Mick Fealty – Page 5 – Slugger O'Toole

As Colum Eastwood step downs as SDLP leader, will the next leader be any better?

Mick Fealty on August 29, 2024, 1:05 am

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school of gray fish

The Irish News’s John Manley breaks the news that Colum Eastwood is to step down as only the sixth leader of the SDLP since its establishment in 1970. It comes just over week after his UUP counterpart Doug Beattie also announced his departure. At first he put a brake on his party’s decline but in the 2022 Assembly election it suffered a huge anti DUP squeeze from Sinn Féin to which neither Eastwood nor his party had an answer. Now …

After the election, we need more bridge builders and fewer slick marketeers…

Mick Fealty on July 26, 2024, 9:59 am

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A thneed’s a-fine-something-that-all-people need. -From The Lorax by Dr Seuss, 1971 Culture eats strategy for breakfast they say. I’ve long believed that Alex Salmond knew what a lot of his Scottish nationalist cohort never really did, ie that before movement was possible he would have to tackle the cultural barriers to his party’s appeal. Irish nationalism in Northern Ireland has only fitfully understood that reality, in figures like Curry, Hume, Fitt, McGrady and Mallon and those all plied their trade …

After the election, even if the DUP faces a crisis then the rest of Northern Ireland does not…

Mick Fealty on July 17, 2024, 2:11 pm

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white wooden shed surrounded by trees

In the doldrum life of Northern Ireland politics losing one seat is a misfortune, two careless, three criminally negligent. To have escaped two more potential losses is a serious warning from the future for the DUP that for too long played just one card. Since the writ of that one card trick (keeping the FM’s job for unionism) ran out in the last Assembly election in 2022 the party has been on notice that it needs to find another reason …

After the election, why is Nationalist turn out continuing to drop like a stone?

Mick Fealty on July 10, 2024, 7:47 am

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red Radio Flyer trike on brown dried leaves

For all the breathless talk of movement towards a border poll, constitutionally the recent elections changed absolutely nothing. Nationalism came back with 9, MPs whilst the number of non nationalist MPs was also nine. Exactly the same as last time. Anyone claiming the movement towards Alliance is constitutionally significant when the seats lost and won are North Down and Lagan Valley should understand Alliance is at its liveliest where religious integration is at its highest, which is in the east. …

Northern Ireland now has two political cultures, an eastern ‘republic’ and western ‘principality’

Mick Fealty on July 5, 2024, 10:21 am

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clear glass mason jar on beach during sunset

Machiavelli in his famous handbook for democratic survival The Prince divided all states into either republics or principalities. The former were easily overrun, but hard to retain. With the latter once conquered, there is great ease in holding it. This morning, Northern Ireland has two distinct political cultures. East of the Bann where voters will not tolerate any failure in their politicians, whereas in the west and south where no matter who is standing, the Sinn Fein brand has become …

Results suggest Sinn Féin’s ‘inflection point’ (and a UI) remain some way off

Mick Fealty on June 14, 2024, 6:49 am

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a full moon shines in the sky over the ocean

Regardless of how you cut it, one of the big stories of the southern locals was Sinn Féin’s failure to break through, again. In order to understand why more than 2o0 SF candidates failed to gain a council seat it’s worth noting the poll ratings at the start: 🚨 IREUKmedia EXIT POLL for the #LE2024: 🟢 Sinn Fein: 199 (+118)🔵 Fine Gael: 180 (-75)🟩 Fianna Fail: 142 (-137)🌱 Green Party: 28 (-21)🔴 Labour: 47 (-10)⚫️ Independents/Other: 246 (+61)🟣 Social Democrats: …

AFP announce that a UK General Election to be held on July 4th…

Mick Fealty on May 22, 2024, 4:34 pm

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Elizabeth Tower, London

AFP have just reported there will be an election on July 4th. Mainstream media are waiting for an official announcement for what will be a six week campaign. This will be the first electoral contest for all major party leaders. And there will be not a little interest here in Northern Ireland. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest …

After Donaldson the question remains: how do we feed future generations of those who live in Northern Ireland?

Mick Fealty on April 5, 2024, 7:33 am

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aerial view of boat on water

As a Manchester City fan of many years standing (myself and just two others in Primary went blue when everyone else was going red) I know a rapid change in managers is not a sign of good health. After many years of stability at the top the DUP is experiencing that sort of bewilderment you get when nothing you try quite sticks. It’s been a rough ride since Peter Robinson stepped down. In spite of the drastic reasons for the …

Jeffrey Donaldson deletes all his social media accounts…

Mick Fealty on March 29, 2024, 8:40 amComments Off | Readers 25847

This looks ominous…. For now, comments will remain closed, but this is likely to be the beginning of something big. Very big. Curious, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson seems to have deleted his entire social media presence across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn… 🧐 pic.twitter.com/Evzs02B4qE — Vincent McAviney (@VinnyMcAv) March 29, 2024 Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and …

Two very different leaders call for a dumping of old ways to bring a more inclusive Northern Ireland into being…

Mick Fealty on March 2, 2024, 2:54 pm

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maps lying on the floor

I don’t usually post at weekends, but the chatter about Jeffrey Donaldson’s interview on TalkBack in which he talked about “unionism shaping political change going forward”, combined with Micheál Martin’s remarks to the Alliance Party there is definitely something interesting afoot. The Donaldson piece is not a fade or tactical manoeuvre, although Kevin Meagher made a good point yesterday on Nolan when we were both on together, that Donaldson’s rhetoric repeated a note of reconciliation from Robinson in 2011 (and …

