Liberal Burblings

Archive for the ‘Northern Ireland’ Category

If he’s to be consistent, David Cameron should criticise Proportional Representation for giving him a stunning victory in the European Elections in Northern Ireland, the first for the newly formed Ulster Conservatives and Unionists. (After all, he’s been slagging off PR constantly for the last few weeks, and William Hague blamed PR for the BNP’s two seat victory in the European Parliament elections).

It is reasonable to speculate that, if the election had been run on Cameron’s First Past the Post system, Jim Nicholson, the Ulster Conservative and Unionist candidate would have come third. That was where he came in the ranking of first preferences.

But, because the election was run on the Single Transferable Vote system, a variant of Proportional Representation, Jim Nicholson came second, scoring an historic victory over the Democratic Unionist Party, who came third (they came first at the last Euro elections).

That is because the second preferences of Jim Allister of True Ulster Voice, who was eliminated in the count, went mainly, according to observers, to the Ulster Conservative and Unionist candidate, and not to the Democratic Unionist party candidate.

With a holiday in Ireland coming up later this year, I have been taking quite an interest in the excellent Slugger O’Toole website. Here’s a particularly good article by Mick Fealty, producer of the website, who I met last year at my first and last appearance on 18 Doughty Street.

I have visited Belfast a few times in the last couple of years. One thing which shines through is the remarkable interest in politics of people in Northern Ireland. You can see that from the Slugger website comments.

So, I am not daft enough to posit an opinion on the Northern Ireland situation, except to observe that Martin McGuiness’s reaction to the recent shootings was quite extraordinary and represents something of a watershed.

Oh dear me.

Iris Robinson is rapidly turning into my bête noire. I blogged the other day about her arguably bigotted, and certainly angry, intervention in the Commons debate on lesbians applying for IVF treatment.

She’s only chair of Stormount’s Health committee and now she says that gay people can be “turned” from “what they are engaged in” towards hetrosexuality, through seeing a nice Christian psychiatrist who works with her.

“What they are engaged in”. That says it all doesn’t it? Take the last two words off that sentence and you have the actual truth (with which, no doubt, Mrs Robinson would angrily disagree): “What they are”.

In a statement the Royal College of Psychiatrists said that homosexuality was not a psychiatric disorder.

Very restrained. One wonders if Mrs Robinson is really qualified to chair the province’s health committee.

Oh dear me.

Iris Robinson is rapidly turning into my bête noire. I blogged the other day about her arguably bigotted, and certainly angry, intervention in the Commons debate on lesbians applying for IVF treatment.

She’s only chair of Stormount’s Health committee and now she says that gay people can be “turned” from “what they are engaged in” towards hetrosexuality, through seeing a nice Christian psychiatrist who works with her.

“What they are engaged in”. That says it all doesn’t it? Take the last two words off that sentence and you have the actual truth (with which, no doubt, Mrs Robinson would angrily disagree): “What they are”.

In a statement the Royal College of Psychiatrists said that homosexuality was not a psychiatric disorder.

Very restrained. One wonders if Mrs Robinson is really qualified to chair the province’s health committee.

I’m grateful to the Observer Review for alerting me to this photo of Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness sharing a sofa with the words “Home is the most important place in the world” behind them. You imagine that Martin McGuinness is about to say “Tea? – Shall I be mother?”

The photo was taken at the opening of the Belfast Ikea.

These cosy pictures of Paisley and McGuinness are commonplace now. And thank the Lord they are working together. But when you compare it to thirty years of complete cold war and “No – never”, “Over my dead body” etc between the two, then you begin to wonder: Are they play acting a bit now? Or were they play acting a lot then? Or is it a bit of both?

You can’t suddenly go from being at daggers drawn and virtually spitting at each other to being bosom buddies.

…Never thought I’d write that.