Executive Swingers

WELL who’d have thunk it that Norn Iron's political elite like a wee bit of swinging, in fact so much that they're sponsoring a festival of swinging on the north coast?

Yes, Peter, Martin and their special friends are putting their money beside the putting green and looking to drive down without a hook or a slice to birdie the last hole...

The Norn Iron Executive has agreed to sponsor the Irish Open Golf Tournament - and to be the title sponsor no less!

So, with Rory 'World's #1' McIlroy and Graham 'Gmac’ McDowell leading the local charge they can be confident that Peter and Marty, plus economy minister Arlene of course, have got their back and are ready with a choice of 105 caddies...

At this point it would be too obvious to ask what their handicaps are, apart from being members of the Norn Iron Executive. But we do believe that collectively they and their executive colleagues would struggle as to whether to choose a wood or an iron; not without a working policy paper, a sub-committee, a consultation and bringing it in front of the relevant committee.

On the other hand, this does seem to be a positive intervention. The tournament was struggling to find a main sponsor, so given the previous track record of the Irish Open being sponsored by the Irish tourist board Fáilte Ireland, it seemed only logical for the Norn Iron Executive to help the European Tour organisers out of the awkward sponsorship bunker.

And, given there is only one Irish Open there should be no problem hunting around for several other competitive quotations.

We're almost as intrigued by what main sponsors receive. According to the European Tour, title sponsors will get global exposure, and a comprehensive benefits package. Does this mean we can tap our MLAs for free tickets? Will this package have to be included in member's register of interest, and finally don't tell social development minister Nelson McCausland about the benefits in case he wants to cut those benefits...!

Consult, consult and then consult again – this time with management consultants

THE health service is in a bit of a mess. We’ve all sort of noticed this if we’ve been near an Accident and Emergency department in recent weeks.

All the good work, all the specialist care, all the dedicated care in the community has been dissipated amidst the mess at the doors of hospital.

The Compton Review has produced a way forward, emphasising the need to have more people receiving care in the community, closing front line hospitals, more minor injury units etc etc.

All sounds well and good…but how would a Health Minister implement such reviews? Bring the best minds in Norn Iron Health Service management together? Bring on board the nurses, doctors, porters, paramedics at the front line to input?

No – bring in management consultants and pay them millions.

And according to Edwin Poots it will be value for money!

The role of the management consultants will be, according to the BBC report on this, to: “provide information such as the number of adults, children and admissions to local hospitals.”

So, to be clear, the management consultants will need the information that bed managers, planning teams, ward teams and other health service staff currently hold, then do some sums as analysis.

Now we respect the roles and talents of management consultants; they perform many valuable services to the public sector. But, in this instance, they may be superfluous.

Surely the millions being spent on the management consultants could be avoided by using the talents of those working in the health service; a health service that we are repeatedly told has too many managers…

We, of course, have a solution – consult on it! After all, if the minister is determined to spend, spend, spend then he might as well spend it on asking the people who use the health service their views!

No way to run a health service?

WELL it seems that all is not well at the good ship that is the health service! First this week came the (not so breaking) news that waiting times in A&E departments were now measured in days rather than minutes – well it feels that way!

Then came the claim that if it wasn’t for us all buying lottery tickets then social care would grind to a halt.

While the mandarins and managers wander the carpeted corridors of Stormont’s Castle Buildings and pace the board rooms of the the health and social care board and various trusts, it seems that the voluntary and community sector has been patching up the system.

The Big Lottery Fund has so far contributed £21m to 200 projects - which any way you care to slice it, is a huge slice of scratch card, EuroMillions and Lottery tickets.

Whilst ideologically the DUP Health Minister Edwin Poots may be against gambling (except when gambling on the effect of closing A&E departments), it seems that he may be quite prepared to profit in his health and social services dealings from the act of gambling…

One has to wonder at the mathematics of this whole thing (and don’t worry there are no differential equations!). You (or your representative) buy a ticket from a licensed vendor of gambling products associated with the lottery. You buy £1 to gamble on a scratch card or a lotto ticket. The lucky winners get a cool 50% slice of your £1 with 5-6% going to the vendor. (Supporting small businesses if you buy from your corner shop…) A further slice (4%) goes to the company that won the tender to run the lottery. We’re not up to speed on the whole payments and tax of it all but we think HMRC gets a 12% cut of your £1 (and a cut from the small business too). That leaves a percentage (say 30% for the sake of argument) that goes to ‘good causes’.

