Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness

In yesterday's Belfast Telegraph I considered Conor Murphy's proposals for bilingual road signs, its divisive potential and the coincidence of timing which see's it distract from the Minister for Regional Development's bread and butter woes. Has the Department for Regional Development not got enough work to do? Cynics will wonder whether it's entirely coincidental that Sinn Fein's Conor Murphy has chosen to publish controversial proposals for bilingual road signs just as criticism over the water crisis reaches a crescendo. The issue is a useful distraction for the minister. His DRD consultation paper envisages traffic signs featuring either Irish or Ulster Scots alongside the English language. A 'proposer' would petition the local council for bilingual "welcome signs" for their town or village, "supplementary plates" for warning notices (for example underneath the red triangles which warn motorists that a school is ahead) or tourist...

In today's Belfast Telegraph I have my say on Conor Murphy's proposed policy to cantonise Northern Ireland with traffic signs in either Irish or Ulster Scots.  Why not commission the graffiti artists who spray  "Prods out" or "Taigs out" on walls to DRD instead?  It would be cheaper and just as effective. Over at Newswhip Jason Walsh highlights a tiff between Alliance and the SDLP over the issue.  Conall McDevitt sees Anna Lo's "ghettoisation" and raises her a "sectarianism".  A pointless quarrel over a pointless initiative. As anyone who read the piece in today's Tele will know, I'm highly suspicious of Murphy's motives in raising this issue, particularly right now.  It's the typical Sinn Féin tactic of sparking controversy, starting a sectarian bun-fight and then claiming the moral high-ground. The DRD minister should complete his spending plan for the draft budget and sort out Northern Ireland Water, rather t...

It looks like Laurence MacKenzie is to be the fall-guy for Northern Ireland’s water debacle.  Without a major overhaul of the way in which NIW is governed and funded, though, his forced resignation is mere tokenism. Northern Ireland’s water service went down the ’GoCo’ route in 2007 but the resultant company is a curious, under-funded, quasi-independent hybrid, without clear lines of responsibility.   The Executive was quick to shift the blame for the current crisis unto NIW, which it describes as an ’arms length’ body, but the Minister for Regional Development, Sinn Féin's Conor Murphy, appoints the Board which runs the company.  His power to hire and fire runs right up to Mr MacKenzie. Earlier this year, of course, the company was mired in controversy over breaches of competitive tendering regulations.  A senior civil servant was suspended after allegations of interference in a Stormont Public Accounts Committee investigation. Rather than demand that genui...