UK
Scottish referendum: the unionist case is still all over the place
The unionist split shows no sign of closing. The Aberdonian Tory cabinet minister and Surrey MP Michael Gove echoes my “England is sulking “ theory and delivers some pretty sharp words to his own side. …While there is a threat posed by Scottish separatism, he added, “there is also a threat, under-appreciated, from English [...] more »
#CATJRF: Ownership of assets is tempered by the extent to which you have control…
Ballybot House is one of the earliest examples of Community Asset Transfer in Northern Ireland. It’s an old warehouse type building in the centre of Newry in an area that was once called Poor Town… the name is an anglicisation from the historic dialect of the Irish spoken in the south Armagh area of Baille [...] more »
#CATJRF: A evolution of ‘community right to buy’ in Scotland?
Ian Cooke outlines some of the changes brought about by the Scottish government that made it easier for communities to take on and use assets for the benefit of local communities, but pushing the capacity to make such decisions down from ministerial level to local authorities. With a new bill on the cards, there is scope for creating further opportunities by recognising asset transfer and community right to buy as a way of ramping up community-led regeneration. more »
Britain and Ireland: Innocence versus experience?
Fascinating couple of pieces on the major shift in British politics in the last decade, which would seem to be a shift in preference towards young and inexperienced leaders… First this paper from Phillip Cowley of Nottingham University on the rise and rise of career politicians… In a précis on his university’s school of politics [...] more »
“Scotland has been gearing itself up to follow the Irish example….”
Great quote from David Marquand in a powerful round up on Our Kingdom… Here’s his unkindest cut to the Unionist lobby: As Norman Davies shows in his extraordinary Vanished Kingdoms, states, like human beings, are mortal. Some die peacefully; some do so in a welter of blood. But, sooner or later, they all die. The [...] more »
“However, the Minister told us that she was too busy to see us.”
With potential European Commission fines still pending for the Northern Ireland Executive’s failure to protect a special habitat in Strangford Lough, another area of contention, environmentally, has opened up – with further potential EC fines. This time, it’s commercial salmon fishing. And the Department responsible for licensing the nets used is the NI Department of Culture, Arts [...] more »
Scottish referendum: ‘Devo more’ could be a unionist runner
On the subject of greater powers for Holyrood, there’s something of a right wing split between the Telegraph newspapers and the darling of the Tory grass roots, blogger Tim Montgomerie of ConservativeHome. The Sunday Telegraph leader dealt with the subject with a knowledge of the subject that would disgrace an unpaid intern: To concede greater [...] more »
#CATJRF: An open discussion on community asset transfer…
As promised last week, today marks the beginning of a discussion (debate is probably too grand a term for what we have in mind) of Community Asset Transfer… If you are confused as to what that means, it refers to the transfer of title or services from some form of statutory ownership or management to [...] more »
Paying whistleblowers is sometimes in the public interest…
What’s interesting about this conversation with Tom Watson and Kelvin McKenzie is the latter’s mostly sober (until we get to his ‘shut up Tom Watson’ outburst) point when he argues that paying whistle-blowers is sometimes in the public interest. Well worth spending 10 minutes listening to it: Mackenzie and Watson on The Sun (mp3) In [...] more »
It’s the English question now, stupid
The Scottish media were a PhD dissertation about chippiness all unto themselves,” reflected Mr Blair in his memoirs, the Times editorial (£) recalled. By those standards, it seems Dave’s nervous apologia for the Union in Edinburgh fitted the bill after all, presentation wise. Substance was more problematical. In the Times (£) the august Scots unionist [...] more »
Do journalists’ arrests mark the end of the British scandal sheet?
Phillip Stevens nails a few things in the FT. And it picks up some themes from Blair Jenkins point that the transparency principle applies not just to politicians, but journalists too: By the time the myriad investigations end quite a few journalists may have gone to jail. The process will raise justified concerns about press [...] more »
Will the referendum debate go two way at last today?
