The Weekly Politics Digest!

Hi everyone, and welcome back to my bumper New Year edition of the Weekly Digest! My weekly roundup of noteworthy events in the world of politics in NI, UK and the good ole US of A! Okay, brace yourselves, strap in your seatbelts and hold on tight because this going to be one hell of a ride! I take some time off for a well deserved bit of Christmas r&r, thinking that things will be reasonably uneventful over the holiday and early New Year period, apart from the Brexit deadline thing, of course. However, not only has it not been uneventful, instead, all hell has actually broken loose! That’s why I said this was a ‘bumper edition’, as it may take some time to wade through the chaos and make some sense of it all, so bear with me! I mean, where do I even start? Well, you know where – Stormont, that’s where we always begin! In good ole Norn Iron! We’ll get to the other ‘good ole’ patch of turf later!

Some of you may have noticed that things were not quite as they should be when getting your weekly grocery shop over the last week or two. There were widespread reports of empty shelves in some aisles at the likes of Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s. There were even reports that Sainsbury’s had attempted to plug the gaps with products from rival local retailer, Spar! What is going on, you may well ask?

While the UK has left the EU, Northern Ireland has remained in the EU single market for goods and is still subject to the EU’s customs rules under the NI protocol agreed between the UK and the EU. All movements of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland now require a customs declaration and some products need additional certification. This is significantly increasing the administrative burden on retailers and hauliers, as well as increasing costs. We would have to assume that these costs will inevitably be passed on to consumers in NI. In the first week or two of the new arrangements this has caused some delays for goods entering NI ports which has, in turn, led to shortages of some products on supermarket shelves here. It is hoped that this is a temporary problem while everyone adjusts to the new arrangements. Nevertheless, this is a worrying development! The danger in the long term is that some of the big retailers may decide we’re not worth the extra hassle and simply pull out of the NI market altogether, thus reducing healthy competition and driving up prices even further.

The DUP’s Ian Paisley observed that just a week in the Northern Ireland Protocol had been an “unmitigated disaster”. He then suggested the problems could be eliminated by the unilateral abandoning of the protocol under Article 16 of the agreement. This, of course, would jeopardise the entire trade deal with the EU and so is highly improbable! As with all prominent DUP figures this week, there wasn’t the slightest hint of acknowledgement that their Party’s fervent support for a hard Brexit and misplaced faith and trust in Boris Johnston, had in any way contributed to the current situation. Indeed, DUP leader, Arlene Foster had stated her firm belief that it was all the fault of SF, the SDLP and Alliance parties for insisting on the NI Protocol in order to protect the open border with RoI. As I recall, however, this was also an EU red line in negotiations in order to protect the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement! Ultimately, the reality is, it is the imposition of a hard Brexit that has led us to this point! The following Twitter thread between Edwin Poots and Colum Eastwood summed up the terse exchanges between the parties here in recent days. The blame game is in full flow, unlike our imported goods!

One person who appears to be blissfully unaware of our current trading difficulties is Brandon Lewis, the NI Secretary. Apparently, according to Mr Lewis, there is no Irish Sea border to speak of and our current difficulties have merely been as a result of the knock on effect from the well publicised logjam at Dover just before Christmas. Mr Lewis’ determination to continually deny the blatant reality of the situation for NI, has caused some consternation here, among traders, hauliers and consumers, as well as in some political quarters. His credibility hangs by a thread!

As I write, we are in the midst of a dreaded third wave of the Coronavirus pandemic. To some extent, a surge had been expected in the aftermath of the Christmas period, in part due the NI Executive’s controversial decision, after much internal division and wrangling as per, to relax the anti-Covid restrictions in the run up to and during Christmas. On 22 November, a UK-wide plan, which was also backed in NI, allowed for some household mixing “for a small number of days” over Christmas. Then, the news that a new coronavirus variant was spreading more rapidly throughout the UK changed everything. However, unlike in the Republic of Ireland, the NI Executive did not enforce a travel ban on those coming in from GB at that point. The NI executive did, eventually, agree to cut the “bubble” to just one day over Christmas.

The upshot of all of this is we are in a potentially dire situation now regarding surging positive cases, hospital admissions, ICU intake and, ultimately, deaths! Which is why, on 26th December, Northern Ireland went into a six-week lockdown, with a plan to review it after four weeks. The question remains; to what extent was any of this avoidable? Could the often ineffective NI Executive have made better and earlier decisions? How much has the constant internecine in-fighting between Executive Ministers and parties hampered progress on tackling the virus? And just like the Conservative government in Westminster, were they guilty of sending mixed messages to the public, leading to a dangerous complacency and unacceptable levels of non-compliance with the Covid restrictions? I’ll leave you to answer those questions!

