Hand of History

NICVA #cgeni conference - Will Hutton slides

2011-11-08T14:25:00.000Z

Will Hutton speaking at the NICVA Conference. What do you think of his approach and ideas?

A photographic flavour of Creating a good economy conference

2011-11-08T11:26:00.001Z

Just a small photographic flavour of the NICVA #cgeni Creating the Good Economy taking place in the Stormont Hotel today.

Also tweet @NICVA or @NICVACEE your questions throughout the day and follow #cgeni on twitter. You can even ask your question via @williamcrawley

Don't forget the live blog over at Slugger!!

NICVA - Creating a good economy conference - the start

2011-11-08T10:06:00.004Z

The stage is set

NICVA is putting on the 'Creating the Good Economy' Conference at the Stormont Hotel today.

There will be a number of panels during the day. Up to lunch we have a panel discussion with Bob Stronge (Chair of NICVA), Arlene Foster (DETI Minister), Seamus McAleavey (NICVA Chief Executive) and Angela McGowan (Chief Economist at the Northern Bank).

The First Keynote address will be from Will Hutton (Principal of Hertford College, Oxford University as well as being the Chair of the Big Innovation Centre at the Work Foundation) on 'What can we do to create the good economy'. There will be a panel discussion after with Will Hutton, Aideen McGinley (Cheif Executive of the ILEX Company), and Maureen Piggot ( Director of Mencap NI).

Update.

Bob Stronge delivered the opening address of the conference before Arlene Foster, Minister for DETI, speaks to the conference.

If you want to keep very much up to date you can also find a fully live blog with captured twitter stream as well over on Slugger O'Toole. :)

Your friendly neighbourhood Ninja

2011-08-28T19:52:00.000+01:00

I just love the idea of a police force full of ninjas patrolling our streets. It might actually reduce crime.

Well in Somerset they already have one.

Lucky beggars!

NICVA Live - Assembly Hustings event 7 April 2011

2011-04-07T01:17:00.001+01:00

NICVA is hosting a hustings event to provide the voluntary and community sector with the opportunity to question MLA candidates from across the political spectrum on the subject of their manifestos. The event will be hosted by William Crawley, journalist and broadcaster. The event starts at 9.30am lasting to 1pm. This will be a live blog so join in. On twitter use the hashtag #nicva11

To follow the debate and even take part just click on the coveritlive below and it will show you how things are progressing.

Policing Board is not my friend :(

2011-04-06T00:31:00.000+01:00

I have just received a Facebook notification from the Northern Ireland Policing Board asking me not to be offended that they no longer want to be my friend. Nothing like un-friending somebody and telling them you are doing so as well!

Though all is not lost, as they still have a Facebook Page that I can ‘like’.

Hmmmmm How can I ‘like’ you if you don’t want to be my friend? ;)

On a more serious note, the Board seems to have taken the decision to work with the terms and conditions of Facebook and decided to delete their profile. It is a tricky one but the general thought on the terms is that profiles are for personal use only and pages are for businesses, organisations, campaigns, etc. There is a lot of 'grey' in this area due to the focus of a business and how people actually interact. Mind you i do seem to be friends with a few hotels, restaurants and pubs but have not seen any banter from them lately.

Do you have a view on the Profile / Page debate?

NICVA Live - Issues for the Economy

2011-01-11T21:57:00.000Z

I will be covering the NICVA Conference "Live issues for the Economy". This is a conference for voluntary and community organisations to find out more about live issues relating to the economy and debate their impact. The event will give NICVA members the opportunity to find out more about the issues currently being debated in the Assembly and the media and consider their impact on the people and communities they work with.

It starts at 9:30am and goes on to 1:30pm in NICVA. Current issues that will be covered include the proposals to lower Corporation Tax, the impact of welfare reform proposals in Northern Ireland and a review of economic policy in Northern Ireland as well as proposals for moving forward.

Programme

Political Priorities for Change
Keynote Address - deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness MLA

Deja-vu all over again - Economic policy in NI and dealing with the £4billion reduction
Esmond Birnie, Senior Economist, PriceWaterhouseCoopers

Debating Corporation Tax - the silver bullet or fatal bullet?
The case for: Joanne Stuart, Chair of Institute of Directors Northern Ireland
The case against: TBC, NICTU

Another £1billion disappearing? - The impact of Welfare Reform proposals in NI
Prof Eileen Evason, benefits expert and social commentator
Plenary discussion

<p>&amp;lt;a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=25c549d710" &amp;gt;NICVA Live - Live Issues for the Economy&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;</p>

WikiLeaks hates NI Budget??

2010-12-16T23:43:00.000Z

The draft Northern Ireland budget was published yesterday after a long debate in the Northern Ireland Assembly and, of course, had a huge amount of media coverage.

However, as the media frenzy focussed on semantically dissecting the Finance Minister's speech and his after speech interviews, along with the inevitable responses from everyone else, a little noticed event virtually happened under everyone's noses.

As Dirk Gently would say, "to solve the whole crime and find the whole person one must make use of the fundamental interconnectedness of all things". (by the way, I just watched the BBC 4 screen adaption of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, and I loved it!)

The interconnectedness of all things on the 15th December flows thusly,

The day begins whilst most people are still asleep, a nice way to start.
It is 15 December 2010, a Wednesday no less.
Its my wife's birthday.
I get up, get the kids up, get them ready for the day and take them to daycare.
I travel to work as the radio babbles on about what the budget will contain.
I go to a Participation Network event in Parliament Buildings while the the Budget Debate is ongoing.
Lots of tweets about Wikileaks and Julian Assange
Because Julian Assange was being banged up in the old nick, a lot of virtual anarchists were virtually crippling PayPal, MasterCard, Visa and having a right good go at Amazon.
The draft Budget is out for consultation.
No one can access the consultation because a number of NI Departmental websites are 'unavailable'
This has been noticed by fellow twitterers, including @A2BNI "@iwhitten All departmental sites appear to be down!" - around 12.10pm
To which i respond "@A2BNI anything to do with #wikileaks? :)"
The Consultation documentation finally appeared on the NI Executive and NIDirect sites

The interconnectedness of it all? (Possibly) Julian Assange.

I have heard a rumour that whilst 'oor Sammie was up on his feet there may have been a malicious DDOS (or Distributed Denial of Service) attack on all the Northern Ireland departmental websites, as from a few sources I have heard that all of the sites were inaccessible for a period of time.

Quite why the Online Living Consciousness of "Anonymous" would spend any time at all attacking Norn Iron departmental websites in order to strike another blow at the repressive establishment, who they deem are trying to silence Julian Assange, i am not too sure, but there you go. Maybe it was a vindictive attack from disgruntled hackers who failed to hack Amazon? In the same way a disgruntled thug puts his kicks a cat in disgust at finding he is, for nay number of reasons, now unable to have a good riot and throw stones at the police.

At least it makes a difference from "you've got ten minutes to clear building".

By the way, you have until 9 February 2011 to make your thoughts known to the relevant authorities on the Northern Ireland Budget. Or, keeping the Douglas Adams theme going, as many public services may be saying come March ".... So long and thanks for all the fish".

My Adventures at the UUP Conference (part 1)

2010-12-07T22:29:00.000Z

I attended the UUP pre conference dinner on the Friday night and the weather was cold and crisp and even!

Inside the Ramada Hotel it was a bit warmer. Thankfully. I arrived early and had a quick look into the room and it looked very nice indeed. Having a quick look at the table setup I found myself on table two (Bill Manwaring's table). I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the evening bumping into a lot of old friends and making new ones. In fact i met up with one Councillor Alex Baird via Facebook on the night. Very bizarre but quite fun to see how far we have come with all our methods of connecting with each other. Smartphones and social media really are increasing ways to connect in the real world as well as online. The number of people I am now meeting in the real world that I have created a strong connection with over the virtual world is increasing. This seems to be more and more the way to connect and interact with decision makers.

The new strapline for the Party is 'Determined to deliver' which reminded me of my dinner. Which duly arrived and was of course consumed. Nom nom nom. Well done to all in the Ramada! The meal started with a Roast Pumpkin & Butternut Squash soup with Cinnamon Cream, the main meal was raditional Co. Down King Turkey, Mourne Honey Roast Ham, Sage and Onion stuffing with Chipolatas Turkey Jus and Cranberry Sauce served with Champ and Roast Potatoes, Carrots and Parsnip. Next came Devon Toffee Fudge Cheescake with Raspberry Coulis and all topped of with a Coffee and a Chocolate Mint. I am beginning to feel hungry all over again.

Ross Hussey was compère for the evening with of course speeches from Tom Elliott, Leader of the UUP, and from a representative from the Ulster Chemists Association and the inimitable Glyn Roberts from NIIRTA

And of course what pre-conference dinner would be complete without some after dinner, and 'Da' did not disappoint! I have to say Tim McGarry is like a comedic wine, he has become better over time.

As a round up there were about 160 people at the event and there was a fair amount of lightheartedness, some of it at the expense of Lord Trimble's beard.

So at the end of the night I had lots of shmoozing done, was fully fed and was ready for the drive home through a very frosty and snow ridden night ready to tackle a full day at the UUP conference. Huzzah!

Wasssabi for beginners

2010-12-02T22:46:00.000Z

My Adventures at the DUP Conference (part 3 - Leaders speech)

2010-11-27T12:54:00.001Z

Peter Robinson, Leader of the DUP and Northern Ireland's First Minister was welcomed to the stage with a standing ovation.

He used the speech to thank all those around him for their support during the past year. His own 'annus horribillis' as it were.

Notably he raised the issue of Gerry Adams stepping down from his position as MP for West Belfast, highlighting it may not be as easy as he thinks it may be.

Incidentally, having been elected in West Belfast, I see that Gerry Adams is now heading off to County Louth to contest the next Irish General Election. He has announced that he will stand down from Westminster to do so. I wonder does Gerry know it's not a simple matter of handing in a resignation. In order to stand down, an MP has to disqualify himself by being appointed to an Office of Profit under the Crown. Two such positions are available - Gerry can become the Crown Steward and Bailiff of either the Chiltern Hundreds or the Manor of Northstead. As he would, thereby, be the Queen's servant and in the Queen's pay he is disqualified from Parliament. Just you watch, if past form is any guide, by the time the Louth election campaign starts he'll be denying that the Queen's servant and appointee.

Interestingly he makes very little reference to any other other political party. Clever speech writer!

Generally the speech was very robustly upbeat and about what the Assembly and Executive has delivered so far and about economic stability.

The speech ended with a standing ovation and a rendition of 'We shall not be moved'

Some factoids from the Leader's speech are that he

Referred to British once, Northern Ireland 53 times, United Kingdom 2 times, and Republic 3 times.
Mentioned Sinn Fein twice, DUP 16 times, SDLP once and not a mention of the UUP or the Alliance Party
Talked of East Belfast once and Assembly 17 times
Referred to the Economy 6 times, economic 9 times and priority 4 times
Mentioned election 15 times and the Queen 5 times and no mention of the Pope
Included Opportunity 3 times , courage once, never 8 times
Talked about Shared twice, new 39 times Politics and Political both 9 times
Referred to Gerry 11 times, Caitriona 5 times and Margaret twice

What is you take on it?

Speech by Peter Robinson, First Minister and Leader of the DUP

Who would have believed it a decade ago?

Here we are at the end of 2010, a DUP-led administration at Stormont, the IRA off the stage and Sinn Fein signed up to policing.

After decades of conflict, Northern Ireland is moving in the right direction.

Northern Ireland’s constitutional position in the United Kingdom is secure, our relationship with the Republic is better than ever, nobody is seriously talking about a united Ireland and the political institutions have more widespread support than at any point in the history of the Province.

That is the bedrock for peace and stability.

You don’t need to take my word for it: just ask yourselves, is Northern Ireland better off now than it was twenty years ago?

Investment is coming back, new jobs are being created and there’s a real future for our young people and a reason for them to stay.

It hasn’t been plain sailing and there’s still an enormous task ahead – but solid foundations have been laid for Northern Ireland’s second century.

And our future is once again in our own hands.

We’re no longer reliant on others to protect our interests, no longer frustrated by governments negotiating over our heads, behind our backs and against our interests or by policies set from London and strongly influenced by Dublin.

Instead, we’re setting our own priorities and direction. We're making decisions in Northern Ireland for the people of Northern Ireland.

That didn’t happen accidentally, but because of the hard work of many people in this room today and the trust that was placed in us.

I also want to personally thank you for the support that you have given me these past twelve months.

I’ll not deny that for me this has been my most testing year.

But the real test of any person is not how they stand up in a gentle breeze but how they weather the battering when the relentless gales blow.

When I was elected leader of this party two and a half years ago I said that there was no greater honour that this party could bestow.

I was wrong.

It has been superseded by the love, friendship and support I received from colleagues in the party over the last year. That loyalty can never be fully repaid.

It is a tribute to the character and faithfulness of all of you and I will never forget it.

I don’t believe in holding office for its own sake. I never have and never will.

And I will always remember that no single person is more important than this party.

Leaders will come and leaders will go, and for my part, I want to play a full part in completing the work that we started and create a legacy for the next generation of which we can all be proud.

That’s what drove us on during the years in opposition, through the years when we stood virtually alone, through the years of danger and conflict and through the years when we swam against the popular political tide.

And it is what drove us on night after long night in Hillsborough Castle earlier this year.

Even in those most difficult times, we were, step by step, moving Northern Ireland forward.

While many were writing us off just look at what we achieved.

We avoided the collapse of the institutions, we secured the future of the Assembly and completed the devolution of policing and justice.

And then we defied the critics, stood on our positive agenda for the future and maintained our position as the voice of unionism.

The dark clouds that formed over Dromore in 2008 and which still persisted after I became leader at the European Election in 2009 have now lifted.

In the upheaval and intense process leading up to the restoration of devolution in 2007 we lost our close contact with the electorate. The link to our support base was something that had always been a central feature of our politics.

But we have found it again. We have re-connected.

It was a painful lesson but we listened and we learned.

We took on board what people were saying and we are the better for it.

But now, Dromore and Europe are just memories and experiences that have strengthened us.

In the most unfavourable circumstances, overall the General Election result was a remarkable triumph for the DUP.

Given all that had happened, retaining eight seats, maintaining our position as the party with most MPs from Northern Ireland and receiving more votes than all the other unionist parties added together was a great effort.

Thirteen years ago we returned just two Members of Parliament. Today, we stand as the only unionist party in the House of Commons - speaking for and representing Northern Ireland in our national parliament.

Not bad for a really difficult year.

And the real lesson is this.

We stood together. We remained united. We kept our focus. We didn't allow others to set our agenda. Though in the line of fire we responded by giving strong and sound leadership.

While in the past others crumbled and divided under pressure we bound ourselves together, stronger and more determined than ever.

And you can be absolutely certain that whenever the next Westminster election comes our number one target will be returning East Belfast to DUP hands.

It may be your DUP candidate's name on the ballot paper and DUP leaders whose faces you see on TV, but our success has come as a direct result of all the work you do, whether it's knocking on doors, putting up posters, raising money, tramping the streets or the thousand other tasks that are performed. The DUP's success is your success.

I want to congratulate our MPs and in particular Jim Shannon and Ian Paisley junior who were elected for the first time. Let me also pay tribute to Nigel who is heading up the team at Westminster. Our interests are well and truly represented by Nigel and our team in Parliament.

Incidentally, having been elected in West Belfast, I see that Gerry Adams is now heading off to County Louth to contest the next Irish General Election. He has announced that he will stand down from Westminster to do so. I wonder does Gerry know it's not a simple matter of handing in a resignation. In order to stand down, an MP has to disqualify himself by being appointed to an Office of Profit under the Crown.

Two such positions are available - Gerry can become the Crown Steward and Bailiff of either the Chiltern Hundreds or the Manor of Northstead. As he would, thereby, be the Queen's servant and in the Queen's pay he is disqualified from Parliament.

Just you watch, if past form is any guide, by the time the Louth election campaign starts he'll be denying that the Queen's servant and appointee.

Mr Chairman, as this Assembly term enters its final months I want to pay tribute to all those who have served at Stormont over the past three and a half years. They have worked diligently in the Assembly chamber, the committees, in their constituencies and more widely for the party.

I especially want to thank all those who have served in Ministerial Office.

Nigel, Gregory, Edwin, Nelson, Sammy, Arlene and of course Ian - or should I say Lord Bannside - congratulations Ian, but, it'll not stop people still referring to you as "the big man".

And let us not forget our three junior Ministers, Ian Junior, Jeffrey and Robin - and all our committee chairs and other post holders who have carried heavy responsibilities on our behalf.

Together you are the most formidable and able team in the Assembly.

Not only have we a remarkable Assembly team but this has been a remarkable Assembly term.

We've had no shortage of difficulties and challenges but while others doubted and dithered the DUP delivered.

Here in Northern Ireland next March, for the first time in forty years, we will complete a full four-year term of devolution without suspensions and without the institutions collapsing.

But we all know that while it’s a good start; it's not enough.

It represents the foundation for our future achievements. It is not the height of our aspirations.

There are those who criticise the Assembly and the Executive for how it operates.

I know the flaws and I know the problems.

I will continue to work to make things better but I would not for a second trade the institutions that we have for a return to Direct Rule.

For us the present arrangements are a transitional phase to a more normal form of democracy for Northern Ireland.

That's why we insisted at St Andrews, and had it incorporated in law, that the next Assembly would bring forward proposals on moving to a better form of devolved government.

That’s a vital piece of work for the next mandate.

And only the DUP can succeed in making the sort of changes that are needed.

But I am not prepared to throw away all the progress that has been made by crashing the present institutions. There are those within unionism who want to tear Stormont down. They openly announced their intentions. They have said, "Send us to the Assembly so that we can build a bulkhead sufficient to cause it to fall apart."

