UK – Page 55 – Slugger O'Toole

“No single template to condemn, punish, prevent and understand terrorism at the same time…”

Mick Fealty on May 26, 2017, 8:53 am | Readers 790

Just putting this from Rafael Behr here… Just as there is no one model that explains the terrorist’s motive, there is no single template that enables a society to condemn, punish, prevent and understand terrorism all at the same time. There is no elegant solution to the paradoxes of tolerant societies harbouring enemies of tolerance, and the defence of freedom sometimes demanding illiberal measures. It is because no one person can get it right that we have rival parties in …

“at the collective level, something funny is going on in terms of our reality testing…”

Pete Baker on May 24, 2017, 3:30 pm | Readers 981

Some interesting thoughts [as ever! – Ed] from the writer and novelist Will Self in an interview in the Irish Times today. If Self was concerned about the impact of technology seven years ago, what about now, when the overwhelming impression for many people is that the world is spinning faster and faster? Or is that just another technological illusion? “Oh no, I don’t think it is. It is absolutely not an illusion. Anybody smart – no, let’s not get …

We should envy the people of Manchester their sense of solidarity, but defiance in the face of killers is not enough

Brian Walker on May 24, 2017, 1:16 pm | Readers 1705

British reaction to the Manchester atrocity has not yet reached the level of reproaching the authorities for “ the one that got away.” But it soon will, if the reaction to 7/7 is followed. MI5’s investigation into Crevice threw up 55 individuals associated with the plotters. MI5 said it would have liked to have pursued all of them. But it was a matter of resources and only 15 were seen as “essential” targets. The remaining 40, including those later identified …

Yes, Corbyn condemned the IRA. And the rest

Elaine Crory on May 22, 2017, 4:42 pm | Readers 6331

Yesterday Jeremy Corbyn allegedly refused to condemn the IRA when pressed multiple times during a television interview. This sent various media into a frothing overdrive, delighted Conservatives, and apparently set off the whataboutery alarm at DUP headquarters, who immediately and predictably declared Corbyn “beyond the political pale”. Except, of course, he did not refuse to condemn the IRA. Rather, he insisted on condemning the IRA and any other perpetrator of violence by condemning “violence on all sides”. James Brokenshire, who …

Shock horror EXCLUSIVE! MI5 had Jeremy Corbyn under surveillance into the 1990s, for “links to the IRA”

Brian Walker on May 20, 2017, 6:38 am | Readers 3162

Billed as “Exclusive, MI5”, the Daily Telegraph splashes with a predictable twist on an ancient theme, that Jeremy Corbyn had been under surveillance for having “ links” to the IRA. This is the flip side of the super-patriotic coin that supports army veterans in their campaign, backed by Theresa May, against prosecutions for illegal actions in Northern Ireland and now supported by the Commons Defence Select Committee. It’s so much easier than thinking to take sides and leave it at …

It’s easier to get rid of a hard border

Brian Walker on May 19, 2017, 10:57 am | Readers 3371

Vincent Boland has written a major piece for the FT magazine (£) entitled “Dividing Line: Brexit and the threat to the Irish Border“. The article is all more absorbing for being written for the casually interested globalised audience that is the FT’s typical readership. Boland doesn’t deal in economic statistics or confusing politics but on the intense, often harrowing experience that remains the living legacy of the Troubles on both sides of the physical border. And here he identifies the …

London View of #GE2017: Quick thoughts on the latest polls and manifestos…

Steve Moore on May 19, 2017, 6:51 am | Readers 890

The poll trends remain good for May and Labour. The Tory strategy to liquidise UKIP and neutralise the Lib Dems could hardly have gone better. They have an average 17 point lead over Labour in all the polls in May. The perception which has concreted is that they will not just win but do so by a landslide. That still seems the most likely outcome. However their colossal leads have precipitated two unexpected events; a bolder than expected Tory manifesto …

Conservative manifesto very warm on the Union, cool and correct to the Republic, no mention of special status in ” a comprehensive free trade and customs agreement”

Brian Walker on May 18, 2017, 6:27 pm | Readers 1549

TORY LAUNCH: Here I concentrate on those matters of specific interest to Northern Ireland. Remember that while manifestos tend to be mainly broad brush, they convey a sense of direction. The rhetoric of this one is modern British Unionist, as would be expected with the Union under threat but it avoids Rule Britannia jingoism.

“Cars being stopped and searched is not going to happen”

Pete Baker on May 18, 2017, 4:40 pm | Readers 1505

Whilst the BBC quote, at length, the concerns about a post-Brexit border of “a former customs officer in Donegal” whom they interviewed on Radio Foyle, the Irish Revenue Commissioner’s lead official on the topic has been speaking at a conference on Brexit in Dublin organised by the British Irish Chamber of Commerce. From the Irish Times report The operation of a post-Brexit customs regime can be automated and simplified and does not need customs points with Northern Ireland, the Revenue Commissioner’s …

Barra McGrory has a better view of justice than politicians who undermine it with thoughtless talk

Brian Walker on May 18, 2017, 11:05 am | Readers 2103

If someone with Barra McGrory’s background and CV cannot be trusted to perform the duties of DPP fairly, we may as well hand the whole justice system to a UN commission of Finns, Norwegians and a few Daleks. What his glib critics disregard first is the freemasonry ( metaphorical term) of the legal profession across the divide which survived the Troubles and helped make him the right person at the right time for this high profile job. It’s also worth …

Has Britain (or indeed Ireland) got Government Talent?

