I’m attending the Bled Strategic Forum. This is a global, strategic, geopolitical and economic conference run by a tiny Balkan country of around 2m people.
In short, just a little larger than Northern Ireland with a substantially bigger and more positive footprint. This is a society that has embraced democracy and outward focus instead of a fixation on Slovenia or even the Balkans.
I’ve just returned from the gala dinner where delegates from across the world – mostly diplomats – heard General Colin Powell outline why Slovenia punched above its diplomatic weight. Now I’m listening – admittedly intermittently – to a presentation by the OECD on why innovation and technology are drivers of economic growth.
Northern Ireland’s shambolic political parties could never put on a show like this because all they do, collectively, is contemplate their navels.
Well done Slovenia.
“Northern Ireland’s shambolic political parties could never put on a show like this because all they do, collectively, is contemplate their navels.”
Our current political class have less ability or drive than the average parish council (apologies to parish councils). Northern Ireland will never rise above its current state until we have real politicians who have vision and drive, rather than a sense of entitlement, grasping hands and a narrow-minded sectarian outlook. I can not express my contempt for the current ‘politicians’ enough; while they pontificate and look after themselves, NI sinks.
jimmers
Good thread jeff however whats wrong with the parties here they are trying there best.
I assume you mean “their best”. We don’t have political parties in Northern Ireland. We only have sectarian based pressure groups. So while they might be doing “their best” they are part of the problem not the solution. We need real politics based on ideology rather than religion.
Yes, and wasn’t there a party at the general election standing to break the Sinn Fein-DUP hegemony and focus on issues?
And did you not repeatedly denounce them on the airwaves?
Wouldn’t that therefore make you somewhat complicit in our situation?
George, I don’t believe so. After all wasn’t that “party” just the UUP? Nearly all UUP candidates, same sectarian vote rigging, same dead-wood (with some c-list celebs), same schmoozing with the Orange wizards, same dithering leader. UCUNF was a sorry disgrace. Shame on the Conservative Party for having anything to do with it – never mind coughing up hundreds of thousands of pounds to pay for it.
“Their best”. Thus ensues the blame game (lawyers, did it/the other parties did it/O’Leary himself did it) as Michael O’Leary announces that Ryanair will withdraw service from Belfast City Airport from October, because two years later, he still hasn’t been told whether he will be able to fly his biggest plane in there at capacity.
So Belfast loses, by O’Leary’s estimation (and I’d even trust HIS word over our lot) about 800,000 inbound passengers a year and somewhere in the region of 1,000 jobs.
Good work lads.
But they’re doing their best. Wee badges all round.
I disagree jeff they are not pressure groups four parties have elected members to the assembly.The party you are a member of is a pressure group jeffery.
Royston I am a member of no party. However I do want to see the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties organize in NI and seek mandates to govern.
Thats not going to happen jeff I thought you were a member of the conservatives.?
Nope – resigned after the sectarian carve-up in Fermanagh South Tyrone.
If you’re still in Slovenia on Friday Northern Ireland play in a European qualifying match at Maribor. Not sure whether you’re much of a football fan, but it’s be a pity not to cheer on local lads while you’re out there.
Owen zero interest in sport. And now back in UK. Hope they do well.
royston could you try and convince us please how the elected parties here are not formed along sectarian lines please?
I’d love to know how you call these true political parties
“We need real politics based on ideology rather than religion.”
It’s true that they’re based on sectarian lines, although I think it’s a stretch to say that the parties’ policies are based on religion. That may be the case for some in the DUP (Iris Robinson claiming that the government has to enforce “God’s law”) but you’ll find those elements in every country. The Tories and the American Republicans have strong evangelical wings (obviously much greater in the latter than the former), while in most continental European countries you have Christian Democrat parties, that lean (or at least once did) on Catholic social teaching.
