The true heritage

What is it about bars that holds the Belfast heritage better than churches? Fantastic to see that a campaign to save the Rotterdam in Belfast’s old dockland has won at least a reprieve. Together with its ecclesiastical equivalent Charles Lanyon’s very fine Sinclair Seamen’s church it represents a last remnant of a seafaring age that shaped so much of the character of Belfast. Not so successful was the campaign to save – or even shunt elsewhere – the deeply mourned …

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Ryanair crisis?

Comeuppance for O’Leary? In spite of his big mouth, I hope not. Watch news sites for developments! Brian WalkerFormer BBC journalist and manager in Belfast, Manchester and London, Editor Spolight; Political Editor BBC NI; Current Affairs Commissioning editor BBC Radio 4; Editor Political and Parliamentary Programmes, BBC Westminster; former London Editor Belfast Telegraph. Hon Senior Research Fellow, The Constitution Unit, Univ Coll. London

The clash of the dual mandate

Following up on Belfast Gonzo’s post about the performance of those public representatives who serve both as MPs and MLA ministers, for those who don’t know, two wonderful websites will be a revelation – TheyWorkforYou.com and The Public Whip. Together they provide an ongoing record of each rep’s voting record, speeches and answers to questions at Westminster and speeches etc in the Assembly. I offer two samples. Peter Robinson voted in 40.9% of Commons divisions since the General Election of …

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Persuading people to behave better

How do we improve people’s behaviour, from stopping rioting in Derry to going “ green,” even to tackling obesity? Tough one, isn’t it? Too massive a question to cope with in this form ? Yet it is one of the most insistent questions we face. Generations of welfare and eleven years of relative prosperity haven’t transformed society. Economics aren’t enough. This is why in the desolate community of East Glasgow well out of his comfort zone, that sharp student of …

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Pressure on Ireland mounts

By next Monday night, after the visit to Dublin of Nicholas Sarkozy as President of the European Council, Brian Cowen will have been forced to declare some of his hand for persuading the Irish people to hold a second vote on the EU treaty. I say “some of his hand” because Sarkozy is unlikely to arrive in Dublin for his five hour consultation armed with a full package of sweeteners. The French President will be on the diplomatic high wire …

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I’ve seen the future..

Like buses, my big beasts of the British political jungle came in a pair on Wednesday, at two of my associations, the Hansard Society on parliamentary reform and the Mile End Group on contemporary history. They’re two bodies where you get to find out what’s moving. Jack Straw, fresh from his Lords reform proposals, joined a great meeting to discuss Law in the Making, the influences brought to bear on the legislative process. Here are the headlines of themes which …

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Orangefest footnote and the art of nudging

Long ago, I decided that the influence of behavioural psychology was a very mixed blessing indeed. In marketing, it’s applied to manipulate our desires and needs to get us to do what others want, the very essence of the soft sell. So if you want to clean up the image, say, of the clunking old Twelfth to the wider world and impress the tourists – create Orangefest. Fortunately, people in the marketing world are their own best critics. Here’s one, …

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Pressure mounts on both party leaders as economy dives

Update “Families’ annual food bills rocket by £1,000,” says the Bel Tel’s lead story in its better, brighter website. P.S. I wonder why it’s so much like the Independent’s? As recession looms, here is the real news: Inflation hits 10 year high. Read closely and that means well over 10% up for food and fuel. Can political leaders make any difference at all or must we simply sit it out and put up with nothing more than wrangling and platitudes? …

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Faint hope of Lord Adams of Ballymurphy set to disappear….

I’m in two minds about the prospect of the end to the House of Lords. Reluctantly, I’m finally having to give up the fantasy of a Lord Adams of Ballymurphy or Lord McGuinness of Brandywell and Lone Moor. ( yes, I know they would never have put on ermine and coronet: that’s the point of a fantasy). On the other hand, Jack Straw’s great scheme brings the prospect of a whole new elected House of Parliament to play with several …

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Abortion by web backlash begins

As reported in the Belfast Telegraph, the predictable backlash has started over the disclosure that Northern Ireland women may have been ordering abortion drugs via the Women on Web website. Apart from registering shock at being able to sign up for appropriate drugs in just fifteen minutes, neither the Bel Tel’s reporter nor any other have been able to track down a real live client. This is s surely a cue for TV to go through the whole ridiculous pantomime …

