Should I
stay or should I go
In the
immortal words of the late Joe Strummer, songwriter and lyricist of punk band
The Clash: “If I Stay there Will be trouble; if I go it will be double”.
Thus
minister for social development, Nelson McCausland, is faced with calls for him
to step down as minister with responsibility for the debacle that is the mess
mixed up with the chaos that is the current state of the Housing Executive.
Mr
McCausland is as trenchant as ever in media interviews and statements,
defending his actions and those of an alleged phone call from his office, which may or may
not have asked a local councillor to stay quiet for the sake of party unity.
These
allegations place the voluble Mr McCaulsand in the position of staying put in
office or stepping aside, while an Assembly committee inquiry is
on-going.
Either way,
the minister has performed well and provided an effective deflector shield for
his party in this crisis, taking on all comers with head lowered, and his
metaphorical fists ready. Whether other members of the DUP, could, or should, face the level of
vitriol being directed at him is debatable at best.
And, to
paraphrase Mr Strummer, if Mr McCausland goes it will be double trouble for the
DUP…
Desperate
dole measures
WE know
that there are major issues surrounding unemployment, so news that someone
actually broke into a dole office in west Belfast shows the real state of
affairs. That people are so desperate
to job hunt that they’ll break in to get a jump on the queue for vacancies.
In
contrast, we see the noble actions of Norn Iron’s Members of Parliament in
refusing to take a pay rise…
The same
MPs may be saying no to the salary hike, but are taking home £67,060 from next
April. It may seem a lot – well it seems a lot to us – but ironically this
still leaves MPs amongst the poorest paid in Europe, and the wider world.
All this
makes entertaining lines for the more vocal radio hosts, but does not address a
situation that sees local elected representatives in a virtually untouchable
position. This is understandable at Westminster, but does not clarify the
position in the Assembly.
Not so much
the salaries, but the untouchable position many MLAs enjoy. While there is some
shuffling and movement at the edges, with NI21, UKIP, TUV, the Green Party et
al, the main rump remains, a rump that like all the MLAs are currently enjoying
their holidays.
To be fair,
many MLAs will still be holding constituency surgeries, but the bothersome
journey up to Stormont can now be abandoned.
However,
this week’s sudden developments surrounding contentious parading may have
wrong-footed the north Belfast MLAs.
Residents
groups have been nice, they’ve asked for talks, and the Orange Order has agreed
to talks.
Unprecedented, and confusing!
Actual
people talking to actual people about actual issues – world peace may be next
on the agenda.
Whether the
talks work or not, the very step of a resident’s group in Ardoyne – scene of
rioting for the past four years on the 12 July – and local Orange lodges
involved in formal talks is comparable to a UN peace-keeping force arriving in
a war torn country to find the combatants sitting enjoying a cuppa together.
The only
real risk to everyone in the Ardoyne, Twaddell Avenue, Crumlin Road and
surrounding areas is that politicians may become involved.
Booze
and Banbridge…
WHY is that some people
in Norn Iron can have such a censorious attitude to people enjoying themselves?
While there
has been campaign to encourage locals and tourists to come to our ‘wee country’
and enjoy the hospitality (translates as “have a feed of food and a
bucket of booze”), certain local councillors
are determined to keep the lid on people smiling.
In a move
with no sense of irony at all, a Banbridge councillor called for a booze-free
beer festival. Given that recent medical research shows that beer may help
blood pressure over a short period but non-alcoholic beer does not, we wonder whether a booze free beer
festival may cause problems for the good folks of Banbridge…
But it
touches upon the disconnect in Norn Iron politics and the direction given to
arm’s length bodies, such as those in charge of tourism.