UK – Page 34 – Slugger O'Toole

Women Won’t Wait: Campaigners for Women’s Rights and Equality Speak Out about the Impact of Stormont Stalemate

Soapbox on August 28, 2018, 7:30 am

| Readers 643

The results of a survey released today by the Women’s Resource and Development Agency reveal the impact of having no government at Stormont on women’s community organisations and campaign groups. 80% of those surveyed said they have continued to lobby decision makers in the 19 months since the collapse of the Executive, but the majority felt that it is now much harder to make progress on the issues that affect their organisations and communities. The 48 respondents to the survey …

Brexit Secretary tells NI businesses to ‘speak to Dublin’ if no deal…

Brian O'Neill on August 24, 2018, 9:59 am

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The Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab said Northern Ireland businesses trading across the Irish border should contact the Irish government for advice in the event of a ‘no-deal‘. My translation – ‘We have enough problems of our own, you Paddies sort yourselves out.’ Is it reading too much into it that the Government would happily throw NI under the bus if needed? So much for the DUP/Conservative bromance. That’s in the context of the Ashcroft Poll from June which revealed that ‘Six out …

Could the lights go out next March?

Brian Walker on August 22, 2018, 8:46 am

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The inanities of managing Brexit reach new depths. Times exclusive Emergency Brexit energy talks as ministers hide no deal plans Greg Clark, the business secretary, has held urgent talks with officials in Dublin on an emergency agreement to keep the lights on in Northern Ireland after a “no-deal” Brexit. Downing Street wants to avoid publishing its plans for a worst-case scenario that include importing thousands of generators north of the border. The electricity industry has operated a single wholesale market …

Henry McDonald in conversation about his book – Martin McGuinness: A Life Remembered #feile18

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on August 21, 2018, 9:00 am

| Readers 1035

Watch back journalist and author Henry McDonald in conversation about his photo essay book – Martin McGuinness: A Life Remembered – which was published by Blackstaff Press. The discussion examined the genesis of the book, the changing face of Martin McGuiness, and reflected on some key moments in the Troubles on which McDonald had reported.

Half of NI firms postponed or cancelled investment plans due to Brexit…

Brian O'Neill on August 20, 2018, 11:27 am

| Readers 3003

A survey by AIB bank shows that half of NI firms postponed or cancelled investment plans due to Brexit. As a business person myself I know in uncertain times you keep your money in your pocket to see how the future will pan out. You put off taking on new staff, you hold off on opening new premises, you don’t buy new equipment etc. But really caution does not just apply to business people but to any sensible consumer which is why we …

Could the skills system hold the answer to Northern Ireland’s productivity problem?

Soapbox on August 15, 2018, 11:01 am

| Readers 1956

In Northern Ireland we’re well-used to hearing bad economic news. What sits underneath much of this comes down to productivity – the value of what we produce by every hour of work. In fact, productivity here is almost a fifth lower than the UK average, and whilst the UK’s productivity rates are lower than some of our key competitors, which in itself is a significant structural problem, in Northern Ireland we have some of the very worst productivity rates in …

Talking over the heads of unionists has been tried and found wanting for nearly a hundred years…

Mick Fealty on August 14, 2018, 2:19 pm

| Readers 5839

Speculating about a border poll when no one is attending to business in the here and now is a bit like eating your packed lunch at 9.30. It leaves you nothing to eat at lunchtime. It may be helpful for a talented (and in my experience, diligent) economist like Paul Gosling to point out that with the right deal Northern Ireland could be economically better off in a united Ireland. But it is quite another thing to create the conditions where …

External Association and the Brexit Dilemma

Soapbox on August 13, 2018, 4:23 pm

| Readers 3375

The Brexit negotiations have been plagued with political point scoring and little ‘real’ progress since the onset. There is a whirlwind of media noise surrounding any development when in reality the only concrete thing to emerge recently is the Chequers deal. This serves to embed the perception that Brexit is an intractable enigma, a foreign and absurd entity the likes of which we have not seen before. In reality, this kind of complex negotiation that fundamentally seeks to secure bi-lateral …

Does recall purdah benefit Ian Paisley? Will it end up in court?

Brian Walker on August 11, 2018, 11:07 am

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Not only are there complaints that three centres are inadequate to cover the whole of rural North Antrim for recalling Ian Paisley and forcing a by election, but there are complaints about the purdah on comment it enforces too. This twitter dialogue from two leading commentators Michael Crick of Channel 4 News and Anthony Wells of YouGov covers the point. The 2015 Recall of MPs Act says that during the 30-day period NOBODY – journalists or anyone – …

Is a second referendum feasible? A dispassionate view from academics

Brian Walker on August 9, 2018, 3:59 pm

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The Constitution Unit of University College London headed up by Meg Russell has posed seven questions about a possible second referendum on Brexit in a blog post. Last month the Unit published the report of the Independent Commission on Referendums which can be read here. The summary… Would it be possible to hold a referendum in the time available? Isextending Article 50 feasible? How could a referendum be triggered? What might the options be? What form should the question …

Why do the DUP persist in ignoring the interests of their own supporters?

