on February 23, 2016, 10:44 am82 Comments | Readers 2768 
Johnny McCarthy – at one stage NI21’s only councillor and the party’s deputy leader before he resigned from the party in late 2015 – has joined the SDLP.
on April 1, 2015, 11:37 pm2 Comments | Readers 1863 
Something wasn’t quite right when I sat down in the council chamber in Lagan Valley Island Centre this morning. In fact, plural: somethings plural weren’t right. The first change was that the laminated cards saying no mobile phones or electronic equipment were no longer sitting on top of every chair in the public gallery. It was okay to take photographs before the council session began but strictly no photos, videos or audio recording once the council was in session. But …
on March 31, 2015, 7:31 pm14 Comments | Readers 1260
The eleven new councils move from shadow status to the real thing on 1 April. The long-debated Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 2014 sets up the framework on which the new councils work. A new era of openness and transparency has been promised … well, a new era that is more open and more transparent has been promised, although it would be difficult to characterise the new councils as being councils designed for modernity In this post I’m using Belfast …