Politics – Page 5 – Slugger O'Toole

WATCH: How To Lose A Referendum #imaginebelfast

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 7, 2025, 9:10 am

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Panel sitting in front of an audience - from left to right, Mark Devenport, Aaron Callan, Emma DeSouza, and Quintin Oliver

The Referendum is an attractive democratic tool – ‘let the people decide!’ – however, the practice can often differ from the theory, as the world has witnessed in recent years – the 1973 Border Poll, the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement vote in 1998, the Alternative Vote outing in 2011, Scottish independence referendum in 2014, the EU poll in 2016 and the Brexit aftermath, and many in the Republic of Ireland (Lisbon, Nice, families and care, divorce, abortion, equal marriage et al) …

Are we divided or diverse? (“Often, it’s not what we say but what people hear…”)

Terry Wright on April 7, 2025, 7:27 am

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green leafed plant

A few weeks ago, nationalist parties who raised procedural issues regarding the decision to fund a sports pitch for a controlled college were accused by the DUP of being ‘sectarian.’ Now the DUP, on procedural and squandering money grounds relating to the decision to fund Irish Language signage in the new Belfast transport hub, is calling foul. Is it also, in its expression of limited cultural democracy, open to the charge of adopting a prejudicial position with regard to the …

How will the NI Executive handle its response Trump’s opening gambit in tariff negotiations?

Mick Fealty on April 4, 2025, 2:44 pm

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a close up of a dandelion with a blurry background

The old Chinese curse that runs ‘may you live in interesting times’ holds today much as it ever did. Two days after Donald Trump announced his new tariff rates (and the international stock market when into meltdown), the air has yet to clear. Since the Second World War, the average US tariff has sat at around 4%, so what we are seeing is a remarkable shift in post war norms. World wide it is thought likely to affect around $700b …

“The full story has not been written. Who will be the last person to hold the pen?”

Terry Wright on March 28, 2025, 1:42 pm

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Overhead view of boots standing on the unique hexagonal basalt columns of Giant's Causeway.

Selfies with the POTUS and his decisions spreading panic in Dublin, or so the DUP hopes, Northern Ireland gifted special status as the USA celebrates 250 years of the Declaration of Independence and the Deputy First Minister, Emma-Little Pengelly MLA, by all accounts scoring a ‘home run’ during the St Patrick’s Day jamboree in Washington and with President Trump’s tariff tactics judiciously ignored, the DUP did not hide a feeling of it being a good period for the party; an …

The State of the State Report 2025 .

David McCann on March 27, 2025, 4:16 pm

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Powered by RedCircle The State of the State Report is back for 2025. With a full year of devolution under Northern Ireland’s belt, this report surveys sector leaders in Northern Ireland the public to find out their attitudes towards key issues. Northern Ireland has the biggest appetite for lower taxes of any region in the UK. 42% of people said they favoured lower taxes and lower spending. 27% said they preferred the opposite. For the third year running, the cost-of-living …

Despite flooding the zone with frenzied anger in the Dáil, the opposition has lost the battle

Mick Fealty on March 27, 2025, 2:47 pm

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It’s rare for me to question or criticise or even quote a press editorial of any paper never mind my favourite, The Irish Times. In twenty plus years of blogging I’ve never succumbed to the old habit of “fisking” and I won’t start now. But given the important influence of the paper, I thought I’d share a contrary view. Its view today is that blame for a controversy that has held the Irish parliamentary body, the Oireachtas, back from doing …

Two months into a Dáil speaking rights dispute Opposition TDs harangue Ireland’s first female Ceann Comhairle again…

Mick Fealty on March 25, 2025, 6:11 pm

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The dispute over speaking rights continued today, ending in the same uproar as before. The Dáil took a vote on a government motion which was carried 94 to 74, but not without, as the Ceann Comhairle put it, TDs “making a holy show of themselves”. "You're making an absolute holy show of yourselves."The Dáil has been suspended after a chaotic row over speaking rights | Read more: https://t.co/sWRVOJEdLj pic.twitter.com/dcapG4F4dc — RTÉ News (@rtenews) March 25, 2025 Opposition tellers refused to …

Why the Critics of the ARINS•Irish Times Surveys are Wrong: A response to Professor Coulter

Soapbox on March 25, 2025, 9:07 am

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A close-up of a hand with a pen analyzing data on colorful bar and line charts on paper.

By Professor John Garry, Queen’s University Belfast. Professor Brendan O’Leary, University of Pennsylvania. Dr Jamie Pow, Queen’s University Belfast & Dr Dawn Walsh, University College Dublin. Professor Coulter has written a number of pieces (here and here) on Slugger O’Toole that are critical of the ARINS/Irish Times surveys. These criticisms are based on false premises and are wrong. Comparison with other academic surveys We will shortly address Professor Coulter’s unfounded methodological criticisms, but let us first confirm the substance of …

Cambridge Union Debate: Songs of “unity” must find a new tune and switch from dissonance to resonance

Mick Fealty on March 14, 2025, 6:18 pm

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a stack of books

“When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.” — Buckminster Fuller As a norm I steer clear of united Ireland conversations, not because I’m not interested in the subject (it’s not going away any time soon), but because it is a discourse that quickly slips into the assumption there’s just one …

‘A feasible bite out of a big apple’: outcomes from ARINS/Irish Times North-South surveys 2024

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on March 14, 2025, 4:22 pm

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The ARINS (Analysing and Researching Ireland, North and South) project recently held its first event in Belfast, focusing on constitutional futures and the socio-political landscape of a potential United Ireland. After a keynote presentation by Professor Brendan O’Leary, discussions, insights, and reflections were made by fellow panellists Professor John Garry, Dr Jamie Pow, and Dr Dawn Walsh. The event was a collaborative effort with the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s University Belfast. …