Some of those good causes that benefit provide services in Northern Ireland. Some of those services are in social services. One commentator from the sector worried that more and more the community and voluntary sector were asked to plug the gaps where the state should be providing the service.

So when you take your lottery gamble you can do so in all reassurance that you’re helping to not only provide a service but make sure that Minister Poots is closely aligned to gambling.

Who funds who…

THE row over disclosing donors to Norn Iron’s political parties rose to the heady heights of parody this week.

While Naomi Long pledged to publish the Alliance Party’s donors, Prime Minister David Cameron, said he was willing to publish details of donors to the Conservative Party of Northern Ireland. Both them agreed willingly…

This is a long standing dispute in terms of open democracy. The argument goes: “Of course we’re willing to publish details of donors.” This is then countered by: “If it wasn’t for the security risk”.

Taking a long hard look at things we sort of tried to figure out what the security risk would be. Is it that the dissident movements will scour the lists looking for targets to attack?

This is, of course, a real and present danger for many party funders – the Monster Raving Looney Party are said to be particularly concerned.

However, it is realistic to assume that cowards will seek the softest target who is perhaps not as security conscious as police and army.

But – is this a realistic way to run a country?

Democracy should be based on transparency (something we should all remind MLAs about now and again) and therefore party donations should be made public.

Party donors should not be able to expect influence through donations rather their financial backing should be seen as support for that party’s policies.

And the more open L’il ole Norn Iron is then the less of a foothold the halfwits who take up weapons will have. We’re now away to play John Lennon’s Imagine and throw peace signs and love to our neighbours.

Rolling down the hill

WELL, we’ve gorged on chocolate, hunted the eggs, painted the eggs and wondered what to do with the wrappers, and now it‘s back to business.

MLAs, like teachers, appear to enjoy an extended leave period over the holidays.

However, we all know – or should know – that our elected members do run constituency surgeries, and they and their staff are usually on hand to help members of the public.

There are times when it is appropriate to dig behind the clichéd headlines to find out what really is going on.

It takes little effort for a satirist to poke fun at our MLAs, but in reality we take some effort…

But our folks residing up on the hill do more than enjoy subsidised meals, claim expenses and travel off to foreign parts.

In reality they also hang about committees and once in a while wander into the chamber to vote – even on important matters.

We, however, worry that flags and emblems take up so much time. Yes, they are totems that establish cultural identity for individuals with esteem problems, but they are not the be-all and end-all.

Without constitutional change the border is still there and the Independent Statelet of Norn Iron is not yet on the agenda.

Just recently there was a proposal to run the tricolour up Stormont’s flagpole in an equal pole height with the Union Flag (please note radio callers it is only referred to as the Union Jack on special occasions).

Our health service is crumbling under the weight of its own success of keeping us living longer; the education system has duplication ringing through empty corridors thanks to religious division; we have huge infrastructure projects that have been languishing for years; and, we have an economic vision that is gradually translating into dividends in creative arts and tourism.

Which flag flies in the damp air as rain sweeps across Stormont matters not a whit to these issues, unless you really, really are not paying attention to the global economic conditions and the need to invest…

We’re proposing, right here and right now, a radical approach. When an MLA decides to run such a proposal up the….well up the flagpole…they should have their wages docked.

Yes, create a citizen’s online jury, picked at random, who will decide whether debates on issues not relevant to the real lives outside the lush green lawns of Stormont.

If such a citizen’s jury decides that a particular debate or no-named day motion is daft, a £500 should be taken off the proposer pay packet. That should stay the waffling for a while.

What it makes it more ironic in the debates like this is that MLAs actually are doing some crucial work.

This coming week the Assembly will debate the public ownership potential of Lough Neagh, kinship care, and counselling services in East Belfast amongst other things.

