Apparently Lá Nua broke this story on 11th July, and published a response from the Orange Order on 7th August. “Members of the Orange Order belong to the Institution because they are firmly committed to their Reformed Protestant Faith and in a world where secular values are changing the societies in which we live, our faith is important to us.”
A “senior member” of the Orange Order said to Lá Nua; “They might think they are being smart issuing that type of answer but it is showing that they are burying their heads in the sand. Many members have been very positive about the suggestion internally but nothing has happened at an official level yet”
A spokesman for the Order said that “we’re a pro-Protestant...
Over in Letterkenny the local radio station has been playing host to a minor controversy we thought was the sole occupation of those of us on the other side of the border. When officials from 12 countries came to judge the town’s entry for the Entente Florale competition, some local people objected to the flying of the Union flag as part of a tribute to the visiting group. Gregory Campbell from the DUP was quick to seize on the story. Yet as one local wryly noted to Slugger: “We’re talking a handful of objectors. Indeed, there would be more people objecting to the flag flying in Gregory’s own constituency than out here”. Ah, the joys of the silly season!...
If life and living changed in Paris in May 1968 for the rest of the world, it took a little longer in Northern Ireland. Forty years opposing camps judge it separately as ’liberty or illusion‘, and some a bit of both. Fascinating discursive interview of Paul Bew by Malachi O’Doherty… Bew expands reflectively on his reported comments at the John Hewett Summer School. ...
The BBC’s Martina Purdy is blog-sitting for Mark Devenport and has been speaking to a “well-placed source” inside the TUV. [Turgon? - Ed] That source told her that the TUV have decided not to field a candidate in the Enniskillen by-election next month - which would confirm what Fair Deal noted from a previous Irish News report. The DUP have already selected Arlene Foster for that contest. And presumably the same source was responsible for the suggestion that they might have considered standing if a by-election was called in Kilkeel to fill the seat left by the sudden death of SDLP councillor Michael Cole. As it happened they won’t have the opportunity....
Something of a breakthrough on Policing and Justice, or a crisis with no apparent end? BBC Radio Five Live was first to report at 12.30 today. In effect they have agreed that it would consist of a single ministry chosen under cross community vote in the Assembly (which would thereby exclude DUP and SF) but, as yet, there is nothing further on timetable! The Irish Times speculates that this system is most likely to devolve powers to the Alliance party. But yesterday it was the SDLP who were making a pitch for the job. The UUP is thought to be cool on the matter.
Now before, as one excited commenter who emailed me has suggested, people leap to the assumption that this is now all over, the detail, as one DUP insider told Slugger, is going to take a long time to work out. This...
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...
Here’s something to keep an eye out for on Wednesday. The Electoral Commission will give a report on the state of the finances of all the various political parties. How much detail that is likely to contain, is hard to tell. Particularly, as this consultation document points out there is no standardised means of comparing like with like between political parties. Although Slugger understands that all of Northern Ireland’s major parties are in the red after last year’s Assembly elections. All of which makes the UUP/Tory tie up that little bit more interesting.... (And reader Paul wonders if there will be any mention of a Mr Sweeney of North Antrim...)...
To be fair, as with a previous survey, the point of the report ‘Can Contact Promote Better Relations? Evidence from Mixed and Segregated Areas of Belfast’ - full report here and summary here [both pdf files] - is that it’s the first ”longitudinal study (tracking the same individuals over time) of whether (and if so, how) contact works.” The researchers sampled adults living in Andersonstown and Ballybeen [the two segregated communities used] and Fortwilliam and Rossetta [the mixed communities used]. They found, as you might expect, that “contact reduces bias.” But there are interesting points to note about the differences in attitudes. Some of those summary findings are below the fold.
There are some findings worth...
The Watchman, and occasional contributor of longer think pieces gives his assessment of the announcement during the week of the proposed new alignment between the Ulster Unionists, and David Cameron’s new liberal Tories
By The Watchman
“What I want us to explore with the Ulster Unionists is not really some kind of ‘lets have some joint candidates or work together’ I want to be more ambitious than that.”
“I would like to see us establish a new political force in Northern Ireland that is both Conservative and Unionist, that can say to people, look, get beyond the old politics of constitution or orange or green.”
Those comments from David Cameron are remarkable, and unthinkable from almost any recent Tory leader. They are worth tracking...
Interesting analysis from Paul Bew at CommentisFree. He also references Frank Millar’s article in the Irish Times and suggests the Northern Ireland Executive’s current difficulties could be eased by the proposed UUP/Conservative Party link-up.There is more at stake here than simply electoral calculation. One of the reasons why the Stormont assembly has degenerated into a sectarian stand-off in which executive meetings are postponed month on month is the calculation by Sinn Féin that the Unionist parties need the assembly, so bad is their relationship with London. If that assessment is shown to be flawed, then there is a possibility that the institutions of the Good Friday agreement would work more smoothly and we could have an end to the current strategy of...
Who was the last Ulster Unionist MP to serve as a minister in UK adminstration? [Answer below the fold]
It was Sir Robin Chichester-Clark who was Minister of State for Employment from 1972-4....
