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Running Mates?

• Mark Devenport
• 16 Feb 07, 05:34 PM

No, not Garbhan Downey's new book about a fictional Irish Presidential Election, although I am enjoying it at the moment.

Instead this is a reference to South Antrim where my colleague Gareth Gordon has been getting a sense of what's happening on the street. It will be a close race, especially for the last seat. But the tensions he discovered between the parties was nothing compared to the tensions between the two SDLP candidates, Thomas Burns and Noreen McClelland. One of the notable aspects of multi-member constituency elections is that they can lead to battles between candidates on the same slate. South Antrim isn't the only seat marked by a frisson between supposed running mates. Theoretically each party should smoothly manage its votes across a constituency, but sometimes in this dog eat dog world, picking the lamppost where you want to put your poster up can be enough to raise a few snarls...

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Advisors in talks

• Mark Devenport
• 16 Feb 07, 05:07 PM

Is the government really still guessing about whether the DUP will or won't share power? I've just penned an article for the 麻豆官网首页入口 NI election website pointing out that, despite the campaign, key advisors are still talking to senior civil servants about a peace dividend and the local parties' priorities for government. An insider says the "baton change" is already underway. Common sense, so the parties don't take power stone cold, or something the voters should be told? The full article should be posted later this evening...

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Sir Reg sets out his stall

• Mark Devenport
• 16 Feb 07, 01:36 PM

The Ulster Unionists have had some fraught times at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, what with "jumping first" over power sharing and all those heated UUP executive meetings. But this morning's manifesto launch was a rather more relaxed affair.

I found myself sitting next to a number of toddlers, who I suspect were one of the UUP candidates' grandchildren. I never did find out for sure, because despite sustained and persistent questioning the little boy sitting on his mother's lap in the next seat never did confirm his name. Either he's shy, been well drilled not to talk to strangers or is a born politician, used to not answering questions...

Anyway Sir Reg Empey said it was right to have the children there as it's half term and the UUP manifesto is called "for all of us". It is packed full of "bread and butter" policies on everything from free prescriptions to 20 mph speed limits around schools to saving the Irish hare. But if the UUP is so concerned about "bread and butter" politics then why didn't it take portfolios like health and education last time? That's a question I put to Sir Reg for the Inside Politics programme going out tomorrow, and he admits that if they had to do it again they would do it differently.

In his interview Sir Reg criticises the DUP over its ambiguous approach to power sharing - he says it's fundamentally dishonest. And he disagrees with Peter Robinson's idea that keeping the government guessing gives local politicians more leverage over Gordon Brown when it comes to negotiating a peace dividend. He says that the Chancellor is never going to extend tax concessions to NI in the run up to the Scottish elections.

For more you can tune in to the programme at 12.45pm tomorrow or look the Inside Politics page up on the web after its transmission...

By the way there's a change of plan with the 麻豆官网首页入口 NI Webcast. I've got myself double booked and so my colleague Jim Fitzpatrick is going to step into the hot seat on Tuesday....don't worry you'll still get your questions asked and, after all, he's easier on the eye than me

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Welcome to the blog

• Mark Devenport
• 16 Feb 07, 11:57 AM

Hello everyone. The Secretary of State Peter Hain has apologised for Belfast's contribution to the slave trade. But he forgot to say sorry for the late appearance of this blog, so I better start off by doing just that.

The election campaign is up and running, and we've already had controversy about Bob McCartney standing in six seats, the authorities deciding that Republican Sinn Fein isn't a party and DUP candidates having to give their leader a pre-signed letter of resignation.

In the weeks to come, with the help of my colleagues Martina Purdy and Gareth Gordon I shall be doing my best to contribute whatever I can in terms of news, analysis and plain old gossip. And of course your comments will be gratefully appreciated.

And on 20 February, 麻豆官网首页入口 Northern Ireland is hosting an election webcast at 1500 GMT, when yours truly will be joined by representatives of the five largest parties. Feel free to post a question for me to put to the politicians then .

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About me

• Mark Devenport
• 16 Feb 07, 11:52 AM

I've been a 麻豆官网首页入口 Northern Ireland reporter since the mid 1980s, and have covered all the twists and turns of the peace process. In 1999 I moved to New York where I was United Nations Correspondent, before returning to Northern Ireland to take over as political editor.

I've written two books - Man of War, Man of Peace, a biography of Gerry Adams, and Flash Frames, a collection of anecdotes about reporting in Belfast.

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