The PUP has not had a very happy post-Good Friday Agreement existence. Since 1998, they have suffered an electoral decline that would make David Trimble blush. Yes, Northern Ireland’s voice of Loyalism has been out of sorts and out of political influence since it lost its last remaining assembly seat in 2010 when Dawn Purvis left the party. In addition to this, the party has lost a staggering 88% of its vote over the last 15 years. The party now …
In an earlier post I cited the latest Lucid Talk poll which showed Stormont’s approval rating at an abysmal 9%. This low approval rating while perhaps overstated does mirror a sense of disillusionment among the wider general public about the direction that we are heading under this current assembly. We have falling turnout at elections, gridlock in Stormont and a stagnant economy. When you consider all this it is little wonder that we have an apathetic electorate. However, I would …
Today’s Lucid Talk poll in the Belfast Telegraph should be a wake up call for all politicians in Northern Ireland to up their game. When asked the question, compared to direct rule from Westminster, how would you rate the performance of the NI assembly? Just 9.4% said it was either excellent or good and that falls to 7.4% when you exclude undecideds. This compares badly to the 66.3% who rated the assembly’s performance as not very good or bad. The …
It’s a common tactic of most people in public life to exaggerate the criticism being made of them when they make the feisty reply. Peter Robinson is no exception. His recent output has been genuinely revealing. I have no privileged information whatever but I have read his Florida letter and his Bel Tel article. The Florida missive revealed his default position of lashing out against criticism rather than rising above it at times of tension, the Bel Tel the old trick …
Stormont sprung to life this week as MLAs returned from their summer holidays. Like children who couldn’t wait to get back into the classroom our MLAs submitted motions that allowed themselves to get stuck in to each other. While I was watching Stormont Today last night, I heard tales from the DUP of ‘Connolly House propaganda’ over the recent trouble during the marching season. While on the other side Sinn Fein condemned the DUP for not acknowledging that republicans suffered any hurt …
Interesting observations by Alex Kane on the internal life of Unionism… …the Orange Order’s decision to support Gibson’s participation is a very clear signal of their recognition that it’s still the DUP, rather than the smaller unionist parties, which has the muscle to get things done. The PUP also has some big choices to make in the next few months. The announcement that they will be contesting the 2014 Euro elections (first time since 1999, when David Ervine got 3.3 …
Peter Robinson’s postcard from his holiday to the Belfast Telegraph is carried on page 29 of this morning’s paper. Breaking his silence since issuing the eleven page U-turn clarification letter on 15 August, the First Minister’s latest intervention signals that the summer is over and the parties are at last back to school. (You can read the full text on the Belfast Telegraph website.) In spite of all the challenges that have been faced at home, we have proved that …
The BBC reports that “it has emerged” Richard Haass has written to the Northern Ireland Executive parties ahead of the up-coming talks on parades, and other matters. Dr Haass, who is due to chair talks later this month, sent the letter after his mid-July visit to Belfast. He asked the parties for confidentiality and to put forward their best team of negotiators. Dr Haass also requested the parties answer a series of questions around the issues. The negotiations are to …
I’m not entirely convinced by the reason given by the Northern Ireland Assembly Commissioner for Standards, Douglas Bain, for his decision to recommend that the NI Assembly Committee on Standards and Privileges appoint an Acting Commissioner to consider the DUP and TUV complaints about Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly’s attendance and speech at the recent controversial Castlederg parade. Here’s what the Commissioner told the TUV leader Jim Allister, MLA. Thank you for your letter of 12 August 2013 making a …
Having abandoned their first, draconian, attempt to control regulate Public Assemblies, Parades and Protests, Sinn Féin and the DUP may now face a wider variety of emboldened dissenting voices in seeking compromise on the issue. Alex Kane has some advice for the incoming chair of the new, improved, working group on parades. From the News Letter article If I were Mr Haass I would gather all of the parties and assorted hangers-on around the table at 9am on the first Monday morning and …
