WikiLeaks hates NI Budget??

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,

1. The day begins whilst most people are still asleep, a nice way to start.
2. It is 15 December 2010, a Wednesday no less.
3. Its my wife's birthday.
4. I get up, get the kids up, get them ready for the day and take them to daycare.
5. I travel to work as the radio babbles on about what the budget will contain.
6. I go to a Participation Network event in Parliament Buildings while the the Budget Debate is ongoing.
7. Lots of tweets about Wikileaks and Julian Assange
8. 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.
9. The draft Budget is out for consultation.
10. No one can access the consultation because a number of NI Departmental websites are 'unavailable'
11. This has been noticed by fellow twitterers, including @A2BNI "@iwhitten All departmental sites appear to be down!" - around 12.10pm
12. To which i respond "@A2BNI anything to do with #wikileaks? :)"
13. 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".

Northern Ireland Executive engages e-democracy

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?  

Bonfire of the quangos

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?

The fall and rise of David Ford

First 'Minister for Justice'?

Well, it is the night before devolution of policing and justice and all is quiet.  And I am sure David Ford is getting ready for his crowning ceremony tomorrow.

In the Northern Ireland Assembly chamber tomorrow the Minister for Justice will be appointed

In the picture is David Ford MLA, leader of the Alliance Party, and Alban Maginniss MLA, SDLP.

While Alban has a legal background and practised law, it will most likely be David Ford that will attain the lofty position of Minister for Justice.  He is the least divisive candidate, at least in the eyes of Sinn Fein and the DUP.  A similar precedent had been set in the first sessions of the NI Assembly with both Lord Alderdice and Eileen Bell of the Alliance party being the Speakers - a role that did do them a lot of credit.

Sounds like the usual fudgey type substance of a deal, which most of us just shrug our shoulders at.  However, there is an added twist. Read the press release below.

Ford says Alliance will not take Policing and Justice Ministry

1.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 4th Aug 2008

Alliance Leader David Ford has said his party will not take the proposed Policing and Justice Ministry following speculation on the issue in recent times. The Alliance Assembly Group met this morning at Stormont and discussed the matter.

David Ford said: "The Alliance Party will not be taking the Policing and Justice Ministry. This Executive is failing in its duties, so Northern Ireland needs a strong and coherent opposition. We are providing that opposition and we will continue to do so.

"The Executive is in crisis over planning, the environment, the 11-plus, Irish language, and the multi-sports stadium issue. Do the Executive parties expect us to take the Environment, Education and Culture Ministries to save their bacon on these matters?

"The Executive has not met since mid-June. It is in a crisis of its own making. It is up to the Executive parties to resolve this crisis as they are the government. They must start by actually meeting again as an Executive to discuss the outstanding issues. We are the opposition and we will remain so because this Executive is so poor that Northern Ireland needs a strong group to keep the pressure on it."

Then on 25 February 2010 David announced

Ford says Alliance can now nominate for Justice Ministry


11.35.06am GMT Thu 25th Feb 2010

Alliance Party Council last night recommended that Leader David Ford can now nominate a candidate for Justice Minister. Party Council agreed that the two conditions which Alliance raised have now been met. Sinn Fein and the DUP have agreed on the community relations strategy and genuine progress has been made on agreeing a Justice Department policy programme.

David Ford said: "There is now agreement on the community relations strategy and real progress on agreeing a justice policy programme. This has not been an easy decision to make but a decision has finally been reached. We have had much discussion within our party on this and now that our two conditions have been met, we can nominate for the post of Justice Minister.

"On Tuesday, the DUP and Sinn Fein announced that they had agreed the Cohesion, Sharing and Integration policy after a two and a half year delay. This is the first ever community relations strategy agreed in any period of devolution we have had in Northern Ireland. This did not happen when the UUP and SDLP were in charge. I believe that progress this week is due to Alliance pressure.

"Yesterday, we received assurances on the proposals that Alliance has put forward for the devolution of Justice. It is important that when devolution takes place there is agreement on policies, so that devolution is seen to deliver for the people of Northern Ireland.

"Alliance Party Council has recommended that we are now in a position to nominate a candidate for Justice Minister. We will be meeting with the First and Deputy First Ministers and a further announcement regarding the identity of the Minister will be made in the near future."

Yet throughout all Alliance Party press releases on Justice, nothing has since been mentioned about a dysfunctional NI Executive, nor about all those issues (that have remained unresolved) that made Alliance so agitated in August 2008.

Indeed, David stated that 

The Alliance Party will not be taking the Policing and Justice Ministry. This Executive is failing in its duties, so Northern Ireland needs a strong and coherent opposition. We are providing that opposition and we will continue to do so.

and 

We are the opposition and we will remain so because this Executive is so poor that Northern Ireland needs a strong group to keep the pressure on it.

So what is the legitimate claim for the Alliance Party now? It, if it takes the Ministerial position, will no longer be the 'opposition'.  How can Alliance now say they are in opposition when they are now part of the 'Executive in crisis'?  What credibility does Alliance now have with its voters when it has done such a U-turn on its principle of being, as best as possible, an Opposition to the Government of Northern Ireland?  

David may come to rue the day his Party tasted this poisoned apple, and its moral high ground fell asleep. 

Real IRA try to hoax it up

From bombs in Omagh
to hoaxes in Belfast  

Yesterday I had to endure hoax bomb alerts in Belfast during rush hour.  As did Londonderry and Newry.

Anyone who has to endure rush hour in Belfast will already know how slow it can be on the Lisburn Road.  Add in police cordon's because a bundle of idiots have decided that in order to free Ireland from the Saxon foe they have to cause gridlock.