Brian Walker on August 9, 2018, 12:06 pm

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For decades, Barry White was a great part of the voice of the Belfast Telegraph, sometimes in his own name, as often in anonymous editorials. He was one of a trio ofsenior journalists, Roy Lilley, Ed Curran and himself who steered a difficult editorial path for the paper from 1970 arguing for the centre ground mainly from the standpoint of liberal unionism. The voice was that of reasonableness, by definition so often ahead of the real thing, although Barry wrote …

RTE’s celebration of John Hume feels like nostalgia for a time that has gone

Brian Walker on August 7, 2018, 8:59 pm

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RTE have just screened a documentary In the Name of Peace; John Hume in America by Maurice Fitzpatrick which the film maker has kindly drawn to my attention. Being in London I cannot access it yet nor have I read his accompanying book. But from the YouTube trail, this is a major celebration of John Hume’s life and work. Anybody who was anybody is in it, led by Clinton and Blair, although Jimmy Carter was not quite so dazzled. As …

Did Peter Robinson blunder into the border poll debate too early?

Brian Walker on August 6, 2018, 10:14 am

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Coming late to the Peter Robinson speech at Glenties and its aftermath, I’m struck by two elements of it, one of which has been hardly picked up. In the text I was offered, the discussion of a border poll which overshadowed the rest of it didn’t appear at all. Tommie Gorman of RTE has explained. I chaired the Friday evening session (27 July) in the Glenties Highlands Hotel where Peter Robinson was the guest speaker. The references to a united Ireland …

So when can we get married? An update on the campaign for same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland

Ciaran Moynagh on August 3, 2018, 7:46 pm

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We are coming to the end of another packed and exciting Pride week in Belfast. I’ve been struck by how many rainbow flags are billowing in the wind across Belfast city centre. From small newsagents to bars to coffee shops – it seems to me there are many more than previous years. I’m taking it as a sign of progress. I love Pride week, because it is the time of year when we hear the voices of people we don’t …

Ged Killen: “This is personal. Your rights are my rights. An injury to one, is an injury all.”

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on August 3, 2018, 10:42 am

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Watch back or read Ged Killen MP’s lecture for Amnesty NI as part of Belfast Pride, delivered on Thursday evening at Queen’s University. Speaking on ‘Marriage Equality – Winning at Westminster’ the Scottish Labour MP’s address was followed by a Q&A with William Crawley which included an update on the local legal cases surrounding marriage equality as well as discussion about efforts at Westminster and the stalled NI Assembly.

Parliamentary arithmetic may provide a bulwark against a “no deal”…

Mick Fealty on August 2, 2018, 10:16 am

| Readers 1818

So if the hard realities being expressed in Dublin are changing around Brexit, so too in Westminster, where the arithmetic remains eye-wateringly tight. An old friend once told me that with any 50/50 decision as things inevitably get harder, the slim positive majority melts and the will to carry it forward gets much tougher maintain. Very quickly. The last general election delivered just such a scenario. No one has a mandate to undo Brexit, but no one has the electoral …

Is the Taoiseach trying to ‘silence’ Micheál Martin over his handling of Brexit before December?

Mick Fealty on August 1, 2018, 10:02 am

| Readers 1841

An interesting couple of pieces in the Sindo at the weekend, regarding the confidence and supply arrangements between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and the growing tensions in their confidence and supply arrangement. Before Christmas, average polling showed little difference between the two parties: both averaging around the 30% mark in November. There’s been slippage since for Fianna Fáil: the party most divided over the abortion referendum. The terms of the arrangement are such that Fianna Fáil’s support for the government should last for …

Even if they don’t quite love us (and who can blame them?), British and Irish leaders want to show they care

Brian Walker on July 28, 2018, 1:57 pm

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At a time when all parties in Northern Ireland are feeling isolated and sorry for themselves for some reasons beyond their control and others self inflicted, it’s worth noting the two recent visits to Derry by senior ministers of both states. While these differed in style, purpose and content, both emphasise the basic British and Irish engagement that continues despite present tensions and breakdown. Earlier this month the Tánaiste Simon Conveney visited the unionist Fountain estate as well as the …

Migrant Rights as Civil Rights

Sipho Sibanda on July 28, 2018, 8:55 am

| Readers 1075

Sipho Sibanda is a migrant rights activist in Northern Ireland. Progress since the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland should not be understated. The decline of religious discrimination in areas such as employment, housing, voting rights, and education is considered one of the crowning achievements of the last 50 years. However, asylum seekers and migrants in Northern Ireland today face a host of curtailments to their rights. Many of these rights are the same as those which were at the crux …

Whatever Happened to the Good Friday Agreement? Review of Siobhán Fenton’s New Book

Gladys Ganiel on July 27, 2018, 2:22 pm

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Siobhán Fenton’s somewhat misleadingly-titled new book, The Good Friday Agreement makes for sobering reading. The aim of the book is to take stock of how far Northern Ireland has come since the 1998 Agreement, making it less about the Agreement itself than it is about the failure to implement it. Indeed, several times throughout, Fenton observes that it is not the Agreement that has failed. Rather it is Northern Ireland’s politicians who have ‘failed the Agreement.’ The Good Friday Agreement …