge impact on the way life is going to play out?

Build Belfast Back Better – #imaginebelfast wants your ideas

Ahead of next week’s packed programme, Imagine! festival are calling for your ideas to imagine a better post-pandemic Belfast. How would you Build Belfast Back Better? You can submit up to three ideas that reimagine the city in the face of the pandemic and the challenges presented by Brexit, increased poverty, loneliness and mental health issues.

The State of Us … Previewing the seventh annual Imagine! Festival of Ideas and Politics (22-28 March)

A quick rummage through the Imagine! Belfast programme coming up between 22–28 March. Under the strapline of The State of Us, there’ll be exhibitions, workshops, lectures, film, comedy, music, spoken word, lectures, theatre and quizzes. Voices from at home and abroad. The festival isn’t afraid to challenge. It doesn’t expect participants to agree with everything that is said. It’s about making people think. Widening their horizons. Broadening their understanding. Developing their empathy. Helping them figure out why – and if – they truly believe the hunches and biases they may have been living with for a lifetime.

Edward Carson Reflects … #OTL21

As an afternoon cultural treat, here’s the 50 minute play Edward Carson Reflects, written and performed by Paddy Scully as part of January’s Out To Lunch festival. It might fill in some gaps, looking at his education in Dublin, his work as a barrister (leading the Marquess of Queensberry’s defence against Oscar Wilde’s libel action) and his political activity in the period that introduced Home Rule, including being the first person to sign the Ulster Covenant.

“We can begin with the empowerment of civic society, by bringing about participative and deliberative democracy”

Maureen Hetherington spoke about the need to empower civic society and bring about participative and deliberative democracy in her contribution to a panel on A Shared Home Place – the Unfinished Business of Reconciliation, recorded last week in Derry’s Guildhall and organised by the John & Pat Hume Foundation.

Singing Struggle and Agreement – watch back to hear the GFA in song and a panel as part of Slugger’s contribution to #BIAF20

Register online to watch and listen to ‘Singing Struggle and Agreement’ tonight at 7.30pm as part of Belfast International Arts Festival. Slugger O’Toole has partnered with Spark Opera to stage the NI/ROI première of Clare Salters’ ‘Good Friday Agreement – p E A C E in 4/4 time’ alongside musical of struggle and a panel discussion looking back at the Belfast Agreement negotiations with Mark Devenport, Monica McWilliams and Kate Guelke.

#SluggerTV – The role of the Third Sector #TheReset

David McCann was joined by guests Gráinne Walsh (Stratagem) and Jacinta Linden (SPACE NI) to examine how the third sector sector was the bedrock of our response to the pandemic. Remember all of those charities who stepped up while revenues were falling and did extraordinary things to help the most vulnerable in our society? In this episode, we hear about the resilience of this sector, from making headlines for innovative ideas such as Kindness Kits and new ways of working. can help provide a reset for the local economy and our society in the years ahead and what is needed from local policy-makers to help make it all happen.