Hello and welcome back to my Weekly Digest politics blog. A selection of political news stories and headlines from NI, UK and the US which have captured my notoriously limited attention, if only fleetingly!
It’s been a strange, particularly dysfunctional week or so up at Stormont, even by their usual standards! Even though the new Covid restrictions were agreed on Tuesday night, Sinn Fein minister Caral Ni Chuilin left it so late to tell sporting bodies that fans were banned from grounds that many spectators were already inside. The PSNI asserted that removing them would have endangered public safety. In a further sign of the underlying fractured views regarding the Covid restrictions within the NI Executive, Mrs Foster took to Twitter to say that Ms Ni Chuilin was wrong and what she had said was “preposterous”. Well, to be fair, it’s not like there would be much difficulty social distancing at the sparsely attended Irish League matches, anyway! 🤷🏻♂️
Edwin Poots’ allegedly ‘sectarian solo run’ controversy has continued to rumble on unabated. Eventually, we got not so much an apology as a fulsome explanation from Edwin, as to how his comments were misinterpreted and taken out of context, and how he has lots of lovely Catholic friends and neighbours whom he’d never wish to offend etc. This is Norn Iron, remember, we don’t do apologies!
Meanwhile, Edwin’s Executive colleague, the embattled Education Minister – Peter Weir, is also back in the naughty corner awaiting the teacher’s cane. It was revealed this week that Mr Weir may have been less than forthcoming about the actual absence figures in NI schools in recent weeks, when boasting that attendances have remained in the 90-100 percentile range. Pupils who have been off self-isolating due to displaying Covid-19 symptoms or being in contact with an infected person, have been marked on school registers with a code 8. Code 8 means that they aren’t recorded as being absent! I fear that this would put a very different spin on the statistics were code 8 to be recorded as an absence! What was that famous quote about statistics? ‘There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics” Well, indeed! 🤦🏻♂️
Let’s head south for a moment, to the Dail in Dublin, where the Standards in Public Office (SIPO), wrote to Sinn Féin last week seeking clarity about the execution of the will of an English man who left an estate worth over €4 million to the party. The donation by William Hampton is the largest ever received by a political party on the island of Ireland.
Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald told a State watchdog it had no authority to scrutinise donations made to the party in Northern Ireland on the grounds that Sinn Féin operated on “a six- and 26-county basis”, newly released correspondence shows. The donation from Mr Hampton was received by “the Sinn Féin party, registered in the six counties, with the British Electoral Commission”.
The stance has led to accusations that the Sinn Féin is using the border as a means of circumventing the Republic’s stricter controls on political donations. So, let me get this straight, Sinn Fein are partitionist when it comes to party donations, but not for anything else? Well, that seems perfectly reasonable and legit, doesn’t it? 🧐
One positive initiative at Stormont last week was the lighting up of the main parliament buildings in red. This was done in recognition of it being Anti-Slavery Day. This highlights the plight of people subjected to modern day slavery and human trafficking throughout the world. This was a very worthy initiative, but some may have interpreted Stormont’s red hue as a more general warning or danger sign! Let’s hope not!
And so to much bigger developments this week across the Irish Sea. Durham County Council may launch legal proceedings against Dominic Cummings and his family, who are liable to pay council tax for properties on their Durham farm – but it will not be backdated. Many people are angry that this effectively means that years of unpaid taxes on two homes will be written off. Instead, new charges for the properties will start this month following an investigation by the Valuation Agency Office. Durham County Councillor John Shuttleworth attacked the move, saying:
“If it was anybody else, they would be getting charged and it would be backdated…. It just proves there are two sets of rules, one for them and another for everyone else. It is not right.” Two sets of rules, one for the Tory elite and one for the rest of us? I don’t believe it! 🙄
And speaking of Dominic Cummings, the Great Barrington Declaration, a letter organised by prominent advocates of ‘herd immunity’, claims to have been signed by more than 15,000 scientists and medical practitioners, as well as more than 150,000 members of the general public.
Yet Sky News found dozens of fake names on the list of medical signatories, which anyone can add to if they tick a box and enter a name. These included Dr. I.P. Freely, Dr. Person Fakename and Dr. Johnny Bananas, who listed himself as a “Dr of Hard Sums”.
