Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness

Just a note to say that the much improved UUP online operation has now launched on Twitter . Perhaps the party should also break its silence on exactly which form of the new name joint candidates will campaign under. There remains a degree of confusion . To my mind it makes a great deal of sense to retain ‘Ulster‘, or indeed ‘New Force’ in the official title, yet to accord more prominence to the much less fussy ‘Conservatives and Unionists’. Let’s not quibble over a word, which is rooted in the history of Irish unionism, but might after all be interpreted as an irredentist claim over three counties which are not within the UK. Ulster Conservatives and Unionists or Conservatives and Unionists for the sake of brevity. The point is the message. It is frustrating that time is being lost putting that message across.

Initial reaction to this afternoon’s launch of Ulster Conservatives and Unionists as a new electoral force has begun to appear. The BBC has chosen to emphasise Lady Sylvia Hermon’s conspicuous absence from joint events thus far. Clearly she has yet to be persuaded of the alliance’s merits. There will be plenty of time to make up her mind though. I understand that there will be no pressure on the UUP’s MP to take the Conservative whip before the next parliament. Lady Syliva’s dilemma is also the focus of a diabolically confused and practically illiterate piece on Labour Home. Although Sir Reg Empey and David Cameron announced their intention to forge an electoral compact last summer, the LabHome blogger feels the launch might be a reaction to Labour’s belated decision to organise in Northern Ireland! The Guardian’s Henry McDonald picks up on Sir Reg Empey’s suggestion that a Conservative government might undertake to give Northern Ireland ‘enterprise zone’ status. This would ena...

This piece by James Marson on Comment is Free is worth reading. The pertinent point is that Ukraine’s president, Viktor Yushchenko, has not become unpopular because he has bravely held a pro-western, pro-Nato line against a perfidious Russian conspiracy. Although Yushchenko’s anti-Russian stance, and in particular his hard line during the war in South Ossetia, has scarcely helped heal divisions in Ukraine, he is unpopular chiefly because of his inability to, “deal with the problems that the Orange revolution targeted: primarily, the concentration of power and money among a venal elite who are immune to prosecution”. David Miliband take note.

The title has been finalised and the joint committee’s report has been endorsed by both parties . The Conservative and Ulster Unionist parties will field joint candidates in European and Westminster elections, appearing on the ballot paper as ‘Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force’. The formulation is undeniably clunky (and employment of the ‘New Force’ addendum in initial form should be avoided at all costs for obvious reasons). Nevertheless, the new joint website indicates that candidates will campaign simply as ‘Conservatives and Unionists’. The new logo is pleasingly unfussy. In a Telepraph article Sir Reg Empey restates the thinking behind the new venture. That is, of course, what is most important. A press conference at noon will launch the UCU venture. Unfortunately I can’t attend due to work commitments. I will, however, be very interested to hear how it has gone.

‘Ulster’s Doomed’ is a nasty little weblog devoted to collating evidence which it purports proves that one tribe in Northern Ireland is out-breeding the other. Actually all it really demonstrates is the incorrigibility of a certain type of nationalist mindset. The ‘echo chamber effect’ which Sunny Hundal highlights in the Today programme article dictates that the comments zone houses still more unpleasantness. Take this anonymous offering, posted below a piece which states (on the basis of newspaper sales) that Northern Ireland contains more nationalists and fewer unionists today than it did one year ago. “Part of the problem for the Protestant community is that they have been told endlessly that they are British - and that in a way that excludes any element of Irishness. I think that this leads to a disengagement from life here in Ireland. No wonder that so many go to University in Britain and stay there. No wonder that so many buy 'national' British newspapers instead of p...

It is said that discretion is the better part of valour. But ahead of tonight’s UUP executive meeting, the BBC has learned that ‘Ulster Conservatives and Unionists’ is likely to be the banner under which the new electoral force stands. I had understood that the two parties, and the joint committee they set up, wanted to maintain a tight ship until the name had been passed by the executive. With the probable formulation now in the public realm, it is certainly now fair game for blogs such as 'Three Thousand Versts'. It had become apparent, over the past couple of weeks, that the UUP argument for retaining the word ‘Ulster’ in the name under which joint candidates would stand was likely to prevail. Clearly I was susceptible to the Conservative notion that replacing ‘Ulster’ with ‘Northern Ireland’ might best reflect the inclusive ambitions of this political project. However I acknowledged earlier this week that there was little merit in becoming too precious about an ultim...

