England

#EURef in grave danger of setting down its own “poisonous foundations”?

Mick Fealty on June 19, 2016, 7:58 am

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I’m struck by this optimistic note from Ruth Dudley Edwards… Narrow-minded nationalism is being left behind. We have slowly evolved “a more civilised discourse” and we are much better people for it. She argues that Ireland has become a much more civilised place because it has committed itself (if not always in the slow, patient Scandinavian style) to conversation more than confrontation. The contrast with Britain just now could hardly be more stark. Of course, Britain is, as Ruth points …

We can already see a post-Brexit economy emerging. It’s grim.

Gerry Lynch on June 14, 2016, 9:30 pm

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Here’s a confusing financial press headline from today: German 10-year sovereign bond yields turn negative for first time. What does that mean in plain English: it means traders are so worried about what the UK economy would look like post-Brexit, they’re pulling their money out of the UK, and actually paying the German government to let them lend it money. Read that sentence again to realise how deep the fear is. You’ve heard the scaremongering. This is what the reality …

EU referendum: The Reverse Sturgeon Option?

Paul Hagan on June 6, 2016, 11:02 pm

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The activities of dissident Irish republican groups is clearly something on the minds of many in Northern Ireland and Westminster. Following-on from the Home Secretary’s warning last month that a fresh attack was “a strong possibility” a number of arrests have been made at the gatherings of various dissident groups in different parts of Northern Ireland. One such recent event gathered less attention, on Saturday the hard-line republican group Éirígí launched their campaign for a “Leave” vote in the EU campaign. …

Livingstone’s spectacular implosion damages no one more than Khan

Turgon on May 1, 2016, 4:38 pm

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Election campaigns are one of the most disappointing parts of politics from an analysis point of view. Rarely do campaigns actually sway the result as much as people like to think. Clearly they are vital and manifestos etc. are essential. However, all too often the manifesto and the campaign itself are the out workings of the almost inevitable result. As examples the disastrous longest suicide note in British political history of Labour’s 1983 campaign was merely the outworking of an …

Should doctors strike?

Robert Campbell on April 20, 2016, 7:00 am

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There is to be a further strike by junior doctors in England next week. They will not work between 8 am and 5 pm on 26 and 27 April. In previous strikes, cover for emergencies was maintained; this time it is ‘all out’. (The strikes, and the challenges of the new contract, don’t apply in Wales, Scotland or N Ireland.) The strikes come as negotiations between junior doctors and the Department of Health have broken down. The negotiations were about …

Abandonment of policy and a growing ‘cult of managerialism’ in education…

Mick Fealty on April 12, 2016, 5:17 pm

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Interesting piece by Frank Furedi in the Times Educational Supplement this week. It’s a well-aimed dig at managerialisation within education. It highlights a broader degradation of policy-making in England, courtesy of several generations of activist politicians. Yet some knock-on effects are evident elsewhere too (not least in devolved regions where there’s a dearth of policy innovation so that London-originated fads can get consumed and replicated without a huge amount of added thought. The cult of the leader in school prevalent …

Rehabilitation revolution? The Tory mission to change the prison system

Barton Creeth on April 9, 2016, 1:27 pm

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Michael Gove promises “wholesale change” of the prison system. Is his reform agenda One Nation Conservatism in action or just more empty social-justice rhetoric from the Tory government? The prison service is in crisis and getting worse. As a report from Nick Hardwick, the former chief inspector of prisons, shows, more prisoners were murdered, committed suicide, self-harmed or assaulted in 2015 than in 2010. “It cannot go on like this,” he said. The report, published last July, quoted an …

Northern Ireland’s first fact-checking service launched: FactCheckNI

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on April 8, 2016, 6:26 pm

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FactCheckNI — Northern Ireland’s first ever fact-checking service — was officially launched at the Skainos Centre in Belfast. The project — funded by the Big Lottery Fund through Building Change Trust — aims to influence public policy in regards to the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector, keep politicians right in terms of both their promises and their rhetoric, and also influence the general public by providing access to unbiased facts. Paul Braithwaite explained: “At Building Change Trust, we …

St Patrick’s Day a time to reflect on an openness that, at its best, Englishness encourages

Soapbox on March 16, 2016, 2:14 pm

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For St Patrick’s Day Mark Perryman outlines the meaning of the forthcoming Easter Rising Centenary for models of Britishness. St Patrick’s Day across England has always been more of a party than our own St George’s Day. Down the local, one of the best night outs of the year, a non-stop evening drenched in all things Irish. A celebration of Ireland’s freedom, which can never be entirely separated from its place in English, and British, history either. But the framing …

John Bodkin Adams: An alleged serial killer from Randalstown suspected of killing over 160 people…

