July 2024
‘Hello, I’m Keir’
A re-boot is well underway.
Our new best friends, Keir and Hilary, have hit the ground running with meetings with the First and deputy First Minister and the political parties at Stormont.
Showing no side effects of any late-night toasting of a historic Labour victory, the Prime Minister popped in to hear the Executive’s ‘shopping list’ and to deliver some reassuring words.
Casement Park, Brexit, the Legacy Act, the dire budget position and a crumbling Health Service all rated a mention.
The first impressions are good, all a far cry from CHH (Chris Heaton-Harris) and the Tories the GB electorate booted out after fourteen years. The tone is markedly different. There’s a bit of positivity in the air and, from a Belfast perspective, the hope is that this new broom will be more supportive of our devolved administration that’s hamstrung by not having enough spondulicks in the kitty.
A strong start
No sooner had he been appointed but our new Secretary of State, Hilary Benn MP, was on a flight to Belfast for a round of official meet-and-greet meetings.
Mr Benn couldn’t be more different to his immediate predecessor. He’s gregarious, approachable and not in the least bit stand-offish. He has already begun to build political relationships and is supremely confident when he steps up to the mic.
Hilary is a class act, a politician who masters his brief with ease and could be the strong voice we need in Cabinet and in discussions with a notoriously difficult Treasury.
He has made a strong start.
What a night!
We sat through it all, watching every twist and turn, fortified by litres of full-fat Coke, crisps and calorie-laden chocolate. Or a bottle or two of red.
No sooner were we delivered one shock, but another came along that was even more politically seismic. We knew something was afoot in South Antrim the day before Polling Stations opened. Near Ballyclare, there was an omen, a portend of what was to come. A gas leak led to an explosion by the roadside. It might have been an ominous sign for the DUP.
In the wee small hours, the party’s Paul Girvan lost his seat to the UUP’s Robin Swann. That was entirely expected. What happened next door in North Antrim wasn’t.
Here, in a totally unexpected development, Ian Paisley bit the dust. The end of an era for the Paisleys who held the seat for fifty-four years. Arch-rival and victor, Jim Allister, of the TUV, was cock-a-hoop. Two losses, and the loss of Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s seat to the Alliance Party’s Sorcha Eastwood, made it a hat-trick of defeats.
Sinn Fein held Fermanagh-South Tyrone with an easier than expected run by Pat Cullen, formerly Chief Executive of the RCN. Overall, SF’s vote was up 4.2% but the biggest loser was the DUP, down 8.5%. The SDLP held its two seats in Foyle and South Belfast – Colum Eastwood and Claire Hanna - but its vote declined 3.8%.
Northern Ireland Conservatives fielded five candidates and managed to garner 553 votes. And that was down 0.6%. Five lost deposits.
Proof, once again, that politics can be a cruel and unforgiving business.
Stormont leaks
We all know Stormont leaks. There’s no end to it.
They whisper in the vast labyrinth of corridors. Parties leak about the goings-on whenever it suits their agenda.
Stormont leaks have now hit the roof. That’s right, we have a leaking roof and the cost of fixing it is coming in at an estimated £2.4 million. Almost £7 million has already been forked out to fix the problem, and now the way is clear to commence remedial work.
Let’s hope they do a watertight job.
Lough Neagh
Don’t go swimming in Lough Neagh anytime soon.
The Agriculture and Environment Minister, Andrew Muir, produced a plan to deal with pollution but critics said it wasn’t radical enough or showed enough urgency.
The Lough is in decline. Intervention has to be meaningful and effective. We know who the stakeholders are and surely it’s time to now walk the walk instead of engaging in a seemingly endless round of chatter and procrastination.
New faces
One of the consequences of the General Election will be the arrival of a few new faces in the Assembly. Four MLAs are now MPs – Robin Swann, Sorcha Eastwood, Jim Allister and Alex Easton – and Tom Elliott will be heading to the Lords thanks to being made a Life Peer in the Prime Minister’s Dissolution Honours List.
It’s an opportunity to promote new blood in time for the next Assembly Election three years from now. There’s intense speculation as to who will be co-opted into the roles that command a basic salary of £55,000.
Sean Rafferty
It was a sad day for the small band of Northern Ireland BBC Radio Three listeners when news broke that our own Sean Rafferty was being replaced after 27 years.
The affable veteran presenter of ‘In Tune’ was not chuffed over the manner of his departure. He pointed to a discrepancy between what the BBC says and the way it treats staff.
Radio Three bade ‘a fond farewell’ and wished Sean ‘the very best for the future.’ That wasn’t the way Sean saw matters. He told the ‘Telegraph’ that ‘it would have been nice to go on my terms and for it to have been done with a little more respect.’
For the broadcasting behemoth, a lesson in how not to do it.
Goodbye Dhunja and Yhetto
We’ve had the pair for fifteen years and now it’s time to say goodbye. Soon, Dhunja and Yhetto will be making their way to the Netherlands to join Pinky and Saba as part of the Asian elephant Endangered Special Programme.
They’ve given tens of thousands of visitors to Belfast Zoo lots to smile about as they moved gracefully around their enclosure. We’ll be sorry to see them depart for pastures new. Dhunja and Yhetto were a big draw at Bellevue and although there will still be scores of fascinating species to view, these two beauties will literally and metaphorically leave a gargantuan gap in the zoo brochure.
All shook up
For somebody with deep pockets, it was a case of Can’t Help Falling in Love … with a pair of blue suede shoes worn by the King of Rock and Roll himself.
A Little Less Conversation was the order of the day for the wealthy bidder who forked out £120,000, including fees and VAT, for the shoes owned by Elvis in the 1950s.
Clearly, the new owner had a Burning Love for the shoes that were Always on My Mind and had never been nibbled by a wayward Hound Dog at Graceland.
Burning Love of the footwear won out at the auction in Devizes, but don’t expect to see them trampling the streets In the Ghetto anytime soon.