Belfast Stoops says, good move for Dave, bad for Reg; Conall crys wolf in sheep’s clothing. Iain Dale reckons Trimble in the new Tory cabinet is almost inevitable. Chekov reckons the news is both exciting and problematic. El Blogador reckons it has implications for Nationalism/Republicanism and the Assembly too. Ulster’s Doomed believe the UUP is suffering from “an irrational belief in the cathartic effect of a name-change” Mark Devenport notes that the UUP has beaten the SDLP to the punch when it comes to “realignment”...
In the Irish Times Frank Millar adds some interesting background detail, and a quote from “a senior Tory source”, to the UUP/Conservative Party proposed link-up.However, it has become clear that the widespread anger generated by his MP wife Iris Robinson’s views on homosexuality has raised further doubts about the possibility of any formal House of Commons alliance between the DUP and a future Conservative government led by David Cameron.
Amid speculation about the imminent renewal of the link between the Tories and Ulster Unionists, possibly as early as today, a senior Tory source told The Irish Times : “When you think of everything David Cameron has done in an effort to detoxify the Conservative brand, an arrangement with somebody who has expressed...
Given the Protestant reformation was an often bloody pre-requisite for the political, economic and technological gains for the Enlightenment, Iris Robinson seems an unlikely recruit to Benedict’s crusade to re-invigorate the spiritual well-spring of Western secular life. Or the Un-Enlightenment, as Pete prefers to call it. But that’s close to how Alex Kane describes the politics of a lawmaker who takes literal instruction from the book of Leviticus in his Newletter column on Monday.
By Alex Kane
Iris Robinson is entitled to her opinion. As a Christian she has a duty to ensure that her belief is reflected in both her actions and her words. But she is also a very astute politician, who enjoys and actively seeks publicity and profile. No-one is forcing her to go on the...
Gonzo had wondered whether it was “really an attractive prospect for either Foster or the electorate?” But, as reported in the NewsLetter, the DUP have confirmed that Northern Ireland Enterprise Minister, the DUP’s Arlene Foster, MLA, has been selected as their candidate in the September 17 by-election for an Enniskillen seat on Fermanagh District Council rather than their previously selected candidate Thomas Hogg....
That’s according to the Newsletter. Apparently she “cannot progress three pieces of proposed legislation work because the devolved government has not met since June 19”. There is a meeting of the Executive scheduled for Thursday, and no sign that anything inside the two main parties has changed. Yet there are according to Reg Empey some 38 papers stuck in the pipeline. The DUP’s Peter Weir claims that the First Minister has approved 30 of them for discussion by the Executive.
“It is my understanding that the First Minister has cleared over 30 papers, sufficient to fill two or three Executive agendas and he has sought to have the Executive meet on a number of occasions.
“Concerning recent issues that have received press attention, the...
Firefighters dealt with 49 incidents at bonfires last night, coming under attack in counties Antrim and Londonderry with stones thrown at them in four incidents. Four derelict properties caght fire in east Belfast and a house and Woodstock Library were damaged by heat from bonfires and an orange lodge hall was attacked in county Antrim. Meanwhile two men were arrrested in Portadown when police were attacked with paint, petrol bombs, stones and fireworks - another report tells us that “Petrol bombs, stones, bottles and other missiles were hurled at police during the violence which police said was largely nationalist inspired.” More arrests for riotous behaviour in the New Lodge area of Belfast too and “clashes between rival groups” in the...
Paul Bew once famously christened (back in 2003, I think) the prospect of Sinn Fein and the DUP working together as a Hitler Stalin Pact: ie that it might work for a while, but only in the short term. I’ve always been sceptical of that view, and remain so. Yet in recent weeks (most notably since the 8th May passed with no resolution of the devolution of Policing and Justice, and before the new FM took over) things have be far from smooth. Now it seems that Sinn Fein and the DUP cancelled last week’s Executive meeting. Reg Empey:
“When there is a failure to meet, discussions are postponed, leading the public to question the Executive’s maturity to take on additional responsibilities such as policing and justice. If people don’t feel that we have done...
Jonathan Isaby isn’t happy and Nigel Dodds condemning MPs for not voting reform their expenses (although Brian got the blog ‘scoop’ on that one here) and then not turning up for the vote themselves… If they want to play rough with the bigger boys, the DUP need to take the whole game a bit more seriously, not simply when you’re making a winning play… Another argument for having a separate cadre of MPs who are prepared to commit to the Westminster game, perhaps?...
The Irish Times has a fascinatingly enigmatic statement from Peter Robinson. As CP Scott famously said, ‘comment is free, but facts are scared’. It is a falsifiable fact that the 8th May was a target date, as the DUP claimed, and not, as Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness have, until recently contended, an enforceable deadline. Nevertheless, it looks like an agreement to take the discussion forward. Indeed, the statement harks back to a theme within Robinson’s maiden speech and points to the role of party leaders, other than himself and Gerry Adams. It may be an attempt to shift the debate from whether and when there will be devolution of policing and justice powers, to the question of to whom they should be devolved.
“It is a matter of public record that...
