Wales – Page 8 – Slugger O'Toole

“This vote now draws a line under this issue…”

Pete Baker on January 29, 2013, 5:30 pm

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Or not, as the case may be. ANYhoo… A Conservative Party backed proposal to redraw UK parliamentary constituency boundaries has been defeated in the House of Commons. As the BBC reports MPs voted by 334 to 292 to accept changes made by peers, meaning the planned constituency shake-up will be postponed until 2018 at the earliest. It was the first time Lib Dem ministers have voted against their Conservative coalition colleagues in the Commons. The two parties have been in …

“Why can’t Great Britain look Northern Ireland in the eye?”

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on January 25, 2013, 11:15 am

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That’s the question Emer O’Toole asks in her Guardian Comment is Free article today. She reckons that “the media have been strangely reluctant to cover eight weeks of intense rioting in Belfast, yet this is a major UK event”. Great Britain’s attitude towards Northern Ireland has been puzzling me lately … There is a very strange reluctance to give due attention to newsworthy Northern Irish events in Britain. Trying to follow the recent happenings in the papers, I found myself …

Welsh Government to buy Cardiff Airport: What could NI Executive buy or sell?

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on December 18, 2012, 3:00 pm

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There’s money in those Welsh valleys. The Welsh government have reached an agreement to buy Cardiff Airport from its owners TBI. The BBC report: The airport would be run on a commercial basis by an independent operator on behalf of the government. It will not receive subsidies and should “demonstrate a return to the taxpayer,” [First Minister Carwyn Jones] said. Plaid Cymru welcomed the announcement and said the airport needed to be a “shopfront” for Wales, but Liberal Democrats are …

Are our versions of history sundering or reconciling us?

Brian Walker on December 13, 2012, 2:43 pm

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Martin Kettle in the Guardian pens a lament for the ignorance of the English about their own history. The outcome, he claims is a” loss of national self respect” and the threat of a disintegrating Union. For once, the term “English” is used deliberately. It’s a long time since AJP Taylor’s superb English History 1914 -1945 simply equated “ English” with “British,” and referred mischievously to “ the Scotch.” Could the opposite apply to us non-English , that overheated versions of …

Leveson report: the self-regulation carrot with the legislative stick

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on November 29, 2012, 4:59 pm

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It may be some time before Slugger posters finish reading the 1988 pages of Lord Justice Leveson’s report into his Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press. So here’s a short post in the meantime! [48 page Executive Summary; four volume full report] He said that the press had “wreaked havoc in the lives of innocent people” for many decades and called their behaviour (at times) “outrageous”. The report’s executive summary comments: Phone hacking is most decidedly …

Society of Editors meeting in Belfast – Leveson, distribution, tablets, journalism training and dead trees #SOE

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on November 12, 2012, 7:53 pm

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The Society of Editors – representing newspaper, broadcast and online editors – is holding its annual conference in Belfast. Lord Leveson’s report is due out within weeks and discussion about the possible models of regulation and how editors would live with them was set to dominate the agenda. The BBC’s difficulties have cast their shadow over proceedings too. The outgoing President of the Society of Editors – Fran Unsworth – filmed a quick video message to welcome delegates to the …

Bangor born David Montgomery plans return to regional newspapers

Brian Walker on October 28, 2012, 11:33 pm

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Sky News’ City Editor has “ an exclusive” which on the face of it promises new investment in hard pressed regional papers under Bangor boy and staunch Unionist David Montgomery. Iliffe News & Media, owner of the Cambridge News and Hertfordshire Mercury, and Northcliffe Media, the regionals arm of Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT), are in advanced talks to pool their assets into a new vehicle spearheaded by David Montgomery, the former editor of the News Of The World …

Will the Scottish independence debate ripple south of the border and across the Irish Sea?

Brian Walker on October 16, 2012, 11:04 am

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At last, it’s game on for the Independence Debate. London based comment has decided that on balance David Cameron had the best of Round One, or the “Edinburgh Declaration, “ as Alex Salmond dubbed it with typical initiative-grabbing grandiosity. Salmond of course hasn’t conceded any such thing. Leaving the wording of The Question aside for later debate, some of the wider ripple effects have been noted. Tory opposition means 17 year olds will be able to vote in the Scottish referendum, which is …

#London2012: What did it mean to you, then?

John Ó Néill on August 15, 2012, 9:01 am

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With barely enough time to catch breath after all those golds, there has been a glut of reflections on how the London Olympics have either redefined or exhibited a new Britishness. Over at the Daily Mail, Dominic Sandbrook is unequivocal, calling it a rebirth of Britishness: Coming so soon after the triumph of the Diamond Jubilee, which reaffirmed the deep bond between the British people and our Royal Family, the Games have been a valuable reminder of everything that most of …

#London2012: Blake, Jerusalem and the re-imagination of a new looser Britishness?

Mick Fealty on August 13, 2012, 1:52 pm

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This is a short except from a longer conversation I did with Pat Kane on Saturday morning on the Opening Ceremony (ie, before it fades from memory). Pat’s view is generally positive (“a triumph for creative London”) we started off with a short conversation on Danny Boyle’s successful tableaux for the opening ceremony, not least where it leaves independence seeking ‘celts’ like himself… If you are puzzled by where all this generosity towards Britishness from an advocate of Scottish independence is going, …

How was #London2012 for you: Scotland, Ireland, England and GB?

