Another intelligent report from Hearts and Minds’ Julia Paul. This time it’s the Republic of Ireland’s Finance Minister Brian Lenihan’s budgetary patriotic call to arms shopping aisles.. Irish shopping aisles to be precise [as opposed to? - Ed]. Indeed....
Also from today’s Politics Show. Ulster Unionist Party leader Reg Empey seemed better prepared, than on Tuesday’s Stormont Live, to answer the question about “where stands things” with the UUP/Conservatives “electoral pact”, while the DUP’s Jeffrey Donaldson did his best to introduce troublesome talking points for his former party [and its leader - Ed]....
Over at Brassneck I’ve a piece on how the politicisation of the Baby P case is likely to be detrimental to finding a solution to one of the most intractable forms of homicide in Britain… Jennie Bristow has another angle on the politicisation of the Victoria Climbié case that’s worth reading in conjunction…...
First it was to launch by this year’s end. Then by St Patrick’s Day next year. Now, the satellite Diaspora TV service is to be postponed, possibly until the end of 2009 and given the bleeding edge cuts in the domestic budget, possibly indefinately. According to Minister Eamon Ryan there are 850,000 Irish born people living in Britain (and last year’s Broadcasting Act imposes obligations upon the state broadcaster to provide a service outside the island). Brian Greene suggests they just use RTE 2 for its orginal purpose (ie for the rights problematic programmes) and take the Sky encryption off RTE One… As he says: Simple! In the meantime Irish TV reckons it’s two fingers up to the Irish in Britain from the mandarins of Montrose… The Irish Post...
I’m a bit late starting the blogburst this morning, so here’s one I wanted to include before 11 o’clock today. The guy singing is a Canadian Irishman called Terry Kelly; the song is called A Pittance of Time....
This is for hard core linguists and determined political anoraks… Torcuil on Brown’s Guildhall speech in London tonight… Mar a maigheann e fein, ar son an chraic…...
Hazel Blears may be the butt of comedy amongst right wing bloggers, but many of them seem to harbour a healthy respect for her. Yesterday she gave a speech at the Hansard Society (Matt has the full script), some of the more interesting end of which was picked up by my colleague James Kirkup. She was particularly scathing of bloggers… Guido retaliated… then Michael White retaliated back… Justin was never going to be convinced… Will is not under the sneaky control of those who want to squash his voice (that’s Canada to you and me...) more from David, Alex, Alix, and a few links at Journalism.co.uk. Most are angry, about the alleged anti blogging slant… Over at Brassneck, I’ve tried not to take the bait…...
In addition to the £46million dual carriageway, over £19million has been spent on securing an unrestricted airport licence for the City of Derry Airport, with £4-5million coming from Derry City Council. The rest was part of the funding offer from the UK and Irish governments - and then there’s the secret deal with Ryanair.. From the Derry Journal reportDeputy Town Clerk John Meehan said the costs are likely to be reflected in next year’s rates estimates but added it is too early to tell how much they will add to the rates bill locally. “That is what the City Treasurer is now working on. We have just begun the rates estimates period. There will be significant challenges on the capital front but it will be up to members to decide that,” he...
Finally an account of the Brand/Ross affair I can kind of buy into (must be your age - ed). John Waters echoes some of the points I made on Brassneck last week (Slugger thread here) He can’t have read it though, since I belong beyond the moral Pale in the blogosphere:
Brand belongs to a generation for which comedy is almost literally everything, and the laughter factor the only reliable test. The kinds of energies which previous youth generations expressed through music, art or protest have in his generation compressed into a single essence: a dissociated blend of ridicule and humour that lacks roots in any form of empathy.
This comedy obsession arose in large part because this generation had its capacity for idealism usurped and frustrated by the couple of...
Over at Brassneck I’ve argued that what stands out from the Brand/Ross affair is the vacuity of the gesture:; and by implication the vacuity of much of the protest. It’s partly a long term cultural problem of rampant Modernist philistinism, and partly political. So far as the latter is concerned, Paulie reckons the BBC’s critics are only too well aware of the underlying issues of ownership and power, whilst the Left is left (illiterately) scrabbling in the dark. Here’s Enemies of Reason on why some people hate the BBC…...
His Grace Lord Cranmer picks a very Protestant argument with a very Catholic Cardinal:
...writing an open letter to the Prime Minister, in which the policies of a democratically-elected government making law through the legitimate processes of a representative Parliament are compared to those of Nazi Germany, is not remotely acceptable.
Walks away slowly shaking head…
BTW, if you don’t get the title, check out the first story on today’s Blogburst…...
Halifax Bank of Scotland have decided not to join the Republic of Ireland’s bank guarantee scheme, despite previously saying they would join to ensure “a level playing field”. They’ve cited the UK government’s banking bail-out. From the Irish Times report.“While the scheme has its merits, and it may suit some of our competitors to join, from our strong financial position it doesn’t suit us,” Mark Duffy, chief executive officer at Bank of Scotland (Ireland), said in a statement. “It would ultimately prevent our ability to offer a better deal for our customers,” Mr Duffy said.