Secretary of State Shaun Woodward’s decision to rule out any possibility of a £12,000 payout to the relatives of everyone killed in the troubles (within the UK) is unsurprising. It was necessary, both to avoid justifiable moral revulsion and in order to salvage other recommendations contained in the Eames Bradley report. This one clause might otherwise have deemed an extensive report effectively worthless, had it not been swiftly and unequivocally kicked into the long grass by the government. What Eames and Bradley produced is not entirely without merit. It is imbued with an underlying desire to see closure which many people in Northern Ireland share. Putting a stop to endless calls for expensive public inquiries is plainly a necessary aspiration. Despite criticism, I also believe it makes a decent fist of suggesting structures which might enable victims’ families to hear the truth about what happened to their loved ones. However Tom Elliot articulates some objections which th...

This is really rather exciting. ‘Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness’ has been longlisted, in the blog category, for the Orwell Prize . Seeking to encourage George Orwell’s aim of elevating ‘political writing into an art’, two winning writers are normally chosen, one for authorship of a political book and one who has excelled in the field political journalism. This year, however, sees the introduction of a prize for blogging. The list of entrants comprises a strong national field, many of whom would be considered ‘big beasts’ in the weblog world (not to mention a fair smattering of professionals). I have been grateful for whatever small degree of recognition this site has gained since its inception, but it really is beyond my wildest expectations to be a contender for “the pre-eminent British prize for political writing”. Details of the other eleven longlisted blogs and the posts on which they were judged are available here . Iain Dale and Oliver Kamm react to their inclusion. U...

Some sad news, which puts in context the party political squabbles which get us so animated so much of the time. David and Samantha Cameron’s six year old son, Ivan, has died. He suffered from cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Condolences to the Cameron family at a very difficult time. Update - Nick Robinson has a thoughtful blogpost on Ivan's death.

If I can take you into my confidence for a moment or two, I would like to make a guilty admission. I am a closet fan of the rock band U2. This pathology from which I suffer was once worse; much, much worse. And what’s more, at one point I wore my status with Pride (even in the name of love?). When I was seventeen or eighteen (merely a Boy), not only did I own every U2 release, but I held in contempt anyone who even so much as suggested that Bono and co were, well, Bad. Additionally I read avidly every book and interview that I could get my hands on which had even a tangential relevance to the group or its music. I had album posters in my room and I greeted as manna from heaven almost every pronouncement which the singer made from behind those ridiculous wraparound shades. Hell, I even paid a dubious character in a pub near Lansdowne Road over one hundred Republic of Ireland pounds to secure a ticket for the band’s Popmart show. Such, at that time, was my Desire (ahem). U2 were ...

An important developmen t towards a closer relationship between government at Westminster and the devolved regions has been announced . David Cameron has added the Conservative party’s leader in Scotland, Annabel Goldie, to his shadow Cabinet. Previously on ‘Three Thousand Versts’ I've argued that aspiring to augment communication and involvement between Westminster and Holyrood was an inclination self-evidently unionist in character. Providing the party’s Scottish parliamentary group with a permanent voice at shadow Cabinet level underlines the importance which Cameron is according to the devolved regions. He is endeavouring to ensure that any Conservative government would represent the entire United Kingdom and enable that kingdom to work as well as possible, both at unitary level and as four constituent parts. To this end further regional additions to the shadow Cabinet would be welcome.

The Irish News reports that a case brought by two former terrorists will be heard by the House of Lords this morning. Sean McConkey and Jervis Marks are challenging an employment tribunal which found that the Simon Community charity which employed them was entitled to treat the pair unfavourably on the basis of their political extremism and criminal pasts. Convicted murderer, McConkey, claimed that the case would determine whether former IRA prisoners, “should be allowed to play a positive role in society”. With unrepentant terrorists at the heart of Northern Ireland’s government, such people currently play a more than sufficient role in society. Whilst enabling them to continue to do so, we should not prejudice employers’ discretion to choose whether or not their organisation feels a former terrorist makes an appropriate employee. We hear a lot about the rights of former prisoners, but these people were convicted of criminal offences which were carried out in the furtherance of a ...