The six week lockdown has implications for society which are very far reaching and some aspects remain very controversial, such as closing schools, which perhaps explains why this decision was dragged out the most! The respective Education Ministers in NI and at UK level have both come under intense criticism and even pressure to resign over their handling of the crisis, or should I say, mishandling! Both Ministers are like peas in a pod when it comes to education policy. Indeed, some would say that Peter Weir, the NI Education Minister, quite consistently only introduces changes after his GB counterpart, Gavin Williamson, has done so first. This is not a great decision making model to follow because, apart from the differences in the education systems, school population etc, the hapless Gavin Williamson has just been entirely hopeless at his job from the get go! They both bungled the awarding of grades using an ill fated algorithm last year during the first lockdown, forcing them into embarrassing u-turns. Then, they both maintained that schools would stay open and exams would remain in place until a day or so before we were locked down again and exams had to be shelved, again! Williamson was also embroiled in the extension of free school meals into the holidays controversy, where he was shamed into another embarrassing u-turn by Manchester United footballer, Marcus Rashford.

Mr Weir’s central preoccupation this time around appeared to be the sanctity of the p7 Transfer tests. He was determined that they would go ahead at all costs, come what may! Mr Weir and his DUP party are staunch defenders of the transfer procedure and he refused to countenance calls by other parties to cancel the tests this year in favour of other means of selection. The Minister has dismissed these calls and accused other parties of following an anti-academic selection agenda. This may be true for some, but certainly not for all of those who were opposing him, I might add. In the event, the GL testing body cancelled their transfer test for this year. The other private provider, AQE, somewhat bizarrely and confusingly cancelled the forthcoming January tests (they had already been postponed from the Autumn!), before announcing that a single test would then be reconvened for the end of February instead!

In the middle of all of this manoeuvring is a cohort of stressed and confused 11 year olds, who just want to go the local ‘big school’ of their choice! Whatever your views on academic selection, and mine are very clear, this whole, sorry episode has been dragged out unnecessarily, to the detriment of these young children and their equally stressed parents! Arguably, decisions could and should have been made earlier, more decisively and with more clarity than was the case! In my view, these are exceptional circumstances and that should have been recognised much sooner. If the Minister put as much effort into the other areas of his job as he does into protecting the interests of an unregulated, private selective testing body, our education system would be much the better for it! The rights and wrongs of academic selection can be debated another time, but this year, of all years, it would arguably have been more unfair than ever on children from lower socio-economic groups! You are entirely free to politely disagree, of course!

In the end, the closing of schools was a decision which was beyond the respective education Ministers’ control, thankfully! No one wants to see the closure of schools but, again, these are exceptional circumstances which require drastic measures! Amid an alarming rise in Covid cases and the prominence of a new and more virulent variant, the case for closure became overwhelming. This still didn’t stop both Ministers from refusing to accept this reality until they were effectively forced into it! Just before Christmas, Gavin Williamson had even threatened to sue anyone who refused to send their child back in to school after the holidays! Oh dear! 🤦🏻‍♂️

So, I’ve been overlapping somewhat between NI and the wider UK, rather appropriately, as much discussion has been had over the festive period about the impact of Brexit not just on the future economic prospects for NI but also in relation to its political position within the UK! It has been said that the DUP, and Unionism in general, weren’t so much stabbed in the back as blatantly and brazenly in the front by Boris Johnston and his Brexiteer ERG backers within the Tory right wing. The harsh reality is, there is now a customs border down the Irish Sea, forcing an economic realignment on the island of Ireland. Whether that leads to a political realignment is very open to question, but the ever more realistic prospect of Scottish independence will undoubtedly throw another hefty spanner in those works. On the 100th anniversary of the creation of the state of Northern Ireland, its future has never been more uncertain. Many within Unionism may be comforted, perhaps for the first time, by the constitutional protections afforded by the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement! They may also be wary of trusting the Tories again for the foreseeable future!

The two items dominating the news agenda and Boris Johnston’s in-tray over the festive period and New Year have been the Covid-19 third wave, fuelled by the new variant and Brexit, fuelled by the same old variant! I think it’s fair to say, neither are going particularly well for Boris et al.

