Government – Page 5 – Slugger O'Toole

The Governor of the Bank of England and Tory back benchers join Boris Johnson to reject the A-word – Austerity

Brian Walker on May 14, 2020, 10:49 am

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Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England Because of Covid 19,“ the UK is facing a mega recession” warns the Institute of Fiscal Studies. It’s hardly a surprise to learn more every day about the dire state of yet another part of the economy. GDP is forecast to slump by 25-30 per cent this quarter, and millions of jobs could be destroyed – with no guarantees about the recovery. Official figures yesterday showed a 5.8 per cent fall in …

There is more than one vision of a new Ireland

Brian Walker on May 12, 2020, 12:31 pm

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I’ve yet to read Paul Gosling’s book with the vaultingly ambitious yet carefully ambiguous title “A New Ireland: a new Union, a New Society.” Judging from the discussion and its antecedents from the Holywell Trust, it makes an important contribution to enriching the debate on the future of the island. But the logic of ideas seldom reproduces easily in politics. Political will is something else entirely. Broadly there are two contrasting approaches to the future: to follow the logic of …

Another case of perverse British exceptionalism rumbled late?

Brian Walker on May 8, 2020, 2:22 pm

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Peter Donaghy vindicated! An FT exclusive picked up by the Guardian.. The government has left open the prospect of ditching its own contact-tracing app in favour of the “decentralised” model favoured by Apple and Google after it was revealed that a feasibility study into such a change is under way. After repeated warnings that the UK will be an outlier if it insists on using its own centralised app rather than relying on Google and Apple’s technology, rights groups and MPs said …

The stand off over the Ireland/NI protocol is a model of cooperation compared to Covid planning

Brian Walker on May 7, 2020, 11:35 am

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A few days ago, naively perhaps, I wondered why north and south weren’t cooperating actively over Covid 19, especially when a memo of understanding had been signed between the two public health authorities at the end of March . After all ” North –South” is one of those pillars of the GFA that are almost a religion albeit a neglected one. Surely Covid created ideal circumstances for holding a big revival. Across the water, one of the pieties of the …

What’s in an app?

Brian Walker on May 4, 2020, 4:48 pm

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In relation to the cross-border use of the app, Mr Harris said inter-operability between EU member states and use of the app across the Border “presents specific challenges which have yet to be addressed”. “The specific challenge of North-South travel in Ireland and across the Irish Sea has been highlighted in EU meetings convened to discuss eHealth and the app.” There in a nutshell is a problem of the moment. How big a problem for the island is the choice …

Pressure for a Troubles amnesty continues to mount.

Brian Walker on May 2, 2020, 11:28 am

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Denis Bradley, the co-author of the original report on Dealing with the Past thirteen years ago which has never been improved on, has come up with an extraordinary argument for what reads like one step away from an amnesty for the Troubles. In this he joins the local academics who for years had been arguing that assessment of the evidence against both the security forces and paramilitaries should be independent from the usual institutions of the state if it was …

Boris Johnson’s perversity on the Brexit cliff edge reminds me of the Free State’s rejection of all things British

Brian Walker on April 30, 2020, 9:05 pm

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Warrenpoint Harbour The UK’s stubbornly negative approach to future relations within the EU reminds me of the newborn Free State’s attitude to Britain after the trauma of independence. They can’t wait to be rid of even the symbols as well as the substance of the former power even to the extent of trying to deny the facts of mutual interdependence particularly over the economy. Granted there are vital differences. No blood has been spilled over Brexit and… I was going …

Emma De Souza: a solution?

Sarah Creighton on April 29, 2020, 9:54 am

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As we drift through another week in lockdown, it’s hard to believe that there’s anything else to discuss apart from Coronavirus. Thankfully, Northern Ireland’s unique brand of identity politics stops for no pandemic. Cast your mind back to last year and the case of Emma De Souza. I wrote about it here. Mrs De Souza’s case concerns Article 1(vi) of the British-Irish Agreement. That section states that the two governments recognise the right of: ‘…..the people of Northern Ireland to …

Good time to bring merit in government back into electoral politics?

Ian Clarke on April 27, 2020, 1:02 pm

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As we watch how our various ministers deal with the first genuine crisis of their careers, it seems like a good time to see if the management and emergence from Covid-19 gives us any ideas on how we can improve our overall governance in Northern Ireland. Paul Gosling uploaded an interesting article earlier this week in which he raised certain ways in which our system of devolved government could be reformed in the general interest. Paul’s focus was largely on …

Update on abortion. Stormont and the medical establishment will obey the law

Brian Walker on April 9, 2020, 9:29 pm

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According to BBC NI, Stormont has today complied with UK law. Women will not have to travel by ferry to GB for the procedure after all. Medical professionals in NI can now “terminate pregnancies lawfully”, the Department of Health has said. Last month, abortion laws changed to permit terminations up to 12 weeks, but this had not been put into practice. Some of NI’s health trusts had been told by the department not to proceed with temporary plans. The department has now said …

Breakthrough news on the Troubles legacy. Legal critics of the UK government recommend a case by case amnesty

Brian Walker on April 9, 2020, 9:06 pm

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Prof Kieran McEvoy A get out of jail card has been produced by a group of academic lawyers who have spent years wrestling with the intractable problems of the Troubles legacy. The card would not only work for former soldiers facing charges, but also for the British government which is likely to face years in court if it tries to discriminate in their favour. Three weeks ago the government suddenly abandoned the long discussed and much consulted on plans originally …

Is the coronavirus emergency an excuse not to implement the new abortion regulations?

