Northern Irish Blogs.com

In the topsy-turvy paradox that is Northern Irish politics we have constitutional republicans (in the wider European sense) that are called 'nationalists' (the SDLP), nationalists pretending to be republicans (Sinn Fein) and, most strangely, 'unionists' (the DUP) who possess arguably the strongest sort of nationalism on the island- Ulster Nationalism.   This point is demonstrated most clearly in recent weeks by Iris Robinson's comments regarding homosexuality and her attack on secularism.  Iris's political development seems not to have embraced any Enlightenment thinking whatsoever and is stuck solidly before the epoch-making French Revolution of 1789- maybe stuck even as far back as 1690!  Her views and those of the DUP have no place whatsoever in modern Britain except...

In 2005, Mary McAleese made some ill-advised comments on unionism and naziism. She apologised. In 2008, she visited a school in Coleraine in her home province of Ulster and was greeted by a small minority of the community providing heckles, foul-language, vocal complaints that she was not welcome, and placards reading 'Irish Money Not Wanted' and 'We Are Not Nazi's' [sic]. Am I the only one who spots the irony in...

This week's announcement by Education Minister Caitríona Ruane that she would be bringing forward new plans for secondary transfer which included an element of examination was interpreted in one of two ways: as a climbdown in an attempt to win support from the other parties, or a climbdown because she realised she couldn't follow through on her "exciting" plans to abolish the eleven plus.It's quite clear that Ruane is crumpling under the pressure- she doesn't know where she's going and has given no indication of what her plans are. If Margaret Thatcher was the Iron Lady known for not turning, then it's becoming apparent that Caitríona Ruane is the Tin Foil Lady. After all, her plans are shapeless and amorphous, lightweight, crumple under any pressure and are easily torn apart.And if...

A decade has passed since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, and things have changed utterly since then for the people of Northern Ireland. Of course, they could have changed a lot earlier had the extremists now in power endorsed the Sunningdale Agreement in the 1970s, but the track record of those slow-learners is now the stuff of the history books.I read Peter Robinson in the News Letter the other day pouring cold water on the Good Friday Agreement, claiming it was a failure. In reality, of course, today's Assembly and governmental institutions are based almost wholly on the 1998 document. The St Andrews Agreement was nothing more than a stage show, a mere poor imitation of the Good Friday Agreement organised at the taxpayers' expense to give the impression that the DUP and Sinn...

Former Ulster Unionist councillor Harvey Bicker has joined Fianna Fáil. The ex-British soldier has not been active in frontline politics for several years. Whether or not one is a supporter of Fianna Fáil, it's certainly good news that those who formerly pledged allegiance to the British Crown are beginning to turn to the Irish...

The SDLP, having weighed up what was on offer in the budget against its serious shortcomings, voted against it- fair play to them. Margaret Ritchie stood firm in the face of the DUP/ SF axis bullying tactics and managed to squeeze extra money from them for much-needed social housing. However, it remains an essentially right-wing, anti-community budget. There is of course the lack of detail on water reform and education, and by the recent performance of Nigel Dodds with regard to the abolition of relief for the installation of energy efficient measures, the two big parties cannot be trusted to deliver unless they spell out exactly what they are intending to do.Some people don't seem to be able to get their heads around the concept that the SDLP are in the Executive as a right, not because...

I must apologise for my irregular appearances on the blog of late- a new computer is winging its way to Áras an Bhlogador so with any luck my contributions will resume a somewhat more orderly rate of publication. As it transpires, Pól has been keeping a steady hand at the helm, guiding El Blogador safely away from being dashed on the iceberg of irrelevance.Today saw the current Assembly's first budget. After all the wrangling of recent months over who was getting what from the proverbial purse, Margaret Ritchie's department emerged as the 'victor', which in effect means that the people in our society who need help to get a headstart in life are the victors.Despite being bullied and harrangued by the DUP/ Sinn Féin axis, Margaret has stood firm on a range of issues such as the...

It would be remiss of me to not post on the departure of Nuala O'Loan from the post of Police Ombudsman. For the first time in the history of Northern Ireland, the police service was held to account upon her taking up her position. The job of Police Ombudsman left in the hands of a lesser person may have proved ineffective, but Nuala faced down personal insult and downright ignorance from unionist politicians and certain members of the PSNI to help bring us to a position now where people from all sides of the community feel that they can have at least some faith in the system.Let us hope that Al Hutchinson has even some of the balls of...

