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Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness (Free subscription) | 05/11/2009
In his News Letter column Alex Kane emphasises the importance of the SDLP leadership contest to prospects of a constructive, workable Northern Ireland Assembly. In stark terms, if the moderate nationalist party cannot recover and challenge Sinn Féin’s ascendancy, then devolved government will continue along current lines, perpetuating a community tug of war which results in stasis. Although...
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Splintered Sunrise (Free subscription) | 31/10/2009
It beats me why anyone would want to be leader of the South Down and Londonderry Party. And yet, incredibly, two people do want it, with both social development minister Margaret Ritchie (South Down) and incumbent deputy leader Alasdair McDonnell (South Belfast) now having declared themselves. What’s even odder, as Brian Feeney points out in [...]
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Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness (Free subscription) | 29/10/2009
We’ve had Ian McCrea’s campaign to prevent the Pope visiting Northern Ireland, Iris Robinson’s hate-filled remarks about homosexuals, Sammy Wilson’s climate change denial , Edwin Poots et al with their five thousand year old Earth and Jim Wells versus wifi . But if anyone still harbours a suspicion that the DUP might be remotely connected, by even the flimsiest thread, to the...
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Slugger O'Toole (Free subscription) | 29/10/2009
Although we risk getting snowed under with posts about parading, this latest overview is worth another entry. In last night's Commons debate the linkage between devolving justice and policing and a new parades regime has never been put more clearly by Peter Robinson. I recommend reading it in full. Devolution will not take place unless or until the final Ashdown report is approved. There's still no...
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Slugger O'Toole (Free subscription) | 27/10/2009
Alasdair McDonnell formally entered the race to succeed Mark Durkan today at an event with party members in Belfast. He is up against Margaret Ritchie. Both sides are claiming strong support from within the Assembly team. McDonnell was joined by Mid Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone at his event this morning. Margaret announced her intention to stand flanked by several party MLAs just over a week ago. The final...
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Top Stories: BreakingNews.ie (Free subscription) | 27/10/2009
The SDLP is set to hold a leadership contest for the first time in its history after a second candidate threw his hat in the ring today.
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Belfast Telegraph (Free subscription) | 27/10/2009
The SDLP is set to hold a leadership contest for the first time in its history after a second candidate threw his hat in the ring today.
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Politics.ie (Free subscription) | 26/10/2009
The SDLP's deputy leader is set to make his pitch for the leadership. Alasdair McDonnell is expected to formally declare his intention to contest...
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Slugger O'Toole (Free subscription) | 16/10/2009
Gerry Adams and Mark Durkan of Sinn Fein and the SDLP respectively will be pitching their parties' programme and perspectives in key note addresses at the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly in Swansea next Monday and Tuesday. The leaders will be heard by parliamentarians from across these islands including unionists and, in particular, several voluble critics of the Provisionals from both parts of...
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BBC NEWS | The Devenport Diaries (Free subscription) | 16/10/2009
When a candidate declares their interest in leading a party, and appears with a phalanx of colleagues behind them, you might reasonably assume that this represents a sense of the backing they expect to get when it comes to decision time. So it was with Margaret Ritchie, who appeared in the Great Hall this week together with Alex Attwood, Mary Bradley, Dolores Kelly, Carmel Hanna, Tommy Burns and Tommy...
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Old Holborn (Free subscription) | 15/10/2009
Angry MPs today complained that half the seats reserved for them in one of the Palace of Westminster's cafes were now being made available to the general public. A cross-party group of 15 MPs, led by Tory David Tredinnick (Bosworth), have tabled a Commons motion calling for the decision to be reversed. They protested that the measure meant there was "often insufficient capacity" for MPs and...
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The Irish Times (Free subscription) | 15/10/2009
SDLP MP Eddie McGrady is to receive substantial libel damages over a newspaper report on his expense claims, it has been revealed.
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