No, not mine. But ignited has decided the only way to explain his affiliation to the Orange Order is to blog his summer and talk about what it means to him as he goes along. He lays out his intial thoughts here. Well worth reading!...
God knows what possessed David Davies to resign his seat over last night’s defeat in Westminster. It looks like Cameron’s men are going to try and sideline him as thoroughly as they can. Labour and the Lib Dems are saying they may not contest it. It makes no sense for the Lib Dems (who are on the same political page as Davies), and Labour is probably too unpopular to inflict sufficient damage to make it pay handsomely. But there is a party which might. There is some chat in the DUP that it might just take the field if no one else will. They managed to wrong foot everyone at Westminster, including the Tories, by concealing their intentions, but voting in the end with their own conscience (don’t wait up for that payment of 30 pieces of silver, it ain’t...
Last week’s optical illusion of a crisis was notable less for its audacity than for the rank amatuerism with which it was carried off; giving rise to rumours of a splitting of interest inside the unitary ranks of Sinn Fein. By contrast, last night’s coup de grace from the DUP allowed themselves to act audaciously and pull off the parliamentary trick of the decade (well, as far as NI is concerned at least). No one in the party is admitting it got the concessions reported, but they are not denying it either. They simply basking in the reflected warmth of a British media determined to see weakness in every action of Gordon, whether it actually exists or not....
Here’s Danny Finkelstein explaining the difference between narrative in politics, and spin:
This form is not the spinner’s way of looking at the world. This is the actor’s way of looking at the world. This is the way of looking at the world that says you progress and explain who you are through action. So this idea of narrative, far from being the empty creation of public relations experts, is really about the doing and the action and transforming characters through action and not simply telling. It’s the antithesis of public relations spin.
Last week’s ‘crisis’ begins to look grubby and tawdry compared to the DUP’s parliamentary coup last night. What tells you it was real politics in action is the number of...
Ian Paisley Junior and Stephen Nolan… There has been some speculation that Iris Robinson’s contribution on the Nolan Show last week was a reassurance to the Free Presbyterian base that everything is okay and fundamentalism is still part and parcel of the DUP world view. Perhaps it was just to smooth things over with the show’s popular host, after a tempestuous half hour or so. Oh to have been a fly on the wall at James Street South!...
Interesting that, if his interview on the Politics Show is anything to go by, Mark Durkan shares the view of some of our commenters that the DUP will likely do a deal before the end of the year. But there was an intriguing piece in the Irish Times on Saturday which hints that a compromise might involve two of the smaller parties:
Asked about Mr Robinson’s declared enthusiasm to involve the other smaller Assembly parties, Mr McGuinness agreed, while adding: “They must also acknowledge this is a serious business.” This apparent swipe at the rival SDLP came amid speculation that Sinn Féin might oppose any attempt to revive an earlier DUP proposal that could see policing and justice powers vested in a new ministry to be shared initially by the SDLP and the...
Without doubt Peter Robinson’s speech on Thursday was as finely turned as any from a local politician in years. It marked out a precise vision and inclusive vision for all the people in Northern Ireland. Yesterday, as Chris has pointed out, his wife Iris seemed determined to take the shine off the First Minister’s newly ‘liberal’ ball.
Now it would be a great tragedy if all our politicians were to bury their individual conscience for the sake of the so-called ‘greater good’. But here’s the rub. How does a fundamentalist politician deal with being a legislator and being a believer at the same time? And there is a wider problem for the DUP in particular, which, never having had such profound government responsibility it has not had to...
Brian Feeney didn’t pull any punches yesterday (or today on Stormont Live) when he tagged Paisley’s legacy as the ‘nasty party’. In fact the party has been on a slow turn. Maurice Morrow’s mildly sentimental eulogy nevertheless contained some important grains of truth, not least in his assertion that “prior to Dr Paisley, unionism was led by the big-house unionists and landowners. Ian changed all that and provided a voice for the working class.” Will Robinson mark a change from Paisley’s leadership. The tone of his speech was certainly measured and full of liberal aspiration. Here’s how it translates into a TagCrowd:
achieve (3) ahead (3) being (3) best (4) better (3) build (3)...
Alex Kane reckons that Dr Paisley comes out badly of any analysis that takes Enoch Powell’s dictum that all political lives end in failure seriously…
As early as the summer of 1998 – and I wrote about it at the time – the DUP knew that it could never go back to the drawing board and rewrite the Agreement. It pretended (and I use that term in its most precise sense) that it had a strategy for delivering something better and banked on the fact that the UUP would be put through the mill by Blair, Sinn Fein and general circumstance. All it had to do was wait until Trimble had taken the hits and Ian Paisley had arrived in the driving seat; then tie up a few loose ends and snatch the benefits....
First of a couple of pieces on the succession of Paisley by Peter Robinson. For a man who has been in politics just about as long as his now middle aged party, it’s unlikely he will come to symbolise ‘change’ any more than Gordon Brown was able to after Blair. But there is a dilemma facing both himself and Martin McGuinness. How to create conditions for a full blooded politics, that yet transforms the mercilessly uncivil politics of war? And not least of their concerns must be overcoming the residual condition of that war: what Russell Weigley terms “recalcitrant indecisiveness”....