Recess Week
It's recess week so I am suffering withdrawal symptoms from my addiction to the Stormont canteen porridge. In order to distract myself from this ailment, I drove down to Dundalk today for a north south meeting featuring Messrs. Paisley, McGuinness and Dermot Ahern. The ministers expressed concern about the Seagate job losses, and Ian Paisley put on the record what we've all known for some time - that he and the Deputy First are off to the USA to lobby for investment before the end of the year. They are expected to pose for a photo with President Bush in the first week of December.
I had a weekend off so wasn't there for Margaret Ritchie's "no surrender" moment at the UUP conference. But my colleague Gareth Gordon told me she was definitely the star turn. All the UUP-SDLP talk of internal opposition may be a bit half hearted when their ministers are still in office, but it certainly seems to have spooked SF-DUP. Michelle McIlveen put out a statement headlined "Yes - Stranglehold on Executive exactly what DUP want" whilst John O'Dowd accused the SDLP and UUP of "living in an arrogant fantasy world of political denial".
If the SDLP and the UUP did pull out, would the whole notion of a mandatory coalition be holed below the water line? Or would both parties take a hammering from their traditionally moderate voters?
I shall leave you to ponder these thoughts for a while, as I am exploiting the opportunity afforded by recess week to take a couple of days' leave. If you see a forlorn character walking the streets pining for porridge, my advice is to cross the road and walk swiftly by on the other side.
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Must be strange the First Minister arriving in the USA with a longstanding enemy of Ulster when on previous occasions he was there to blast other unionists for gross betrayal. He said before that Bush and he had a lot in common being Presbyterians. I wonder how he will introduce his colleague which Lord Morrow has grave doubts about. I prefer good relationships between DUP and UUP but some loyal DUP representatives have lost their heads with new majority power. They should ponder the words of their leader who said that it was not Ian Paisley who won the election but David Trimble who went down the wrong road. Very magnanimous of the Big Man who can at times display more grace than some of his micro chip followers. Success arising from the failure of others to perform is surely less rewarding than resulting from ones own ability. David Trimble severely damaged the UUP but in some sense the DUP could have awarded him a medal for being the sponsor of their success. Unfortunately some of the disciples of Dr Ian are so drowned in their blind hatred of anything outside their own party they cannot see beyond themselves.
Would a coalition government of the largest Unionist and Nationalist parties with the remaining parties in opposition providing the viable alternative not be a far more natural form of government? Far from holing Stormont below the water-line I think such a move would stabilise the whole structure. The D'Hondt formula of putting everyone into government robs voters of the possibility of changing a government; it was only a stop-gap to stop us from killing each other.
Moreover, opposition gives parties the time and space to re-discover themselves and present a modernised platform for getting back into government. Such time and space is rarely available to parties in government. Could Labour ever have become New Labour at the same time as participating in the government of the country?
Enjoy your break,but remember its the Alliance Party Confernce this weeked so I suppose you will be back on duty then.
Perhaps you will be able to report what the real Assembly opposition is doing at what is expected to be an exciting party conference following the Party's election sucess at the assembly elections.
Wasn't it a bit dim of the Alliance to hold their conference on the same day as the SDLP?