Then they discovered that the community didn't support their wrecking declaration so they now seek to camouflage it behind weasel words like - "We've a positive agenda. Stormont is broken and we're going to fix it."

Fix it! These people are wreckers. We've heard it all before. They want to enter Stormont with a ballot paper in one hand and a Kango hammer in the other.

The fall of Stormont and a return to Dublin Rule is not just a risk which might flow from their policies; it’s their intention.

I'm not prepared to gamble in the hope that something better might turn up after further decades of negotiations.

There is no easy or quick-fix solution.

It’s a dangerous illusion.

Let's be clear they want to pull Stormont down and end devolution.

And don’t be deluded into believing that even a different system of government would be an answer or solution to all of our problems.

We will still have to deal with the people that the nationalist community elect.

We must tackle the form of government at Stormont not by ripping up all that has been achieved but by working together, with others, to create a better way of doing things.

It’s not the easy way but it’s the only way that will work.

And let's be clear, people don’t want to study the mechanics of government; they want to see government resolving the problems they face. They want results.

Stormont has underpinned the peace and stability that we have achieved.

Those who criticise the Assembly forget how far we have come or what has actually been achieved.

More often than not all you will hear on the media from Stormont is arguing and bickering.

There is an old saying that no news is good news but for some in our media good news is no news.

It’s attractive for the media to report clashes and divisions between parties around the Executive table – and to be fair the parties have given them some material to work with – but we must tell the story of what has been achieved.

There has been too much petty point scoring at Stormont, but despite all that, we have made valuable and tangible progress.

Is it any wonder that people struggle to tell you what Stormont has achieved when we don't sufficiently articulate it ourselves?

So, in case you have forgotten or never heard it before, let me record just a handful of the things we have achieved.

 We’ve provided free travel on public transport to everyone over 60 – the most generous scheme in the whole of the UK – in fact there’s now over 60,000 smart-passes in circulation and 51/2 million free journeys have been made since the scheme was started.

 We have frozen the Regional Rate helping 750,000 households and we deferred Water Charges for the entire Assembly term – giving Northern Ireland by far the lowest household taxes in the entire United Kingdom.

 We have given a 20% discount on their rates to every single person over 70 living alone.

 We have introduced a Small Business Rate relief scheme providing £8 million help to 16,000 small businesses.

 We have capped manufacturing rates at 30% - helping 4,000 businesses and protecting thousands of jobs.

 We’ve introduced free prescriptions for everyone in Northern Ireland – they’re not available in England

 By working with the last Government we secured the single largest ever investment to Northern Ireland by supporting Bombardier’s £520m investment for the new C-series – with the potential to create over 800 jobs and more in the supply chain.

 We have reformed planning policy in the countryside.

 In difficult economic times, when heating prices were escalating, we allocated £15 million to support 100,000 households on pension credit and income support.

 Because of the peace and political stability we have brought jobs and significant investment from abroad. Our visits to the US have delivered substantial inward investment. And there’s more to come.

 In addition, following our visits to the US, Universal Studios filmed a multi-million pound movie in Belfast and even today US Television Giant HBO is filming a new series in Northern Ireland bringing millions of pounds into our economy and hundreds of jobs for our community.

 In the last three years we made growing the economy the Executive’s priority and Invest Northern Ireland secured more than £21/2 billion of investment commitments and £1/2 billion in annual salaries; promoted over fifteen thousand new jobs; safeguarded over five thousand existing jobs; and supported over eight thousand new local business starts.

 Earlier this month we announced 500 new jobs brought to Northern Ireland by Citi group adding to the 900 jobs they have already located here.

 In September we opened offices for the New York Stock Exchange, which will bring four hundred new jobs.

 And because of investment by the Executive, Northern Ireland now has a faster telecoms link to New York than California has - as a result of the £25 million Project Kelvin.

 Capital investment in our vital infrastructure increased to £1.7 billion last year. This compares to just £700 million under Direct Rule.

 With this investment we replaced over 530 buses at a cost of £74 million, reducing the age of the fleet from 12 to 6 years.

 As DRD Minister I bought 38 new trains - the first new trains for decades. Now we plan to introduce a further 20 new trains by 2013, the first of these will come into service next year.

 We have completed or widened vast stretches of motorway, dual and single carriageway.

 And for my fellow cyclists we have even provided 82km of new cycle lanes and also 62km of new footway.

 Over eighteen hundred new homes were provided for social tenants last year, the highest number for a decade.

 We have improved the schools estate through investing around £500million and despite the wishes of the Minister for Education we have secured the future of academic selection.

 On the tourist front we have contributed to the £100 million Titanic Signature Project - a landmark building which will be completed by 2012 and work has started on the new Giants Causeway Visitor Centre.

 In the area of health we have invested in the £33m South Wing Development at Altnagevin, a new £270m acute hospital in Enniskillen, a new £64m hospital in Down, a new £9m trauma and orthopaedic facility in Craigavon Area Hospital and £17m of capital investment in 60 new ambulances.

And that's just a sample of what we've done. It's also a start of what we need to do to help rebuild Northern Ireland. While all of this has been achieved, the first term has been about building the base camp from which we will, step by step, reach the summit.

And there's a massive job of work to do.

And at whatever we do we will act responsibly. That’s why this week we have been working intensely to agree a budget not just for one year but for the next four years.

We will keep your household bills down and invest for the future. We will focus our spending on health, education and the police. We will maintain our key priority of growing the economy and we will pay special attention to those in our society who are hurting most from the recession.

With the Conservative imposed cuts it hasn’t been easy, but that’s when a local Executive with local people matters most.

We didn’t create the global economic downturn, but we have to live with the consequences.

We don’t ask for special treatment; all we ask, after 40 years of conflict, is a fair chance to compete and to rebuild our economy.

As everyone knows the Republic of Ireland is facing extremely difficult economic circumstances. It is not a time here or there, for politicians to be playing party politics with peoples' lives and livelihoods. As a unionist I sincerely want their difficulties to be resolved. Make no mistake about it we have a selfish strategic and economic interest in this matter.

I know people in the Republic get very defensive about anything that looks as if their independence is being curtailed. But can I say this - if you take economic advice from the IMF it's not a disaster; it's a disaster if you take economic advice from Gerry Adams.

Although to be fair to him - he does bring a different perspective to the banking issue.

Early next year we will be laying out our agenda for the next term of the Assembly.

It will set out our goals for the next four years.

Even in difficult economic times we can make a real difference.

This is a new era in politics and Northern Ireland has a lot to offer.

The election in May will be a critical moment in our recovery.

The people of Northern Ireland have a choice to make.

Some would suggest that this election is only going to be about one thing - who the First Minister will be. They could not be more wrong. Of course it's vital the DUP remain the largest party and we retain the First Minister's post but it's about much more than that. This election is about the future direction of Northern Ireland.

Sinn Fein’s political agenda is very different to ours.

Where we can make common cause to create jobs or improve the lives of people, we will do so.

But where there are real differences of principle or policy – we will hold our ground.

We want to see Northern Ireland moving forward, together, for everyone.

And the question at the election will be, who do you believe can best take the big decisions on your behalf? Who is capable of negotiating a positive outcome in your interests?

Co-operating when it is possible, compromising when it is beneficial, and standing firm when it is a matter of principle.

We are the strong and responsible unionist voice.

This is not a time to be a prisoner of the past. You will not win today's battles using the tactics and tools of yesteryear.

We must find 21st century solutions to today’s challenges.

We can't pretend that things haven't changed.

Our values and core beliefs remain constant but we must adapt to present needs and the modern world.

We must shape the new political environment and reach out to an ever-expanding audience.

The issue of the constitutional status of Northern Ireland has been settled for as far as one can see into the future.

That battle has been fought and won.

Against that settled backcloth let us focus on the people’s real everyday agenda.

The SDLP leader tells us her number one priority is a united Ireland. Northern Ireland is facing an economic crisis. Our people are struggling to make ends meet. Workers are anxious about their employment prospects. Poverty levels are rising. We are contending with massive cuts to our budget and Margaret Ritchie is chasing the moonbeam of a united Ireland. She just doesn't get it. - Indeed, let me tell her, she wont get it!

Last week on the BBC Caitriona Ruane said there's never been a better time to have a united Ireland. What's she been smoking?

I see that "I'm a Celebrity get me out of here" is back on TV. I have it on good authority the producer wants Caitriona on the show - not as a contestant but as one of those scary jungle trials. She knows a bit about jungle trials.

Unionists have changed their view about Caitriona. A few years ago unionists were angry at her for going off to Columbia - now they are angry because she didn't stay.

Both Margaret and Caitriona need to get real! The constitutional future of Northern Ireland is settled.

If anyone doubts that, I suggest they should examine what Gerry Adams' journey to Louth really means. It is evidence that republicans have given up on a united Ireland - of course we will still get the same old rhetoric - but does anyone really believe that Gerry would be exiting Northern Ireland politics if he thought the constitutional issue was still active and in play?

Too often unionists are negative or defensive about Northern Ireland’s status but remember this - Gerry Adams leaves Northern Ireland politics, for pastures new, with his key ambition unfulfilled.

So my number one priority in the next Assembly term is getting people back to work, revitalising our economy, providing support for those in greatest need and providing every citizen with a better way of life.

That means growing the economy and providing opportunity for all.

It means providing a safe place in which to live and it means learning to live together.

That's the agenda people want to hear about and that's the agenda that will determine the peace and prosperity of our people.

The real question is how, together, we can achieve a shared society in Northern Ireland and how we create a better future for our children.

We must tackle, head-on, the causes of division. Not just for some short term political gain but because it's the right thing to do.

I didn’t make a speech about shared education because I wanted a headline; I did it because I wanted to start a debate. I wanted to start a debate in order to create momentum for change. And I sought that process so that it might lead to a solution.

Let me, without any hint or trace of a hidden political motive, invite those who have a case to be heard, to sit down calmly, as part of a wide-ranging review of our present arrangements, to consider how we might move to a structure which ends the separation of children at a formative age when life patterns are set and life-long friendships are made. Surely it is possible to have a rational discourse about this matter. I'm willing to engage. I hope others will have the courage to come forward.

Mr Chairman, it is almost seven years to the day, since we won the 2003 Assembly elections when the DUP took on the mantle as unionism’s largest party. In every Province-wide election since then we have won more votes than any other unionist party.

This past decade has witnessed an amazing transformation in our fortunes.

Once we were seen as a party of protest, marginalised and isolated.

Then we were seen as a party of opposition, unfit to govern.

But today we are the party of the Union. The party of progress. The party of the future. We are the party of Northern Ireland.

We are not on the margins of politics but at the centre of government.

We take the responsible decisions while others play politics.

We seek to broaden our appeal while others turn inwards and away from the real challenges that lie ahead.

We face up to issues while others duck and weave.

That transformation did not happen by good fortune but by widening our support base and by adapting to meet today's needs.

As other parties retreat into themselves we must reach out to build an ever larger and stronger support base.

That's the way for us to grow and to prosper.

Having won the war; let's not lose the peace.

Let us not allow history to pass us by.

Northern Ireland is changing. We are in a new era.

Out of the ashes of conflict a new generation is emerging.

This generation considers the constitutional issue to be resolved and they just want a better Northern Ireland.

They are more interested in the future than the past.

While we will be forever vigilant on constitutional matters we need to be seen as the natural choice for this new generation if we are to shape politics for decades to come.

That is the way for unionism to have real strength and influence.

The challenge for the DUP is to be able to command support from every part of the unionist community and from those more widely who support our forward-thinking policies.

We must demonstrate that we are the party best able to deliver a better quality of life for everyone in Northern Ireland.

However, the programme for this party should not be established on the basis of the lowest common denominator of what the general unionist community believe but should be set on the basis of the highest common factor of what we can achieve.

We must not only be the largest unionist party in Northern Ireland we must be the party of Northern Ireland.

As a party we must be prepared to change to meet those challenges.

The old certainties have long since passed away, but in doing so, new opportunities have opened up.

There's nothing cushy about the new kind of politics that exists today.

It takes us out of our comfort zone.

Making Stormont work involves compromise and it involves difficult choices.

Northern Ireland has come a long way in the last few years. It is virtually unrecognisable from what it was twenty years ago.

But we should not take the relative peace we have achieved for granted.

There are still dissident republicans who are active and dangerous.

They undoubtedly have the potential to kill and to bomb, but they don't have the ability to destroy the progress that has been achieved.

Of all the Assembly’s achievements in the last four years none was more significant than the united reaction to the murder of the two soldiers and the police officer by dissident republicans in March 2009.

If there was ever a moment that I was sure that we had taken the right decision in entering government, that was it.

That was devolution at its strongest.

Every party in the Executive and Assembly was united as one in opposition and condemnation.

Unremarkable in any other part of the world but truly remarkable given what had gone before in Northern Ireland.

But peace alone does not bring reconciliation.

Conflict creates a damaging legacy and we must tackle that legacy.

The real victory for unionism is not about inflicting pain on our political opponents. It's about creating a new Northern Ireland. A Northern Ireland fair to all, in which everyone who lives here feels a part and wants to share in its future.

We know dissident republicans can never achieve their goals but neither must we let them divert us from achieving ours.

Next May we will face new electoral tests for both the Assembly and Local Government.

We always say that the next election will be the most important one ever - and sometimes it's even true.

It certainly is this time.

Four years ago we reached a defining moment.

We had a decision to take.

Setting up Government wasn't the easy choice but it was the right choice.

No sensible person wants to go back to the bad old days.

At this election we will seek a mandate to continue the work we have begun.

The DUP is the party to defend the interests of unionism and advance the cause of Northern Ireland.

We are the first generation in a very long age who have a realistic prospect of shaping a harmonious and prosperous future.

We have young people of whom we can be proud.

None more so than those who serve in our armed forces.

One of the great honours for me of the past year was going to visit the Irish Guards at their Windsor Barracks as they prepared for deployment to Afganistan. I also considered it to be a great privilege to travel to Helmond Province to visit the Royal Irish Regiment during their last tour of duty in Afghanistan.

These young men from all backgrounds are an example to every one of us - prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice, not just for their country but in the cause of freedom.

Just as for many years brave soldiers came here to join with the police to defend democracy and protect us from terrorism, these soldiers have travelled half way around the world not only to defend us but to make a better life for people they don't even know.

More than ever, in the last few weeks we have seen the true nature and high cost of their dedication and we remember those who have lost their lives in the service of Queen and country.

Those who face terrorism - whether at home or overseas - are more than our defenders, they are our heroes.

Mr Chairman, last month I attended an investment conference hosted by US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton in Washington which was attended by potential investors of some of the United States - indeed the world's - biggest companies.

The distance from home often gives the clearest perspective of what we have to offer as a community.

For this was not just a sales pitch given by our politicians.

Our strongest advocates were US business leaders who had already invested in Northern Ireland and wanted to tell their story.

It's not a story you often hear on the news.

Here were leaders of billion dollar companies prepared to fly to Washington to sell the benefits of investing in Northern Ireland.

They spoke of our education system, our cost competitiveness, of what a great place Northern Ireland is in which to live. They spoke of our infrastructure, the relationships with our universities, our skills base, our telecommunication's network and even our golf courses.

And though you wouldn't read about it in our local newspapers they lavished praise on our pro-business focussed Executive.

But above all else they spoke of the quality of our young people.

These are companies that don't take their decisions based on sentiment but on sound economics.

And more and more are coming here when they see what we have to offer.

They see something that sometimes we overlook.

They see the potential of our people.

Listening to them one by one recount their experiences of investing in Northern Ireland you could not but be proud and confident about the future that we are building.

It has been said, “It is not easy to plant trees when we won't live to see it's flowering”. But, we don't plant a tree for ourselves, he plants it for future generations.

We are descended from a people who cut out a civilization from the bogs and forests and through toil and imagination grew our reputation as a powerhouse of industry and trade.

Let us be prepared to do as our forefathers did and construct a new Northern Ireland.

Let us make up for the wasted years and make this land of our birth great once again.

The conflict has ended, but still too much division remains.

Too much energy has been wasted by strife.

Just think of the potential that can be unleashed if we firmly establish a way to work together as one united community.

This last year our sportsmen and women led the way and made us proud of their achievements.

We must follow their lead and make Northern Ireland the place that it can be, not just for this generation but for the next.

Just look around to see how the city of Belfast has been transformed - the builders' cranes, new domes, spires and pillars rise on the skyline. International investment takes a welcome hold and international visitors increasingly walk our streets.

A stable, peaceful and prosperous Northern Ireland is within our reach.

Let us work together to make it happen.

A second term, as the largest party in Northern Ireland, is within our grasp.

A mandate to keep Northern Ireland moving forward is what we seek. The opportunity to strengthen the Union, to defend our heritage, our culture and values - to serve all the people of Northern Ireland.

The cost of defeat is too great.

Failure is not an option. We must stay focused on our vision for the future.

Victory next May will not be handed to us; we must earn it; we must deserve it.

We will not win alone but together - each one of us in this hall today- taking nothing and no-one for granted.

Door by door and vote by vote, we must win, not for ourselves, but for unionism, and for Northern Ireland.

So let us go out from conference, resolved to take this campaign across the length and breadth of the Province.

The starting pistol has sounded. From Monday, and for the next five and a half months, let victory in this contest be our cause and our crusade.

Let us take our case to the people, secure a victory next May, and keep Northern Ireland moving forward.

My Adventures at the DUP Conference (part 2)

2010-11-27T11:18:00.000Z

Nigel Dodds, the Deputy Leader, was up to give his speech to the gathering at La Mon.

I include his speech below, but there are a few points of interest. In referencing the issue of a United Ireland, Nigel noted that 'When the Celtic Tiger was roaring it was more in the realms of fantasy than reality. Now that it is placed under the crisis care of the International Monetary Fund, European Union and even the British taxpayer it is indeed as Pat Doherty called it, “the impossible”. That future is dead.'