Adds at 2pm. David Cameron’s speech ( in full here, courtesy of the Scotsman) was a constipated affair. Like Eric Morecambe and the Grieg piano concerto, he played all the right notes but not necessariily in the right order – and without enough colour and tone . He talked nervously into the middle distance, not to the single [...] more »
Derry City Council finally pay their [ground rent] debt
As they promised at the time, the BBC report an update on Derry City Council’s attempt to frustrate the legacy of Raymond Saville Conolly de Montmorency Lecky-Browne-Lecky. After his death in 1961 the amateur actor’s dying wish was that two charities, the Actors’ Charitable Trust and the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund, would benefit from revenues from his estate [...] more »
Euro crisis: “It might be something which would allow Greece also to at least, to some extent, get a new start.”
Have the Greek coalition partners in Government, led by the technocratic former Greek and European central banker, Lucas Papademos, done enough to meet the demands of Germany their eurozone partners? Maybe… and maybe not. As the Guardian’s live-blog noted today Jean-Claude Juncker, who is also prime minister of Luxembourg, says the Eurogroup was still missing information from [...] more »
UK business lending slashed in face of lowered growth prospects…
Paying down baby debt may have sounded like a good policy in opposition, but George Osborne’s intervention to try and get banks (those largely publicly funded institutions) to lend money in an economy that’s as close as Ireland to contracting again, is faltering… The Daily Mail reports lending to business is down by £10 Billion [...] more »
Scottish referendum no further forward
“Spin” the Telgraph acidly calls it, while the home- based Herald labels it “confusion“ There are different views, of course, on the timescale that the Scottish Government has set out. I don’t think that is a serious argument any more.” However, Mr Moore later insisted that he timing question was far from settled and said [...] more »
Fiscal apocalypse: Northern Ireland spending exceeds tax by 39.3% of its GDP
There’s been a lot of complaining, mostly though not entirely from the SDLP, and certainly the unions, that OFMdFM ought to be fighting a better fight with Whitehall, and in particular HM Treasury… Well, according to Douglas McWilliams (H/T reader Stuart), here’s what Sammy Wilson is up against when it gets close and personal with Mr [...] more »
Time for Ireland to align with London rather than Boston or Berlin?
It’s a brave taoiseach that would abandon years of coaxing investment from the US, to begin to cultivate a closer relationship with the British. You might say that one of the critical differences between Greece and Ireland is that Ireland’s export industries(seeded with US capital) have far outperformed its indigenous industries. Nonetheless, Paul Allen argues [...] more »
Slugger online debate on ‘community asset transfer’ starts next week…
From next Monday, Slugger will play host to a series of blog essays and on-the-ground interviews on the subject of community asset transfer (see this piece on the Guardian’s blog for an idea of what it actually is). Here’s the Asset Transfer Unit’s description: …asset transfer is a shift in management and / or ownership [...] more »
Irish least romantic about Valentines day…
Erm, it seems the Irish spend least on their, erm, breaks… Damn, you mean we have to take breaks now? Anyone else not hear about these new rules? Irish couples spend just €160 and UK couples only £145 (€175) compared with the Spanish figure of €261. The French (€250), Italians (€210) and Germans (€180) also [...] more »
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“You can see Newton’s mind at work…”
To add to the open access treasure trove at the Royal Society, Cambridge University Library is putting online some of its collection of books, maps, manuscripts and journals. We have called the first phase of our work on the Cambridge Digital Library the Foundations Project, which runs from mid-2010 to mid-2013 and has been made possible [...] read our review » -
Talking to a brick wall: how to make politicians listen?
It took me a long time to warm to advertising agencies. The first time I worked with one I was working in sales management on Fairy Washing Up Liquid. I was due to attend a meeting at which I was to be told what consumers really thought of the brand. I remember my reluctance to [...] read our review »
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Stay out of Libya: counterinsurgency doesn’t work
A moment of some significance in journalism perhaps, as the New York Times reviews the current talked about book, The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy, and the Way Out of Afghanistan by Bing West. The author is no bleeding heart but a former assistant Defense Secretary from the Reagan era who stomped his way round the Afghan [...] read our review »
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