The SDLP leadership candidates, ranked on internet use and internal organisation
The SDLP elects its fifth leader this coming weekend, with four male candidates in the running (the deputy leadership has been filled, without contest, by a woman). Since 1998, when the party topped the first preference tallies for the first Assembly election, the SDLP has lost votes and seats at almost every election cycle (the [...] more »
Kevin Myers’ ‘Watching the Door’: Book Review
This reads as if a mad picaresque tale. Myers as first a reporter for RTÉ and then as a freelance journalist with no real experience, finds himself wandering into savagery as he hastens north as the Troubles explode. A soldier dies next to him; he witnesses an IRA ambush; he sees children shot to death [...] more »
I share the Irish public’s dismay at the cost and unfairness of this policy
In this morning’s Irish Times, the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, offered everyone the wisdom of his thoughts on the payment of a €700m unsecured unguaranteed Anglo-Irish Bank bond. The whole piece is worth a read. He states that: Part of the existing agreement with our external partners is not to allow any Irish bank, including Anglo [...] more »
NI Water: Another Chief Executive resignation?
The BBC’s Jim Fitzpatrick reports that NI Water Chief Executive, Trevor Haslett, has “signalled that he wants to leave and return to private consultancy”. Haslett has been in the post for almost 10 months, after stepping into the vacancy caused by the defenestration of former Chief Executive Lawrence MacKenzie. From the BBC report NI Water was created as [...] more »
Twitter RTs: Or how lies can still travel faster than truth?
In the wake of that extraordinary piece of Television last week in Dublin, Stephen Waddington, a PR specialising in Digital Comms in London has this nice piece on the problem of RTing on Twitter, often without looking at the original content… I particularly like this from @domburch: Adds This is also relevant from a couple [...] more »
Changes to civil partnership legislation retain discrimination
The News Letter is reporting the latest change to the UK’s marriage / civil partnership laws. Civil partnerships are to be allowed in churches and other places of worship: this had been forbidden under the original Civil Partnership arrangements. From the News Letter: Equalities minister Lynne Featherstone said: “The Government is committed to advancing equality [...] more »
Companies arm twisting Westminster on ‘growth fund’?
How many times have we heard big private sector companies threaten to pull out if they don’t get Government goodies. Aviva, after throwing shapes at making itself in Ireland is now in the throws of moving back to the UK (with cost many jobs). But Jim Pickard highlights some digging Sunny Hundal’s been doing over [...] more »
Your questions for the SDLP leadership candidates?
As Alan notes, Paddy Power (the people who brought you Martin McGuinness at 3/1 for the Aras) now has Alex Attwood as favourite to win. To be fair that probably reflects a good campaign for Alex, and would considerably turn the table on our crowd sourced predictions from a few weeks ago. Indeed the Irish [...] more »
SDLP go to the polls this weekend – a look at the voting process as Attwood becomes the bookies’ favourite #sdlp11
SDLP delegates go to the poll this weekend to select a new leader to succeed Margaret Ritchie. Party HQ will be busy selecting suitable triumphant music for the winner to enter the hall to on Saturday evening around 5pm. This morning, Paddy Power lists the odds 11/8 Alex Attwood 7/4 Patsy McGlone 3/1 Conal McDevitt [...] more »
Adams damning McGuinness with faint praise..?
IT would have been easy for Gerry Adams to be fulsome in his praise of Martin McGuinness’ presidential campaign. Instead, the intro to Gerry Adams’ latest blog entry seems both ambiguous and odd – although the former may be politically ingrained and the latter blamed on his a faux folksy writing style. And – for [...] more »
McGuinness and the unintended messages of #Aras11
One SF member I spoke to when trying to ascertain whether Martin McGuinness was going to run for the Irish Presidency, dismissed it honestly by suggesting it would ‘send the wrong message’. I’m not sure if the message picked up by Malachi O’Doherty was the one he had in mind, but for once it concerns [...] more »
The Act of Settlement and the unravelling of the UK Constitution?