I previously commended David Shiels’ Belfast Telegraph piece on the Conservative and Ulster Unionist electoral force. He has another article at Conservative Home today, covering the same topic, which addresses a number of important points. In previous debates regarding the new alignment, doubt has been cast on how much determination and courage David Cameron is showing by entering into a deal with Ulster Unionists. Regular commenter (and blogger ) yourcousin, for instance, goes so far as to suggest that the Tory leader’s unionism is merely a pragmatic tactical guise. Shiels rebuts any such suggestions without equivocation. He speaks of, “the determination with which the Conservative Party’s leadership has approached the mission of offering a radical break from the traditional, sectarian nature of politics in the province”. Cameron and Owen Paterson have signalled a clear departure from their party’s recent policy on Northern Ireland’s politics, “His (Cameron’s) critics overloo...

His colleague Robert Peston might have scooped all the accolades in the past year (pun intended), but it is Nick Robinson who inspires me to fandom. I was therefore delighted to learn that the BBC’s political editor is to present a series examining, “the history of those who've lived and worked behind the most famous front door in the world”. That is British Prime Ministers, for those of you a little sluggish of mind on a Monday morning. By way of introduction Robinson’s blog contains a fascinating little article drawings parallels between Gordon Brown and a famous predecessor, Sir Robert Walpole. The first Prime Minister presided over an economic crisis prompted by a bursting bubble of investment in the South Seas. He also faced media criticism every bit as robust as anything Gordon Brown has had to contend with. It should be an interesting programme and I’d imagine it will become available on I Player.

The Observer reports this morning that the International Football Association Board (meeting in Belfast next week) will discuss adding an extra five minutes to half time, because it is concerned that, “players and referees have no time for rest at some stadiums after walking to the dressing room”. Poor mites! It has not been lost on the paper that the extra minutes would also enable the generation of considerably greater advertising revenue for FIFA and TV companies. Not too many years ago half time lasted just ten minutes. Frankly, if young men cannot rest and be out on the field ready to play another half in fifteen minutes, then they should not be considered professional athletes and should seek another profession. As usual it would be fans who actually attend matches in the cheap seats who would be most inconvenienced, to the benefit of TV companies, armchair spectators and corporate hospitality types who get an extra few minutes to quaff champagne and network, without anythin...

If you didn’t laugh you would cry! Sammy Wilson has admitted that he wasn’t ‘mad keen’ to take on the Environment Minister’s brief in the first instance, only took the job because Peter Robinson urged him to do so and had a slender grasp of what it would involve! Setting aside Sammy’s Vicky Pollard diction, imagine handing anyone an important executive post on the back of such lack of commitment and self-declared ignorance! If an employee in Burger King were to express similar sentiments there would be questions asked about their position! I apologise for excessive exclamation mark usage, but honestly!

Comment is Free carries an article by James Marson examining perceived discontent fomented by the economic crisis, in Russia. It is a more thoughtful piece than the brand of ‘perfidious Kremlin’ geopolitical waffle which most commentators are producing . Whilst the Federation is by no means the oppressive totalitarian state which is frequently depicted by western media, undeniably a more open, accountable approach would afford Russian democracy more air to breathe. Medvedev is by no means a lost cause in terms of steering his country towards that outcome. I have previously insisted that Putinite notions of a ‘power vertical’ and ‘sovereign democracy’ are by no means as insidious as they have often been portrayed. In many respects they simply represent Russian solutions to Russian problems, drawing on a political tradition which differs dramatically from the experience in western Europe and the US. Against the backdrop of a huge, diverse state, Putinism has attempted to strengthen...

Last week I travelled reasonably intensively on the Italian rail network, Trenitalia. From Wednesday to Saturday there was only one day when my girlfriend and I did not take a train. We suffered no delays to speak of. Our second class carriages were clean and comfortable and we covered fairly long distances both quickly and inexpensively. Contrast this experience to the misery of rail travel in Britain. Although I am not a particularly frequent user of the mainland rail network, nevertheless I have spent many hours waiting in stations for delayed services, staring forlornly at sidings where the train has come to an unaccountable and interminable halt, inhaling noxious air which seems to emanate directly from adjacent toilets. All of which comprises an unimpeachable service when it's set against Translink’s efforts to deliver public transport to long suffering travellers in Northern Ireland. Not that Italian trains are uniquely superior to those in Britain. Swiss trains, Ger...