Other famous names included Cominic Dummings (see what they did there?), who is described as having taken a “PhD at Durham Univercity”. There were also 18 self-declared homeopaths listed on the open letter as medical practitioners, despite the fact that homeopathy has no scientific underpinning or clinical evidence to support its use.
This would, of course, be hilarious if it weren’t for the fact that it gives the appearance that the scientific community is divided on this issue, when the reality is that the vast majority of expert opinion is opposed to the herd immunity theory!
Remember that looming Brexit trade deal deadline? Well, talks between the UK Government and the EU are back on, apparently. The government says it is now “ready to welcome the EU team to London to resume negotiations”, after studying the address given on Wednesday morning by the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, to the European Parliament. For a deal that we were told was ‘oven ready’, this process has been quite torturous and they really are taking negotiations right to the wire, it would seem!
There was more Brexit related woe for Johnson in the House of Lords, too! Peers defeated the Government over its controversial Brexit legislation that would enable ministers to break international law and override parts of the Withdrawal Agreement, that was agreed with the EU last October. The Lords heavily backed a “regret” amendment, which condemns the disputed provisions in the UK Internal Market Bill – the legislation that would enable the Government to rip up parts of the Brexit deal. This could lead to a bout of parliamentary ping pong between the two chambers at Westminster, causing a delay that the government can ill afford!
Boris Johnson has clashed with Brussels over an 11th-hour attempt to save British passport holders from hours of delays at European airports from the end of the year.
The government is seeking continued use by UK nationals of the automatic e-gates used by EU nationals at airports and Eurostar terminals. The move is seen by the European commission as an attempt to keep Britons in faster lanes rather than having to queue up with the rest of the world after the end of the transition period. UK passport holders could face delays of up to an hour at airports and terminals. You can’t have your oven ready Brexit cake and eat it, Boris!
A story which snowballed as the week progressed, was the motion put forward in Parliament to support footballer, Marcus Rashford’s call to extend his recent free school meals scheme to cover the upcoming half-term and Christmas holiday periods. The motion, which aimed to feed 1.4 million of the most disadvantaged children in the country, was defeated by 322 votes to 261 – a majority of 61.
In stark contrast, the Scottish and Welsh devolved governments are currently providing free school meals until Easter. There are similar plans for NI children. Several local authorities in Manchester, Liverpool and elsewhere have already stated that they will continue to provide the meals from existing budgets, while there has been an overwhelming backlash from the general public, too. Many businesses and charity organisations have rallied to the Rashford cause! It would appear that the government may have badly misjudged the public mood on this one!
In response to the news, England football star Marcus Rashford urged politicians to “unite” to protect the most vulnerable children and vowed to continue campaigning, writing on Twitter: “For as long as they don’t have a voice, they will have mine.”The Manchester United player had previously forced the government into a u-turn over the provision of school meals over the summer holidays, and earned an MBE for his work in raising money for children who don’t have enough food.
And how did our local MP’s vote? SDLP and Alliance voted in favour, whereas all the DUP MP’s abstained, with the notable exception of Jim Shannon. Jim’s Party colleagues don’t even have Sinn Féin’s questionable excuse of principled, historical abstention, so why would they opt out of a vote to feed deprived children during the holidays, in the middle of an unprecedented, pandemic induced recession? I guess you’d have to ask them that! 🤔
The other big story of the week, and the other major headache for Boris Johnson, was the protracted negotiations between No.10 and representatives of the City of Manchester regarding the imposition of new, Tier 3 restrictions. Andy Burnham, the Labour Mayor of Greater Manchester, had publicly stated that placing the city into Tier 3 Covid restrictions would be unacceptable without a significant funding package being made available. It would appear, in a game of brinkmanship, that Mr Burnham was holding out for £65m, but the government would only go to £60m. When they failed to reach agreement, the government went ahead and announced that Tier 3 would be imposed, only with the funding now arbitrarily halved!
A furious Burnham was informed by tweet while addressing the media outside the City Hall! The whole sorry episode has only served to drive a wedge between the north of the country and the south and between the government and the largely Labour run city councils in the region. All this at a time when the country should be pulling together in a sense of common purpose amidst a global pandemic!
