Parties – Page 41 – Slugger O'Toole

Kearney of Sinn Fein’s “reconcilation” pitch deserves a considered response

Brian Walker on October 25, 2012, 1:28 am

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The pitch made within the precincts of Westminster last night by Declan Kearney the up and coming Sinn Fein chairperson, for “national reconciliation within Ireland through uncomfortable conversations” was more than the usual rally cry for exiles and republican sympathisers. It was a pull-together of the Sinn Fein package for the future, carefully and not unattractively wrapped. Cynics will dismiss it as a cracked record and it can be pulled apart (and no doubt duly will be). But cumulatively and …

“The peace process was always intended to be about more than an absence of violence…”

Pete Baker on October 22, 2012, 2:16 pm

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Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin’s criticism of the Irish Government’s ‘complacency’ over Northern Ireland echoes that of the Labour Party’s Vernon Coaker in regard to the UK Government. And that was more a disagreement on strategy, rather than a difference of opinion on the problems with the NI administration – as outlined in July by former NI Secretary of State, Owen Paterson. All of which somewhat undermines Louth TD Gerry Adams’ attempted defence of the northern wing of his party. ANYhoo… the Irish …

Court lifts reporting restrictions on identities of Provisional IRA accused

Pete Baker on October 11, 2012, 9:12 pm

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The BBC reports that, following a legal challenge by the corporation, district judge Fiona Bagnall has lifted court orders prohibiting the media from reporting either the identities or addresses of five defendants who are accused of Provisional IRA activity in 1999 and 2000. As previously noted All five are charged with belonging to a proscribed organisation on dates stretching back to 1999. Four of them are accused of arranging, addressing or assisting in the management of a PIRA meeting on named dates …

Bursting Boris’s bubble

Brian Walker on October 10, 2012, 8:50 am

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I’m not normally a great one for polemic – there’s more than enough of it already. But I can’t resist posting Max Hastings’ verdict on Boris, which my own experience echoes tamely. I have known the mayor for more than 20 years. He worked for me as EU correspondent of the Daily Telegraph and then as a columnist when I was the paper’s editor, and I have seen plenty of him since. He is a magnificent journalist and showman. He …

Radical Assembly reform. Going through the motions?

Brian Walker on October 9, 2012, 3:46 pm

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“The costs of division remain far too high”. Not a bad reason for wanting a shared society but not the best either. The new Secretary of State Theresa Villiers’ speech to the Conservative party conference was squeezed into a slot along with the other territorial cabinet ministers. Corporation tax had not actually been removed from the agenda and oh yes, there was Assembly reform. Good cause but is anybody actually interested? As politics in Northern Ireland move forward, it’s only …

UUP: A party with less and less visible means of political support…

Mick Fealty on October 2, 2012, 11:22 am

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Fairly brutal says Basil McCrea. But John McCallister is gone as Deputy leader of the UUP. Why? For making this speech to the Young Unionists on the future of Unionism at the weekend. Nesbitt loyalists grumble that McCallister (Nesbitt’s defeated rival in the recent leadership election) was doing little more than laying out his alternative vision for the party. Odd when you think he’s supposed to be Deputy leader. Picking a fight over Nesbitt’s call for Unionist unity was presumably …

“It’s a manifestation of social control by people who were able to act with tacit impunity…”

Pete Baker on September 29, 2012, 3:52 pm

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In the Christian Science Monitor, Jason Walsh has a clearer view than most of what is “deliberate, almost formalized cultural chest-thumping”. Even among many who are glad that the Troubles have ended, blame is beginning to point toward the structure of the peace process itself, specifically how it attempted to defuse the conflict into a culture war. While the Troubles’ zero-sum political conflict – between the competing ideas of a united Ireland and a United Kingdom – has ended, what remains …

“Getting righteously offended has become something of a hobby over the last few decades…”

Pete Baker on September 24, 2012, 12:03 pm

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The ‘outraged supernaturalists‘ narrative may already be wearing a bit thin in Libya, and further afield. But, taking that narrative at face value, there may be some points being made that are applicable closer to home. From Saturday’s Irish Times Getting righteously offended has become something of a hobby over the last few decades. Nothing binds people together more securely than a perception that somebody else is saying something nasty about their faith, nationality or hair colour. Rushdie describes the …

The Andrew Mitchell feeding frenzy is worse than the offence

Brian Walker on September 22, 2012, 11:33 am

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The Andrew Mitchell affair is the latest example of the wide gap between media chatter and the complexities and confusion of that other planet we call real life. A politician’s career is threatened by an episode of poor behaviour. He’s being held to account for it by the cynical and opportunist who hypocritically set impossibly high standards of behaviour. The public school image it conjures up for this old Rugbeian is poor Tom Brown, held to the fire by the bully Flashsman. . …

Going into conference, direction of travel of the UUP and the SDLP is not great…

Mick Fealty on September 21, 2012, 6:54 pm

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Our own Gerry Lynch has details of today’s poll in the BelTel: Poll doing the rounds by “The Political Firm”, sample 578, NI Assembly 1st pref: DUP 34%, SF 27%, All 13%, UUP 10%, SDLP 9%, TUV 3%, Grn 2%. — Gerry Lynch (@gerrylynch) September 20, 2012 Needless to say, after a torid summer in which they were Billy No Mates in the media [same as it ever was – Ed], the DUP is very pleased today. And well they …

SDLP try an ‘insider trading card’ to connect with Sinn Fein’s base?

