England – Page 15 – Slugger O'Toole

#London2012: What did it mean to you, then?

John Ó Néill on August 15, 2012, 9:01 am

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With barely enough time to catch breath after all those golds, there has been a glut of reflections on how the London Olympics have either redefined or exhibited a new Britishness. Over at the Daily Mail, Dominic Sandbrook is unequivocal, calling it a rebirth of Britishness: Coming so soon after the triumph of the Diamond Jubilee, which reaffirmed the deep bond between the British people and our Royal Family, the Games have been a valuable reminder of everything that most of …

#London2012: Blake, Jerusalem and the re-imagination of a new looser Britishness?

Mick Fealty on August 13, 2012, 1:52 pm

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This is a short except from a longer conversation I did with Pat Kane on Saturday morning on the Opening Ceremony (ie, before it fades from memory). Pat’s view is generally positive (“a triumph for creative London”) we started off with a short conversation on Danny Boyle’s successful tableaux for the opening ceremony, not least where it leaves independence seeking ‘celts’ like himself… If you are puzzled by where all this generosity towards Britishness from an advocate of Scottish independence is going, …

How was #London2012 for you: Scotland, Ireland, England and GB?

Mick Fealty on August 10, 2012, 7:27 pm

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For those of you intrigued by the digital lunch format, but not really that grabbed by the subject matter, here is something that might interest you… Tomorrow morning myself and the Scottish thinker cum singer, Pat Kane (he of Hue and Cry) will be talking about the London Olympics and what they mean for all of us, Irish, Scottish, English, and British. Starts at 10pm… If you can make it, give us your comments, questions and extended thoughts below? Mick …

Nuance or dissent? The SNP, NATO and internal party management…

Better Together on August 8, 2012, 7:39 pm

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David Torrance has written in the Scotsman about the upcoming SNP Conference debate on potential membership of NATO in an independent Scotland. Torrance notes that a quiet U-turn, initially planned for a June meeting of the National Council of the party, has been pushed up to Conference level after an apparent mis-reading the temperature of the party: “…to have at least seven SNP MSPs prepared to oppose the leadership’s position at conference constitutes a significant rebellion, certainly the biggest since Alex …

No national gold for Boris Johnson please

Brian Walker on August 4, 2012, 3:45 pm

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Everybody seems to be writing about Boris Johnson the mayor of London these days. Well, not quite everybody but the political anoraks with not a lot else to write about during the Olympics truce, naturally enough I suppose, with Boris the herald of the Games going zoink a lot and getting himself stuck in midair on a pulley. None of the hacks is committing himself actually to backing Boris for Tory leader and PM but they’re muttering “you never know “ and stroking …

Red Arrows Perform Olympic Flypasts Across UK

Pete Baker on July 27, 2012, 6:18 pm

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The RAF Red Arrows are performing formation flypasts across the UK to mark the start of the London 2012 Olympic games. Starting in Edinburgh at 12.23pm, Belfast was the second stop at 1.01pm, followed by Cardiff at 4.21pm with the Olympic stadium in London scheduled for 8.12pm. The BBC video from Belfast is not embeddable, but here is some eyewitness video from Belfast. And another one [Loving the red, white and blue smoke trails over City Hall – Ed] Don’t tell Máirtín… Pete …

Andy Burnham says ‘let’s organise in Northern Ireland…”

Mick Fealty on July 23, 2012, 11:43 am

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Hmmm… Haven’t we seen this before? It seems that after meeting Mark Durkan the UK Labour MP and former Minister has said: “The NEC are currently speaking to the Northern Ireland Labour organisation and to our sister party the SDLP. They agreed a process of discussion and they will bring back a recommendation later this year. A decision is coming in the near future and I think it will be linked to the 2014 council elections.” Liam Clarke notes that …

Bovine TB and badgers: “This approach has not been tried anywhere else…”

Pete Baker on July 15, 2012, 3:26 pm

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The different approaches of the various administrations in the UK and Ireland to attempting to eradicate bovine tuberculosis [TB] in wild animals, specifically badgers, are worth noting. They are all in response to the EU Directive 64/432/EEC which, as the Welsh adminstration’s website notes, “requires Member States to provide plans showing how they will eradicate bovine TB in cattle.” In England, the UK government is pressing ahead with badger culling, despite the opposition of animal welfare groups like the RSPCA. In Wales, the Welsh …

£36,800 a minimum standard income for the UK?

Mick Fealty on July 11, 2012, 3:10 pm

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There’s a fascinating piece of research released on Tuesday by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), and launched today, which “used panels of ordinary people reaching a consensus about the items and activities that allow participation in society as well as food, clothes, paying the bills and a home”. What’s interesting is that it challenges a lot of notions about poverty, and encompasses in a large swathe of working people (often both parents) who are struggling to make ends meet. Thus …

Whilst Scotland moves towards its big national debate, we’ve already had our political ‘big bang’…

Mick Fealty on July 4, 2012, 10:36 am

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James Maxwell alludes to an interesting aspect of the burgeoning of the Scottish nationalist cause, and it’s likely runners off in Northern Ireland. Whilst Irish nationalism has become synonymous with Republicanism, the SNP is and remains a soft monarchist party. These difference are as much historical as geographical. Since James VI took up the English title of James I the British monarchy has been as much a possession of the Scottish estate as the English. The siting of the Scottish …

Barclays: “Shouldn’t we hear some answers before the condemned man is whacked?”

