The Assembly – struggling to face cuts reality
In the interests of Slugger’s ” better politics campaign”, I sat through the on line coverage of the special Assembly debate on the cuts. (Note the lack of a full report on the MSM). MLAs were united on three things: that the British government had broken their promises, that MLAs themselves had to unite to [...] more »
See you later?
Don’t forget, the Great Big Politics Pub Quiz is on tonight at The Black Box. Online ticket sales have ended but you can pay on the door. The throw-in is at 7.45 but the doors are open at 7.30pm. Don’t be late – we won’t wait for you…. A few points to bear in mind: [...] more »
Wikileaks: Media playing the man rather than the ball?
Mashable have a great intro to the Julian Assange walk out from a CNN interview on the basis that the interviewer had switched from the hard politics angle on his Iraq war leaks to the human interest angle of (he says false) allegations about him in his personal life. Assange is a tough cookie not [...] more »
Dyfodol S4C (In Welsh to test the waters…)
I gychwyn y ffeithiau: 1) Y BBC i ariannu S4C o incwm o’r drwydded. 2) Yr ariannu i ddisgyn o’r swm cyfredol o c. £100m y flwyddyn i gyfanswm o £83m erbyn 2014/15. 3) Partneriaeth rheoli ar egwyddorion cyffelyb i BBC Alba i gychwyn erbyn 2013/14, gyda Awdurdod S4C yn cytuno a rhyw fath o [...] more »
Political Innovation No7: Breaking the monopolies that control the way schools are designed
This is a cross-post by Ian Fordham – originally posted on the Political Innovation site here. I’ve been following the Political Innovation project quite closely over the last month or so and the innovation that I would like to propose represents a synthesis of many of the other ideas in this series. I work in [...] more »
Call for Inquiry into Enniskillen Poppy Day Murders
The twenty third anniversary of Northern Ireland’s second Bloody Sunday is fast approaching, when, on 8th November 1987, the IRA murdered 13 people (Ronnie Hill died after 13 years in a coma following the bomb) by detonating a bomb in Enniskillen’s Catholic Church reading rooms. The News Letter is reporting that the Historical Enquiries Team [...] more »
“What do you propose?” The Executive must answer
As MLAs stir themselves to return for a special debate on the cuts, will the Executive try to fill that other black hole, the answer the to the question : “what do you propose?” It’s not good enough for the parties to unite only to blame the Brits. They have to start behaving as a [...] more »
Thank you…
As many of our regular readers will know I’ve been away from Slugger for these last few weeks for family reasons. I have a lot of a people to thank. Not least Paul Evans for his sterling ongoing work on the Slugger Awards and the various Political Innovation events. Not to mention our great blogging [...] more »
Five Irish parties avoid the unpalatable truth
Eoghan Harris does his best to separate the Labour Party from its Connellian heritage and argues that Connelly himself would be less than impressed with Eamon Gilmore’s one way bet on the public sector interest. That of course is a moot point, but he notes that the roots of the problem lie with Fianna Fail’s [...] more »
Voices from the Grave
Coming up to the Halloween holiday, some people might be frightened of the idea of Voices from the Grave – but for others, the chance to hear an oral history of the Troubles from the mouths of two (in)famous protagonists, PUP leader and former UVF member David Ervine, and Brendan “The Dark” Hughes, is not [...] more »
Brian Arthurs: “Republicans cannot see Irish unity in any of this.”
The ongoing saga of “prominent Co Tyrone republican” Brian Arthurs’ legal challenge to the ruling that he and his wife should stand trial in a non-jury court, on charges of converting criminal property and obtaining a money transfer by deception, received an update on Friday. A panel of High Court judges had rejected Arthurs’ legal challenge in June this [...] more »
Photograph of the Day – William and Victoria
Ulster Says No (neigh)to the cuts. Taken at yesterdays ICTU organised rally which, by my estimation, had at it’s peak between 3500- 4000 people in attendance, (though the umbrellas made it difficult to guage). The building site that is Royal avenue also played it’s part in making it difficult to count the numbers. more »
“The events of 1641 transformed Irish history and, as a result, can be justly said to have transformed British and world history as well.”
