Your Republic, you pay for it!

Right....

The Treasury should guarantee some financial support over the next 25 years even if Ireland is united, the SDLP said.

Why?
If the majority within Northern Ireland and the Republic were to vote for "Unity", then then they should take the financial consequences of that decision. The day after that vote our financial welfare would no longer be the concern, legally or morally of the British taxpayer...

Meanwhile, in probably completely unrelated news:

The Republic of Ireland's credit rating has been cut yet again in a sign of fading belief that it will repay idebt.

The credit rating agency Moody's has marked the country down two notches on the scale to a status just one notch from "junk".

"What is going to kick start this election?"

Fellow pedants will be as delighted as myself that the DUP have now updated this previously erroneous claim:

“My DUP has delivered free prescriptions for everyone in Northern Ireland, the most generous scheme in the UK”

It now reads in their "40 of our achievements in 4 years" document:

"We've introduced free prescriptions for everyone in Northern Ireland- they're not available in England"

The last part is undoubtedly true, although I think a Unionist party should always tread very cautiously when boasting of any socio-economic advantages we may enjoy over our fellow British citizens.

Regarding the whole document, the question is when the DUP talk of "we" are they referring to "we" as in Northern Ireland's all-encompassing "government", or we as in the "We" operating out of Dundela Towers?

It's not clear and perhaps in terms of influencing the election, it doesn't really matter anyway who gets the credit for whatever the Assembly is claimed to have achieved; the journalist Eamonn Mallie asked plaintively yesterday on Twitter:

"what is going to kick start this election?"

He joined in with the host of replying metaphorical yawns:

"J'en ai marre" (Roughly, "I'm right-o pissed-off already with this boring oul crap"

The DUP's biggest enemy this time is not other mainstream Unionists, Sinn Fein or even Jim Allister. It's voter apathy which may undermine the legitimacy of the devolved assembly and, by extension, its executive, which is more than likely going to be still controlled by the DUP-Sinn Fein Axis.

The last Assembly Election pulled out 63.5% of the electorate, last year's Westminsters' 58%.
Could the total vote drop below 55%, or even 50% this time?

And if it did, what would be the message being delivered on the "first full devolved government in Northern Ireland for over 40 years"?

Why politicians should really leave sport alone. Part2

This week's second most gratuitous grab of a sporting event for purely partisan reasons:

DUP politician, whose blushes I shall spare, jokingly messaged on Sunday "McDowell wins US Open last year. McIlroy leading the Masters this year. The DUP delivering for Ulster!"

Ah, no.

Today after young Mr McIlroy's disastrous final round he updated with "McIlroy crashes out at US Masters golf. The reason for this major setback is obvious - UUP/Tory cuts!"

What next?
Salmond claiming an affinity with the Barca midfield ("world-class,   sleek and capable of steam-rolling any opposition")?

Tom Elliott threatening to do a Shakhtar Donetsk ("with all our team playing in the same direction , correct planet alignment and a few bob in the ref's back-pocket...we can overcome the overwhelming odds and triumph")?
sleekit

No. We are *not* "all entitled".

I had actually forgotten about this article on regional disparities which has been festering in my drafts for nearly a month now.

Some noteworthy statistics first of all:

1. Average GDP per head in central London is more than nine times larger than in parts of Wales.
2. The ratio of GDP per head in the three richest regions of the UK to the three poorest increased by almost a tenth between 1990 and 2009.
3. Real GDP per head fell by 6% during 2007-09 in poorer areas, such as Yorkshire, the Midlands and Northern Ireland, twice as much as in London.
4. According to the Centre for Cities, a think-tank, welfare benefits account for 28% of residents’ total income in Liverpool, compared with 14% in London.
5. Almost 40% of Liverpool’s jobs are in the public sector, compared with 22% in London.


Several caveats should be read along with that data above:

1. Central London’s income per head is increased by commuters who work in the city but do not live there.
2. The cost of living is cheaper in rural parts than in big cities, which also has the effect of exaggerating inequality.
3. Urban areas will always be wealthier than rural ones because of their higher productivity and their greater ability to attract companies and employees.