Assembly committees will be discussing legislation on roads, planning changes around the George Best City Airport, dog licensing, a Marine Bill, air passenger duty, issues on road infrastructure and parking, the new Mental Health Capacity Bill, child protection issues and health promotion.

So, in other words, there is work being done that does not require members to drape themselves in one flag or another.

All fun and games at the UUP

WELL the lengths the Ulster Unionist Party go to get more media coverage know no bounds after their poor showing at the last elections!

First off, hold a leadership election. That way you get all the political correspondents' knickers in a knot with speculation apparently “rife” as to who will win out between John McCallister and Mike Nesbitt.

So desperate are the party to gain media coverage that Mr McCallister decided to deliver his own baby…mother and child are both safe and well after the leadership candidate was talked through the procedure by paramedics on their way to his South Down home. One can only imagine the conversation:

Paramedic: “Now Mr McCallister, please make sure your wife is safe and comfortable and that you have warm water, towels and a press release to hand.”

Mr McCallister: “Hurry up, the contractions are close together…”

Paramedic: “When you tell her to push, you’ll see the baby…as soon as its born I’ll let the BBC know.”

Of course, that’s not right, Mr McCallister’s baby was due next week and no parent wishes to be in that situation.

Mr Nesbitt’s plan to deliver a speech didn’t quite come up to his rival’s performance, but whether it will influence the result remains a moot point. Polling suggests that the votes will be close, but one man who will not be casting a vote is Strangord MLA David McNarry.

Mr McNarry, who got into a wee bit of a spat with outgoing leader Tom Elliott has been kicked out of the UUP for nine months…we have to wonder who he would have been voting for.

Then to compound matters an ex-UU member and former deputy leader crawled out of the woodwork to talk up how bad the party is. Lord Kilclooney delivered his devastating verdict on the party in an interview to the BBC on the eve of the leadership election.

We, being natural cynics, reckon this was a very clever wee plan. You see if the new leader doesn’t manage to halt the decline, then he can point to Lord Kilclooney’s verdict and say “no-one could have stopped it!”

On the other hand, should the party stage a Lazarus-like resurrection, then he can claim to have listened.

How likely that is, well, having cast the stones and read the runes, we aren’t about to become hostages to fortune other than to say that stabilising the UU ship is their best hope for the moment.

Can someone find me a political football please?

IN the absence of a credible opposition at Stormont, MLAs of all shades have been looking for something to get well and truly het up about. Preferably something monolithic, caricatured as faceless and the ‘common man and woman’ as victims.

What better target than… the health service!

Asides from the occasional tragedy and stupid political decision, the health service has committed some really damnable crimes against Norn Iron’s population! They’ve been forcing people to live longer through dramatic surgical interventions, through life-saving drug treatments and even, heaven help us, highly skilled doctors, nurses and other staff performing feats to make sure we live well into our twilight years.

No wonder we need an Older Person’s Commissioner - there’s tens of thousands of old people cluttering up the streets, bullying their way on to buses and joining the queue for a wee message to acknowledge they’ve reached treble figures in terms of age.

So politicians, as is their normal practice, have picked up on some failings to launch attack after attack on the health service. Yes, the failings at one A&E department out of several were awful and the conditions there made battlefield surgery look calm, but the picture isn’t all bleak.

Instead, the politicians should be launching a concerted attack on the general public!

Stupid people are having the audacity to eat healthier, moderate their alcohol intake, stop smoking, take regular exercise…where will this madness end?!

Do these people not realise that all this means you’ll be hanging around for years, upon years, upon years for a place on the surgery list after pulling a muscle doing Pilates?

Politicians! Act now!

Encourage smoking, force feed booze to teenagers, tell single mothers where their nearest drug dealer is, close leisure centres, ban fitness classes and make an Ulster Fry compulsory three days a week.

That way you can slash waiting times for older people within a few short years, and all the regressive taxes from booze and cigarettes can roll into coffers…

Seriously, well we weren’t being that serious earlier. The threats from Health Minister Edwin Poots to cut a swathe through management, investigations after investigations roll on and on.

Yes, such investigations are required, but more importantly the Compton Review has put forward a path for Norn Iron’s health service. That path may be right or wrong, but the MLAs who occasionally turn up to vote in Parliament Buildings need to realise that they must evolve beyond village pump politics and understand that we are a relatively small geographical area and as such we cannot expect a gold-plated regional standard health service. The target can only be ‘best possible’.

