Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness

The Assembly is set to consider the Justice Bill again today , once Edwin Poots is done thrilling members with the latest instalment on High Hedges.  Previously, when David Ford’s draft went before the Committee for Culture, Arts and Leisure, it became apparent that Part 4 of the Bill , which covers sport, is unfit for purpose. I previously pointed out that David McNarry, while he couched it in typically inflated, sectarian terms, had a valid point when he argued that football should not be the sole focus of sections on ticket touts and banning orders. GAA, football and rugby clubs around the country have also been alarmed by the sections on alcohol at sporting events.  It’s been pointed out that the legislation would not simply cover the pesky aggressive louts whom the authorities want to stop drinking - it would also put an end to ANY corporate hospitality at sports venues and punch a massive hole in many clubs’ business models. Ulster Rugby has been particularly v...

Shrine for a murderer Two articles caught my eye in this morning’s papers, ostensibly about different issues, but bound together by a similar mindset. The first was SDLP councillor Nicola Mallon’s apologia for rioters in North Belfast - not yet online at the Belfast Telegraph. Although their actions are wrong, she suggests, we can’t forget the context which surrounds the violence.  Deprivation causes the poor mites at Ardoyne to riot. The second appears in the Independent, written by regular columnist Mary Dejevsky .  She considers the case of cop-killer Raoul Moat and, like the despicable crowd joining a certain Facebook group, she has adopted him as a type of anti-establishment icon. The murderous body-builder was apparently representative of a class of underdogs, “who genuinely feel that the odds, in the way society is organised today, are stacked against them”. Now, I am far from a reactionary “hang ’em and flog ’em” type, but this rush to excuse disgraceful ...

I recently took part in a debate, part of the Exchange Mechanism project at Belfast Exposed, which asked whether the current system of power-sharing in Northern Ireland offers a democratic future or peace at any price. Although the panellists had different opinions about the best way forward, there was consensus that the current dispensation, as it is operated by the DUP and Sinn Féin, is not working. A week later the Platform for Change initiative launched. The faces, at that event, were different, but the sense of frustration with politics here was precisely the same. In Northern Ireland an ever swelling chorus of voices is singing from the same hymn sheet – our politics are a mess and the Assembly needs to work more effectively. When Sir Reg Empey described the Executive as a “huckster’s shop” he struck a popular chord which the UUP leader had not managed to strike since he urged the DUP and Sinn Féin to stop ‘arsing about’. It is generally acknowledged that the two larger par...

What an extraordinary predicament for the UUP! I’ve just listened to Basil McCrea setting out the party’s position on policing and justice on Stephen Nolan’s radio programme. It was difficult to disagree with a word he uttered. Even Nolan seemed to be bereft of an attack route. At one stage he seemed to be arguing McCrea’s case for him. The party insists that it has not had input into the deal on policing and justice, it is not privy to what is on the table and therefore it will not endorse it, without clear evidence of progress, when it is put to a vote. The DUP, which alongside Sinn Féin has excluded smaller parties from the nitty gritty of the decision making process, has indicated that it will not proceed without Ulster Unionist backing! No doubt, should the UUP vote against devolution, or abstain, the Dupes will blame Ulster Unionists for wrecking the deal. It is a thoroughly preposterous situation and it is 100% indicative of the DUP’s selfishness and cynicism. It takes a s...

What precisely is going on within the Alliance party? During the Hillsborough negotiations David Ford hit out at anyone who wouldn’t prostrate themselves before the policing and justice juggernaut. The expectation seemed to be that all parties were duty bound to accept, sight unseen, any deal which the DUP and Sinn Féin might strike, in case the glorious non-sectarian prospect of an Alliance Minister of Justice became imperilled. A few days later and David Ford is rather less adamant . In fact, at a meeting of party leaders this morning I believe that it has become apparent that a vote of his party council is now being sought, in order to endorse any acceptance of the justice portfolio. Naomi Long first mooted the possibility on Good Morning Ulster and it appears that Ford has succumbed to pressure. We can surmise that Long is unhappy with the prospect of her party effectively approving the programme for government unto which the new justice measures will be grafted. If the East B...

