FRESH START: An actual fresh start requires ‘unreasonable generosity’ to create the sort of cooperative action needed to get anything done in Northern Ireland. Without it the drift from the ballot box will continue apace. Ms Foster will be judged on actions. Her own. And that of her political opponents cum partners.
I began thinking about this blog a few weeks ago just when the UUP first left Stormont but never go round to finishing it. As time has gone on though its accuracy seems to be to be increasing especially in view of Nesbitt’s speech which Alan has covered below. Five years ago I did a blog about the UUP and the Battle of the Nile. In brief at the Battle of the Nile Admiral Nelson divided his forces and attacked …
So where does this all leave Unionism? Well, plainly not everyone is in the same place Gregory Campbell was last night. The brutal truth of all of this is that the DUP did not want to leave office over this, or almost anything else. In the blame game it is always unionism’s fault, so staying in situ was always Peter Robinson’s plan of action. Then along came Mike Nesbitt, who, no doubt having seen the term “Head of IRA Intelligence” …
Those who heard this morning’s #SluggerReport will have noted the major item was Nigel Dodds’ extraordinarily adept intervention in the Westminster debate this morning in the Guardian. It surely cannot be a coincidence that Jim Wells’ has been dispatched so quickly (hint: it was nothing to do with our toothless Ministerial code) in order to clear the air and political space for this… Listening to Nicola Sturgeon’s progressive pan-British rhetoric, you could have thought you were listening to one of …
Our support for the DUP in East Belfast should ensure an additional pro-Union MP for the City of Belfast in the next mandate. – Mike Nesbitt I am calling on all unionists to unite behind these agreed candidates and maximise the pro-union voice in the House of Commons. – Peter Robinson What’s the point of the latest electoral pact between the DUP and UUP? If the two party leaders are to be taken at their word then it is to …
As we approach the end of February 2015, the window for electoral pacts is all but shut, with candidates having precious little time to build profile let alone momentum in a campaign. To this end I’ve decided to look at the potential future for the two main Unionist Parties over the next 15 months, leading into the Assembly Elections of May 2016 and after. May 2015 – All eyes are on South Antrim and Upper Bann. Nesbitt needs a win …
Slugger O’Toole is undoubtedly the most successful blog site and the ultimate soapbox for debate in Northern Ireland at the moment: a Speaker’s Corner in downtown Cyberville for New-Age ranters. Not too sure if Slugger would let the likes of me have a blog on this site or not? If I could get on there I would have to be very careful what I said as Slugger’s followers love to challenge and even ridicule: especially anything that might be from a …
I was talking to a friend the other day about the latest online craze Candy Crush. His advice was pretty direct: never get involved with any game in which there is no finite end. The trick to Candy Crush, apparently, is that it lures you in at the low skill/easy entry end with a series of compelling short term tactical plays. At the same time the developers keep adding more and more layers at the farther, inaccessible side. This means that no matter how …
Mike Nesbitt somewhat overshadowed the UUP Party Conference with his call for a UUP-DUP Pact. At the DUP Party Conference Alderman Gavin Robinson was unveiled as their candidate for East Belfast in the General Election. And Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness attempted to derail the SDLP Party Conference with his call for a ‘pro-agreement’ pact with the SDLP which was rejected. Everyone has their own opinion on the use of political pacts, and within internal political party discourse there is inevitably debate, …
Belfast Barman’s tongue-in-cheek look at what a United Ireland might look like got me thinking. Humourous as it was it perhaps wasn’t far from the truth on some counts, but of course nobody really knows what a United Ireland would look like. Plenty of people have their own visions, but Sinn Fein and the SDLP do not (quite understandably) offer voters a blueprint for what an all-island state would look like. There is no need of course. Their voters want …
In my experience Unionists tend to be the quiet men and women of the internet. Those unwise enough to put their heads above the parapet tend to be, erm, let’s just say, those of more incautious personality type. In that silence lots of non unionists end up speaking on their behalf. So, I come to a question. And it’s a fairly open one, but I’m going to put a rigid caveat on who can answer it. That is, no non …
There’s a very good interview with Anthony McIntyre on Vice, not least because it provides rather more light than we normally get on the Boston College project. But one aspect relates to Anthony’s characteristic pessimism when it comes to the future of Irish Republicanism: To me, republicanism is over, but can I see a future for republicans if they behave in a rational manner and pursue justice and politics. Unfortunately, there are still people who think that political violence is …
I’m not sure there is much that anyone else (in any other political party I mean) can learn from Sinn Fein. Their sheer corporate autocracy is something even a party with the DUP’s history of demagogic leadership cannot match (and, as Chris Dillow notes, history really does matter) can match. But Alex Kane has a point in one particular regard with respect to unionism’s abysmally poor pitching of its own project… There is a pro-Union majority in Northern Ireland – a …
So for those of you itching for a blog which takes Peter Robinson to task for poor leadership, here’s Warren Little with a usefully proportionate analysis of a missed opportunity: So here we have a golden, gilt-edged, how-could-it-possibly-go-wrong opportunity for the unionist leadership to step beyond the traditional tribal boundary. God knows they don’t get many, because most other calls for them to ‘reach out’ present genuine ideological barriers: Unionists can’t support an Irish tricolour at the City Hall because …
Good piece from Tom Kelly in the Irish News this morning, which subtly identifies the problem with the exaggerated claims of recent stories in the media. At a time when voter registration is falling right across the board, it’s an impoverished narrative to be offering voters who are already switching off from Stormont in droves. He tops out his analysis with a reference to the enormously useful pre publicity Gerry Kelly’s been getting on the 1983 break out from the Maze …
It’s worth noting Vernon Coaker’s intervention, which is a reminder to both sets of ‘leaders’ in Northern Ireland of the basis of the Belfast Agreement back in 1998: “I can’t help but think that to overcome the setbacks, we almost need to establish first principles again, the sort that were enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement. “Nationalists and republicans need to show that they accept Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom while the majority of people who live …
Interesting observations by Alex Kane on the internal life of Unionism… …the Orange Order’s decision to support Gibson’s participation is a very clear signal of their recognition that it’s still the DUP, rather than the smaller unionist parties, which has the muscle to get things done. The PUP also has some big choices to make in the next few months. The announcement that they will be contesting the 2014 Euro elections (first time since 1999, when David Ervine got 3.3 …
From our good friend and diligent commenter, Am Gobsmacht… Choosing ramdonly, here’s number four on the list, living in denial… Everyone knows that Northern Ireland needs the Catholic vote to survive. But the people who can make a difference such as the Loyalist bands, the Orange Order and indeed the IFA (see above) do nothing about it. Feel free to make a suggestion but be prepared to be told why they can’t (won’t) do anything till Sinn Fein do something. …
How long ago was Peter Robinson’s speech of hope? I want us to use our powers of persuasion here at home, where it matters, to expound the benefits of belonging to the Union. That means challenging ourselves as well as challenging others and it means building a society where everyone feels equally valued. In promoting the benefits of the United Kingdom, unionists have a product that none of our political opponents can match. Saturday, 24 November 2012. A lot of …
Okay, Nuala McKeever’s piece for the Belfast Telegraph put me in mind of the paper we pulled together and published ten years this May on, as it happens, the future of unionism: This is not about making unionism more yielding. A ‘long peace’ will not be an easy peace and unionists will often need to be tough in their projection of power. But ‘no’ should never be their final answer. Defensiveness is far too predictable a strategy. A genuinely disruptive …
