Before the end of this Armistice Day here are some personal thoughts on Remembrance.
Remembrance is a way of recalling and respecting the sacrifice of those who had served in two World Wars, and in other conflicts. Remembrance is an act that shows an appreciation of the cost of war, the price of freedom: the value of life and liberty. In that appreciation, wearing a poppy and taking a minute or two of time once a year to pay silent respect is not much to ask, or to give.
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At this time of Remembrance there are a number of ways to look back at the life and loss of soldiers in conflict.
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Conservative policy generally seems to be one of practicality over principle, which would also seem to sum up David Cameron’s approach to most issues. Just as the new Conservative group in the European Parliament probably has more to do with domestic Party necessity than usefully making friends and influencing people (thedissenter), the Cameron policy of offering a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty is similarly practical.
Electorally, the Conservatives need a substantial swing to ensure a majority. UKPollingReport provides a fun way of keeping in touch with what the latest poll means with a simple swing calculator. A simple exercise on this swingometer shows the volatility of the electorate, and the electoral challenge that faces the Conservatives until May 2010.
This graph was grabbed on the 6th October.
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Republicans and nationalists seem to have very thin skins. This readiness to take offence is almost impossible to address, least of all politically, in a civil society. In Northern Ireland, Republicans have been adept at turning an emotional response to something misunderstood (deliberately or by default) into a political cause. ‘Resident’ groups have regularly claimed the great offence taken at Loyal Order Parades, without any great examination or challenge as to the nature and cause of that offence. There has followed the “right not to be offended”, again almost taken as read.
The summer interview with Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty by the Economist (below) will not have been welcome in Republican Nationalist circles.
Around 12 minutes in, Ms Chakrabarti says: “I would say to people of faith, and to people who are not of faith, that the one right that none of us should ever have is the right not to be offended”.
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Tommy Cheevers, Chairman of the North and West Belfast Parades & Cultural Forum, says the Forum is as frustrated as anyone with events around the Ardoyne this past week. For the Forum, which has engaged in dialogue over the past three years, the question now is whether anyone from Ardoyne can speak with any authority on behalf of local residents.
“At one end of the Ardoyne shop fronts a group of people hurled bricks, bottles, and petrol and blast bombs at the police. At the other end of the shop fronts stood another group impatiently waiting for their turn to enter the stage. Neither side was willing to be outdone by the other. Whichever dominates gets to say who does or does not have access to the short stretch of main road in front of some shops.
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The final outcome of the Northern Ireland European Election poll is not that much different to that anticipated by thedissenter in early May. Even so, the election has has the potential to shake the consensus on which the Belfast Agreement stands or falls. It was a better than expected election for Jim Allister of the TUV.
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The UUP presents its link with the Conservative Party as a way of being at the centre of UK politics. At the same time that link is likely to push the UUP to the margins of Europe.
The UUP alignment with the Conservatives is presented as part of a wider vision for ‘The Union’, and for the UUP to be at the centre of national discourse. As we edge towards the European Election, should Jim Nicholson win one of the three Northern Ireland seats he will return to Europe as part of a Conservative led group at the margins of European discourse.
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The sole Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Westminster MP Lady Sylvia Hermon finally, publicly, confirmed the widely held belief that she is unhappy with the Ulster Conservative and Unionist New Force (UCUNF). Following a BBC interview, the Belfast Telegraph has followed through with a series of points on which her disquiet may be founded:
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Nominations open and posters appearing, an election is looming, so its time to take a view on the next few weeks of political cut and thrust, or not. There is not much excitement around a European election.
So looking forward (and that is said with all the enthusiasm mustered, which is not that great) the outcome of the vote for the Northern Ireland Members of the European Parliament, June 2009, is unlikely to deliver an electoral surprise. It is probable that the same three Parties will win the seats. That doesn’t mean that the voting spread won’t be of political interest; the biggest story may well be the decline in number of people being bothered to vote.
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Henry McDonald makes a valuable contribution to historical perspective on the role of Sinn Fein over the past half century. The theme of his book is ‘how Sinn Fein dressed up defeat as victory’. But it does more. The reader may be of a mind to believe that actions speak louder than words, or conversely that the pen is mightier than the sword. Either way, the bringing together of the words and deeds of the IRA/Sinn Fein over a period of over half a century is a sobering read.
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The Conservative Party and Ulster Unionist Party are to work together.
The two parties, and they are still two parties, have reached an accommodation. Vice-Chairman of the Northern Ireland Conservatives, Jeff Peel, provided some insight to Conservative thinking behind the arrangement on the regional Politics Show. The desire to create a new political space, offering the electorate something that is not based on the nationalist/unionist them/us equation, is to be applauded.
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The Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday is: “established for inquiring into a definite matter of urgent public importance, namely the events on Sunday 30 January 1972 which led to loss of life in connection with the procession in Londonderry on that day, taking account of any new information relevant to events on that day.”
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If you go to see prison service brutality and the heroism of Bobby Sands then that is likely what you will see in ‘Hunger’, the film directed by Steve McQueen.
If you go expecting to see Republican propaganda on the big screen, then you’ll see Republican propaganda.
Republicans seemed to welcome the movie as a tribute to the courage of Bobby Sands and Unionists condemned the waste of State money that supported the making of the ‘Republican’ movie in Northern Ireland.
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Both Barack Obama and John McCain stand for change. Yet despite months of electioneering the nature of that change, whoever becomes President, remains unclear.
With George Bush’s approval ratings, the surprise of the current Presidential election is that Barack Obama is not leading by a far greater margin. The Republican Party is fighting the prospect of losing the Presidential election and perhaps also in both Houses of Congress.
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The intervention by police to stop a circus owner exercising elephants through the streets of the seaside town of Bangor may well be put down to the absurdity of life in Northern Ireland. Where else?
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The Strategic Review on Parading appears to have lost its way. The Interim Consultative Report published before the summer seems to spend much of its pages outlining a Parades Commission Mark II, in all but name.
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Constructive ambiguity has created its very own predictable process. We have seen it, again and again. The period of pretending the issue is just not there. The crisis. The trip to Downing Street, the hard talk, the threats of disaster/breakdown/the end of devolution, the IMC report, the opinion research that just happens to support the… Prime Minister’s visit… Chief Constable’s pennyworth… the deal.
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The Ulster Unionists in Fermanagh questioned the proposed co-option of a DUP nominee to replace a recently deceased DUP member of the Council. The point appeared to be a fair one. The Ulster Unionist concern rested on the nominee being a student, studying in Belfast. In a council were votes count, it is not unreasonable to desire a councillor who is more readily available to attend to council duties.
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The Ulster Unionist Party and Conservative Party will talk on a more formal basis about the potential for a structured formal relationship at some point in the future.
David Cameron’s timing in the countdown to an election within the next eighteen months is entirely right. Whatever the outcome of the talks that are due to start later in the year, any output from those discussions would be at least a further year or two before anything concrete would be in place. This places the Tories being more than an English party, and a leadership with a Unionist position.
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Gordon Brown’s efforts to ‘defend the Union’ continue to define Britain in his own image, Gordon Britannia, much like the Blair rebranding of Cool Britannia. He will ultimately fail if his government continues to act in such a way as to undermine the very values he purports to defend.
The Prime Minister dismisses anti-unionists as ‘those who argue for Scottish Separatism’ or ‘English Votes for English laws’. He assumes that we must all agree what a threat these people must pose to the Union. But neither of these groups appear to have plans to bomb the City of London.
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