Although Michael White is probably right when he insists that Harriet Harman is not positioning herself to make a pre-election Labour leadership bid (as another Guardian blogger suggests this morning), it is a sure sign that Brown’s ‘comeback’ is well and truly over that media speculation about a possible successor is back. David Cameron will want to guard against complacency, but the Conservative Party is likely to form the next UK government irrespective of who leads Labour at the next election. Indeed Labour figures with long term leadership ambitions would be well advised to shelter from the fall out of defeat as best they can, rather than challenging Brown at this juncture. Any speculation, however, will be grist to the Tory mill. As opposed to a galvanised party, steered by the self-styled saviour of the world, it looks increasingly likely that Conservatives will face a divided Labour party in all kinds of disarray.

Fair Deal has produced a pair of exhaustive essays on Slugger entitled ‘Euro 09 and the DUP’ . Fewer words have been expended on some university dissertations and one has to be awed, perhaps even ashamed, by the sheer bloody-minded seriousness and tenacity with which he approaches his subject. When all is said and done, however, his topic remains the DUP; its impoverished vision of unionism and the dour tribal politics which it thrives upon. In his conclusion Fair Deal manfully wrestles with the notion that the DUP might advance a coherent ‘narrative’. Whatever this might comprise, and he is (by his own admission) much more lucid prescribing what it should NOT consist in, it is unlikely to outline with any conviction the party’s vision for how Northern Ireland can best contribute to and participate in the politics of the United Kingdom. The DUP ‘narrative’ will also almost certainly fail to address what membership of the kingdom should mean to the people of Northern Ireland, or t...

Although its mismanagement of the United Kingdom’s government has proved lamentable, I must join O’Neill in welcoming news that the Labour Party is officially organising in Northern Ireland . It should seek to fight elections here as quickly as possible. If a small number of UUP members feel so alienated by the Conservative link-up that they no longer have a home within the former party then local Labour might represent a convivial alternative. And ideally the SDLP would seek a similar arrangement with Labour as that established between Ulster Unionists and Tories, but there remains too traditional a nationalist streak within Mark Durkan’s party for that to become a likelihood. Given the Northern Ireland party’s statist inclinations and tendency to support the government in crucial votes, perhaps the most obvious link up should be between Labour and the DUP. Levity aside, anything which can edge politics here towards normality, and which gives Northern Ireland voters greater access...

I must, at some point, have signed up to a Foreign and Commonwealth Office mailing list, because I receive regular e-mails featuring, disproportionately, assorted inconsistent and condescending musings dispensed by David Miliband, in which he variously condenses, simplifies and misrepresents a series of geopolitical circumstances throughout the globe. His latest offering extols the success of one year of Kosovo Albanian independence , wilfully ignoring the baleful sequence of events which recognising theuniversal declaration put in train, and oblivious to the fact that Pristina is not even close to becoming capital of a functioning, healthy or democratic state. Most conspicuously, recognition of the Kosovo Albanian claim by the US, UK and other western powers established a trend for unilateral, sparsely recognised declarations of independence. South Ossetia and Abkhazia, similarly semi-independent, quasi states predictably followed the Balkan example. Although the full implications...

Alex Kane on Gerry Adams, Republicanism championed by Mr Adams is a brutal, half-baked, blinkered, myth-ridden, intellectually redundant and economically fatuous ideology. His speech in Limerick was the sort of hand-me-down, crypto-revolutionary junk you would expect to hear in a shebeen after one too many glasses of poteen. It was the speech of an old man in a great hurry: the speech of a man who had finally realised that his political ambitions would remain unfulfilled. Ironically, it is a speech that unionists, if they had any sense, could learn from; for it demonstrated that there is practically nothing left in all-Ireland republicanism other than hot air and wish fulfilment. Mr Adams will continue to travel the world, addressing diminishing audiences of the curious and the still delusional. Yet, wherever he rests his head at night, Gerry Adams knows one thing for certain: his day isn’t coming.

Let me pre-empt anticipated criticism (hello Fair Deal) and acknowledge that I am not amongst the most convincing or consistent advocates of ‘localism’. I have instinctive distaste for anything that smacks of the parish pump; I am quick to condemn parties that are excessively preoccupied with local issues to the exclusion of national questions; I am dismissive of ‘unionists’ who show scant regard for the retained sovereign power of parliament; hell, I even hate most regional variations on TV. Not that any of these predilections, of course, are inconsistent with a belief that nourishing the grass roots of democracy is to the ultimate benefit of our kingdom. I have therefore read Conservative proposals to revamp local government and decentralise powers from Westminster and Whitehall with interest and without prejudice. The difference between David Cameron’s plans to devolve power and haphazard constitutional vandalism inflicted by Labour is that the former will seek to organically c...