A stately pile in the countryside, prime ministers dancing attendance, talks late in to the night. The only thing missing is a telephone call from the American President. So far. Gordon Brown and Brian Cowen left Northern Ireland, assuring its people that our politicians have embarked upon a “pathway to agreement”. By sleight of hand, sequencing, choreography and other mysterious arts they still hope that a date to devolve policing and justice will eventually be set and the power-sharing institutions will lurch unsteadily on, having surmounted another crisis. With a resolution to the impasse now supposedly in sight the Northern Ireland public could be forgiven if it is a little sceptical. Even if the remaining difficulties between the parties are overcome, it is still unlikely that the architecture of power-sharing will be altered to prevent the same thing happening again. There is, built into the devolved institutions at Stormont, the potential for a near endless sequence of min...

I blogged recently about Alliance's hypocrisy and the party's desperation to get its hands on the justice portfolio. When Sir Reg Empey indicated that the UUP might not accept any deal which the DUP and Sinn Féin concocted, David Ford had something of a strop. And whenever Alliance has a strop about anything, allegations of everyone else's sectarianism are never far behind. Witness the latest piece of Tweeted petulanc e from Gerry Lynch (aka Sammy Morse Slugger fans), Alliance candidate for East Antrim. @ConallMcD If I'd listened to your leader's sectarian, sub-Éirígí, press conference today, I'd be too ashamed to post on Twitter The target is of course Northern Ireland's newest MLA, Conall McDevitt. His leader's press conference is reported here . The gist is, predictably, that Sinn Féin and the DUP have locked other parties out of discussions at Hillsborough and should an agreement eventually emerge, whatever it might comprise, it will not have been...

Does Alliance actually have a philosophy, beyond ‘we are much nicer than everyone else’? David Ford’s party certainly stresses its non-sectarian credentials, but that hardly qualifies as a political programme. With its haste to allege prejudice wherever it sees so much as a Union Flag, and its insistence that Northern Ireland’s politics are best conducted in a vacuum, Alliance is as dependent upon sectarianism as any other party. Last week David Ford lashed out at Sir Reg Empey when he suggested that Ulster Unionists will not endorse, sight unseen, any deal which the DUP and Sinn Féin might concoct on policing and justice. The UUP leader’s demand that his party should be consulted is hardly unreasonable. Ford’s reaction epitomises the spineless and rudderless nature of Alliance politics. Before Christmas he indicated that his own party would name a price for its cooperation in devolving policing and justice. Now, spooked by a suggestion that the Assembly could collapse, and with h...

So Sir Reg Empey has made it plain that, should the DUP strike a deal with Sinn Féin on policing and justice, Ulster Unionists will not necessarily snap to attention. It is not an extraordinary stance. It is far more extraordinary that other parties complain on other occasions about being by-passed by Sinn Féin and the DUP, yet they’re prepared to accept , without conditions, any arrangement which the two parties might reach. Policing and justice has acquired a status, actual and symbolic, which it scarcely deserves. Just because Sinn Féin determines that it is the must crucial issue at the Assembly, doesn’t necessarily mean that other parties become reckless renegades just because they do not share that analysis. It certainly doesn’t mean they are playing fast and loose with the principles of power-sharing. Remarkably Alliance itself had previously indicated that it was not prepared to facilitate devolved justice, at any cost. The Ulster Unionist party is quite entitled to put ...

The DUP had been insistent that it will not let itself be rushed or bullied into devolving policing and justice. There are, it insists, issues to be addressed before enough 'confidence' exists to proceed. And yet, according to the BBC , MLAs are being asked to nominate a minister by next week. It is possible that Peter Robinson is hoping to stabilise a Stormont boat which appears to have become rather rocky. It is widely believed that the DUP have most to lose should Sinn Féin pull out of power-sharing, if an election would ensue. There remains a suspicion that the First Minister would be prepared to do a deal but other members of his party are not so keen. If the DUP was genuinely concerned about public confidence, as opposed to the mutable shopping list which it is forever compiling, it would focus on comments such as those O'Neill highlighted on Monday .