I’m curious to know how you believe religion should be seperated from politics. For many religious people theological considerations are a huge component of their worldview; I think a truly pluralist society should not exclude religious groups from the public sphere.
Shane,
At the outset, I should say that this the following is from memory, so don’t quote me, but:
The DUP is the largest political party in Northern Ireland.
The DUP had in Sammy Wilson a climate change denier as environment minister. Denial of manmade global warming is a trope of Christian fundamentalists.
We know all about Iris and the gays-can-be-cured, God’s Law, thing, when she was chairman of the Health Committee. The oversight committees at Stormont are not to be sniffed at, having as they do “a scrutiny, policy development and consultation role” with respect to the various departments.
Mervyn Storey, a barely educated oaf, is head of the Education Committee. He thinks creationism is science. He puts DVDs in pigeon holes at Stormont arguing this case. He also sits on the Council of Reference of the Caleb Foundation, a bunch of religious fundamentalist loons, if I may be so bold.
We have Nelson McCausland who also thinks creationism should be in museums apparently. And at the Giant’s Causeway. This, he suggests, in step with the Caleb Foundation, might be an “equality issue”. Are you scratching your head yet?
McCausland is in charge of culture in our government.
Scratching your head yet?
The DUP (I’ve sent you a message about this Jeff) is currently running a public “discussion” on involving faith groups more – not less – in public life here, and being given greater recognition for their efforts by government bodies.
Among their proposals are that money unclaimed from dormant bank accounts be given to faith groups. (The argument goes that “faith groups” might find it difficult to accept lottery funding, but I have it on good authority that when such a situation arises, say for church building renovations, they simply lease the building to groups which don’t mind taking lottery money, who then do the work, then give the buildings back. Handy, eh?!)
But the DUP, despite being the biggest party in the country, are easy targets. It’s plain that they are swimming in fundamentalism, even though they’ve tried to drop the mantle somewhat since 2004, when they stopped publishing which churches they were members of on their website for instance.
What else? It takes a millisecond. Abortion. The serious injustice suffered by thousands of Northern Ireland women each year is glaring. This is mandated you might say. I wonder about that personally. As far as I’m aware, there hasn’t been a referendum on it, and no consultation has been carried out that hasn’t been hijacked by religious interest groups which are very good at getting themselves together into voting blocs on so-called moral issues. This has affected me personally in the past year.
Stem cells. Mark Durkan, as head of the SDLP, was able to write in the Belfast Telegraph that embryonic stem cell research would mean that: “In essence, human embryos will be permitted to grow inside animal wombs.”
This was during the public consultation on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill – a vital Bill. This was absolutely ludicrous guff and it doesn’t take a genius to identify it as having come from the pulpit. He didn’t make it up did he? Durkan’s public were misled because Durkan spouted a church line.
I could go on, but I hope my point is made.
Perhaps it’s difficult for a conservative catholic (you are one of those, aren’t you?) to see how dripping this place is in religious-informed policy making and dour social conservatism. And the pandering to “religious sensibilities” that the politicians seem to perceive everywhere, but which I suspect they are inclined to wave around because they think it makes them look respectable.
There is nothing progressive about this place. Religion is to a very large extent, implicitly where not explicitly, the millstone around all our necks.
I’m not suggesting that religion – or people of religion – be excluded. What I am suggesting is that sectarianism be removed from the political realm. Our society is riven because of a political structure that mirrors atavistic obsession with national identity (itself a function of religion). And yet our political leaders imply that such nationalist divisions are in some way constitutional. Our politicians and political structures are part of the problem – not the solution. To suggest otherwise in absurd.
Thankfully a vast swathe of our electorate is fed up with this.
Forgive me for asking this but I am curious as to your views on Edmund Adamus an adviser to Catholic archbishop Vincent Nichols saying that the promotion of abortion,homosexuality and the commercialisation of sex has led to a culture of death and Britain becoming a very anti Catholic country. Your views would be much appreciated!
I have no views on this matter.