Robert Campbell on February 20, 2016, 7:00 am

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John Bodkin Adams was born in 1899 in Randalstown, educated at Coleraine Inst, and qualified in medicine from Queen’s Belfast. He worked as a GP in Eastbourne on the Sussex coast. He was tried for murder in the 1950s, but acquitted. Subsequently, there have been suggestions of political interference at the highest levels in his trial. He was described as the wealthiest GP in England. It is now believed that he could have murdered 160 of his patients. Wikipedia has …

Referendum & devolution: 3 different pictures

Paul Hagan on January 22, 2016, 12:39 am

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The elections this May are almost certain to see the return of familiar faces of both nationalism and unionism. Of course I’m referring to the elections to the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly, whose electorates will go to the polls on 5 May and then again most likely later in the year for the referendum on whether or not to remain in the EU. Whilst there is unlikely to be a change of government in either devolved body, the …

Is a reformed federal UK within a reformed, more federal European Union an answer to the constitutional itch??

Mick Fealty on January 18, 2016, 9:07 am

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CONSTITUTIONAL FRAMES: David Torrance argues that the ideal, perhaps quixotic, answer to the constitutional itch is a reformed federal UK within a reformed, more federal European Union? For only that would give adequate expression to Scottishness as well as Englishness, Welshness and, more awkwardly, Northern Irishness.

Andrew Lansley’s legacy of crisis in NHS nursing care, and nurse’s pay in NI…

Mick Fealty on January 8, 2016, 2:27 pm

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NURSING CRISIS: Is a 1% pay rise is too much? Are there better calls on that cash? We rely on the majority of registered nursing staff who work at the base of the pay scale to make the whole NHS thing work when resources are cut. We owe it to them and ourselves to admit there’s a much bigger problem at play.

Corbyn has a long way to go before he can spend any political capital on dealing with his NI rebels

Mick Fealty on December 11, 2015, 3:51 pm

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Interesting piece from Siobhan Fenton in the News Statesman looking at the decision of the local UK Labour Party in principle to stand for elections in Northern Ireland… Siobhan calls it a ‘crisis’ which it might be if anyone in the broader Labour party takes notice… The Northern Irish branch are currently inviting local people to come forward as potential candidates and describe themselves as “snowed under” with interest. Labour’s neglect of and disinterest in Northern Irish members for decades …

#MCFC look good to top out an extraordinary season so far in the English Premier League

James Darby on December 8, 2015, 1:59 pm

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BLUE MOON: In terms of talent Manchester City are the best team in England. Their lack of appetite and focus has been their Achilles heel in recent years. But they are the only team capable of going on a long winning run of up to 11 games. The team to beat and the team to bet on for the EPL title.

Labour Difficulty, Tory Opportunity?

Blagger on December 7, 2015, 9:43 pm

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Mick posted a great piece today that referred in detail to a column that the Guardian’s Zoe Williams wrote. Williams argues that Labour’s current travails will be good for the party in the long run as over time the party’s future direction will begin to formulate. It’s a similar argument put forward by Dan Hodges at the beginning of the summer. At that stage Hodges quoted a shadow cabinet minister who said that: “We need blood on the carpet. Then, …

“while it continues, everybody – from the left to the right – will be vulnerable and undefended”

Mick Fealty on December 7, 2015, 5:54 pm

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BREAKING LEFT: Zoe Williams argues that the novelty of current UK politics is not Corbyn , but the sheer fact of Labour’s divisions. It has become routine to suggest they should be attacking the Tory government. But she argues the Labour party will not be strong enough to attack anything until it finds a new identity.

Jeremy Corbyn can no longer “say the first thing that comes into his head”

Mick Fealty on November 25, 2015, 1:14 pm

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UNITE SLAP: Whatever is happening to Labour poll ratings in the country, he’s still pulling them in. Still, his rather unfocused leadership has brought this extraordinarily early rebuke from one of his biggest supporter/sponsors, Len McCluskey of the Unite Union…

It’s going to be a bad week for the Labour Party

Barton Creeth on November 23, 2015, 11:38 pm

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CUSHTY CORBYN: This week that will be the true test of Corbyn’s ability to fight off his opponents in the PLP. Anger and defiance on the right of the party is growing, but Corbyn remains the overwhelming first choice for the Labour grassroots, with 66% of members backing him.

Jeremy Corbyn and the obsession with the history of Marxist revolutions.

Mick Fealty on November 20, 2015, 8:58 pm

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Apparently there was a pitched battle for the Chair of the Portsmouth Constituency Labour Party last night… Deep deep joy! – third ballot a tie. Arguments over whether a second coin toss should take place. Demands for a city wide ballot… — Cllr John Ferrett (@John_Ferrett) November 19, 2015 A pitched battle between New Labour and New Old Labour by all reliable accounts. Probably de riguer in the party by now if Damian McBride’s analysis is anything to go by… …