Still amongst the OECD countries looked at by the Economist, the UK has the widest regional disparity present in a whole range of factors.

That reality has detrimental effects on both national cohesiveness and, more concretely, the economic life of the UK but finding solutions is obviously a bit more troublesome than baldly stating the problem and should move beyond what was howled out by an activist at recent Labour shadow cabinet public meeting in Nottingham:

"We are entitled. We are all entitled, we live in a modern country."

Before concrete answers are looked at though, several facts needed to be accepted by all who have a genuine wish to see a long-term, structural improvement in such areas:

1. Cities in the north of England, N.Ireland, Scotland and Wales are too much dependent on public-sector jobs and welfare benefits.
2. Labour markets (and by extension people) must be more flexible, moving if needs be in search of work. Logically this should ultimately reduce the labour supply in areas of high unemployment.
3. Education and skills must be improved in poorer areas- one horrific fact mentioned is that only 21% of working-age people in Sunderland, have any form of higher education, compared with 39% of Londoners.

In all three cases, when admitting those facts, there is common a degree of personal responsibility which must be accepted by those who wish to see their area's and their own prospects improve. Money will also clearly be needed but it should never be the driving factor, if we are to see real and lasting change.

But while we all remain "entitled", what chance is there of that real and lasting change taking place?

The curse of living in interesting times

The ancient Inka Prophecy has predicted a time of shocks, upheaval and turmoil in the world round about this point in history.

In the UK we are beginning to see disturbing outworkings of that prediction:

1. Man City are currently third place in the Premiership.
2. An item of woman's intimate (black!!) apparel being flashed in a DUP PEB (50 seconds in if you're, er...interested in checking).
3. And now this from Scottish Unionist.


No.3 could a cybernat hacking attempt I suppose.... but what if it is genuine?

So, why exactly is a Unionist running for the Irish Senate?

This is Jeff Dudgeon's platform piece, explaining why a N.Irish Unionist is running for a seat in the Republic's Senate:

Devolution's lack of diversity:

From the Guardian:

Despite being set up to empower and involve the people of Scotland and Wales, both their devolved legislatures have been slow to include the countries' ethnic minorities. On this count at least, they have been arguably weaker than Westminster.

On the "diversity" question generally, both institutes are struggling.
Some figures to back up that assertion-

1. There are 170,000 people from an Asian, black or mixed race background among the Scottish electorate, 4% of the Scottish population but Holyrood has only ever had one non-white MSP elected.
2. Wales has an overall minority ethnic population of  3% of the population, yet it's first minority ethnic member was elected only in 2007.
3. In Scotland and Wales, gay rights groups believe the lesbian, gay and bisexual population (estimated to be 6% of the general population) is still "greatly under-represented in frontline politics".
4. It is predicted that  the number of women elected to Holyrood and the Welsh assembly on 5 May will be the lowest on record, Guardian has found less than 30% of the major parties' candidates will be women.

Almost goes without saying that the white, middle-aged, middle-class gentlemen's club that is Stormont is worse on all 3 counts- one ethnic minority, zero openly gay and a grand total  of 14 female MLAs out of a total of 108.
Not very impressive figures at all.

Never mind the quality, feeeel the cheapness.

One of the basic fundaments of UK politics is that parties don’t expect us to take anything contained or promised in their manifestos too literally but still, this proclamation from "Lynn of Co Antrim" does fall down on two crucial points:

“My DUP has delivered free prescriptions for everyone in Northern Ireland, the most generous scheme in the UK”

First, whose idea was the free prescription”?
Under the aegis of whose “ministry” was it introduced?

Secondly, both Wales since 2007 and Scotland (admittedly the day after Lyn of Antrim made her claim) since this year have also offered free prescriptions, so it’s not strictly accurate to call it the "most generous” scheme in the UK.

Incidently, I hope Lynn does indeed come from Antrim and not somewhere like Little Muck, Arizona....  the DUP did have one or two problems on that score before.