Today is 8th May 2007: D-Day. Of course one could debate whether the 'D' stands for 'Devolution' or just 'Delay'- after all, we were in this position in 1998 but some parties failed to recognise the real opportunity we had at that time to make a real difference to people's lives here. Never mind.It has been a bizarre spectacle in recent weeks to see Paisley and the Provos practically salavating at the idea of governing together- all being well, this apparent goodwill will be carried forward to the executive table. After all, a battle a day will not result in any victories but merely bruised political egos and delay in delivering on the issues which affect people's daily lives.It will also be interesting to watch the SDLP and UUP- finally released to some extent from the burden of carrying...

The recent Police Ombudsman's report into collusion between RUC Special Branch and UDA in north Belfast produced a predictable chorus of faux outrage from the two main unionist parties. However, a report in today's Sunday Life would seem to indicate that their knee-jerk reaction was, shall we say, slightly unwarranted, with the news that Ulster Unionist MP Robert Bradford may have been shot thanks to Special Branch/ IRA collusion.At 11.30am on Saturday 14th November 1981, three provos carrying ladders and dressed in painters' boilersuits arrived at a community centre at Benmore Drive in Finaghy where Rev. Bradford was present. They first shot dead 29-year-old caretaker Kenneth Campbell and then pinned-down an RUC bodyguard and assassinated Rev. Bradford, who was MP for South Belfast at...

Despite his claims that the March 26th devolution date was "set in stone", NI absolute ruler Secretary of State Peter Hain has agreed to the DUP's call for it to be moved to 8th May.So much for standing firm.But is there any need for a delay? Absolutely not. If the DUP has accepted in principle that it will go into government with Sinn Féin (and the SDLP and UUP for that matter) then it is wholly indefensible to leave control of the north in the hands of unaccountable direct rulers for a minute longer.This new delay is simply the DUP flexing its muscle- there is no legitimate reason for it, but rather Paisley and friends want to show who is boss of the block and that they call the tunes. And yet again, the British have given them exactly what they wanted.Thankfully it seems that water...

I just realised that it's a week since I last posted- intervening elections, results and hangovers have impeded further writings on El Blogador. So the people have spoken, and the DUP and Sinn Féin have been the victors this time. I may not like it, but congratulations to them. Sinn Féin in particular managed their vote excellently, managing to bag five seats in West Belfast and get candidates through on the first count in a number of constituencies. Hopefully we'll get government up and running by the end of the month, and over the course of the next few years the parties can be judged on their performance rather than their rhetoric.Meanwhile, it is quite clear that serious post-match analyses need to be held by the UUP and SDLP. The UUP in particular suffered heavily in these...

I saw Jeffrey 'Jump Ship' Donaldson on the Politics Show this morning saying that the inbuilt power-sharing arrangements of the Good Friday Agreement should be scrapped in favour of a voluntary coalition. Does Jeffrey seriously think that any nationalist would agree to a system that would have an inbuilt and permanent unionist majority?! The only party that the DUP would go into coalition with is the UUP, essentially resulting in a 100% unionist government. And even if voters weren't happy, is there ever any real prospect of DUP or UUP voters switching to the SDLP or Sinn Féin? Of course not! No matter what, any government under that system would be made up of the DUP, UUP and any other unionist microparties that happen to be knocking about.In 'normal' democracies, voluntary coalitions...

Election communication from the UUP and my choice of candidates to vote for are.David McNarry, the education spokesman for the UUPCllr Angus Carson, who if you search to find who all's blogging about him you'll find this.If you Google to see what the news is about him you find this.Cllr Michael Henderson, who on the brochure is claimed to be employed as the National sales manager of Zenith Hygiene Systems (Ireland) LtdIt'll take a bit more effort from these guys for me to tick their boxes I think. Also every time I see the address of the UUP website www.uupforallofus.org I keep thinking 'Up Your's'.I wonder what junk mail I receive...

So here we have it - the candidates for the assembly elections on 7th March.Full details for each constituency here:Belfast East and Belfast South (PDF 126KB)Belfast North and Belfast West (PDF 119KB)East Antrim and South Antrim (PDF 107KB)East Derry and Foyle (PDF 117KB)Fermanagh & South Tyrone and West Tyrone (PDF 117KB)Lagan Valley and South Down (PDF 114KB)Mid Ulster and North Antrim (PDF 117KB)Newry & Armagh and Upper Bann (PDF 154KB)North Down and Strangford (PDF 121KB)A few days back, I said that I would be "very surprised to see the name of a candidate alongside the RSF logo on ballot papers in 11 constituencies. More likely we'll get a bizarre mix of disaffected provos, right-wing fascists and pseudo-marxists all running under various 'republican' banners but presenting no...