There was something for everyone in this election but the undoubted highlight was Naomi Long’s stunning victory in East Belfast.
Welsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and Railways…
Alliance Party
“Lots of it is on the “motherhood and apple pie” level.”
The BBC report tells us that The NI first and deputy first ministers have published their proposals for tackling sectarianism, racism and hate. That would be the long-awaited Programme for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration. And from what I can glean from the consultation document [pdf file] they propose to form a committee “Panel”. As Mark Devenport says about the document Lots of it is on the “motherhood and apple pie” level. It’s good to hear that the First and Deputy First …
Alliance back in the fight?
At one point during the election campaign I read a senior Alliance member and good friend of Slugger boasting they were one of only two parties running in every constituency. I reminded him as it was the first time in 10-15 years for six of the eight constituencies held by Nationalists that wasn’t much of a boast. Now the results are in what can we tell about Alliance’s first visit to those constituencies in such a long time? FST – …
Ford tries to ‘bump’ Long over the line?
I’ve not been able to take politicians forecasts of their own fortunes seriously since Mitchel McLaughlin told me in all seriousness that he was going to win the Foyle seat in 2005. Now David Ford is pushing his candidate in East Belfast as a real possibility for taking a seat, without quite saying that. With Sammy Morse’s warnings against any party (including his own presumably) who relies on canvass returns ringing in my ears, I would say the Alliance party …
Robinson’s hope: the circular firing squad of liberal East Belfast
Splintered’s guides are shaping up to be the blog gem of this campaign, though he’s not got as far as East Belfast yet. The common wisdom is that Robinson is safe. His majority of just 6,ooo majority in 2005 (which is towards the lower end of the scale in Northern Ireland), would be comfortable in normal times. But, for the Robinson family, these are not normal times. Here’s how it worked out last time amongst the main contenders (the nationalist …