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Scottish Catholic Church hits Labour where it hurts on abortion

Update. Gordon Brown brushed aside the question: “Is the Catholic church trying to hijack the Glasgow East by-election”? “This is a repetition of the debate previously.. The House of Commons ( and later the Lords) made its position completely clear on a free vote and a decision (presumably keeping the abortion limit to 24 weeks), was reached. We’ve got a very good candidate and I’m not going to comment further” Plus some more background on Bishop Devine. Bishop Joseph Devine’s …

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Orangefest – first verdict

How has the rebranding of the Twelfth come across to us exiles? “Work in progress,” is probably the safest verdict. It’s always hard for the interested abroad to judge how much real menace and threat lies behind the typical reports of rioting and injured policemen . I noted the attack on Rasharkin Orange Hall and it’s dangerous potential. The SundayTribune’s report Orange streets awash with booze and vomit concentrated on other forms of unpleasantness. Twelfth fans will no doubt claim …

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State funeral for Thatcher

Relax, she isn’t dead yet although the Iron Lady may be rusting slightly at the seams. The Mail’s exclusive that on her death, she will enter the pantheon of British heroes in company with Churchill, Gladstone, Wellington and Nelson will attract approval and anger in equal measure – plus I guess quite a lot of unease throughout the establishment. The Mail’s line, Palace fears there might not be enough troops to line streets of London is I think, an unconscious …

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Better news Sunday!

Sunday morning reading the newspapers often leaves me feeling like a client for suicide watch, and no time like the present, with recession, even slump threatening, nasty politics. etc. But today, what a pleasant surprise! First, in Scottish politics, what a difference a day makes: good news for Gordon Brown! A 14 point Labour lead in the first poll held specifically in Glasgow East. And from the unlikely quarter of the mainly pro-Tory Sunday Telegraph, from Matthew d’Ancona, the first …

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Gemma and Ronnie: just to wrap up a strange campaign

Update Sunday July 13. Some of you may have had enough of this ( spare us “you’ve said it”, please!) but I can’t resist sharing this post from the sparky Tory Guido Fawkes, that Gemma has made at hit and may even have a Tory future. I almost forgot.. I started so I’ll finish.. Miss Great Britain and former Miss Belfast Gemma Garrett managed to share the limelight with victor David Davis at the count in the Haltemprice and Howden …

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“Earthquake” as SNP ahead of Labour for Westminster

It’s probably a vain hope I have of tearing you away from the Twelfth, but the news that the SNP are nudging four points ahead of Labour for the Glasgow East by-election in a fortnight might add spice to your Orangefest. The Herald “shudders” at the YouGov poll results, while the Scotsman goes the whole hog with an earthquake. It quotes the doyen of political bean counters, John Curtice, putting his finger on the paradox of the SNP: if they’re …

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Male sexism in the blogsphere

I though it worthwhile hauling out these two comments from women as a separate post. They were in response to a plea I made for female comment to my post Abortion at home about the Women on Web site for on line abortion material. It’s hard to identify gender if you use pseudonyms. So I invited women to identify themselves as such if necessary anonymously. to test the provenance of comment on the subject of abortion, where gender is of …

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New Catholic vs pro-choice clash over easier abortion

And just when we’d been talking about abortion…a battle within the Labour party between Catholic MPs and the pro-choice majority has resulted in the Monday’s big votes on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill being put off to October. Pro-choice supporters were gearing up to move an amendment making abortion easier by requiring only one doctor to give consent, rather than the present two. The Government is unhappy about yet another internal Labour row and has pulled the Bill for …

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MI5 and the IRA

The historian of the Security Service ( MI5) Christopher Andrew threw out some intriguing comments about tackling the IRA at a lecture I went to last night, attended by a formidable line-up of academics and insiders. The main problem with the secret services he said, was that because they were so obsessed with secrecy, they didn’t learn from their own history – and nowhere more than in tackling Irish terrorism. The first problem was that Special Branch was set up …

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Abortion at home

It’s inevitable that the web will be used to promote do-it-yourself abortions in countries where elective abortion is banned. And that of course includes Ireland north and south. The BBC’s early lead today woke me up by headlining Northern Ireland in its story about a clinical review of the website Women on Web. Stand by for a flood of demands to close the site down. If the usual course of the abortion debate is followed, women in need will be …

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