And stop getting old!

Can I have a small glass of chardonnay…

SO, the momentum is building for a minimum alcohol price to stop binge drinking morons etc etc.

In England and Wales the target is 40p minimum price per unit, which would mean, for example a cheap bottle of a cheeky red would shoot from £2.99 to £3.75 according to the BBC.

Now we know why there was no increase in the duty on booze in the budget: increase the price and the duty earned will rise accordingly.

No doubt the politicians here will join in this stupidity tax, for it is a stupidity tax on two levels. It is firstly designed to stop stupid people getting stupidly drunk. It is also stupid because it does not address the problem - it is tackling the symptom not the disease.

Heavy drinkers will always drink heavily. Teenagers will always try and get booze illicitly. Alcoholics will always manage to get hold of alcohol.

The minimum unit pricing may not really address the problem of pre-loading, but may open yet more booze cruises and access to illegal sources such as the belovedly dangerous poteen.

Is this a populist tax? In all probability, yes. Alcohol consumption has actually been falling.
Once a perception has been ingrained it becomes reality.

The so-called city centre lager louts…are they really any different to traditional Norn Iron booze fuelled rioting; or any different from booze fuelled rioting at the start of the 20th Century? Or worse still, is it any different from domestic violence by an alcoholic husband on his partner?

Alcoholism is a terrible disease, and alcohol has a dramatic effect on even the most stable of people.

The minimum pricing argument appeals to the soft centre voters who will never be in the city centre after 1am, and rarely have occasion to be in A&E departments. It is the politics of being seen to do something as opposed to addressing the issue of city centre infrastructure, treatment resources, education programmes, and diversionary activities.

There is this supposed aim of creating a café culture with us all sipping lattés and maybe once in a while sipping a glass of chilled chardonnay or a full-bodies merlot.

Before Norn Iron’s moral core (the MLAs) jump on the bandwagon they should institute a full examination of the issues. We know that’s not likely, but we live in hope.

Alternatively they should go the whole hog and make off sales state-owned with maximum purchase limits and arrest on the spot anyone in possession of more than one tin of weak beer.

After all the Rev Dr Ian Paisley did warn us about the evils of “the devil’s buttermilk”…

Here comes the reality check...

THERE are lies, damned lies and statistics, according to anyone who needs a cliché to throw around at the right time in the wrong place...

Hence we have the First Minister and deputy First Minister appearing on camera to tell us all how wonderful Norn Iron is doing and how their plans for the next three years are going to make it better.

Here in Norn Iron we're below the UK average of this and that - especially when it comes to employment statistics. No mention about the statistics for economic inactivity. Norn Iron doesn't compare quite as well in this category.

However, one must understand (as far as a sane person can) the mindset that chooses to ignore this set of statistics.

From the DUP view, as represented by Peter Robinson, economically inactive means those damned statisticians and their compatriots in the media are determinedly ignoring the economic impact of the stay-at-home mum in the "traditional" family, the plucky farmer's wife cooking up the chow for when her man comes back from the field and the dedicated l'il lady devoting her time to voluntary work in the church.

From the Sinn Féin perspective, as voiced by Martin McGuinness, it means those damned statisticians and their compatriots in the media are determinedly ignoring the voluntary community 'workers' who appear as rent-a-quotes on demand, the ex-combatants who are pursuing degrees in an "-olgy" in their spare time, and the l'il lady who is hosting those kitchen cabinet meetings loosely called "constituency" meetings.

If enough of the party faithful/deluded (please delete which one fits your belief system best) reinforce these views then it is likely that forever and forever, amen, the view will not change.

Goodness knows that it would be a shock to the system if either of our 'leading' politicians were to step outside the confines of 'high office' and attendant advisors, press officers and party officials, hangers on and visit an area which has multiple indicators of deprivation. Occassionally they do visit such areas, with TV cameras, picture opps and a media release. One wonders what the people in those areas must think after they have gone? Did the sun shine better that day when these political deities granted them a few minutes of their time? Will they now, like the Polynesian Cargo Cults, start to construct spurious projects to encourage the deities to visit again with their media largesse?

