“What kind of party will Sinn Féin be as it becomes a leading player?”

Jude Collins thinks its only matter of time until Sinn Fein becomes the largest party in the Republic, but he has some concerns about what that will mean when they get they get there… I’d prefer to think that Sinn Féin are working for those suffering most in southern society not for political advantage but because they believe it’s a core feature of what they are as a party. They’ve shown in the recent elections that their appeal is wide …

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Memo to BBC: The NI Executive voted these measures through

Why are the BBC busying themselves counting the number of MLAs turning up for work today?  Don’t they know the Northern Ireland Executive voted in favour of the blanket increase of 3.2 per cent in public-sector pension contributions? Admittedly they did so behind closed doors, and didn’t tell anyone at the time. [Some parties don’t seem to remember either – Ed]  Some parties have still to tell the public how their ministers voted at the time… Pete Baker

Public sector pensions: “we didn’t think they would make the decision behind closed doors.”

The news that the Northern Ireland Executive agreed a blanket increase of 3.2 per cent in public-sector pension contributions at a meeting last month, but failed to mention the fact, has led to the Unite union regional secretary, Jimmy Kelly, accusing the NI Executive and Assembly of acting “in a cowardly fashion”.  From today’s Irish News Jimmy Kelly, Irish regional secretary, hit out at what he described as “the underhand decision” not to publicise news of the increase which only came …

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Miliband the Younger

The new leader of the Labour Party is Ed Miliband, the younger of the two Miliband brothers in the race.  It was close though…  And the BBC’s Nick Robinson has noted that David Miliband won the MPs/MEPs vote, and the individual members vote, but lost overwhelming in the trade union [and affiliated organisations] members’ vote… [added link to breakdown of affiliated organisations voting]  Each ‘section’ is worth a third of the total.  The Guardian’s live-blog has the figures from the first round of voting 4.48pm: Here are …

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