Irish Neutrality: “we need to deal with the world as it is, not the world as we would like it to be…”

Mick Fealty on March 12, 2025, 11:09 am

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It is gob smacking that the Dáil has yet to appoint any committees to scrutinise government in the sort of detail that is particularly necessary at a time in European history when the tectonic plates of international relations are shifting so radically. I cannot think of any time after civil war when the opposition in the south effectively went on strike and refused to do their jobs. In Northern Ireland (with our all inclusive democratic institutions) we’ve seen governments go …

There’s still something not quite right about the ARINS survey: Part Two (Surveys & Elections)

Soapbox on March 12, 2025, 9:24 am

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Colin Coulter is Professor of Sociology in Maynooth University. Today he continues to ask questions about the recent ARINS survey, and argues the case for making source data public and allowing legitimate criticisms into the public square. In the first part of this essay, we suggested that most of the shift in constitutional aspirations recorded in the latest ARINS/Irish Times survey may, in fact, originate in the inappropriate weightings applied to ‘community background’ in its two previous editions. But what …

We need to talk about the ARINS survey on Ireland’s constitutional futures (Part One)…

Soapbox on March 11, 2025, 3:19 pm

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Colin Coulter is Professor of Sociology in Maynooth University. Here he asks further searching questions about the “gold standard” ARINS survey, and what happens to the outcome if you adjust for weighting issues in the original sample. The latest instalment of the ARINS/Irish Times survey points to a sharp increase in support among the Northern Irish public for the project of reunification. In the space of just two years, there has, apparently, been a net shift toward the nationalist cause …

Previewing Imagine! Belfast Festival of Ideas & Politics – running from 24-30 March #imaginebelfast

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 9, 2025, 10:01 am

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screen grab of the Imagine Belfast festival website homepage - the background image features painted clown faces. The text says - Helping you make sense of a crazy world, Belfast's Festival of Ideas and Politics

Imagine! Festival of Ideas & Politics is back with a week-long programme to help you make sense of a crazy world. More than 90 events across seven days, with the festival organisers collaborating with lots of grassroots organisations and activists to bring small ‘p’ political issues to fore in accessible yet meaningful ways. Here’s my pick from some of the discussions, workshops, exhibitions, films, comedy, lectures, talks, music and theatre. Monday 24 March There’s an embarrassment of riches on the …

Ahead of the first annual British Irish Summit Shared Island remains the only viable game in town…

Mick Fealty on March 6, 2025, 7:27 am

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“…planning must precede a crisis rather than follow it, ensuring that shocks lead to constructive reform, rather than losses in resilience.” –Confronting the long crisis, Alex Evans • Bruce Jones • David Steven Today sees the first annual summit in London between the Irish and British governments. Although there are multiple crises facing both the UK and the EU bloc of which Ireland remains a part, for once there’s presently none in Northern Ireland. That doesn’t mean there won’t be …

Monitoring peace progress in Northern Ireland: a wellbeing framework

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on March 5, 2025, 2:12 pm

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While much of the media coverage of the launch of the Northern Ireland Executive’s latest Programme for Government (PfG) rightly focused on the specific, quantifiable targets (or lack thereof), a complementary “wellbeing framework”, with dozens of regularly updated metrics, has received little comment. The PfG Wellbeing Framework has the potential for journalists and others to regularly monitor and scrutinise the executive’s progress on ten named “strategic domains” across three “missions”. First Minister Michelle O’Neill explained to fellow MLAs at the tabling of …

“You can’t put things to bed if you’re a hypocrite, you can’t put things to bed if you’re a liar…”

Mick Fealty on March 4, 2025, 3:35 pm

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“…while examining its outer surface I have caught only a glimpse of the smooth and finely glazed inside of the bowl.” — David Abram If you can I recommend watching the two part series charting the life of former East Tyrone IRA man Brendan Hughes on iPlayer. Failing that you should be able to catch part two going out live tonight on BBC One NI at 10.40 tonight. It’s a glimpse into the life of a committed member of the …

Three cheers for NI’s first government programme since 2011, but next time can we ditch the bloody consultation?

Mick Fealty on March 3, 2025, 3:57 pm

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green leaf tree

So finally, after at least one false start last Monday when the Alliance Agriculture minister noted that none of the Executive ministers with portfolios had seen any of the thousands of consultation contributions the Executive has published a PfG. I’ve not seen a copy but we have some ideas of what might be in it from Nolan this morning. It has nine cross cutting themes which include childcare, health, housing and the economy. There are social housing targets for 2027 …

Life Punishes the Late—Adapt or Die

Gerry Lynch on February 20, 2025, 2:14 pm

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A portrait of Donald Trump, featuring his signature blonde hair and serious expression. He is wearing a blue suit, white dress shirt, and blue tie, with a small American flag pin on his lapel. An American flag is partially visible in the background, along with ornate wooden paneling

This will be the first of many shattering weeks in 2025. Even the cleverest members of the establishment that is being routed have started to acknowledge publicly that the old order is dead. This isn’t a matter of a change in the personnel in charge, or even of long-standing diplomatic alliances, but of suddenly finding that the assumptions that most of us shared about how the world functions and how it should function are no longer correct. To think through …

Northern Ireland needs politicians and journalists with the courage to call government to account

Mick Fealty on February 12, 2025, 11:49 am

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a green figure in a circle

“The human mind is incapable of rest, what it needs is change” -Winston Churchill There’s definitely a change in the air when it comes to the future of Northern Irish politics. Eighteen years the Executive and the power sharing Assembly has achieved a genuinely deepening peace, and from that peace has sprung a new prosperity. But it is unavoidably obvious what it has failed at too. Lee Reynolds (a former DUP SpAd) summarised the core problem, adroitly last Thursday on …