DUP – Page 42 – Slugger O'Toole

Post-damage-limitation, challenge for DUP is not whether they choose to change, but how they choose to change

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 27, 2015, 10:23 am

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The boil has been lanced. To borrow from Oscar Wilde: “To become the news story once during an election campaign may be regarded as a misfortune; to do it twice in a week over the same issue looks like carelessness.” NI Executive ministers rarely resign. If it hadn’t been in the middle of an election campaign, I doubt that Jim Wells would have had to inform the First Minister of his intention to stand down from his post as Minister …

Jim Wells resigns as Health Minister

Turgon on April 27, 2015, 7:25 am

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The BBC are reporting that Jim Wells has resigned as health minister following his remarks at the canvassing event in South Down and a further bizarre episode whilst canvassing in Rathfriland. Wells has issued a statement on the DUP website explaining the stress his wife’s illness has caused and explaining his resignation. TurgonThis author has not written a biography and will not be writing one.

Jim Wells: Has he damaged the DUP? UPDATED

The Firemen on April 24, 2015, 9:47 pm

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Any hopes that the DUP had that last night’s ill-judged comments by Health Minister Jim Wells would be quickly forgotten appear to be fast receding. If anything the ‘apology’ by Mr. Wells betrays ignorance on the part of the Health Minister more than anything else. Sadly the PSNI have now confirmed that they are now investigating comments made by Mr. Wells’ – perhaps the new laws suggested by the Ulster Fry would be more appropriate. UPDATE: Tonight (Sunday April 26th, 2015) …

Manifestos and how to avoid dealing in meaningless small minded political tropes?

Mick Fealty on April 23, 2015, 12:29 pm

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listen to ‘#SluggerReport Daily: “Manifestos, costed but meaningless?”’ on audioBoom Ah I think I have finally got my workflow right. So here’s an audio copy of this morning’s #SluggerReport Daily (213 LIVE viewers). You can pick up most of them on Audioboom here. The local anchor for today’s report is the apparently bonkers proposal from the DUP manifesto to build a tunnel from Northern Ireland to Scotland, more broadly though it is this excellent piece from academic, former Labour spad …

LGBT issues: Northern Ireland party views – UPDATED

The Firemen on April 22, 2015, 8:23 pm

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(Updated to include responses from the Ulster Unionist Party and People Before Profit) Research conducted by Ruth McCarthy highlights some stark differences between the parties contesting this years Westminster elections in Northern Ireland on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues. A series of questions were asked: 1a Does your party visibly support LGBTQ equality issues in your party manifesto, on your website and in election campaigning materials? If YES, please give examples. If NO, please state why. 1b Please give …

Slugger Verdict: Ranking the PEBs of #GE2015

David McCann on April 21, 2015, 10:18 pm

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Well, it’s back for the 2015 General Election, the party election broadcast awards. This seemed to go down well last year. So, in that spirit I thought I would bring together another panel of judges to rank each of the party election broadcasts. The other judges were MCE Public Relations Director, Chris Brown and the host of the Profit Margin, Jim Fitzpatrick. Each of us ranked the PEBs out of 10, we then combined the scores to get an overall …

PEB Report: Alliance on money, DUP on NI, and the SDLP’s fresh faces

Mick Fealty on April 2, 2015, 3:25 pm

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I don’t propose doing a single and comprehensive rundown of all the party PEBs this election, but I will pick up on bunches of them as they go [flying] past. Alliance have had one out before the official campaign began, and it is just as slick in presentation as we have come to expect from them. Necessarily it focuses on their one seat they have to defend. Openness and transparency, and ending double jobbing and pushing out the work of …

Profiling “cheeky sod” Nigel Dodds: Radio 4’s take on “possibly Britain’s least well-known Westminster leader”

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 22, 2015, 10:30 am

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Listening back to Radio 4’s recent Profile of Nigel Dodds is an opportunity both to find out more about the DUP’s deputy leader, and to discover what mainland Britain makes of Northern Ireland politics and politicians. It is clear that the BBC struggled to find material, and lengthy contributions from Diane Dodds and the News Letter’s Sam McBride filled in much of the background detail of the (mostly) loyal North Belfast unionist politician. And of course it was an excuse …

Gerry Kelly: North Belfast is still winnable and is determined to challenge politics that are “sectarian in the extreme”

David McCann on March 20, 2015, 4:23 pm

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Today Sinn Fein launched their plans to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising in North Belfast. As pacts have dominated the headlines I caught up with the party’s sitting MLA and Westminster candidate, Gerry Kelly to get his views about deal announced on St. Patrick’s Day. I began by asking him what his initial thoughts were on the pact? Kelly told me that it whilst four constituencies were included it was really a two seat pact to …

Robinson, Nesbitt, Murphy and Long on Pacts

David McCann on March 17, 2015, 10:08 pm

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On Slugger we have the full remarks from Peter Robinson, Mike Nesbitt, Naomi Long and Conor Murphy. Let’s start with UUP leader, Mike Nesbitt, The Ulster Unionist Party and the DUP have reached an understanding regarding the General Election. The Ulster Unionist Party will have the support of the DUP for Tom Elliott in Fermanagh & South Tyrone and Danny Kennedy in Newry & Armagh. In return the Ulster Unionist Party will support Nigel Dodds in North Belfast …