In relation to Covid-19, there have been more than 1000 deaths per day for numerous consecutive days now and this figure is unlikely to reduce significantly over the next fortnight because of the lag between infections and fatalities. It is almost certain the UK will soon pass the grim milestone of more than 100,000 deaths. In this respect, alone, the government’s response to the pandemic can be described as “world beating” – Britain now has the highest number of infections per capita in the world and the fifth highest death rate. Yes, you read that correctly! Yes, this is the government that has presided over the deaths of over 20,000 people in Care Homes, spent billions of pounds on a failed test and trace system, excluded three million people from financial support, bunged contracts to their cronies, bungled the reopening of schools, and left frontline workers without sufficient kit, introduced a flawed tier system for applying different Covid restrictions in different regions/areas, and only this week did they introduce test and isolate controls at airports. This week!

The one thing the government are hoping to get right in this whole Coronavirus catastrophe is the vaccine roll out! Bold claims have been made about so many millions being vaccinated by the end of February etc. The army have been engaged to help with the massive upscaling of the vaccination programme and ‘super centres’ are being readied, where thousands can be vaccinated every day! All well and good, but we’ve been here with the big promises before with this government – track and trace? PPE? So, forgive me if I remain a little sceptical! And so it was with this grand plan in mind, that Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, decided to visit a London GP surgery during the week to highlight the efficient roll out of the big vaccination push. It didn’t go well! In the full glare of an invited press pack, poor old Matt was told by a GP that they had run out of vaccines and were patiently waiting for more to arrive! Matt put on his best concerned face and promised to look into it forthwith, then engaged in a pointless tour of the surgery, inspecting the booths were people would receive the vaccination, if they had any! He then had to address the media outside, desperately trying to reassure them that the government’s vaccination roll out was firmly on track and some gaps in supply initially were just teething problems and would be ironed out etc. You have our complete confidence, Matt! 😳

Do I have to cover Brexit again? Well, yes, now that the UK has actually, finally left the EU and embarked on a bright new dawn as a sovereign, free trading nation, blah, blah, blah. Boris even managed to cobble together a last ditch trade deal with the EU, as predicted. So, has it all been plain sailing so far? Well, no it hasn’t, predictably! We’ve had the entirely predictable chaos at southern English seaports, for a start. The best that can be said about the 1,246-page deal is that it prevents tariffs and quotas being slapped on the £668bn-a-year of UK-EU trade after Brexit, as would have been the case under a no deal scenario.

However, the deal was certainly not universally welcomed by everyone. National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations chairman, Andrew Locker, said the industry had been “betrayed” by the Prime Minister. Maybe he should form a support group with Arlene Foster and the DUP? Other unhappy people include haulage firms, whose cross channel journeys have become infinitely more bureaucratic and complicated. Wait, wasn’t that one of the reasons for leaving in the first place? Then there’s the farmers who will soon lose their generous subsidies, or the students who wanted to study abroad under the Erasmus Programme which is no longer available, or human rights activists who will bemoan the removal of the European Court of Justice’s role as final arbiter in deciding UK legal cases. Several £billion in EU shares left the city of London the very day after the deal was signed. That may only be the beginning of the worries for the financial sector, which is the powerhouse of the UK economy. No one has actually been able to show how this deal is demonstrably better than the deal that Theresa May had brokered. Arguably, it’s demonstrably worse than both her softer Brexit or simply remaining within the EU! Time will tell, I suppose, but I fear a lot of irreparable damage may done by the time the penny drops!

Okay, I think I’ve definitely saved the best for last now, as I had head across the Atlantic to check out what’s been happening in the good ole US of A! Just WOW! Donald J Trump is both the recurring nightmare that won’t go away and the gift that just keeps on giving in terms of hitting the politics headlines! The tangerine POTUS was always destined to go out with a bang and he’s not disappointing!

I actually thought that the biggest Trump related news story of the New Year would be the fall out from his infamous recorded phone call to the Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, where he practically threatened him while asking him to commit electoral fraud by finding 11,780 votes from nowhere to allow Trump to claim victory in the state. Or, the fact that two Democrat Senators have just been returned in the Georgia election run off, allowing Joe Biden to have control of both Houses in Congress.

Raffensperger is a Republican who has become a hate figure for Trump supporters for repeatedly saying Biden’s win in his state was fair and legitimate. In one damning put down, he said: “Well, Mr President, the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong.” Trump had implored him: “So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”

The Washington Post obtained a tape of the “extraordinary” conversation, which Trump later acknowledged on Twitter. Amid widespread outrage, including calls for a second impeachment, Bob Bauer, a senior Biden adviser, said: “We now have irrefutable proof of a president pressuring and threatening an official of his own party to get him to rescind a state’s lawful, certified vote count and fabricate another in its place.” This was clearly an impeachable offence! There was no ambiguity about it and it was all there for everyone to hear on the verified audio recording! This is sensational stuff, I thought. The Teflon Don has finally done something that was so brazenly corrupt and obviously criminal that he would be banged to rights! What I, and I’m sure many others, weren’t expecting, was for him to up the stakes further and go completely rogue, like a desperate, cornered animal!