And, if David McWilliams is right, they’ll also avoid sharing liability for any banks in the scheme that do fail.....
The First and deputy First Ministers may have had separate, but equal, meetings with Taoiseach Brian Cowen today [more on that stalemate here] against a backdrop of internal Fianna Fáil dissent over the medical card confusion, growing unease about the Home Choice Loans scheme, and criticism from the Church of Ireland, if not any mention, yet, of the Lisbon manoeuvring.. And, in referencing Brian Lenihan’s comments, Henry McDonald makes an important observation in his Guardian article - just as protest politics appears to be on Sinn Féin’s agenda again.If the Stormont coalition – a devolved administration still inside the UK – is no longer envisaged as a “stepping stone” towards fusion with the republic, then perhaps it would be better...
This one is from Slugger but was brought to our attention by the indispensable Insider column in the Belfast Telegraph and came via an elderly relative of mine who spotted it in the hairdressers this morning…
By The Insider
IT must be a strange time for UUP supporters. There the party was getting pally with David Cameron, amid much talk about a new pluralist political force emerging here.
Now this week, leader Sir Reg has a cheery meeting with Traditional Unionist Voice supremo Jim Allister on maximising the unionist bloc vote in next year’s Euro election. And let’s not forget a past dalliance at Stormont between the UUP and PUP.
The award for most brutal putdown is won by a post on the Slugger O’Toole blog site:
“You know, I’m going to run...
Here’s a fascinating report from RTÉ on comments by the Republic of Ireland’s Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, responding to queries about the Budget on RTÉ Radio this morning.The Minister for Finance has said an increase in the number of people travelling North of the border to do their shopping had made things ‘very, very difficult’ when he was framing the Budget.
He said there was huge loss of revenue to Northern Ireland, because of the number of goods and services being purchased there by shoppers from the Republic. The Minister said this substantial expenditure meant the Government had to impose higher taxes for essential public services.
Minister Lenihan said this was the consequence if people opted to buy in another State. He said the...
Quentin Letts is apparently a brilliant Parliamentary sketchwriter, according to the Daily Mail. I was just alerted to his 'genius' over at asbo Jesus and i HATE these things. 50 people who wrecked Britain? And we are meant to see him as some authority on Britain and why it is fast declining into a bigger mess than we would like? Ok, i am not particularly bothered that he slates Graham Kendrick heavily in the list, it is probably socially acceptable in most Christian Circles to slag Kendrick off a bit. Its like Cliff Richard really, we know he is a legend BUT he should retire for the good of our ears. Really though, while these poor folks were wrecking Britain what was Letts doing? He was making a list of things to give the Daily Mail readers a chuckle about while they commute to work!...
John Woods of Friends of the Earth is the only Northern Irish resident to make it into the Independent on Sunday’s top 100 Environmentalists in the UK. It’s worth just taking a bit of time out to the variety of people who’ve made it. It describes him as “the dynamic head of the pressure group Friends of the Earth in Northern Ireland who took the Government to the European Court for failing to curb sewage pollution there - and won. The judgment led to an ambitious clean-up programme of investment in new sewage works.” He also has a very dry sense of humour......
Economic concerns loomed large on Stormont Live today. First up there was some to-ing and fro-ing between UUP MLA David McNarry and the Northern Ireland Finance Minister, the DUP’s Nigel Doods, on a claimed budgetary short-fall before, in the studio, economist Neill Gibson attempted to bring some clarity to the discussion - Adds related story here.
Then down to Dublin, and Shane Harrison on the pre-budget speculation, and back to Neill Gibson again....
A truly awesome Brit Blog Round Up from Redmption Blues. She raises a number of topics, not least the abortion non debate in Northern Ireland, a few thoughts on which I hope to kick in later today. Good reportage and some warm words on the Slugger Awards too…...
If I can grab the time from preparations for tomorrow, I’m hoping to do a piece on financial crisis over at Brassneck. But I see Slugger is not the only blog with the ear of the London Media. Conall’s post on the UK Treasury’s financial exposure has been taken up by the BBC’s flagship Today Programme website as their web pick of the day (It’s inside the big blue quotation marks!). ...
Whether the Oireachtas is, as Brian put it, “performing an awful lot better than the US political system” is open to question. Whereas in the US public concern at the bail-out was reflected in the initial Congressional vote, in the Oireachtas the extension of the tax-payers’ guarantee reflected political concerns in the UK and the EU. The US Senate has now passed the bail-out bill back to the House of Representatives. But in the Republic of Ireland, despite Richard Delevan’s description of the move as “inspiration”, the sceptics are now starting to be heard. Morgan Kelly, writing in the Irish Times, argues that - “The Irish Government should have done what the Swedes did in 1991.”Effectively the Irish banks are...
The report in the Sunday Tribune on the Oireachtas Select Committee on Education and Science report on teaching modern Irish history contains a compelling argument.History teachers said they avoided Northern Ireland because it “can raise discriminatory attitudes in class and name calling”. There was little support for introducing it in the classroom, they said.
