Britain – Page 6 – Slugger O'Toole

DUP lessons for incoming Tory politicians…

Mick Fealty on April 9, 2010, 6:49 pm

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By my limited reckoning the Tories are ahead in the buzz war in Britain, but as for Northern Ireland, well… Here’s another DUP mash up with Theresa May really struggling quite badly to remember where her party is running and ducking the Adrian Watson (ahem, Chris Grayling) question… Adds: The link to the whole thing courtesy of commenter 2two below… Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and …

“never any question but that the regulator would remain independent in relation to Quinn Insurance”

Pete Baker on April 7, 2010, 6:45 pm

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The Quinn Group’s campaign continues against the Irish Financial Regulator’s decision to appoint administrators to run its Quinn Insurance arm. Its employees have been on the streets and a number of politicians have been holding meetings with just about everyone involved – although its worth noting the careful footwork of the Irish Minister for Agriculture, Brendan Smith, who met the administrators, but not the Regulator. The Financial Regulator Chief Executive, Matthew Elderfield, is emphasising the independence of his position in …

“There is no quick fix nationalist route to a ‘New Ireland’.”

Pete Baker on April 6, 2010, 8:29 pm

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While the Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, made his speech praising “the peoples army” in Belfast on Sunday, his former comrade-in-arms associate, Marian Price, made her speech in Londonderry on Monday. From the Irish Times report The main speaker at the rally, Marian Price, criticised Sinn Féin’s involvement in the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly by saying that “lions cannot be led by donkeys no more than republicans can be led by quislings”. Ms Price said revisionists were working hard …

British election to be tight, but not that tight…

Mick Fealty on April 6, 2010, 3:52 pm

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Nick Cohen with the best run down on election pitfalls (now Gordon has officially called the start) of the morning… …political polls are loss leaders whose main purpose is to generate publicity for the brand. Often newspapers receive them free of charge. They are not proper random samples, and historically have always had a bias towards Labour. Mike Smithson, of politicalbetting.com has a golden rule that “whenever polls have been tested against real election results it’s been the survey with …

Chris Grayling adopts the Adrian Watson policy position…

Mick Fealty on April 5, 2010, 3:16 pm

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It seems the British press are roasting Chris Grayling for his suggestion to an audience at a Centre for Policy Studies meeting that people running private guest houses should be allowed to exercise their own conscience over who they accept and don’t accept as guests… AKA, the Adrian Watson position, the Ulster Unionist candidate who was apparently ousted by the Tory central office, because he espoused precisely the self same policy position. The position of candidate for South Antrim (probably …

Britblog Round Up 257 and British anti innovation biases..

Mick Fealty on March 29, 2010, 2:57 pm

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There’s a couple of good things worth highlighting in the latest Brit Blog Round up over at Calablamat’s place… One, Paul Sagar’s piece asking why when the subject of teenage mothers comes up does the issue of teenage fathers never rear its compromising head… And Chris Dillow on why people fear whatever is new… He uses the widespread fear of Mephedrone, after two young men died after taking the plant food as a so called ‘legal high’ drug. Chris wonders …

“It is still the director’s view that this court deal with the matter”

Pete Baker on March 27, 2010, 2:24 am

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In October 2008, the “culmination of intensive investigations by the Criminal Assets Bureau and the UK’s Serious and Organised Crime Agency” saw more than €625,000 in cash and cheques confiscated in Ireland as the proceeds of crime, while £445,000 (573,000 euro) and nine properties in the north-west of England were recovered by UK authorities. There were also reported tax settlements with the Criminal Assets Bureau “for a figure understood to be over €1m” by Patrick and Frank Murphy, brothers of …

Hundreds switching from Irish to British passports

Mick Fealty on March 25, 2010, 4:36 pm

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Now would not be a good time to apply for an Irish passport. There 50,000 people waiting for their passports to be processed, as the CPSU strike goes into its fourth day. As a direct result it seems hundreds of Irish people are discovering their eligibility for a UK passport in order to ‘jump’ a lengthening queue that shows no sign of abating… Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet …

Sinn Féin leadership have tea in Downing St

Pete Baker on March 25, 2010, 1:34 am

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The BBC notes that Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness were in Downing St today. The topics they wanted to talk to the Prime Minister about, we are told, were the proposals for a Northern Ireland Bill of Rights [Going nowhere fast – Ed], the Saville Inquiry’s report [It’s with the lawyers – Ed] and “the role of British Intelligence” [Drop by anytime! – Ed]. And, for the benefit of clarity, the “Northern Ireland deputy First Minister” was not …

The rise of fundamentalists

Brian Walker on March 22, 2010, 4:08 pm

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It’s the atavistic fear of Northern Ireland writ large – the fundies are outbreeding the rest of us. It’s not about race, it’s about religion according to Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?: Demography and Politics in the Twenty-First Century by Eric Kaufmann, reviewed by the son member of the father and son team of climate sceptics Dominic Lawson. Now it’s “hyper-breeding Muslims” and the distortion of the politics of Israel and the Middle East by the over-fertile ultra-orthodox Haredim, …

Sinn Fein could bridge the gap between the Tories’ and government…

Mick Fealty on March 15, 2010, 3:35 pm

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Well that’s the theory… In reality the polls are still bouncing around too much to really judge whether they’d be needed to make a difference, but James Forsyth argues that Sinn Fein’s abstentionist seats bring down the Tories requisite target number of seats… 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 events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. …

Can David Cameron be sure he understands the intentions of the Ulster Unionists?

