Britain – Page 10 – Slugger O'Toole

Twitter: The dark side of how the instant voice of the many can silence the few…

Mick Fealty on October 26, 2009, 1:00 pm

| Readers

As the Moir/Gateley story swamped the headlines last week, what struck me was the degree to which some of my Tory mates suddenly started speaking fluent PC on the matter (after years of excoriating Labour for doing the same). As James McAnespie (twitter.com/macca7174) tweeted a few days back “Poor Jan Moir. She writes a by-the-numbers gay-bashing, and ends up being subject to a torrent of abuse.” Peter Preston quantifies just how wide and deep that torrent was. And he notes …

“But we think we can move on from that.”

Pete Baker on October 24, 2009, 10:40 pm

| Readers 2

During the coverage of the UUP Conference today, BBC NI’s Jim Fitzpatrick did a quick interview with the Conservative Party’s Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Owen Paterson, MP. Here’s a question and answer transcribed from that interview. [Jim Fitzpatrick] “Perhaps there is less of a tension on the constitutional issue in those areas, although Scotland excepted perhaps. But we have Reg Empey saying there that, in negotiations, when Gerry Adams is arguing for something he’ll be facing one …

Griffin breathes deep on oxygen of publicity…

Belfast Gonzo on October 23, 2009, 8:25 am

| Readers 2

NOW that Question Time is over and you’ve had a bit of time to reflect on BNP leader Nick Griffin’s appearance, do you think the Beeb was justified in letting him on? Has anyone changed their mind? Certainly many protesters haven’t. And how did the panellists perform? Did Griffin seem like ‘any other politician’, and were his views in any way legitimised? Personally, I thought Griffin looked a bit nervous and maybe even over-awed, and I was left with the …

Belfast to bow out of UK City of Culture race, Londonderry goes on

Pete Baker on October 21, 2009, 10:31 pm

| Readers 5

Councillors at Belfast City Council have decided that they won’t, after all, be putting forward a bid to become the UK’s City of Culture in 2013 – despite it being the 400th anniversary of the signing of the city’s first charter by James I. The decision by the Development Committee has still to be ratified by the full Council. From the BBC report Ulster Unionist councillor Bob Stoker said he believed a bid, which has to be submitted by December …

When Peter and Martin met David (and that letter)…

Mick Fealty on October 21, 2009, 8:41 pm

| Readers 0

I just happened to be in Westminster this afternoon when first of all David Cameron breezed past followed shortly afterwards by a very sober looking Peter Robinson and a smiling, glad-handing Martin McGuinness as they made their way to the ‘putative’ Prime Minister’s official chambers… I managed to grab a quick interview with Owen Paterson shortly afterwards (of which more later). First this letter from the PM to Sinn Fein and the DUP. Slugger understands that it was sent to …

BNP leader and generals

Turgon on October 21, 2009, 4:54 am

| Readers 8

The BBC have been criticised by some for having Nick Griffin of the BNP on Question Time (due on Thursday). Some suggest that his opinions should not be given air time: the counter argument is that only by taking him on can the generally poor intellectual and political quality of the BNP’s at times highly contradictory positions be exposed. The rebuttal to that is “No publicity is bad publicity” or variations on that theme. Mr. Griffin seems intent, however, on …

Slugger at the BIPA: Peter Hain…

Mick Fealty on October 19, 2009, 5:09 pm

| Readers 1

My interview with Peter Hain who spoke this morning at British Irish Parliamentary Assembly. In which he claims the bringing in of free bus travel for pensioners in Northern Ireland, and claims that despite a dodgy, nearly didn’t happen start, devolution in Wales is now firm dug in… More in the pipeline from Bethan Jenkins, Paul Bew, Brian Hayes, and coming up next with controversial suggestion for the new census forms in 2011, Barry McElduff… Mick FealtyMick is founding editor …

Do you know what the BIC does?

Mick Fealty on October 19, 2009, 3:32 pm

| Readers 2

At the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly this morning, the first point raised in debate (really just fielding Q&As for Peter Hain speaking on behalf of the British Irish Council from the parliamentarians in the body of the hall) came from one of the few Tory MPs, Bob Walter… (Bob’s in a safe Tory seat that just got marginally safer after boundary changes) most of his colleagues are busy conjuring up next years… I wanted to ask an intelligent question about …

Guardian accuses ‘a Tory’ of ethically cleansing new Polish ally’s wikipedia entry…

Mick Fealty on October 18, 2009, 11:05 pm

| Readers 1

Despite the shoulder to shoulder performance at the Manchester conference there is a significant body of Conservative opinion that is embarrassed about the party’s new friends in the east… One, it would appear a Westminster based, took the slightly desperate (not to mention pointless) action of trying to erase references Michal Kaminski’s previous life on the wild side of Polish right wing opinion, after they were raised Edward McMillan-Scott (who subsequently cashiered for his efforts)… IN fact if you look …

Is Westminster to become a second tier chamber for Unionists?