The scene was then set for Trump’s last throw of the dice, the Senate ratification of the Electoral College votes, scheduled for Jan 6th in Congress. Normally a formality, this would now be the focus for one last, desperate attempt to overturn the US Presidential Election result. A group of Republican senators, led by Ted Cruz, had said they would reject the Electoral College votes of several states unless Congress appointed a commission to audit the election results. Trump was also of the mistaken belief that Vice President Pence would use his power as Senate Speaker to intervene and stop the ratification process. When it became clear that this was never going to happen, Trump turned on his long term ally and the cries of traitor went up!

What eventually unfolded in Washington on January 06, 2021 was to be way worse than anyone could have foreseen! Or was it, though? Although shocking, was it really such a surprise, given the stoking and fomenting of dissent in recent weeks by an increasingly irrational Trump and his enablers? Those same enablers, and there have been many of them, who decided to overlook the fact that he paid hush money to former sexual partners, that he mocked the disabled, urged violence against journalists, gave encouragement and validation to far-right extremists, who praised the virtues of a racist in front of thousands of boy scouts, used his office to enrich his family and personal business interests, told minority ethnic congresswomen to go back home, who stoked racial hatred at every opportunity in his many rallies, and lied a thousand lies.

So, was it really any surprise that at a typically highly charged rally earlier that day, Donald Trump and other speakers rabble roused and incited his aggrieved followers to march on the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington DC? Congress was holding a joint session to ratify President-elect Joe Biden’s 306-232 Electoral College win which had not yet been completed. In truly shocking, chaotic and violent scenes, protesters, many of whom were armed, then forcibly entered the U.S. Capitol Building, causing Congress to be suspended and cowering Senators to be evacuated for their own safety.

So, who were these insurgents storming the Capitol building in their thousands? Were they just a lot of deeply misguided and gullible ordinary Joe’s who have been duped into placing their trust in a maniac and believing his lies? Undoubtedly many of them do fit that description, but there were also much more sinister elements there, too. There were disparate groups from Qanon conspiracy theory nuts, to dedicated far right extremists. Some of the most prominent antagonists pictured inside the Capitol building have already been identified and arrested. The list of shame makes for very interesting reading!

Richard Barnett was pictured with his feet on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk. Barnett leads a pro-gun rights group in Arkansas and is a self confessed white nationalist. He was arrested on Friday, according to law enforcement officials.

Jacob Anthony Chansley, also known as Jake Angeli, from Arizona, was one of the most prominent rioters in the Capitol. Chansley can be seen in several photos shirtless, wearing a horned helmet and holding a confederate flag. He is a well known QAnon conspiracy advocate and activist! He has also since been arrested and charged!

Nicholas Ochs, a Hawaii leader of the right wing, racist group, Proud Boys, is also under arrest for unlawful entry of the U.S. Capitol.

Trump really does keep some charming company! He may find, however, that he has unleashed some very unpleasant forces that he cannot control! We have learned that democracies, even one as powerful as the USA, can be fragile and that the principles they uphold must be defended, but we have also learned that sinister anti-democratic forces must be confronted before they spread and are emboldened to take action. While some politicians and certain media organisations reflect on their own culpability for Trump’s behaviour and that of his cult following, they should also reflect on how we prevent the spread of lies and disinformation. The belated decision by Facebook and Twitter to indefinitely suspend Trump’s social media accounts is a positive step in the right direction, but shouldn’t this have been done way earlier? How did you get to the situation where a sizeable percentage of US citizens have been indoctrinated into believing the election was a total fraud? We can blame Trump for exploiting their gullibility, their paranoia and their delusions, but shouldn’t more have been done to counter the false information and to educate people on the truth?

So, what happens next? Well, I think we can probably rule out invoking the 25th Amendment to forcibly remove Trump from office, as this will require the coalescence of VP, Mike Pence, plus 8 Cabinet Officers. Some have already resigned, I suspect to avoid being into that position and I’m not sure Pence has the stomach for it, anyway, given that he’s already public enemy number 1 with the baying Trump mob! Donald Trump’s second impeachment is certainly on the cards with House Democrats indicating they will introduce the relevant articles following the riots at the US Capitol. Congresswoman Omar was said to be drawing up the articles of impeachment for submission to Nanci Pelosi.