But as I said, no one reads manifestos, never mind believes the nonsense inside them. More important is how, as touched on by Owen Polley here, we look to improve upon the delivery of our health service and (management, trade-unionists and bureaucrats hold your breath now) ultimately “empower” patients and doctors (ie provide better healthcare, more efficiently)

In England, as the CEP have been quick to remind us this week, prescriptions have gone up from 7.20 pounds a week to 7.40.

On bare facts, devolution has, once again, delivered an unfair state of affairs.

However, despite those discrepancies in prescription prices:

Historically Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have had higher levels of NHS funding per capita thanEngland. The research confirms this but shows other striking and troubling differences between the four nations, some accentuated since devolution.

In particular, these were higher numbers of doctors, nurses and managers per head of population, lower crude productivity per staff member (particularly in Scotland), and a higher percentage of the population waiting for care in Wales and Northern Ireland than in England.

The analysis presented in this report suggests that England’s NHS spends less and has fewer staff per capita than the health services in the devolved countries, but that it makes better use of its resources with respect to delivering higher levels of activity and productivity and lower waiting times. Comparing the devolved nations with regions of England that are similar on a range of health and socio-economic indicators, the differences highlighted in the analysis are even more pronounced.

I posted that finding from the Nuttfield Trust just over a month ago.

So, English patients do pay prescription fees but also receive a better quality service than that “enjoyed” (or make that “endured”) by their fellow Brits in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Why?

Well, in my opinion, prescription prices, like University Tuition fees, have become the Devocracy’s populist rallying call in the hope that the short-term dust the debate throws up blinds the electorate to the fact that in both areas nasty truths have only been temporarily postponed.

Actually, it’s only one nasty core truth- society is not prepared to pay the extra money needed, or make the sacrifices required (eg unemployment resulting from streamlining the NHS or less students attending university) to deliver the kind of high-quality health service or third level education system they demand.

The Devocrats in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales know that fact and as a consequence have taken the coward’s way out:

“You get a worse health service than the English and it’s getting worse but hey, we don’t charge you prescription charges"

or:

“The quality delivered by our universities is going down the pan but sure, if we don’t charge you to attend them in the first place who cares?”

In the ideal world (ie around about one generation ago) we could get away with free (OK, that was always a misnomer because somewhere down the line someone did have to pay) university education and prescriptions. We’d all also be 100% happy with the service offered by the health service and third-level educational institutes.
But both demographically and economically, we most certainly don’t live in that ideal world.

 I don’t want to pay for my prescriptions and in the far-off future, I don’t want to have my offspring paying to attend university. But I also demand better than adequate healthcare and high-quality third-level education- how do the devocrats in Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh propose to square that circle?
Shush- I think I can just about hear the pitter-patter of a tactical retreat.

Yet another Irishman slaughtered in the name of "Ireland". Was Ireland consulted?

If the only the island itself could talk at times like this and tell those Irish who murder other Irish (and dare to claim it on its behalf) what it really thinks of them.

Two posts on the subject this morning are well worth the read; Dilettante's and this from Mike Nesbitt:

I am no Gordon Wilson; I cannot find it in myself to say any kinds words about the killers. They planned this murder and took the life of a 25 year old who was making his way in life, in public service.

To the murderers, I say this: You probably call yourselves Irish patriots. I am British, but I am a still a better Irishman that you will ever be. And you will never be half the man you murdered.

A bandwagon is starting to roll? And taxi for Gregory Campbell please.

Following John Redwood's revelation the other day, this from the Monmouth Conservative MP (and as staunch a Unionist MP as you'll find in the UK), David Davies:

Mr Davies said: “As a proud Welshman and a unionist we cannot possibly have a situation where we as Welsh MPs are telling the English what to do with their health service and education and they can’t have any say over what goes on in Wales. Surely the answer for all unionists, all across the United Kingdom, is to give the English their own parliament with similar powers to the Welsh and Scottish parliaments and have some kind of federal structure dealing with everything else that matters to the United Kingdom?”

