UK – Page 15 – Slugger O'Toole

‘Brexit means that Northern Ireland’s constitutional future has become an issue for Europe’, says Denis Bradley

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

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Denis Bradley was keen to move on in the latest Forward Together podcast interview to discuss the constitutional position of Northern Ireland. “Well that’s the one that intrigues me because I don’t know the answer!,” he says. “First of all I think something very important happened within the last couple of weeks and has not received attention. And that is that the Europeans have said if there a no deal situation we will still have to deal with the Northern …

Royal Portrush: our biggest ever event, worldwide appreciation, old school nostalgia.. it’s got it all. Let’s give ourselves a big break

Brian Walker on July 18, 2019, 3:05 pm

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Amid all the and doom and gloom over Brexit, I can’t let this week pass without a hefty mention of the Open at Royal Portush. Here surely is a piece of British exceptionalism all can enjoy, the un-neurotic side of identity. Note that it’s called “the Open”. No “British” prefix is needed (although I see the Irish Times wouldn’t you know it has added it, just in case somebody thinks it’s the Uzbek Open). This piece of swagger was pointed …

Opening skirmishes continue before the desperate parliamentary battles to come..

Brian Walker on July 17, 2019, 5:52 pm

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Strictly speaking, the remarkable cross party initiative to exploit the vacuum at Stormont and introduce abortion reform for NI is not about Brexit. But as diametrically opposed views about the governance and values of the Union are in contention, the two are inextricably linked. The little Ulster version of the Union is being challenged at last. The abortion initiative shows that like the struggles over Brexit, considerable numbers of Conservatives are prepared to put values and country above the interests …

We’re heading for an autumn general election, the postponement of NI abortion reform and temporary direct rule

Brian Walker on July 17, 2019, 11:23 am

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No to time limits or unilateral escape hatches or all these elaborate devices, glosses, codicils and so on that you could apply to the backstop,” he told a debate hosted by The Sun on Monday.

Former 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

Eames-Bradley process ‘should have done more to take the Irish government with it’ – says Denis Bradley

Paul Gosling on July 15, 2019, 7:01 am

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The Eames-Bradley process should have engaged more closely with the Irish government and ensured it was on board with the recommendations, says co-chair Denis Bradley in the latest Forward Together podcast. Eames-Bradley – properly called the Consultative Group on the Past – was published more than a decade ago and was intended to provide a way of dealing with the past and the needs and concerns of victims and survivors.Denis says “I do [think the] report itself is an extremely …

‘Looking at how we got here can help us deal with the present and the future’, argues historical geographer

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

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A better understanding of our history is important as a means of bringing our society together, believes Anthony Russell of the Thomas D’Arcy McGee Foundation. “One of the things that we have been trying to do in the Thomas D’Arcy McGee Foundation is to use history as a tool for reconciliation, rather than something that has to be fought over,” he explains. “Looking at how we got here” can help us to deal with the challenges we face today, says …

By acting on abortion and equal marriage, Westminster has changed the dynamic of the talks

Sarah Creighton on July 10, 2019, 9:27 am

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One day in politics can change everything. The Northern Ireland Executive Formations Bill was, until the 9th July, an uninteresting piece of legislation. It proposes to amend the Northern Ireland (Executive and Exercise of Formations Bill) 2018, a law passed in the wake of the collapse of the Assembly. The Secretary of State introduced the 2019 Bill to extend the period in which an Executive must be formed until the 21st October 2019. There’s a clause allowing an extension of …

Westminster stuns the local parties with the challenge: pass abortion and equal marriage laws or we’ll do it instead

Brian Walker on July 9, 2019, 7:47 pm

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You’ve read about the campaigns. Now read about the victory. The day started with an anti climax. Dominic Grieve’s bid to thwart any attempt to deny parliament a vote on No Deal wasn’t called by the Speaker. The attempts by Co Armagh born Labour MP’s Conor McGinn and Stella Creasy to legislate for abortion and same sex marriage were certain to fail for antagonising the DUP, for coming at the wrong time with all this Brexit stuff about and for being …

Abortion is a sensitive and complex issue which is why decisions around it are devolved.

Soapbox on July 9, 2019, 11:49 am

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Carla Lockhart is a Lurgan based DUP MLA for Upper Bann. Here she challenges the attempt by some Westminster MPs to include a number of changes to Northern Irish law within a piece of legislation designed to push back the current deadline. Over the course of the next few days the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill will be passing through the House of Commons. This Bill is designed to amend the date by which the Secretary of State must call …

Making progress on parading – can Northern Ireland learn from Derry-Londonderry?

