Brian Walker – Page 51 – Slugger O'Toole

The Irish can show the English how to handle nationalism better in post-Brexit Europe

Brian Walker on June 25, 2016, 12:39 pm

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The temptation is strong to go apocalyptic over Brexit. A slightly poorer UK with the threat of fragmentation hanging over it is not the ideal backdrop for stability on Northern Ireland. But here’s a thought. Why not set good example? After all, our experience of instability is unrivalled in modern western Europe. We know the score. Let’s pick our way through Stephen Collins’ prophetic piece in the Irish Times . There is some irony in the fact that on the …

The Irish north and south can teach Brexit supporters that nationalism is not enough

Brian Walker on June 22, 2016, 9:35 am

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Times / YouGov results on the Big Debate: Which side won ? Remain: 34% Leave: 39% Not sure:17% How will you vote? Remain 41% Leave 40% Not sure 8% Never mind the polls. How was it for you on the big stage? Was it about as relevant as the Eurovision Song Contest? More or less fun? Either way, didn’t they all do well! And that was the problem. It was a no score draw, both sides shooting and blocking like …

Remain in Northern Ireland still looks on top. Will the DUP heave a sigh of relief if it wins?

Brian Walker on June 21, 2016, 12:01 pm

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The arguments continue right down to the wire. The referendum has cut across the unionist/nationalist divide and – (nothing unusual here) – has split unionism. What is rarer is the DUP’s failure to press home their traditional case with the traditional fervour, suggesting they have doubts about it themselves, as Stephen McCaffery argues in The Detail. Sammy Wilson’s pitch for Leave has only one sentence directly about Northern Ireland and steers clear of concerns over a hard border. A leave vote will …

Brexit panic takes hold in Ireland

Brian Walker on June 16, 2016, 8:42 am

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In just 250 words the Irish Times reports the scale of Brexit panic in Ireland, north and south. Promising “a huge campaign all over the world”, an informed source said a strong campaign is needed in the US, China and India and elsewhere to drive home the message that Ireland is separate from the UK and that it intends to stay in the EU. … Mr Cameron infuriated unionists yesterday when he warned travel restrictions may be needed between Northern …

It’s about democracy stupid. No, more like a terrible mistake

Brian Walker on June 16, 2016, 12:42 am

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As the polls lengthen in favour of Brexit, Vote Leave’s morale is on the up. The Brexit phenomenon is not reactionary, a delayed reaction to the loss of Empire or narrow English nationalism but it marks a revival of British self confidence. This I rate as a discovery to be taken with a pinch of salt. But so says Steve Hilton the one-off, wonderfully paradoxical engaging Tory radical who as Cameron’s guru used to pad about Downing St in tee …

Jonathan Powell blasts Brexit

Brian Walker on June 13, 2016, 5:22 pm

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On The View on the day the former PMs Major and Blair warned of the threat of Brexit to the Union and stability, Eamonn McCann erupted. It wasn’t “Blair, that man steeped in the blood of Iraq that brought peace”, he thundered (I quote him freely) “but the people of Northern Ireland who don’t want to fight each other. They are the peace process.” As a champion of the people en masse and in the abstract, Eamonn is surely right …

“Collusion” extends to the handling of informers. It is not limited to direct state involvement in murder

Brian Walker on June 13, 2016, 1:18 pm

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The local newspapers have been reviving the debate on the role of collusion and what it means, in the context of the Loughinisland report by the Police Ombudsman In the Irish News, Bimpe Archer helpfully lists What the Police Did Right; and What the Police Did Wrong In the Newsletter Ben Lowry challenges applying the word “ collusion” to the Loughinisland sequence of events. It can misleads the public, he says The Royal Ulster Constabulary were in cahoots with some …

Kingsmill, Loughinisland, Stakeknife. New disclosure on collusion has begun that the State can’t control and must answer. The time has come for proper explanations

Brian Walker on June 11, 2016, 7:51 pm

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Hints are constantly being dropped that the Executive are close to agreement about setting up the new institutions to deal with the past, basically as laid out in the Haass report two years ago. After last week, it can’t come quick enough. A draft Bill to set up new legacy bodies is ready and waiting. A flood of consequences emerged from some of the worst incidents of the Troubles, lining up to be tackled. 70 murders connected to Loughinisland. …

“The most successful Union in history would be broken apart.” Major and Blair’s message from Magee in Derry

Brian Walker on June 9, 2016, 2:13 pm

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Derry was an interesting venue to chose for two former prime ministers to defend the Union against the threat of Brexit. In one sense it was powerful symbolism to see them together, as the Guardian says. – Snap verdict: Of all the Remain media events we’ve seen, that was probably one of the most effective. Sir John Major and Tony Blair may seem like figures from the distant past, but in 1997 around three quarters of the British electorate voted for …

Can we finally wind up the paramilitaries by consent? The panel report has been delivered

Brian Walker on June 8, 2016, 11:51 am

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Striking a balance between recognising where local power lies and the aim of bringing paramilitarism to an end is the fiendishly tricky approach of the report to the two governments and the Executive of the three- person panel headed by John Alderdice. In the jargon the strategy is about Demilitarisation, Disbandment and Integration (DDR). The panel set up under Fresh Start was asked to produce a one-off report. It wasn’t a standing body like the International Monitoring Commission (IMC), of which …

