Brian Walker 
Misha Glenny I knew Michael “Misha” Glenny as a young BBC correspondent reporting the tragedies of the disintegration of Yugoslavia from the eighties and more recently as the author of the book and executive producer of the smash hit TV thriller series McMafia, about the spread of global crime into politics and the world of billionaire finance. Misha’s interest is in part hereditary. His father Michael senior was a student of Eastern Europe and a famed translator who legend has …
Three outcomes seem more likely than not after Theresa’s May’s appearance before the EU summit. One, that EU leaders will confirm a shorter than requested extension to the Article 50 deadline but will make no substantial change to the withdrawal package. Two, next Tuesday and Wednesday, MPs will find ways of defeating her deal while endorsing the extension to 22 May as required. No Deal by any name will not happen next week. Three, with no agreement reached, the EU …
What’s really holding the DUP back? Theresa May has already offered them the keys and thrown in the garage. Are they dreaming the impossible dream? Or more likely, waiting to see who and what will come out as winners next week – if anybody? They are at least hedging their bets on the future of May’s deal; or waiting to see if a new prime minister will match or improve her offer. Their one big fear is that a new …
Has their old enemy David Trimble provided the DUP with useful ammunition to support Mrs May’s deal? We’re told she will only make a third attempt at securing the Common’s agreement this week if she can be sure of winning a majority. And for that DUP support is crucial, not only in terms of numbers but for their influence with the ERG. “It was the Attorney General wot wrecked it” was the Brexiteer verdict after last Tuesday’s debacle, when their …
After the chaos of last week, leading media reflect sharply differing views on the prospects for a third meaningful vote on Tuesday. The Leave – supporting Telegraph newspapers have emerged as the unlikely cheerleaders for Mrs May’s battered deal. If the deal passes, No 10 officials say the necessary legislation will have cleared the Commons by April 25, paving the way for a new Brexit Day in the final week of May or first week of June, according to the …
With the No Deal option off the table a soft Brexit become more likely. In the ultimate paradox, this decision which flies in the face of Theresa May’s strategy actually strengthens her very weak hand just a little. By just two votes, she fended off a bid for parliament to take back control and was able to specify a short period of extension to 30th June, if the EU agrees. The ERG believe this could be their last throw to …
Only one former paratrooper is to be charged in connection with the killings of civil rights demonstrators in Northern Ireland on Bloody Sunday in January 1972. The decision was announced by Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service after relatives of the 13 men, who died on one of the darkest days of the Troubles, had marched together through the streets of Derry where the victims fell The Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland, Stephen Herron, said: “It has been concluded …
What a topsy turvy world is conjured up by the spectre of No Deal. Despite yesterday’s vote to abandon it and with the extension of Article 50 to come, the nail hasn’t been yet driven through its heart. What happens when the usual parameters of behaviour are abandoned, the perverse effect, is every much in evidence. In an openly divided cabinet, a chancellor who defies his prime minister by warning against No Deal and then votes for it. A …
She cuts through the dream world of imaginary politics… I have one question for people in the Republic who said they want a referendum on Irish unity: Are you mad? There is another side – if you’re passing through… https://discovernorthernireland.com/about-northern-ireland/destinations/causeway/causeway-coastal-route/causeway-coastal-route-destinations/?s=D423088611DB11AB8D4C3772F5F0C533A2F20C25 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 …
The No Deal scenario announced unilaterally by the UK this morning keeps the Irish border open but at a cost to Northern Ireland business and sets up a border in the Irish Sea for the Republic but not Northern Ireland. And while it’s intended to keep the border open, the Republic would be obliged to levy tariffs on some goods heading from the north to the south. Northern ports would be a back door from the EU including Ireland but …
The image says it all – the Daily Mail’s prediction
Former 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
Tony Connelly’s detailed report from the EU side identifies what he regards as a shift of ground by the UK Attorney General Geoffrey Cox to try to satisfy the DUP which is skunnering the chance of a breakthrough. The EU has been shifting towards providing legally binding assurances, through a Joint Interpretative Statement that sets out the obligations to conclude a free trade deal and look at alternatives to the backstop in quick time. But in the Commons earlier this …
“Anti-English sentiment in Ireland had healed. But Brexit has brought it all flooding back.” So writes Irish Times columnist Una Mullally in the Guardian. Is she right? Most comment here will not only echo but amplify Una’s comments. But I think – I hope – she exaggerates and all will be restored when we discover that the legacy of Brexit – or no Brexit- – will not as bad as all that. She makes a big thing about the British …
It’s a snap shot in a febrile atmosphere I know, but who can be surprised? A new poll from the Irish Times and Ipsos/MRBI – in fact parallel polls north and south – find that 59 per cent of Northern Ireland voters want a special arrangement for Northern Ireland for no checks on the border – even if that means some checks on goods travelling between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The poll also found that 67 per cent of voters …
“Cox ‘s codpiece is empty” scoffed a leading Brexiteer tonight in a sign of hardening opinion against the Attorney General’s chances of success to secure a legal formula to satisfy the Tory right and the DUP. Ideas for a convoluted arbitration process now under discussion do not impress. By this reckoning the best that can he hoped for next week is a meaningful vote in favour of extending Article 50. If that happens Brexit is up for grabs. Tonight in …
It is quite an event when a minister has to return to the despatch box of the Commons to correct a misstatement – in this case one so elementary it beggars belief, although in tune with her basic ignorance of local politics. Speaking in the House of Commons, Mrs Bradley was responding to a question from DUP MP Emma Little Pengelly about legacy issues. “Over 90% of the killings during the Troubles were at the hands of terrorists, every single …
Leo Varadkar has made the radical move to present Dublin voters with the choice of electing in effect former SDLP leader, deputy First minister and Foyle MP Mark Durkan as MEP for Northern Ireland, based in Dublin but significantly, still living in Derry. The bold move is, as Durkan himself admits , a ” bold ask” of Dublin voters and amounts to a modest alteration to the political balance on the island. However the big point is that it might …
Alan and Mick have done sterling work in reporting and commenting on the Alliance and Fianna Fail conferences, with the SDLP in tow for the latter. From me at a distance they prompt the following reflections. Real politics cannot be about endless positioning, it has to be about policies, doing things for the people , how to raise and spend the money – you know, the stuff you read about what happens in other places. The SDLP’s agenda is too …
Full story from the Sunday Times. Would a retrospective amnesty be legal? Army veterans will be protected from prosecution for alleged historic abuses under plans to introduce a 10-year limit on new cases, The Sunday Times can reveal. Gavin Williamson, the defence secretary, is expected to bring forward the proposed legislation in this year’s Queen’s speech after growing pressure on the government to address the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The disclosure comes amid claims that four army …
Suddenly, over historic cases stretching back almost half a century, legal developments are emerging that inject a new – and to me unexpected – momentum into dealing with the past. The hard pressed PSNI, so eager to hand over its role in historic cases to the proposed Historic Investigations Unit, has done its controversial job over Bloody Sunday and John Downey. Inevitably in Northern Ireland, reaction to this fresh impetus could overtake Brexit as a divisive issue – at least …
