UUP – Page 16 – Slugger O'Toole

Women in Politics in Northern Ireland

David McCann on April 22, 2014, 11:25 am

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The issue of women in politics, or lack of them to be more accurate has been an issue pondered by academics, pressure groups and political parties alike for years. In September 2013, Michael Potter prepared a research paper on this topic for the Northern Ireland Assembly and his findings make for sobering reading as he states; The Northern Ireland Assembly currently has 21 female Members out of a total of 108 (19.4%), although 20 women were elected in 2011, the …

What makes a good local Councillor?

David McCann on April 13, 2014, 12:40 pm

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Over the coming weeks hundreds of people will be seeking a job with an interview panel of thousands asking questions about their ability to deal with local problems, create jobs and run local services. But, this year will be a little bit different as local councils take on a lot more powers. Speaking about the changes to local councils the Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Local Government Association, Derek McCallan, made the point that as a community we need …

OFMDFM: “open and transparent…” – redux

Pete Baker on March 29, 2014, 4:44 pm

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Via The Irish News. As UUP leader Mike Nesbitt says, “We’re not North Korea…” [Thankfully… – Ed] ANYhoo… The UUP leader has welcomed a recent (27 March) decision by the Information Commissioner (not yet online) that the Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers were wrong to refuse to release the results of market research, that they had commissioned, into the proposed Peace Building and Conflict Resolution Centre (PbCRC) at the site of the old Maze Prison. From the UUP press …

McCann meets…David Ford MLA #AP2014

David McCann on March 24, 2014, 7:50 am

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In my second interview from the Alliance party conference, I was able to chat to the party leader, Justice Minister, David Ford. In the interview we chatted about the conference, his predictions for the future growth of the party and the On the Runs issue. I asked him about the comments made by Anna Lo in the Irish News; If any leading member of the party had said that I have a long term vision that Northern Ireland remains within …

TUV, SDLP and UUP host victims commemoration at Stormont

Turgon on March 11, 2014, 10:47 pm

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Alan has a post on the Alternative Ms. Ulster event hosted by Steven Agnew at Stormont on Sunday complete with the inspiring / daring / indecent, speech/ behaviour by Ms. Park. In contrast yesterday the UUP, SDLP and TUV hosted the third annual day of remembrance for victims of terrorism. 120 people attended and three people spoke: Michelle Nixon who has been caring for her brother since he was seriously injured in 1979 by an IRA bomb in Rosslea; June …

Belfast’s Big Tweet Up-Thursday 13th March 7:30pm. #TweetupNI

David McCann on March 11, 2014, 6:26 pm

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Calling politico’s across the land-we are going to be hosting our big tweet up in McHughs bar this Thursday night from 7:30pm. We will have the finest collection of bloggers, politicos, journalists and politicians that a free basement in Belfast can buy. Plus we will have our guest speaker, the Lord Mayor, Máirtín Ó Muilleoir speaking at about 8:15pm. Then, we will have the musings of local comedian Mr Terry McHugh. We will also have cartoonist, Brian John Spencer drawing …

Organ Donation: Should we be ‘Opting in’ or ‘Opting out’?

Mick Fealty on January 18, 2014, 2:56 pm

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Okay, a short enough question to chew on for a bit. The core of this argument between JoAnne Dobson (UUP) and Alastair Ross (DUP) is that the former wants to change the law to make organ donation a default position which you and your relatives can opt out of, whilst Mr Ross’s proposed amendment would set it back to opt in system. So, for the moment leaving aside all the politicking and looking at the core question, what is wrong …

McCann meets….Jamie Bryson

David McCann on January 9, 2014, 6:27 pm

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When I put out a call for who I should interview on this segment Jamie Bryson’s name came up. He is a controversial character and invokes very few muddled opinions as the interview went out live on Lisburn’s 98FM the twitter feed went into action with people tweeting praise and criticism in equal measure. I wanted to treat Bryson like I would treat any interviewee, give him the chance to give his viewpoint and then give a critique to it …

DUP outflanks UUP on #Haass

David McCann on January 7, 2014, 3:46 pm

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When he went into his fight with George Foreman in 1974, Muhammad Ali used a strategy now famously called ‘rope a dope.’ At its core it is basically give your opponent enough rope and they will hang themselves with it. In Northern Ireland politics we have seen the equivalent of this today as the wiley old operators within the DUP have outfoxed their UUP rivals (again!). It’s not often I praise the DUP but like Sinn Fein with South Belfast …

Nesbitt recommends politics over further street protests; McCallister disses talk of “culture wars” in speech to Ulster GAA

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on November 10, 2013, 12:00 pm

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In other non-SDLP news, the Belfast Telegraph report that Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt has told party colleagues via an internal bulletin that the tactic of flag protests should cease. The tactics used to protest over the flag have alienated many who instinctively supported the cause … He warned against disrupting Belfast city centre and its traders for a second Christmas. I hear talk of rallies, parades and protests. As ever, I understand and support the right for lawful and …

Who has the youngest assembly group in NI?

