There’s talk of a triple-dip recession, unemployment is still scarily high, fiscal austerity is biting and we’re now talking about that again… Captions welcomed! Brian SpencerBrian is a writer, artist, political cartoonist and legal blogger. Actively tweeting from @brianjohnspencr. More information here: http://www.brianjohnspencer.com/ www.brianjohnspencer.com/
Just a bit of New Year harrumping. I see the Bel Tel couldn’t resist joining the tease that Martin McGuinness took on an “English aristocratic title” when he had to go through the traditional form of accepting an office of profit under the Crown in order to quit as an abstensionist MP. The BBC website even put up a headline with the “aristocratic “ tag which with a bit of searching you can still find. It’s all very well for the …
Wishing you all a happy, healthy and prosperous new year! Your captions are welcome. Brian SpencerBrian is a writer, artist, political cartoonist and legal blogger. Actively tweeting from @brianjohnspencr. More information here: http://www.brianjohnspencer.com/ www.brianjohnspencer.com/
Or as the BBC faithfully report Martin McGuinness has confirmed that he has formally resigned as the MP for Mid-Ulster. “I have served formal notice of my resignation from the position of MP for Mid-Ulster with immediate effect. This is in line with my party’s commitment to end double jobbing,” he said. [Just in time, eh? – Ed] Sadly, he’ll have to wait until he’s actually disqualified from holding his seat. Just like his party leader was… And as we …
Updated with a photo of the letter. Six a half months after announcing that he would resign as MP for Mid-Ulster to concentrate on being deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness today finally announced that he’d sent his letter to the Commons to kick of the process. Back in January 2011, Gerry Adams was disqualified as a Member of Parliament when the Chancellor of the Exchequer appointed him as “Steward and Bailiff of Her Majesty’s Manor of Northstead in the county …
Full acknowledgements to Francisco Goya. Brian SpencerBrian is a writer, artist, political cartoonist and legal blogger. Actively tweeting from @brianjohnspencr. More information here: http://www.brianjohnspencer.com/ www.brianjohnspencer.com/
Prime Minister David Cameron was in Northern Ireland today, as part of a UK-wide tour to promote the Olympics. But despite their recent complaints, neither the NI First and deputy First Ministers appear to have been able to schedule a meeting. According to Martina Purdy, The first and deputy first ministers were not on hand to meet the prime minister as both are on holiday. [Both!? At the same time? – Ed] Indeed. And, as I said in slightly different circumstances, that’s why you …
Disparate republican militant groups have announced a coming together under a single leadership that has breathed new life into the IRA, promising to bring murder, anarchy and terrorism back to Northern Ireland. Here’s my illustration. Brian SpencerBrian is a writer, artist, political cartoonist and legal blogger. Actively tweeting from @brianjohnspencr. More information here: http://www.brianjohnspencer.com/ www.brianjohnspencer.com/
Or haven’t even been brought to trial in the first place… As Fionola Meredith pointed out in yesterday’s Irish Times There is a lingering idea among Irish people that, because of our own past sufferings, we have a particularly sensitive moral antenna, highly attuned to instances of injustice and exploitation. That does not always bear out in reality. Perhaps we’re just more hypocritical: witness the Irish red carpet for red China, rolled out earlier this year. Tiananmen Square? Is that …
In the Irish Times, Patrick Smyth rains on “this national parade, The Handshake-fest”. Don’t get me wrong. This is not to say that The Handshake was not a “good thing”. It was. Belatedly, 14 years after the genuinely “historic” Belfast Agreement was signed, marking not only Sinn Féin’s renunciation of coercion as a means of uniting Ireland but also, crucially, a new set of relationships on and between these islands, the party takes another incremental step down that road. Masters …
After a heavy week in politics which saw Sinn Fein shifting its policies and increasing its ‘Brits in’ rhetoric (into a united Ireland that is), I thought I would produce a light hearted illustration to round it off. I’ve gone first in the caption competition with, ‘Brits in, hug a unionist’, losing out to, ‘hug a unionie’. Anyway I’m sure there’s a lot better out there and I look forward to seeing what comes up. Brian SpencerBrian is a writer, artist, political cartoonist and legal blogger. …