Ed Straw on May 17, 2017, 2:22 pm | Readers 1324

I was struck by the new French President speaking about those to be recruited to his government: I will choose them for their experience, their competence, what they have done and not for what they represent or their political weight… Gosh. There’s a thought. Leaving aside whether you think he is a good or bad thing, what a contrast this is to Westminster/Whitehall and even Holyrood, Cardiff Bay or Stormont (when it is actually up and running). What will we get …

Brexit: Little Northern Ireland can only brace itself, whilst the grown-ups decide

Mick Fealty on May 16, 2017, 6:20 pm | Readers 3072

I was asked earlier by a French journalist if I thought Brexit was playing in the upcoming election. Not much I said, or at least in the overt campaigning, which is largely about who wins and who loses. I expect it is playing well enough on the doorsteps for the DUP (who alone of all the NI parties went with it). SF’s agitprop approach of scaring the bejesus out of their base will work for them too. Though they weren’t very …

Brendan Duddy deserved a Nobel Peace Prize too

Brian Walker on May 15, 2017, 7:31 pm | Readers 805

Coming soon after so much painful reappraisal that accompanied the death and burial of Martin McGuinness, a tribute from Peter Taylor to a man who was unambiguously a peacemaker, as reported in the Irish Times. Broadcaster Peter Taylor – who revealed Mr Duddy’s role as an intermediary between the IRA and the British government in a 2008 documentary – also said he believed the Derry businessman deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. Brendan took many personal risks for peace,” Mr …

The UK rejects the EU timetable for negotiations. A border solution will have to wait

Brian Walker on May 15, 2017, 12:37 pm | Readers 2812

A pat on the back is due for Slugger for anticipating this reaction to the EU negotiating guidelines. The FT (£) has picked up Brexit Secretary David Davis’s interview on ITV’s Peston show yesterday “How on earth do you resolve the issue of the border with Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland unless you know what our general borders policy is, what the customs agreement is, what our trade agreement is?” he told ITV’s Robert Peston. “It’s wholly …

“So let nobody speak of a progressive or anti-Brexit pact either…”

Pete Baker on May 14, 2017, 6:38 pm | Readers 1512

In Saturday’s Irish News, Newton Emerson with some impertinent points about electoral pacts in the forthcoming General Election on June 8. From the Irish News Sinn Féin has ordered the SDLP to stand down, although sadly not to dump arms, in North Belfast and Fermanagh and South Tyrone. Let nobody call this a nationalist pact, as that would involve reciprocation and Sinn Féin has not offered to stand down anywhere. Sinn Féin’s stance is doubly impressive when it risks handing …

Theresa May’s flying visit will not halt the strange ebbing of British authority in Northern Ireland

Brian Walker on May 13, 2017, 8:12 pm | Readers 3004

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

Brendan Duddy RIP. A peace maker in real time

Brian Walker on May 13, 2017, 7:30 pm | Readers 780

It is remarkable, in an age of sophisticated back channels and espionage replete with digital and satellite communications, how a modest domestic background figured so significantly in the moves which eventually led to the ceasefires – and all the more effectively for it. The problem was how to establish trust when contacts had to be deniable, were often dangerous and were frequently interrupted by another piece of violence. Key contacts were often made in Derry, presumably because the town never …

Fake News and False Balance undermine Victims’ Human Rights

Patricia MacBride on May 12, 2017, 6:21 pm | Readers 1151

Last weekend was the second anniversary of the rightsinfo.org website. To mark the event, a panel discussion took place during which the site’s founder Adam Wagner stated that “fake news was old news in human rights” and that people “have been convinced by newspapers for years and years that human rights are a villain.” He was joined at the panel discussion by Buzzfeed Special Correspondent James Ball who said “The bigger problem is…essentially the much wider ecosystem of material which …

Tony Blair assures EU that May is sincere about a frictionless border; sees need for small amendment to the GFA

Brian Walker on May 12, 2017, 2:09 pm | Readers 1491

Am I on my own in becoming weary of yet another of the great and good speaking in general terms about the future of the Border? Tony Blair, addressing a European People’s Party gathering in Co Wicklow was at pains to declare his confidence in Theresa May’s sincerity over wanting a “ frictionless “border, even though by rejecting continuing membership of the single market and free movement she has made it the problem without a solution so far. “I …

Special status for the North is a possibility from Barnier’s speech. Would the UK agree?

Brian Walker on May 11, 2017, 1:58 pm | Readers 3421

EU negotiator Michel Barnier and the Irish government seem to be inching their way towards special status – sorry – arrangements, for the North. The EU is there for you, Ireland and so is a close partnership with the UK based on a fair free trade agreement – but ( only!) after sufficient progress on EU citizens’ rights and the financial settlement. So declared Michel Barnier in a speech to the Oireachtas that seemed designed to calm the worst Irish …