By noon… according to one report Hmmm… Some people may have a certain Celtic match on their minds?Update: That reading is from one box which regularly comes in with bulk votes early on. It’s basically from the older part of Andersonstown, which it has a more elderly demographic than other parts of the constituency. Earlier Mass at St Theresa’s brings people out earlier there than elsewhere. The football factor has certainly got to be in the mix too! So to …
No one calls an election at lunch time on polling day, but we have a quick report from the SDLP at one polling station in Carnmoney. They say they are not seeing the same number of faces as in previous years, something that might play well for David Ford. Registrations have certainly gone down, but that seems to have been fairly even distributed across the constituency. Too early to regard as significant. We’re getting reports from Lagan Valley of a …
Noel McAdam in the Telegraph: Black taxis were reportedly being put on standby in west Belfast to ferry football supporters from the pubs to the polls after Celtic’s crucial European Champions Cup second leg match against AC Milan. Or even at half-time. There are also major Manchester United and Arsenal clashes, two teams with huge followings in the province. And then there’s Tracey Barlow factor in Coronation Street. Facing trial for the murder of her partner Charlie, will Tracy put …
There are reports that a number of electoral ID cards have been issued with the wrong photographs. Apparently all came from applications sent in after “a well-intentioned community group held a session in west Belfast’s Park Centre using a digital camera.” *shakes head* According to the report, out of 400 applications just under 300 were approved and it’s unknown how many cards were issued with the wrong photographs. Anyone affected who doesn’t have an alternative ID, and that would presumably …
We might not be actually voting until tomorrow, but Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern already have a convenient meeting scheduled to discuss which way we’re voting – on Friday on the fringes of the European Council’s spring summit in Brussels. Oh and, according to the Taoiseach’s spokeswoman, “Mr Ahern said the two governments and the political parties were entering into an intense period of activity in the following three weeks”. What’s this election actually for again? I …
YouTube from a Nigag event, chaired by Seamus Mckee, in Belfast, in which old Sluggerite, Chris Stalford fields the crucial question. Will they get back to work? Stalford, begins by noting ‘significant’ progress in the Ard Fheis motion, but the emergence from Republicanism of ‘two different definitions of crime’. He charges that ‘crime is universal’. John O’Dowd, “the people I represent are decent, ordinary, law abiding citizens”, and “there is no hiding place for criminals in Republican communities”. PS, Look …
Gary Kent was in Dubin this weekend for the meeting of the British Irish Interparliamentary Body. But, he says, Irish minds were elsewhere, to give the address. And Bertie delivered what could be his penultimate, ultimatum (26th March is the ‘last’ hurdle, this time out).By Gary Kent The Body is once again a victim of timing. The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has just delived a keynote speech which stressed the importance of the Northern Ireland parties complying with the 26th March …
Pam Tilson has blogged this analysis of the parties’ manifesto, which tries to examine their ‘performance’ against the degree to which they support ‘Shared Future’ objectives. Since it will become one of ten policy tests that all legislation must pass, so it’s not quite as meaningless or PC as it might seem at first glance. It is not about getting on, it’s about living together. Yet shared spaces (housing, schools, shops) appear to be low on the general list, as …
Small Henry, big talent… like it? Ian as Ard Ri? Or John O’Dowd, in ‘Manners maketh the man?’ 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. Twitter: @MickFealty
The SDLP has been placing half-page adverts in papers asking voters “Can you afford not to vote?” But Lynne Truss would not be amused by the apparent typo in the version carried yesterday by the Irish News. A pedant [another one? – Ed] must have pointed out the erroneous comma to those responsible.. Today’s version has been emended. Just don’t take the education ministry, eh? *shakes head*From yesterday’s Irish News, with text detail below followed by today’s version, with today’s …
Alex Kane has a long memory, and an ear for detail. In his Newsletter column yesterday he picked up some interesting detail from the past and contrasts it with the present and the future. He starts with the air brushing of ‘progressive’ unionism’s embrace of powersharing and an Irish dimension some thirty four years ago. Now he is detecting some ‘humbug’ in the DUP’s manifesto and public statements. The first time I voted was in the February 1974 General Election. …
In the Belfast Telegraph Maurice Hayes argues that the “electoral rhetoric about bread and butter issues is shadow boxing, and everyone knows it.” The focus on populist issues he says is “to get people to the polls in the knowledge that once there, nature will triumph over nurture and they will vote by instinct rather than by reason.” There are some predictions and some criticisms of individual parties election stances, with the most pertinent criticism echoing elements from the economic …
I spent about half an hour on the beat with a small, but dedicated band of SDLP supporters trudging around the upper end of Andersonstown in the freezing rain last night. They are looking for about 10,000 votes in a vast constituency with a tiny party machine in Sinn Fein heartland. If last night is anything to go by, their voters are being targeted over and over again. One guy told Attwood, he’d had two leaflets and letter from Gerry …
Malachi O’Doherty reckons the big mistake made by the SDLP in this campaign is it’s lack of focus on the weak spots of its own rivals. Indeed he reckons that their campaign managers should try to catch Tim Lone’s new play starting at the Lyric on polling night. Erecting a sign pointing to MI5 in Hollywood was a totally pointless exercise. Why pitch for the vote of the kind of nationalist who frets about securocrats? If the SDLP can scare …
I watched Ferghal McKinney on UTV’s election debate struggling manfully with a panel of five politicians trying to argue over policy detail they were quite clearly not entirely comfortable with . Most striking was the degree of consensus on a range of policy issues, and the relative non appearance of the constitutional issue. However Maurice Hayes reckons that the real terms of reference that people use to slect their vote will remain the same: This electoral rhetoric about bread and …
Mark Simpson was back in town this morning doing a piece to camera outside the City Hall for BBC News 24 this morning. In interview with Ian Paisley this morning the octogenerian leader of the DUP was heard clearly to say that he was ‘having a great erection’. Slugger somehow doubts that one will make it to air. However Simpson himself was later heard to remark that it was a clear indication that ‘the Doc’ had clearly ‘not gone soft.. …
Mick’s thread on candidates in Newry and Armagh is diverging from the topic due to a post-script to an article in the Sunday Tribune – republished by Newshound. But the postscript raises important questions about the relationship between political parties, the press and the public. Additionally, there are, potentially, professional repercussions for individual journalists if a political party blacklists a paper because of something that journalist has written. According to the post-script, and a similar note in the Sunday Times …
This is odd. Mitchel McLaughlin told Slugger on Wednesday night that rather than encourage people not to pay their water bills, that the Unions should instead tell their members not to process the bills in the first place. If it was intended to deliniate the party’s line from that of the Socialist and Workers Parties support for the non payment campaign (as some have suggested to Slugger), the unions are now raging it nevertheless seems to have caused several difficult …
I’ve lost count of the number of times in the last few days I have been asked about my predictions for the upcoming elections. We’ve been mulling them over here on Slugger and elsewhere since November. The fate of the Alliance party seems the hardest to call. They have had a good campaign and even the plainly dodgy figures from the Ipsos Mori poll would look good even if you clipped as much as 4 points off them. But Suzanne …
..at 10.44pm tonight and it should be the best in years, as the BBC helpfully notes.. given clear skies, of course. But while NASA has an interesting take, and there’s more science here, if you were still wondering, a ‘blood moon’ ahead of the election could suggest the omens are not good.. the only question is for whom? ANYway.. in the meantime.. Enjoy! In the comments, susan suggests one group for whom the eclipse is definitely a good omen.. all …