DUP/SF solidarity facing a formal opposition marks a new Assembly era

Brian Walker on June 7, 2016, 11:45 am

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Yesterday’s Assembly debate on the programme for government framework showed that a new era of some sort has begun. The new government v opposition format of debate worked well, better than it might have. Even more remarkably MLAs stuck closely to the fairly dry topic under discussion.. Nobody made allegations of DUP triumphalism or complained about Sinn Fein passivity towards it. Most notable of all was DUP-Sinn Fein solidarity against Ulster Unionist/SDLP opposition . To describe her “collective approach,” Arlene …

Insist on Executive solidarity. It’s the new antidote to nationalist fears and DUP over confidence

Brian Walker on June 6, 2016, 12:03 pm

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I’ve exploited my posting rights to reply to the thread started by Chris Donnelly which includes comments by Mick and Pete Baker. . Pete wrote: “We are long past the point of the need, or desire, for a collective approach to the programme for government.” There’s every “need” for a collective approach, Pete; it’s the only way to manage a dependent welfare state and mixed economy. “Desire?” Right after the election the DUP FM and the SF dFM repeated their …

What’s the matter with Hillary?

Brian Walker on June 5, 2016, 12:11 am

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At last two pieces which go to the heart of why Donald Trump is rampant and Hillary Clinton is faltering. The plain fact is that people like their politicians to inspire or at least identify with their problem and fears. Mrs Clinton is a poor speaker and comes across as an over-calculating policy wonk who does neither. Remember those visits to Belfast showing support for the peace process which continued even after we were thrown off the international news agenda? …

Self effacement from Martin McGuinness is a sign of maturing power sharing, not nationalist sell-out

Brian Walker on June 4, 2016, 12:34 pm

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Was it only yesterday that conventional wisdom had it that a confident Sinn Fein were carrying all before them and that the DUP were left lumbering behind, cross and near to open rowing? The result ending in deadlock and near-breakdown? Two subtly written articles in the Irish News this week speaking with the voice of moderate nationalism have sounded notes of alarm that the boot may now be on the other foot and it’s feeling uncomfortable. The unsubtle version of …

The Birmingham story is also about the IRA record. It’s time to reveal it, Gerry

Brian Walker on June 2, 2016, 12:20 am

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“One person killed in England is worth 10 ( or is it 20 or 30?) in Ireland.” This was the notorious IRA judgement of propaganda value. And with 50 IRA attacks in England in 1974 that felt true at the time. The calculation was still valid in November that year when everything went horribly wrong for all sides over the Birmingham bombs. Reaction in Northern Ireland to the prominent coverage today will probably be rueful. We are more case hardened. …

The time is overdue for the two governments to tell what they know about the Dublin-Monaghan and the Birmingham bombings

Brian Walker on June 1, 2016, 10:40 am

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Consider the latest developments about two atrocities, the Dublin and Monaghan UVF bombs in May 1974 and the Birmingham IRA pub bombs of November the same year. What they have in common is knowledge of the identities of what we must call the alleged perpetrators. The deep frustration caused to individuals and states has not gone away. Kieran Conway now a Dublin solicitor, then the IRA’s “director of intelligence.” has again confirmed what is so well known, that the identities …

More Brexitref alarms: could a Corbyn government deliver Irish unity?

Brian Walker on May 30, 2016, 4:16 pm

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When we’re taking about Brexit fears, Newton Emerson in the Irish Times has an outlier scenario that’s sounds plausible but is full of holes. He imagines the possibility of an early UK election out of the post-referendum chaos regardless who wins, with the Conservatives in worse disarray than Labour. Jeremy Corbyn gets SNP support to form a government in exchange for a second referendum. Independence is won. NI unionism is demoralised. Corbyn reverts Labour to active support for a …

If Brexit happens, Ireland may be united for the purpose of entering Great Britain

Brian Walker on May 30, 2016, 10:53 am

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In the Brexit propaganda battle the hare is now being raised not of imposing controls on the Irish border but of geographically more convenient checks between the island or Ireland and the island of Great Britain. While the Irish Times quotes “official sources” in Dublin bringing up the issue again, the piece invokes a report by the House of Commons’ Northern Ireland Committee that discusses it. The Commons committee warned in a report entitled Northern Ireland and the EU Referendum …

To create Northern Ireland’s new programme for government, everybody can join in.

Brian Walker on May 28, 2016, 12:14 pm

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After decades of practice it’s all too easy to adopt the scepticism of the opposition parties towards the “new framework for a programme for government”. John Manley in the Irish News is but one who recognises the gaps and omissions. But these refer to decisions to come. To criticise the approach for how to take them is unfair and misses the point. Arlene Foster has promised “a new way of doing things… not working in departmental silos.” Martin McGuinness promises …

Brexit: how it would play differently for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Brian Walker on May 27, 2016, 11:00 am

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Northern Ireland is the only area where the Brexit referendum campaign barely figured in the recent devolved elections. The Constitution Unit of UCL where I’m an Hon Fellow hasn’t forgotten us and devolution generally. The Unit has just published a report based on a seminar that brought academics together from the three devolved areas to discuss how they’d be affected. It’s well worth reading as much for what they have in common as what makes each of them distinctive. The …