Nigel also has a good go at the TUV and the UUP. But he also added,

'This is a party conference so a jest or two at the expense of rivals is to be expected. However, the DUP knows that there can be real and tangible benefits to greater co-operation and collaboration between the Unionist parties. The DUP demonstrated in advance of the Westminster campaign its willingness to work towards those benefits. Others didn’t. Despite this we were willing then to act and remain so now.'

Will this be a new tack of all the Unionist parties? And more importantly how will the different strands of unionism work together whilst remaining identifiably separate?

Nigel also made a serious point on the changes in voting patterns

The DUP knows, whether it is on the streets of Belfast or the lanes of Tyrone, the day when votes could be expected has passed. Every vote must be earned. The DUP will earn them by offering a positive message, the best team and a vision for a better future. We must give people the reasons to vote, to get out of the arm chair and away from the television to go to the polling booth and to vote DUP.

It has been noted for some time now that the main voting pool has been reducing whether or not it is the 'garden centre prod' or perhaps the disengagement of the working classes. Nigel did strongly point out that the DUP 'electoral task in 2011 and beyond is to slay the enemy of apathy.'

What are your thoughts on the speech?

Nigel Dodds Speech to the DUP conference, 27 November 2010

Before I begin with my speech I wish to take a moment to acknowledge the valiant service of our Armed Forces in Afghanistan. Their dedication to a dangerous task thousands of miles from home is an inspiration. Their sacrifices we shall never forget and our thoughts and prayers are with them.

As we gather at the La Mon Hotel once again we have much to reflect upon. It was only seven years ago that the voters entrusted Unionism and Northern Ireland to our leadership. There was many a critic ready to predict failure. They were proven wrong, for the Democratic Unionist Party has risen to the challenge. Of course, this does not prevent them from predicting our demise again and again but they will be proven wrong again and again.

Under the DUP’s strong leadership there has been clear, steady and identifiable progress. How do we achieve this when others had repeatedly failed? We succeed because of the inner strength of this party, the strength to say No when it has to and Yes when it is right to. This party provides Unionism and Northern Ireland with what it needs - a united and strong team working for it at all levels – in Councils, Assembly, Westminster and the European Parliament. The outcome is a peace and stability which others desired but only we delivered. Stormont is back and about to complete its first full uninterrupted term. The square of policing and justice has been circled.

What drives this inner strength? This strength is derived from a confidence and optimism that the future can be better. This party has a deep faith in itself and in its core beliefs – we believe we can meet any challenge whether it was negotiating a new Agreement or now tackling the economic downturn. We have met many significant challenges in recent years – but we have overcome them all and we will continue to build on these successes.

Let us be in no doubt the primary challenge in the next Assembly term will be transforming our economy. Ulster families are hurting. Jobs have been lost. Pay has been frozen. Inflation has drastically reduced or wiped out any pay and pension increases. Fuel and food costs are rising. House prices have fallen. The DUP recognises the tough choices they are facing. Government must respond likewise. That is why the DUP says to those demanding water charges be introduced that they have no idea what people are already having to cope with. The last thing hard-pressed families need is an extra £400 bill.

The global downturn is challenge enough but now we have the Tory and Liberal Democrat cuts on top. When the DUP highlighted David Cameron’s cuts comments in the infamous Newsnight interview his Ulster Unionist cheerleaders accused us of scaremongering. The reality is worse than even our predictions with capital cuts of 40% as well as the deep cuts in revenue spending of significant concern.

However, we should not overlook the amnesiacs of the Alliance party in all this. The day before the election the Alliance party revelled in their fraternal links with the Liberal Democrats and tried to milk Cleggmania for electoral benefit. They gladly accepted Nick Clegg’s ringing endorsement on the eve of polling day. Now they wander around asking who’s Nick?

This poor choice of friends by others does not distract us from what we need to do. The DUP has produced the most comprehensive set of proposals of how we tackle the budget deficit and keep our economy moving forward. Our Rising to the Challenge document not only shows how we can protect the vulnerable, protect front-line services and protect our economy but sets out an ambitious agenda to create 7,000 new jobs.

For our task on the economy is not simply about dealing with the global downturn. Our task is not simply about managing the Coalition cuts. Our task is to transform our economy by growing our private sector. The DUP will end the perception that Northern Ireland is the sick man of the Union and make it the shining beacon of what a region of the United Kingdom can achieve. For let us be clear what the DUP are seeking to build is Northern Ireland’s second century.

In the past Sinn Fein leaders would talk again and again of Irish Unity by 2016. When the Celtic Tiger was roaring it was more in the realms of fantasy than reality. Now that it is placed under the crisis care of the International Monetary Fund, European Union and even the British taxpayer it is indeed as Pat Doherty called it, “the impossible”. That future is dead.

In 2012 we will mark the centenary of the Ulster Covenant. This document defined the first century of modern Unionism. The creation of Northern Ireland in 1921 was the ultimate consequence of the Covenant, the Unionist campaign and the supreme sacrifice made on the battlefields of the Great War. In the next Assembly term we will be taking the decisions that will build the Northern Ireland of 2021 and after.

Unionism will not need mass demonstrations in 2012. What it needs is a strong, united visionary team using every lever of power at its disposal to secure and build Northern Ireland’s second century. The initiative lies with us. The momentum lies with us. The better future lies with us. We must seize the initiative. We must drive the momentum. We must deliver the better future.

The DUP will be the party of Unionism’s second century. We will take the best values of traditional Unionism and bind them with the new approaches needed for the years and decades ahead. Second Century Unionism will not be driven by the twists and turns of a tortuous peace process but by principle and by a politics that is responsive and relevant to the everyday lives of the people of Northern Ireland. A Unionism that supports the basic building block of society, the family, and with the answers people need on education, the economy and the constitution.

We will drive forward the change that is needed. It is the DUP that sets the political agenda on the size of government in Northern Ireland cutting departments, quangos and MLAs. It is the DUP that sets the agenda on the future of our education system with the call for a Commission to plan a single education system. It is the DUP that sets the agenda on moving Stormont towards a voluntary coalition. On voluntary coalition I add this: there are fears of what such a system would mean. It is our job to identify them and address them. We must become the persuaders for change not just its advocates.

In terms of delivering the TUV and UUP will not be the parties to deliver a better future for Northern Ireland, let alone Sinn Fein or the SDLP

Following their electoral drubbing the TUV is pretending to change. TUV spokespersons now speak of the terrorist past of republicans. TUV spokespersons describe voluntary coalition as a longer-term goal. Jim Allister talks of:

“..moving Northern Ireland forward”

Where have I heard about that before? Jim is even trying to drop the sneer and smile. Granted it’s a smile that makes Gordon Brown’s facial contortions seem genuine but Jim perseveres.

These are some of the very positions Jim rejected and condemned us for in 2007. Three years of egotism, splits and backbiting with the end result of adopting our positions one by one. If he has genuinely moved then what is the point of the TUV? If he hasn’t, then a vote for the TUV remains the self-destruct button of Stormont and Unionism.

Then we have the Ulster Unionist Party. They have a new leader now, although, you wouldn’t be blamed for not noticing. Regardless they still have all the same old problems and the same old pomposity. Sadly for the UUP when they heard the phrase “steady as you drift” they didn’t realise it was a criticism. Instead they treated it as a masterplan.

This is a party conference so a jest or two at the expense of rivals is to be expected. However, the DUP knows that there can be real and tangible benefits to greater co-operation and collaboration between the Unionist parties. The DUP demonstrated in advance of the Westminster campaign its willingness to work towards those benefits. Others didn’t. Despite this we were willing then to act and remain so now.

Why do we need a Second Century Unionism? We need to move Unionism forward to tackle the real opponent in the 2011 Assembly election and beyond. Our true opponent is not fellow Unionists nor the Alliance party nor even Nationalism. It is a silent enemy. It is a tempting enemy. It is a growing enemy. It is the enemy with the reasons for not voting. This enemy is the comfy armchair and television.

The DUP knows, whether it is on the streets of Belfast or the lanes of Tyrone, the day when votes could be expected has passed. Every vote must be earned. The DUP will earn them by offering a positive message, the best team and a vision for a better future. We must give people the reasons to vote, to get out of the arm chair and away from the television to go to the polling booth and to vote DUP.

In conclusion, our electoral task in 2011 and beyond is to slay the enemy of apathy. Our task is to energise the voters to back our vision for Northern Ireland’s second century. With our strength, our confidence, our faith and hard work, together we can do it. Through this the DUP will keep Northern Ireland moving forward.

My Adventures at the DUP Conference (part 1)

2010-11-27T10:52:00.000Z

I was not able to get down the the La Mon Hotel on the Friday (26 November) but have heard it was a good day with a number of discussion seminars going on in areas such as farming, food and environmental policy, health and policing. They also had a communications training for delegates only.

I turned up for the main day on Saturday. And it was an interesting morning, mostly in the experience in getting to the hotel in the first place. With snow and ice filling my sight as i walked out to the car this morning i had a foreboding, then I remembered that today I will mostly be driving a Land Rover. Sorted.

The drive was pleasant and the beauty of the La Mon nestling amongst the snow white hills of Castlereagh meant I could mostly forget the bitter cold. I would have taken a picture but got distracted after I bumped into Mervyn Storey in the car park and had a wee natter on my way in.

My early morning was taken up with an FSB sponsored breakfast where I hopefully did not bore Jimmy Spratt too much as we had a chat around the Justice system. I also had a great chat with Alastair Ross.

After registering properly I went into the main hall and picked up a conference timetable a speeches. Where upon i bumped into Alan Meban (who did a great blog on getting to the La Mon). And the blogfest of geeks began. For a moment, before the lights went out during the panel discussion on 'Reforming Government and Financing Public Services'. Simon Hamilton, the panel chair, quickly quipped that it the hotel power was under pressure because of the number of DUP in the building. The panel discussion ended with a speech from Sammy Wilson - as per usual he was on form giving everyone in the room a good laugh whilst being hard hitting. His main theme was that the DUP are best placed to fix Northern Ireland.

Alan is also updating the DUP conference on Slugger.

Are you sure you're not dead?

2010-11-24T23:05:00.000Z

Just a little bit of my Star Wars tomgeekery. Thought you all might appreciate a laugh after the past few days of utter economic depression.

Are our schools killing creativity?

2010-11-23T22:17:00.003Z

My friend Matt on his blog brought this to my attention.

Sir Ken Robinson gives a very interesting lecture in the RSA and argues that education is structured along production lines which was a structure of education designed during the Enlightenment and the inductrial revolution. He argues that children are being educated out of creativity through the very structures that are there to provide them with knowledge.

Is this something Northern Ireland can learn from? Certainly it hits a chord with me.

Whilst the Minister for Culture Arts and Leisure seems to regard innovation and creativity as important, I recognise pure enthusiasm for creativity and its potential is not a panacea to all our economic woes, it is a key ingredient. If Northern Ireland is to be at the leading edge of research, business and economic growth then it needs to be recognised that innovation and creativity will be extremely important. Lack of investment in our next generations will see a stagnation in lateral thinking, creativity and the ability to assess risk.

Let me explain a little. Hazard is the potential to cause harm; Risk is the likelihood of harm.

In our economically driven world a hazard is for instance going bust. That is a hazard every business has to face. Risk is the likelihood of going bust. In order to have the capabilities to manage risk, we need to have the ability to assess risk and even take a calculated risk in order to succeed. I think our education system, wonderful that it is and helped get me to where i am now, is woefully unprepared to provide for the creativity and risk taking that we need to succeed. We are driven towards inaction. Inaction means avoidance of risk, which means we do not go bust, which means we do not fail. The risk of failure and its stigma is putting people of following ideas that could be the next big thing.

I am not saying that our education is just producing mindless automatons but the overall aim of education needs to be rethought. Why do we have education? What is the actual point of education? If it is based around getting a job then why not apprentice from 11 onwards? Very Orwellian indeed.

As Yoda once said 'Do, or do not. There is no try'. Maybe our education system, with a little imagination, will produce well rounded kids who have confidence to 'Do' and take risks and create something great.

Ian preparing a return to the Alliance Party?

2010-11-20T23:31:00.000Z

In his latest post on his blog, Ian Parsley has explained that he has resigned from the Conservative Party in Northern Ireland. This is not entirely a surprise as Paula Bradshaw, his partner, resigned from the Ulster Unionist Party and recently joined the Alliance Party in early November this year after failing to be selected by the South Belfast Ulster Unionist Association to run for the Northern Ireland Assembly elections to take place in May 2011. Paula and Ian had both been 2010 Westminster candidates for the UCUNF project. No UCUNF candidates were elected. Some of the Westminster candidates have found themselves on the Assembly election ticket whilst others have not.

Ian has been a local Councillor in North Down Borough Council since 2005, first as an Alliance councillor and then as a Conservative councillor. In his present state of resignation that will mean he will be an independent councillor, until someone takes him in.

This now takes the total tally of Conservative Councillors down from three to two (Dierdre Nelson and Peter Bowles).

He had previously been the 2009 European candidate for the Alliance Party before joining the Conservative Party in September 2009 when he was employed by the Centre for Social Justice, which eventually published an interesting document 'Breakthrough Northern Ireland'.

A lot of work seems to have been put into this and it will be interesting to see if Ian continues in this role as well or if he has also resigned from this as well in which case it will be interesting to see who is supposed to drive forward the policy recommendations. Will the CSJ maintain a presence in Northern Ireland? or will we once again be forgotten about?

Does his resignation, along with a slap to the Conservatives and a wistful reminiscence of his time in the Alliance Party point to a wish to rejoin the Alliance Party? Indeed the last few paragraphs of his blog post point out his regret at leaving the Alliance Party in the way he did and he apologises for the hurt he caused. Definitely sounds like he is looking to rejoin the Alliance Party.

He is a capable politician, amiable gentleman and has a vision. I hope he finds a home he is able to continue his work from, whether or not that will be from a home in the Alliance Party? I am not too sure.

There is also a good run down on this by Aldous Duke on Slugger O'Toole

UUP confirming prospective candidates for Assembly elections

2010-11-19T23:59:00.001Z

Just hearing through the vine that the UUP have been confirming with Assembly hopefuls that they are now being recognised by the Party as official prospective Northern Ireland Assembly candidates. I am also hearing that more information will come from the Party on Monday though some names such as Jo-Anne Dobson and Mark Finlay have been confrimed.

The NI Assembly election will take place on 5th May 2011. Elections for the local 26 councils will take place on the same day.

If that were not enough there is a major possibility that we will also have to vote on voting!

Hacks and Hackers hack hackable hack day

2010-11-16T22:25:00.000Z

On Saturday i had the great pleasure of attending ScraperWiki's Hacks and Hackers Hack day held in the University of Ulster, Belfast. It was run by Scraperwiki.

Scraperwiki, is an award-winning data mining tool, funded by 4iP. Hacks and Hackers Hack Day (on twitter the hashtag was #hhhbel ) was a one day event where web developers and designers got stuck with journalists and bloggers to produce projects and stories based on public data. It was sponsored by the School of Media, Film and Journalism at the University of Ulster and The Guardian (Many thanks for the opportunity!) and the Belfast visit was all part of the ScraperWiki UK and Ireland Hacks and Hackers tour.

Personally, I was totally unsure of what to expect. I don't code (so I am not a hacker) and I only vaguely make sense on this blog, sometimes (so I could only loosely claim to be a Hack). So I felt I was being a bit of a cheat when I arrived. Thankfully I found Alan in Belfast and cimota to vaguely hang around with and use to deflect any pertinent questions as to what I do. Scraperwiki's goal was to attract 'hacks' and 'hackers' from all different types of backgrounds: people from big media organisations, as well as individual online publishers and freelancers. They certainly accomplished that. There were more Hacks than Hackers (Hacks For The Win in turning up!!) but I think it actually worked out OK as the technical side could only happen once the ideas had been suitably worked out. As with any project, brainstorming and creating a plan of action is just as important as the doing. You need to know where you are going in order to get there.

There was a nice introduction from the Scraperwiki team and a bit of background on what Scraperwiki was. Now, as I said I am not a hacker and most of the language went over my head, however I began to see the concept. It would help find information that is already publicly available but not very easy to find. The spin for hacks and jhackers was that the aim of the event was to show journalists how to use programming and design techniques to create online news stories and features; and vice versa, to show programmers how to find, develop, and polish up stories and features.

The Scaperwiki team pushed this forward on the day by brainstorming 'datasets', or themes to likes of me, and then teams would form to create a real piece of datamining software (it would find stuff on the web in a thrice which would take you or me a very long time to dig up). Hmm, I think I have just decided I now like the word datamining. It makes me sound like I know what I am doing.

So armed with our mandatory laptops and free WIFI, four intrepid teams of journalists and developers began to develop their chosen themes into ideas and then into a final project to be published and shared. Each team would present their project to the whole group. There was also a bit of a competition with a prize at the end of the day.

I maintained my limpet like attachment to Alan and Matt whilst grasping onto poor Rob Moore from Learning Pool - the sucker who would be our coding monkey.

We eventually got down to something vaguely approximating working on the project theme, that of politics (shock horror). In particular we were minded to do something around voting. Through a bit of idea making, in between watching RSAnimate on changing education paradigms, we started a creation journey towards voting patterns and perhaps how that would fit with socio economic levels within constituencies. This could provide a better picture for instance where instances of political disengagement was highest and the economic background. We used a number of websites for initial research including the Northern Ireland Neighbourhood Information Service, ARK, and a few others, we refined the idea to an initial step of pulling down the information on the ARK website to firstly create a visual of voting patterns.

There was even pizza!!!