“a striking manifestation of the confidence and optimism of the shared island initiative…”

Mick Fealty on February 20, 2024, 11:35 pm

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bridge, autumn, nature

As recently as November Irish News columnist Brian Feeney wrote a column under the heading to the effect that “The Irish government and Fianna Fáil have no policy at all on the north”. [Ahem – Ed] Well, the secret of politics is in the timing. In a year that will see elections on both island’s Micheál Martin’s brainchild the Shared Island Initiative has finally made people sit up and take notice. The initiative was launched in 202o and by the …

After the Stormont restart an opportunity exists for the SDLP but is far from guaranteed

Mick Fealty on February 13, 2024, 12:31 pm

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trees on forest with sun rays

The SDLP is suffering a long term voter drought with just one way left to turn things around: ie, to make a genuine success of Opposition. For it to work they need to look and sound like an alternative leadership, not another protest group. Above all, they need to be heard.

After a big day for Irish nationalism it’s time to make the institutions they now lead actually work

Mick Fealty on February 6, 2024, 11:35 am

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a couple of tools that are sitting on a table

Saturday was a big day for Nationalism, and few summed it up as well as the new Nationalist leader of the opposition, Matthew O’Toole: As we walked down the stairs into the Great Hall, we passed the figure of James Craig, Northern Ireland’s first Prime Minister — the man who built this Building and this state in his image. Whatever one’s view of him, Craig was a far-sighted strategist, but even he was unlikely to have foreseen today’s events. The …

As Sir Jeffrey emerges with an unexpected answer to Northern Ireland’s dilemmas, so must others…

Mick Fealty on February 1, 2024, 2:09 pm

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grayscale photo of duck on water

Brian has it in one. There are no excuses, now the DUP’s great misadventure with an aspirational Brexit they (nor any of their loyalist critics) would never be able to shape or control is at an end. Their eyes were bigger than their belly, which allowed them to be distracted from their main purpose as an NI Unionist party, which as Jeffrey Donaldson has noted, is to make Northern Ireland work. I appreciate Frank’s concern about some of the wording …

Our tired and failing democracy needs a new set of eyes

Mick Fealty on January 31, 2024, 1:07 pm

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close-up photography of girl

“Don’t limit a child to your own learning, for she was born in another time.” — Rabindranath Tagore Good to see the Belfast Summit launched (Carlos Moreno is internationally influential and is a bit of a coup for them) just after the news of the likely restoration of Stormont. I hope we do get back to work. On Good Morning Scotland (36.19) this morning I provided context for this breakdown and then agreement to anyone listening at such an early …

On the face of it Donaldson’s deal will keep the whole UK aligned with the EU

Mick Fealty on January 30, 2024, 7:46 am

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Rather than farce, the DUP executive’s decision last night is a crossing of the rubicon. Sir Jeffrey’s problem in selling it is likely to relate to the expectations of other unionist voices and leaders. The BBC reports his take as follows: Sir Jeffrey said the legislation agreed with Westminster would “remove checks on goods moving within the UK and remaining in NI, and end NI blindly following EU laws”. He added: “There will be legislation protecting the Acts of Union, …

The DUP’s actual problem is everybody’s actual problem?

Mick Fealty on January 19, 2024, 3:27 pm

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To answer my own rhetorical question, it is simply because they cannot bear to be in government (because it loses them votes, rather than grows them). For most of their fifty plus years they were oppositionist. The elder Paisley he made a good fist of at least looking like they enjoyed the trappings of power. But according to insiders at the time, although the atmosphere was good, nothing was getting done. Back in 2008, I gave a presentation in NICVA …

[Long Read] Next Irish Election will test whether what a government does makes a difference

Mick Fealty on January 12, 2024, 9:19 am

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In 2024 four billion people go to the polls: about half the population of the planet. In the US, poll watchers predict a Trump win in a campaign where he may spend more time in court than on the stump. In the early 1930s, Will Rogers, a lifelong Democrat joked that the reason Republicans nearly always won the Whitehouse back then was that they had a habit of having three bad years followed by one good one. The good year …

In praise of… Moderation

Mick Fealty on December 23, 2023, 10:23 am

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These two random gentlemen randomly beseeched me to take this random photograph. I randomly obliged.

I know I promised I’d shut up for the rest of the year, but after I finished yesterday’s round up I realised I’d forgotten to thank probably the most important members of Slugger online, ie the moderators. Thanks to Brian the team has expanded considerably over the last year which has spread the burden of keeping the conversations here both convivial and (largely) on topic. They’re an amazing bunch. The job they do cannot be underestimated. Almost every online conversation …

A brief coffee time review of 2023, before the return of real politics in 2024?

Mick Fealty on December 22, 2023, 1:05 pm

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red kerosene lantern

In a year in which we seem to have gone from Storm Ciarán to Storm Pia in the blink of an eye, the changeable weather elsewhere barely seems to have touched the deadlock of NI politics. In a February edition of The Irish News there’s an editorial that reads, Moment of truth nearing or Donaldson, just ahead of the announcement of the Windsor Framework [Was that this year? – Ed]. By any measure that moment of truth is still to …