The Northern Ireland Assembly

Why Northern Ireland is a one party state

Spiked Online (Free subscription) | 17/11/2009

Forget Sinn Féin or the DUP, the only party that matters in the Northern Ireland Assembly is the Peace Process Party.

War dead roll of honour to go on display

News Scotsman (Free subscription) | 10/11/2009

A ROLL of honour listing the men and women from Ireland who died in active service during the Second World War was due to be presented to the Northern Ireland Assembly today.

• War dead roll of honour to go on display - Edinburgh Evening News

Assessing Community Confidence?

Slugger O'Toole (Free subscription) | 09/11/2009

There shouldn’t be a problem with this and it’s an example of where Democracy Live should be going. It’s a short clip from today’s questions to OFMDFM in the Northern Ireland Assembly, via Stormont Live , in which the NI deputy First Minister, Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness answers replies to a question asking how the necessary community confidence will be assessed...

SDLP contest is important but Northern Ireland needs a revival of moderate politics on both sides of the divide.

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...

“This would not be because the dissidents would be impressed by it.”

Slugger O'Toole (Free subscription) | 04/11/2009

A, perhaps, somewhat optimistic suggestion from the latest IMC report [pdf file] regarding the devolution of policing and justice powers. 5.1 We have in this report identified the range and tempo of dissident republican activities as the most serious current threat. There are security and intelligence contributions to be made to addressing the developing problems. However, the early devolution of policing...

A report to make Iris cry into her heart shaped pillow.

Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness (Free subscription) | 04/11/2009

The Committee on Standards in Public Life has finally published its report on MPs’ expenses and allowances. The BBC has a PDF of the full ‘Kelly Report’ and a useful synopsis for the impatient or time restricted reader. Some of its recommendations will send a chill up the collective spines of Northern Ireland’s MPs, particularly those within the DUP. It is worth remembering...

elly report highlights double jobbing..

Slugger O'Toole (Free subscription) | 04/11/2009

Here’s the relevant passage: One aspect of paid employment outside the House is that, partly for reasons of recent history, 16 out of 18 Northern Ireland Westminster MPs are also members of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Five of them currently hold ministerial positions there. The only other example of dual mandates is that the First Minister of the Scottish Parliament is also an MP. He has indicated...

Internet democracy comes of age

John Rentoul (Free subscription) | 03/11/2009

Now this really is something. The BBC's new Democracy Live site: it has a bank of eight embedded videos running simultaneous coverage of the House of Commons, Lords, select committees, Westminster Hall, the Scottish Parliament, Northern Ireland Assembly, Welsh Assembly and European Parliament. Whenever a body is not in session, it shows a recent recording. It's an astonishing resource, and I am sure...

BBC brings the democratic process to your PC

Thoughts of Nigel (Free subscription) | 03/11/2009

The BBC has launched its latest initiative in returning democracy to the people. Called Democracy Live the BBC says that it will offer live and on demand video coverage of the UK's national political institutions and the European Parliament. Alongside the video, we have guides to how the different institutions work and who sits in them. Our search engine is a BBC "first" - it uses speech-to-text...

BBC launches new Democracy Live website

Liberal Democrat Voice (Free subscription) | 02/11/2009

Here’s how the BBC describes its new Democracy Live website, which covers the Westminster Parliament, the European Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly: It brings together for the first time in the BBC, live and on demand video coverage of proceedings in our national political institutions and the European Parliament. [...]

BBC brings politics to the iPlayer

TechRadar (Free subscription) | 02/11/2009

The BBC has launched a new politics-specific online portal which puts all the broadcaster's political feeds in one place. Called Democracy Live, the site uses the same video technology as the iPlayer and aims to cover all aspects of politics in the UK and Ireland, with feeds that will show what is going on in the House of Commons, House of Lords, Scottish Parliament, Northern Ireland Assembly, Welsh...

Petition calls for inquiry into North child abuse

The Irish Times (Free subscription) | 02/11/2009

CAMPAIGNERS AGAINST child abuse in Northern Ireland will today hand the Northern Ireland Assembly a petition demanding a full inquiry into the children’s treatment in institutions run by the Catholic Church and the State.

• Child abuse campaigners demand inquiry - Scotsman.com
• Group calls for probe into abuse in north - SAOIRSE32

Lord Alderdice amendment

Bashing Secularism (Free subscription) | 30/10/2009

It was a relief that Lord Alderdice's assisted suicide amendment wasn't even pushed to a vote during the report stage of the Coroners and Justice Bill on Monday. It was also reassuring to see several peers strongly criticise Lord Alerdice's ill thought out and highly dangerous proposal. The proposal was aimed at legalising assisted suicide through an amendment to a bill that is much wider in scope...

The freedom of religion

The Daily Rant (Free subscription) | 28/10/2009

The House of Lords is set to give its blessing to the repeal of libel laws first passed over 700 years ago. The changes repeal laws - dating to 1275 - which allow libel and sedition to be prosecuted in criminal courts. The laws have long been regarded as something of an undesirable and anachronistic anomaly in UK law and open to abuse; Geoffrey Robertson QC - who successfully defended Salman Rushdie...

A 'price to pay' for policing and justice agreement? And moving the argument on from justifying UCUNF.

Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness (Free subscription) | 26/10/2009

Before we consign the Ulster Unionist conference to the archives for another year, there are a couple of points worth addressing, which have been rather sidelined by the thorny issue of agreed candidates and the small, ancient cadre of UCUNF dissenters. The leader’s speech touched on more substantive policy considerations than commentators have generally acknowledged. Long sections were, after...