Mick Fealty on July 3, 2012, 2:14 pm

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Timely analysis from Iain Martin on a trigger happy populism that could easily get out of hand… with a language straight out of Sean O’Casey… what is slightly depressing is the sanctimonious lynch-mob mentality which currently prevails. It was there over Hester’s bonus and Sir Fred, sorry Mr Fred, Goodwin’s knighthood. So intense has been the clamour from some MPs that Diamond is in the bizarre position of having been forced out before he has had a chance to try …

The raising of school leaving to 18 is momentous, yet I hadn’t noticed. Had you?

Brian Walker on June 22, 2012, 3:32 pm

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For someone priding myself I stay in touch, I find that sometimes this emperor has no clothes. There I was, tut tutting over Michael Gove’s leaked plan to scrap GCSEs and guessing that Northern Ireland would be compelled to follow suit. Guessing? It’s inconceivable that NI could afford to be different however the nationalist parties might grumble. Even in supposedly transferred matters, devolution is exposed as strictly limited. I confess that the Education and Skills Act 2008 had passed me by. …

Ard Comhairle to sign off details of the forthcoming ‘Martin meets Elizabeth’ gig…

Mick Fealty on June 22, 2012, 12:42 am

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One of the stories that’s been hanging in the air for the last few weeks has been will Martin McGuinness meet the Queen, or won’t he? Well, it seems he will. Though the i’s and the t’s remain to be dotted and/or crossed. In recent weeks Slugger understands that the leadership within Sinn Fein have deployed some very senior members ‘of the Movement’ in selling ‘the deal’ to their own activists. Slugger also understands that the party’s Ard Comhairle (high …

High level govt meeting considered indemnifying British troops before Motorman in 1972…

Mick Fealty on June 19, 2012, 1:59 pm

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Interesting find by Relatives for Justice trawling the national archives in Kew in London, which… …contains minutes of a meeting held at Stormont Castle on Monday July 10, 1972 – less than three weeks before Operation Motorman, when thousands of British soldiers stormed into the ‘no-go’ areas of the Bogside, Brandywell and Creggan, shooting dead two people. The minutes also refer to plans “to be produced urgently for the containment of areas known to harbour bombers and gunmen.” Operation Motorman …

Passion went missing Republic’s ‘pointless’ show at #Euro2012…

Mick Fealty on June 19, 2012, 10:47 am

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Managerialism. That’s what they call it. Shuffling the deck chairs with little or no point or sense of long term value other than to perform a job. Call me, generally, neutral on the FAI/IFA thing, but last night missed the passion for the green shirt shown in former days by Gerry Armstrong, Sammy Mc, Niall Quinn and even that old fake Irishman Tony Cascarino. There wasn’t even trace of Jack’s much derided route one to goal. Trap’s game plan was …

Pick up the Church’s gauntlet over gay marriage

Brian Walker on June 14, 2012, 6:37 pm

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In the latest twister among the ecclesiastical storms over gay marriage, Simon Jenkins in fine form denounces the obscurantism of the Church of England.(P.S. First time round, I missed Mick on dear old Ken who on this one isn’t yet wise enough to be embarrassed in polite company). In their latest move calculated to raise the stakes with political opinion, the C of E is fulfilling its modern self-appointed role and speaking for all denominations including the Catholics. Jenkins , an agnostic who …

Policy-making in the age of austerity: a case for more speed, more consensus, more politics?

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on June 14, 2012, 9:33 am

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A trio of organisations published a report this morning on Policy-making in the age of austerity. [Link to download PDF report] The Consultation Institute, Stratagem and Objective Corporation used Northern Ireland as a case study to examine how the current consultation fatigue could be overcome with more meaningful, timely and useful processes. The report’s authors outline four challenges to current patterns of policy-making: expenditure constraints (“cash shortages can render existing policies unworkable and hasten the time when they need to …

Ed Miliband spots the gaping hole in the case for the Union. Can he fill it?

Brian Walker on June 7, 2012, 10:22 am

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With the fluttering of Union Jacks alive in the memory, Ed Miliband has chosen the gap between the diamond jubilee and the Olympics to widen the argument over Scottish independence. It’s an appropriate moment. “We’ve concentrated on shaping a new politics for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. But some people in England felt Labour’s attention had turned away. That something was holding us back from celebrating England, too. That we were too nervous to talk of English pride and …

Jubilee entices England to re-embrace the symbol (if not the fact) of the United Kingdom?

Mick Fealty on June 6, 2012, 12:20 pm

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As little more than an after thought to Brian’s piece on the utility of a lightly borne monarchy (see also my earlier Audioboo on the same subject), one of the things that has struck me is the sudden emergence of the Union flag as the emblem of choice, particularly in England where the cross of St George has been the preferred public emblem for maybe the last 15-20 years. It’s not really a surprise that it’s the Union flag that’s …

“Have you ever been to Longford?”

Mick Fealty on May 30, 2012, 12:28 pm

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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