Politics UK

So much violence, so many innocent victims, wrong and right on both sides but it leaves a bitter taste when you realise how some were spinning against the Good Friday agreement when so many on both sides were struggling to make it work. Then changing their stance afterwards when the IRA bought into it - sickening.

I understand this and why you're angry, but you seem surprised and that's what I can't get my head around. Maybe it's just youth? I wasn't young even at your age. I remember a therapist saying to me once "you're 13, not 35"

Maybe it's just because I've been predicting the death of the Labour Party for the last 20 years. As the top of the party and the grassroots have moved away from each other all this was inevitable. The Tories have the same problem but to a far lesser degree. Partly because winning and being in power has almost always been more acceptable than to the Labour Party. If you're going to lose anyway, you might as well have principles to justify your loss and, at the very least, at least you're right.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Wanting a united Ireland is an aspiration I don't have a problem with - Cards on the table: If I woke up tomorrow morning and NI had been voted to join up with the Republic, I'd have no problem, and this is from someone who grew up as a Prod with a father in the security forces at the height of the Troubles. If we ever vote to stay in the UK, again I'd have no problem.

I have a massive problem with anyone who thought or thinks that violence to either re-unify the country, or indeed 'save the union with GB', is even an option. It's dumbfounding.

We have a devolved institution which is frequently maddening, sometimes outright bizarre, but it gives everyone a voice. To find out that there were elected English politicians (we can bring Gove into the argument here, too) with such reservations is sad.

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

the new UK prime minister wore an indian outfit ( saree ) on her first day as PM

so yet another leader of UKIP (apologies for this citizen of my hometown but to be fair he is a Liverpool supporter not an Evertonian )

Labour has to get it's act together before a general election

Ugh, which arsewipe took over this time?

And I completely agree Christine, and I think they need to target Scotland especially. But they also need to consolidate support from their existing bases because areas like Hartlepool will swing over to UKIP if they don't do something. I have to admit, I highly doubt I'll vote for them myself, but I'd much rather see them in power over the Tories, and I'd much rather see them retain seats instead of losing them to UKIP.

Actually speaking of UKIP though, what else can they ultimately do now? They've got what they wanted all along after all.
I hope they continue to fall a part though, because it all looks like a shambles at the minute.

Sarah Olney wins the Richmond by-election, beating Tory turned independent in name Zac Goldsmith!

Ideally, it would have been better if Labour hadn't fielded a candidate (they may not even keep their deposit) but I'm pretty damn pleased with this result, even if it is the Lib Dems! Notably, the Greens didn't field a candidate, with Caroline Lucas publicly endorsing Olney, and even Bob Geldof endorsed the Lib Dem!

High turnout as well, around 53%

Interesting, but patronising, piece in The Guardian about the very real danger of Momentum getting taken over by the dreaded Trots.

Link

Can you really see this happening? I can't. I can't see them doing anything for years and years.

The new Ukip nutter makes Farage look like a rather pleasant, reasonable man.

Even that Diane James seemed ever so marginally better than Nuttall as well

And no, not really but it looks like the Tories could take a few seats there.

Nigel Farage always came across like a kooky nutcase, the fact that he was so eccentric seemed to make most opponents laugh at rather than oppose him. I've always said that Ukip isn't just this weird fringe party that can't effect anything they absolutely can regardless of the amount of MPs or whatever they have, they affect the attitudes of UK voters with their rhetoric whether they end up voting for them or not.

I have to admit, their popularity, even though they should be totally irrelevant now, has got me questioning who I should vote for in order to keep them out.

Our Assembly has, basically, shafted us.

A few years ago they came up with a renewable heating initiative in order to promote less reliance by businesses on fossil fuels. The same schemes were running in England, Scotland and Wales and running smoothly.

What could possibly go wrong?

Businesses would buy their own biofuel boilers and be compensated for running them for the next 20 years. In England, Scotland and Wales that meant a tiered system where the compensation would lessen over time until businesses were not receiving any aid.

Not so in NI.

For every £1 a business would spend on fuel, the government (our taxes) would reimburse them to the tune of £1.60. Yep, they'd be making a profit from heating their businesses ... for the next 20 years! Sums as large as £485,000,000 have been mentioned.

With a deal as good as this, the scheme was ripe for unethical people to exploit it to the hilt - There are stories of chicken farmers with multiple boilers in otherwise empty sheds, burning 24 hours a day. Cash for ash...

I doubt any of us would have found about this monumental ****-up had the Westminster Treasury not decided, in January, to rightly stop funding the scheme. Stormont was on its own, and the BBC was digging for a story.



In any normal democracy, heads would roll and they'd roll quickly. In a gerrymandered forced coalition such as ours, the DUP have closed ranks. One potential fall guy, Jonathon Bell (the minister in charge for the tail end of the scheme) gave a remarkable interview on Thursday night, desperate to throw as many under the bus as possible before they arrived to do the same to him. Our First Minister, Arlene Foster, the minister under who's watch the scheme was implemented initially before her Ascension/promotion is coming in for the largest amount of flak.

She also put herself up for interview on Thursday to try and limit Bell's potential damage.

The two interviews are on the iPlayer and they're pretty astonishing - Link

A lot of people have finally woken up this week and are realising how this place is being governed. £485 million of taxpayers (UK-wide) money.

It's the largest financial scandal ever to hit NI and possibly the biggest non-terrorism related mess ever. I despair of this place.

Following the above, Martin McGuinness has resigned as Deputy (basically, Joint) First Minister which means Arlene Foster is also gone whether she likes it or not. Another election to obfuscate the RHI scandal ... hooray.

Marty doesn't look well. I doubt we'll see him back as DFM after the election.

Of course, now would be a good time to stop voting along sectarian lines and appoint politicians on policies alone.

Not gonna read all these posts, the purple revolution is coming.

Stoke by-election coming, which I might be voting in (I'm not sure my uni counts as being in the constituency) and I have this awful feeling UKIP are gonna win. Greens and Lib Dems need to not field a candidate if they have any chance.

It's going to be a telling result

Election Day! Again!

Are you doing that ranking system of voting Tatty? and what's the predicted outcome?

It's a single transferable vote election so you can rank as many or as few candidates as you like, with the top 5 in each constituency after transfers getting elected.

I'd love to see the DUP/Sinn Fein axis get ousted but I fear that we're in for more of the same, especially since the Assembly is moving from 108 to 90 seats in this election - Each constituency used to have 6 seats, with smaller parties often taking the last couple. In my area the DUP are running 2 candidates, and Sinn Fein 3 which leaves the possibility that they'll lock the ballot up between them. The most likely outcome is 2 DUP 2 SF and the 5th seat coming down to the jnr SF candidate, the UUP or the SDLP.

There's a depressing lack of diversity in political outlook and the very real chance that we'll be plunged into rule by Westminster for a good few months while the DUP and Sinn Fein bitch at each other in public and horse trade behind the scenes, with the spectre of Brexit (and us having no representatives around the table) looming large.

Democracy's great!