And there was more:

But London Tory MP Mark Field told him: "There is one leg, and rather an important leg, of the United Kingdom, that feels under-represented and unloved, which is one of the reasons this West Lothian question is becoming more high profile in England."

And more:

Totnes Tory MP Sarah Wollaston said there was a great feeling of unfairness within English constituencies. "We feel under-represented but equally we feel over-taxed and we wonder how it is we can be subsidising university education for Scottish pupils and how we can be subsidising free prescription charges."

And more:

The Constitutional Affairs Minister, Mark Harper, who is Tory MP for the Forest of Dean, said: "The English-Welsh border has become more of a border, more of a real barrier, since devolution, than it was beforehand. That is certainly the experience of my constituents."

I've previously said that the growth of an anti-Conservative and, by extension, anti-London, tendency within Scottish and Welsh Labour could start to pull that party in narrow, regionalist directions;  it seems now that also many of the English Conservatives are looking to "federalise" the supremacy of Westminster out of existence. How they propose to do that whilst strengthening the Union has not been satisfactorily explained.

And the sole Northern Irish contribution from Gregory Campbell wasn't his finest hour in the House:

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the United Kingdom's cohesion and unity might be helped just a little if the Prime Minister made more visits to the countries of the UK-Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland? He has not been to Northern Ireland since the general election.

Errr... who's that bloke then standing beside Owen Paterson?  Top-class research there Gregory.

And while you sort that out, you should also get cracking on alternatives to the English Parliament and "English Votes for English Measures" if you genuinely think they would weaken the Union because The West Lothian Question and the corresponding English resentment aren't going to disappear anytime soon- there needs to be an urgent Unionist solution to both problems.

When even the DUP insults have ceased... can it get any worse for the UUP?

Traditionally you could always tell that an election was in the offing in Northern Ireland by watching the pattern of the DUP's press releases- they would be balanced delicately by, on the one hand, various party luminaries calling for "Unionist Unity", whilst on the other, their colleagues would be simultaneously tripping over each other busily a-slammin' and a-blastin' the UUP.

The fact that (as of today) the last current 20 releases from the DUPes contain nary a whisper of "The Protestant People Demand Unity" (block capitals would have been invariably added for max effect), never mind the slightest hint of a "slam" or "blast" of their "partners" in Unionism is perhaps the worst  possible indictment of the "threat" now posed to their communal hegemony by the UUP under Tom Elliott.

Confidence is now apparently so high that even "Smashing Sinn Fein" is off the cards... a none too subtle message also then for both Martin McGuinness and the TUV Ultras.

A UK Bill of Rights-a threat or opportunity for N.Irish Human Rights?

Will (or can) the "Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland" be part of a wider UK Bill of Rights?

A question I ask over at Slugger.

Three into one would go?

I suppose in the wake of last week's result, this was inevitable:

MPs have suggested merging the UK government departments responsible for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.


A report by a Commons committee recommends a "serious look" at the Whitehall arrangements for the three devolved nations.

Devolution has removed most of the powers from the job (of the Welsh Office) and its counterparts in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

A counter-argument could run that it is the three Offices which are helping to curb the more extreme tendencies of the Devocrats, but it is the staffing figures which are most interesting:

The Wales Office employs 60 staff, the Scottish Office 100 and the Northern Ireland Office 110.

The NIO really needs double the amount of their counterparts in Wales?

"Breaking up" is not the hardest thing to do, really.

The Belfast Telegraph:

Tom Elliott has said his party’s UCUNF electoral pact with the Conservatives is now dead.

In the coming Assembly election the UUP leader will advise his voters to give their second and subsequent preferences to fellow unionists.

Actually, in typical Elliott-style, it isn't 100% clear what he is saying about the Conservative link... but if it is finally kaput, then  it really is the best thing for both parties in the short-term, although in the long-term it should be the Conservatives who will reap more benefit from the frissure.

Also, I'm not sure how on one hand you can say you regard the DUP as "tribal" and "sectarian", whilst on the other then urge Unionists to keep their vote within "the family"?