The BBC notes the online publication of controversial historical accounts of the 1641 rebellion in Ireland. It’s the result of a three-year project, led by researchers at the Universities of University of Cambridge and The University of Aberdeen and Trinity College Dublin, in which 19,000 pages of the original depositions were transcribed. From the 1641 depositions website Traditionally the [...] more »
IDS the Merthyr expert
The Western Mail reports on Iain Duncan Smith’s comments on the lack of mobilty of Merthyr people. Mr Duncan Smith said people in Merthyr “didn’t know if they got on the bus, an hour’s journey they’d be in Cardiff and they could look for the job there”. He added: “We need to recognise the jobs [...] more »
NI Finance Minister: “they are probably delaying or seeking to delay the whole process of trying to make a budget.”
The BBC reports Northern Ireland Finance Minister, the DUP’s Sammy Wilson, criticism of today’s protest in Belfast by the trade unions. …Mr Wilson said unions were “giving false hope to people that somehow or other by holding placards they can avoid these financial choices”. He also accused the unions of using the cuts to gain political clout. [...] more »
John Hume voted “Ireland’s greatest”
John Hume wins the RTE competition, followed by Michael Collins, Mary Robinson, James Connolly and Bono ( at least according to the Irish Times report. Ryan Tubridy announced the losers ” in no particular order”). Pity no voting figures were given for the phone-in poll. But there we are. No Taoiseach made it to the [...] more »
A film……..600+ photos
The 15second film festival asked me and fellow artist KVLR to make a film. It’s comprised of 600+ individual photographs stitched together in final cut pro. KVLR, aside from doing the painting, also did the music. I think we may well do another one. If you go to any of the films being shown at [...] more »
“it’s up to the Executive whether to sell assets like Belfast harbour”
The Northern Ireland Executive met today [To decide what planet they're living on? - Ed] to discuss the outcome of the 2010 Spending Review. Apparently, they now want to meet with either the “Coalition Government” or the “London Government”. In their statement they can’t decide which. Perhaps the UK Government would do? How about the Northern Ireland Secretary [...] more »
John Harrison RIP
News of the overnight death of photographer John Harrison will have shocked everyone who knew him. He was a gentleman of the highest order and his easy manner and unerring eye ensured that he was able to capture photographs that will last long into the future. I always found John to be encouraging and thoughtful [...] more »
Great Big Politics Pub Quiz – prizes update & reassurance that you don’t have to attend with a fully formed table
Politicos! We feel your pain. We know that you’re desperate to go to The Great Big Politics Pub Quiz, but you’re cursed with normal friends who would rather dip a tender extremity in acid than go and get bamboozled by questions about The East Lothian Question*. Do not despair. You can still join the fun [...] more »
“We believe this is a crude attempt to circumvent the proper and long-established channels of financial accountability within education”
The BBC notes the declared intention of the board of governors of Catholic grammar school Loreto College to end academic selection from 2012 or 2013 – you can check the most recent figures on Loreto’s academically selected intake here. By the way, how is that review going? And the BBC report quotes the Catholic Principals’ Association chair Seamus Quinn CPA chair [...] more »
Slugger Politics Award pitch: Let actions speak louder than words
We all love the soundbite and those caustic comments that cuts to the bone, and occasionally we even like well thought out policy decisions, but what we should really award our politicians for is honest hard graft. Good constituency work is the only way you can get to know the people and form those policies, [...] more »
“three extra votes remain unaccounted for” (Michelle Gildernew remains MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone)
At lunchtime, the Lord Chief Justice delivered his judgment on Rodney Connor’s petition and declared that Michelle Gildernew was duly elected as MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency. He found that “there were some issues with how the counts were conducted” and three extra votes remain unaccounted for. However, the Newsletter report Sir Declan [...] more »
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