Another story that may have slipped under the radar slightly due to other events, involved Communities Secretary, Robert Jenrick.
Jenrick, helped a town in his constituency secure £25 million in funding from his department and then boasted about it during the election campaign.
Last year Mr Jenrick announced details of a £3.6 billion ‘Towns Fund’ to be shared between 101 left-behind areas. Under the scheme, select towns were able to bid for up to £25 million each from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Mr Jenrick and Jake Berry, his junior minister, were allegedly responsible for choosing 61 of the towns. So, what do you think happened? That’s right, despite civil servants ranking it as only the 270th most deprived area in the country, the ministers chose Newark, in Mr Jenrick’s own constituency. They also chose Darwen, a town in Mr Berry’s constituency. Well, I never! What a remarkable coincidence, eh? Who ever said that pork barrel politics was something that only pertained to US politics? 🤔
Is it any wonder then that rumours are circulating in Westminster that Boris Johnson plans to resign as Prime Minister next spring! Some Tory MP’s have been saying he has been privately complaining that he cannot live on a PM’s salary of £150,402 a year. Aw, bless!
He is said to be jealous of his predecessor Theresa May, who has earned more than £1million on the lecture circuit since quitting as PM last year. Johnson believes he could make at least double that. Before entering No10, he trousered £23,000 a month for a regular newspaper column. Added to numerous possible directorships, consultation fees, speaking tours and the inevitable lucrative memoirs, he would be on the pig’s back, for sure! Plus, he would be able to return to that comfortable place of having no official responsibility! Now, that would certainly make him feel enriched!
Over stateside now, where the two horse race to the White House is rounding the final bend and entering the home straight. This week it was all about the final presidential debate and, thankfully, it was a much less chaotic affair than the infamous first offering. The necessary mute button served its purpose and stopped Trump shouting and steamrollering over his opponent.
However, there was still plenty of classic Trump on display. Throughout the 90 minute clash with Joe Biden, he made unsubstantiated – and often completely false – accusations, defended the highly controversial, forced separation of children from their parents and was repeatedly, borderline racist. That’s not a good benchmark for basic human behaviour and civility or common decency. It should have been a series of open goals for Biden but he often chose to show restraint and play safe, which was perhaps wise with so little time left before polling day!
Biden did get a few rasping jabs in, taking some of the sting out of the Trump’s attempted character assassination of his son, Hunter, by going after Trump’s longtime lawyer and confidant, Rudy Giuliani, and branding Trump the “most racist President in modern American history!”.
But it was Trump’s own, dismissive and callous assessment of the Covid situation that may have done him the most damage with voters. – “It’s going away,” Trump said. “We’re learning to live with it!” Biden’s reply was searing. “He says, we’re, you know, learning to live with it. People are learning to die with it!” Over 220,000 people have died of Covid-19 in the US to date!
Biden brought Trump’s dubious character into sharp focus in his closing statement. – “What’s on the ballot here is the character of this country. Decency, respect, treating people with dignity,” he said. “Making sure everyone has an even chance. I’m going to make sure you get that. You haven’t had it for the last four years.”
Various post-debate polls made Biden a comfortable winner here and he will be hoping that will be replicated at the ballot box, when it really matters!
Finally, in an astonishing outburst, Donald Trump lashed out at renowned disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, deriding him as a “disaster” and said Americans are “tired” of hearing about Covid-19. Dr Fauci, of course has been acting as a key adviser to the Whitehouse in relation to the pandemic response and had looked an increasingly frustrated figure, as his advice was routinely ignored by the President. The President launched his attack on Dr Fauci while on a campaign call to staffers and made the extraordinary claim that if the scientist had been in charge more than 500,000 Americans would have died. Of course, this is patently absurd! NURSE! Donny’s off his meds again! 🤦🏻♂️
That’s us for now, folks! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading? With just a over a week to go to the big US election night, I can see I’m going to be kept very busy in the coming days, so please call in again next week for the latest news and analysis! Stay tuned, stay informed and stay safe!
F McGuckin, Head of Politics, Lagan College.
The Weekly Politics Digest! 