Brian Walker on April 8, 2020, 10:23 pm

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Are Northern Ireland civil servants and health trusts stalling on implementing abortion regulations passed by Westminster during Stormont’s suspension because of DUP pressure? Perhaps not, they have a lot else on their plate; but it doesn’t look good. How will GP surgeries react? Will there be a significant number of conscientious objectors to abortion referrals and prescribing morning after pills? The Executive – wouldn’t you know it – is split. Arlene Foster has made no secret of her opposition but …

By all means, hold the UK government’s feet to the fire. But collaboration with the Republic is no magic bullet.

Brian Walker on April 3, 2020, 12:56 pm

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We can hardly be surprised when the fault lines opened during this emergency. As a society still in recovery from a different sort of crisis, let’s admit we all – all – need help to avoid reverting to the old sectarian ding dong. Social media is a virus in itself and social distancing is its incubator. The first thing to hold onto is that we really are all in this together. The second is that things can only get worse …

How are we really doing compared to the south and GB? The public health and economic positions of coronavirus for Northern Ireland need more searching inquiry

Brian Walker on March 31, 2020, 2:14 pm

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North -south differences of approach to Covid 19 are hampering the chances of saving lives, according to an epidemiologist Prof Gabriel Scally. He brings apparent authority to differences which have been aired politically but not as far as I’ve seen among other experts. These differences should surely be resolved at a north-south ministerial meeting today. Scally writes in the Irish News.. The advice to someone in Lifford with symptoms of the disease is to self-isolate for a minimum of 14 …

Varadkar is having a good crisis. This it seems, is not the time to object.

Brian Walker on March 29, 2020, 11:57 am

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The Republic are doing things a little differently: joining an EU initiative to procure much needed ventilators, sending an Aer Lingus plane to China for hospital workers’ PPE; the Gardai Commissioner calling for people in the streets to produce IDs, off licences to stay open in contrast with GB. The North at first followed the GB rules but has now fallen into line with the south. The consequences if the northern ban remained in force if a hard Prohibition border …

From abortion to coronavirus, Westminster rule is still decisive – if they choose to exercise it

Brian Walker on March 26, 2020, 2:58 pm

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The situation is replete with irony. In the absence of the Assembly a formerly inert Westminster sprung into life to enact three controversial reforms; on same sex marriage, victims’ pensions (pending) and most controversially of all, abortion. Sinn Fein which only acknowledges any legal British authority over Northern Ireland with the greatest reluctance warmly welcomed Westminster’s imposition of the most radical shift possible from the most restrictive to the most sweeping abortion regulations in these islands; while the defenders of …

Major battle likely over the UK government’s latest Legacy plans.

Brian Walker on March 24, 2020, 5:02 pm

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For those of us who don’t provide an essential service there will be time and energy to spare for the matters I’ve already drawn attention to, such as the government’s latest Legacy proposals produced last week. They abruptly overturned everything that has gone before, reached after years of tortuous gestation and months of consultation, concluding in July last year. They were contained in a brief statement above the name of the new Secretary of State Brandon Lewis: Reconciliation and information …

What’s in the Coronavirus Bill?

Sarah Creighton on March 23, 2020, 9:13 am

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This week the government intends to push its Coronavirus Bill through Parliament. In its “summary of impacts” document, the government states that the bill is “temporary, emergency legislation” which intends to “provide powers needed to respond to the current coronavirus epidemic.” MPs will be expected to grapple with the 300-page bill over the course of a few days. It will, for as long as it is in operation, fundamentally change our way of life. The legislation represents the biggest diminution …

Is there a spirit of the Troubles that could help see us through Covid 19?

Brian Walker on March 20, 2020, 2:09 pm

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Some people have been invoking “the Blitz spirit” to cope with the “war” against coronavirus. Is there a Troubles spirit that might help too? Perhaps. In the early 70s the threat of the no warning bomb was the terrifying norm. People skirted around incidents and shopkeepers called in council workers and the glaziers, (a highly profitable trade), to clear up the mess. It helped that a chief constable’s certificate rather than insurance became the norm for claiming compensation. Once town …

There’s more to it than polling. Ireland needs more than one choice of political future.

Brian Walker on March 9, 2020, 6:57 pm

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Although Irish unity has been a common obsession for more a century we can only marvel at how little it has been considered as a realistic proposition. In the Republic Sinn Fein’s surge at the general election has promoted it to a higher but still uncertain place in an agenda preoccupied with economic reform. In the GFA, the issue was from the start insulated from what really mattered at the time, the winning of the peace and the effective operation …