EU – Page 55 – Slugger O'Toole

After the election… Alliance…

Mick Fealty on May 28, 2014, 6:21 pm

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Forty plus years in the political middle have made the Alliance party one of the most agile (which often irritates their opponents) of Northern Ireland’s political parties. Overall not a huge amount has changed for them, although there’s something of a problem in East Belfast where the flag issue has alienated a lot of working class loyalists it previously had the support of. One failure to elect was Duncan Morrow in the Botanic DEA of Belfast. But appears to have been more …

After the election… Fine Gael…

Mick Fealty on May 28, 2014, 12:57 pm

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So, Fine Gael. Not a great election. Probably slightly less damaging for them since the poor old Labour Party mudguard is catching most of the attention of the press in the immediate aftermath. But they know better from their own sweeping of FF council trenches in 2009 that a lot of the damage they shipped at the weekend is already irreversible. Even in the European elections, the core figures for both party’s actual vote are scary: Fine Gael 369,120 1st preferences …

Calling for your perspectives on the #EP14 and #LE14 Elections…

Mick Fealty on May 27, 2014, 11:04 am

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I confess, I love elections. I don’t particularly like how party activists on Slugger slightly lose the run of themselves in the run, but it is an urgent life and death struggle. And at the end of the day in some of them, the earth just seems to move a little. This was case in 2003 and 2005. This is probably the first time since then we’ve seen some genuinely interesting shifts. Personally, I am going to wade patiently through each …

#EP2014 results so far

Nicholas Whyte on May 27, 2014, 7:35 am

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It seemed to take a very long time to get the first results through for the European election yesterday at the King’s Hall. Having originally arranged to help out with the BBC’s coverage from 2.15 to 4.15 pm, I was still there at 6.30 when the first preference votes were announced, and hung around for another hour or so until the second count came through. I did check with Brussels friends who thought that Estonia might be the only other …

Despite the UK results more populism may not be the best answer to populism.

Mick Fealty on May 26, 2014, 11:40 am

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Briefly (since the long post I just spent a couple of hours writing just went phut), Britain… – Big win for UKIP (is this sounding familiar?), the “let’s have a beer and a laugh” party… Big everywhere (even in Scotland where the SNP’s sustained attack only seems to have increased their populist appeal). Two notable exceptions were London, where a large immigrant population and sheer busyness seems to have dampened their appeal and the South West where they were blocked by Labour and the …

“populists are converging on Brussels – drunk on local hooch and chanting nationalist slogans”

Mick Fealty on May 26, 2014, 8:49 am

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And Boris Johnson, himself a decent performer in the old populist stakes is well worth quoting… There is a kind of peasants’ revolt going on, a jacquerie. From Dublin to Lublin, from Portugal to Pomerania, the pitchfork-wielding populists are converging on the Breydel building in Brussels – drunk on local hooch and chanting nationalist slogans and preparing to give the federalist machinery a good old kicking with their authentically folkloric clogs. There are Greek anti-capitalists and Hungarian neo-fascists and polite …

Unelected EU Commissioner says 75% of our laws are made in Brussels

Kilsally on May 21, 2014, 9:24 pm

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Further to my piece about the European Free Alliance (SNP / Plaid) claiming 70% of our daily lives are governed by rules from the EU a video on Vimeo has European Commission Vice-President Viviane Reding claiming 75% of laws originate from the EU. Elected MEPs cannot initiate legislation, propose legislation or even repeal legislation. All that is done by the unelected EU Commission. — Roger Da Costa (@rog_ukip) May 21, 2014 The choice is clear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAtAligq_Vc KilsallyIT Technical Manager …

BBC Spotlight European Debate #SpotlightNI

David McCann on May 20, 2014, 11:40 pm

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So, tonight I wandered over to the BBC to watch the last European candidates’ debate. What became apparent within the first ten minutes is how much political coverage in Northern Ireland misses Noel Thompson-an effective chairman with a dry wit and real knowledge of the issues. On to the debate itself-the format was excellent with fewer candidates being given longer to debate. It was really was a night and day experience from UTV last night as Thompson was able to …

“The Swiss have wanted a passport for their banks for years and the EU has denied it…”

Mick Fealty on May 20, 2014, 5:01 pm

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The whole of this discussion and the infill linking pieces are well worth watching if you can get it from last night’s Newsnight… Hugo is not so strong on the political deficit question, but he is very strong on the economic consequences of a UK exit from the European Union… 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 …

“this month you will see a kind of victory for the Eurosceptics…”

Pete Baker on May 19, 2014, 4:58 pm

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Ahead of the EU-wide parliamentary elections, a much needed overview from BBC Europe editor Gavin Hewitt of the state of the European Project and its extant political trilemma. From Gavin Hewitt’s article Unless the polls are very wrong, sometime next weekend Europe will learn that at least a quarter of the seats in the next European Parliament will have gone to anti-establishment and Eurosceptic parties. The figure could even be closer to 30%. In many places the election has become …

Derek Mooney-Fianna Fáil and the long road to recovery.

