Kate Nicholl is a former candidate for the Alliance Party. She writes for us today on the issue of abortion rights & in defence of those who oppose an extension of the 1967 act. I’m going to say something unpopular about abortion. And defend those who don’t support the extension of the 1967 Act. Right now there is a very real debate going on in our society about a woman’s right to choose. For the past 4 years I worked …
WHAT’S IN A NAME; I always said if I ran for election again I’d change my surname to something beginning with an A or a B. Nicholl is such an unfortunate political surname, especially in Northern Ireland where it gets lost after all the M’s. Because it is a truth generally acknowledged that candidates who are first on the ballot tend to receive a vote advantage compared to those whose names begin with letters later in the alphabet.
Earlier this year, Alliance party MLA Anna Lo, hit the headlines for some of the racist treatment she had recieved. Writing for Slugger, Anna criticises the progress being made on the Racial Equality Strategy and argues for people to embrace different diffierent cultures in Northern Ireland. Sectarian politics gets votes in Northern Ireland, and yet sectarian politics continues to fail Northern Ireland over and over again. It is disappointing to see the draft Racial Equality Strategy, after being in the …
Yvette Shapiro introduced this year’s panel to an audience of 30 or so youth and another 30 less youthful in Whiterock Leisure Centre: Cllr Steven Corr (SF), Julie-Anne Corr (PUP), Anna Lo MLA (Alliance) and Sean Connolly (applied psychologist). She reminded the audience that the young people from West Belfast’s Upper Springfield Development Trust Participation Group had identified education, racism and apathy as local concerns. The sound in the hall was variable and the recordings are hissy (despite my attempts …
Last week I sat down with two of the brains behind Loyalists Against Democracy (LAD), Billy and Ron. I was interested to catch up with the guys since we last spoke in February about the group’s foundation and how they approach certain issues. This time, however, I was interested to speak to them about some of the issues that they group has been involved in since we spoke, namely; the departure of Winston Smith, Pastor McConnell and where does LAD …
Everyone is familiar with legacies of the development boom and bust, such as ghost estates or negative equity. A slightly less obvious legacy was raised in the Assembly yesterday when Carál Ní Chuilín answered a question on the preservation of archaeological collections recovered from sites being developed during the boom. Currently a working group is preparing a report on how to deal with this issue for the Environment Minister, Mark Durkan, who has the majority of responsibility in this area. …
Brian asked the question of what the last elections added up to. Having done a lot of detailed analysis I’m still teasing that out. Two thing major things strike me about East and South Belfast though that seem to run counter to pre election expectations. One is the underperformance of Gavin Robinson, someone who was being talked of as the DUP candidate in the next Westminster election, the above expectations of the UUP neither of which necessarily help the sitting …
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 …
This morning the Federation of Small Businesses in Northern Ireland hosted the first debate amongst all of the European candidates (Jim Allister didn’t turn up and Basil McCrea was representing NI21.) The event was attended by around 80 people at the top floor of the Europa Hotel. The debate kicked off with each candidate setting out their pitch about what they can/are bringing to the European Union. There did seem to be a general consensus that Northern Ireland was not …
Interesting comments from Brian Feeney and our own Gladys Ganiel on Sunday Politics… In short, Feeney thinks Alliance will suffer in Belfast but it will bring Anna Lo nationalist votes outside its own natural area. Gladys doesn’t think it’s worth the burn to their base. She could be right. In today’s Irish News Tom Kelly, who spent a bit of time at the Alliance Party conference reckons, that even as a short term tactic it has the capacity to tie …
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 …
Today’s Alliance Party conference came just days after Anna Lo’s perfectly valid – though politically thoughtless – comments about her personal views on Irish unification were reported as part of her interview with John Manley in the Irish News. It was hard to avoid the annual party member get-together being seen through an Anna Lo lens. It was the topic of conversation amongst delegates. I talked to no one who was upset by Anna’s aspiration. No matter whether accused of …
Political party conferences and the run up to them prior to an election always seek to promote the party’s candidates. This year’s Alliance conference and its lead up has, however, gone less than wholly according to plan. Anna Lo’s revelation that she would support a united Ireland in the longer term has been a major story as have her comments likening the situation here to one of colonialism. There are of course explanations for these comments especially Lo’s support for …
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 …
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 …
