Accessibility Links
It has been brought to the BBC's attention that on 5 December 2008 two readers of the BBC "Devenport Diaries" blog posted comments on the entry entitled "Bush Tucker Trial Declined" regarding Mr Ian Paisley, Jr. It was unfortunate that these inappropriate comments came to be published and the BBC unreservedly apologises to Mr Paisley for any damage or distress that these comments may have caused.
Local Green Party co-chair John Barry has come to the defence of Muntadar al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who flung his shoes at President Bush during a recent Baghdad news conference. Dr Barry reckons the outgoing US President should ask the Iraqi authorities to grant his assailant a pardon "in recognition of the fact that Mr. al-Zaidi merely engaged in a traditional method of communicating a political message" and it would be absurd and vindictive if the journalist's gesture was to land him in prison.
The Westminster Northern Ireland Affairs Committee took a crack at Lord Saville today over the delay and cost of the Bloody Sunday inquiry. A colleague pointed out that the Committee website still lists Ian Paisley as our First Minister.
However it would be a cheap shot to make too much of this as the Committee's annual report, published today, makes it clear that it has hosted a farewell dinner for the former First Minister and taken evidence from his successor.
After all the current First Minister's wife sits on the Committee. Or does she? The Annual Report lists Committee members, including the Strangford MP, "Mrs Iris Robertson".
Back in 2007 the Belfast Telegraph discovered I had a googleganger. Now Danny Morrison reckons I have a republican doppelganger. He says that someone looked closely at the photographs on his website and spotted me on the right of the eighth photo.
The photo was taken in Larne in 1984 and my line of defence is that this is two years before I first set foot in Northern Ireland. But if my doppelganger cares to make themself known it would complete my alibi.
It's my first day back at work after the Christmas holiday and, having deleted several hundred e-mails, I now find myself back up at Stormont. I hadn't expected to be here today as the Assembly website entry for Today's Business still referred to the recess, which ended on Friday.
However MLAs have been at work today on a couple of committees. As I write the two Junior Ministers, Gerry Kelly and Jeffrey Donaldson, are giving evidence to the OFMDFM Committee about the Financial Assistance Bill which is being used as a vehicle to channel funds to those experiencing fuel poverty.
The bill is due to be introduced next week and the ministers are looking for the support of the Committee for it to be passed by accelerated passage. This would enable it to move through all its stages by the end of the month. Whilst the bill will be used for the £15 million fuel poverty programme in the first instance, the ministers are explaining that it could then be utilised for other crises, whether they are flash floods or disruption to the pork industry.
It looks like I wasn't the only one caught out by the accelerated nature of today's hearing. Sinn Fein's Barry McElduff sent his apologies, explaining that he only got word of the committee meeting this morning.
UPDATE: The Committee has agreed to support the bill being fast tracked through the Assembly, although the SDLP has expressed concerns about a "power grab" by the OFMDFM and Alliance's Naomi Long also sought assurance that measures would not be implemented over the heads of the relevant minister.
I am hoping to slide away from the office for the next fortnight. However I suppose whether I get to take my holiday may depend, as in previous years, on the news agenda. As things stand, though, I am hoping this blog will go into hibernation until 2009. So I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Earlier today I recorded an interview with Nigel Dodds for tomorrow's Inside Politics. Inevitably the programme is something of a counter blast to Margaret Ritchie's contribution last weekend in which she accused the DUP and Sinn Fein of attempting to bully her over fuel poverty.
Aside from exploring the DUP-SDLP dynamic, I question the Finance Minister about the prospects for the local economy, the UUP/Conservative partnership and the remarks about Bobby Sands by the Education Minister Caitriona Ruane.
I also try a few enquiries regarding the North Belfast MP's possible candidacy in next year's European elections, although his answers seem notable more for what he doesn't say than what he does.
As usual you can hear the programme tomorrow on BBC Radio Ulster at 12.45 pm or, subsequently, via the listen again facility.
Tomorrow's programme is the last Inside Politics of 2008. The programme is due back on air on January 10th.
UPDATE: Today is January 5th, and I'm back at work. However several blogs written today have not yet appeared at the time of writing (1700) due to a technical logjam which appears to be holding up all the BBC's blogs. Hopefully they will materialise soon.
