Chris Donnelly My home state of Arizona is a beautiful place to visit, boasting 300 plus days of pure blue sky and the stunning natural beauty of the Grand Canyon National Park, Sedona and Monument Valley as well as many of the famed sites of the Wild West, including Tombstone (Wyatt Earp’s Gunfight at the OK Corrall.) The capital city, Phoenix, known affectionately as the Valley of the Sun, is a sprawling suburban metropolis. But it is Arizona’s reputation as the right …
An intriguing article in yesterday’s Irish News regarding suspicions by Chief Electoral Officer, Douglas Bain, that a political party may have been involved in forging signatures on applications for postal and proxy votes ahead of the General Election. On the matter, Bain declares This is a matter that will go to the police after the election.” And, before hackles are raised, the clue regarding the likely suspect is to be found in the fact that the alleged discrepancy in signatures was …
John Hedges at An Phoblacht has listed some questions for SDLP MLA Thomas Burns regarding his recently declared pom-pom waving trip to “observe military operations” in Afghanistan. The issue was brought into the public domain (and, apparently, that of his party leader) by Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams during the UTV Leaders’ Debate. Here’s what is declared in the MLA’s Declaration of Interests: In September 2008, I visited Afghanistan on a fact-finding trip to observe military operations and reconstruction efforts in …
Garibaldy’s written an excellent piece on UTV’s local Leader’s Debate this week. He’s not wrong with his initial summary that SDLP leader, Margaret Ritchie, put in a performance registering on the Cecilian scale- not for appearing hopelessly dithering and past her sell by date, but rather for appearing to confirm widely held suspicions that she simply isn’t up to the leadership game. And to think the SDLP initially threatened to boycott the debate unless Gerry Adams -and not Martin McGuinness- was the face put forward by Sinn …
There has been a considerable amount of talk in recent days about North Belfast being elevated to a ‘one to watch’ constituency. Both Irish News editor, Noel Doran, and UTV’s Ken Reid made reference to it following UTV’s Leaders Debate Thursday night, and Jim Fitzpatrick has followed that up with more speculation in his preview of Sunday’s Politics Show programme. Here’s Sammy Morse’s 2007 preview of the constituency (pre-boundary changes, which, according to Nick Whyte’s Northern Ireland elections site have marginally increased …
Prominent SDLP Assembly member and fellow constituency representative, PJ Bradley, has spoken about his shock following his party leader’s dismissive remarks regarding the potential link up between the SDLP and Fianna Fail in today’s Irish News. Bradley, along with many other SDLP members, has long been supportive of the merger proposal, and he clearly was not expecting what he described as the “bolt out of the blue” remarks delivered by Margaret Ritchie at the Labour Party conference last week. Ritchie …
Here’s the latest in the spoof poster/ photo war… Chris Donnelly
Gerry Adams’ offer of a potential nationalist pact with the SDLP, involving Fermanagh South Tyrone and South Belfast, has been rejected by the SDLP, with Margaret Ritchie ruling out such a pact. I discussed the potential for this offer in a piece published last week. What is clear is that making the offer will have been an important step for many nationalists, not least those in Fermanagh South Tyrone who may feel particularly aggrieved at the SDLP decision to oppose …
Following the decision to field a Pan-Unionist/ Conservative candidate in Fermanagh South Tyrone, the electoral math in the constituency has altered considerably. In the event of the SDLP’s candidate deciding to remain in the contest, then Michelle Gildernew would be facing a mammoth challenge to retain the seat. As of the 2005 Westminster election, Sinn Fein’s Michelle Gildernew held 72% of the combined nationalist vote- some 18,638 votes compared to the SDLP candidate’s 7,230 votes. In that election the combined …
The anticipated announcement, that an agreed pan-Unionist candidate would be taking the field in Fermanagh South Tyrone, will have new SDLP leader reaching for the medicine cabinet to pop a couple of headache pills this morning. Expect the pressure for a reciprocal joint nationalist candidate to reach fever pitch and, with Sinn Fein’s Michelle Gildernew the sitting MP, it’ll soon be very clear that nationalists will be looking for the withdrawal of the SDLP’s celebrity candidate, Fearghal McKinney, in order …