Now lets be absolutely clear on what these cunning, brutal and heartless thugs really are.  They have the capability to  maim and murder.  Over the past year or so they have had a go at the Police Board HQ, Police stations, and commercial areas, they have booby trapped people's cars, they have murdered police and army personnel, and they have even brutally executed one of their own. They are far from bumbling rogues.  They must have none  of the emotions that makes a person a human being, especially if they can sleep at night after perpetrating such evil acts.   

Now, the question is this, why do they wage a war already lost to obtain something that will not happen?  They are, by physical force, trying to 'convince the people of Northern Ireland that the Brits have to go and that there is a United Ireland'.  I have had my fair share of bullies, and I won't be bullied by thugs with a megalomania complex.  How dare they!  Use of force means the argument is already lost.

Northern Ireland has enough problems to worry about at the moment like employment, job creation, education, health, social housing, heating, fuel prices.... the list goes on.  The Northern Ireland Executive will not fall because a fruitcake with an AK-47 fires of a few rounds at a police station,or because they plant hoaxes all over the place causing people to get seriously angry, or because they murder someone, or maim someone.

The people living in Northern Ireland are not angry at the Northern Ireland Executive or the institutions because of the actions of the 'I can't believe its not the IRA' brigade.  We will only get angry at those carrying out these actions of desperation.  We will get angry at the perpetrators who have nothing else to do than stop a father or mother from getting home to see their family.  We will get angry at the depraved animals who think its great to murder someone or maim them.  

In fact their actions help to solidify the solidarity the people of Northern Ireland, whether they be Unionist or Nationalist, in resisting the aims of these idiots.

I sat pondering these things on the Lisburn Road, as police cars and landrovers tried to navigate what little of the street that was visible through the vast number of commuters stuck in their own queue for the freedom of the open road.  I eventually reached home and saw my girls as they were about to go to sleep.  It may not mean much in the whole scheme of things, but my family mean a lot to me.  They are my priority.  

And those scumbuckets denied my precious evening time with my family.  

Yes it could have been worse, a lot worse.  But in the context of the moment and of my own priorities at that time, that does not matter.

really, all that be said in the end is that their arguments, their ethos, their vision is lost.  They have no legitimacy.  They have no mandate.  They have no reason for existence. 

Running fast to stand still

Just read Mark Devenport's article on the victims mess that is currently running this week.

And it continues today with the messing around with the cohesion strategy that was supposed to have been published almost a year ago. Adding this to the SPED fiasco from last week, the new term for the NI Executive has not gotten off to a good start.

No matter who is to blame or who is holding things up - it does not fill the populace with a huge amount of confidence in the ability of the Executive to actually work.

What really seems to be stopping things from working is the parties, especially the DUP and Sinn Fein, looking forward to the next two years. Northern Ireland seems to love going to the polls, although actual voting figures may begin to show we are getting a bit fed up with it all. From this year we have

2009 European Election

2010 General Election (Westminster)

2011 Assembly Election

Local Government Election

With the damage the TUV did to the DUP during the EU election, and the questions being raised over Gerry's ability to lead and renew Sinn Fein who are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain their foot hold in the mother country and indeed lost an MEP, there is a natural move to 'pull back and sound out the troops' mentality.

Simply doing good for society, therefore, is not enough. In a way i can see the political point of view on this, one we all need to rememebr, you only get to implement your policies if you win - ipso facto you must concentrate on winning. This can entail limiting anything that may dampen enthusiasm from the party faithful.

So we have many 'iffy' pieces of work from the Executive that, if rubber stamped in the next two years, could dissuade political party voting stalwarts to reconsider those ever important votes.

When i say 'iffy' i mean issues that are not all that ideologically comfortable but might be doable if there was a long enough period for staunch voters to forget about the issues that have been passed. Unfortunately looking at the timetable this is not a viable prospect.

But we live in hope.

But only just.

Shuffling the DUP pack

With the Minister for Finance and Personnel being touted to leave his ministry to focus on his Westminster duties i feel a full DUP shuffle on the agenda.

The DUP ministeries are Enterprise, Trade & Investment; Culture, Arts & Leisure; Environment; and Finance & Personnel. They also have a Junior Minister in the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister.

So who will be where in the next few weeks?  Peter Robinson, our First Minister, will not go anywhere. However, Nigel Dodds is moving out to concentrate on his duties as an MP. Does this also set a precedent for the DUP Junior Minister, Jeffery Donaldson MP? and we all know that Sammy Wilson is biding his time before he leaves DOE.

This would leave three places without 'demoting' anyone as such.

I have heard the name Simon Hamilton,  DUP MLA for Strangford, being touted for a ministry and that Arlene Foster, currently Minister for Enterprise Trade and Investment, will be moved up to the Ministery of Finance and Personnel.

I also expect Edwin Poots, who had been Minister for Culture Arts and Leisure before the Maze Stadium fiasco, to be offered a ministry in the reshuffle.  The is also a possibility of Peter Weir, MLA from North Down, getting a ministry as well.

So card son the table. Who will be in or moved in the great DUP reshuffle?

First Minister - Peter Robinson

Junior Minister - Peter Weir

DFP - Arlene Foster

DETI - Maybe Jeffery Donaldson but think more Edwin Poots

DCAL - Nelson McCausland

DOE - Simon Hamilton

I wonder if i should put a bet on? Never been any good at predicting the lotto, so I would not take my stab at who will go where as an absolute. But I think i may be close.

Only time will tell how close i came, but it is always fun speculating.