I intend that normal service should resume this week. Indeed I had rather hoped to post something about the San Marino trip yesterday, but starting the day at 3.45am (Italian time) rather militated against anything more ambitious than slouching on the settee yesterday evening. First things first, thank you to Hernandez , who responded to my tweeted entreaties and reassured an anxious group of snowbound Northern Ireland fans that the match was in fact on. It had looked desperately unlikely earlier in the day. It would be unduly churlish to complain about Northern Ireland’s performance on Wednesday night. Although the San Marino team proved every bit as bad as it had appeared at Windsor Park, Nigel Worthington’s men did their job with minimum fuss. Given the ease with which Northern Ireland took a two nil lead, I did feel that a more whole hearted display in the second half might have yielded a truly resounding result. Additionally, three players have picked up suspensions for the ...

The Young Unionist blog carries a decent enough exposition of the UU / Conservative deal’s rationale, laid out by the Chairman of Merseyside Conservative Future, who happens to be from Northern Ireland originally. He contrasts the DUP’s brand of Ulster particularism with unionism offered by the new force which emphasises involvement in UK wide politics. “The Conservative-UUP pact offers Northern Ireland two things. Firstly, the genuine chance of achieving the political representation it is due and secondly, of creating Unionism, based not on religion but by employing the best arguments we have – that the combined strength of the United Kingdom is far greater than the sum of all our parts.”

Although there are a couple of topics I might post on a little later, given the opportunity, for the rest of the week I will be on Green and White Army duty in Italy/San Marino. In the meantime please feel free to follow me on Twitter where (technology permitting) I will attempt to provide a flavour of the match's build-up, as well as an update or two of the onfield action.

Tony Adams seemed to be the major managerial casualty this weekend, losing his job after Fernando Torres rescued three points for Liverpool at Fratton Park. Now, however, the Chelsea website is reporting that 'Big Phil' Scolari has been dismissed . A club which doesn't understand it's proper place in the world? I think so.

A depressing little story appeared in the Sunday Tribune yesterday illustrating that whilst attitudes may be changing as regards recognising the heritage which we share on these islands, there remains in Ireland, north and south, a deep vein of hatred towards anything which might be associated with the ‘other side’. Students at St Mac Dara’s community college in Dublin have been persuaded to alter a mural depicting historical events of 1916. A parent complained in an anonymous letter that one half of the painting, which portrayed Irish involvement in the First World War, included a ‘loyalist symbol’. The offending item was of course a poppy. No matter that the other half of the mural was dedicated to the Easter Rising which also occurred during that year. No matter that the poppies were painted as part of a wider view of Flanders’ fields. This lone, spineless bigot was determined that no image which he associated with the British tradition would grace a mural at his child’s scho...

Whilst a certain appallingly poor blogger on Slugger O’Toole has been endeavouring to imply that David Cameron is compromising his unionism in an article which he has written for Scotland on Sunday, anyone who bothers to read the SoS piece will conclude that it is scrupulously unionist both by inclination and by content. Addtionally it is certainly not, by any description, at odds with remarks delivered by Conservative peer, Lord Trimble, in an interview with Edinburgh’s Evening News. In his article Cameron rightly argues that more cooperation between the governments at Westminster and Holyrood is required. He envisages a constructive and engaged relationship with whichever administration happens to be in place in Edinburgh. “If we win the next election at Westminster, we would govern with a maturity and a respect for the Scottish people. I would be a Prime Minister who would work constructively with any administration at Holyrood for the good of Scotland, and I would be in regular...

David Cather has started a blog dedicated to the 2009 European election campaign in Northern Ireland and beyond. He's kicked off by introducing himself, outlining a few preliminary thoughts and formulating a commenting policy. A laudable enough project and the site should be worth keeping an eye on (although it is likely to be slanted towards the DUP). I can't help noticing, however, that he does seem to have omitted a notable unionist politics site from his bloglist!

