Brian Walker – Page 91 – Slugger O'Toole

The leaders’ debates: a very British kind of revolution

Brian Walker on April 22, 2010, 11:23 pm

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“They were downloading not debating” was Simon Hoggart’s snap verdict tonight. The snap polls average out at about 30% all round. Clegg holding, not running away with it. Cameron showing recovery. Brown halts slide but still coming last. My mind wandered to a lateral thought of our time, prompted by the unexpected question: Will you still welcome the Pope to Britain? Even in these cynical times how many have dreamt that so many elites would have made such a tremendous …

Celtic greed won’t impress in a hung parliament

Brian Walker on April 22, 2010, 6:08 pm

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One of the small deceptions of the election is the trumpeting of the wee parties about the mighty leverage they’d enjoy in a hung parliament. Don’t believe a word of it, voters. The SDLP’s Margaret Ritchie was at one with the DUP’s Peter Robinson in spinning a yarn which was also the lead shot in Alex Salmond’s launch for the SNP. Plaid Cymru’s Ieuan Gwyn Jones looked forward to a “strong wedge” of Welsh and Scottish Celts uniting to press …

Tory press bullying can only boost Clegg

Brian Walker on April 22, 2010, 4:49 pm

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Embarrassed at having failed to predict the Clegg surge, the Tory press are monstering him before tonight’s debate. Has nobody told them that when in a hole stop digging? This is setting up Clegg nicely for the second half of the campaign. Most attention is focused on the Lib Dem leader, some on Cameron, precious little on Brown. This is probably just as well from Labour’s point of view. The comment on the MSM bullies is mostly negative, not least from …

Derry Essays 1: Precarious future of the living Protestant heritage

Brian Walker on April 21, 2010, 2:54 pm

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“Derry/Londonderry” is either an expression or stalemate or a statement of intent to create a truly shared future. The UK City of culture bid should help decide which it really is. Outwardly, the Jerusalem of Ulster where I grew up over half century ago has survived far better than I could have hoped. The physical layout is still the perfect metaphor for Northern Ireland’s sectarian divide. Proud citadel towers over huddled masses in an area below obligingly called the Bogside. …

Nationalists face decision on electing Lords

Brian Walker on April 21, 2010, 1:08 pm

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At last! A firm-sounding but gradualist plan for an elected second chamber at Westminster, based on the government’s White Paper, if the Guardian story comes to pass. The Labour cabinet seems to have sorted out an internal wrangle at the last minute. Just as well, as the Lib Dems might have sorted it for them. Under leaked Labour plans a new House of Lords probably called the Senate has been thrust higher up the agenda in the present storm of …

Hung parliament hopes and fears

Brian Walker on April 20, 2010, 2:58 pm

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There’s no doubt, pressure to discuss the consequences of a hung parliament will intensify, above and below the surface. It’s started to dawn on both Labour and Conservatives that a state of public denial will do them positive damage. Nick Clegg has four big tasks, says my colleague Robert Hazell writing in the Guardian. (My post below is a projection of his analysis). Who to negotiate with first; minority government or coalition? ; change of Labour leader?; and selling whatever …

A constitutional upheaval for May 7

Brian Walker on April 20, 2010, 4:13 am

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Five overnight polls show the Lib Dem surge holding and Labour trailing. There must be an underlying fear that Labour won’t recover if the Clegg bubble subsides. But on a uniform trend the ICM poll in the Guardian reads out like this. Party % seats Cons 33 245 Lab 28 275 Lib Dem30 99 So Labour could win the most seats although coming third in share of the vote. That’s first past the post for you. On this trend a …

Gordon’s Finest Hour?

Brian Walker on April 19, 2010, 3:15 pm

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Forget the financial crisis. “The Navy’s here.” Brown calls up the Dunkirk spirit to rescue some of the 150,000 stranded Brits (Hey sorry about that you Irish passport holders. Or will Cowen send the Deirdre?) By the way can Ark Royal dock in Calais? I hope they’ve worked that one out. Remember that Gordon last topped the polls as Captain Flood, so can he do it again? There are tricky calls to make but does anybody seriously think a governmenrt …

Time to expose collusion

Brian Walker on April 18, 2010, 6:23 pm

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Rather late in the day, the Indy is carrying David McKittrick’s obituary for Judge Henry Barron who in 1999 carried out the first inquiry into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974. The familiar suspicions of British security forces collusion at official level with loyalist paramilitaries and southern government cover up carry weight on account of David’s authority as one of the most scrupulous and detailed reporters of the long war. The Wiki version also gives a fair account of …

The Coalition scenario is emerging

Brian Walker on April 18, 2010, 3:04 pm

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Andrew Neil looks ahead to the prospect of real political upheaval. Even with Labour coming third in the popular vote — it could come third and still stay in power! I doubt if our voting system would survive such an outcome… Labour would probably give them what ever PR system they wanted if it meant it could stay in power (at least for a while).. I’ve just been given this dramatic scenario which I’m told is being secretly considered. Labour …

