UK – Page 14 – Slugger O'Toole

Politicians need to release civic society to find solutions, argues Sophie Long

Paul Gosling on August 26, 2019, 7:01 am

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Civic society in Northern Ireland could produce answers to the big problems we face, but is blocked by politicians who don’t want creative solutions, argues Sophie Long in the latest ‘Forward Together’ interview. Sophie is a former Assembly candidate for the Progressive Unionist Party and a Queen’s University graduate, whose doctoral thesis was ‘An Investigation into Ulster Loyalism and the Politics of Misrecognition’. She works as Northern Ireland grants officer for a major charity. Strengthening civic society in Northern Ireland …

Is Northern Ireland Spiralling out of Control?

Claire Mitchell on August 25, 2019, 9:06 pm

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There has never been so much consensus in Northern Ireland. There has never been so much discord. The guy who cuts our trees thinks we’re Catholic, as we send our kids to the local Catholic school. We’re not (we’re Lundies). We think he’s Protestant, because of his name and the fact that we live in majority Protestant area. Last week, I was surprised to hear my husband drop a ‘Londonderry’ into the conversation – I assume to make the tree …

How #Brexit has become “a mutually incapacitating snare…”

Mick Fealty on August 20, 2019, 10:05 am

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Good piece from Katy Hayward… The UK-EU stand-off over the backstop is no longer in the realms of negotiation. The topic has become a mutually incapacitating snare. The more forcefully one side stresses its position on the backstop, the more justified the other feels for not bending from its opposite bearing. And thus the noose tightens. Getting out of this bind is increasingly difficult because Johnson has posited the abolition of the backstop as an iconic issue for demonstrating UK …

‘Transformative decisions on Northern Ireland have not been taken’, laments Peter Osborne

Paul Gosling on August 19, 2019, 7:01 am

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Northern Ireland is more than 20 years into a 50 year peace process, which is being held back because government here has failed to take the radical transformative steps that are required. This is the view of Peter Osborne, the former chair of the Community Relations Council, in the latest Forward Together podcast. Peter explains: “We are in a process that will last at least 50 years. Some people thought when the [Good Friday] agreement was signed, we had peace. …

A bridge across the Irish Sea is a ridiculous idea, but the ferries between Northern Ireland and Scotland are the most expensive in the UK

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on August 18, 2019, 11:20 pm

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When Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Minster for the Union and Novelty Infrastructure Tsar Boris Johnson visited Belfast last month for a Conservative Party leadership hustings, he re-iterated his previous support for a bridge between Northern Ireland and Scotland. It was “the kind of project that should be pursued by a dynamic Northern Ireland government”, as he optimistically phrased it. It is worth re-iterating just how stupid this idea would be. Such a …

What would happen at GE2019 if it is more like the 2019 European election than the last general election?

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on August 15, 2019, 12:33 am

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Previously, I looked at what might happen at a future general election using the 2017 general election results as a base and a YouGov poll to redistribute votes to see how a new general election might pan out. This poll gave the Tories a 9 point lead over Labour in second place, and accordingly in such a scenario the Tories would win a majority despite a historically low vote share, albeit with a smaller majority if the Lib Dems, Greens …

Class division in Northern Ireland even greater than between orange and green, argues CFNI chief

Paul Gosling on August 12, 2019, 7:01 am

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Class is a bigger and more significant division in Northern Ireland than is the religious divide, argues the chief executive of the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland Andrew McCracken. “Whilst there’s the really visible gap between orange and green, the more fundamental and more important gap is the gap between rich and poor and the bubbles of society that we live in,” says Andrew in the latest Forward Together podcast. He continues: “The thing I really care about, that’s part …

Don’t underestimate him. Boris Johnson is making a powerful appeal by defying party traditions, but at the expense of the Union

Brian Walker on August 11, 2019, 11:26 am

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Brian WalkerFormer BBC journalist and manager in Belfast, Manchester and London, Editor Spolight; Political Editor BBC NI; Current Affairs Commissioning editor BBC Radio 4; Editor Political and Parliamentary Programmes, BBC Westminster; former London Editor Belfast Telegraph. Hon Senior Research Fellow, The Constitution Unit, Univ Coll. London

Johnson and Corbyn will compete for power by selling out the Union

Brian Walker on August 7, 2019, 7:00 am

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All the hooh- hah from Polly Toynbee and others about forming a government of national unity to stop No Deal – forget it. Boris Johnson won’t even have to bother committing the constitutional crime my constitutional expert friends have been deploring. It’ll never get to that. Their best hope now is a general election but one called pretty much on Johnson’s terms and timing. Robert Peston’s trenchant piece saves me the bother of explaining. It’s so good I quote it …

Deal with disadvantage before unity, argues Senator Mark Daly

Paul Gosling on August 5, 2019, 7:01 am

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To achieve a united Ireland without a return to conflict requires northern society to resolve the problems of its communities that contain deep-seated deprivation and alienation, argues Fianna Fáil Senator Mark Daly. Mark is the former chair of the Oireachtas Good Friday Agreement Implementation Committee and was interviewed for the latest Forward Together podcast shortly after the release of his report, ‘Returning to violence as a result of a hard border due to Brexit or a rushed border poll: risks …

An all-Ireland agri -food zone is old news and a sign of desperation. But first….

