GE2015 – Page 2 – Slugger O'Toole

Post-damage-limitation, challenge for DUP is not whether they choose to change, but how they choose to change

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 27, 2015, 10:23 am | Readers 2522

The boil has been lanced. To borrow from Oscar Wilde: “To become the news story once during an election campaign may be regarded as a misfortune; to do it twice in a week over the same issue looks like carelessness.” NI Executive ministers rarely resign. If it hadn’t been in the middle of an election campaign, I doubt that Jim Wells would have had to inform the First Minister of his intention to stand down from his post as Minister …

Mr Cameron, The Tories & ‘compassionate’ conservatism: compelled to justify neoliberal politics at #ge2015?

Chaminda Weerawardhana on April 22, 2015, 9:26 pm | Readers 914

As the 2015 British general election campaign gathers momentum, the prospect of a hung parliament looms large. Concerning Scotland, the 2014 Scottish Referendum may have produced a result that was to the satisfaction of supporters of the ‘no’ campaign, but the Scottish National Party’s subsequent rise as an extremely decisive contender in national-level politics could be described as the seminal consequence of #Indyref. Irrespective of the ultimate election result, the SNP, led by the articulate Nicola Sturgeon, is definitely set …

Slugger Verdict: Ranking the PEBs of #GE2015

David McCann on April 21, 2015, 10:18 pm | Readers 1801

Well, it’s back for the 2015 General Election, the party election broadcast awards. This seemed to go down well last year. So, in that spirit I thought I would bring together another panel of judges to rank each of the party election broadcasts. The other judges were MCE Public Relations Director, Chris Brown and the host of the Profit Margin, Jim Fitzpatrick. Each of us ranked the PEBs out of 10, we then combined the scores to get an overall …

How solid is the SNP polling rise and [what] does it mean for a future minority Labour government?

Mick Fealty on April 20, 2015, 7:41 am | Readers 1437

Polls are polls, ie just snapshots in time. If they indicate anything reliable it’s in the trends they show over time. So over time Ashcroft’s latest marginal in Jim Murphy’s East Renfrewshire indicates the Scottish Labour leader may be inching towards political destruction: Jim Murphy in trouble according to the latest Ashcroft poll. pic.twitter.com/Z0QxeNMME6 — Britain Elects (@britainelects) April 17, 2015 If we take the polling at face value then Labour appears to be facing its own 1997 in Scotland, with …

General Election dates and deadlines #ge2015

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 19, 2015, 10:51 am | Readers 635

If you’re not already on the Electoral Register, the deadline to register to vote in the UK Parliamentary General Election is Monday 20 April. The deadline for run-of-the-mill postal and proxy vote applications has already passed – 5pm on Thursday 16 April. However, it you will be unable to vote at your polling station on 7 May because of circumstances relating to your health and you could not have reasonably foreseen these circumstances before 5pm on 16 April you can …

Hustings on the future of the Arts in Northern Ireland. Does it have one?

Brendan Mulgrew on April 17, 2015, 4:43 pm | Readers 520

All 5 Executive parties were represented at the first MAC Question Time earlier this week which was focussed on the Arts. The #MACQT debate posed the question “Is there a future for the arts in Northern Ireland?” The event was opened by MAC Chief Executive Anne McReynolds who boldly challenged the assertion that all arts events must ‘wash their face’. “Do hospitals wash their face? Do roads wash their face?” The lively discussion was chaired by Wendy Austin and the …

That Newsnight debate: How was it for you?

Mick Fealty on April 17, 2015, 11:38 am | Readers 1880

I think the NI parties probably did best out of getting their own debate on network BBC last night. The contrast with the oddly lopsided UK wider debate was noticeable. That’s probably something to do with the coherent framing of the debate amongst known quantities and viewing them in the same frame the voters will see them in. Ed Miliband continues to benefit from the low expectations of the audience. But the real touch of genius last night was the …

Electoral Office rejects Commission’s direction against moving Moygashel voters 5 miles

Mick Fealty on April 16, 2015, 6:57 am | Readers 2081

So what’s the crack with the election in Northern Ireland? Well, as I mentioned in our first Slugger Daily Report on Periscope the real action is the ground war. With few seats expected to change hands every advantage is fiercely fought over. In what may turn out to be the only seriously competitive seat of the election in Fermanagh and South Tyrone the removal of a polling place from a state school to a local Catholic school and Dungannon Leisure Centre could affect the overall outcome. Why …

#EBDebate: The Robinson/Long debate (updated with video)

David McCann on April 15, 2015, 11:30 pm | Readers 1243

Slugger O’Toole (in partnership with Chambré Public Affairs and LucidTalk) hosted our first ever election debate at the Strand Art Centre last night between Gavin Robinson and Naomi Long. For some this debate was controversial as it was a head to head between the two main contenders. [Ed – though they are the only candidates from parties who didn’t lose their deposit in 2010 who are standing this year, if you factor in the polling from previous and subsequent elections …

#EBDebate Live Video Stream & Blog from 18.30 onwards

Mick Fealty on April 14, 2015, 6:22 pm | Readers 1039

There’s been much talk of our East Belfast debate tonight between the two frontrunner candidates (Naomi Long and Gavin Robinson) and why people cannot get tickets to go (they were all free for entry, but we needed to control the numbers so there’s no entry tonight without one). The answer is simply that we were sold out in the first four hours. So we’ll be trying our best to bring you the best tweets and comments on the night here …