David McCann on November 7, 2013, 1:07 pm

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I had to do a bit of research during the week on the assembly and the people who work in it. On the side I thought it would be interesting to find out just how old the average MLA is and what party has the youngest assembly group. Let’s begin with the overall picture-I surveyed the ages of 106 of the 108 MLAs-I couldn’t find the date of birth for two of them but this will still give me a good sample. …

“So, what was British policy?”

Pete Baker on November 1, 2013, 5:42 pm

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John mentioned, in passing, Alex Kane’s column in today’s Irish News. But, in reaching for his hyperbolical conclusion, he missed the more interesting part of the article. From Alex Kane in the Irish News. As far back as 1972 the Heath government introduced the concept of power-sharing, the ‘Irish dimension’ and the constitutional guarantee: and from that moment it seemed inevitable that any deal they would agree to (and hope that the Irish would underwrite with them) would be a deal …

DUP-are they really the voice of Unionism?

David McCann on October 27, 2013, 12:04 pm

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This piece is a bit delayed but rounding off the party analyses of the four major parties I present to you the electoral performance of the DUP over the past 15 years. Instead of focusing on gains that the party has made over the last number of years I thought I would take a look at the DUP’s constant charge that they are the true voice of Unionism. But before I go into the numbers I will briefly run through …

#UUP2013 Legacy proposals for mental health hub, education and the economy along with attacks on DUP and SF

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on October 20, 2013, 10:00 pm

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UUP members seemed on a high at Saturday’s conference. They were relaxed and not on edge. They’d put the party’s internal troubles (“shrinking to grow”) behind them. Not a single mention of Basil, John, NI21, David McNarry or even Lord Maginnis. No major slip-ups. No longer any talk about Mike Nesbitt taking over as Minister for Regional Development. Though under the calm water, there was evidence of some thrashing over council candidate selection and some older councillors changing their minds …

The fear of ‘them’: “They start a process of neutralisation” and then “they start imposing their Irish language [and] their Sinn Fein republican agenda onto everyone”

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on October 20, 2013, 10:12 am

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The UUP suffer from the same problem as their larger rival: there’s a tension between the leader’s more moderate language and the more traditional and hard line rhetoric of other elected representatives. Here’s a portion from Mike Nesbitt’s speech as party leader: [Mike Nesbitt] I say this to the pro-Union community: It is time to get on the front foot. Be confident. But be generous too. I am not the sort of Unionist who feels threatened by an Irish Tricolour. …

McCann meets….John McCallister MLA

David McCann on October 10, 2013, 8:35 pm

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Yesterday I sat down with NI21 deputy leader, John McCallister. In our interview we spoke about the upcoming NI21 conference, his relations with the UUP and the summer violence we have experienced. On his relations with the UUP; The hardest part (of leaving) was the strain that might put on some of this friendships and some people feeling diappointed or let down. When I look now and see where the UUP is…it has literally lost all sense of direction or …

McCann meets…..Michael Copeland MLA

David McCann on September 30, 2013, 7:42 pm

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Last week, I sat down with East Belfast UUP MLA, Michael Copeland. We talked about his entry into politics, the flags protests and the performance of the PSNI. I want to apologise first for the audio but here are some quotes that I thought were interesting On the Executive’s performance in tackling underachievement; Thus far in my view they’ve failed and they will quote figures of many millions of pounds invested in things like the Skainos project. To the average …

Alliance party-Is it really the Belfast party?

David McCann on September 22, 2013, 10:58 pm

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I often think of the Alliance party as the Helen Lovejoy of Northern Ireland politics. They are well intentioned but have suffered from a ‘do gooder’ image that they at times project out. In my last piece on the SDLP and UUP, I was very pessimistic about the future of those parties going forward. However, with the Alliance party, I would not make the same assessment as I think they do occupy a space in Northern Ireland politics that very few …

So we dislike our politicians-but what are we going to do about it?

David McCann on September 17, 2013, 6:13 pm

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In an earlier post I cited the latest Lucid Talk poll which showed Stormont’s approval rating at an abysmal 9%. This low approval rating while perhaps overstated does mirror a sense of disillusionment among the wider general public about the direction that we are heading under this current assembly. We have falling turnout at elections, gridlock in Stormont and a stagnant economy. When you consider all this it is little wonder that we have an apathetic electorate. However, I would …

Despite the hostility of the press “…it’s still the DUP which has the muscle to get things done”

Mick Fealty on September 10, 2013, 2:49 pm

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Interesting observations by Alex Kane on the internal life of Unionism… …the Orange Order’s decision to support Gibson’s participation is a very clear signal of their recognition that it’s still the DUP, rather than the smaller unionist parties, which has the muscle to get things done. The PUP also has some big choices to make in the next few months. The announcement that they will be contesting the 2014 Euro elections (first time since 1999, when David Ervine got 3.3 …