Dear help Rob and Alan (who can also code) who struggled with the coding and the government websites. Rob would look up every so often muttering '
why do they use
?? Grrrrrr' I thought it best not to ask and let him get on with it, feeding him some caffeine every no and again. In the end we decided that the project is a goer but we would only look at the voting statistics first as that was easier and would test the practical coding. Lo and behold, it worked. And it showed something we had not seen before. Or at least as clearly before. The lack of people voting.

At the last Westminster election, we could see quite starkly, 17 out of 18 constituencies had Minority MPs. That is to say the number of non voters, who we called Mr No Vote, outstripped the number of those who did and out did the winning candidate by a mile. This caused us to discuss the issue of legitimacy. Yes over 50% in each constituency voted, in some cases only just, but the winner had no where near the number of votes that Mr No Vote did not cast. So apathy is winning out at the minute. The 18th constituency where the winner beat the number of no votes? Fermanagh and South Tyrone. This raised our eye brows, was the only motivator to get bigger numbers out to vote sectarianism? Looked like it as a riled divided community seemed determined not to let the other side in.

OK, this is a bit simplistic but the graphics were quite stark.

So coding done? Check. Visuals done? Check. Ready to present the findings? er, really? Had forgot about that.

So in we went a bit nervous about it all and the presentations began. One group created a scraperwiki to glean NI Court decisions to investigate how effective the judicial process was and how effective the process was, one group created a scraperwiki to scrape the NI Jobfinder website and summarises the public/private/voluntary pay levels, another group created a Scraperwiki to scrape contracts awarded for repairing buildings and so on, by the NI Housing Executive (I did not think of a red sky at this point at all, no no no. Not at all.) The we presented our project, MrNoVote. After the presentations a number of judges went out to discuss the projects and come back with a winner. And guess what? It was us that done it!! I could not believe it at all. I was still asking Matt afterwards if we had actually won. He quietly insisted in his usual MacDaddy way that yes it was true, now stopping asking.

Overall I really think, after seeing it in practical use, scraperwiki has huge potential and a myriad of applications. It even makes me want to relive my coding days and learn to work with things like Python (I was disappointed to learn this is a coding language and not Eric Idle and co) or PHP.

A great big well done to the developers of Scraperwiki and I hope the madness continues into the future. As for our little project I think I saw a twinkle in Alan's eyes so MrNoVote will continue on and, unfortunately for politicians, will be very much alive to help assess the Assembly and Council elections next May.

Kill Bill (the double jobbing one that is)

2010-11-15T22:38:00.000Z

Dawn Purvis MLA has just published a press release regarding the progress of her Private Members Bill on double jobbing in the NI Assembly. The Bill aims to end local Councillors being MLAs at the same time. Dawn had discussed the issue of double jobbing at a NICVA event in 2009.

Dawn says that the DUP will try to use a veto to kill her bill on double-jobbing by tabling a Petition of Concern to prevent the bill from becoming law.

The Bill itself has been through five stages of the legislative process. After that all that is left for the Bill is the Final Stage (bet you are shocked at that!). After the Final Stage the Bill then goes for Royal Assent. Once Royal Assent is given then it will become law.

Dawn's objective is to reduce the practice of individuals holding more than one elected office at a time, an issue sometimes referred to as ‘multiple mandates’. The question of ‘multiple mandates’ has been debated by the Assembly on a number of occasions, including on 10 March 2009 which focused on dual mandates between the Northern Ireland Assembly and the UK Parliament. On 23 November 2009, the Assembly resolved:

“That this Assembly notes the recommendations of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, ‘Supporting Parliament, Safeguarding the Taxpayer’; calls on all political parties within the Assembly and Parliament to commit to an end to “double-jobbing”, including private sector employment, ideally by the time of the scheduled election in May 2011 or, failing that, by 2015 at the latest; and further calls on the First Minister and deputy First Minister to convey the opinion of the Assembly on this matter to the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.”

It should be noted that the Assembly does not have the authority to legislate on disqualifying its members from being MPs.

Dawn is very strong in her reaction and said that "This is an outrageous attempt to block this legislation and prevent this important reform from being implemented. It also sets an extremely dangerous precedent. The DUP is using this procedure –which should be used with careful consideration – to support their own interests as a political party. I would call on Peter Robinson to support the final passage of the bill – after all he gave a commitment to bring an end to this practice of holding dual mandates."

Dawn says on her website that she will be making more comments on the issue soon. The DUP have done it now!

Gerry goes south of the border, down Dundalk way

2010-11-14T15:19:00.001Z

Picking up on Sky and BBC that Gerry Adams will step down from the NI Assembly and, eventually, Westminster in order to run for a seat in the Irish parliament. Mark McGregor and Michael Shilliday also pick up on this over on Slugger O'Toole.

He has indicated that he hopes to stand in the next Irish General Election (likely to be called by Brian Cowan for 2011). He hopes to be a candidate in the Louth constituency. Arthur Morgan has been the incumbent Sinn Fein TD in Louth for the past 8 years. However, he has publicly indicated that he will not be standing in the next Irish General Election in order to go back into business. At least it is not to write a book.

Gerry said his Stormont replacement would be chosen within the week, and that he would remain as MP for West Belfast until the Irish general election is called.

Mr Adams said in his speech at Edentubber that his decision to stand was a "significant initiative by the Sinn Fein leadership." he continued,

It is a measure of our determination to provide a real alternative to the consensus for cuts being pushed by the other parties. Ireland needs political change. We need change in the Dáil. We need more voices that will stand up against the consensus for cuts – more voices that will stand up for ordinary people. We need new politics. We need a political realignment.

BBC Mark Simpson's analysis is telling.

As the peace process has settled down in recent years, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has often looked bored. There is no longer a new political crisis every week in Belfast. As a result, Mr Adams has a reduced workload and a much lower profile. That may not be the main reason he has decided to run for the Irish parliament, but it may well be a factor. While his right-hand man Martin McGuinness has, as deputy first minister, become the face of Sinn Fein at Stormont, Mr Adams has had a peripheral role. He spends a lot of time south of the border, but as an unelected politician he is effectively shouting from the sidelines. At 62, he has decided to try to re-invent himself. If elected he would try to lead a surge in support for Sinn Fein in the south. If he loses, it could spell the end of his long political career.

Sinn Fein currently has five MPs four TDs in the Irish parliament. If Gerry Adams retains the seat then it could cement his all Ireland political career, if he fails then his career will indeed be over. Either event will make an interesting centrepiece at the the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis next year, which for the first time, will be in Northern Ireland at the Waterfront Hall.

Mind you the potential Dail General Election has also provided a surprise in Ulster-Scots circles as i have also just heard that Dr Billy McWilliams intends to stand in Donegal for the the Dail elections. Fair Fae Ye Billy, Fair Fae Ye.

Remembrance and the Poppy

2010-11-13T19:04:00.000Z

The Poppy. Evocative. Emotional. Divisive?

As we remember those who have fallen, as well as those who survived and all the families involved, the significance of the Poppy raises its divisive and conciliatory head in 2010.

It has been reported already that Margaret Ritchie will, as a leader of Nationalism, wear a poppy on Remembrance Sunday. Conall Mcdevitt also sets out his take on his Leader doing this as showing some element of respect and remembrance.

The Poppy has also been in the news due to people associating with divisive issues. Recently Jonathan Bell MLA highlighted an issue where a manager in EXTERN asked staff to hide their poppies.

The BBC’s Director General has recently been contacted by solicitors representing a member of Relatives For Justice demanding an explicit explanation of their policy surrounding the wearing of poppies. The policy the solicitors want to be clarified to basically no poppies on show. The BBC were also criticised on a UK basis for encouraging their presenters to wear poppies too early.

And the issue of Poppy wearing is not restricted to Northern Ireland, BBC reported that Hollister in Hampshire, England has been caught up in a similar controversy with staff wearing the Poppy

There was also the issue of Celtic football fans held banners describing the remembrance poppy as "bloodstained".

Personally, I think Poppies are a symbol that does not glorify war or conflict. The Celtic fans were right, it is blood stained. That is the point. Poppies symbolise the whole concept that we should never forget the sacrifices of others be they combatant or non-combatant. We should celebrate the issue of personal bravery in adversity. It symbolises John 15:13 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.' It should not glorify war, nor promote bloodthirsty nationalistic pride. It should remind us of why there should be no more wars or conflict. It should reinforce pacifism. It should remind us to treat others as we would like to be treated. It should remind us that we should, no matter how we view the world or government, that men and women who have died in conflict should be remembered with dignity, the injured should be treated as a priority, families should not be forgotten and society should be more responsive to all those in need help and understanding.

I will remember them on Sunday. What ever your own belief on the issue, I hope you will at least pause to think about how we as a society can learn from a violent past to build a peaceful future.

Political guide to tourists to the Island of Ireland

2010-11-12T21:08:00.000Z

Had this drop in my mail box and thought i would share. A bit of Friday Fun. Enjoy.

WARNING - THIS MAY BE A JOKE!!

Political guide to tourists to the Island of Ireland

Ireland is an island to the west of Britain but Northern Ireland is just off the mainland - not the Irish mainland, the British mainland.

The capital of Ireland is Dublin . It has a population of a million people, all of whom will be shopping in Newry this afternoon. They travel to Newry because it is in the North, which is not part of Ireland , but still pay in Euros.

Under the Irish constitution, the North used to be in Ireland , but a successful 30-year campaign of violence for Irish unity ensured that it is now definitely in the UK . Had the campaign lasted longer the North might now be in France .

Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland . It has a population of half a million, half of whom have houses in Donegal. Donegal is in the north but not in the North. It is in the South. No, not the south, the South.

There are two parliaments in Ireland . The Dublin parliament is called the Dáil, (pronounced "Doyle"), an Irish word meaning a place where banks receive taxpayers' money. The one in Belfast is called Stormont, an Anglo-Saxon word meaning placebo, or deliberately ineffective drug.

Their respective jurisdictions are defined by the border, an imaginary line on the map to show fuel launderers where to dump chemical waste.

Protestants are in favour of the border, which generates millions of pounds in smuggling for Catholics, who are opposed to it.

Travel between the two states is complicated because Ireland is the only country in the world with two M1 motorways. The one in the North goes west to avoid the south and the one in the South goes north to avoid the price of drink.

We have two types of democracy in Ireland . Dublin democracy works by holding a referendum and then allowing the government to judge the result. If the government thinks the result is wrong, the referendum is held again. Twice in recent years the government decided the people's choice was wrong and ordered a new referendum.

Belfast democracy works differently. It has a parliament with no opposition, so the government is always right. This system generates envy in many world capitals, especially Dublin .

Ireland has three economies - northern, southern and black. Only the black economy is in the black. The other two are in the red.

All versions of the IRA claim to be the real IRA but only one of them is the Real IRA. The North's biggest industry is the production of IRAs. Consequently, we now have the Provisional, Continuity and Real IRA. The Real IRA is by far the most popular among young graffiti writers simply because it is the easiest to spell.

Muppets, the lot of them!!

2010-11-08T21:08:00.000Z

No I am not talking about politics this time.

I am in fact talking about "The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made", which to all intents and purposes will be the Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made!!

That's right, after about a decade of having to do with dvds we will be given an opportunity next year to see our greatest puppet favourites back on the big screen. Stephen Segal will be acting in it as well.

The film is about a man, his girlfriend, and the man’s life-long nondescript, brown puppet best friend (probably with an iPhone) getting the Muppet gang, now all retired, together to save the TV studio that the original show was shot in. A villain, Tex Richman, is determined to drill for oil beneath the studio and will be taking over the studio in weeks. The only way to have a happy ending for the studio? Put on a show that draws ten million viewers!

It is due to hit the big screens on 25 December 2011

I can not wait. :) I am sooooooooo happy. Wagga Wagga Wagga!

No Government can be long secure without a formidable Opposition

2010-11-08T19:22:00.000Z

So said Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield.

And Tom Elliott MLA, Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, has become Disraelian regarding this particular thought on oppositional politics.

Tom has outlined his concerns that the current political system at Stormont does not bode well for Northern Ireland's future. Whilst proud of the UUP’s role in delivering a more peaceful Northern Ireland he recognises that the institutions are far from perfect.

He explains that the institution's weaknesses “have been accentuated by the tribalism of Sinn Fein and the DUP, as they carve up power and ensure a silo mentality at the heart of Government. This situation was manageable in a time of plenty; however, as we head into a difficult period that will be defined by fiscal constraint, we require responsive Government.”

He goes on to say that "It is a long standing position of the Ulster Unionist Party that Northern Ireland needs a more normalised form of Government with a voluntary 'cross-community' coalition and an official opposition that is better able to hold the Executive to account. As we head towards the Assembly election, with issues surrounding the selection of First Minister and the danger of a tribal campaign, the Ulster Unionist Party is determined about the need for such reform. It is clear from the workings of the current Executive that it is no functioning like a proper democratic government. With five different parties, who have different agendas and policies, this type of government is not productive for the long term future of Northern Ireland. In the long run change by legislation is what is needed, in the short-term the principled following of democratic parliamentary principles by political parties may be what is required to improve governance in Northern Ireland."

Tom’s mention of heading “towards the Assembly election, with issues surrounding the selection of First Minister and the danger of a tribal campaign, the Ulster Unionist Party is determined about the need for such reform.” I would say this particular piece reflects the worry that the DUP run another 2007 type election which saw the UUP reduced from 27 elected in 2003 to only 18 elected in 2007. This is widely recognised as an upshot of the St Andrews Agreement and the changes made in it meant electioneering was driven on narrow lines of a Vote for the UUP is a wasted vote. As can be seen it worked, up to a point. The UUP is still strong enough to keep going and the DUP were not able to deliver that knock out blow. The boogeyman for Unionism this time is a Sinn Fein First Minister, which the DUP will capitalise upon (and I would expect them to do nothing less in order to increase their vote even more).

For nationalism the galvanising issue is less negative, as ever. Here Sinn Fein can really squeeze the SDLP by going to the polls saying they have a real chance to outshine intransigent Unionism by becoming the symbolic First Minister. Something to work for rather than against.

Alliance has always styled itself as the unofficial opposition, but that is now difficult as it is also a member of the NI Executive. That now means that out of 108 MLAs, 103 are ‘in government’.

So where would oppositional politics fit in? How would it fit in? How could it even get to that point?

It helps when the now Secretary of State, Owen Patterson, as the Shadow Secretary of State,

promised to review the way in which the post of First Minister is awarded. He did say that “There is no timetable on this and there is no hurry, but it has always been my party’s intention to negotiate the review mechanisms with all parties in Northern Ireland. This could be a long time coming but it would be done in close contact with all the existing parties and I think if it happens it would lead to a better Northern Ireland." He also clarified that “We would like to move towards voluntary coalition.”

So the UUP can say it still has some ideological links to the Conservative party, is this a sign of things to come?

In an opinion piece Jim Allister, TUV Leader, said, “Yet, at the core of mandatory coalition at Stormont is the denial of that basic right, compounded by the prohibition on having an opposition. Because it so defies the basic tenets of democracy, mandatory coalition can never be the basis for good and durable government. Its removal is a prerequisite. Likewise, at the top of government, workable authority is indispensable. The office of joint first ministers is an unworkable farce so it too must go. TUV is certainly opposed to terrorists in government but we are not opposed to shared government. The proper route to shared government, with every party in Northern Ireland being a minority party is voluntary coalition. By the practice of normal politics and negotiation after every election a government and opposition would evolve.”

Turgon over on Slugger O’Toole talks about the prospects of Voluntary coalition and has thoughts on voluntary coalition. There re also similar debates over on Open Unionism.

The DUP have also set out their stall that they want voluntary coalition and have taken a very interesting step by consulting on it too. Can't have a better way to crowd source ideas and make sure you have you electorate going in your direction. Read the questions on the page, I have and think they are very much of the moment. One of the questions is "Would you prefer to see a voluntary coalition model of Government appointed?".

So is it a goer?

Well I believe the SDLP would be very, very cautious about such an issue and Sinn Fein will not go for it at all. This means that unless the voluntary coalition government of the UK forces it through, then voluntary coalition will remain an aspiration. That would also leave any party going into opposition going in as an unoffical opposition.

Is it a realistic option for the UUP? Perhaps putting it into the May election manifesto as a real option? This may get round the issue that plagued the Party in 2007 over the question of 'to go into opposition or not' whilst working towards a credible electoral strength for 2015. Opposition is a double edged sword and needs to be thought about carefully, especially in a democratic system that does not recognise an official opposition but does recognise institutional sectarian head counts. It may also allow the UUP to be unconnected to the issue of who the First Minister will be. If the DUP can not credibly reduce the UUP numbers even more it may leave them in a vulnerable position and possibly isolate their electorate with more strongly held views. Could this strengthen the hand of the TUV any more? At the minute it does not look likely, but if they were to even get one or two seats that could cause problems in the longer term.

I love the way Unionism is so straight forward.

Know your bloggers or No to bloggers

2010-11-07T23:21:00.000Z

I have just read an article in PR Week called Know your Bloggers and seems to have been sparked of by the now famous Andrew Marr outburst about bloggers.

The PR Week article highlights that PR professionals dismissing bloggers do so at their own peril. Though I would not necessarily be so dramatic. The case they use is basically a blogger, engaged by a company, complaining about the companies treatment. You don't even need to be a blogger to complain in a very public way - we have the Stephen Nolan Show.

They even use a OnePoll survey to ask 3,000 people a number of questions regarding bloggers, trust and accuracy. It found 15% of people read blogs regularly and 54% read occasionally. 19% said blogs were a valuable addition to online news with 58% saying blogs were sometimes valuable additions.

Importantly only 6% believe bloggers get their facts right and 61% believe they get facts right sometimes. Interestingly, only 9% trust the Press to get their facts right and 61% believe they get facts right sometimes. So the Press (journalists) are only slightly more trusted than bloggers. And the common accusation about the quality of bloggers is down to lack of editorial experience, which does not seem to stack with the figures. a curve ball on the whole issue was a question about which news source being the most trustworthy to give accurate factual news. TV was at 62%, Radio at 15%, News papers at 14% and Blogs at 3%.