ConHome carries results from the latest ICM Sunday Telegraph poll. Bizarrely both Labour and the Conservatives are down four points and the Liberal Democrats have climbed by six. Have either Nick Clegg or his party upped their performance in some way which I have not been able to discern or is this poll a rogue? Any suggestions to unravel this conundrum gratefully received.

Not content with his buffoon status as Minister for the Environment who doesn’t believe in climate change, Sammy Wilson, minister responsible for road safety, branded it ’absurd’ that he should be fined after riding his motorcycle without an MOT certificate. Ironically if there were a Department of the Absurd Wilson would be a leading candidate to take charge. His latest sortie is to attack schools which had to close earlier in the week, you’ve guessed it, because of the state of the roads for which Sammy is ultimately responsible! Lagan College principal, Helen McHugh, explained why she was forced to close her school today, “A decision to close is not one that we take lightly. I went into school at 7.15 this morning to carry out a site inspection and I had a very difficult journey over myself with the car sliding all over the place. We didn’t take that decision lightly and we do take the children's education very seriously. When we phoned the parents they were very understand...

All the unionist parties in Scotland have now crawled on board and passed the SNP minority government’s budget. Scottish Conservatives had already joined nationalists in support of the package’s first reading. Liberal Democrats and Labour MSPs have since extracted enough concessions to secure their backing, leaving only two greens opposing the budget in a subsequent division, following its initial one vote defeat. Each party has done exactly the same in this instance. Annabel Goldie’s Conservatives found Alex Salmond and his finance minister John Swinney immediately receptive to their preconditions. The Tories therefore voted with the government at the first time of asking. Labour and the Lib Dems had their concerns addressed only after inflicting a narrow defeat on the SNP. The truth is that no party believes that Scotland would benefit if they were to force an early election, or render unworkable the current administration at Holyrood. In the teeth of recession, with Labour ...

With a new deal on the table aimed at resolving the Lindsey oil refinery strike, 'Mark Mardell’s Euroblog' has teased out the more interesting ramifications of a possible solution to the dispute. Although 100 jobs for local workers, offered by the Italian company at the centre of the controversy, might do most to address the immediate concerns of picketing strikers marching around with Union Flags, it is an undertaking to ensure Italian employees are retained under conditions negotiated by British Trades Unions, which establishes a more prescient precedent. Under the terms of the renewed offer, it would not be possible for Italian workers at the site to undercut British employees (as European law permits). They would instead be earning Union rates commensurate with those earned by their UK colleagues. Significantly, the government has played a role in steering both sides towards this outcome. Mardell speculates as to whether Labour might now push for greater standardisati...

Lady Sylvia Hermon met David Cameron yesterday to discuss the Ulster Unionist / Conservative electoral arrangement, but has yet to come to a ‘final judgment’ as to its merits. It transpires that she is engaged in a series of meetings with senior Tories which will presumably culminate in the UUP MP making clear her attitude to the new Conservative and Unionist force. Lady Hermon is only now resuming her involvement in politics following the death of her husband, Jack. She is entitled to listen to what Conservatives have to say before coming to a conclusion and it is encouraging that she is obviously giving the deal careful consideration rather than subjecting it to a knee-jerk reaction. Whilst a small number of dyed-in-the-wool, statist socialists may retain a tribal distrust of the Conservatives, moderate, centrist politicians should not be dismissive of Cameron’s message. If it is the communitarian, society led vision of conservatism which the party continues to emphasise then i...

Not content with selling sex toys the IFA has a new range for sale on 'its' megastore. Thanks to Snoopy, who drew this to my attention. Someone with a bit of IT experience needs to set this store up with some filters. Or how about this , should you want something to read on the plane to San Marino?

If David Cameron has any doubt that he is on the right track espousing ‘moral capitalism’ as an appropriate response to the current economic climate, he should banish it, following Simon Heffer’s extraordinary diatribe in the Daily Telegraph. The champion of Little England summons up a monstrous, hypocritical rant invoking the type of Free Market idealism which should be anathema to a Conservative like Cameron, for whom scepticism of ideology forms a central tenet of his philosophical credo. This is Heffer at his tub thumping worst. Markets are the guarantor of freedom and are inherently ‘moral’. Market regulation is conflated with constraint of people’s liberty. Any type of interference in markets is akin to communism. Cameron is proposing to ‘Sovietise capitalism out of existence’. Clearly this brand of utopian faith in markets is exactly what the current Conservative leader opposes. He is not suggesting heavy handed regulation. He simply plans to regulate against the worst...

