Brian Walker

It is getting a bit fraught. The trailing of a decision to hold a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty is being preceded by the usual Cassandra-like mutterings. Given that all is overshadowed by the financial crisis this is not surprising. The advice not to take is that offered by Dr John O’Brennan in today’s Irish Times. “A referendum on nothing less than our continued membership of the union is what is required.” The BBC’s Mark Mardell describes the package …

Read more…

David Cameron’s appearance before the UUs has certainly provoked interest in Slugger. Whatever you think of it, it is a new political ingredient in a familiar cake mix and we’ll have to see if it rises. His speech must be seen in the wider context of his ambition to be the “Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, not the Prime Minister of England.” Along with recent speeches in Scotland, it strongly implies a final rejection of the idea of an …

Read more…

Good news. Peter Hain is not corrupt. “I chose to leave government to clear my name and I am pleased I have now done so. I said all along that reporting some of the donations to my 2007 Labour party deputy leader campaign late was an honest mistake. Now everyone knows that it was…”I only left government to clear this up, and would like to return, but that is a matter for the Prime Minister.” Trust him to hit the …

Read more…

In the light of Fair Deal’s analysis, I’m not sure what this means about timing, from Gordon Brown in the Queens’ Speech debate.. I can also say that, following the historic agreement between the parties in Northern Ireland, we will bring forward proposals to sustain devolution in Northern Ireland. I thank all parties in Northern Ireland for coming together to make the final part of a devolution settlement possible and now something that can be delivered, with policing and justice …

Read more…

Assuming Hugh Orde and the present acting commissioner of the Met Paul Stephenson are both interviewed for the top job, here’s a question or two for them. “Sir Hugh, what lessons did you learn from the Stormont raid on Sinn Fein offices in 2002 when the armed and accoutred PSNI took away discs and interviewed their office manager, later murdered after confessing to being an MI5 agent?” Leaving aside the drama of the military style invasion and the somewhat different …

Read more…

Apathy by one measure – on the other hand… there has been an unprecedented, 3000% increase, in the number of 17 year olds registering… according to the Chief Electoral Office. “The numbers have risen from 244 last year to 7,738. Brian WalkerFormer BBC journalist and manager in Belfast, Manchester and London, Editor Spolight; Political Editor BBC NI; Current Affairs Commissioning editor BBC Radio 4; Editor Political and Parliamentary Programmes, BBC Westminster; former London Editor Belfast Telegraph. Hon Senior Research Fellow, …

Read more…

The interim report by Sir Kenneth Calman’s commission on the future of Scottish Home Rule slaps down right away the idea of full financial autonomy – i.e. a new ability of Scotland Wales and NI to raise and spend their own taxes. The analysis undermines any faint notion that the devolved bodies -like ours – can present themselves as the rulers of a virtually sovereign state. Economic and much social policy will continue to be shaped at Westminster though almost …

Read more…

A game many of us play is “you’re one of us” when we spot a local link to the wider world. Usually it’s that accent, which is sometimes a bit poshed up after years of exile. So we cheer on Christine Bleakley on Strictly Come Dancing and Eoghan Quigg on X Factor (don’t we?). Not many cheers are raised though for the deposed leader of Haringey Council from Donegal and the departed head of children’s services Sharon Shoesmith “ from …

Read more…

Mick’s post involving access to RTE’s Questions and Answers reminds me how I disappointed I was after settling down to watch the first on the three parter doc series on Bertie. To be greeted by the caption after the ad: We’re sorry but this programme is only available to play in the Republic of Ireland.” News and Current Affairs yes, but a big doc series of wide interest, no, it seems. When I responded to RTE’s invitation to go their …

Read more…

In an Irish Times article headlined , Historical amnesia is not a sign of maturity John Waters argues strongly against the idea of the Republic joining the Commonwealth, a fairly easy Aunt Sally, you would have thought. (Waters can be forgiven for failing to keep up with the forms of Commonwealth terminology; the term “British” has been dropped now for at least a quarter of a century). But irrelevance is not as you might expect the preferred reason for spurning …

Read more…

O‘Leary, although predicting losses for the second half of the year makes a lower bid. Ryanair, Europe’s largest low-cost airline, on Monday offered to buy Irish rival Aer Lingus for €750m ($970.4m), or just half the price of its bid in 2006 which was blocked by the European Union. Why should it not be blocked again? Aer Lingus’s, first reaction is keenly awaited. The unions have no doubt. The initiative was “doubtless” designed to coincide with a dispute in Aer …

Read more…

Adds Dec 1 Acting Met chief could step aside in Damian Green leak row. I often relish the moment when someone stands out against the crowd, even in a cause I don’t agree with. Thus in the amazing case of the arrest of Tory home affairs spokesman Damian Green, the great constitutional authority Vernon Bogdanor whom I know and greatly respect and who was once David Cameron’s tutor has pointed out that parliamentary privilege applies only to MPs’ speeches in …

Read more…

Opinion in GB may turn up its collective nose at the Vat cut but the one part of these islands where it really matters is – guess where? In an open letter to Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan and Tánaiste Mary Coughlan yesterday, the (Drogheda) chamber called on them to “act urgently” to assist the commercial and retail sectors in the State to “stem the flow of income and sales North to the jurisdiction of the UK government”. Peter Robinson …

Read more…

As final year primary school children sit the last regulated 11 plus tests, and a new Education Bill emerges, the Belfast Telegraph have run two articles for and against continuing academic selection. Professor Tony Gallagher, one of the frustrated architects of a non-selective system describes the rocky road to reform but ends limply, omitting to offer a solution to deadlock, presumably not wishing to get drawn into a political catfight. With the Executive meeting again we can only hope that …

Read more…

What looks like the end of the line for Woolworth’s as we know it brings home to us what the recession really means. As Peston puts it: For the millions of us who have grown up on Woolworth pic’n’mix and bought Power Ranger toys from them for our kids, the collapse of the store chain will bring great sadness. And of course the pain and anxiety is much greater for the 25,000 employed in its stores. The shock waves may …

Read more…

The September launch of Kate O’Hanlon’s autobiography passed me by but I’ve just learned about her from an interview in Radio 4 ‘s Midweek. A rare Catholic nurse in the Royal before the Troubles, she served most of her a time as a sister in A&E. The famous consultant William Rutherford once remarked that running casualty was simple: “You have to love everybody; you have to listen to everybody; and, when in doubt, you just do what Sister O’Hanlon tells …

Read more…

Northern Ireland reporting of Alistair’s Darling’s “autumn” budget statement is still largely stuck in the old Troubles beer and fags era of budget coverage. A tiny trickle of headline reactions from business leaders whistling to keep their spirits up will always take priority over grimmer, tougher topics that need the sort of explanation and expert analysis which is largely absent form the local media, with the honourable exception of John Simpson, tucked away in Business Telegraph.. These traditional stories are …

Read more…

For Northern Ireland, look beyond the small giveway in the budget statement to the public spending time bomb. The Financial Times spells out a UK position far worse than a few months ago. This means a fierce and progressive squeeze on public spending is in prospect after 2010, with health and education – the government’s top two priorities – enjoying vastly lower rates of growth than in recent years, and other departments facing actual cuts….Alistair Darling, the chancellor, has cut …

Read more…

With US banking giant Citygroup on the brink while publicly protesting it has sufficient assets, the same applies writ small to Irish-owned banks. The Sunday Times, with its greater distance from the Irish fray accuses them of covering up the worst, but they’re not alone. The whole Dublin establishment, politicians, business and media are trying to contain a crisis which as elsewhere has exposed the fact that with world bank lending in freeze, state guarantees to banks are not enough. …

Read more…