Soapbox on May 19, 2014, 12:30 pm

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Continuing on our series of articles of elections in the South, former Fianna Fail advisor Derek Mooney writes about the current campaign, Fianna Fail’s recovery and what it has to do next. While there are worse jobs in the world: the worst job in politics is certainly leader of the opposition. If he didn’t already know this, it is certain that Fianna Fáil’s leader Micheal Martin will know this in just over a week. The 2014 European and Local Election …

Euro TV Debates: What each candidate needs to do #EP14

David McCann on May 19, 2014, 7:10 am

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This evening and Tuesday night will be the last real opportunity for the European candidates to address voters and make their case for election to the European parliament. The debates are scheduled to take place on Monday 10:35pm, UTV with all ten candidates, followed by another on Tuesday evening on BBC One also at 10:35pm. I am not sure whether all the candidates have been invited to the Spotlight debate or whether it is just the five main parties. I …

#EP14: What if European elections were determined by your political, economic and social values?

nmatthews on May 16, 2014, 9:39 am

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In just under a week the polls will open for elections to the European Parliament. In order to help citizens in Northern Ireland answer the question – who should I vote for? – researchers at Queen’s University Belfast have developed a Voting Advice Application. The aim of this user-friendly ‘app’ is to help Northern Ireland’s voters identify which political party most closely represents their political, economic and social values using a series of scenarios and policy orientated questions. The utility …

Open Government Partnership: How to start the ball rolling…

Mick Fealty on May 15, 2014, 8:39 am

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After Tuesday’s #DigitalLunch on Open Government Partnership and ahead of Friday’s event in Belfast, for those of you thinking of how you might roll up your sleeves and get involved in making government smarter and more open, here’s your Survival Guide to OGP in Six Memos: Paul Braithwaite sets the scene on where we are… Fred Logue on what OGP is and what it isn’t… Davy Sims on the critical importance of participation… John Kellden on collaborative sense-making… Matilda Murday on how to do it… If you are keen …

Eurovision 2014: “I felt like tonight Europe showed that we are a community of respect and tolerance…”

Pete Baker on May 12, 2014, 6:46 pm

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Well, perhaps… A bearded Austrian man in a dress, Conchita Wurst, won the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen on Saturday night with “Rise Like a Phoenix” – the title quote was his line from the winner’s press conference. The 25-year-old singer also told reporters in Vienna On the theme of tolerance, Wurst told reporters in the Austrian capital: “This will remain an issue for a long time and I fear I won’t see the end of it in my lifetime. It …

70% of laws made by EU claims European Free Alliance (SNP & Plaid)

Kilsally on May 10, 2014, 7:11 pm

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In the first Nigel Farage vs Nick Clegg debates the Deputy Prime Minister claimed only 7% of our laws were made in the EU. In the second debate Farage countered this and Clegg changed his assertion was about ‘Primary laws’. However in 2003 Nick Clegg said “Probably half of all new legislation now enacted in the UK begins in Brussels.” Now the European Free Alliance which includes the SNP & Plaid Cymru have released a video for the 2014 elections …

Pink is the colour, not orange or green

Brian Walker on May 10, 2014, 11:28 am

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I plead guilty. The question buried somewhere in earlier comments strikes home: “Why do you keep banging on about Gerry Adams so much when the Giro is on? “ Now I could give an apples and pears answer, the two being in different categories. But the question is better than the reply.In the week of the Adams interrogation the Editor the Belfast Telegraph was moved to display his cool in …

Opinion: Time for UK wide Unionism

Kilsally on May 9, 2014, 9:36 am

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Elections are coming and two recent polls have Sinn Fein inline to win 3 European seats in the Republic and 1 in Northern Ireland. I highly doubt the recent debacle & arrest of Gerry Adams over the abduction, torture and murder of Jean McConville will seriously affect Sinn Fein`s electoral prospects. Where then does this leave Unionists? We can count on Sinn Fein press releases talking about being the only party with MEP`s across the whole of Ireland, the only party advancing an …

“open source is where I think the future is headed in local government…”

Mick Fealty on May 7, 2014, 2:08 pm

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So, I’m in Dublin tomorrow for the OGP Europe Regional conference in Dublin in advance of next week’s Digital Lunch asking if Northern Ireland is ready for an open government partnership? If you are interesting in the subject, do keep an eye on Twitter throughout the day, and I’ll update with a blog report on Friday morning before I leave again. Thinking in practical terms regarding Northern Ireland it strikes me that one area which could be wide open for new and innovative engagement …

‘The Living Spirit of Revolt: the Infrapolitics of Anarchism’: Book Review

John L. Murphy on May 4, 2014, 5:42 am

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How can anarchism get beyond marginalized impacts, finicky theorists, and squabbling activists? A Slovenian political scientist, Žiga Vodovnik, offers suggestions forward. This concise survey occupies a space, if pre-Occupy (despite a 2013 copyright for the English translation this offers no updates but the late Howard Zinn, who died in 2010, provides an encouraging introduction), where an overview of anarchism’s philosophies and history segues into a connection to not only Continental and British thinkers, but its overlooked, attenuated American Transcendental roots. …