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/
Your captions are 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/
A side note, but one worth putting on the record before it disappears from view, this came through from the Assembly comms office yesterday… An Assembly spokesperson said: “The Assembly Commission meeting, planned for 11 December 2012, did not proceed as a quorum was not achieved. Arrangements will be made to reschedule the meeting.” What it means that the DUP and UUP wanted to push the issue of more days for flags up at Stormont, the opposition, Sinn Fein, SDLP …
This week the news was dominated by two events, the vote on reducing the number of days that the union flag is to be flown at Belfast City Hall, which has been flown at City Hall since it opened on 1906 and the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The vote brought an angry call from the unionist community which led to people protesting on the streets which consequently turned violent. This has caused damage across various parts …
Patrick Corrigan wrote on Slugger yesterday asking “Equal marriage – how long will Northern Ireland’s gay couples have to wait?”. Today the DUP lodged a Petition of Concern against the motion which is to be debated in Stormont on Monday. As Steven Agnew tweeted ” Legislation designed to protect minorities used to prevent the passing of a motion to enhance minority rights”. This on the same day that the DUP were happily celebrating the Ulster Covenant, a document which calls on …
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 …
With the news that DUP Health Minister Edwin Poots sent a few shotgun rounds across the bow in order to warn off a few no good intruders doing the round I had to put this riveting imagery to cartoon. I further felt the shotgun imagery was readily applicable to the Poots blood donor controversy that went on a few months ago and I quickly put together a cartoon on that, as you can see below: Brian SpencerBrian is a writer, …
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/
With the Northern Ireland Assembly many weeks deep into a very generous summer recess I felt compelled to capture the personal and political détente and the legislative freeze with some striking illustrative prose. I look forward to hearing what captions come up. 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/
Well, the Irish News yesterday went fairly big on the possible abandonment of the ESA (Education and Skills Authority) that was supposed to streamline the running of schools in Northern Ireland by amalgamating a whole bunch of organisations, not least the many of the executive of the Department and the five Education and Library Boards. Brian Feeney is pretty sharp in his attack on the lack of any political nous amongst the political parties at Stormont. One minute they are …
Newton Emerson hitting several nails on the head and perhaps begins to explain why all our parties have turned (by default) in “tight little Tories”… Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
On a sunny Saturday over 70 young people from across the country came together to discuss transport. Many of these young people had travelled long distances to get there because they felt passionately about this issue in their area. A look at the #transportNI timeline will show the strength of feeling over the issue of Translink and access to transport The event was run by the NI Youth Forum and the British Youth Council. All 108 MLAs were invited along …
While the County Grand Orange Lodge of Belfast will be marching to Ormeau Park in May, the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland are going one better later in the year. As the rhyme might go: Oh, the grand old Duke of York Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, He had ten thousand quite a lot of men; He marched them up to the top of the Hill, And he marched them down again. That’s right. Edward Carson’s statue in front of …
Hat tip to Davy Sims on Facebook (who really knows his new media onions)… This clip is from Monday’s Stormont Today, and needs no more introduction from me… Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
Nice piece from last night’s Hearts and Minds by Julia Paul (“Don’t touch the things…”) which a number of experts… running from Newton’s verdict that they can take no big decisions in welfare and taxation… To Paddy Hillyard says that we pay £260 million for water and that if that was taken out of public expenditure that money could be released for schools and other public services… And Newton Emerson says there has been a deal on the table to …
So MLAs get an 11% rise in salary, not from themselves, but from an Independent Financial Review Panel. Thus the DUP and Sinn Fein are arguing that it is wrong, (though don’t hold your breath for any of them to hand it back) because for once it was not them who were responsible for the decision. As Liam Clarke notes, this is way better than anyone out in the real world is likely to get for sometime to come. But …
Odd that the table on which the Union was signed and a portrait of the Queen by a local artist have been quietly removed from Stormont, according to Jim Allister, a hawk eyed stirrer of eminence. These items are surely less controversial than the bronzes of Carson and Craig and the old boy’s grave outside the south entrance. Will someone wage a useless battle to have the statues removed and dig the old boy and his wife up? There’s …
Stephen Farry, by all accounts one of the more competent ministers in the Executive, is likely to step down when legislation comes through the Assembly to axe his department. Ken Reid reports the deal between the DUP and Sinn Fein (they have all the power says Ken) will confirm Farry’s party leader David Ford in his current role as justice minister outside the d’Hondt mechanism. Interestingly, the axing of this department will necessitate a re-run of d’Hondt (which, outside Big …
I’m almost despairing that high politics for us in Northern Ireland now comes down to a row about a trip to San Diego that’s scheduled, er, not scheduled, to happen until it’s been agreed/not agreed by Stormont’s Employment and Learning Committee… The proposed purpose? To examine how research and development linked to universities could help create jobs. San Diego’s not a bad model. Ah well, it seems we don’t need any of that, unless it’s done by the Executive, OFMDFM …
The News Letter has an interesting item on the pay for special advisors (SPADS). These advisors are picked by the minister and the normal process of competition is not followed: that may well be fair enough and certainly occurs at Westminster. Unlike Whitehall SPADs, however, the pay for the Stomont’s SPADs is not published: rather salary bands are published; the maximum a SPAD can earn is now £90,000. That £90,000 figure is interesting as it is a rise from £82,531 …