I do believe bloggers add value to news coverage and information distribution. Sometimes it is the news outlets that use blogs to glean a story that the blogger has broken, so bloggers could be seen as contributing to news production in an active way, rather than just reacting to it. Some bloggers have gone on to be journalists, whilst some journalists have become prolific bloggers, like Mark Devenport.

The article also breaks bloggers down into 5 types - Expert, Hobby, Mummy, Professional and Opinion. I have not quite made my mind up about the 5 types but they seem to fit OK. Though just google 'types of blogger' and you will see the number going from 3 to 15.

While i wonder about the overall usefulness of the artricle, it does interest me to begin looking at different NI blogs and trying to ties them into the 5 types. Most of the ones I would know off are either Hobby or Opinion blogs (with a little of the professional thrown in). For instance, Bobballs or Splintered Sunrise or even 3000 Versts would be Opinion Bloggers; Wee Gamers from Northern Ireland (my own), AJs Gaming World, or Colonel Toffeeapple's Toys are Hobby; Slugger o'Toole would be a Opinion/Professional mix; Alan in Belfast would be a Hobby/Opinion mix; cimota would be a Opinion/Expert blog.

And so it could continue on.

I may perhaps try to use a format like this to split out blogs into areas of particular interest rather than lump them altogether. That might be a piece of advice a lot of us could take on board as we all search for better User Experience.

There is also an interesting quick post up on Will and Testament about how blogs and blogging has changed.

My adventures at the SDLP Conference.

2010-11-07T01:20:00.000Z

Well it was very busy weekend attending the SDLP Conference, and I as I was also doing a bit of work I found it great as everyone I spoke to was very amenable and ready to chat. Which makes my life easier.

As it is the start of the conference season for me it was also an opportunity to meet up with other public affairs practitioners, catch up on the gossip and hear about what is new in the small world of public affairs in Northern Ireland. (and no i am not telling what i heard!)

After the Friday night attendance at the conference I headed back on Saturday morning (once the kids and wife were sorted) to the Ramada Hotel at Shaws Bridge.

Debates on Friday included Parades, Justice the Economy and Public Finances, with a panel debate on Jobs and the Economy.

Saturday started with Education, a panel debate on A Shared Society before speeches from Alex Attwood Minister for Social Development and Margaret Ritchie SDLP Leader. After which a panel discussion on a United Ireland, Health, Local Government, Environment and Energy, Sort, Culture and Arts, Regional Development, Sexual Violence and Abuse, and Human Rights.

I have always found the SDLP conferences to be quite an interesting way to both 'bang the drum' for the party faithful and to formulate policy in an inclusive way.

I have to point out that Alan in Belfast did a great post covering a lot of Saturday's goings on and I would not try to repeat a very good report. My own take on Margaret's speech would be that after a shaky start with a a few awkward applause pauses, but she soon got into her stride.

Some factoids from the Leader's speech are that she

Referred to British once, Northern Ireland 11 times, the North 13 times, Irish 14 times and all-island 3 times
Mentioned Sinn Fein 12 times, DUP 6 times, SDLP 40 times, Alliance Party 2 times and not a mention of the UUP
Talked of a United Ireland 5 times
Referred to the Economy 14 times and economic 6 times
Mentioned the Queen 4 times and the Pope 2 times
Included Opportunity once, courage once, never 6 times
Talked about Share and Shared 3 times each
Referred to politics 9 times and political 11 times

Of note was the reference to Fearghal when she says

'We should acknowledge the contribution of Fearghal McKinney who left his successful media career to fly the SDLP flag in his home county of Fermanagh. As things turned out, it was something of a baptism of fire – but Fearghal will be back, stronger than ever.

Will he be a running mate with Tommy Gallagher for the Assembly elections? Or will he set his sights first on the Council? Possibly interesting times ahead in Fermanagh.

There was also a bit of a twitter skirmish going on in the background about Margaret's speech because of the way she referred to Sinn Fein.

Below is Margaret Ritchie’s first full speech as Leader at the 39th Annual SDLP conference

“Lord Mayors of Belfast and Derry, Ministers, Distinguished guests, colleagues, friends.

It is a pleasure to be here to deliver my first conference address as SDLP leader. It is truly an honour to follow in the footsteps of Mark Durkan as Party Leader. He has served us with great courage and ability. Mark’s inspirational performance in the Bloody Sunday Westminster debate shows what a powerful force he will continue to be for this Party.

I also want to congratulate Mark on once again, despite unfavourable boundary changes, winning Foyle for the Party.

And I want to congratulate Alasdair too of course. A stunning result in South Belfast, our highest ever vote there and our highest ever vote share. Alasdair has turned a Unionist stronghold into a solid SDLP seat and he has done so by a combination of an excellent constituency strategy and sheer hard work on the ground. I congratulate his dedicated staff also.

I think we did OK in South Down too. The dedicated teamwork that delivered us victory for Westminster is I believe, going to deliver 3 SDLP seats in South Down in May.

I want to pay tribute to our one outgoing MP, my good friend and colleague Eddie McGrady who epitomises SDLP commitment to public service. Westminster's loss is our gain and even though he has given 50 years of service we will be keeping Eddie busy.

Thanks to all of you for the work and commitment that delivered our Westminster victories and special mention to our election director Patsy McGlone and Deputy Director Conall McDevitt.

And, of course, as well as following Mark, I also follow in the footsteps of….. …. 'Ireland’s Greatest.’ Even in retirement he continues to do us proud. Some critics have asked me 'When is the SDLP going to stop going on about their former leader' The answer to that, conference, is never.

We will never stop drawing inspiration from the greatest to have walked among us. And this latest recognition, while celebrating the achievements of a great person, also reminds us of the place this Party still occupies in the politics of this island and in the hearts of the Irish people. The work of the SDLP is a noble calling. We bring unique values to Irish politics. We must never forget that. And it is our unfinished mission I want to talk about today.

But I’m not going to stand here and pretend that everything is rosy in the garden. Where our opponents could sectarianise the election our vote got squeezed.

We should acknowledge the contribution of Fearghal McKinney who left his successful media career to fly the SDLP flag in his home county of Fermanagh. As things turned out, it was something of a baptism of fire – but Fearghal will be back, stronger than ever. Compare the determination and idealism of Fearghal in this election with the despicable; is that a strong enough word? Yes, despicable, cynicism of Alex Maskey, and you see the essential difference between the SDLP and Sinn Fein. Mr Maskey condemned an agreed unionist candidate in Fermanagh/South Tyrone as a sordid sectarian pact and then turned round and offered the same to the SDLP in South Belfast. He got his answer. There can be no place for such hypocrisy in the new politics of the North. When Gerry Adams asked me to consider an electoral pact with his Party I was unimpressed. My new found friend made a speech only a few hours later, in which he attacked the SDLP some 25 times. His offer was from start to finish a stunt. And I told him directly - You cannot create a better society in the North by driving people into the sectarian trenches.

It was absolutely right to send him packing. We are moving on to the next horizon and we are not interested in the tired tribal politics of the past. So next time Gerry, don’t even ask!

Nonetheless, after Westminster, and indeed before, there was concern about our Party. About how others had stolen our political clothes. And there was the concern that we are not an all-island Party. We have heard various suggestions about how we can put this right – all sorts of mergers and alliances – and even the suggestion of a single nationalist Party in the North.

So let me deal with these in turn.

An SDLP all-island alliance:

I have recognised that in the long term there may well be significant political realignment on this island and the SDLP may well be part of it. But we are not at that point yet. Also, any merger with a major southern Party would effectively mean the end of the SDLP and I believe with that, crucially, the disappearance of the unique brand values we bring to Irish politics. So we have ruled it out for now. The SDLP still has a hugely important task here in the North to help us all move on and to reach for the next horizon. We will continue our very positive relations and friendships with all three major Parties in the South. I have met with Brian, Enda and Eamon and they all fully understand and respect our position. It is a source of great satisfaction not only that all three Parties have senior representatives in attendance at our conference - but that they are participating in the actual business of this event.

The three southern Parties and the SDLP are all from that same social democratic centre of Irish Politics and Irish Nationalism. We are part of the same political family. They are, and always will be, very welcome among us. Let me turn then to the suggestion of a single nationalist Party in the North. It is true that others have adopted SDLP policies as their own and we no longer have the obvious differentiator of non-violence. There are therefore, technically, two constitutional nationalist Parties in the North. But just because you hear someone say there is little difference between us doesn’t mean you should believe it. There is in fact a world of difference between the SDLP and Sinn Fein. A world of difference. Indeed beyond the common goal of Irish Unity, we could not be more different!

That is why I rejected such a proposition in the strongest of terms when it arose publicly. Just as I did the suggestion of an electoral pact. For there is no credible argument for an electoral pact with Sinn Fein. Even at a tactical level the downside would far outweigh any benefits. And how can we enter any tribal or sectarian pacts that would simply undermine everything we stand for?

The SDLP is a Democratic Party. Sinn Fein is a centrally controlled authoritarian Party. We go through the bumpy democratic process of selecting our candidates (here and there) – in another Party you get a tap on the shoulder and told its time you went off to write a book!

And we in the SDLP are Progressive Nationalists. Our fundamental instinct is to look forward with hope and optimism and creativity – and to plot a path that allows everyone to move on. Progressive. Our opponents are not progressive. They are chained to the past, resentful in the present and offer little hope for thefuture. If I’m labelling us progressive, then I’ve got to categorise the other so-called constitutional nationalists as stuck in the past. And the differences come through when you look at the things that really matter to people.

[ECONOMY]

Take jobs and the economy: The progressive nationalism of the SDLP says that we want to make a success of the Northern Ireland economy. Other nationalists don’t care about the Northern Ireland Economy because their sole obsession is waiting for the time when Northern Ireland is over. But the old nationalist ambivalence about the Northern Ireland economy cannot be justified. We must make this place as good as it can be for the people who live here now. An economy that delivers jobs and prosperity for all our people. Not later. Now. Sinn Fein are nowhere on economic policy or thinking. They are regarded as a joke South of the border and they have a leader who said the economy was ‘not important.’ Well tell that to the thousands of people, particularly in our construction industry, who have lost their jobs. And the thousands more who live in fear of unemployment.

Our opponents, despite Mitchel McLaughlin’s isolated protestations, are at best ambivalent about the Northern Ireland economy. Indeed they cannot even bring themselves to utter the words ‘northern Ireland’.

They remain suspicious of investors and entrepreneurs, and resentful of profit.

We are a progressive social democratic Party on the economy – focused on jobs and bettering the lives of everyone – but not afraid to support enterprise and investment and those who create wealth by their talent and hard work. Like the man who put this hotel here.

I’ll come back to the economy later.

[SHARED FUTURE]

Perhaps the biggest difference between the two nationalisms is the view they take of the future of society itself. SDLP progressive nationalism says we want a Shared Society. That means a society that is not only non-violent but which welcomes and embraces different traditions and actively sets out to end segregation and division. We are serious about building a normal society where people do not have to live in single identity neighbourhoods and where our children do not have to grow up worrying about the ‘other side’. Where everyone feels safe walking down the street and no community is in the grip of paramilitaries of any kind.

Our nationalist opponents simply do not believe in this kind of society. They are happy to maintain our current divisions and abnormal segregation. They use and abuse our Irish culture as a political weapon and if scratched are every bit as sectarian as their opposite numbers in loyalism.

They have no vision for making the North a better place. Indeed deep down they have no desire to share with people from the unionist tradition.

SDLP Progressive nationalism is more confident, more optimistic, and more ready to engage wholeheartedly across the divide. We are not afraid to say 'Northern Ireland' or to encounter a member of the British Royal family at a function. How ridiculous was it for Martin McGuinness to refuse to go to a function celebrating the grand slam success of our all-island Rugby team - because the Queen was also in attendance! I was happy to go and congratulate our team and I had a very pleasant chat with the Queen. Honestly she’s not the least bit threatening. Well I didn’t think so.

Just as progressive nationalists can accept where we are today, so also can we accept the realities of our history while others keep attempting to rewrite it. We therefore do not feel the need to airbrush out of history the sacrifice of many thousands of Irish Nationalists who fought in the two world wars. We accept the realities of our journey and we want to improve on the past.

I know also that some people in our Party have reservations about some of the language we use around a ‘Shared Future’. Its not that they don’t believe in reconciliation and the two traditions building a better future in the North together – its that they are worried, well,… that its sounds a bit alliancey….

Indeed one particular commentator - himself stuck in the past - remarked that the SDLP’s response to Sinn Fein moving on to SDLP ground was to jump onto Alliance Party ground. Utter Utter Rubbish.

[UNITY]

Which brings me to Irish Unity. We in the SDLP remain absolutely, unambiguously committed to a United Ireland. Where the border disappears and where we are no longer governed by Britain. It is, without qualification, our number one political objective.

Can I be any more definitive about that?

Incidentally, the last time I checked it wasn’t the central policy plank of the Alliance Party

Again, unlike our Nationalist opponents, we are credible on the issue.

SDLP Progressive nationalists see Unity as a coming together of strong partners, North and south, and not a hostile takeover of a weak North with a demoralised unionist majority.

Our Strategy is to persuade people of the benefits of a United Ireland. We can take away many of the fears of those who remain to be persuaded, by providing concrete assurances that, in the event of Unity, the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, including power-sharing, would remain in place. Also we offer an acknowledgement that the challenge for Irish nationalists is to make the case to unionists in a way that has never been done before.

What happens to the NHS in our vision of a United Ireland? What about the social welfare system or the police service? How do we secure a long term financial underpinning for a region ready to step away from the UK? These are serious questions requiring serious answers. And because we are serious and our plans are credible we will come up with the answers.

Where is our opponents’ strategy on Irish Unity? Standing around waving flags, resenting Northern Ireland and its institutions, and hoping somehow, to wake up some morning and find Ireland united – is not a strategy.

Nor is it credible to claim the magical day will arrive in 2016, because that year is the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising. Yet that is what they expect their supporters to believe. And its on the record. 2016. Not only has Gerry Adams said it – but Martin McGuinness has quoted Gerry Adams saying it. But nobody told Mitchel. Just like he is isolated in pretending his Party is serious about the economy, he is alone in trashing the 2016 promise. That his why he told the DFP Assembly Committee that he wanted a question on future Irish Unity to be put in the census questionnaire - for the 2021 census!

I’m told Gerry is now trying to wriggle away from his promise of Unity by 2016. He’s claiming he never said it. So is he saying that Martin McGuinness is fibbing about him? But then ability to remember what he did in the past is not Gerry’s best known quality.

Whatever way you look at it they have no credibility about the issue of Unity. They genuinely do not know what to do. By contrast, the SDLP has a credible strategy and a successful track record of persuading people about the political future that lies ahead – and finding the path.

Friends surely after what I have said there can be no-one in this room who can think we have much in common with our nationalist opponents? We are a progressive Party they are still a protest Party.

On jobs and the economic welfare of our people we have serious ideas. They have not.

On building a better society for our children we have genuine commitment – they want the division to continue.

And on Irish Unity we are credible and they are still waving flags.

I have said it before: The battles of the past are over. The only battle now is the battle of ideas. And the SDLP is well placed for that. We can provide the roadmap for the future.

And because our opponents are bereft of any real ideas - and because they’ve already played their ‘toys out of the pram’ card – they are going nowhere.

In fact they have little to sustain them except the continued nurse-maiding by the two Governments.

I’m not going to criticise the two governments for the constant concessions to the DUP and Sinn Fein where at times, principle and fairness were jettisoned to get the two Parties over the line. All I’m going to say is that they don’t need to keep doing it.

It is time for the two Governments to recalibrate from the default position which supports DUP and Sinn Fein demands every time and which has done untold damage to centre-ground politics in the North.

You don’t need to do this anymore. You have got them both into the tent and over the line. Please do not stand in the way as the centre ground recovers.

Although we have some measure of stability, the only credit we can give to this Assembly, in this mandate, is that it has survived and has set us up to do better next time.

So how are we going to do better, for all our people, next time?

I say there is scope for the centre ground to regain the centre of government, and I want to say to the Unionist Parties that we are ready to work with them to move on to the next horizon.

Whether anyone likes it or not, we all accept the SDLP-inspired power-sharing nature of our Government. So I say to unionists, we need to make it the best it can be. And isn’t it likely to work better if the centre Parties were back at the heart of it? We want to work these institutions in a true spirit of partnership and we are ready to bring genuine goodwill and pragmatism to the table. We will not deny our goal of Irish Unity but we can honestly say that we want this place to be a social and economic success here and now – wherever we happen to be on our constitutional journey. So when will some of our unionist friends step up and meet the SDLP on the centre ground?

I honestly believe that the SDLP and fair-minded unionists could resolve the many issues that were too much for the DUP and Sinn Fein. We could, I believe, easily resolve the crisis in education and deliver the RPA to name just two.

This DUP Sinn Fein controlled executive has performed abysmally.

It has run the four Party Executive as a two Party carve-up. And it is still doing so.

After 3 years OFMDFM has produced a so called Cohesion Sharing and Integration strategy which is an utterly cynical exercise from two Parties who don’t want to share anything.

The same department has done absolutely nothing with the Maze. Successive DUP Ministers have failed on RPA and Planning Reform and job creation to add to earlier debacles on victims and parading and so much else. Other Ministers have presided over calamity in the water service, farmers queuing up for days for application forms, the EU fining us for fiddling and a performance on education bordering on the surreal.

DFP has bungled PFI and presided over three years of financial reallocations based more on party-political carve-up than need or best use.

And we now have the dissidents. And let’s be clear what that is. Dissidents aren’t some new social or political phenomena; they are the direct legacy of Sinn Fein’s failed war. When are they going to admit that what is wrong now was always wrong.