Unionist Election Pact

Kris Nixon (Belfast Barman) on March 17, 2015, 7:45 pm

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The internet seems awash at the moment with the (fairly well substantiated) rumour that the DUP & UUP (or is it UUP & DUP…I wonder how many weeks they argued over the order) have agreed a pact involving four constituencies in the May 7th general election. Update – details now online in a press release from the DUP. NEWRY & ARMAGH – Both parties will support behind Danny Kennedy MLA FERMANAGH & SOUTH TYRONE – Both parties will support behind …

Chronology of events from Sinn Fein dossier on Stormont House Agreement

David McCann on March 11, 2015, 5:11 pm

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In their bid to get back control the message in this debate, Sinn Fein have launched their dossier outling why they have Petition of Concerned the Stormont House Agreement. There appears to have been a great deal of contact between the party and the DUP advisor, Stephen Brimstone. The entire document is well worth a read, but here is Sinn Fein’s chronology of events 17th Dec-Peter Robinson presented a proposal to the five Executive parties (Paper 2) which was rejected …

“Now it seems that Sinn Fein is realising how badly exposed its negotiators left it to accusations of a sell-out.”

Pete Baker on March 10, 2015, 2:55 pm

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In today’s Irish News John Manley does everyone a favour by identifying Sinn Fein’s problem with the agreement they signed up to in December. The nub of the problem appears to lie in the figures contained in the Stormont Castle Agreement, an agreement within an agreement negotiated between the five parties days before the final accord was signed off on December 23. In annex A of this sub-agreement, the figures for the planned welfare safety net are outlined. It earmarks …

Calling All Politicos: Pick your fantasy NI Executive

David McCann on March 3, 2015, 12:06 am

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For most reading this blog this will be the type of transfers you’ll be interested in. For just a few minutes imagine you’re the First Minister and you get to choose an Executive. Choices must be from within the current Assembly and sure we will use the new departments, Department for Communities Department for the Economy Department of Education Department of Health Department for Infrastructure Department of Justice Department of Finance Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. My picks …

West Belfast Business Breakfast: Making small changes day by day.

David McCann on February 27, 2015, 12:46 pm

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This morning I ventured over to a business breakfast in West Belfast hosted by local entrepreneur, Gerry Carlile.The event which had nearly 100 people in attendance was kicked off by the local MP, Paul Maskey who preached the need for more investment in West Belfast and cited success stories like the Kennedy Centre which operates at full capacity. The Sinn Fein MP also spoke of his relief that the Executive decided to retain the funding for St. Mary’s which he …

The Social Media Canvass

David McCann on February 22, 2015, 2:35 pm

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Well they are all out of the traps as we go into March. If like me you follow a lot of politicians and activists your Facebook and Twitter news feeds have been swamped with pictures of lots of happy people taking selfies, delivering leaflets and telling us how the great people of this place love their candidates (my thanks to those of you who have stopping using the “great night on the doors” line). However, a few things I have …

You can’t mistake ideology – the way MPs talk, the way that they walk

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on February 22, 2015, 12:37 am

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With the unprecedented closeness and unpredictability of the next general election, there has been a lot of speculation about which parties may be able to do business together in the event of coalition negotiations, following another hung parliament. The SNP have ruled out the possibility of doing a deal with the Conservatives, but what other parties look like they may be able to do a deal based on the way that they vote? With potentially 10 or more seats in …

Jonathan Bell: I will bring a campaign to South Belfast like “you have never seen”

David McCann on February 20, 2015, 1:32 pm

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On Wednesday night the DUP’s newly minted candidate for South Belfast launched his campaign to become the new MP for South Belfast. In the middle of all hustle and bustle of the Four Winds I caught up with the candidate, Junior Minister, Jonathan Bell. To start with I wanted to know why the DUP thought that South Belfast was so ripe for change? Bell told me that when you look at the last local election results it is clear that …

SDLP: No to a head to head but would consider a more inclusive debate

David McCann on February 17, 2015, 8:12 pm

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This whole issue started two weeks ago when the Sinn Fein candidate for South Belfast, Máirtín Ó Muilleoir asked for a debate with the sitting MP Alasdair McDonnell. It is my understanding that the DUP Candidate, Jonathan Bell is also game for a debate. However the key question is what about the sitting MP? Speaking to Slugger an SDLP spokesperson tonight said; The SDLP has received no formal invitation to participate in any debate in South Belfast. While we would …

Perscription Charges Consultation: Is Wells biting the bullet?

David McCann on February 17, 2015, 12:16 pm

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The Health Minister, Jim Wells rose in the Assembly today to announce a consultation on the funding of certain prescription drugs. The Minister, calmly and in a very affable manner set out the difficulties his department faces in funding drugs to combat cancer. Wells argued that he is in an impossible position with increasing costs on one side and increasing demand on the other forcing him to make more and more difficult decisions in the area of what drug the …