Big Al lets down South Belfast

A couple of weeks ago, over at Open Unionism, I pointed out the tangible difference in performance between the DUP’s double mandaters and those who regarded being an MP at our nation’s real parliament as a full-time job.

Just to prove that difference isn’t just isolated to the DUP, compare and contrast Alasdair McDonnell’s woeful effort with that of his party colleague, Mark Durkan:

Alasdair McDonnell (Social Democratic and Labour Party MP for Belfast South, Social Democratic and Labour Party MLA for Belfast South)

· Has spoken in 11 debates in the last year — well below average amongst MPs.
· Has received answers to 4 written questions in the last year — well below average amongst MPs.
· Has voted in 28% of votes in this Parliament with this affiliation — well below average amongst MPs. (From Public Whip)


Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party MP for Foyle, Former Social Democratic and Labour Party MLA for Foyle)

· Has spoken in 74 debates in the last year — well above average amongst MPs.
· Has received answers to 8 written questions in the last year — below average amongst MPs.
· Has voted in 68% of votes in this Parliament with this affiliation — below average amongst MPs. (From Public Whip)


OK, as a nationalist, the question of treating the United Kingdom’s parliament with respect won’t be such an issue for McDonnell as it should be with pro-Union MPs… but how about treating his constituents, the people who actually elected him as MP, with a bit more respect?


Once again, thanks to "They Work for You" for the relevant data.

Blatter talking once again with forked tongue?

Is there anyone left who takes what this old fraud says seriously anymore?

Fifa boss Sepp Blatter says the Celtic nations' international status would not be affected by their players' turning out for a Great Britain Olympic team.

The British Olympic Association hopes Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will join England in fielding a team in the 2012 London Games.

But each of the Celtic nations has expressed fears that doing so could harm their independence in the game.

But Blatter said: "It's very clear. If they play, there is no sanction."

The FA clearly don't.

Maggie ain't gonna work on Pete and Marty's farm no more?

That seemed to be the threat in the Belfast Telegraph earlier on in the week,

we've got a head full of ideas
driving us insane
It's a shame the way they makes us scrub the floor
well, we ain't gonna work on Pete and Marty's farm no more

Go for it and drag the UUP with you, the electorate will appreciate the gesture.
Rage against the Machine version.

Overcharge the goose and the golden egg will be laid elsewhere...

From the Scotsman:

"We could end up in a situation where it makes no sense for English students to keep coming to Scotland in the same numbers they do now."

...a prospect which is delighting at least one of the cybernat xenophobes:

Good, allowing Scots to be educated in our universities in greater numbers.

Currently some Scottish Universities have less than 50% Scottish students.

The argument the SNP are putting is slightly more nuanced than that of such monoculturalist supporters. It's not that they don't want outsiders in Scottish universities; in fact the fines fees they would be expected to pay for being English/N.Irish/Welsh are essential for the financial well-being of the Scottish system:

A Unionist voice in the Seanad?

The Seanad Éireann ("Senate of Ireland")) is the upper house of the Irish parliament, performing a similar, although more restricted, role as the UK's House of Lords.The system by which Senators are selected/elected verges on the Byzantine, although several worthy people fron Northern Ireland, including Gordon Wilson and Seamus Mallon, have been chosen by the Taoiseach over the years. None (as far as I'm aware) have been elected...so far:

A MEMBER of the Ulster Unionist Party has announced his intention to run for the Irish senate, the News Letter can reveal.

One less double-jobber....

Chekov has just made it before me:

The Ulster Unionist Party has confirmed Sir Reg Empey is to leave the assembly later this month.

Sir Reg, now Lord Empey, who has been representing east Belfast at Stormont, will not contest the assembly elections on 5 May.

The party said the decision followed his elevation to the House of Lords and was "consistent with his spearheading of the policy of an end to double-jobbing."

I thought his original decision to stand was hypocritical (here and here); he and the party have belatedly come to the right choice on this one.