Economy – Page 6 – Slugger O'Toole

The Union will not survive the end of the NI Protocol

Brendan Heading on October 11, 2021, 10:49 pm

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I’m sure everyone must be feeling as exhausted and frustrated as I am to see that once again we’re back to groundhog day once again with the European Union and the UK launching into another period of tense negotiations. I don’t want to spend a lot of time going over what is currently going on when there is plenty of fine – and infinitely more qualified – commentary available elsewhere, except to say that it sounds like the UK is …

The protocol is being attacked not because it doesn’t work, but because it DOES…

Brian O'Neill on October 5, 2021, 1:59 pm

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bicycle, children, graffiti

Speakers at the Policy Exchange think that businesses in Northern Ireland have adjusted very well to the new situation. The issue for Unionists seems to be that they have adjusted too well and North/South trade has been increasing. Backing Brexit has forced Northern Ireland into an economic United Ireland and best of all business is booming. Can Unionists ever get out of the corner they have painted themselves into? Hey, stop laughing at the back… Quite the admission on the …

Dublin looking for partners as #SharedIsland Fund doubles and all island investment rises to €3.5billion…

Mick Fealty on October 5, 2021, 11:01 am

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shaking hands, handshake, teamwork

“The past holds us captive. Even when we succeed in giving up slights, grudges, feuds and pride, we cannot easily give up knowledge, memories and experience.” – David Amerland At the weekend, Colm Tóibín wrote scathingly of some southern politicians that “their talk of a united Ireland ‘in my lifetime’ is mystical blather; another example of politicians saying something they don’t mean”. Ouch. Yet, there are some political leaders in the ‘anglosphere’ who seem to be trying to reconnect to …

We need to be doing a lot more to insulate homes…

Brian O'Neill on September 29, 2021, 2:48 pm

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food, drinks, people

While personally, I have no desire to superglue myself to the Westlink, I generally agree with the activists of Insulate Britain. Home heating is one of my obsessions. I have given a scary amount of mental energy to it over the years. The core principle of insulate first makes sense. It is better to ensure homes are properly insulated before you think about the heating. A well-insulated home can dramatically lower energy bills as well as being more comfortable for …

Is Invest NI creating new jobs or just subsidising existing jobs?

Brian O'Neill on September 28, 2021, 11:10 am

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fashion, clothing, shop

The online fashion retailer Asos is planning to create 184 jobs at a new tech hub in Belfast. From the BBC story: The global firm, which is popular with younger people, will recruit over the next three years with 52 of the jobs in place in the first year. The company is investing £14m in the permanent base which will be operational early in 2022. Recruitment is already underway with a range of roles including in engineering and data science. …

The high street voucher scheme opens…

Brian O'Neill on September 27, 2021, 11:12 am

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pound, coins, currency

The pointless exercise in helicopter money that is the high street voucher scheme is now open, sort of. It seems no one in the NI public sector has ever heard of the concept of load balancing so the site immediately fell over on launch. My advice is to wait a few days and try it early morning or late at night, here is the page. The entire premise of the scheme is stupid. Many of us have never been richer. …

Gazing back 100 years will lead to a crick in the neck rather than the insights we need to grow…

Mick Fealty on September 24, 2021, 4:04 pm

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highway, mountain, trees

And to finish the week, Newton Emerson throws some light on the politics of the President’s refusal to come Armagh in October as a part of the decade of centenaries… Under his Machnamh centenary programme, described as “inviting reflections on the War of Independence, the Treaty Negotiations, the Civil War and Partition”, the President has spent a year hosting academic seminars on contested commemoration, ethical remembering and, above all, on colonialism as the overriding context for the centenary. It is …

Time to be bold, let politics work and “arrest the spiral of unlearning we seem to be on”…

Terry Wright on September 9, 2021, 7:23 am

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clock, alarm clock, time

Reconciling Ireland by Richard Humphreys which details and analyses 50 Agreements between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom received an official online book launch hosted by the Irish Association and Queen’s University on 31 August. Asked by facilitator Freya Mc Clements, Northern Ireland correspondent of the Irish Times, which of the Agreements he would describe as a favourite, the author opted to nominate the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. In addition to his personal association with the process …

Finding Solutions and Enacting Opportunities: The Protocol

Mick Fealty on September 6, 2021, 3:57 pm

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align fingers, index fingers, hands

“Only connect, and the beast and the monk, robbed of the isolation that is life to either, will die.” – EM Foster Yesterday, I took the unusual decision (for me) to sign an open letter calling for some proportion and sense to prevail within the negotiations between the EU and UK over how the Northern Irish Protocol will work post grace period. It seems to me there’s been a failure of imagination around these issues, with Mr Johnson’s UK administration …

Post-Brexit UK Food Industry Is £2bn Worse Off…

Brian O'Neill on September 3, 2021, 10:42 am

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spaghetti, tomatoes, basil

You may have noticed that there have been massive issues lately with supply chains. There was a certain amount of schadenfreude on social media about Wetherspoons running out of beer. Wetherspoons, whose founder Tim Martin strongly backed the UK leaving the EU, has been hit by beer shortages caused by Brexit https://t.co/gVoprpOOYF — LBC (@LBC) September 1, 2021 How much of this is due to Brexit and how much is due to the pandemic is hard to tell. What we …

