Despite the best efforts of the Orange Order, there is no prospect of an electoral pact between the two main Unionist parties. All eyes now roll west to Fermanagh South Tyrone. Is this effectly a bye for Michelle Gildernew to retain the seat for Sinn Fein? Or does the DUP think there’s a chance they can take it alone? Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the …
Alex Kane has another Ulster-born term to go with the more famous whataboutery and northsouthery. It’s ya-boo-suckery! Two polls have him worried. On in the London Times that says voters are fed up with squabbling amongst politicians. And the other is the Belfast Telegraph poll that contains an ominous message for the UUP: 16% and last place amongst the ‘big four’ parties. A poor place to be when, as he expects, the negotiations begin some time after the next elections.By …
In his weekly column for the Irish Daily Star, John Coulter notes that the UUP failed to draw much more than half its delegates to the most recent meeting of the UUC. But, he wonders, what’s happening over at the unusually quiet headquarter of the DUP in East Belfast?By John Coulter With Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionists trying to out-celebrate each other over the weekend, we are left still pondering – why is the DUP so quiet these days? …
The Orange Order is about to end its 100 year link with the Ulster Unionist Council, the body which set up and (notionally at least) governs the UUP this Saturday. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
AM I right in thinking that a unionist candidate has just become the new President of Queen’s University Students’ Union? Maybe not such a cold house after all, if this is indeed the case..? Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
Daily Ireland carries an interesting piece charting the reaction of several Loyalist spokesmen to their targeting by an unnamed website. We think we’ve found the site in question but, unusually for us, considering its main purpose seems to about gathering intelligence on anti racist activists, rather than putting a point of view, we’ve declined to post a link to it.DI quotes one particularly emotive passage: Notice there are no union flags on this parade. Plenty of red ones though. How …
THE Sunday Times reports that the Irish President is “pleased and relieved at “the generous reaction” to her apology, which was generally accepted by unionists“. Following her apology, a “delighted” Orange Order is now to reschedule a meeting with McAleese, which it had cancelled immediately after her comments.While one Sindo columnist said Mary McAleese spoke for him in her initial comments, the News Letter leader says that despite the apology, the damage has been done. Ruth Dudley Edwards suggests that …
THE Second World War seems to have provided plenty of ammunition to unionism’s critics, with Professor David Miller’s ‘Red Hand/Blue Peter’ comments and President McAleese’s remarks causing much offence this week. Miller was speaking at Queen’s University last night, and the News Letter caught up with him to ask about his comments. Miller said he was surprised by the furore, adding that he knew of the red hand’s use in GAA and denied he was making a comparison between unionism …
Interesting thoughts on the role of Ian Paisley from the N Irish Magyar blog. Paul notes that whilst Paisley has come out well in not believing anything the Republican movement has said in public, he still stands accused of having weakened Unionism in the cause of making himself the role of undisputed leader. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular …
Trevor Ringland argues that the Republican movement may well have unified the people of Ireland in ways it had not intended, and provided a bottom line for further movement forward, for Nationalism and Unionism.As one door closes another one opens. Someone said that often we then spend too much time looking back at the closed door. Do not get me wrong the Agreement is not dead but it is in cold storage. For how long will depend on Nationalism/Republicanism. For …
Slightly tongue in cheek account of Johnny Adair’s celebration with friends from Belfast and group of admirers from Dresden. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
The Examiner speculates on the future plans of Johnny Adair. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
Continuing with Frank Millar’s book, one of the most striking passages early on is the almost random way Trimble seems to have come into his kingdom. As many of his internal critics would probably recognised it seems to have relied more on gut instinct than and forward calculation.His rising media profile, gave him a key advantage over the other candidates – not least that famous jig in Portadown. He’d also calculated that, barring John D Taylor, he was the most …
In the first of a two part column, Alex Kane asks, now the price being asked by Sinn Fein has proved too high for any of its numerous opponents, what exactly are either of the two main Unionist parties planning to do about it?By Alex Kane This column has never been very generous to David Burnside. Yet, in an article in last week’s Sunday Times, extracts of which were carried in the News Letter on Monday, he raised a number …
Dermot Nesbitt argues that zero sum dynamics underlying the current working of equality agendas are causing more injustices than they are solving. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
Andrew Charles argues in a letter to the editor of the Newsletter that the DUP has in priniciple agreed to arrangements it was previously inveterately opposed to – in particularly their willingness (albeit pending visible IRA decommissioning) to guarantee the future stability of the North South bodies. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, …
Alex Kane considers the options open to his own party, the UUP, in wake of a future deal between the DUP and Sinn Fein. Whilst acknowledging the risks of refusing to take their allotted seats on the Exective, he sketches the potential for setting up an vigourous opposition freed enough from the inclusive d’Hondt mechanism to scrutinise the work of ministers to a degree that the precludes.By Alex Kane Let us assume – and, at the time of writing, there …
DR JOHN COULTER is a Northern political columnist with the Irish Daily Star. Here, he focuses on Daphne Trimble’s failure to secure the Lagan Valley Westminster nomination and argues that it is evidence of a new wind of change within the UUP. This could be the first stage in a final leadership coup against her husband.Ulster Unionist spin doctors at party HQ in Belfast’s Cunningham House have been working overtime to explain the Lagan Valley association’s ‘strategy’ in dumping the …
Alex Kane is relatively upbeat about his party’s prospects after its first racour free Conference for years, and an admittance from its Chair that it has been punching below its weight. He also thinks that DUP will prefer to do a deal on the return of Stormont in advance of next year’s Assembly elections!By Alex Kane The Ulster Unionist conference went much better than many people had predicted. Numbers were up on last year and there was a much more …
Interesting byelection result from East Antrim. Andy Wilson (a Slugger alumnis), has taken a council seat for the UUP. The turnout was very low, 19.28% as opposed to 59.38% last time. But the UUP emphasises that low turnouts in the past has hurt them. Their share of the vote was marginally up to 39.11% to the DUP’s 37%. The real difference came on the second count with the UUP 856 and the DUP at 678. They managed to soak up …