Other reasons given by teachers for avoiding the subject were they felt they lacked knowledge of the subject and believed they could not compete with the information the students got from their communities and families. [added emphasis]
But the report warns this will have to change. “If students do not learn about modern Irish history in a school context, will they be skilled enough to interpret what...
There have been reports this week that Downing Street will back a bill arising from plans by Labour MP Chris Bryant to overturn the constitutional bar on Catholics becoming monarch, to be implemented in the government's 4th term- if it ever happens. It has long been argued that the exclusion of non-Anglicans runs contrary to the modern-day standards of equality under the law, as reinforced by the European Convention on Human Rights which became entwined with British law by the Human Rights Act 2000, and the Guardian newspaper has even previously backed a legal challenge to the Act of Settlement 1701 on these grounds. The reforms have been given a broad welcome by constitutional pressure groups although it is not clear that the British government understands the constitutional...
In
Catholic,
Constitution,
European Convention on Human Rights,
heriditary principle,
Actof Settlement 1707,
Anglican,
anachronism,
House of Lords,
irrational,
Bishop,
monarchy,
Britain,
Republic
On Lisbon, Ciaran takes issue with John Maguire’s passionate espousal of ‘popular sovereignty’. In the course of his argument Maguire asserts that “a well-functioning polity depends on trust, to be earned by representatives from citizens, and not vice versa.” Well, yes. But then surely that’s precisely what the electorate do every time there’s a general election? Ciaran:
I don’t see how it’s ‘perverse’ to say that some decisions are better left to the people we hire to make them. Sneering at that idea undermines the whole notion of representative democracy. We hire politicians to represent and it’s a worrying sign that we then resent them doing that when they have the time (and at least some have the...
In my first year in England on our way to Liverpool from Portsmouth, my first car broke down. Cutting a long story short, the three of us split up and hitched instead. My last lift was in a brown mini filled, as it happened with four Scouse squaddies. It turned out they were all huge and in the Irish Guards. Two of them had cousins on the Falls Road. It’s an old tradition. Now it seems more people from the south are flocking once again to join the British army. Some of them former members of the Irish Defence Forces. H/T Dermot....
In the Guardian, Henry McDonald on the deadlocked Northern Ireland Executive and the mother of all DUP-Sinn Féin battles to come in September.The mother of all DUP-Sinn Féin battles to come remains the policing and justice question. According to reliable sources Peter Robinson and his team met a senior delegation of Ulster Unionists at Westminster last week during which the first minister spoke in rather hardline, belligerent terms about the issue.
He, and indeed Gerry Adams (who has also hardened his rhetoric over what he regards as DUP intransigence) could be bluffing. Both parties enjoy the limited power they exercise and in all likelihood know that it is the only show the British and Irish governments will tolerate.
But, like politicians and economists accused...
David Cameron’s dash to Georgia at the weekend completely caught out Labour. The man with no discernable foreign policy outwitted the specialists and made Labour look slow witted by comparison. But can he live with his promises to back Georgia?...
What’s been astonishing at this Olympic games is just how well the British appear to have performed in comparison with past outings. Ireland’s performance in comparison begin to point not at lack of talent but structural weaknesses in the way sport is funded. Generally, Northern Irish competitors have with Team GB fared much better, hitting finals in several sports and in the case of Wendy Houvenaghel from Upperlands in Co Derry who took silver in cycling. Yesterday, the UK papers were at pains to point out just how potent the Lottery system has been at micro funding athletes at critical stages of their development, though it seems to me that that is only part of the story. Serious amounts of central funds have been committed in infrastructure as well as in importing...
A timely quote from Anthony McIntyre in a Sunday Times article by Liam Clarke on the publication of Good Friday, The Death of Irish Republicanism, as the Sinn Féin leadership struggle to reconcile themselves with the “indigenous” ground rules.“Republicanism is effectively dead. It is dead as a strategy that can deliver anything. It can’t cope with the principle of consent, it can’t out-manoeuvre it and it can’t overcome it, so it has had to reconcile itself with the British ground rules,” he told me. “Republicanism is just an aspiration — that’s what it has been reduced to. Although there are still republicans, we are just the survivors of the wreck.”
Btw, there’s a reference in the article to Jonathan...
Steven King spends much of his time in London these days nevertheless keeps a close eye on Irish matters with his weekly column in the Irish Examiner. This week he’s been ruminating on the Tory party’s decision to spurn the advances of the DUP (it’s thought the party had tasked Jeffrey Donaldson and David Simpson) to love them up into some more formal collaboration.
Inevitably perhaps, the First Minister and his wife take a bit of a roasting:
Calling homosexuality an “abomination” might be biblical but it was hardly going to endear the DUP to a Tory shadow cabinet that includes two openly gay MPs and is desperate to appear in touch with modern, secular, multicultural Britain.
As if enough damage hadn’t been done, Mrs Robinson then claimed that...