Michael Shilliday

The Assembly Hansard for yesterday is online. Bob McCartney’s contribution may not have inspired agreement throughout, but there was some interest: Apart from an ego trip and ministerial office, St Andrews-style devolution offers little to unionists. The timetable affords no credible opportunity for testing whether Sinn Féin genuinely supports the police and the rule of law. At best, Sinn Féin will offer the minimum words necessary, with fingers crossed in reservation. The DUP will be inviting upon itself the plague …

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Noel McAdam, Belfast Telegraph, 17th November: DUP ministers in a future Executive would be unable to prevent Sinn Fein attending north-south meetings, it emerged today. The St Andrews Agreement, 13th October: Attendance at NSMC and BIC. Amendments to the 1998 Act would provide for a minister with lead departmental interest in an issue under consideration at an NSMC/BIC meeting to be entitled to attend (with a power for a minister so entitled, by consent, to arrange for another minister attending …

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A memorial sculpture in memory of those who died in the Claudy atrocity, for which a Sinn Fein MLA was arrested nearly a year ago, has been vandalised over the weekend. Michael ShillidayI used to write and get paid, now I read and don’t. Former UUP staffer, currently living in London. @mjshilliday

Sir Hayden Phillips has published an interim report (PDF) ahead of his final recommendations before the end of the year. Michael ShillidayI used to write and get paid, now I read and don’t. Former UUP staffer, currently living in London. @mjshilliday

Following the devastating news that Daily Ireland is to fold, I was reading Martin O Muilleoir’s blog when I came across this: Those of us who remember John Bruton’s execrable coalition putting a spanner in the peace process works in the 90s after Albert Reynolds fell from grace, know that a government in Dublin which has a visceral empathy for unionism is not good for the cause of freedom. Is my orange jump suit in Guantanamo ready yet? He probably …

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UUP Victims spokesman Derek Hussey questions the Government and SDLP definition of the term “victim”. Published in the Newsletter on Saturday August 19th.This week has marked the eighth anniversary of the Omagh bomb – one of the most horrific days in the history of Northern Ireland. The geography of Northern Ireland bears witness to the depth and extent of conflict. Names that ought simply to map out locality instead catalogue atrocity – places like Omagh; Enniskillen; Darkley; Greysteel. Communities have …

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Knowing one’s enemy can be an astute decision in politics, and it never fails to amaze me the extent to which Nationalists remain ignorant of Unionists and how they think. The discussion boards at politics.ie can be an amusing place to browse for ignorance, none better than this: The Unionist problem, a just and fair solution? My solution is as follows; Unionists who wish to be ruled by the union should be voluntary encouraged to immigrate to that state. It …

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Jim Gibney’s column in usually quite entertaining, and I particularly enjoyed today’s. “Two-state solution in the only basis for peace” is the supremely sensible headline. “This is not an argument against the right of Israel to exist as a state in the region. Palestinians accept the existence of Israel. They support a two-state solution based on credible borders, Palestine and Israel existing side-by-side. This is the outcome which will bring peace to the Middle East”. Can’t see the wood for …

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Clearly Alban Maginness isn’t the only SDLP representative who is keen to see the police crack down on victims – Alasdair McDonnell agrees with him. Michael ShillidayI used to write and get paid, now I read and don’t. Former UUP staffer, currently living in London. @mjshilliday

There is an online petition to preserve and recognise the birthplace of Lord Carson in Dublin, a campaign supported by his latest successor as UUP leader Sir Reg Empey. Michael ShillidayI used to write and get paid, now I read and don’t. Former UUP staffer, currently living in London. @mjshilliday

Michael McGimpsey has a platform piece in todays Newsletter in which he argues that the two faces of the DUP will come to blows more and more in the coming months. The field on the twelfth of July is usually not a particularly controversial place. However this year Ian Paisley grabbed a few headlines when he announced that there was no place for Sinn Fein in the Government of Northern Ireland. “It will be over our dead bodies” he said. …

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Nothing at all to do with Northern Ireland politics or culture, but I thought this was quite fun. Michael ShillidayI used to write and get paid, now I read and don’t. Former UUP staffer, currently living in London. @mjshilliday

For a man who chastises me for being “a 19th centaury liberal dressed up as a conservative”, Brian Crowe displays some of his classical liberalism in this piece on the historical narrative of the Orange Institution. Michael ShillidayI used to write and get paid, now I read and don’t. Former UUP staffer, currently living in London. @mjshilliday

The Victims Commissioner has been on record as stating that she does not believe that terrorists are victims. Miss Fitz on Sunday described this as narrow. Alban Maginness has called for zero tolerance towards Loyalist paramilitaries. I found this odd as according to this SDLP policy document all Paramilitaries are doing by engaging in murder and criminality is making victims of themselves, and according to this policy, The needs of all victims – of paramilitary organizations and the state – …

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Something that Andrew McCann said yesterday interested me. Failure to include the leaders of Provo terror in government will, in essence, mark a return of the AIA with some window-dressing North/Southery. Even I could live with that, so I’m sure the DUP and the pro-Union people will be able to in preference to Martin McGuinness 007 holding sway over children’s education. Lets look at this ideologically. The very first of the Ulster Unionist Party’s aims and objectives in its constitution …

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The Irish News on Monday had some more detail on my fathers suspension from the Orange institution. An internal critic of the Orange Order has said he is alarmed that an organisation “claiming to stand for civil and religious liberty” could suspend one of its most senior members. The Rev Brian Kennaway was speaking after it emerged that Colin Shilliday has been punished for criticising two prominent Orange officers. Belfast county grand master Dawson Bailey and grand master of the …

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An odd story to be blogging, but my father has had his membership of the Orange Institution suspended by the Grand Master – some three months after he penned his resignation. Michael ShillidayI used to write and get paid, now I read and don’t. Former UUP staffer, currently living in London. @mjshilliday

There has been much posturing on David Ervine’s taking the UUP whip. Tim Roll-Pickering and Beano have both taken a cautious view of this and its consequences. Michael ShillidayI used to write and get paid, now I read and don’t. Former UUP staffer, currently living in London. @mjshilliday

I haven’t seen much blogging on the retirement of Robin Eames, but what there has been has been very different. From Vance to Crowe. Michael ShillidayI used to write and get paid, now I read and don’t. Former UUP staffer, currently living in London. @mjshilliday

Also today the UUP has become the first party to take a stall at the Balmoral show. Michael ShillidayI used to write and get paid, now I read and don’t. Former UUP staffer, currently living in London. @mjshilliday