Mick Fealty on March 15, 2010, 3:29 pm

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Bobballs argues that Gerry Adams is losing his touch. That’s not quite what I argued last summer, although I did say that his was a diminishing asset to his party and that he should use his considerable political strengths whilst they were still close to their height to the advantage of the party. Yesterday’s St Patrick’s breakfast was a demonstration of both his strength and weaknesses. That they love him in south Boston has much to do with the similar …

“That’s politics. It’s about time we saw more of it.”

Pete Baker on March 11, 2010, 7:46 pm

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Brian may be correct to identify the NI Assembly vote to devolve some policing and justice matters, whilst continuing to reserve others, as a missed “golden opportunity” for the UUP and the SDLP. But it is not perverse to argue, as Malachi O’Doherty does There are two ways of looking at politics. Many see the peace process as a greater good which must be served at the expense of all other political considerations. That argument had greater weight when the …

“Perhaps for the citizens of the Republic too, the Belfast Agreement is in fact a settlement.”

Pete Baker on March 11, 2010, 5:38 pm

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It is, perhaps, symbolic that, rather than attending Sinn Féin’s Irish Unity Conference in London, David Adams, Martin McGuinness, et al, found themselves stranded on a Belfast runway in an ice-bound Aer Lingus jet. It meant they missed Paul Bew’s contribution to the debate. And in the Irish Times today David Adams, belatedly, has his say It is often forgotten that unionists are not the only ones who need to be attracted to the idea of a united Ireland. The …

“underpinning the devolution of policing and justice matters”

Pete Baker on March 10, 2010, 2:26 am

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Worth noting that among the items the NI Assembly voted to remain reserved today is the “politically motivated” Serious Organised Crime Agency [SOCA]. Meanwhile, the Assembly and Executive Review Committee has published its second report on devolution of policing and justice [volume 1 here, volume 2 here]. Included in Appendix 4 are the “Agreements, Concordats, Protocols and Memoranda of Understanding underpinning the devolution of policing and justice matters”. Of particular interest, the national security protocols which NI Secretary of State …

“They are still campaigning for a united Ireland, they are not going to get that either”

Pete Baker on March 10, 2010, 12:39 am

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The NI Equality Commission was highly critical of Derry City Council’s approach to attempting to officially change the name of the city from Londonderry to Derry and, in September 2009, “strongly advise[d] Derry City Council not to proceed with the policy as it is currently proposed”. That attempt stalled on Monday when the Council failed to agree what its next step should be. Sinn Féin and the SDLP are blaming each other for that failure – an Irish News report …

Michael Foot – 1913-2010

Paul Evans on March 3, 2010, 11:13 pm

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I doubt if there are many parliamentarians who could match the late Michael Foot in his oratory, and this speech is the one that the BBC have named as his finest hour. Do listen to it if you can – it’s deft and funny even if it failed to achieve what it set out to do (to save the Labour government in 1979). The Liberal leader of the time – David Steel – gets a particularly sharp ribbing from the …

Queen set to visit the Republic…

Mick Fealty on March 3, 2010, 4:40 pm

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Interesting that the Daily Mail is reporting a possible visit by the Queen by next year. Last week in Cavan at the BIPA, there were some whispers that in fact the Irish authorities were preparing for a visit as early as this June. The logic given being the same as that quoted in Mail article: Mary McAleese is keen to have her over before she finally leaves Áras an Uachtaráin next year. A source who accompanied Mrs McAleese on her …

“While we are a city of culture there has to be a recognition that we’re not part of the UK.”

Pete Baker on March 2, 2010, 4:24 pm

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Londonderry may have been shortlisted to become the UK’s first City of Culture in 2013, but the Sinn Féin party leader on the council, Maeve McLaughlin, is not happy. Ms McLaughlin said she believed the bid was “very heavily weighted in terms of cementing our relationship with London”. “While we are a city of culture there has to be a recognition that we’re not part of the UK. “We are not opposing the bid, but we are putting down a …

Labour sitting by the river whilst the spin machine goes into overdrive…

Mick Fealty on February 26, 2010, 7:58 pm

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I think it probably signifies something significant that two confident old players like Iain and Guido are trying to spin an imminent call for the next British general election. Will Straw at Left Foot Forward has five reasons why we might still be heading for a May 6th election: 1. Announcing an election over the weekend would sabotage the passage of key pieces of Government legislation including Harriet Harman’s Equality Bill; the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill which includes provisions …