I don’t suppose that I was the only one reminded of Stuart Neville’s novel ‘The Twelve’ , when I read newspaper reports detailing SOCA’s seizure of a South Armagh republican’s assets, which took place yesterday. Newsline featured pictures of Sean Gerard Hughes’ farm, and I almost expected to hear the whine of an injured bull terrier. Sinn Féin’s response has, thus far, only exacerbated the sense of déjà vu. Neville’s book was a work of fiction, but the Republican movement which provided its backdrop hardly required a painstaking imaginative effort. For the uninitiated, or those outside Northern Ireland, the Serious Organised Crime Agency was granted a court order to seize assets belonging to Hughes, on the grounds that they are suspected to come from laundering the proceeds of mortgage fraud, evading tax and fiddling the benefit system. He has previously been convicted of fraudulently claiming income support. Sinn Féin’s MP for the area, Conor Murphy, who is also Regional Develop...

Long term readers will recognise that this blog does not chart every instance of violence in Northern Ireland in order to blame it on a particular political tradition. Vandalism, crime, rioting and associated ills are all deplorable, whichever ‘community’ the perpetrators might be perceived as belonging to. You have not, and will not, turn to ‘Three Thousand Versts’ for a virtual tick chart of attacks on Orange Halls, GAA facilities etc. I am not particularly interested, either, in exploring the supposed whys and wherefores of ‘interface’ rioting in East Belfast. The only analysis we need is that this type of wanton destruction is shameful, whoever is responsible. However, it is fair to say that one particular detail springs out of media reports of the trouble. On Bank Holiday Monday, when violence erupted, Sinn Féin was holding a ‘rally’ to mark the closure of Mountpottinger police station. Not, as readers who do not come from Northern Ireland might assume, to protest at service...

Sir Hugh Orde isn’t particularly concerned that groups of heavily armed republicans can roam border areas and patrol roads, unhindered by an emasculated police force which has neither the resources, nor the political backing, to do anything about it. I cannot agree. However Northern Ireland’s outgoing police chief also believes that a lack of political commitment to the ‘shared future’ strategy is retarding progress towards a normal society. His officers are at the sharp end of this failure. He has a point. Bobballs observes that Alliance, the UUP and the SDLP all acknowledge a need to resuscitate the imperative of integration, whilst Sinn Féin and the DUP’s ‘ourselves alone' coalition stand opposed. Fittingly. After all, the Programme for Government developed by the two parties shelved the ‘Shared Future’ initiative in the first instance. A mythos has grown up around the Northern Ireland ‘peace process’ that its completion could only be achieved, can only be achieved, bec...

There are a series of problematic value judgements which the facts of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi’s release raise. Is it right to show mercy to a dying man, even if he has perpetrated a heinous crime? If there is a doubt about the safety of his conviction, does it justify his case being treated differently? How far should the hurt which victims have experienced be taken into account where mercy can be shown, or denied? These are difficult questions, involving slippery moral concepts which will be endlessly debated. Lengthy works of philosophy, or novels, are suitable media to consider such material carefully (although Hernandez is one of many having a go on blogs and columns). Rather than encroach on the territory outlined above, I propose to discuss (briefly) two issues (which I will divide between two posts) arising from the decision (and its announcement), which are, I suppose, tangential to the points I made about the SNP’s style of presentation, last night. Firstly, from a purely...

How many rash political judgments and alarmist media stories could be avoided if politicians and journalists were to read documents properly before commenting on them? The UUP released its ‘Putting Things Right’ statement today, which sets out criticisms of the DUP / Sinn Féin coalition’s management of devolved finances and envisages how the position in Northern Ireland might be improved. A section deals with policing and justice. Its contents have been picked up by the BBC which reports that Ulster Unionists are now seeking ‘a five year financial testing period’ before policing and justice powers can be devolved. Reacting, no doubt, to the BBC’s story , as opposed to the original text, Alex Attwood (SDLP) blundered in with knee wildly a-jerking, alleging that the UUP has vetoed devolution. “When Peter Robinson said on July 7 that all the party leaders in the Assembly would have to agree on community confidence before devolution of justice powers occurred he was sharing his veto ...

