Brian Walker

On a related theme, The Tele reports: “Brown’s free cancer drugs won’t apply to Northern Ireland. ” Yet another case of Executive paralysis. Even so, why do the masses ranks of the Stormont PR people have to appear so inept? Quote from Executive spokesperson: “Asked if Mr Brown’s crucial speech this afternoon will include proposals that will reach out to the devolved assemblies, an aide said he “was sure it would”, although it is not clear what they might include.. …

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There are times beyond partisanship when it’s important for a leader to succeed and this was one of them. Gordon Brown pulled it off, I think, leaving us with the question: why hadn’t he done it before? After all he had rivalled Tony Blair at previous conferences but rising to the top job seemed to unnerve, even unman him. Perhaps it took the financial crisis to snap him into it. Springing his wife Sarah on the conference to introduce him …

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Is the UK falling into the old trap of blindly following the Americans? Across the Atlantic, the financiers are still master of the universe but only just. The Poulson package is in trouble. At $700 billion and rising it could cost every American family $5000. It As a New York Times analyst puts it : “The initial scepticism that greeted its unveiling has only deepened. Some are horrified at the prospect of putting $700 billion in public money on the …

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Let’s see how the world has fared since this morning. Well, the swashbuckling Morgan Stanley hasn’t gone Chinese but 20 % Japanese, to the sobers-side Mitsubishi, so no more swash, while Nomura picks up other flying bits of Lehman’s. So on the big picture, whadidatellyez? “Banks May Stifle U.S. Growth, Extend Slowdown…. The London-New York tug-of-war for bragging rights as the world’s pre-eminent financial centre is now a race to the bottom. `New York, up until a month ago, seemed …

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This is financial news we all can handle.. “One in six households in the Republic went to the North to shop over the summer, with alcohol representing a significant part of the savings made. A survey show that by travelling to Northern Ireland consumers can currentlyas dropped by nearly £60 in just 21 days.”. It would be good to hear about the ups and downs of the cost of living where you live. Come on Consumer Council – get a …

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So it’s good riddance to Gordon Gekko. Maybe it is. I confess I’m stumbling about in the dark on it but this is big, man. “ Wall Street in crisis: Last banks standing give up investment bank status. The move spells the end of Wall Street as it has existed until now..” is the mother of all headlines. Goldman’s and Morgan Stanley have rushed to take shelter under the Fed before the crunch destroys them is how I read it. …

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I’m glad to say that the mystique of the secret world isn’t overawing everyone with connections to the British establishment. John Ware of Panorama who has a reporter’s relationship ( that is, nervous silence in the case of his recent Omagh programme). amplifies the obvious questions I posed on the back of the programme. “There is a much easier way to clear up what GCHQ knew about the Omagh bombers and when: it is simply to establish whether any of …

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Rage and a regulation debate are the first reactions, as politicians and the media struggle to rise to the level of events. Simon Jenkins in the Sunday Times: “The casual ease with which ministers moved against share-shorting on Thursday– too late to save HBOS – must leave the nation gasping at why this was not done earlier. And when will they decide after all that they should have regulated the bonus culture?” Predictably, the Economist warns already against over-regulation. Next …

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All the talk of “Brown must go” has such as stale flavour about it, as the Labour party conference begins in Manchester. Brown Fightback Begins has more guts about it somehow – I’d hate to see that great clunking bruiser, so subdued of late, give up without a touch of the George Foreman’s. A strategy is emerging – to throw hundred of billions in emergency bank lending and appear on top of the crisis. This is what governments have done …

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David McKittrick in the Independent with all his authority as the chronicler of individual suffering in the Troubles throws cold water on the case for a public inquiry into the Omagh bomb. “For just as there are few moral absolutes in Northern Ireland, so the Omagh families have no absolute right to have the final say on what should happen in the justice system.This is a difficult and painful thing to articulate, given the terrible suffering these people continue to …

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So how’s Ireland been coping? Something like the same roller coaster effect, with bank shares recovering as in London after a similar move against short sellers and a likely similar Irish casualty to HBos. While Ireland doesn’t have the same exposure, John Murray Brown who has the Irish beat for the Financial Times explains “the Irish bind” “Ireland’s banks are caught in a bind. The property developers they lent to cannot service their loans as they are unable to sell …

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Cabinet disagreements threaten … deal? Sounds familiar? I wonder which one will get to the tape first? 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, The Constitution Unit, Univ Coll. London

While we’re waiting for not-the-Executive to meet or whatever, I feel it’s my duty to bring you up to date with the latest in the Britishness debate from immigration minister Liam Byrne – now hold on, this isn’t about neo-imperialism or DUP triumphalism. It would have been helpful if Gordon Brown the convenor of the debate had firmly ruled out any idea of “British Ulster” from the Stormont podium, but from what he has written he hasn’t given the first …

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It seems to have come as a surprise to at least one minister. “We are not immediately attracted to the idea of a public inquiry,” security minister Paul Goggins said for publication only this morning. Sure enough, the inquiry by retired Appeal Court judge Sir Peter Gibson the Intelligence Services Commissioner announced by the Prime Minister after yesterday’s visit to Belfast isn’t to be held in “public:” “to review the intercepted intelligence material available to the security and intelligence agencies …

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Only a year ago, it seemed a merger/takeover was on the brink. Now Brian Cowen has hammered in the last nail on the coffin of any Fianna Fail-SDLP merger or a go – it -alone in the North. Although many SDLP members might not think so with all the party’s dithering on the issue, this is good news for politics. It forces attention where it matters more than ever, the internal affairs of Northern Ireland. A Fianna Fail North has …

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In the end, everything is political even science. And as politicians, scientists are often, well, very good scientists. My spirited defence was in vain. Rev Professor Michael Reiss’s remarks in favour of answering questions about creationism if asked about them in science class had been “open to misinterpretation”. This had damaged the Royal Society’s reputation. “As a result, Professor Reiss and the Royal Society have agreed that, in the best interests of the society, he will step down immediately as …

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Too mundane? Too modest? Too parish pump a response to the credit crunch? I don’t think so. In an initiative that taps into people’s real-life problems, the Belfast Telegraph has launched Pricewatch “ to help you fight your corner against inflation”. Based on proper marketing surveys commissioned from Millward Brown and the Consumer Council, with more from MySupermarket.com and not the usual moans picked up in the street , the Tele is tracking the bad news of rocketing prices (an …

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It’s worth taking a closer look beyond the religion v rationalism debate at what web inventor Tim Berners Lee wants to do with the World Wide Web Foundation. The aims are global and impeccable as he explained them further to the BBC “to advance One Web that is free and open, to expand the Web’s capability and robustness and to extend the Web’s benefits to all people on the planet.” Said Berners-Lee: “There needs to be new systems that would …

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Not long ago they were playing it down. Now they’re whispering the dreadful date ” the worst since 1929.” “Today will be a day to endure and survive,” blogs the BBC’s Robert Peston. Events are moving fast towards an unknown destination. “The European Central Bank has pumped 30 billion euros into the system” the BBC reported at 10.30a.m. Only hours before Bloomberg was reporting that European policy makers had concluded talks in Nice, France, without breaking new ground on how …

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I doubt if the inventor of all that we do here Tim Berners-Lee will have the Church of England in mind as he enters the debate on “real science.” He says the internet needs to find a way to help people separate rumour from science and supports the idea of a “certificate of trustworthiness “ for websites that distribute information. He’s worried about people like the prophets of doom when the Hadron collider was switched on last week. Into the …

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