This is getting interesting…

Brian Walker on April 18, 2010, 5:14 am

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The Lib Dem surge shows Labour continuing to benefit in the Sunday polls. With figures like these, any one of the three parties can take the lead. But after years in the lead this is hardly the time for Conservative support to be exposed as soft. If this pattern is held the result will be unpredictable. Those hoping for another game changer from the next Leaders’ Debate may be disappointed. First because a repeat of the first debate’s impact is …

There are alternatives to ” to hell with the future and long live the past”

Brian Walker on April 17, 2010, 9:13 pm

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This year more than ever, I’ve got this strong feeling of politicians living on a different planet at election time. Or like Ashes to Ashes without the Quattro and the ravishing Keeley Hawes. I pick on Adams and Ritchie outgreening each other, Gerry dreaming of being feted by the diaspora and Margaret “unambiguously” for a united Ireland. But everything about a UI is ambiguous Margaret except the aspiration. Divided unionism is about who shafted whom in 1974 or 1998 or …

The British dimension is no threat to stability

Brian Walker on April 17, 2010, 6:14 pm

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The Irish Times shouldn’t get too worked up over the Tory approach to Northern Ireland. First they interview Shaun Woodward pretending that Ucunf could be a serious threat to “ stability.” Agreed that the Conservatives need to explain carefully that a role for NI politicians on UK wide matters presents no threat to relationships in Ireland. But if the Tories are destabilising so is Shaun’s little electioneering sally. Fantasise for a moment that the Ulster Unionists are restored as the …

Clegg bubble boosts Brown

Brian Walker on April 17, 2010, 4:18 am

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The Sun gloats over Brown trailing after the debate. THE General Election was turned on its head tonight when the Lib Dems pushed Labour into THIRD place following the historic leaders’ telly debate. Nick Clegg – boosted by a convincing victory in Thursday’s showdown – saw his party leap eight points to 30 per cent. The sensational YouGov poll for The Sun had David Cameron’s Tories still in the lead on 33 per cent. But Gordon Brown’s ailing Labour Party …

Air space – ash cloud passes most of Ireland by

Brian Walker on April 16, 2010, 4:47 pm

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Why are the Irish authorities opening their airspace while the British are keeping theirs closed? Not that it seems to make much difference The answer seems to lie in this map 09.51 The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has announced that as a result of the ash cloud continuing to move away from the southeast of Ireland, it is lifting restrictions within Irish airspace except for a block off the south coast of Ireland Air traffic control body Nats extended its …

The real meaning of Nick Clegg

Brian Walker on April 16, 2010, 3:31 pm

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The true significance of a breakthrough by Nick Clegg could be far greater if it extends beyond winning an X Factor vote for best performer. Vernon Bogdanor in the Times explains how both a hung parliament and electoral reform now look like serious runners and would change the shape of British politics more fundamentally than Home Rule for Scotland, Wales and NI. But there are dangers for the Union he argues, in the Conservatives’ plan for English votes on English …

Kung faces the Pope with direct responsibility and calls for a bishops’ revolt

Brian Walker on April 16, 2010, 2:56 pm

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Hans Kung, great teacher and theologian, issues a devastating critique of the Pope and the Vatican, carried in full in the Irish Times. If the Pope won’t reform, the bishops should take it into their own hands. But will anything change? Extracts Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, and I were the youngest theologians at the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965. Now we are the oldest and the only ones still fully active…. I am motivated by my …

Sinn Fein should not be allowed to escape the ban on double mandates

Brian Walker on April 14, 2010, 4:43 pm

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I’m a child in these matters compared to Slugger hawks but am I alone in thinking that Sinn Fein have got away with it over double jobbing? With all the emphasis on the gravy train that I truly believe would have destroyed parties in GB, all the NI parties have been in a conspiracy to engineer a soft landing for themselves. The train may have slowed already but they still enjoy a big splash of jus . For Westminster they’ll …

Cameron’s People Power has appeal

Brian Walker on April 13, 2010, 7:06 pm

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In the Conservative manifesto, Cameron takes the bold step of putting political reform at the heart of his appeal to voters. His “Invitation to join the Government of Britain” to voters is a novel departure although at its core, it expresses the traditional Tory belief that individuals should take greater responsibility for their own destiny. It also makes a virtue out of the necessity of facing up to financial austerity: “We can make Britain a better country without simply spending …

An ornamental Secretary of State will survive

Brian Walker on April 13, 2010, 2:26 am

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The BBC’s Stephen Walker (I know and like him but we’re not related ) speculates that with Big Devo now achieved, there may be no role left for a Northern Ireland Secretary. It has been the aim of British policy to scrap the post since the GFA. It also fits in with David Cameron’s ambition to reduce the size of his Cabinet and replace the three territorial Secretaries of State with a single Secretary for Devolution Affairs or Nations and …