Time for something different….Follow link here to enjoy James Richardson’s review of the European papers as they collectively hail Barca’s 22-year old wizard, Lionel Messi. Chris Donnelly
There’s no doubt that the Traditional Unionist Voice Leader, Jim Allister, represents the party’s best opportunity to make an impact in this year’s Westminster election, though the party would do well to avoid setting the bar of success at actually securing the seat in the heartland of Paisleyism. But where else are the TUVites poised to make a significant electoral statement ahead of next year’s Assembly election? The selection of prominent hardliner, Mel Lucas, in South Antrim made obvious sense, …
Having glanced at Mick’s thread yesterday I decided to take a closer look at the latest NISRA statistics measuring deprivation within local communities across the north of Ireland. Some results from the measure of multiple deprivation seem to have been missed: One-fifth of the most deprived forty SOAs are in Foyle. The SDLP have held the MP position for the area uninterrupted since 1983. Should we deduce that the attendance of the sitting Wesminster MP throughout that period was an …
The terrible fate of fifteen year old Phoebe Prince was the subject of an opinion piece by Richard Cohen in the Washington Post. The case has received considerable media attention in Ireland due to the fact that Pheobe lived in County Clare throughout her early childhood before moving to the USA. Amidst the recriminations and announcement of criminal charges, Cohen hits out: You will notice that in all the finger-pointing — the students, the teachers, the administrators — not a …
With the Westminster election campaign due to be officially launched later today, I thought I’d steal in with a post predicting what I believe will be the key outcomes of the intra-nationalist contest. Sinn Fein will safely coast to victory in four of its five seats, with Fermanagh South Tyrone providing the only real challenge- and expect the pressure within nationalism to mount if, as expected, unionism fields single candidates in Fermanagh South Tyrone and/ or South Belfast. The focus …
Shocking revelations this lunchtime. Following exhaustive investigations by the ever vigilant, noble and loyal Sons of Dundela Avenue, the British Broadcasting Corporation has admitted to being run by a covert unit of Irish republican agents acting in unison with dissident unionists and more mainstream unionists with conservative tendencies. Said the Humble Leader, “I knew it, I just knew it. These republican- and unionist- liars have spent months plotting my downfall. Now that we’ve unmasked the republican- and unionist and conservative- …
Check out the BBC interview with a visibly rattled and irate First Minister here. Helpfully..ahem..I’ve included some Robinson quotes from the interview below: “Are you so dense that you’re not picking up the point I’m making?” “I wish you knew how silly you sound in all of this” “Shakespeare wrote a story about this- it was called Much Ado About Nothing.” “I’m in the business of helping people…..if somebody asks me to help them I’ll help them, even you. I …
If you haven’t already discovered this little gem then I suggest you add it to the list of favourite websites. The Northern Ireland Assembly’s Answers Booklet is published on a weekly basis and consists of answers to the written questions posed by MLAs from all sides of the House. Here’s a taster summary of what you can discern from simply glancing through one of the weekly answer booklets: March 26th 2010 (my summaries) • There are a helluva lot of …
Fascinating article in today’s Irish News concerning UTV’s announcement that it planned on holding televised debates between the local political parties ahead of this year’s Westminister elections. An SDLP source is quoted in the article as saying that the party would only participate “under the condition that it is the party leader of all the main parties that takes part.” The Irish News reporter (Diane Rusk) notes that this would amount to Martin McGuinness not being permitted to participate, lest …
St. Gall’s of Belfast will once again do battle at Croke Park today in a bid to become the All-Ireland club champions for gaelic football (coverage live on RTE.) The Milltown team’s ascent to the status of one of the premier club teams in Ulster and Ireland in recent years was the first visible sign that the footballing fortunes of the Saffron county were finally taking a turn for the better after generations of mediocrity- including going almost two decades …