Women of Northern Ireland- we need our own political party

Siobhan Fenton on April 11, 2015, 2:10 pm | Readers 2073

The so called ‘trickle down’ effect is one of the most hallowed ideas projected onto social justice issues. But it’s also one of the most flawed. Women in Northern Ireland have been told for years to bide our time and wait for gender equality to trickle down. Female representation at Stormont and Westminster has been dire for decades, but, so goes the myth, there’s nothing we can do about it except sit and wait for the tide to turn naturally. …

One all male constituency; 24.6% candidates are female; 2 unionist parties running all male candidates #GE2015 (updated)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 10, 2015, 12:00 am | Readers 3157

Following on from Belfast Barman’s earlier post, some statistics about the 138 candidates nominated for Northern Ireland’s 18 Westminster constituencies. One constituency has all male candidates: Belfast West. Only one constituency has more women than men standing: Fermanagh and South Tyrone. No party has more than 40% female candidates. Overall 24.6% of candidates are female; 75.4% are male. Of the parties running more than 5 candidates, 2 unionist parties have ended up not running any female candidates: DUP (16 male …

#GE2015 Complete NI Candidate List

Kris Nixon (Belfast Barman) on April 9, 2015, 9:20 pm | Readers 3937

A collated list for easy viewing and contacting. I have linked the candidates twitter accounts where I was able to find them. If a link is incorrect or broken, let me know. Also, if you know the twitter account of a candidate that I didn’t link to, apologies, it wasn’t easily found…get in touch and I’ll add it in. BELFAST EAST Ross Brown (Green Party) Naomi Long (Alliance) Mary Muldoon (SDLP)N Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) Gavin Robinson …

#GE2015 List of General Election 2015 hustings in Northern Ireland (updated)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 8, 2015, 10:00 pm | Readers 1722

We’ll keep this page up to date with details of hustings being held in the run up to May 2015’s General Election. Email editor at sluggerotoole dot com if you want yours added to the Slugger’s calendar. Topic-based 14 April at 6pm – MAC Question Time #MACQT – Is there a future for the Arts in Northern Ireland? (free tickets required) East Belfast 13 April at 7.30pm – Willowfield Parish Church facilitated by Evangelical Alliance and CARE 14 April at …

Maddest PEB Ever: Meet the Greens…

Mick Fealty on April 8, 2015, 2:48 pm | Readers 924

Just out this pm, ahem… 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

#GE2015: The UK electorate prepares to go seriously off script, again…

Mick Fealty on April 7, 2015, 9:59 am | Readers 1723

In the aftermath of the last Westminster election I was asked to London to speak on several wash up panels to examine the faultlines of an historic election. Labour’s long single party rule had come to an end, not with the crash some (in fact most) in London’s Tory press had hoped for but with the narrowest of victories. At the RSA’s PDF Replay event, I described the result as “a really intelligent outcome by what was possibly the UK’s first really intelligent electorate…” by which …

Why have NI’s political parties failed to answer policy questions for #VoteMatch?

Mick Fealty on April 6, 2015, 6:03 pm | Readers 1334

Ahem, so there’s an election on. And everywhere in the United Kingdom there is a choice based on policy. You can play VoteMatch, a project run by Unlock Democracy to help you decide. I tested it on the North Poole and Mid Dorset constituency, and there the running result is a lead for the Greens, with UKIP coming a close second in a place where the Lib Dems held the seat in 2010 and according to the Ashcroft polls the Tories …

Valleys of trouble – Labour’s difficulties in their Welsh heartland

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on April 3, 2015, 5:14 pm | Readers 3164

Last night’s leaders debate marked the introduction of Leanne Wood, and her party Plaid Cymru, to the British mainstream political audience. Plaid received 165,394 votes in the 2010 General Election, fewer than the DUP (168,216) and Sinn Féin (171,942). Leanne Wood unashamedly played to the audience at home throughout the debate, and it is very likely that her party will receive a boost in the Welsh opinion polls in the aftermath. But, from Labour’s perspective, there was another party leader …

ITV leaders’ debate was “UK Politics Unplugged” in cacophonous sound and vision…

Mick Fealty on April 3, 2015, 8:32 am | Readers 1162

So, some quick post election debate thoughts: The sentiment where I was watching was why can’t we have women politicians as articulate and as politically attractive as Leanne Wood and Nicola Sturgeon. Although it was pot luck the Plaid Cymru leader got to perform the takedown on Nigel Farage over foreign HIV patients getting NHS treatment, it was what people will remember her by. Much as the SNP and Plaid gained profile, it comes at the detriment of Carwin Jones …

So, what place a possible Brexit in Northern Ireland’s elections?

Mick Fealty on March 31, 2015, 4:06 pm | Readers 1493

There was a time when Europe had a popular political champion in Northern Ireland. John Hume made a successful pitch for one of Northern Ireland’s three European seats in the first directly elected European Parliament, based as much on his personal commitment to developing NI PLC as to any sectarian pitch to nationalist voters. Since then and the onset of our local political institutions, the economic role of the EU in the wellbeing of Northern Ireland has got little play from …