And we have had poor leadership in the Executive. A First Minister who refuses to meet the Queen because the Pope might be there and a Deputy first Minister who won’t meet the Pope because the Queen might be there. How is that representing our government on the big stage? They should be ashamed.

The executive has also been afraid to take any difficult decisions and it has failed utterly to respond to the economic downturn. We alone produced a strong response to the downturn 18 months ago in our paper “New Priorities in Difficult Times” and this alone has caused the DUP and Sinn Fein to adopt a new approach to the economic debate…… Their new ideology can be called “Magpie Economics” - they wait for the shiny new ideas produced by the SDLP and then fly off and claim then as their own.

But Peter Robinson has had two ideas on the economy that he alone can claim. The first idea was his decision to freeze the regional rate. And the second idea was his decision to reverse the decision to freeze the regional rate. He was so pleased with himself he even put the first idea on his official Christmas card. How he exactly he is going to advertise his complete U-turn I don't know.

Declan and his team will shortly launch our latest paper which will set out how we can get through this budget crisis and at the same time kick-start the economy.

And I want everyone to know that our budget proposals will be unique. They will be focused on jobs, particularly those we can develop along the lines of the green new deal – a social partnership blueprint, which the Executive must embrace. But importantly, although we will identify tough decisions that need to be taken, our plan will guarantee that there will be no compulsory redundancies in the public service.

We will remove the fear of unemployment from public sector workers. Many hard-working people are worried sick about losing their jobs and perhaps their homes. Or be unable to afford to send their kids to college. The SDLP plan will allay those fears. It is quite wrong that in all the fretting about our budgetary situation that the public sector workforce has been a political punch bag.

There has of course been one recent outstanding success in the Stormont Executive. It is a success called Alex Attwood. In a very short time he has gripped the DSD brief and been the only champion of the poor and vulnerable, around that Executive table.

Alex has shown great authority in Housing and welfare reform and he is the only Northern Ireland minister to have taken the cause of the North to London and sought real concessions for our people. And he has also shown a great personal example at this time of hardship for many.

In addition Alex has had the tenacity to expose the dirty dealing of the two carve-up Parties in OFMDFM. Disgracefully, when money is so tight, they are cooking up what I can only describe as a 'community slush fund' so that under the guise of helping disadvantaged communities – which is DSD’s area of expertise, not theirs – they will be directing money to those groups they like most. I’m telling you now Peter and Martin, you will end up in court over this.

So, friends and colleagues, we have two Parties running the North who are not fit to do the job. Our people deserve better.

So it is time for us to step up. It is no exaggeration to say that we are needed at the centre of government. Who else will bring the ideas and creativity along with determination and integrity?

It must be the SDLP, the progressive nationalists, the Party of ideas.

This is a time of opportunity for the SDLP.

So each of us must step up to turn our political ambitions into reality in May. Our young leaders especially.

And we must be confident and committed in our mission. And we must never be deterred by criticism or fear. There is nothing for us to be afraid off. You have unique talents and political values. You can achieve anything you choose. We do not need to be a Party of bearded gurus, trendy intellectuals or the darlings of the media or the blogosphere.

We just need to be right. And we need to be determined. And you know we are both of those.

Hard work will do the rest.

Friends, we are about to embark on a new and challenging phase of our politics, as we set out to reach the next horizon.

Our People are ready to move forward. They want us to light the way.

They want us to reach for the sky.

This is a time for a new generation of SDLP leaders.

This is a time for ideas.

This is a time for new politics.

This is the time for leadership.

This is the time for the SDLP.

Thank you.”

Alasdair McDonnell speaks on the economy

2010-11-06T00:40:00.000Z

Dr Alasdair McDonnell MP, Enterprise and Economy spokesperson, gave a speech tonight at the SDLP Conference on the economy. Just in case nobody knew, there is a recession on.

This introduced an SDLP panel debate on the subject.

As an MP and practicing politician I won’t pretend to understand all the intricacies of financial policy or economic strategy but I make it my business to get to know about it when I see people around me struggling to make ends meet.

The SDLP is in the businesses of making life better for people.

And I see it as my job to articulate an economic agenda which creates a fair and socially just society, where there is equality of opportunity for all the citizens of Northern Ireland whether they are born in the Shankill, the Bogside or Hillsborough.

And it is in that context that I see my challenge and the SDLP’s challenge.

We need to create ways and means of setting an agenda for change and making sure that real change happens.

The great difficulty that we have across all of our economic sectors in Northern Ireland is not that there aren’t many people out there generating new ideas.

They are out there and there in abundance. The difficulty is that they feel deeply frustrated by the inaction and inertia of Government, and by that I mean the Executive and the Assembly. As they tell me time and time again, our devolved Government is more interested in ticking bureaucratic boxes than delivering results.

I believe it is our job to bridge the gap between silo-minded policy makers and faceless bureaucrats and the entrepreneurs who are leading the fight to rebuild our economy, the men and women trying to drive forward the construction industry in very challenging times and those prepared to push frontiers within the new renewable energy sector.

Systems and processes are wonderful instruments when used to streamline activity. But when the systems and the processes become an end unto themselves with no meaningful productivity or output, then the harsh reality is that we are failing the people of Northern Ireland.

We need to devise and deliver an economic strategy here that is focused on removing bureaucracy and barriers, which cuts out red tape where possible and makes it easy for people with good ideas to turn them into wealth and job creation.

To do that we need to talk to people out in the community. We need to talk to business leaders. We need to talk and more importantly we need to listen and we need to involve them. It is only then that we will be in a position to produce fresh ideas and new priorities.

The words ‘Economy’ and ‘Jobs’ are on everyone’s lips at the minute. This is not surprising since we find ourselves in the middle of a severe recession, with a severe budget deficit and with our heads on a plate before the axe wielding Tory/Lib Dem coalition of convenience.

Last year our widely acclaimed financial document, New Priorities in Difficult Times, was just the latest proof that the SDLP can lead, and is leading, on the issues that matter like the budget and public spend priorities.

It is interesting but not unique to watch its ideas being appropriated by those who voiced criticism and poured scorn at the time.

Long before any other political party, we articulated some of the problems, identified the tough choices and the tougher decisions that had to be made, we pointed out where public savings could be made and how jobs could be sustained and created.

But that was about better prioritising our spending and was only the first half of the economic equation. For me, our efforts must now be focussed on developing a long term vision and a serious plan for building a prosperous, socially just and sustainable high valued added economy on the whole island of Ireland.

That is why we have been up and down the country holding a series of consultation road shows with business people involved in:

· The tourism sector,

· Renewable energy

· The construction industry,

· New technologies

· The bio-technology industry.

· And Agricultural economy and food production.

We have focussed on these sectors because we believe they present tremendous opportunities and hold huge potential which is just waiting to be tapped into.

We are running these road shows because the SDLP doesn’t believe in talking at people,

We believe in listening TO people - to those at the coal face socially, economically and in business.

We recognise and value the importance of drawing on the wealth of experience and expertise in education, finance, business, tourism, agriculture (a sector of the economy often forgotten about), the renewable energy sector and other related fields, to spell out clearly where we want to be economically in 10 – 20 years time and how exactly we plan to get there.

Do we want to be a low value, low wage economy or do we want to be a high value added, high wage economy?

There are a number of key questions we need to ask ourselves if we want to build a sustainable, high value added, high wage economy.

· How can people in Northern Ireland make more money and generate real wealth?

· How can we retain existing jobs and generate new high paid jobs?

· How can we strike the right balance between the public and private sector?

· How can we embrace the new technologies and all of the opportunities offered by this and other newly emerging industries?

· How can we successfully promote Research and Development?

· How can we generate more wealth for less expense?

I have been and will continue to work with Junior Spokespeople, Party Members and any interested volunteers inside and outside the SDLP to establish sub- groups to sharpen our focus on the various divisions of the economy and to get the right answers to all of these questions. The SDLP will not stand idly by while the Executive continues to procrastinate and produce theoretical strategy after strategy which are then left gathering dust on the shelf.

Conference, I have put before you a number of economic papers on various sectors of the economy. These detail the obstacles faced by business people across Northern Ireland as told by them. These represent the beginnings of the SDLP spelling out clearly where we want to be economically in 10 – 20 years time and how exactly we plan to get there.

Every member of the Party, everyone of you in your own life and work experience has a vital role to play in outlining and delivering the change we need; the change the people of Northern Ireland are crying out for - a fair and socially just society, where there is equality of opportunity and a respectable wage for all the citizens of Northern Ireland regardless of class, colour or creed.

First night of the SDLP 2010 Conference

2010-11-06T00:04:00.001Z

Just back from the first night of the SDLP 2010 Conference and have a copy of the speech made by the Deputy Leader, Patsy McGlone MLA.

I have to say that, personally speaking, Patsy is a very confident speaker and performed well to the SDLP faithful. The speech, a good rallying call for SDLP activists, covers a lot of bases focussing on the positive achievements of the Party, especially during the Westminster election, and tries to give a positive direction for activists to focus leading up to the Assembly and Council elections next year. It will be interesting to see if the Party can maintain or increase their MLA numbers.

He covered the elections, the Cohesion strategy, stalled Assemblies Bill, the Economy, and NI Assembly Public Attitude survey.

I also bumped into the MLA to be, Pól Callaghan, and had a quick chat. He is delighted to be joining the 'Folks on the Hill' which will probably be officially ratified in a couple of weeks. I expect Mark Durkan to formally resign his seat on Monday or Tuesday.

A chairde, tá mé thar a bheith buíoch bheith libh anseo anocht. Agus leis sin, tá mé bródúil as ucht aitheantas bainte amach ag iar-Cheannaire an pháirtí, John Hume.

We have returned for another SDLP conference, where old friends can reconnect, and new acquaintances can be made. And more importantly, where we can, as a united party, show the people that we are ready to lead.

And what apt timing of our conference, that only a fortnight ago our former leader and founding member, John Hume, was voted by RTE viewers as the Greatest Irish person.

Those who watched Miriam O’Callaghan’s impassioned endorsement of John could not help but fill up with pride. It may not be too much to infer John’s success in this poll as vindication of his actions. As vindication of the actions of the SDLP over the years. When hard decisions on leadership have been needed, the SDLP have been prepared to take them. We do not shirk our responsibilities.

Since Conference in February we have had the Westminster election, where many new faces came forward as SDLP candidates.

And they did us proud. None more so that our Party Leader, Margaret Ritchie. The people of south Down taught the minister for education a lesson in representative politics.

In Foyle Mark Durkan did what we all knew he would do, he showed Provisional Sinn Fein that Derry people prefer the SDLP.

If East Belfast hadn’t played out like a soap opera, the biggest story of election night would probably have been right here in south Belfast, where my good friend Alasdair McDonnell came in with a huge majority.

The voters in these constituencies want first class representation. And they will unite to vote for it. We must replicate this across the north. We all must be at the forefront of our communities.

During the election the new faces were not just on the posters and ballot papers, but on the doorsteps in our canvass teams. It’s been a boost to all our activists to have new blood to support them in their efforts.

As director of elections I had the opportunity to canvass in many constituencies, and I was lifted by the enthusiasm and organisation that I saw.

After the election I ensured that the activity did not drop. The summer provided opportunity to get out to more doors, to meet with more families, to speak to groups about the issues that were important to them. I only wish I had more time for these sorts of things.

All this activity is towards a goal. In Mid Ulster we set up a new branch in October. The Drum Manor Branch.

Every District electoral area in Mid Ulster now has a branch. And these branches will provide the support and energy to help us elect more councillors.

The support is out there. Our efforts at branch level have to be to reach out to our supporters.

I attended the fresher’s fair at Queen’s and spoke to many young people who are supportive of the SDLP. We have to reach out to these people. We have to show that we are serious about job creation and education, so that the new generation of voters can trust the SDLP.

Many people will tell you that they see the SDLP as honest. As sincere.

Our efforts must be to turn that trust into more votes. Into supporters. Into activists. Into a new generation of SDLP representatives that can lead all the people of this island forward.

The prosperous New Ireland of tomorrow is in the hands of us today.

The SDLP have stood up for the people all along. We stood up for them when others bombed and divided.

We stand for them now when the failure lies with tackling economic change.

The party, under the guidance of Alasdair, has been working with the business community, very much in listening mode, finding out what problems they are facing on a daily basis and seeing what can be done to help them. We must do more of this. We cannot assume we know what is needed or wanted by them, but we must work with them.

Similarly, our community and voluntary organisations are finding themselves in a tough time, ironically at a time when they will be needed more. Like with small, local businesses we must listen to their concerns.

And sporting organisations too, particularly the GAA, which provides so much for our local towns and villages.

We cannot wait on the media and commentators to catch up with us. A grassroots campaign must start with the grass roots, as the areas where we are most successful have shown. If we go out and connect with the people, and I mean connect with them, not just saying the right things, the swell will arrive before the columnists decide to notice it.

Now is not a time for waiting. Waiting is for the un-ambitious. And as we look forward to next year’s elections the SDLP is ambitious.

Some may criticise us for our pride in our past, would even accuse us of looking back. There’s nothing wrong with remembering the great men and women who went before us. From the SDLP or from the many traditions of Irish people who came before. For years, generation after generation of Irish people have come forward, stood tall and declared their intent to change the circumstance for their fellow Irishmen and women. With each generation a new obstacle or situation was faced. Each time it was met with a new wave of spirit to overcome it.

For this generation we have our own difficulties, and the economic difficulties ahead are a considerable challenge. Now we must stand tall and declare ourselves ready to act. We have a wealth of talents within the SDLP. We are already working hard to formulate ideas and plans that will help to see us through these times.

Politicians and leaders are defined by how they respond in difficult times. In the late 1960’s the injustice seen on the streets led to the civil rights movement, and ultimately to the formation of this great party. And now we face new challenges, and we, as the SDLP of the 21st century must show what we are made of. We must lead for the people.

The Ireland that we have now is different to all those generations that went before. But it is still far from where we want it to be. While the immediate task at hand is the economy, we can use that as an opportunity to work together, to build trust.

The working men and women of the north see themselves first and foremost as just that. They have the same daily goals. The same daily worries. It is not just a cliché to say that they have more that binds them than divides them.

The economic climate now, more than ever, can allow us to create the circumstances where we can come out of this stronger together.

With the trust that can be built when we work towards a common goal we can reconcile the great traditions of the north, and of our country. And with time we can unite the people. A unity that is real and lasting, because it is a unity of the people, it is driven by the people and it is for the benefit of all the people. That is the ambition of the SDLP.

Because division does not work.

In February I warned that the Assembly at Stormont had become detached from the real needs of society.

I warned that the Executive’s failure to deliver under Sinn Féin-DUP control was a result of those two parties failure to work together.

I warned that those two parties feared the future the Good Friday Agreement promised because they remain parties of conflict, not reconciliation.

Has anything changed?

They have dropped their draconian Parades Bill. An integral part, we were told, of the Hillsborough Agreement.

Eventually the weight of public opinion forced them to abandon that attempt to criminalise public protest. And, as we pointed out at the time, it WAS an attempt to restrict the right to protest. It was an attempt to change public protest from a Right into something that was within the gift of the First and deputy First Ministers.

It was anti-democratic and anti-civil rights.

And we will oppose any re-run of that legislation.

The long awaited Cohesion, Sharing and Integration strategy from the First and deputy First Ministers is Incoherent, Divisive and Segregated in its lack of vision. Even the Alliance party have re-found their voice in opposition to its determined separation of the two traditions on this island.

We cannot allow our future to become one of ‘Equal, but Separate’.

But ‘one-size-fits-all’ isn’t a solution either. Not in education, nor elsewhere.

Nobody, particularly not the first and deputy first ministers, will define who I am.

As an Irishman I define my own identity and culture, and as an Irishman I respect diversity and the identity and culture of others.

Cohesion and integration will come about through understanding, co-operation, and respect. Not by attempting to legislate away one culture or another.

And that’s all without mentioning the balls-up at NI Water when Conor Murphy was asleep in his office at the Department for Regional Development. Apparently he was waiting for a wake-up call from his Permanent Secretary.

The truth is that the recent Assembly Public Attitudes Survey shows that a large majority of the public have little confidence in the Executive and the Assembly. Too few people believe they have any influence on the decisions being made at Stormont.

All political parties need to look closely at how we can work together, and where we as a society are heading.

We had a good election this year. We fought hard against opponents who were determined to turn every contest into yet another sectarian headcount.

We focused our efforts on the areas where we knew we had good chance of victory.

We easily held the three seats we had and we strengthened our vote in those areas.

As Mark Twain almost said, Rumours of our demise have been greatly exaggerated. Again.

But now is not the time for complacency.

Our task in the elections to be held next year will be to build on that performance.

In the weeks and months ahead we must redouble our efforts.

We have been rebuilding in our constituencies and targeting new seats. Providing leadership for our communities. Dealing with the issues facing every single person in our society.

And nothing is of more concern than the continuing economic crisis and the political response.

The recent budget announced by the Coalition Government in London contained bad news for the North.

But not unexpected news.

The parties here should have been prepared for that news. Instead some of them sounded surprised. Shocked even.

Before the budget was even announced Martin McGuinness declared ‘victory’ for the “strong united case” he and Peter Robinson had put forward.

Some victory. Sinn Féin are demanding a recount.

The really bad news in that budget is the cut of up to 40% in our capital spending.

In this economic crisis, more than at any other time, our construction industry is heavily dependent on our capital spending programme.

Over 20,000 jobs have been lost in the construction sector over the last 3 years.

Less investment means less work and even more jobs lost over the next 3 years.

But the Executive are not powerless in all this. They could take the decisions required to re-shape our capital spending programme.

The Executive could commit to investing in our future. That would be a more powerful statement that anything contained in the CSI strategy.