Belfast SDLP Councillor Tim Attwood is about to embark on a Christmas mission to save Santa's elves. As the dad of Eoin, who arrived seven weeks premature in January, he's helping the local premature baby charity, Tiny Life, to raise money by taking part in an online challenge due to kick off in a day's time. To follow the exploits of "Comet" (that's Tim's code name) you can click here.
My esteemed colleague Gareth Gordon and another hack were having lunch in a Belfast cafe yesterday when they were joined by an uninvited guest. A rat scuttled in through the door, probably coming from a nearby building site. It ran around the floor, disappeared behind the counter then reappeared on the window sill.
The proprietor quickly closed the door and summoned help.
Which begs the question; when the authorities arrived and were confronted by two journalists and a rat, how could they tell who was the bigger pest?
The Education Minister, Caitriona Ruane, was presenting prizes at St Colm's High School in Twinbrook this week. During a lengthy speech she expressed sadness that the film about the Irish Civil War "The Wind That Shakes The Barley" had drawn criticism. Exhorting the pupils to do their best, she said people should be thankful to Bobby Sands for paving the way towards a better future for young people. There was a local connection as the IRA hunger striker lived in Twinbrook from the age of 18, so I presume the speech was not a single transferable one which the minister will use at all secondary schools here.
Yesterday's Stormont Live made for interesting viewing for anyone interested in the deteriorating relationship between the DUP and the SDLP. Neither Peter Robinson nor Margaret Ritchie pulled their punches as they sat next to me on the blue bench in our studio.
When I opened up my inbox today the row simmered on via press release. "SDLP - Ritchie. Smash and Grab Raid on Housing Budget." "Sinn Fein - Concern at Ritchie reaction to Executive respobse to economic hardship." "DUP MLA Simon Hamilton - SDLP should stop party politicking and welcome the good news for Northern Ireland.""SDLP. Ritchie responds to Robinson's dubious remarks." "DUP. Deliberately Misleading SDLP Comments".
In the context of recent rows about fuel poverty and the ministers' previous confrontation over the UDA related Conflict Transformation Initiative this might be all too predictable. But seen over a longer timespan it's remarkable that the SDLP is increasingly viewed as the opposition to a DUP-Sinn Fein axis.
DUP policy remains that they would prefer a voluntary coalition to a mandatory coalition. The assumption is that Sinn Fein would resolutely oppose any move to, say, weighted majority voting on the basis that unionists, given the chance, would permanently exclude republicans from power and seek to govern in alliance with the SDLP.
But could we be reaching a tipping point? Who would now guarantee, if we did move to a voluntary coalition, that the DUP would pick the SDLP over Sinn Fein as their nationalists of choice?
I missed yesterday's "bacon" breakfast organised by the Health and Agriculture departments. But someone has pointed out to me that the DHSSPS e-mail advertising the event was entitled "NORTHERN IRISH PORT BACK ON THE MENU".
Does this explain why Michelle Gildernew appeared so relaxed when she joined us on "Stormont Live" yesterday afternoon?
It's been a busy final day at Stormont, with Nigel Dodds unveiling his £70 million credit crunch package. The package includes a £15 million fuel poverty payment which will be pushed through via emergency legislation. OFMDFM officials point out that they will use a new rapid response finance facility which can then be reactivated in future crises.
As viewers of "Stormont Live" will already know today's announcement, instead of resolving the row between Margaret Ritchie and her DUP and Sinn Fein colleagues, today's announcement only changed the nature of the argument. I have penned a piece for the main news website, and once they have attached the necessary bells and ribbons, I will attach a link. In the meantime I shall put the raw material in the extended entry.
The Upper Bann MP David Simpson this week criticised the Education Minister Caitriona Ruane for only devoting 75 minutes to tackling bullying. No doubt Ms Ruane disputes this. But as I recorded an interview with Margaret Ritchie today about the "difficult scenes" around the Executive table as they have discussed their credit crunch and fuel poverty proposals, it struck me that the ministers might benefit from an anti-bullying initative of their own. To make your mind up listen to the programme at the usual time of 12.45 pm on BBC Radio Ulster this Saturday or if you miss it via the listen again facility.
There's no Politics Show this weekend, but there is a special Stormont Live on the credit crunch package. That's on Monday afternoon at 2.30pm on BBC2.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites
I'm Mark Devenport, BBC NI's political editor, and I'll be blogging here on all things politics.
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~07~RS~)
