Stormont

Villiers: What Stormont needs is the revitalising influence of an opposition…

Mick Fealty on April 16, 2014, 7:30 am

| Readers 142

Another day in Northern Ireland, another Groundhog.. Theresa Villiers is make a speech today saying it is time to make progress on the past and on a future that could bring NI political life back to the cryogenically sealed democracy unit currently operating at Stormont.. “Political institutions the world over adapt and change. As the founding father of modern Conservatism… the Irishman Edmund Burke… once put it: ‘A State without the means of change is without means of preservation’. And …

Cartoon – The Statesman

Brian Spencer on April 8, 2014, 9:49 am

| Readers 73

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/

TUV, SDLP and UUP host victims commemoration at Stormont

Turgon on March 11, 2014, 10:47 pm

| Readers 88

Alan has a post on the Alternative Ms. Ulster event hosted by Steven Agnew at Stormont on Sunday complete with the inspiring / daring / indecent, speech/ behaviour by Ms. Park. In contrast yesterday the UUP, SDLP and TUV hosted the third annual day of remembrance for victims of terrorism. 120 people attended and three people spoke: Michelle Nixon who has been caring for her brother since he was seriously injured in 1979 by an IRA bomb in Rosslea; June …

Cara Park: “Continue the fight for equality in the face of casual misogyny, physical misogyny and, most importantly, resist and revolt against misogyny by the state.” #AMU (video added)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 10, 2014, 8:25 pm

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Strong words in Parliament Buildings. But not from the Assembly chamber or a committee room. I stand before you today as a woman unfree, in spite of the location of my birth here in the European Union, a colony of the British empire, the island of Ireland, Eire. This is because I do not have the same rights as my sisters in other parts of these conglomerate nations. I am officially a citizen of the United Kingdom but the same …

Talking without listening and victory without annihilation

Turgon on February 2, 2014, 3:40 pm

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Mick has covered the criminalisation of users of prostitution debate and the spat between Dr. Graham Ellison and Jim Wells ain the Stormont committee below. I thought there might be some merit in looking at what this shows about the DUP’s view of itself, others views of it and how the DUP deals with these sorts of issues. This episode seems to be a case of two sides talking without listening. I am not going to enter into the merits …

Cartoon – Selling out the moderate (part 2)

Brian Spencer on January 10, 2014, 9:31 am

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After Haass, the apolitical ministerial toboggan ride continues…

Mick Fealty on January 8, 2014, 3:03 pm

| Readers 59

It’s worth remembering what the Haass talks were, and what they weren’t. This is not as easy as it may seem since the media have been portraying it has some sort of GFA3 event. In fact Dr Haass and Professor O’Sullivan is all there was: a small if perfectly formed gang of two three (plus Charles Landlow) with no support, no back up and no informed [local] advisors to tell them where the hidden trap doors where. We should probably …

Cartoon – The organ-grinder

Brian Spencer on January 6, 2014, 1:59 pm

| Readers 60

In the 19th and 20th Century organ-grinders were often paid to keep silent, given the repetitious nature of the music. Not much chance of that in this instance. 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 – Haass talks 2.0

Brian Spencer on December 30, 2013, 5:23 pm

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Cartoon – away from Home, Alone 2

Brian Spencer on December 28, 2013, 7:05 pm

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‘Let Me Tell You,’ with David McCann

Brian Spencer on December 5, 2013, 5:47 pm

| Readers 50

It was a local treasure and we all miss it. The If You Ask Me segment that ran on BBC Hearts and Minds for 16 years. It’s never coming back and many would say it’s best to leave it that way. Well David McCann and I have decided to run our own little experiment, paying homage and borrowing in good measure from the original If You Ask Me to bring you back some of that Thursday night magic with the …

Peter Robinson, keeping the press accountable – Caption Competition

Brian Spencer on November 26, 2013, 10:38 am

| Readers 74

Never mind the “unpleasant odour” rising from Northern Ireland’s libel law (and the urge to censor), there’s something a little stinky coming from Peter Robinson’s call for the media to show more support for Stormont. As Orwell said, “journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations.” Surely we don’t need more photos of politicians standing around with cheesy grins, Stormont’s main output? I look forward to seeing your captions for the empty speech …

The Robinson Allister spat in the context of the Hass talks

Turgon on September 29, 2013, 7:43 pm

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Last week’s spat between Peter Robinson and Jim Allister has been analysed in some detail. One of the best contributions has been by Sam McBride pointing to how it demonstrates the difference that it makes allowing ministers to be questioned without knowing the questions in advance. Prior to that as McBride says: “For years, question time at Stormont has been a fairly turgid affair, with questions submitted weeks in advance so that civil servants could draft vast replies for ministers …

Human Trafficking: No one is helped by a fevered moral crusade that promises the earth and delivers nothing

Mick Fealty on September 24, 2013, 10:50 am

| Readers 93

Whatever the liberal media think of the Assembly, it looks like it may be about to score a first and produce its very own indigenous piece of legislation, intriguingly for an Executive of all the parties, through the means of a private members bill. Perhaps that’s because the Minister for Justice shares a concern with the police that the result of Lord Morrow’s human trafficking legislation will be to dilute police resources and drive the problem of trafficked individuals further from …

SDLP to lodge an amendment to the DUP’s special motion on Tuesday…

Mick Fealty on July 14, 2013, 3:00 pm

| Readers 55

And it seems that the SDLP will be putting an amendment down when the Assembly meets for a special sitting on Tuesday. Conall McDevitt: “On Tuesday when the Assembly meets the SDLP will seek to give parties the opportunity back an amendment to the DUP motion which condemns the violence, challenges the sectarianism displayed this 12th and supports the lawful institutions of the land including the Parades Commission. “On Saturday at the fields we heard the language of war by …

In praise of… Jim Allister

Mick Fealty on May 30, 2013, 9:40 am

| Readers 242

“..there is always soma, delicious soma, half a gramme for a half-holiday, a gramme for a week-end, two grammes for a trip to the gorgeous East, three for a dark eternity on the moon…” Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (1932) The controversy over Jim Allister’s SpAd Bill has thrown a different light upon a settlement that has brought us all certain indisputable benefits. Ironically, the post GFA institutions have had one of their first real fillips from the only resolutely …

Cartoon: #flegs #legs #begs

Brian Spencer on January 15, 2013, 11:11 pm

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Your captions please! 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/

That ol’ tune again

Brian Spencer on January 4, 2013, 1:22 am

| Readers 45

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/

An English Guinness?

Aaron&Brian on December 30, 2012, 9:37 pm

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This time of year is always interesting for the release of state papers under the thirty year rule. The release of these papers bring fresh light on a period of our past and often reveal tensions we thought were there as well as unearthing stories we didn’t even expect.The one story that struck me and made the front page of the Newsletter was the fact that the Guinness family considered moving the brand from Dublin to their English base. The …

What remains valuable about the middle ground in Northern Ireland?

Mick Fealty on December 19, 2012, 12:47 pm

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It’s a commonplace wisdom in Northern Ireland that the middle ground of politics is exactly where you don’t want to be. Both nationalist and unionist politicians who have taken up middle positions have long been subject to the kind of death threats and physical attacks the Alliance party is being subjected to. The animus raised by the restriction of the flag on Belfast City Hall, is frightening to behold. Even from a distance. Yet it has always been the fate …