In yesterday’s Irish News Newton Emerson poured cold water on some recent idle speculation – as noted by Alan. From the Irish News Speculation is mounting that Peter Robinson plans to step down as DUP leader. It cannot be stressed enough that this is based on giddy zephyrs of the purest conjecture. An attempt by nationalism to convince itself the Maze U-turn indicated weak leadership was debunked by a mild response from Sinn Féin, which sees exactly how Robinson has launched …
Yesterday Ruth Patterson attended court for her Facebook post and provided an interesting piece of optics for the television cameras. In a considered move, a variety of DUP ministers and other public representatives, including Edwin Poots, Sammy Wilson, Jonathan Bell and Guy Spence (to name a few), attended the court hearing or accompanied her to and from the court, clearly with an eye on the cameras. Other unionist glitterati in attendance included Willie Frazer and others taunting Patterson to get …
Aha, he hasn’t gone away you know. Eamonn Mallie picks up a nicely telling little detail on the Red Sky story: It has been confirmed that the DUP Special Advisor to DSD Minister Nelson McCausland, Stephen Brimstone, has apologised to Lisburn Councillor Jenny Palmer over a Housing Executive vote. Ms Palmer who is a member of the Housing Executive Board alleged in a BBC Spotlight programme that Mr Brimstone called her and allegedly put pressure on her regarding a Housing …
The headline” Robinson no pushover” doesn’t really fit Henry Patterson’s measured analysis of the first minister’s U turn from Florida in the Newsletter. ..It is remarkable how weak and undeveloped the DUP case was against those who argued that part of the Maze site would house a ‘shrine to terrorism’. The weakness of the DUP case for the Maze was amplified by the fact that apart from occasional interventions by Robinson the only other figure of substance in the …
They must have put up Chinese walls inside Stormont Castle since I was there last. The sudden collapse of Peter Robinson’s position over the Maze peace centre strongly suggests that the joint leaders haven’t even managed to have frank exchanges about the past, much less wrestled with how actually to deal with it. But the bigger problem stretches down the hill to streets below. DUP electoral dominance has been again exposed as offering no protection against unionist fragmentation and a stampede …
So Peter Robinson has now effectively vetoed the Maze “shrine.” Amid all the complaints regarding this from republicans the real question might be Why did he take so long to do it? The reality is that very few unionists have ever supported the concept. A few loyalist terrorist ex prisoners might have had an interest due to their self interest in reinventing their sectarian murder campaign as one by “the fighting men” to quote Gusty Spence. Very few unionists, however, …
Before you read the spin, here’s Robinsons letter. I’m only going to point out (the obvious) that you won’t find references to unionists marching with paramilitary bands, DUP MLAs advocating burning tricolours or murder fantasies, unionists rioting, attacking the Mayor, PSNI and (Catholic-owned) businesses or breaches of the Parades Commission determinations. [For the lazy, I’ve added a tag cloud of the text] First Minister Peter Robinson To: DUP MLAs, MPs and MEP 12 August 2013 Dear Colleague In normal circumstances …
If you can, it’s worth listening to BBC Radio Four’s Archive on 4 extended interview with David Trimble. But it is particularly worth listening to the last ten minutes or so, in which he provides an important analysis of how he was dispatched to the boundary by some neat footwork by the Sinn Fein days before the November 2003 Assembly election was to be called. He talks about what he had thought was a shared understanding that the IICD “had …
As the BBC reports, the UK House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Committee has published their report on the Implementation of the Armed Forces Covenant in Northern Ireland. Among the recommendations noted by the BBC The committee chair, MP Laurence Robertson, said the report highlighted the need for those who serve the country not being disadvantaged because of that. He said while the special political and legal situation in Northern Ireland made the situation potentially contentious, that should not mean …
As the BBC reports, the Northern Ireland Assembly has rejected a tabled Sinn Féin amendment, and supported the DUP’s original motion on the recent north Belfast determination of the Parades Commission by 43 votes to 42 – here’s the Commission’s earlier defence of that decision. And here’s the resolved text from the NI Assembly That this Assembly notes the lawful but illogical determination issued by the Parades Commission on 9 July 2013 in relation to the application by the three Ligoniel Orange Lodges for …
