election 2019

On key issues, the general election survey shows the uncommitted or don’t knows are growing in number

Brian Walker on March 7, 2020, 11:12 am

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Mick has dug deep for his reflections into the Northern Ireland general election survey commissioned by Liverpool University’s Institute of Irish Studies and conducted by Social Market Research (SMR). In this piece I wrote before I logged into Slugger (and I frankly don’t want to waste it) I gnaw more at the bone of opinion on unity. The survey and its questions surely show how sensitive to events is general opinion and how volatile the events affecting long lasting themes. …

Labour’s defeat was their own guilty secret. But Boris Johnson’s matters much more

Brian Walker on December 15, 2019, 3:00 pm

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Andrew Parsons i/Images Now they tell us. Labour moderates had been watching the growth of the Conservative vote in north east of England council elections for years. But so had the Conservatives’ evil genius Dominic Cummings and he knew how to act on it. Forget obsessions with social media, go knock on doors. As Tip O’Neill the old Speaker of the US House of Representatives memorably once said, All politics is local.” And we can add, it transcends ideology alone. …

This is no narrow nationalist victory. It is a demand to make power sharing work

Brian Walker on December 13, 2019, 9:50 am

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DUP 8 seats (-2), 30.6% (-5.4%) SF 7 seats (nc), 22.8% (-6.6%) Alliance 1 seat (+1), 16.8% (+8.9%) SDLP 2 seats (+2), 14.9% (+3.2%) UUP 11.7% (+1.4%) Let’s say it clear. This is a great result for Northern Ireland. It’s simplistic to call it a victory of nationalism over unionism. It shows that voters on both sides of the divide are capable of breaking out of the monolithic duopoly. The DUP and SF have been punished for Stormont deadlock and …

With the best will in the world, you can’t know what you’re voting for today

Brian Walker on December 12, 2019, 2:37 pm

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Let’s begin at (your) home. After all the mystery and muttering about tactics after the election, do you know which main party the DUP would support in government? I don’t. But Nigel Dodds sounds as if he’s nuzzling up to the Tories again with or without an overall majority There is no doubt that if we reach a tariff-free trade deal with the European Union, that will eliminate the need for most if not all customs checks..I sincerely hope …

In denial over the front stop. Now Boris floored by 4 year old Jack, lying on a hospital floor

Brian Walker on December 9, 2019, 5:48 pm

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The NHS howler of this campaign has hit Boris Johnson so hard he wanted to hide it in his pocket in the middle of an ITV News interview .. And more on another Johnson brazen denial -.the building row over the frontstop. Two Europe editors take his case apart, culled from Twitter. Peter Foster Europe editor of the Daily Telegraph HOW can Whitehall design this new GB-NI border or customs ‘filter’ UNTIL it knows what the shape of the UK-EU …

Distrust in politicians? The answer lies in ourselves

Brian Walker on December 9, 2019, 9:19 am

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PA Media, Reuter’s, AFP Whatever the result of this election, it will be greeted mainly with foreboding outside the ranks of the winning party, an interlude rather than a denouement in the tortured saga of Brexit. Trust will remain as elusive as ever as another chapter of story is opened. The campaign is riven by lies and fantasy. There is a chorus of comment along these lines in the London papers today. What impels politicians in these directions? We can …

This Strangely Misfiring Tory Campaign Just Makes Me Wonder

Gerry Lynch on December 8, 2019, 8:00 am

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This is a very strange election campaign from the Conservatives. The Tory messaging for the final week is all wrong. My browser is full of Tory ads calling on me to “Get Brexit Done” when everyone knows Boris is all about that; if anything, they risk alienating the key group of Remainers who voted Tory in 2017. The Tories are currently hanging on to just five-eighths of these voters, and any further slippage could be fatal. As far as potential …

Back to Stormont soon and Johnson’s deal could work, say DUP and Sinn Fein. Dreams coming true or fake news?

Brian Walker on December 7, 2019, 6:04 pm

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Is there an election on? DUP And Sinn Fein leaders are sounding optimistic notes to tempt waverers into the polling stations. Both party leaderships are also forecasting a return to Stormont any day now – without troubling us with the details of a deal. Here we also have the astounding phenomenon of Nigel Dodds and Mary Lou McDonald both speaking in favour of Boris Johnson’s withdrawal agreement – a worse deal that Theresa May’s and which they were condemning only …

The party leaders are losing control of the election debate

Brian Walker on November 26, 2019, 10:30 pm

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Almost single handedly the BBC interviewer Andrew Neil is exposing the thinness of the main party leaders arguments – even those of the normally poised and practiced Nicola Sturgeon. who was rattled as never before. A minority Labour government would not need to be the SNP’s suitor – the SNP have nowhere else to go. A second referendum overturning the result of the first would deprive her of her best argument for Indy Ref 2. Would the EU welcome …

For Northern Ireland and the Union, the choices after the election are all to play for

Brian Walker on November 18, 2019, 11:54 am

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Peering into a crystal ball however cloudy is as irresistible for the curious voter as the compulsive gambler. Favourable predictions for the Conservatives range from an overall majority of over 100 to fewer MPs than May won in 2017 but still the largest party. Serious hopes of a Labour majority are round about nil. They are likely to need the support on some basis of minority parties, the SNP, the Lib Dems and who knows? – even the DUP. Johnson’s …

The voters sense that the DUP and Sinn Fein are all at sea. What are they to make of it?

Brian Walker on November 17, 2019, 3:52 pm

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Pity the local voter, trying to discover a clear outcome in this election. Anoraks may shiver with anticipation at the prospect of change in a couple of local seats but what are they claiming for turnout? Who could blame the people for staying away? Voting for the Union or Remain or bringing a border poll closer doesn’t come close to guaranteeing any of these outcomes. The secretary of state has floated the idea of deciding on an Assembly election in …

A limited amnesty not only for soldiers but for all? Another case of a Boris Johnson election wheeze, without understanding what he’s proposing?

Brian Walker on November 11, 2019, 11:00 am

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The High Court in Belfast On Armistice Day Boris Johnson is announcing what he would like to think sounds like a partial amnesty for former soldiers involved in the Troubles as well as foreign engagements like Iraq and Afghanistan. The subject is of course emotive but the substance is far from clear. What does the proposal to draw a line under Troubles prosecutions really mean? Mr Johnson said the party will introduce legislation to ensure the Law of Armed Conflict …