We are emerging from a conflict that resulted in lives being lost and families being devastated. I genuinely regret every single life that was lost during that conflict and today I want every family who lost a loved one to know that your pain is not being ignored and I am willing to work with others to finding a way to deal with our past so that we can complete our journey to true reconciliation. A quote from Martin McGuinness’ …
After much speculation Gerry Adams announced last Friday 22 June (the day after World Hand Shake Day) that Sinn Fein had decided to give the green light to the deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, to meet the Queen, provoking much excitement and debate amongst journalists, politicos, unionists and nationalists and prompting in particular some real cutting sentiment from the republican old guard. Here’s my cartoon capturing the events, your comments are to be welcomed! Brian SpencerBrian is a writer, artist, political …
Tonight the Telegraph have a typically sage and balanced op ed from Paul Bew on what meeting the Queen means in real political terms… …what is next for Sinn Fein, given that the most recent poll in Northern Ireland shows support for a united Ireland at a new low of 7 per cent? It is now clear that Sir Patrick Mayhew’s prediction in the early Nineties that Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom would come to a crucial test before …
JAMES Connolly is an undoubted hero of Martin McGuinness’ – the deputy First Minister even invoked him in a speech as as recently as last month. But I wonder if this icon of republicanism’s ‘patriot dead’ would have approved of McGuinness meeting the Queen? Here’s some of Connolly’s thoughts on a previous royal visitor to Ireland, King George V in 1911. Different rules for a different era? Knowing from previous experience of Royal Visits, as well as from the Coronation …
There’s been a bit of a political kerfuffle in Wales over the forthcoming ‘historic’ meeting between the Northern Ireland deputy First Minister, Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness, and the Queen as she tours the UK to mark her Diamond Jubilee. [Mark Devenport is on tour?! – Ed] No, he’s not the Queen. As the BBC reports A Plaid Cymru Assembly Member is taking a break from Twitter after describing Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness as “naive” for agreeing to meet the Queen. Apparently, …
Where Mick treads softly [always stepping on someone’s dreams! – Ed], Alex Kane rips the PR plaster off. [Mixed metaphors much? – Ed] ANYhoo… from the News Letter article Let’s be blunt about this: Martin McGuinness didn’t join the IRA and become the de facto commander-in-chief of the army council just to end up at a function in which he will be ‘presented’ to Her Majesty during a tour of her United Kingdom! But the meeting between McGuinness and the Queen …
Given the nature of all the agreements made since 1998, the meeting of deputy First Minister and the head of state of United Kingdom (you know the old lady Gerry calls the Queen of England) on Wednesday is probably a good thing. You also have to admit that the headlines it evinced in the main flagship new organisations of two countries was impressive too. Radio Four’s Six O’Clock News gave it almost five minutes as the top headline. RTE’s Six …
Useful conversation on UTV last night between Brian Feeney and Alex Kane on ‘the deal’ that apparently is ongoing regarding Martin McGuinness’s ‘price’ for shaking hands with the Queen: It’s all about choreography. In particular Feeney says its about photographs [What, again? – Ed]. Photographs of Martin stuck with the UK’s head of state and a sea of Union flags at his back. And over at the Beeb, Mark Devenport notes McGuinness’s line was that it was a huge ask …
At lunchtime, Sinn Fein announced their timetable to end double jobbing at Westminster and the Assembly. The BBC explain: The Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness is to resign as MP for Mid Ulster to concentrate on his job at Stormont. Sinn Fein’s four other MPs are to resign from their assembly seats as the party seeks to end ‘double-jobbing’. Party president Gerry Adams said this would avoid triggering a string of Westminster by-elections. So a Mid Ulster by-election expected in …