True to every prediction offered since her application for the post was made public, Belfast city councillor Diane Dodds has taken the DUP’s candidature for this year’s European election. Unnerved by the prospect of running against sitting pro-Union MEPs, Jims Nicholson and Allister, Peter Robinson’s party were desperate to secure a big name to run in June’s poll. Unable to persuade genuinely significant figures to be sidelined at Strasbourg, the ‘big name’ hoping to be returned by the DUP is only possessed by marriage. Whoever the DUP chose, its campaign was always destined to turn around twin pivots; fear mongering and an appeal to unionists to close ranks behind its candidate. The two ‘Ourselves Alone’ parties have a symbiotic relationship, bordering on a Faustian Pact. Success from one benefits the other and ultimately the aim is a sectarian carve-up of Northern Ireland’s electorate. Despite the mutually beneficial relationship enjoyed by the Dupes and their Sinn Féin coalit...

I feel I must record my support for Slugger O'Toole's poster and commentator, Turgon, who has been censored for quite valid comments about the odious loyalist terrorist, Billy Hutchison. Ignited has the details . Although it is a difficult job moderating a busy blog dealing with contentious subjects, my feeling is that a line has been crossed.

Are there are no bounds to Caitriona Ruane’s irresponsibility and incompetence? Unable to negotiate an end to academic selection she has presided over dismantlement of an imperfect, but tested, system and its replacement by deregulation, chaos and confusion. In 2010, rather than one means of regulated selection for post primary schools, there will be a myriad of different tests, devised by various grammar schools and groups of grammar schools, allied to a range of unenforceable ‘guidelines’ which the minister ‘unveiled’ yesterday as if they were a coherent alternative to the Eleven Plus. Constrained by an ideological straightjacket Ruane has been unable and unwilling either to compromise or accept that her position is untenable. She has provided a one woman demonstration why the current executive arrangements are unworkable in the longer term. Ulster Unionist ministers, Sir Reg Empey and Michael McGimpsey have pointed out that Ruane has not only made a nonsense of the idea of col...

Nigel Worthington was snowbound yesterday and the Northern Ireland manager didn’t make it to Belfast in order to announce his squad for the San Marino match on Wednesday week. On this occasion he should not shoulder criticism for the panel’s most notable absentee. Not only is Keith Gillespie without a club, having been released by Sheffield United, the player has also been uncontactable for eleven days. Worthington can’t vouch for his fitness, his state of mind or even his availability. There was no choice other than to omit Gillespie from the squad. Michael Duff and Ivan Sproule (who simply does not appear to be on the manager’s radar) may consider themselves worthy of inclusion, but otherwise the squad is largely uncontentious. Deprived of one winger, Worthington has given himself the option of two more, selecting Celtic reserves McCourt and McGinn. The manager knows that anything less than three points would be disastrous for Northern Ireland. He must set his team up positi...

Sir Reg Empey has given a careful response to suggestions that the Conservative and Ulster Unionist electoral force will campaign under a name which does not include the word ‘Ulster’. Quite reasonably the UUP leader points out that his party’s title is not up for debate, “The name of the party is not going to change, nor is any part of its constitution which defines it as the Ulster Unionist Party. What we might put on a ballot paper is one thing, but the name of the party is not going to change.” I have argued that Ulster Unionists have to be phlegmatic about nomenclature. Northern Ireland is geographically a more accurate term and as long as the link between Ulster Unionism and the new entity is made quite explicit there is no reason why a word with largely historical significance needs to be included. The UUP’s continued existence and its identity is secure. It has additionally acquired a sense of renewed vitality and purpose by forming a pan-UK unionist movement with Conser...

I see Tom Elliott has been pulling apart Ed Curran’s Belfast Telegraph ‘analysis’ as to the state of unionism, in which the paper’s editor calls for a single unionist party. Predictably the MLA finds it riddled with inconsistencies. What Elliott can’t say, but I can, is that Curran’s pieces are to serious political journalism what Dan Brown’s books are to the canon of English literature. He has presided over the Tele’s descent into quasi tabloid trash. It is an indictment of the standard of Northern Ireland’s newspapers in general that anyone is even responding to the lamentably written, poorly argued garbage which he passes off as political comment.