Flooding is our canary in the coal mine for the impact of climate change, says Sinéad McLaughlin

Paul Gosling on August 20, 2021, 9:05 am

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Belfast, Derry, Strabane and much of Ireland have suffered severe flooding problems in recent days and weeks. We know this will get even worse – with flooding become more intensive and more frequent. A new report says that climate change will be a particular problem for the West of Ireland, with even higher rainfall, leading to even more flooding. These are not problems we can ignore. I am discussing with the insurance industry how to ensure homeowners, tenants and businesses get the …

People need to want to go to Belfast City Centre, not be forced to…

Brian O'Neill on August 20, 2021, 8:39 am

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As the Chief Executive of the Belfast Chamber of Commerce, it is Simon Hamilton’s job to fight for the success of Belfast City Centre. In an article for the Belfast Telegraph, he warned that working from home could turn central Belfast into a ghost town. For those of us who grew up during the troubles, this was the default state of the city centre for decades. Great coverage in today’s @BelTel of @BelfastChamber’s ‘Returning to the Office’ survey. The findings …

The great delusion: Why rising house prices are nothing to celebrate…

Brian O'Neill on August 19, 2021, 8:01 am

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a room for young people, decoration, architecture

House prices in Northern Ireland are nearly 10% higher than they were last year. The average price for a house in Northern Ireland is £153,449. While we are not seeing the insane prices we had during the last boom there is a huge demand for houses. Rental prices have also increased. If you like traffic this 2 bedroom flat on Stockmans Lane can be yours for only a grand a month. Rising property prices give homeowners the delusion that they …

Our pubs are facing a deep long term crisis but it’s one that Stormont can help with…

Matthew O'Toole on August 12, 2021, 9:57 am

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bar, pub, restaurant

There is a reason why so many of us sincerely looked forward to being back in our local at the end of the latest lockdown. And why so many repetitive photos of pints of stout and favourite corners of bars and snugs have been shared over the past months on social media. It isn’t just the drinking part – many of us have been doing lots of that at home anyway, and in some cases doing too much of it …

A life enhancing environment will help our high streets thrive, grow and develop…

Soapbox on August 6, 2021, 2:18 pm

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shop, clothes, clothing

Cllr Brian Pope is Alliance Party Group Leader on Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council. Our hard-pressed retail sector has suffered sizable losses during the pandemic and therefore it is hoped that the new High Street voucher scheme will boost local commerce and give people some much needed retail therapy. It will provide individual shoppers with £100 to spend on our high streets rather than online, and comprises a significant cash injection into our local high streets. Whilst the new NI …

NI Protocol: “Pragmatic and flexible leadership needed from Belfast, Dublin, London and Brussels…”

Mick Fealty on July 30, 2021, 3:29 pm

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giraffes, entertainment, discussion

“The beginning [of the new epoch] consists in the recognition of interrelationships. More and more, people will see that there exist no ‘specialised’ questions, to be identified or solved in isolation, since in the end, everything is interconnected, interdependent.” –Wassily Kandinsky With parliaments on both sides of the water in recess we might expect respite from the war of words that has displaced serious consideration of the Northern Irish protocol. However Brexit has eaten every summer since 2016. Just before …

In England crops are left to rot as there are not enough workers to pick them…

Brian O'Neill on July 26, 2021, 8:09 am

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I deplore waste, especially food waste. With so much hunger in the world, it is a scandal how much food is wasted in rich countries. They estimate the average UK family throws out £700 worth of food a year. But what of the food that never even reaches the shops? Euronews reports on the crops left to rot as there are not enough workers to pick them. From the article: Fruit and vegetables are being left to rot in England …

It’s a rat trap and we’ve been caught…

Brian O'Neill on July 24, 2021, 8:17 am

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This 4-minute video by animator Steve Cutts is a very good critique of where we find ourselves in our modern capitalist society. I have worked for myself my whole life and benefited from the system but it does not stop me from seeing the flaws in our model of continuous consumption and unrestrained growth. Chasing the chimera of happiness with every new purchase or pill or drink swallowed. Not sure if Steve was thinking about the Boomtown Rats song when …

Slugger event at John Hewitt Summer School: What’s good for the economy, good for the environment and good for people?

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on July 23, 2021, 5:18 pm

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Slugger O’Toole returns to the John Hewitt International Summer School in Armagh next Wednesday evening (28 July at 7pm) with a panel discussion looking at the triangle between economy, environment and people. Is Northern Ireland keeping those three aspects in balance? Are we destroying people and the planet in the name of prosperity? Can we ensure that wellbeing, sustainability and justice benefit everyone? I’ll be joined by Steven Agnew, Dawn Purvis and Joanne Stuart to mull over what’s good for …

More truth and honesty needed in government, and in dealing with legacy, says Colum Eastwood

Paul Gosling on July 23, 2021, 9:05 am

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Truth and honesty must be at the heart of how we deal with the legacy of the past and in how politicians in Northern Ireland govern today, says Colum Eastwood, leader of the SDLP and MP for the Foyle constituency. He was speaking in the latest Holywell Trust Forward Together podcast and is the third political leader to be interviewed in the series, discussing how to make progress in Northern Ireland. Victims have been badly treated, stresses Colum, and they …