Paul Gosling on July 8, 2019, 7:01 am

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As Northern Ireland moves towards what will hopefully be a peaceful 12th July, the manager of ‘the Derry Model’, Maeve McLoughlin – a former Sinn Fein MLA – reflects on how peaceful parading was negotiated, after years of conflict and tension in Derry-Londonderry. “It was spurred on by a commitment to the city,” she says, “and by people who genuinely wanted to be in a better place. “That was the feeling of the Apprentice Boys as well. They love …

A rare event. Northern Ireland is at the heart of a Commons challenge today to prevent a No Deal Brexit

Brian Walker on July 8, 2019, 7:00 am

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Dominic Grieve QC MP Boris Johnson is expected to become PM just one day before the Commons rises for the summer recess, leaving only a few weeks to challenge him “not bluffing” over quitting the EU at Hallowe’en, deal or no deal. In perhaps the only available opportunity before the recess begins on 25 July, Northern Ireland is at the heart of moves by dissenting Conservatives to try to stop him today. The opportunity created is what would otherwise be …

We’re in crisis now. Armageddon on Brexit and the Union may take a little longer

Brian Walker on July 7, 2019, 12:39 pm

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So the Stormont talks are in limbo. Why should they be different? Everything else is, including the future of the Union. The reputation of failed prime ministers can rise after they retire defeated and the problems continue to confound their successors. Even Theresa May is starting to look just a bit better. Straight after he lost two elections in quick succession in 1974 ,Ted Heath’s reputation as a statesman seemed secure when his historic achievement of EEC entry that would …

UN Report: The Full Picture of Poverty in the UK is Obvious to Anyone who Opens their Eyes

Luke Butterly on July 6, 2019, 9:01 am

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“[T]he full picture of poverty in the United Kingdom, much of it the direct result of government policies… is obvious to anyone who opens their eyes. There has been a shocking increase in the number of food banks and major increases in homelessness and rough sleeping; a growing number of homeless families…” – Philip Alston, the UN special rapporteur on poverty in the UK (22 May 2019) “I reject the idea that there are vast numbers of people facing dire …

‘We need an agency to promote social integration’, says Father Martin Magill

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

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Northern Ireland needs a body lobbying for social integration, learning from the success of the Integrated Education Fund in its work promoting integrated schools, says Father Martin Magill. Without an agency pushing the integrated housing agenda, it will be difficult to make sufficient progress, he says. Martin was interviewed in the latest Forward Together podcast. “I grew up living in a neighbourhood where my next door neighbour was Presbyterian; further on down the road Church of Ireland; further down the …

Government moves to damp down No Deal panic created by leadership bidding war

Brian Walker on July 1, 2019, 11:34 am

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The bidding war between Johnson and Hunt grows more depressing by the day. The ideal differentiation would have been Hunt the rationalist pointing out the huge risks of Johnson’s “ hell or high water” date with the 31 October deadline. But this is no seminar. It’s a struggle to woo a tiny electorate supposedly in a frenzy to Leave before the victor confronts two very different electorates in turn, first the Commons and then if he gets that far, the …

New way of consulting with civic society is part of the talks negotiations, discloses Naomi Long

Paul Gosling on July 1, 2019, 8:00 am

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Creating a new mechanism for consulting with civic society is part of the talks negotiations aimed at getting Stormont back, Alliance Party leader Naomi Long has disclosed. Naomi is a newly elected MEP, former MP and has just resigned her role as an MLA. She was interviewed in the latest Forward Together podcast. “We need to find a role for engaging with civil society,” suggests Naomi. “I think there is a lot of good work that goes on in our …

Come clean. The chances of compensation of victims of the Libyan connection are vanishingly small and the UK government won’t left a finger to help them

Brian Walker on July 1, 2019, 7:00 am

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I’ve had only the slightest brush personally with the Libyan connection, the notorious gun running relationship between the crazed dictator Muammar Gaddafi and the IRA which finally ended in another of Tony Blair’s diplomatic exercises. In one of the later lulls in the Troubles, in a fit of optimism they re-opened the city gates of Derry after a siege of a quarter of a century. My old family home was in the street at one side of the courthouse right …

Johnson and Hunt may pose as champions of the Union but if elected the winner is not automatically Prime Minister

Brian Walker on June 30, 2019, 1:55 pm

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Photo. Getty images Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt continue to vie with each other in a bidding war which includes who is the greater verbal champion of the Union above all else. Both of them claim to be able to square the circle of Union First and No Deal but No Deal if necessary. On the Marr Show Hunt said he would do both, but then I lost track of his reasoning. As nobody bothered to report what exactly he …

Both sides are now contemplating a physical border. What will stop it?

Brian Walker on June 29, 2019, 1:02 pm

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The looming prospect of No Deal is producing all sorts of ferment, with the focus on the clashing red lines over the Border. This was always the case but is now made more acute by trying to extract meaning from Boris Johnson’s smokescreen of bumbling towards victory in the Tory leadership election. Will anything he says bear the force of unbreakable promises to his electorate? The optimistic answer is probably very few, but by its nature it can’t be relied …

Out of left field. . Boris’s backers in the media are talking up a new deal from Brussels – if he starts talking sense as PM and can deliver the Commons

Brian Walker on June 28, 2019, 7:00 am

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Jean Claude Juncker

Bruno Waterfield of the Times sees potentially more movement from the EU than the ultra Europhiles seem to think possible – provided EU 27 are convinced Johnson can sell an amended deal to the Commons

Former 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