McAleese

In memoriam of Sgt John McAleese MM (Retd)

"...from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion."

First

For those of who don't know, I have become a Belfast City Councillor after being co-opted to replace Alderman Ian Crozier.  This will have some implications for the blog which I haven't quite worked out yet but will discuss at a later date.

Between summer disruptions in the Council schedule and my own holidays this has been my first full week as a Councillor.  Those of you who know me will also know my like for numbers.  Also it is one of those roles people don't know what their local Councillor does (although the workload of a Belfast City Councillor is somewhat different from the avergae NI councillor). So here is my first proper week as a Councillor by the numbers to see if that helps understanding of the role.

Required reading (Council meeting papers)

478 pages

Committee Business

3 meetings (Total of 7 hours duration)

Constituency Issues with Council officials

3 meetings (Total of 2 hours 30 minutes duration)

Meetings with Constituents

4 meetings (Total of 4 hours duration)

Topics included NIHE maintenance, private landlord properties, environmental improvements and parades.

Meetings with Party Colleagues

2 (Total of 2 hours duration)

Constituency Issue Letters

3 sent

Constituency Issue Emails

9 sent

Constituency Issue Phone calls

7 made

Note: This is in addition to my full-time job and family commitments.

Producers

A note to mainstream and independent television producers in Northern Ireland - here is an example of how a programme on the value, positivity and power of a minority language can be made that provides access to all and a sensible use of celebrity to broaden the audience.  Congrats to BBC Scotland.

Kiss

I have the open plan office all to myself right now so enjoying this monster track full blast.

Travers

The appointment of Mary McArdle, a member of the PIRA murder gang that murdered Mary Travers (and attempted to kill her mother and father), has raised a number of issues which are already being discussed around the unsuitability of the appointment, a review of the process of appointment already underway and the predictable Stalinist line from Sinn Fein where keeping the old comrades sweet takes its usual high priority over basic political sense.  However, there are three side issues that have not been particularly touched on.

First, there is media treatment of victims.  The three families of victims have managed to gain and maintain significant media attention for their particular cases.  These are the McCartney family, Raymond McCord and now the Travers family. Beyond the persistence of the families and articulacy in the media there is a consistency in their experience. Namely that the perpetrators and victims were drawn from the same nominal community.  Is this consistency a coincidence or does the media draw a conscious or unconscious distinction between murders within and murders between the communities here?

Second, is the easy ride that the SDLP have been given on the issue.  They have been vocal in their support for the Travers family.  However, this is the SDLP that supported the release of terrorists early from prison.  This is the SDLP, as IJP points out, that backed an IRA bomber being appointed a Mayor within days of objecting to McArdle's appointment. This is the SDLP that refuses to support reform to the definition of an victim. Ponder this for a moment if the police had shot the armed McArdle in the follow-up operation rather than arrested her then the SDLP position is that Mary McCardle and Mary Travers would have the exact same status of victimhood.

Third, some have been surprised by the reaction to this appointment.  They shouldn't.  The selective nature of the examination of our past so far was going to cause a build-up of anger which would attach itself to a particualr issue.  However something more significant could be happening.  The decisions of dubious morality that are taken to end a conflict are not always validated by time. Hence, the lack of furore about Leo Green's appointment but the anger about Mary McArdle's.  Sometimes past decisions are rejected by those who come after because the recognise the dangers they hold for a better society.  Perhaps Northern Ireland will prove to be one of those places.

Blank

Now that the electorate has sent me back to spend more time with my blog here goes. The issue of the number of spoils came up with the three elections being blamed.  However there may be a further issue not being discussed.

At the North Belfast tallies there was an interesting new phenomenon among the spoils from nationalist areas. There was a noticeable growth in the number of blank ballots.  In subsequent conversations with members of other tally teams the same issue was spotted in other republican areas.

What is a likely explanation of this?  No dissident grouping was advocating this approach (AFAIK). Sinn Fein have a reputation for being able to identify who hasn't voted during election day and getting them along to the polling station.  It would appear some may be going along at their encouragement, taking their papers but not casting their vote.  We are dealing with dozens possibly creeping over a into the low 100's in a single constituency but possibly worth adding into the discussion on spoils.    

On

Mixed

Apparently spending money on the Maze site is a waste (24-27 seconds):



But also not spending more to regenerate it is a failure (29-31 seconds):

Toe

In his latest column Alex Kane reflects on the "diem horribilem" of the UUP.  As regards the McGimpsey's decision on the Altnagelvin Cancer Unit he describes it as:

"...as a bizarrely ill-judged and ill-timed decision..."

While on the internal splits he highlights how that this was not a low level spat but caused by senior party members who simply should have known better:

"One is a former chief whip; one a former leadership contender; and the other is presently the deputy leader. All are senior figures, all are candidates and all are breaking the rules and causing yet more existing and potential voters to delete the UUP from their list of options."

Neither is a good backdrop for a party trying to claim that it is dedicated to deliver and to making Stormont work for you.

However Kane's proposed solution is problematic.  He believes that the party rules should now be enforced against all three to ensure they toe the line and that this would prove popular with the party membership.  This would simply guarantee that the story continued during the campaign - three senior members in key constituencies being subject to disciplinary charges would do little to assist an already faltering campaign.

The time for enforcement was in the past few years since the rules were introduced.  It is not like any of these three do not have form for example McCallister broke with the party position on water charges, McNarry is a repeat offender across numerous issues with McCrea a close second.

Kane also argues that this type of situation wouldn't arise in the DUP because the party's action would be:

"... immediate and brutal."

This is a common perception which I have previously argued is a misconception.  The DUP's culture is as much a product of common sense rather than enforcement.

Fever

It appears the election fever has gone to the TUV economics spokesperson head.  David Vance is now deeply disturbed about the potential cuts to the public sector and accusing others of U-turns over the issue of Corporation tax. With furrowed brow he states:

"Four years of such annual corporate cuts would mean more than a billion pounds being removed from the block grant by a delighted Treasury."

His worries for the public sector are something of a revelation. He displayed no such concern about the public sector before he chose to run as a candidate.  He previously stated (scroll down to comments):

" I would happily reduce the public sector – shred it."

Vance even feigns concern for public sector workers stating that:

"Having to sack teachers and nurses in order to boost business profits is an intolerable asking price"

He was not so concerned about public workers when he declared on his blog:

"Let's put the public sector parasites under the microscope - either let them perform or be sacked. Better still, privatise them all anyway!"

On when he dismissed teachers and nurses as part of a parasite sector that:

"These are the people who take the most sick leave, who enjoy the most generous holiday provision, who are guaranteed indulgent pension provision, but yet they need more. If they can’t afford to buy houses in 7/10 UK towns, then I’m surprised any houses at all are sold to their less well off private sector counterparts. This is pure spin, more moaning from the State workers — give us MORE!" 

Where were nurses in his thoughts when he made the demand to:

"Axe our NHS!"

As to U-turns he's doing one of his own, on Corporation tax he used to be a cheerleader for it:

"(I favour a 10% rate myself, let’s CHALLENGE the Republic and watch the corporate exodus Northwards!)...With my commercial head on I can fully understand and support the push for low corporation tax. I can see all kinds of benefits for all of the peopl of NI."

Although his flip flop on this is not surprising when his boss Jim Allister has done the same.

Vance once stated his belief that:

"I happen to believe that being in politics tends to lead to corruption - it's one reason I am glad I'm not on the front-line."

It appears that his attempts to enter the front-line has led to a corruption of his beliefs.