Been trying to think of the appropriate analogy to what those blasted debates have done to this election. USA it ain’t – why? Let’s state the obvious: i) US is a Presidential contest ii) There’s a four year fixed term iii) You can spend money on prime time advertising to rebut the organised debates. (Here not only are Plaid excluded but we can’t even spend our own money on TV rebuttal – one of the big benefits to the London …
Not sure if all can get this without subscription – but that’s the Economist’s take on the DUP and a hung parliament. Just in case I’ll paste below the fold: Northern Ireland Together we stand What local politics have to gain from national elections Friends in needHUNG parliaments are not everyone’s idea of a great outcome to the general election on May 6th. In Northern Ireland, however, plenty of politicians discreetly but fervently hope for just that. Those hoping hardest …
Helen Mary – wonderful quote “of their 76 rules I didn’t realise that one of those was not to mention Wales” Nicola was pretty bored. For what it’s worth I think that’s a fairly critical 5 percentage points to Clegg. The Independent agrees… Oh, and blah blah blah… DewiWelsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and Railways…
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
I don’t intend second guessing Mr Justice Gillen’s reasons for refusing an injunction on Ian Paisley Junior’s leaflet (nor referring to the subject matter of Jim Allister’s complaint). The judge made it clear in the High Court yesterday that it was for others to decide whether the disputed section of the leaflet was defamatory, or not. But the tone of the judgement ran something like: didn’t you know there was an election on? “In my view electioneering statements should not …
According to the Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, refusing to participate in a “grubby little sectarian carve up” in order to ‘Save Michelle!’, and her empty seat, is not “good for nationalists or for the peace process” [added emphasis]. Who knew?! Now remember, Gerry, “don’t reduce it to two debates – to what’s happening within unionism or what’s happening within nationalism.” You do remember that, Gerry? But what are you going to do? Pete Baker
According to Bobballs, it appears not.… I suspect posters have more effect on voters than net activism… but there is a really needling message underneath this one: are you really sure your voters will turn out for you? 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
DUP leader Peter Robinson is an impediment to unionist unity according to Unionist Party Assembly member David NcNarry. In a blistering attack on Mr. Robinson, the Strangford Unionist said: “Peter Robinson is an obstacle. He has too much baggage from the past, moving forward, with his bashing of Ulster Unionists. My ministers asked him to step aside while he sorted out his private affairs. There have been more revelations and there are growing doubts inside his own party about his …
FIRST McGregor, now this from an SF supporter. There’s something quite fun in the way the internet is being used to subvert party messages that are so carefully selected and controlled. PEBs aren’t cheap to make either, and to see them ridiculed so effectively and cheaply must be really annoying; anyone who’s seen the spoof billboards across the water knows what I mean too. There’s some excellent subversion of a DUP poster that the Tories have done coming up later …
No embed for the CU’s PEB, so here’s the link… Well that’s what they are calling themselves these days (UCU-NF is sooo 2008 Gerry ;-))… Okay, quickly… It had much of the focus the SDLP PEB lacked… Professional voice over from Davy Sims… Though the ambiguity of the ‘fly-in’ party leader pictures that almost promise to meld, but don’t, is sort of fitting but not altogether in a good way… The only decent attack line is Trevor Ringland’s on double …
At the Guardian’s CiF at the Polls self-declared Tory unionist, Christopher Montgomery, comments on the SDLP’s pass on participation in the ‘Save Michelle’ campaign. From the Guardian post Sinn Féin know they won’t get in the British general election anything like the kicking the Irish Republic’s electorate handed out to them in theirs. But their leadership is understandably anxious about the fact that yet another element in what passed for their partition-accepting, post-republican strategy is unfurling. Losing seats was never …
Yesterday demonstrated why Sinn Fein and the DUP retain the majority stake in Westminster over the moderate muddle middle… Yesterday Margaret Ritchie did what no party leader in Britain or the Republic would do before an election and revealed she would not take her party into opposition with the SDLP… Thus taking much of the fun danger promise out of voting SDLP… At the same time, Reg Empey pulled out of his previous minded view that his party would vote …
So,here’s last night’s opening PEB from the SDLP… My own brief thoughts divide roughly like this… Good opening with a focus on what a ‘sitting MP’ brings you the voter from their latest recruit in Fermanagh… Then lots of shots of the same people in different combinations (to be slightly unkind, like Beau Geste arranging bodies in the fort to create the illusion of there being more people than there actually is) walking towards the camera in different streets in …
From the Sunday Times, here’s Newton Emerson’s succinct summing up of the general election ahead. In short, we are in for an election where a lot will go on but nothing will change. Isn’t that always the way around here? Pete Baker
With reported talks between Anglo Irish and the Irish Financial Regulator, the Quinn Group’s ongoing campaign against the regulator’s intervention looks set to lawyer up. Eamonn McCann takes on the “forelocking tugging”, and electioneering, interfering ‘foreigners’. And WorldbyStorm points to an Irish Times article by John McManus last Monday that’s well worth a read. The only amazing thing about Quinn Insurance – and sadly it’s not that amazing in the Irish context – is that the company was not seized …
Following the decision to field a Pan-Unionist/ Conservative candidate in Fermanagh South Tyrone, the electoral math in the constituency has altered considerably. In the event of the SDLP’s candidate deciding to remain in the contest, then Michelle Gildernew would be facing a mammoth challenge to retain the seat. As of the 2005 Westminster election, Sinn Fein’s Michelle Gildernew held 72% of the combined nationalist vote- some 18,638 votes compared to the SDLP candidate’s 7,230 votes. In that election the combined …
Nice piece from Ben Lowry in the Newsletter looking at the sectarian demography of Fermanagh South Tyrone and South Belfast in which he notes nationalist voter behaviour in seats previously seen as being unionist. Remember when South Down and Newry and Armagh were actually held by unionists? But now a mixture of demographic change — a gradually increasing Catholic vote — and an increase in Catholic confidence has made those seats so safe for nationalists that it is hard to …
With so many powers devolved to Northern Ireland we will only become a factor at Westminster in the event of a hung parliament. And even then Northern Ireland political parties shouldn’t get too carried away with their importance. In such circumstances the Lib/Dems are morel likely to have the real clout way ahead of any local party here. Peter Robinson summed up the positions of local parties apart from his own when it comes to Westminster. • The Ulster Unionists …
A few weeks back Bobballs reported a rumour to the effect that the DUP would pull out of South Belfast. That rumour is still doing the rounds. It seems there are people talking between the two parties for some kind of a deal on a similar basis to the one just concluded in Fermanagh South Tyrone: ie for an independent candidate… But even people in the constituency, who might have been expected a few months back to support a unity …