Mick Fealty on August 10, 2012, 7:27 pm

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For those of you intrigued by the digital lunch format, but not really that grabbed by the subject matter, here is something that might interest you… Tomorrow morning myself and the Scottish thinker cum singer, Pat Kane (he of Hue and Cry) will be talking about the London Olympics and what they mean for all of us, Irish, Scottish, English, and British. Starts at 10pm… If you can make it, give us your comments, questions and extended thoughts below? Mick …

Nuance or dissent? The SNP, NATO and internal party management…

Better Together on August 8, 2012, 7:39 pm

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David Torrance has written in the Scotsman about the upcoming SNP Conference debate on potential membership of NATO in an independent Scotland. Torrance notes that a quiet U-turn, initially planned for a June meeting of the National Council of the party, has been pushed up to Conference level after an apparent mis-reading the temperature of the party: “…to have at least seven SNP MSPs prepared to oppose the leadership’s position at conference constitutes a significant rebellion, certainly the biggest since Alex …

Red Arrows Perform Olympic Flypasts Across UK

Pete Baker on July 27, 2012, 6:18 pm

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The RAF Red Arrows are performing formation flypasts across the UK to mark the start of the London 2012 Olympic games. Starting in Edinburgh at 12.23pm, Belfast was the second stop at 1.01pm, followed by Cardiff at 4.21pm with the Olympic stadium in London scheduled for 8.12pm. The BBC video from Belfast is not embeddable, but here is some eyewitness video from Belfast. And another one [Loving the red, white and blue smoke trails over City Hall – Ed] Don’t tell Máirtín… Pete …

Bovine TB and badgers: “This approach has not been tried anywhere else…”

Pete Baker on July 15, 2012, 3:26 pm

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The different approaches of the various administrations in the UK and Ireland to attempting to eradicate bovine tuberculosis [TB] in wild animals, specifically badgers, are worth noting. They are all in response to the EU Directive 64/432/EEC which, as the Welsh adminstration’s website notes, “requires Member States to provide plans showing how they will eradicate bovine TB in cattle.” In England, the UK government is pressing ahead with badger culling, despite the opposition of animal welfare groups like the RSPCA. In Wales, the Welsh …

“I respect those who believe that he should shake hands with the Queen as part of his role, but it does not mean that I personally have to support this.”

Pete Baker on June 25, 2012, 10:33 pm

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There’s been a bit of a political kerfuffle in Wales over the forthcoming ‘historic’ meeting between the Northern Ireland deputy First Minister, Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness, and the Queen as she tours the UK to mark her Diamond Jubilee. [Mark Devenport is on tour?! – Ed] No, he’s not the Queen. As the BBC reports A Plaid Cymru Assembly Member is taking a break from Twitter after describing Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness as “naive” for agreeing to meet the Queen. Apparently, …

The raising of school leaving to 18 is momentous, yet I hadn’t noticed. Had you?

Brian Walker on June 22, 2012, 3:32 pm

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For someone priding myself I stay in touch, I find that sometimes this emperor has no clothes. There I was, tut tutting over Michael Gove’s leaked plan to scrap GCSEs and guessing that Northern Ireland would be compelled to follow suit. Guessing? It’s inconceivable that NI could afford to be different however the nationalist parties might grumble. Even in supposedly transferred matters, devolution is exposed as strictly limited. I confess that the Education and Skills Act 2008 had passed me by. …

Close down under.

Dewi on June 16, 2012, 4:45 pm

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An astonishing last 10 minutes of New Zealand – Ireland. Penalty just too far for Sexton, daft decision by Owens, a Carter failed drop goal touched in flight, a scrum five and Carter finishes it. As for Wales…give me strength. Ireland BBC Report: Ireland BBC Report Wales BBC Report: Wales BBC report DewiWelsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and Railways…

Pick up the Church’s gauntlet over gay marriage

Brian Walker on June 14, 2012, 6:37 pm

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In the latest twister among the ecclesiastical storms over gay marriage, Simon Jenkins in fine form denounces the obscurantism of the Church of England.(P.S. First time round, I missed Mick on dear old Ken who on this one isn’t yet wise enough to be embarrassed in polite company). In their latest move calculated to raise the stakes with political opinion, the C of E is fulfilling its modern self-appointed role and speaking for all denominations including the Catholics. Jenkins , an agnostic who …

Policy-making in the age of austerity: a case for more speed, more consensus, more politics?

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on June 14, 2012, 9:33 am

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A trio of organisations published a report this morning on Policy-making in the age of austerity. [Link to download PDF report] The Consultation Institute, Stratagem and Objective Corporation used Northern Ireland as a case study to examine how the current consultation fatigue could be overcome with more meaningful, timely and useful processes. The report’s authors outline four challenges to current patterns of policy-making: expenditure constraints (“cash shortages can render existing policies unworkable and hasten the time when they need to …

Ed Miliband spots the gaping hole in the case for the Union. Can he fill it?

Brian Walker on June 7, 2012, 10:22 am

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With the fluttering of Union Jacks alive in the memory, Ed Miliband has chosen the gap between the diamond jubilee and the Olympics to widen the argument over Scottish independence. It’s an appropriate moment. “We’ve concentrated on shaping a new politics for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. But some people in England felt Labour’s attention had turned away. That something was holding us back from celebrating England, too. That we were too nervous to talk of English pride and …