alliance – Page 7 – Slugger O'Toole

Anna Lo to step down before the next Assembly elections

Mick Fealty on May 29, 2014, 2:10 pm

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And she’s citing racism as a primary reason… The BBC has a reference to it, which tops a previous story text about Pastor Jack McConnell, and the ‘supporting’ remarks of Peter Robinson… [Helpfully joining up the dots just in case anyone missed it? – Ed] You might say that, I couldn’t possibly comment. 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 …

After the election… Alliance…

Mick Fealty on May 28, 2014, 6:21 pm

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Forty plus years in the political middle have made the Alliance party one of the most agile (which often irritates their opponents) of Northern Ireland’s political parties. Overall not a huge amount has changed for them, although there’s something of a problem in East Belfast where the flag issue has alienated a lot of working class loyalists it previously had the support of. One failure to elect was Duncan Morrow in the Botanic DEA of Belfast. But appears to have been more …

McCann meets….Cllr Lee Reynolds @duponline

David McCann on May 21, 2014, 5:35 pm

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The DUP launched their local government manifesto for Belfast on Monday. I have always been intrigued by the DUP as they come across as a fiscally conservative party, yet they do seem to enjoy spending money, so, I went along to City Hall and spoke with the party’s council leader, Lee Reynolds about what his party propose to do over the next council term, issues around flags, rates and leisure centres all featured. I began by asking him about the …

BBC Spotlight European Debate #SpotlightNI

David McCann on May 20, 2014, 11:40 pm

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So, tonight I wandered over to the BBC to watch the last European candidates’ debate. What became apparent within the first ten minutes is how much political coverage in Northern Ireland misses Noel Thompson-an effective chairman with a dry wit and real knowledge of the issues. On to the debate itself-the format was excellent with fewer candidates being given longer to debate. It was really was a night and day experience from UTV last night as Thompson was able to …

Euro TV Debates: What each candidate needs to do #EP14

David McCann on May 19, 2014, 7:10 am

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This evening and Tuesday night will be the last real opportunity for the European candidates to address voters and make their case for election to the European parliament. The debates are scheduled to take place on Monday 10:35pm, UTV with all ten candidates, followed by another on Tuesday evening on BBC One also at 10:35pm. I am not sure whether all the candidates have been invited to the Spotlight debate or whether it is just the five main parties. I …

Slugger verdict: Ranking the Party Election Broadcasts

David McCann on May 15, 2014, 7:31 am

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They have been commented upon for weeks and their impact is always in question. Yet, a good party political broadcast can capture attention and make people talk. So, in that spirit I thought I would assemble a panel of judges to help me go through all of the party election broadcasts and rank them in how effective they thought they were. The other judges were PR Consultant, Carl Devlin Whyte and the broadcaster, Jim Fitzpatrick. Each of us ranked the PEBs out …

So, you want to be a Cllr? Here’s some social media do’s and don’ts.

David McCann on May 4, 2014, 2:30 pm

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This round of local elections were interesting for me as I watched in January my twitter feed being swamped with tweets of election hopefuls announcing their candidacy for the various wards in the upcoming election. Ever since the election of Barack Obama in 2008, candidates have looked to social media to promote themselves and their issues. Now, the impact of this is debatable, I think that for local government elections, social media is a nice stocking filler for candidates. It …

Alliance Party Offices in East Belfast attacked again

David McCann on April 30, 2014, 12:37 am

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At around 11pm the PSNI have confirmed that three devices where thrown at the Alliance party offices on the Newtownards Rd in East Belfast. When this happened last November I wrote a piece about the members of staff who work in that office and most of the same people are still there. Nearly 18 months after the flag vote, members of staff having to work under dire conditions and constituents are being denied access to their local MP. Politicians offices being …

Equal Marriage-An issue for liberals and conservatives to rally behind.

David McCann on April 28, 2014, 11:31 am

| Readers 107

There’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation Those words came from the Former Canadian Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau, when he introduced a bill in Canada decriminalising homosexuality. While yes, three thousand miles away I think those words should matter to the issue that our MLAs are debating this week. I am typically a conservative minded person, like most conservatives I like incremental, organic change. Over the past few years the lobbying for marriage equality has …

Negative Campaigning-Does it work?

David McCann on April 27, 2014, 1:42 pm

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You got to go negative Lee Atwater, Advisor to President George HW Bush Those words from Atwater came in the summer of 1988 when Bush trailed his Democratic opponent Governor, Mike Dukakis. The Bush campaign developed some famous negative ads in election history with the ‘revolving door prison’ ad being the most remembered. Closer to home the Conservatives in 1992 fighting a tough election came up with a very clever ad called Labour’s tax bombshell. Like Bush in 88, the …

What makes a good local Councillor?

