The final instalment of my series of interviews is with the Health minister, Edwin Poots. I must admit this was the interview I was most nervous about doing but when you meet him in person he is actually a very affable person. What struck me was how relaxed he was for a person in his job and the applause he received during Peter Robinson’s speech shows his popularity among the party faithful. Apparently he is a reader of the blog-so …
Speaking of making the media accountable… The Northern Ireland Minister for Culture, Sinn Fein’s Carál Ní Chuilín, has declared that she is “considering options such as appointing a panel of experts to review broadcasting in the North and devolution of responsibility locally with a view to bringing proposals forward for cross-party support”. Here’s a couple of lines from the minister’s press release [NI Culture Minister, Sinn Fein’s Carál Ní Chuilín] “I am considering options such as appointing a panel of experts …
Never mind the “unpleasant odour” rising from Northern Ireland’s libel law (and the urge to censor), there’s something a little stinky coming from Peter Robinson’s call for the media to show more support for Stormont. As Orwell said, “journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations.” Surely we don’t need more photos of politicians standing around with cheesy grins, Stormont’s main output? I look forward to seeing your captions for the empty speech …
In the second part of my series of interviews with DUP ministers I bring you Simon Hamilton MLA. The youngest of all the DUP ministers he has impressed a number of people with his solid performance in the Department of Finance. On a personal level I found him very impressive and well briefed on the finance file. He opted for an Ed Miliband speaking without notes speech at the DUP conference which seemed to go down well. The interview is …
I took a trip up to the DUP Conference yesterday to interview some of the key figures within the party. I spoke with several Ministers namely Simon Hamilton, Edwin Poots and Arlene Foster. Just after her conference speech I spoke with the Enterprise Minister and possible future leader, Arlene Foster. We spoke about a variety of issues from the European elections to her feud with Phil Flanagan MLA and her shift from the UUP to the DUP. Below are some …
I guess the party formerly known as the ‘kings of messaging’ would lose some of their narrative touch after six years in government. Yet some of the DUP party leader’s speech is worth highlighting… Starting with, erm, ‘things are not as bad as they may seem…” Real progress is being made. We sometimes need to lift our gaze from the close and immediate and fix our eyes on a longer and wider horizon to see just how much and how …
Yesterday was a historic day (in media terms anyway) as Peter Robinson gave his first interview in five years to the Irish News. Why Robinson decided to freeze out the provinces top selling newspaper I don’t know but the papers political reporter, John Manley said that there was nothing in the DUP Leader’s demeanour to suggest relations were frosty. So we can only assume that the fences have been mended and Robinson will be giving more interviews to the Irish News …
And for balance’s sake, this evening the DUP nominated their sitting MEP, Diane Dodds. Here’s the FM’s pitch: Diane hasn’t been one of those MEPs who lives in Strasbourg and Brussels but forgets about their constituents. She has been a tireless advocate for citizens all across the Province, publishing three Funding Directories, highlighting funding opportunities for businesses and communities. These were supplemented with dozens of funding workshops and public meetings across every District Council. The Party Officers have decided to …
Newton Emerson today usefully points at Wales and the recent work of the Silk Commission on the devolution of further powers to raise and lower taxes. It’s worth looking more closely at Wales. For a country that only just squeaked devolution (there was about 7k votes majority in favour in a voting electorate of just over a million), the levels of trust in the Senedd seem remarkably high: 62% of the respondents would like to see increased powers for the …
I had to do a bit of research during the week on the assembly and the people who work in it. On the side I thought it would be interesting to find out just how old the average MLA is and what party has the youngest assembly group. Let’s begin with the overall picture-I surveyed the ages of 106 of the 108 MLAs-I couldn’t find the date of birth for two of them but this will still give me a good sample. …
John mentioned, in passing, Alex Kane’s column in today’s Irish News. But, in reaching for his hyperbolical conclusion, he missed the more interesting part of the article. From Alex Kane in the Irish News. As far back as 1972 the Heath government introduced the concept of power-sharing, the ‘Irish dimension’ and the constitutional guarantee: and from that moment it seemed inevitable that any deal they would agree to (and hope that the Irish would underwrite with them) would be a deal …
This piece is a bit delayed but rounding off the party analyses of the four major parties I present to you the electoral performance of the DUP over the past 15 years. Instead of focusing on gains that the party has made over the last number of years I thought I would take a look at the DUP’s constant charge that they are the true voice of Unionism. But before I go into the numbers I will briefly run through …
Yesterday’s opposition day debate in the Commons on Dealing With The Past initiated by the DUP was attended by only just enough GB MPs – about 20-odd – to make up the quorum of 40. Have a browse in Hansard to get the full flavour if you’re feeling strong enough. Sinn Fein’s absence is a pity. In parliament a real debate is better than sermonising. If they were present there would be a lot more authentic flavour and less of the sound …
We now have a new contender to add to the collection of misjudged, irrational and counter-productive legislative initiatives; the 2013 Planning Bill. This began as a relatively well-intentioned attempt to tweak the current planning system in advance of handing over most planning powers to the new local authorities in 2015. However this has evolved into a farce through a number of ill-conceived interventions made jointly by Sinn Féin and the DUP. First, they would not let it through the Executive …
Interesting comments reported by the BBC from the Northern Ireland First Minister, DUP leader Peter Robinson, speaking at a Co-Operation Ireland dinner at Queen’s University in Belfast on Thursday night. From the BBC report Mr Robinson said that while it is easier and more comfortable for politicians and people in wider society to retreat to safe and familiar ground, that is not the ground where progress will be made. “I am entirely convinced that a shared and united society in …
On this day 49 years ago, the United Kingdom went to the polls to choose a new government. The result was a narrow Labour win of just 4 seats making Harold Wilson the Prime Minister. Meanwhile in Northern Ireland, the election of Wilson provoked fears among some Unionists in Northern Ireland that he would be much more interventionist in the affairs of the province than some of his predecessors. A letter he had written before the election to the Campaign …
Yesterday I sat down with NI21 deputy leader, John McCallister. In our interview we spoke about the upcoming NI21 conference, his relations with the UUP and the summer violence we have experienced. On his relations with the UUP; The hardest part (of leaving) was the strain that might put on some of this friendships and some people feeling diappointed or let down. When I look now and see where the UUP is…it has literally lost all sense of direction or …
Ten months on from the beginning of the flag protests, it looks like DUP is finally applying foresight and making its position clear in advance of potential trouble. Addressing the Orange Order’s plans to “up-scale [protests] right up to civil disobedience if that’s what it takes”, Arlene Foster told BBC NI’s Sunday Politics show: We very much defend the right of people to protest on any issue. But what must happen, and I do make this very clear, is that …
Last week, I sat down with East Belfast UUP MLA, Michael Copeland. We talked about his entry into politics, the flags protests and the performance of the PSNI. I want to apologise first for the audio but here are some quotes that I thought were interesting On the Executive’s performance in tackling underachievement; Thus far in my view they’ve failed and they will quote figures of many millions of pounds invested in things like the Skainos project. To the average …
Last week’s spat between Peter Robinson and Jim Allister has been analysed in some detail. One of the best contributions has been by Sam McBride pointing to how it demonstrates the difference that it makes allowing ministers to be questioned without knowing the questions in advance. Prior to that as McBride says: “For years, question time at Stormont has been a fairly turgid affair, with questions submitted weeks in advance so that civil servants could draft vast replies for ministers …