The News Letter has a fascinating quote from Wallace Thompson: “We are in danger of moving towards that full-blown repeal of the Act of Settlement and the overthrowing of the Protestant basis of the monarchy. I think it would be a very serious development for the United Kingdom. My loyalty to the throne is based [...] more »
Euro crisis: “The Greek government has become adept at playing Europe’s leaders…”
The Guardian’s Business blog team are live-blogging events following the ‘bolt from the blue’ that was the Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou calling for a referendum on the ‘rescue package’. And there’s an emergency Greek government cabinet meeting at 4pm [GMT]. BBC business editor, and still everyone’s hero, Robert Peston, looks at “the price of Greek democracy”. Opinion [...] more »
Sinn Fein’s increase was “an average of a mere 37 votes a constituency”
I’ve just been talking to Ian Parsley, who sounded a somewhat sceptical note on the effective crippling of Sean Gallagher on Frontline last Monday. It remains a great moment of television without a doubt, but Ian wonders if it was more like the Sheffield rally was for Neil Kinnock, whose stock was already on the [...] more »
The underlying difference between Catholics and Protestants is economic…
Given nothing much is happening up at Stormont, its hard to define real political difference between the DUP and Sinn Fein… But here, the European Central Bank (PDF here) can fill in the void with a reading from two Swiss Cantons, Vaud a French speaking Protestant state in the east and Freibourg, the French speaking [...] more »
“…what that did was to make telling lies an excusable and acceptable tactic”
Ed Moloney traces Sinn Fein’s failure to meet its own targets in the race for the Aras to the attempt to re write history viz a viz Martin McGuinness’s career with the IRA. In particular he is puzzled as to why something that started as tactic has been elevated to the level of strategic template: [...] more »
National identity will be central to Higgins’ Presidency…
Maurice Hayes reckons Michael D Higgins is the right man to start a more inclusive (and less prescriptive) debate on the nature of a post troubles Irish identity: It was different in the South, where these events became remote, seen through the soft focus of ‘The Wind that Shakes the Barley’ or the weekly ambush [...] more »
Euro crisis: “And all bets are off if Europe does not start to grow again…”
At the Guardian’s business blog, Graeme Wearden is live-blogging the European debt crisis, as the “OECD predicts some negative growth in eurozone in 2012… and calls for “bold” action from the G20, Italian bond yields hit 6.13%, Markets fall as bailout deal euphoria peters out, [and the] Euro crisis drags MF Global to the brink“. Meanwhile BBC Europe editor, [...] more »
“Republicans had expected to do better because the conditions were so favourable”
Liam Clarke in the BelTel today with his views on Sinn Fein’s performance in #Aras11 (Liam says 6, and maybe 7 out of 10): It was less than they expected, but it left a solid base on which to build in every constituency. Their share of the first preference vote was 13.7%, compared to 9.9% [...] more »
Bogus Twitter accounts, plausible deniability, and the use of unqualified leads…
As Chris notes, no one in current Sinn Fein will cry any tears over the way the Irish media tripped over itself to gobble up the fake story of Sean Gallagher and the cheque that never was… Update: It seems that the @Martin4Prez2011 (official) & @McGuinness4Pres (bogus) were born on the same day. But, as [...] more »
Green Party NI conference, the visit of Alex Attwood, and criticism of MLAs who can’t read or believe the speeches written for them
I encountered a confidence within the Green Party in NI at Saturday’s conference. Their conference attendance was a tad smaller than the Workers Party event on the other side of Belfast. While the party was relieved to have Steven Agnew elected in Brian Wilson’s vacated seat (running against Wilson’s wife who was standing for Alliance) [...] more »
Thoughts on Robert Black’s conviction
Last week saw another of the murderers of the past brought to justice. In this case, however, there was absolutely no controversy. Robert Black was convicted of the 1981 kidnap and murder of Jennifer Cardy. Black had already been convicted of the murder of three other little girls and is suspected of a number more. [...] more »
Terrorists: the good, the bad and the ignored
I blogged my views about Gusty Spence previously. However, Mr. Spence’s death also raises the issue of how ex-terrorists (or ex-combatants for those who prefer the term: exactly how the actions committed terrorists could be called combat is bizarre, but I digress) are viewed especially by the media. The way in which the media views [...] more »
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Help me with the West Wing: Essential viewing or Party Political Broadcast?
Having somehow managed to avoid watching a single episode of the widely praised West Wing TV series I was delighted to discover the entire Box set in my Christmas stocking – and with enough spare time over the holidays to give it a good lash. But with 10 episodes of the first series under my [...] read our review »
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The peace process not such a good model after all
Which reminds me…. Platform for Change’s driving force Robin Wilson has produced a corrective to the notion that the lessons of the NI conflict are easily exportable. Like myself, Robin is associated with the Constitution Unit. He introduced his new book in a CU blog which I here reproduce. The water crisis in Northern Ireland [...] read our review »
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Sunday Supplement
It being Sunday, we’ve all got time to consider and ponder things at greater length than during the working week, yes? If it’s good enough for the Sunday papers, it’s good enough for this guest blogger. So here’s the review section… Actually, it’s my introduction to a book published last year, Goin’ Down Slow: selected [...] read our review »
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