Today LucidTalk published their East Belfast poll in the Belfast Telegraph. The poll found that the DUP holds a 6% lead over the Alliance party in the constituency making them the favorites as we go into the final three months of the election campaign. When you exclude undecideds the result is DUP-34.4% to Alliance- 28.7%. When you include don’t know/Non voters you get this; DUP- 21.2% APNI- 17.7% UUP- 9% PUP- 4% TUV- 1.7% SF- 1.1% UKIP- 1% Greens- 0.9% …
As of January 1st 2015 Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom where same sex marriage remains illegal. A new law on gay marriage came into effect in Scotland in December 2014 and the first same sex weddings were held at 00:01 on Hogmanay. A total of 250 couples have converted their civil partnerships to marriage since the new law – the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill – came into effect on 16 December. Same-sex marriage …
In response to the Cameron-Kenny talks exit the Telegraph wrote, “It is astonishing how money can conquer ancient sectarian divides.” The divided became the united and money was the lubricant and the bridge. The only problem, Cameron wants the money back with interest. The divide now is between Cameron and the common money front of DUP-SF. 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/
At the next election one of most hotly contested battles will be East Belfast as the DUP attempt to take back the seat that they lost to Naomi Long in 2010. At the DUP conference, the party named their candidate to take on Long this May and he is former Lord Mayor of Belfast, Gavin Robinson. As we prepare for the election, I caught up with the newly minted DUP candidate to get his views on the campaign ahead and …
It was back in 2010, I was working down in Cork on some research for my PhD, like everybody else I was gripped by the arrival of the IMF in Ireland and the ensuing collapse of the government as the Green Party announced that they wanted an election in early 2011. Well, there pushes Irish unity another few years down the road I thought, as with the country under the control of the IMF made the economic case for reunification …
Well after a number of attempts the report from the Assembly Standards Commissioner has finally released the report into the BBC Spotlight programme into Iris Robinson in January 2010. The report clears Peter Robinson of any wrong doing, whilst Iris Robinson has been found in “serious breach” of the Stormont code of conduct by failing to declare two payments. Speaking about the reports publication the DUP’s Alastair Ross said; The Committee takes allegations of breaches of the Assembly’s Code of …
As the TUV annual conference approaches this weekend, I caught up with the party leader Jim Allister. We talked about his work on the Social Development Committee, the Irish language and his relationship with other parties in the Assembly. (Note I did this interview before Gregory Campbell’s conference speech) I began by asking him how he planned to expand his party and build on the gains they made at the 2014 election. Allister told me that the 2016 Assembly election …
As things wrapped up in the afternoon at the DUP Conference, I managed to get some time with the First Minister, Peter Robinson to discuss the conference, the upcoming election and the DUP’s support for Asher’s Bakery. I began by asking him how he felt the mood of his conference was this year? Not surprisingly, Robinson told me that the party was in “good spirits” this year as they had a large overflow of delegates in the main hall, as …
The DUP were in election mode at their annual conference this year. Gone was any outreach to soft unionist voters. Faced with a first-past-the-post election in May 2015, the DUP reverted to core values for core voters. Attendance in the main hall of La Mon Hotel for Peter Robinson’s address was a little down on the previous couple of years: the seats were all taken but there were fewer people standing at the back. New members I’d noticed a few …
Tuition fees could be set to rise in Northern Ireland following budget cuts to the Department of Education and Learning. In an interview with the BBC’s Inside Politics, First Minister Peter Robinson suggested that fees could be increased. “There may well be an opportunity for us to look at tuition fees and see whether that cuts some slack to the universities.”
In 2011 during the election of William Hay as speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly it was agreed that Sinn Féin would assume the post in May 2014. First Minister Peter Robinson (DUP) confirmed the deal to the Stormont Assembly. Following William Hay’s retirement due to ill health the DUP apparently reneged on the deal. [twitter_follow username=”@The_Firemen” language=”en”] The Firementwitter.com/The_Firemen
According to the BBC’s Mark Devenport, The Treasury has been asked to supply Stormont with a one-off loan of between £100m and £150m to ease its budgetary crisis, the BBC understands. According to the reports, the proposal was discussed with the UK Treasury by the NI First Minister, the DUP leader Peter Robinson, and the NI Finance Minister, the DUP’s Simon Hamilton. Whether that occurred before, or after, yesterday’s ‘special’ meeting of the NI Executive isn’t entirely clear. From the …
Cathy Gormley Heenan (author of Political Leadership and the Northern Ireland Peace Process) and columnist Newton Emerson on last Thursday’s The View with some useful insights into last week’s controversy over the DUP’s wobble… …a long term threat to Peter Robinson’s leadership is that there is nobody left who can say to him, ‘don’t do that’, he has surrounded himself, apparently with terrified yes men who won’t prevent him from making these ridiculous media performances. He’s done himself more damage …
Trembling Peter, via Live Drawing. 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/
Cartoon of Peter Robinson under fire. 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/
I’ve been pretty quiet on the rumours emanating from the DUP. Mostly because most of it is unattributable. But, whatever went on in the last few weeks, this is not good politics: DUP leader Peter Robinson has called critics within his party “people with the strategic vision of a lemming”. Mr Robinson would not be drawn on naming individuals whom he said were “puffed up by their own importance”. “I have made the comment and unlike some others, I haven’t …
Following yesterday’s ministerial reshuffle and the axing of Edwin Poots and Nelson McCausland, the DUP appears to be in crisis today following the former Health Minister’s appearance on the Stephen Nolan radio show. When questioned about Peter Robinson’s long term prospects as party leader Edwin Poots effectively announced the First Minister’s resignation by claiming that “Robinson stepping down is public knowledge.” However within minutes the First Minister issued a rebuttal to local media and on Twitter denying that he …
Only hours into the job and new DUP Health Minister Jim Wells is already a big hit on social media. Hundreds of Twitter users reported that they had been blocked by Wells as they attempted to either follow or interact with his Twitter account. The hashtag #blockedbywells was soon trending across Northern Ireland. Many of the ‘blocks’ were prompted by users asking awkward questions of the Minister’s controversial …
Many many words will be written about the late Lord Bannside, the Revered Ian Richard Kyle Paisley. The time for debate on his legacy is later. However on a day in which the First Minister of Northern Ireland Peter Robinson said “As a leader of men, a friend of the people, a servant of the state and a voice for the truth Ian Paisley excelled and shone,” and the Deputy Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party Nigel Dodds wrote “He …
First Minister Peter Robinson has told the Belfast Telegraph that the systems up on the hill are “are no longer fit for purpose”. The structures required cross-community agreement for every significant issue – a process that would have tested and defeated less divergent coalitions. The failure for the DUP and Sinn Fein to build consensus or find a compromise over Welfare Reform has broken the Executive in the DUP leader’s opinion. “It is transparently untenable for the Assembly and Executive …