Mick Fealty on October 16, 2009, 2:06 pm

| Readers 6

According to the Lisburn Star, Basil McCrea will not be putting his name forward for the Westminster candidacy this time… Sheila Davidson is the Tory party’s pick (Daphne Trimble and Samuel McGee are standing for the Ulster Unionists) for the constituency… Mr McCrea was his party’s candidate in 2005, now believes that “the focus of all decisions that affect Lagan Valley is at Stormont and that is where I need to be. I also have significant objections to double jobbing …

That South Belfast letter…

Mick Fealty on October 10, 2009, 3:43 am

| Readers 3

Bobballs has the full text of that South Belfast letter… Bob remarks: My own personal advice to the UUP is that the leadership should go to SB and meet a full session of the constituency branch… and talk till you drop. Stay there till one strategy or t’other wins out. In my estimation, these are not plotters, they’re Ulster Unionists looking for a conversation. Judge for yourself… (but I suspect its not a subject Mr Cameron wants to talk about) …

Tory dither on European referendum…

Mick Fealty on October 6, 2009, 11:07 pm

| Readers 0

Clipped and cut courtesy of UKIP… Worth sticking it out to the end, for Boris’s top drawer dither… And Norman Lamont’s thoughts about just how quickly the Tories may be thinking about cutting debt… If you are a devolved minister with responsibility for finances, then be afraid, be very afraid… 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 speaking …

South Belfast UUP goes rogue?

Pete Baker on October 6, 2009, 10:21 pm

| Readers 5

It would seem that some within the UUP haven’t quite grasped, or perhaps haven’t accepted, the long-term strategy behind their link-up with the Conservative Party. As the BBC’s Mark Devenport reports The Ulster Unionists and DUP should discuss running a single unionist candidate in South Belfast, local UUP constituency members have said. In a letter to UUP leader Sir Reg Empey, the Ulster Unionist Association suggested the move was needed to retake the Westminster seat from the SDLP. The move …

Lisbon strategy betokens short termism Cameron must leave behind…

Mick Fealty on October 5, 2009, 2:40 pm

| Readers 2

I’ve already written a couple of speculative pieces mulling over what the Irish approval of Lisbon might mean for the Conservatives in Britain. David Milliband’s op ed in today’s FT is clearly up to making mischief for the Tories. His main line of argument is that Cameron’s apparent capture by his Eurosceptic wing will shift the focus from pursuing larger goals, to more narrow, ‘what’s in it for us’ back and forth exchange with Brussels? According to Miliband trying to …

Are the Tories now planning a staged and inelegant climbdown over Lisbon?

Mick Fealty on October 4, 2009, 1:27 pm

| Readers 1

Danny Finklestein lays out what Dave is likely to do over Lisbon. And he doesn’t think, if William Hague is formulating the party’s response to Ireland’s emphatic yes to Lisbon, that Lisbon will figure until the changes have been made (and it looks like the much hoped for resistance from his political ally and Polish president Lech Kaczy´nski is collapsing) we will hear anything much about it in Manchester this week: Once bits of the Lisbon treaty have been implemented, …

Human Rights Act: A thoroughly Churchillian piece of legislation…

Mick Fealty on October 4, 2009, 11:50 am

| Readers 1

Peter Oborne has an Op Ed in today’s Guardian (opposite, in fact, a nicely edited piece of my own condensed thoughts on Lisbon), doing what he is so good at: upsetting a few conventional applecarts, ahead of a book co-written by Jesse Norman and himself for Liberty published later today: Conservative critics are wrong to say that the rights of the act are in general socioeconomic entitlements. In fact, they are absolutely fundamental to the British common law tradition. They …

David Cameron set to confound his critics over Lisbon…?

Mick Fealty on October 3, 2009, 11:28 pm

| Readers 5

Labour Matters compares David Cameron’s 2007 pledge (in The Sun) to give the people of the UK a referendum come what may, and this morning’s presser from campaign headquarters which shows the leader of the Conservative party. They rather leap on Paul Waugh’s conclusion that the first gives ‘Honest Dave’ no wriggle room: “Today, I will give this cast-iron guarantee: If I become PM, a Conservative government will hold a referendum on any EU treaty that emerges from these negotiations.? …

Referenda and the Phantom People who act like enemies of democracy…

Mick Fealty on October 1, 2009, 2:44 pm

| Readers 2

Not everyone I approached for a Lisbon essay had the time to give us the full text for an article. One such was Professor John Keane of the University of Westminster and author of The Life and Death of Democracy… These are his shorthand thoughts on the usefulness of Referenda in general and their relationship with chambers of elected representatives…From Professor John Keane If the vote goes against the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty then this will undoubtedly add to …

TPA get stung again over inaccurate figures….

Mick Fealty on September 25, 2009, 8:35 pm

| Readers 3

Lest Matt or any of the guys over at the Taxpayer’s Alliance think I have some kind of agenda, let me re-assure them I don’t. The topline of their previous ‘research’ that the Government was paying lobbyists to lobby government is, if true, important work. Particularly in Northern Ireland where the public sector employment steals much of the oxygen from the private sector. That’s why it’s important that if you are going to have a punt at bursting that particular …

“It looks like a collection of trophies”

Pete Baker on September 24, 2009, 6:00 pm

| Readers 42

The Viking silver hoard found in 2007 dated to around the 10th Century, but the equally stunning 1,500 gold and silver Anglo-Saxon pieces found by metal-detectorist Terry Herbert in Staffordshire are believed to be older still. The treasure hoard, approximately 5kg of gold and 2.5kg of silver, shown in the BBC slideshow, may date back to the 7th Century. The gold strip pictured has the Latin inscription “Rise up O Lord, and may thy enemies be dispersed and those who …