David McCann on April 13, 2014, 12:40 pm

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Over the coming weeks hundreds of people will be seeking a job with an interview panel of thousands asking questions about their ability to deal with local problems, create jobs and run local services. But, this year will be a little bit different as local councils take on a lot more powers. Speaking about the changes to local councils the Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Local Government Association, Derek McCallan, made the point that as a community we need …

Alliance is diversity in action by Lauren Mulvenny

David McCann on March 27, 2014, 7:54 am

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After the recent debate about the make up of Alliance’s party membership, Lauren Mulvenny-a party staffer writes for Slugger that its candidates in the upcoming elections have a diverse range of backgrounds. On the back of the Party’s 44th successful Conference, Alliance champions the individuality of its membership base, proving it is the only Party open for everyone If what drives Alliance was ever in question, the Party’s Conference sounded loud and clear – diversity is the heartbeat of the …

UPDATE- Jamie Bryson-A rebel without a hope?

David McCann on March 24, 2014, 11:20 pm

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You might think I don’t have better things to do with my time but alas this evening I ventured out to conduct my second interview with Jamie Bryson. I was surprised when he contacted me saying he wanted to talk to me again, as our first encounter led him to be generally criticised but I thought with his attempts to fundraise and Billy Hutchinson’s recent comments about him it was worth another go. I began the interview by asking him …

McCann meets…David Ford MLA #AP2014

David McCann on March 24, 2014, 7:50 am

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In my second interview from the Alliance party conference, I was able to chat to the party leader, Justice Minister, David Ford. In the interview we chatted about the conference, his predictions for the future growth of the party and the On the Runs issue. I asked him about the comments made by Anna Lo in the Irish News; If any leading member of the party had said that I have a long term vision that Northern Ireland remains within …

McCann meets….Naomi Long MP #AP2014

David McCann on March 23, 2014, 4:33 pm

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On Saturday afternoon I caught up with the MP for East Belfast and Deputy Leader of the Alliance party, Naomi Long. We discussed a range of issues from her background growing up in East Belfast to her future as an MP and a possible leader of the Alliance party. The full audio of the interview is at the bottom of the post but here are some noteworthy quotes that I found interesting. I began by asking her about how much …

Anna Lo- A United Ireland would be better placed economically, socially and politically

David McCann on March 20, 2014, 8:05 am

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Expect more things like this from Anna Lo-she is full of surprises and her interview with John Manley in today’s Irish News is no exception to this rule as she speaks about her position on Irish unity. In the piece she tells Manley; I’m an honest person…I think it is such a small place…To divide it up and the corner of Ireland to be part of the United Kingdom… it’s very artificial. Lo stated her belief that …

Belfast’s Big Tweet Up – Thursday 13 March at 7:30pm

David McCann on February 25, 2014, 8:59 am

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Please do come along to this event for some drinks, political chat and a good warm up before the St Patrick’s Day weekend. Guest will be the Lord Mayor, Máirtín Ó Muilleoir Picture is by Brian John Spencer. David McCannDavid McCann holds a PhD in North-South relations from University of Ulster. You can follow him on twitter @dmcbfs

McCann meets…Anna Lo MLA #AimHighVoteLo

David McCann on February 21, 2014, 9:46 pm

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On Thursday evening I met the Alliance party’s European candidate, Anna Lo MLA for an interview about her experiences as a politician in Northern Ireland, the upcoming European elections and her future. I began by asking her about her experience in being elected in 2007 and the support she garnered from the Chinese community in South Belfast; I was very grateful for the support and really felt very emotional as some of them (Chinese community) had never voted ever in …

McCann meets…LAD Part 1

David McCann on February 20, 2014, 6:53 am

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On Wednesday night I met up with three of the brains behind Loyalist Against Democracy (LAD) for a few pints beside City Hall for their first sit down interview. Billy, Rab and Ron talked with me for the well over an hour and no topics were off limits. My first impressions of them were-not at all what I expected; they are smart, professional and have built up a well-read blog and a solid following on Twitter. I began by asking …

McCann meets….Jamie Bryson

David McCann on January 9, 2014, 6:27 pm

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When I put out a call for who I should interview on this segment Jamie Bryson’s name came up. He is a controversial character and invokes very few muddled opinions as the interview went out live on Lisburn’s 98FM the twitter feed went into action with people tweeting praise and criticism in equal measure. I wanted to treat Bryson like I would treat any interviewee, give him the chance to give his viewpoint and then give a critique to it …