But there is nothing surprising about the state of the budget.

The SDLP put forward economic proposals in April 2009. When we already knew there was a financial black hole ahead.

Others have, eventually, come up with proposals of their own. And some of those proposals do seem to be… familiar.

Wherever they have begged, borrowed or stolen those proposals, we welcome them. There should be an open discussion about how we fund our future. About how we invest today and tomorrow for that future. About what our priorities are for that future.

The SDLP are ready for that discussion.

We are in a continuing process of re-examining our economic proposals in order to anticipate changing circumstances. We are listening to the concerns of key sectors in our economy and working with them to develop new and innovative ideas.

The Executive’s immediate task is to agree a budget. It should already have been agreed. The Draft Budget, as well as Savings Delivery Plans, should have been published by the end of October. Rather than focussing on that we have seen party leaders grandstanding on their imaginary opposition to the budget. That is not good enough. And the people know it.

But we know how well the two parties with a stranglehold on that Executive work together.

The danger of continued failure by Sinn Féin and the DUP should not be underestimated.

In failing to agree a budget they are failing our future generations. Our children deserve better.

We cannot afford the DUP and Sinn Féin’s failed politics to be our society’s future.

There are those still wedded to the failed violence of the past. They haven’t gone away either. They listen to the hypocritical words of those once wedded to that same failed violence. And they’re not convinced.

It will take more than words to show them they are wrong.

It will take an Executive working successfully together, not parties failing separately.

The SDLP understand that simple truth.

The SDLP has always put PEOPLE first. John Hume, ‘Ireland’s Greatest’ John Hume, did that before anyone else.

The Social Democratic and Labour Party’s vision is one of a democratic Irish society that works on behalf of all the people, for all the people.

It is a vision that no-one need fear. And it is that vision we must TRUST the people with again. The challenge is to build a consensus around our vision.

The peoples’ TRUST has been broken by the failed politics of the recent past. Broken by an Executive controlled by parties who are still unable to see beyond their own narrow party interest.

The SDLP can rebuild that TRUST. The SDLP will rebuild that TRUST.

We together. All of us in this room and beyond. We can convince more people that they can TRUST the SDLP to deliver the future other parties fear.

With Trust we can bring reconciliation, and then unity. Unity of the people.

Because the SDLP put the PEOPLE first.

And the people on the streets, the people in our towns, villages and townlands want the SDLP working for them.

So tonight, Friends, pledge that each of us, as SDLP members, will lead in our communities. That we will build on our good work. That we will be bold enough to ensure that 2011 will be a year when the SDLP reinstates itself as the party that can unite our people. We have so much more work to do, so much more to give.

Forward to a new society for all.

Forward to a New Ireland.

Is Pól Callaghan the 13th Warrior??

2010-11-04T23:40:00.002Z

Who says social networking sites are not productive?

Pól Callaghan was the only one left in the race to replace Mark Durkan in the Assembly (see here for a little of what has happened to the Foyle SDLP).

The official selection meeting was tonight and it has now been confirmed that Pól is the man for the job via the SDLP Facebook page.

I wish him all the best. I have known Pól for a while and I reckon he is up for the challenge.

Now, by my reckoning this makes Pol the 13th 'Warrior' or unelected MLA. Unlucky for some, but I am sure Pol will pull it off.

And all just in time for the SDLP conference this weekend in the Ramada Hotel, Belfast.

Help me Obi Wan, You're my only hope!

2010-11-04T18:57:00.001Z

Very interesting little piece on the BBC tech site relating the advances in holographic technology.

The two little pieces of video show how far the researchers have come so far. There are still major limitations to it but at the speed technology is moving ahead at the minute it may not be too long before we can all watch Star Wars and get really excited when R2-D2 plays the scene with Princess Leia does her holographic Thang!

Though it still requires a projection screen and is still very far from holographic projection into free space, this is still an exciting development.

I expect this to be Lucas' next big development in cinematography once he gets bored with 3D.

Assembly “internet speed” debate (on Twitter)

2010-11-03T19:07:00.000Z

Just seen the BBC picking up on John O’Dowd’s tweets (Sinn Fein, Upper Bann) regarding the state of the NI Assembly internet connection.

John tweeted: "Between 12.30 & 2pm it is impossible to work through the medium of the Internet in the Assembly. I am told staff etc are on social networks." He did add that “I have no objection to anyone using their lunch break on social networks but surely the Assembly It system should be able to cope!”

He was then reassured everyone by tweeting "I am now reliably informed plans are afoot to deal with the Internet lull @ the Assembly that our friend social networking is not to blame."

In response to @whistlinpaddy who reminded him of his own precarious position vis a vis social networking John admitted "I am guilty as accused, a social network junky. It is the standard of the IT system letting us down not the users.”

A real wee piece of interactivity and conversation in the public domain that needs to be commended, especially in how both handled the conversation.

I only hope he was not tweeting in the Chamber as Willie Hay, Assembly Speaker may have something to say about that. On Tuesday he interupted the debating by warning members,

Before I call Dr Stephen Farry, I ask all Members to check that their mobile phones are switched off. A mobile phone, or phones, is causing a major problem to the amplifying system in the Chamber. If Members cannot switch their phones off, can they please put them on silent? As I said, a mobile phone is having a serious effect on the amplifying system.

So what does this tell us?

John knows how to use the phenomena of social media. Kudos!
John uses a Blackberry. It would be interesting to see the breakdown of devices used by MLAs (blackberry vs iPhone vs other)
John responds to other’s tweets. It is so easy to use web 2.0 in a 1.0 way and it really adds to the idea of politicians only being a tweet away.

Conversational politics is vastly underused by our politicians, though more and more are learning how to use Twitter, Facebook and blogs to interact with their own constituents and the world at large.

I think though the best recent tweet from John was this beauty,

Genius, funny and disturbing all at the same time.

Treacle days!

2010-11-02T20:58:00.000Z

No, not in a nice sweet way. I have had so many things I wanted to blog about recently but never got round to it. A list as long as my arm. But again real life gets in the way.

Even worse when Treacle days happen. Let me explain, Treacle days are days when you struggle through your work but find at the end of the day you are not only exhausted and ready to reach for the headache tablets but there is a real sense of lack of achievement.

This does not mean you have been sitting on your backside doing nothing all day, but rather working through papers, emails or anything else just to stand still. But you feel like you have wading through a river of treacle all day in a way that has drained you both physically and mentally.

I am hoping everyone has a sort of day like this, at least in order to make me feel a bit better.

I think what adds to this is the onset of Winter, darker colder days and the stuffy offices where the heating is on maximum, the windows are closed and the fluorescent lighting starts hurting your eyes. Then you step outside and find yourself drenched and frozen. Not good.

Feeling run down because your family or friends kindly pass on their bugs does not in any way help. In my case it was my little girls who wonderfully decided to give me a dose of their cold bugs.

I think Geoff McGimpsey summed it up nicely and have plumped for being SAD.

How does everyone else cope with Treacle Days?

I will try and get on the blog trail again. must. just. lift. fingers. to. keyboard.

Northern Ireland Executive engages e-democracy

2010-09-28T22:34:00.000+01:00

While the Northern Ireland Assembly have taken a fair lead in the online government stakes with Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Youtube, the Northern Ireland Executive is catching up.

The NI Executive is finally embracing the social media phenomenon and have created their own presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr.

Northern Ireland is beginning to really take to the online world with more and more governmental institutions going online and we even have NIDirect as a kind of one stop online shop for the public facing side of government. They are also on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. NIDirect is also an excellent place to find the social media capabilities of the rest of government. Check out the Local Councils page to see what I mean.

A lot of local councils are also embracing social media as a conversational tool with constituents such as Belfast City Council who are also on Twitter and Facebook.

One of the best uses of social media for engagement is the PSNI Ards, PSNI Holywood, PSNI Ballymena and PSNI Bangor Facebook accounts. People really engage with what is going on and enjoy a bit of banter from the police accounts. They especially enjoy hearing about criminals getting caught!

Even some Non Departmental Public Bodies like InvestNI and PBNI are on Twitter.

So the Executive is in good and growing company.

Perhaps we could show the World how online engagement can be done?

Take me to your co-ordinated response manager!

2010-09-27T23:09:00.000+01:00

Why you should not talk to aliens

The UN has decided that it needs a representative to talk to the little green men should they decide to take a real risk at slumming it and drop in on us on Earth.

Astrophysicist Mazlan Othman, head of the UN's Office for Outer Space Affairs, will be Earth's first point of contact for extraterrestrials. Apparently she was concerned that we don't have a proper welcome mat ready to unroll when ET finally gets in touch.

Having said that Stephen Hawking has been kind of warning that it may not be a good thing to meet an alien

It put me in mind of a bit of Monty Python's 'The Galaxy Song'

Its a funny old world.

Job description for being a Parent

2010-09-25T22:38:00.000+01:00

I have noticed that a few of my friends have recently become parents and when I came across the job description for being a parent (too late in my case and I have lost the receipts) and I thought I had to share it.

Unfortunately it seems to be too accurate for my liking so far, which leaves me dreading the bits I have not experienced yet, according to the description.

Soi without further ado I give you.......the Job Description for a Parent!

POSITION :

Parent

JOB DESCRIPTION :

Long term, team players needed, for challenging, permanent work in an often chaotic environment.

Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call.

Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities!

Travel expenses not reimbursed.

Extensive courier duties also required.

RESPONSIBILITIES :

The rest of your life.

Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5.

Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly.

Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf.

Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets and stuck zippers.

Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects.

Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for clients of all ages and mental outlooks.

Must be a willing to be indispensable one minute, an embarrassment the next.

Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices.

Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.

Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product.

Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility.

POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT & PROMOTION :

None.

Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills, so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE :

None required unfortunately.

On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.

WAGES AND COMPENSATION :

Get this! You pay them!

Offering frequent raises and bonuses.

A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because of the assumption that college will help them become financially independent.

When you die, you give them whatever is left.

The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.

BENEFITS :

While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options are offered; this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth, unconditional love, and free hugs and kisses for life if you play your cards right.

Forward this on to all the PARENTS you know, in appreciation for everything they do on a daily basis, letting them know they are appreciated for the fabulous job they do... or forward with love to anyone thinking of applying for the job.

In October, go to W5 you will!

2010-09-25T00:29:00.000+01:00

Last year I dragged my family along to W5 to visit a place Long ago in a galaxy far, far away............

And it is that time again. Yup, Emerald Garrison (Invasion Belfast) are creating another Imperial outpost in the Titanic Quarter. And I can not wait. You can check them out on Facebook too.

The stormtroopers will descend upon Belfast on Saturday 2 October and Sunday 3 October and highly recommend a visit.

Last year I got to meet the real Darth Vader (David Prowse) who, for those old enough to remember, was also the Green Cross Code man. He was a wonderful man, very friendly and easy to get on with. I also got to meet Kenny Baker (R2-D2) and Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett) who were real stars as well. The whole set up was absolutely amazing and a great day out.

I also think my wife may have hired Boba Fett to hunt me down so she could claim the life insurance last year.

If you can get, go. You will not regret it at all. If you can't then your lack of faith is disturbing.

This year sees the man who Tunes took the mickey out off attending the event. Richard LeParmentier (Admiral Motti) was the man who made Darth Vader utter those immortal words before having a go at 'squishing his head'. Pity Admiral Motti forgot about that shoddy workmanship that left a little exhaust shaft open. He should have phoned 'On your behalf'.

This is the Star Wars event you are looking for!

David Prowse, the gentle Sith. Lord.

Bonfire of the quangos

2010-09-24T00:08:00.000+01:00

It has been reported that the UK government will be breaking out their supply of Sunny Jim and scrunching up the newspaper in order to heat the house by burning up 177 quangos.

Quangos or Non Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) are government funded organisations that operate as if they were independent of Government and are able, as much as possible, to spend their budget they see fit.

A number of proposed quangos still have their fate to be decided such as BBC World Service, the British Council and the Environment Agency.

Whilst these quangos are mostly England and Wales based, some, such as the British Council, employ people in Northern Ireland. It looks like jobs will go and that could mean people in Northern Ireland as well.

It may also have some effect on how our own remaining quangos fair under potential restructuring to save money. The Public Appointments 2008-2009 Report detailed that as at 31 March 2009, there were some 1634 public appointments to 111 bodies in Northern Ireland. The recent(ish) Review of Public Administration has been used to cull a few NDPBs here is there room for more to go? How will that affect people overall? Do people even know what a lot of these NDPBs do? Are they essential? Can their functions be brought fully 'in-house'? How much is spent on quangos that could be re-invested elsewhere?

I am not advocating either leaving them alone or cutting them all. Improvements can always be found in how organisations operate and function. In this particular time with the Conservative/Lib Dem coalition going for a slash and burn approach will this provide an encouragement for the NI Executive to really examine the NDPBs in Northern Ireland and see where cuts can be made?

Adventures in caravanning

2010-09-06T23:10:00.000+01:00

Grrrrrr Brrrrrrrmmmmm

I am not sure exactly how it happened but it seems to have jumped out and shouted surprise like a stealthy but flabbergasted halibut. I have succumbed to my wife's wishes to take part in that most bizarre of past-times the general British and Irish public take part in – caravanning.

After being regaled by my wife about the wonders of her childhood being stuck in a caravan where you used the toilet on pain of death and how she could hear the wind and rain battering it at night, i am not sure why i was not immediately jumping at the chance to own our very own house with wheels.

Eventually I found myself ground down, but with one last throw of the die I insisted I got to choose the powerhouse to pull the thing. So we both ended up winners. My wife got her caravan and I got my 2003 Land Rover Discovery. Huzzah!!

Chez residence

And so D-Day or should that be C-Day (Caravan Day) approached and the beachhead of choice was...... Benone. And so Operation how long til we divorce began.

It was our eldest's fourth birthday and this was part of her present (I am sure she was not that bad, but there you go). Kids are actually really great to have about the place, mostly for the fun factor and placing bets on what random thing will come out of their tiny mouths next, like 'why is the caravan following us?' and 'why is the sofa now a bed?'.

On the Road to Benone

So we stayed from Friday night to Sunday afternoon and i have to say, through gritted teeth, i actually really enjoyed the whole experience. Maybe the lack of sleep made me slightly more delirious than normal.

We went into Limavady on the Saturday which was such an wonderful surprise as it is a wee gem of a place. We had lunch in Cafe Rendezvous which was welcoming, clean and most importantly child/family friendly. I had the Ulster Fry (quelle Surprise!) while Zara had the Killer Whale sized Cod and the girls split the hotdog and chips. Then we mooched around a lovely little bookshop called 'Books Upstairs' where i picked up a nice copy of Nietzche's 'Beyond Good and Evil' (instead of 'A Journey' by some bloke without a moustache).

Back to Deighan's Caravan park and then onto the beach. What can I say. Benone is a beautiful beach streatching from the caravan park right across to Downhill. I absolutely loved it. On the Sunday it was back to the windswept beach to dig sand build sandcastles and, as it happened, help a German couple dig their van out of the sand. I love my Discovery! Then it was all packing up and clearing out to head back home again.

I am looking forward to our next adventure!!

Thank you for all your votes (or how i found out people cared!)

2010-08-31T21:50:00.000+01:00

Well. How can i put this. I am number 15 on Iain Dale's top 20 Northern Irish blogs.

I really can't believe it.

And so i just want to say a big big thank you t you all. It is weird, wonderful and cheesily humbling.

Weird

Although i keep 'self publishing' it always feels that because a blog can be so detached from real life and chatting face to face, i am almost holding a conversation in my head. I am quite sure now most people reading this will be quite afraid about what goes on in my head. With this feel of slight detachment, I always wonder really how many people truly read my meanderings. Not only that, as i now kind of know with Google integrating its analytics with Blogger, but that people could actually think my blog is worth voting for.

Wonderful

It is absolutely wonderful that people felt interested and motivated enough to take time out to vote. And enough that it was not just a scrape in but landing me at number 15!!

Humbling

No matter where, when or how whenever something you create is recognised by your peers as something of worth, no matter how little or how much, it is a humbling thing.

All I want say then is 'Thank you'. Thank you for reading. Thank you for commenting. And thank you for voting.

How real living gets in the way of online life

2010-08-26T23:22:00.000+01:00

Help! My fingers are superglued to the keyboard

Having an online life is nice, if you have the time. And inclination. Many people still look at me in a weird way when i start raving and frothing at the mouth over the wonders of Facebook, Twitter and blogging. Mind you people have looked at me in that strange 'are you a looper' way for a very long time now anyway.

A lot of people still do not want anything to do with the internet and social networking, or at least the social networking that entails having to switch on a computer first. Real life social networking is more than enough to be getting on with thank you very much.

There is more and more pressure as well online to be different and catchy. I enjoy funny blogs, as the heavy stuff bores me to tears after a paragraph or two (not totally true, but funny is easier to read and normally has a barb in the humour). Tweets almost now need to be insanely insightful or amusing (or from already famous people). Or of course you need to be controversial in order to get a response from others (and notoriety at times)

However, to be able to be a top notch online social media guru you need to be, well, online. This can pose a problem. I live in the real world where i can actually touch friends instead of poking them (stop that sniggering at the back!!) I also have things to pay for like a mortgage, car, childcare, etc. To cover these costs i have to get up in the morning and go to work, just like many others. I have not yet hit it rich enough to spend all day on the web, keeping up with all the information flying around.

So this poses a problem, especially in the evenings which are getting more precious all the time, how often do people, just nipping online to quickly look at their favourite sites, expect change? How often should a one-man/woman blog be updated? Is it a blanket expectation or does it relate to the subject matter of the blog?

What do you think?

I would encourage anyone unlucky enough to have read this far leave a wee note and add their comments.

Wave goodbye!!

2010-08-04T23:41:00.000+01:00

Just hearing it on Mashable that Google is dropping Wave.