Brian Walker on August 4, 2019, 3:45 pm

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Let’s start on a happier note. – Leo’s appearance at Belfast Gay Pride in which he tactfully avoided grandstanding in his brief few words. “I had a real honour today to walk with Lord Hayward, who, along with Conor McGinn, put the legislation through the Commons and Lords to bring about marriage equality here in a few months’ time. So we really want to thank them. “What we see today in Belfast is Northern Ireland at its very best. Open, …

A real test for Boris Johnson. Will he convene the Intergovernmental Council at a time when an open breach over Brexit seems imminent?

Brian Walker on July 31, 2019, 6:53 pm

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We are in worse confusion over Brexit than anything in modern times, short of total breakdown and conflict. On one side there is a withdrawal agreement that will never pass this House of Commons. On the other there is the persistence with a backstop that threatens an outcome it is designed to prevent. This is not a rational situation. And yet the train is on course to hit the buffers. Boris Johnson will have satisfied himself that he has gone …

How Loyalism Remembers: Review of Ghosts of the Somme by Jonathan Evershed

Gladys Ganiel on July 30, 2019, 7:57 pm

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‘… commemoration of the Somme represents a (if not the) chief means by which Loyalists are able to participate in the political, cultural, and social life of Northern Ireland and attempts to circumscribe particular commemorative forms risks further alienating Loyalists from processes of peace-building in which they already perceive themselves as having little stake.’ – Jonathan Evershed, Ghosts of the Somme, p. 19 This is the most important argument in a new book by Jonathan Evershed, Ghosts of the Somme: …

Expand ‘community planning’ and focus on wellbeing, urges McGinley

Paul Gosling on July 29, 2019, 7:01 am

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Community planning provides a model that builds on the tradition of the “very strong community spirit that prevailed in Northern Ireland” during the Troubles, argues Aideen McGinley in the latest Forward Trust podcast. McGinley is a trustee of Carnegie UK, co-chair of its embedding wellbeing project in Northern Ireland and a former senior civil servant. Aideen stresses that we need to be positive rather than fearful as we look to the future. “The bottom line is that people do not …

No Deal myths exploded and need for Direct Rule is confirmed in major report

Brian Walker on July 29, 2019, 6:59 am

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The authoritative Institute for Government has blasted most of the claims made for a No Deal strategy. In a new report it confirms the pressure on the Union and the need for Direct Rule. The head of NI civil service David Sterling recently addressed the institute and a leading member visited Belfast before issuing this report. The Union will come under unprecedented pressure: Johnson may well find that having left one political union, he spends an increasing proportion of his …

A clear Boris Johnson majority could be in Northern Ireland’s interests. What are the chances?

Brian Walker on July 28, 2019, 11:43 pm

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Planning for No Deal is the government’s No 1 priority, says Michael Gove. “So we need a new approach and a different relationship. Critically, we need to abolish the backstop and ensure we find a different way to handle trade, and other important relations, on the island of Ireland”. Some ERG hardliners would oppose a deal even if it eliminated the backstop. They sense a trap in alleged talk of EU concessions and plots around every corner in Whitehall, according …

As the threat of No Deal looms, the rhetoric is becoming raw

Brian Walker on July 26, 2019, 10:12 pm

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A century ago, two European states which talked like this at each other might have been on the brink of war. Without pushing it too far there is a tiny echo here of big bully Austria-Hungary leaning on little Serbia in the hot summer of 1914. (It will be remembered in the end Austria-Hungary imploded and Serbia expanded). Now no one of course is contemplating such a drastic breakdown. But how tragic and infuriating it is to be eating into …

Julian Smith’s role – to keep the DUP happy and step up plans for No Deal including direct rule

Brian Walker on July 25, 2019, 7:00 am

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Boris Johnson being ” clapped in” by staff on entering No 10 Julian Smith may not be a household name in Northern Ireland but his name resounds in every Conservative MP’s household and generally throughout Westminster. He was Theresa May’s last chief whip tasked with trying and failing three times to pass her withdrawal agreement. Bemoaning the scale of his task, he told the BBC’s Laura Kunnesberg in April.. that when his party failed to get a majority in the …

Politicians feel threatened by the prospect of a civic voice, argues Robin Eames

Paul Gosling on July 22, 2019, 10:00 am

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Politicians in Northern Ireland feel threatened by the concept of a strong civic society, but we should pursue the ambition of creating a ‘People’s Assembly’, argues Lord Robin Eames, the former Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland. Robin was interviewed in the latest Forward Together podcast. “We’re at a very delicate stage where our society is beginning to learn that the party politic regime doesn’t necessarily reflect their deepest concerns,” he says. “I’m talking about …

Unionist concerns and fears of a united Ireland: where are the women?

Sarah Creighton on July 20, 2019, 10:33 am

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Another day, another report into a united Ireland. This time Senator Mark Daly has published his findings on, ‘Unionist Concerns and fears of a United Ireland.’ The report is based on a recommendation given to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. Daly’s research contains writings and submissions from unionist political figures such as Mike Nesbitt, Kyle Paisley and Trevor Ringland. Dr James Wilson, at the request of Senator Daly, also conducted focus groups with …