May the force be with you

Last night the Ulster Unionist Party and the Conservatives reached agreement on the new name to appear on the ballot paper. This was not an easy negotiation.  Neither party got what they completely wanted.  It remains to be seen how important the name is on the ballot paper.  My view is that so long as voters [...]

Action is needed by the Government to prevent property deflation

Deflation is often talked about as a scourge which could do lasting damage.  When economists talk about deflation, they mean consumer price deflation.  Yet property deflation is just as harmful.  House Prices are continuing to fall. They have not yet fallen to an unacceptably low level but they are heading in that direction.  Without any prospect of a [...]

Ivan Cameron

I was extremely sad to hear of the news of the death of Ivan Cameron, 6 year old son of David and Samantha Cameron.  My heart goes out to David and Samantha.  David and Samantha will now need time to grieve.  However, I know that they will get through it.  I look forward to David returning to form in [...]

Northern Ireland needs opinion polls to help bring about normal politics

Opinion polls relating to voter preference on a UK wide basis at Westminster elections are now published about 8 times a month. When there is a General Election campaign, the polls are published every day In Northern Ireland, we don’t have any. This is probably because as a region, we are not large enough for an [...]

Sinn Fein plays tribal politics in the North and normal politics in the South

Sinn Fein held its Ard Fheis (party conference) on Saturday. In a candid display of weakness, its leader, Gerry Adams, appealed for partnership with the Irish Labour Party. Sinn Fein seeks power on both sides of the border. Hitherto, it has been partially successful in Northern Ireland winning 26% of the overall vote at the [...]

Sinn Fein suffering defeats and feeling the heat

Trying to unravel what went on in the negotiations between Sinn Fein and the DUP leading to an end to the boycott by Sinn Fein of Executive meetings is still very much work in progress. When the deadlock ended last November, little detail was revealed about what was agreed in relation to Police and Justice [...]

Identity and Voting

Today, a post has been published as a separate page on this blogsite under this title.  To access it, please click the tab above. The new page is intended to be a resource for people interested in the dynamics of voting as well as providing background information for my next long page which will be about normal politics. In [...]

The Labour Party to estabish itself in Northern Ireland

On February 18th, 2009, it was reporterd in the Belfast Telegraph that the Labour Party is organising itself as an official party in Northern Ireland. The Spokesman representing the Labour Party in Northern Ireland, Mr. Boyd Black had previously given an indication that efforts were being made in this direction on the Politics Show on December 7th.  [...]

The Minister of Aggro – Culture

On Tuesday Morning, DARD offices were swamped by farmers desperate to ensure that they received grants under the Rural Development programme for Northern Ireland (2007-2013) after hearing that the grants totalling £6 million were to be awarded on a first come first served basis. I first read about this on Slugger on Monday night.  The [...]

Sammy Wilson’s career on the line as Arlene Foster hammers a political stake into him

On Monday, it was announced by the Minister for Enterprise, Arlene Foster announced that her department will be consulting shortly on a new energy framework. In a written response to a question in the Assembly she said: “This will include a focus on renewable technologies and how they can help deliver security and diversity of [...]