I have written before about unionists who adopt a default reaction of hostility towards the Irish language. It is a particularly unconstructive, counterproductive approach, which fosters a feeling, amongst nationalists, that unionism is unreceptive towards any manifestation of culture in Northern Ireland which it perceives as ‘Irish’. The DUP in particular, but other unionist parties too, are accustomed to presenting any blow to the Irish language as a victory for unionism. Of course, it is not right that the language should always be accorded precedence, or allocated funds, which it does not merit but, whatever the political misuses it has been put to, it is patently ridiculous to subject an aspect of the United Kingdom’s cultural wealth to blanket animosity. I am sceptical about the need for many of the things to which the various Irish language lobbies aspire and there are other suggestions, made by language enthusiasts, which I would categorically oppose. I am not convinced, f...

Another morning. And we have woken up to learn of another murder in Northern Ireland . Last night Constable Stephen Carroll was gunned down by republicans in Craigavon as he responded to a call for help, lodged by a frightened member of the public. It goes without saying that another family has been bereaved. On this occasion a wife no longer has a husband; children have been deprived of their father. And to what purpose? As far as I can see, it is purely because the most extreme recidivist elements of republicanism want to destroy the beginnings of normality in this country. They cannot bear the thought that people in Northern Ireland might live their lives without murderous interruption – in peace. O’Neill observes that despite the glib guarantees with which Gordon Brown responded to Saturday’s Massareene Barracks murders, we cannot be confident that the perpetrators, of that particular attack or of the killing last night, will ever be brought to justice. Indeed the Prime ...

With Alex Maskey terming deployment of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment in support of the PSNI ‘disgraceful’, the question which most readily springs to mind? How committed and genuine is Sinn Féin’s support for policing and justice in actuality? Rather than participating in policing boards in order to make Northern Ireland safer, republicans seem preoccupied with hampering the police in its efforts. Sinn Féin retains a purely attritional, confrontational attitude to policing and the PSNI. It is perfectly clear that this new special force’s presence is aimed at a real and pervasive threat. In addition, the unit will not fulfil an operational role. It is being deployed, as the chief constable insists, to increase the PSNI’s ‘technical capacity’. Sir Hugh Orde does not need to consult the policing board about this issue and nor should he. The police must be allowed to do their job effectively. The PSNI is only trying to prevent an atrocity being committed by Maskey’s old colle...

Old habits die hard in Sinn Féin. Although the Provos are now reputedly 100 per cent signed up to policing and the rule of law, whenever republicans riot, it is perpetually the police who are at fault. Normally this instinct is manifested by claims of heavy-handedness. The PSNI’s mere presence in an area is often presented as sufficient provocation for an attack. Then there is the old chestnut of agents and informers, whereby every instance of republican misbehaviour is attributed to perfidious securocrats, who infiltrate all manner of organisations, in order to instigate mayhem in the name of innocent republicanism. John O’Dowd has plumped for the latter option in order to explain republican violence in the Craigavon / Lurgan area last night. An impartial observer might submit to O’Dowd’s reasoning. Perhaps the PSNI is so starved of excitement that it foments all manner of dissident disorder, which its officers can then enjoy at close quarters. On the other hand the observer m...

Campaigners, unionists amongst them, gathered at Stormont on Saturday in order to protest Diane Abbot’s proposed amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, which would extend the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland. That’s correct, unionists (self-described) were protesting against clear legislation on termination of pregnancies, which would afford women in Northern Ireland the same access to an NHS service, which they enjoy throughout the rest of the United Kingdom. To add a further layer of irony, Jeffrey Donaldson and other unionists, argue that it is wrong for Westminster to legislate on this issue, which should be devolved to the Stormont Assembly. Indeed Donaldson warned that imposing the British position on Northern Ireland could precipitate a constitutional crisis and the collapse of power sharing institutions. Abortion is a justice matter, which means, well …to argue that policy should only be decided in Northern Ireland, is to insist that policing and ju...