Mick Fealty on September 13, 2012, 1:23 pm

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So the Commissioner for Public Appointments says that OFMdFM were bang out of order in their appointments to the board of the new Maze facility… Why? Because much of the political activity of the new appointees was not declared according to the rules of the CPA. [Where have we heard that one before? – Ed] Ironically, by the strict rules of the CPA, the chair – you know, the one Sinn Fein officials initially made a great fuss over, does …

“In these regretful circumstances I offer no evidence in this case against the accused…”

Pete Baker on September 12, 2012, 2:22 pm

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In a short report on the collapse of the trial of a 20-year-old man charged with the murder of Emmet Shiels in Londonderry in June 2008, the BBC notes Emmet Shiels’ murder shocked the city, and brought a thousand people onto the streets in condemnation. Along with editorials and a controversial petition, too… The trial collapsed when the prosecution offered no evidence. The BBC report doesn’t explain any further, but the Belfast Telegraph report does At the time of the murder the Independent …

“The UK is believed to be the first country to paint post boxes gold to celebrate Olympic and Paralympic gold medal wins…”

Pete Baker on September 9, 2012, 4:49 pm

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Apparently, double gold medal winning, and double world record breaking, Team Ireland Paralympian sprinter, Jason Smyth, would quite like a gold-painted post box in his home town of Eglinton. What does anything think, do we deserve a #GoldPostBox in Eglinton because I live and am from Northern Ireland @postoffice @royalmailnews RT — Jason Smyth (@smyth_jason) September 8, 2012 According to an earlier Belfast Telegraph report, he would have the support of Dame Mary Peters and the Northern Ireland Sports Minister, Sinn Féin’s …

“the Commission… continues to consider that the advice it delivered constitutes a strong basis on which to proceed…”

Pete Baker on September 6, 2012, 6:58 pm

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The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, reconstituted in July last year, has released a new weapon in the long-running battle over a Bill of Rights for NI – “Is that Right?” [pdf file]. Chief Commissioner Professor Michael O’Flaherty claims that the document “addresses the misunderstandings and misinformation concerning what a bill of rights would mean if one were to be introduced.” Is it a genuine attempt at engaging with those who are sceptical? Well, it’s not funded by Atlantic Philanthropies, which is a …

Charges re-instated against Marian Price and others

Pete Baker on September 5, 2012, 7:49 pm

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The BBC reports that the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) have re-instated charges against Marian Price and three Londonderry men in relation to a 32 County Sovereignty Movement Easter Monday parade in the city in 2011. Among those being charged again is Marvin Canning – the 50-year-old brother-in-law of Northern Ireland deputy First Minister, Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness. From the BBC report In May, a district judge said he would not return the four for trial as there were “no papers in front of …

“Northern politics should be recognised as a baleful embarrassment”

Pete Baker on September 5, 2012, 2:04 pm

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Some stark, but not inaccurate, analysis from Stephen Rainey and Jason Walsh in the Irish Examiner. The “new dispensation” has, by design, no politicians of merit capable of dealing with realpolitik. The people trying to deal with the untended ills of a once-fractured and still lost society grumble and fumble, but the political power to engage with the problems locks itself in Stormont, discussing what the “two communities” need. This dereliction of duty is eerily echoed by the ongoing dereliction …

PSNI: “The time for posturing on this issue… is now passed.”

Pete Baker on September 4, 2012, 3:33 pm

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After two nights of violence on the streets of north Belfast, during which over 60 officers were injured, 6 baton rounds fired, and 8 arrests made, the PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Will Kerr has issued a challenge to politicians. From the Irish Times report Police said the trouble was started by loyalists and that nationalists were also involved. Mr Kerr acknowledged that the trouble has raised concerns about whether a massive Orange Order parade on September 29th will pass off …

US Presidential Election: “the process is the ultimate deceit. And the ultimate distraction.”

Pete Baker on August 31, 2012, 10:32 pm

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Something for Mick’s late night panel to consider, perhaps… The Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, had a reasonably successful convention in Tampa by most accounts, and has followed up by stealing a march on the current president. But I’d tend to agree with most of Glenn Greenwald’s take on the US presidential election process. [If not the sub-editor’s? – Ed] Indeed. From Glenn Greenwald’s Comment is Free post But mocking CNN is to pick low-hanging fruit. The real issue is …

“It’s up to the prosecution to make the case why it should no longer exist.”

Pete Baker on August 30, 2012, 6:03 pm

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The BBC have an interesting update on the reporting restrictions, specifically court orders prohibiting the media from reporting either the identities or addresses of the defendants, in the case of “three men and two women – some of them senior republicans – who are accused of PIRA activity”. From the BBC report All five are charged with belonging to a proscribed organisation on dates stretching back to 1999. Four of them are accused of arranging, addressing or assisting in the management …

“It is as if someone is trying to hide the sun with two fingers.”

Pete Baker on August 19, 2012, 4:01 pm

| Readers 81

Another ‘lesson’ from the Northern Ireland Process, being implemented in a more systematic manner elsewhere… Afghanistan’s government is rewriting history, literally. The education ministry has endorsed a new history curriculum for school students that deletes nearly four decades of the country’s war-torn past. The government says textbooks based on the new curriculum will help bring unity in a country traditionally polarised along ethnic and political lines. But critics accuse ministers of trying to appease the Taliban and other powerful groups …