Should Peter and his compadré Martin ever go incognito and unaccompanied into the estates and ghettoised neighbourhoods then they may receive a shock to the system. For here people may offer uncensored opinions on giving MLAs a pay rise; Peter and Martin may then decide to grab the paper offering a pay rise to MLAs and rip it into shreds before it reached the light of day.

It would be a fool who argues that MLAs don't work hard. For the most part they are hard-at-it as well as doing some constituency work. It's a long week for them with only about 18 weeks when the Assembly is in recess each year. They deal with vital matters of scrutiny and help many an "ordinary person" with difficulties.

But is this more deserving than a nurse juggling the bloodshed and waiting times of an A&E department, or a classroom assistant whose role might help a child with special needs live a fulfilling life? Of course, the argument goes that Peter and Martin's decisions affect a greater number of people.

The efficacy of a Government is not just in what it delivers in terms of policy and legislation, but in the confidence of the populace, not some spurious statistical notion called an "electorate" has in that Government.

How will the confidence of the electorate be judged when there is an extra £100 or so a week being trousered by MLAs? How many of the MLAs gurning like media sluts actually turn down the pay hike? How will the electorate feel that 11 MLAs claimed 'expenses' of more than £60,000? Were the other 97 MLAs just not as good as filling their forms in?

Peter and Martin should have waited in a corridor in Parliament Buildings with a crack team of policy officers, special advisors and press officers ready to ambush the 'independent' people who proposed this pay rise, lock them in a darkened room in the basement and instead claim that the report called for a pay freeze for five years on MLAs pay...

Seeing as the rest of the population have been putting any significant expectation of a pay rise in the realms of fantasy fiction for a number of years now they might, just might, have been pleased to see the men and women of the benches to share the pain.

After all, when there is justice for all, all can feel equally aggrieved at the common enemies of evil bankers and Westminster mandarins...

But here is the cruellest cut of all...where are the MLAs getting that extra £5k a year from? Their constituency expenses. Oh, you remember that service where these public servants are meant to support their constituents...

To recap: independent bunch of people appointed by MLAs says MLAs should get more money; MLAs howl and say this is "bad" but there is no indication of how many MLAs have written to say 'no thanks'; the constituency services to the populace may be cut; and we are to believe that in the words of Bob Marley "Everything's gonna be all right".

On reflection there is a certain logic to that...we're just trying to figure out what it is.

Always and never should we reflect on the messages we're being given: always to see where the spin and airbrush has been applied; and, never because reality might be more frightening than a dark fairy tale read at bedtime...

Leader of the (rather small) pack

WE'VE been crunching some numbers, well as much as our basic understanding of mathematics allows, on the leadership "battle" to be top Ulster Unionist dog.

There are 15 UUP MLAs. Mr Elliott, in stepping aside as party leader reduces the group of MLAs who may be considering running for leader to 14. Danny Kinahan says he is backing Mike Nesbitt, effectively ruling himself out of the race.

That leaves the number at 13. Basil McCrea is said to not be running as leader again, thus reducing the number of MLAs running to be leader to 12.

Mike Nesbitt and John McCallister have said they're ready to lead, while the media, with seemingly unparalleled access, have been talking about potential collaboration – clarified today when Danny Kennedy announced that despite what the media said he wasn’t running to be leader, but he had had discussions with the other candidates.

So take away the two now wanting to be leader and we have ten other MLAs who can help decide.

Observant readers who got past P7 maths may have noticed the flaw in our "adding up" but bear with us...

The election of a new leader for the UUP will fall to around the decision of about a dozen MLAs and the party executive.

From once being an electoral hammer of - and for - the north, the UUP has been reduced to deciding the new boss with few still in post to help make the decision.

Whoever sups from the potentially poisoned chalice of leadership will need to ensure they have a heart to resist poisonous internal struggles; the heart for making a decision on whether to go into opposition; and, the poisoned heart of the real politician who is ready to exorcise malignancy and both demand and encourage loyalty.

Combining aspiration, pragmatism and ruthlessness...good luck with that!