Wave, developed and supported by Google, was ........ well, i'm not quite sure exactly what it was. It kind of was a, well, ....... erm....... a social thing. To be honest i am not quite sure what it was, as it seemed to try to be a lot of things at once without actually being really good at a core function. Friends did use it to collaborate with each other, but we are talking hardcore geeks and nerds.

Google described Wave as

Wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when. A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.

I got an invite to Wave and logged on late last year.

I was totally flabbergasted by it. It meant nothing to me.

I am only one part geek/nerd, so the most of Wave was wasted on me as i struggled to come to terms with it. It lacked an intuitive interface.

And so i gave up quite quickly on Wave. And now it looks like so is Google.

Better luck next time guys.

Social media brand ambassadors

2010-08-03T22:53:00.000+01:00

I just came across this little piece at Dennis Wolff's staffing and recruitment blog. Although it is focussed on Canada and social media interaction there, it can be reflective of its use in Northern Ireland, the rest of the UK and Ireland.

So what does it say and what does it tell us?

Well the piece is entitled, 'How to use social media participation to turn your employees into ambassadors for your own brand' which kind of gives it all away.

What any organisation really wants is for its employees to become advocates for its services or products. This is as true offline as it is online.

Dennis states that

The lines between public and private, personal and professional have become more and more blurred; with Generation Y joining the workforce, this trend can only intensify.

Organisations need to learn to love the social media phenomenon or risk alienating their own employees who enjoy social networking. If done right employees can become enthusiastic brand ambassadors and feel much more connected to their organisation.

Social media is one more platform for interaction and relationship building, one that is growing. Facebook now has now hit 500 million.

Facebook, Twitter, google buzz, NING, etc are all ways to help build relationships. They should not be ignored as a fad. At one stage telephones, then mobile phones and computers were fads.

Total Politics is looking for your vote!

2010-08-02T23:10:00.001+01:00

You don't have to vote for me (though that would seriously massage my ego!) but i would encourage you to vote.

Northern Ireland has a number of very solid political commentary blogs that sit right across the political and social spectrum.

They should be encouraged. Open debate and ideas being flung at us from the comfort of a bloggers sofa is not to be sniffed at.

UPDATE
It has been kindly pointed out by Dilettante that the poll has in fact closed. As off 31 July.

I am a numpty who needs to read the rules more closely. Doh.

Return of the missing blogger

2010-07-06T14:18:00.000+01:00

It has been even longer since the last time i blogged a piece. Even though lots of ideas flow for bits and bobs, I still find little time to actually write the pieces.

And so as an advocate of social media and online networking, i have committed the cardinal sin of, well, not updating (much).

It is the main investment anyone or organisation will make in the realm of online interactivity. To constantly update.

Sounds easy. In many ways it is, as it can become a process, just like everything else you do at work. You do not need to be the most creative writer in the world (it can add to the content, but not necessary), or creative at all. Most content you will want to put up is already in existence. The real issue is time.

Time is the trap that people can fall into using social media. It is just like networking at an event. there will be lots of people there but you will only be able to concentrate on maybe 3 to five people to network with and build an initial relationship with.

Online, you are not just at one networking event, but 3, 4, 6, 10 events with hundred of thousands of other people. Now quake at the time left in the real world for real things!!

So how do you use cope with it all?

I have chosen only a few of these online (and ongoing) 'events', or platforms, to attend. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Lookaly, a few forums and a few NING sites of interest to me.

As lots of social network sites vie for your attention, and maybe money if you go down the route of promoted content, the first question is of demographics and where those 'publics' you want to target hang out on line. There is no use building a presence on 'BEBO' if you want to reach people in their 20's or older, take it from me - they will be on Facebook.

Then invest in time to produce results. Depending on who you are, what you are doing and what you are trying to sell, you will need to invest time online to reflect who you are and what you are doing.

It will not be an overnight success. You will not go to bed and find 30,000 people following you on Twitter the next day. Investment in time and effort is required.

It is best to choose a couple of platforms to concentrate on and evaluate how they can add value to what you are trying to do.

You can also ask others how they use their own social media or even invest a bit of money engaging someone to do the research for you [hint, hint :) ].

Remember, whilst many social media platforms, or events, or sites (whatever you want to call them) are free, your time is not. And if you are able to dive into social media you may have one of the best sales teams in the world at your finger tips.

Loneliness of a long distance daddy daycare

2010-05-26T12:26:00.000+01:00

Inge Radford (a Holocaust survivor living in Northern

Ireland) and me at the launch of the Anne Frank + [You}

Exhibition in Strabane's Alley Theatre.

Well, I have suddenly noticed I have not been blogging for a couple of weeks. And as the cat says 'Oh Noes'!

I still have a load of opinionated posts to put up, and I would not want to stop the world from receiving my inane mutterings. So why the long absence?

One part was being a bit tired after the election, and not being enough of a political geek to keep going I had a small break and to focus on family time again.

And this leads me on to the next few reasons why I have not bothered harassing anyone in the virtual world. I have become a daddy daycare to my two wee bairns.

Bizarrely it has been financially advantageous to do this. And no I am not sponging. Roughly it cost £1200 a month to pay someone else to take care of my two girls. Add onto this diesel, meals, and sundries this left little of my wage and with my wife's money paying the mortgage and other sundries (like food and horrible things like car servicing) we were just about bobbing up and down on the sea of financial sufficiency.

I would have thought it may have been a bit more stressful that I anticipated but have been loving taking care of the kids. We got out on a few trips before the terrible chickenpox hit. Gutted we are missing the Ballyclare May Fair :( but the youngest is still in no mood to be able to take her out. Plus I don't want to be the cause of a chicken pox outbreak.

I am now thinking of moving on with my own consultancy, but we will see how far and where that takes me!

The kids have also been ill, playing 'tag chickenpox'. So the house has been unclean for a few weeks now.

Add into the mix coming mid ranking in a 40K Tournament, being a spokesperson for the Anne Frank Trust and helping at the opening of the Arkham gaming Centre running a big Apocalypse game and helping kids to learn the basics of 40K. Oh, and once again digging the garden.

I hope to get a number of posts up over the coming days reflecting on politics, social media and other tidbits.

Phew!

The Northern Ireland Election aftermath

2010-05-07T16:47:00.000+01:00

Well what a night! After twittering away into the wee small hours and finally getting to bed, I find it is the day after the night before.

Now all the seats have been returned what does this tell us?

Well, Sinn Fein have the largest share with 25.5% of the votes, DUP come in a very close second with 25%, SDLP are third with 16.5% and UCUNF fourth with 15.2%. That totals (in the inimitable sectarian head count) a 42% Nationalist share and a 40.2% Unionist Share of the big two on each side. Counting in the Unionist share for Sylvia of 3.1% the Unionist total rises to 43.3%. The Alliance Party sits at 6.3% share of the vote with the different independents (other than Sylvia) reaching 4%.

The overall turnout was 57.6%. This was the lowest turnout of all the four countries (England tops it with 65.5%, Wales next with 64.9% and then Scotland with 63.8%)

This all translated into

DUP	8 seats
Sinn Fein	5 seats
SDLP	3 seats
Alliance	1 seat
UCUNF (Conservatives and Unionists)	0 seats

The biggest upset of the night was Naomi Long (Alliance) unseating Peter Robinson (DUP) in East Belfast.

The closest run seat was Fermanagh and South Tyrone with only 4 votes in it to allow Michelle Gildernew (Sinn Fein) to remain its MP (this was after no less than 3 recounts!). The fight in Fermanagh and South Tyrone really brought a lot of the voters out (it was seen as a fight between the incumbent Michelle Gildernew of Sinn Fein and Rodney Connor, the independent Unionist Unity candidate)

The biggest majority was Gerry Adams (Sinn Fein) in West Belfast with a majority of 17, 579.

The best polling Independent was Sylvia Hermon (Ind Unionist) in North Down who kept her seat.

The best success was, in my opinion, the SDLP who retained their 3 seats (Foyle, South Belfast, and South Down).

The biggest flop was the UCUNF (Conservatives and Unionists - the alliance of the Conservative Party and the UUP) who returned no MPs and the Conservatives just managed a hung Parliament. Though negotiations are ongoing with the Liberal Democrats to form a government.

The biggest non-event was the TUV. The TUV took about 66,197 votes in the European election, could only manage 26,300 votes this time around with the highest polling TUV candidate, Jim Allister, hitting 7,114 votes in North Antrim.

The Unionist vote was down -7.4% (DUP -8.7%, UUP -2.6% & TUV 3.9%). Though this would be raised upward if Sylvia Hermon's and Rodney Connor's share were included by a couple of points or so. The Nationalist vote was marginally up by +0.2% (Sinn Fein +1.2% & SDLP -1%).

The biggest let down? Voter turnout. Normally Northern Ireland likes to say it has a very high turnout rate, but the figures show a different image with a turnout of 57.6% (the 2005 Westminster election saw a turnout of 63.5%). Although the highest turnout in Northern Ireland was in Fermanagh and South Tyrone with 68.9% of a turnout of voters. All 'Nationalist' areas polled high, with 'Unionist' areas polled low.

So what does this tell us? Unionism, at the General Election, has, in Mike Nesbitt's words, taken a "bloody nose". It has lost a seat at Westminster and overall voting percentage is down. This has already led to calls of 'Unionist unity' (something I may discuss in another post). But I think one of the biggest issues is not 'Unionist unity' but more voter apathy in unionist areas.

Sore Feet and the DUP

2010-05-05T14:44:00.000+01:00

I can not claim this piece. It was sent to me by a friend whom I shall refer to as 'Sore Feet' ;).

Created to ‘strengthen Northern Ireland’s position within the UK’, the DUP have spent their whole existence convincing protestants in Northern Ireland that they alone can keep the union together.

This message has been the core of the DUP mantra at every election since the 1970’s – until this one.

This election has created a paradigm shift in politics in Northern Ireland. Suddenly, according to the DUP, being a strong and equal part of the United Kingdom is second to protecting the ‘special’ status that excludes Northern Ireland from ever becoming anything other than an unwieldy bolt-on.

When the leader of one of the two main political parties in the UK states clearly and repeatedly that he refuses to accept Northern Ireland as a ‘semi-detached state’- making the full inclusion of Northern Ireland a central pillar of his leadership, you would expect the party that has worn its ‘unionist’ credentials like a Chelsea pensioner wears his campaign medals to hail this as a historical moment for unionism in Northern Ireland.

Strangely, the DUP – the party that only exists to ensure Northern Irelands place in the UK – has done everything it can to undermine this support from the man who could be the next Prime Minister. The DUP have changed their fundamental stance from demanding to be an equal within the UK to ‘Northern Ireland needs to be treated differently to England, Scotland and Wales’.

Could it possibly be that the DUP have now decided that they prefer being the big fish in the small pond so much that they are prepared to undermine their very reason for existence? Their shallow cries of ‘unionist unity’ seem to miss the point that if they were prepared to step aside from their own ‘exclusionist’ agenda, Northern Ireland could find itself in the strongest position in history regarding membership of the UK.

The simple fact is that if the DUP could put down their sectarian sword and their exclusionist shield, Northern Ireland could make the next step in the process of ‘growing up’. If the Conservative party are prepared to make a committed stand on Northern Irelands membership of the UK, Labour and the Liberal Democrats would be forced to follow (Labour are already rumoured to be considering running Council candidates in Northern Ireland next year).

The very thought of a Westminster election in 2014/15 which sees Labour, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives standing candidates in every constituency, without the childish infighting that defines ‘Northern Ireland Unionists’ is the biggest example of ‘unionist unity’ that anyone can imagine.

The only argument that seems to be coming from the DUP to explain why they are against the move to offer ‘real’ politics to the people is that if they are independent they can fight for what is best for Northern Ireland. Even with a hung parliament, do they really believe that 9 DUP MP’s will have any power to ensure that we get more than England Scotland or Wales?

The DUP need to decide very quickly if they are really a party that wants Northern Ireland to be an equal member of the UK or have they become the Northern Ireland independence party

I think Sore Feet's fundamental point is that the DUP have a major question to ask themselves, are they in favour of playing a full role as a fundamental part of the UK, or are they going to take a similar position as the SNP and Plaid Cymru? That position is about the break up of the UK as the SNP want full independence from the rest of the UK and Plaid Cymru is not far behind.

I suppose keeping independence in a hung Parliament is an argument that can be put forward with some credence. However, while the practicalities are there, the principles of Unionism' have gone out the window as well as any ability to obtain what in the end both the DUP and the UUP want, that of economic stability, job creation and private sector growth.

A hung Parliament is not good for Northern Ireland, is not good for Scotland, is not good for Wales and is not good for England. the focus will be taken away from decisive leadership to mired and murky side-deals. I thought people wanted a new politics, cleaner, more transparent and decisive? A hung Parliament will drag us all back into the political scandals that have rocked Parliament the past couple of years.

Come what may, Friday will be a turning point in all our lives as it will have determined who the next government will be for the next four to five years.

Maybe the DUP, Sinn Fein and the SDLP will remain unchanged. Maybe things WILL change.

But if you don't try to change then there is no point in complaining when things stay the same, or even get worse.

I will be Voting for Change on 6 May. Please join me and Sore Feet in making that change happen.

[If anyone wants to get an opinion piece up on my blog just hit the 'contact me' button on the top of the page]

My Conservative and Unionist (& peppa) adventures at La Mon (pt4)

2010-05-04T15:20:00.000+01:00

Well, through a bit of messing about and even Eamonn Mallie's intersession Hannah, Freya, Peppa, Kitty and even I got a photo with David Cameron.

Woohoo!!!

My Conservative and Unionist (& peppa) adventures at La Mon (pt3)

2010-05-04T13:25:00.001+01:00

David Cameron's ETA has been put back a bit but he is on his way.

It has taken quite a chunk out of his day today, and to me at least shows how important he holds Northern Ireland. So, fair play David.

I have in the meantime been given a few extracts of what David is to say today .

He is to say to the people gathered at La Mon that,

Our two great parties have created a dynamic new electoral force for Northern Ireland. And it’s because we made that step that today we are not just saying that we are the party of the union. We are showing that we are the party of the union. The party of Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England – with candidates standing in every part of the United Kingdom.

Nobody else can say that. Not Labour. Not the Liberal Democrats. And none of the local parties here in Northern Ireland. So why is this so important?

It’s important because of our deep commitment to the union. So let me repeat the pledge I made to you in Belfast a year and a half ago. I will never be neutral on the Union.

We passionately believe that England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are stronger together, weaker apart – and the union of our two parties strengthens those bonds. But our new electoral force is also important for another reason. For as long as anyone can remember, politics here has been dominated by constitutional issues – the latest developments in the peace process.

This election presents a new opportunity to participate in the mainstream of British politics. Mainstream politics in which issues like taxes, pensions, defence and foreign policy. That are decided in Westminster yet affect every single person in Northern Ireland are part of the mainstream political debate.

Mainstream politics in which people in Northern Ireland can participate at all levels of government in the UK – from the council chamber right the way to the Cabinet table itself. At this election, only Conservatives and Unionists are offering people in Northern Ireland that opportunity - the chance to elect MPs who can be part of the government of the United Kingdom.

We’ve got record government debt. Record government borrowing. Unemployment is up. In this contract are the radical plans to dig us out of that mess. Plans to make government accountable, stop the waste, stop Labour’s jobs tax – and get better services for the taxes you pay. Plans to make the UK the best place in the world to do business. Stopping the rise of red tape, lower corporation tax rates, abolishing employment taxes on the first ten jobs created by new businesses. We’ll bring a new age of enterprise and ambition across the United Kingdom.

In this part of the UK we’ll go even further, looking at ways of turning Northern Ireland into an enterprise zone. And we’ll produce a government paper examining how we can change the corporation tax rate here, so that we can get even more investment coming in. We want to grow the size of the private sector in Northern Ireland to create new jobs and investment.

But let me also say this. The country faces some difficult decisions ahead on how we will tackle the deficit.

I want people to know that if elected I will make these decisions with compassion, reasonableness and a concern for the most disadvantaged. That is who I am and that is what a government I lead will be like. So we will continue to fund Northern Ireland according to its needs, and we will tackle the deficit while protecting the essential frontline public services that we all rely on. There is no way Northern Ireland will be singled out over and above any other part of the UK.

I know that for many years people in Northern Ireland felt cut off from the rest of the United Kingdom, including from the government. I want to end that sense of isolation.

I want to give voters in Northern Ireland the right – for the first time in generations – to vote for a party capable of forming the government of our United Kingdom to enable people in Northern Ireland to play their full part in the affairs of the country as a whole and to realise at long last the basic democratic right to equal citizenship within the United Kingdom.

That can only happen through the partnership of our two parties. Other parties can talk about this. Only Conservatives and Unionists can deliver. Of all the parties standing in Northern Ireland at this election – only we can form the government of our country.

Of all the parties standing in Northern Ireland at this election – only we can get a decisive mandate and strong majority in the House of Commons. Of all the parties promising change – only we can deliver it.

Well, he will be really putting forward his Unionist credentials and highlighting once again how he wants to help businesses and put \northern Ireland at the very heart of government.

He will give a very clear indication as well that the Conservatives and Unionists (the link with the UUP) is the only show in town.

My Conservative and Unionist (& peppa) adventures at La Mon (pt2)

2010-05-04T12:38:00.000+01:00

Well, it is 12.25 and still no sign of David - though I have been told he is in the air.

It should be an interesting

Sandwiches and an impromptu picnic methinks. Hannah, Freya, Kitty and Peppa.

The other people here seem to be enjoying the delay using it as a time to catch up with each other on how the campaign in its final hours is going in the different constituencies.

I have also seen Owen from Three Thousand Versts here and Mark Devenport as well. Obviously lots of journalists as well.

Ah, well a bit more waiting. Ho hum.