Impeachment starts with a vote in the House of Representatives on the articles of impeachment – basically a list of charges against the president. If the vote passes with a simple majority (50% + 1), then the president has been impeached and is then subject to a trial in the Senate. After the trial, the Senate votes on whether to convict and remove the president from office. This vote requires a two-thirds majority to strip the impeached of the presidency. Given the Republicans controlled the Senate at the time of Mr Trump’s first impeachment, he comfortably managed to stay in power. However, since the Georgia state run off and the election of two Democrat Senators there, they now control both houses of Congress. It just depends how many Republicans are prepared to go against Trump now to achieve the two thirds required.

Democrat representative Ilhan Omar says the process is important to set a precedent. “It’s important to impeach & convict this president even if he has a few days left in office,” she tweeted…. “It will set a precedent. We must make it clear that no president can lead an insurrection against the US government.” …”What we do today will matter for the rest of this nation’s history.” Well, indeed! The world is watching, America!

Thank you for reading and sharing! Sorry for the slight delay this week, but this was a bit of a tome to write and I was afraid of missing any last minute developments, such is the nature of this politics beast! Until next week, then, stayed tuned in, stay informed and stay safe! 👋🤓👍

Hello, and welcome back to blog 17 of the Weekly Digest. This is my weekly roundup of what’s been grabbing my attention in the world of politics in NI, UK and USA. I’ve gone for a very hyperbolic, tabloid-esque headline this week. I don’t want to over egg the pudding, but the political drama just keeps unfolding, both locally and further afield. Covid has returned to the top of the agenda with a vengeance this week, with news of the emergence of a more virulent new strain of coronavirus in the SE of England, leading to rapid reassessments of restrictions and tiers! Will it all end it tears for the devolved and central governments, who have been accused of mishandling their respective responses to the pandemic throughout? Are we having another NI Executive meltdown? Plus, Joe Biden has moved a significant step closer to the White House. Let’s take a look at all of that and some other news, beginning as always, right here in N. Ireland.

In a dramatic but not entirely unexpected development, the NI Executive announced a strict 6-week lockdown, to commence from Dec 26th. (Boxing Day!) This will be akin to the more stringent lockdown we experienced back in March, except schools will inexplicably remain fully open this time. Unlike previously, the Executive appears to have taken firm and decisive action on this occasion, due to the seriousness of the situation affecting our NHS. In a very worrying development, several hospitals were already reporting being beyond their capacity last week. As usual, however, it didn’t take long for the mask of collective responsibility and decisive decision making to slip, revealing the Punch and Judy recriminations and political point scoring that have come to characterise devolved governance in NI.

Deputy First Minister, Michelle O’Neill, got the first punch in when she gave an interview to RTE radio. Ms O’Neill told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland programme the DUP had worked against public health experts and their executive colleagues. “The DUP have worked against the entire public health team, they have worked against the entire executive,” she said. She also insisted she has never deviated from the official advice. First Minister Arlene Foster jabbed back by saying Sinn Féin had decided “they were above the laws”. In clear reference to the controversy around the funeral of veteran Republican, Bobby Storey, Mrs Foster went on to say – “At the end of June, one party, Sinn Féin, had decided whilst they made the laws, they were also above the laws”.

Meanwhile on Thursday, police completed their investigation into alleged Covid restriction breaches at the Storey funeral and referred their findings to the CPS for a decision on potential prosecutions. Ms O’Neill’s attendance at the funeral, along with many other senior SF figures was viewed as undermining public confidence in and compliance with the Covid restrictions.

Mrs Foster said the new lockdown measures due to begin in Northern Ireland on 26 December are the result of a failure of society. She appealed to the people of Northern Ireland to set their own standards. Mrs Foster said prior to June compliance with Covid-19 regulations had been “very good”, with Northern Ireland being “the envy of our colleagues in the UK”.

Well, that’s a relief! I’m so glad it’s all our fault, rather than the bickering, dithering, divided and inept decision making and governance of the NI Executive. The truth is, however, our political representatives, and the DUP and SF in particular, have let us all down. Whichever way you look at it, the response to the pandemic has been grossly mismanaged here due to the gaping divisions that remain at the heart of devolved government.

Blood donation rules have been altered here to finally allow gay and bisexual men who have had the same partner for the previous three months to become donors. In 2011 the ban on donations from gay men, put in place during the 1980s AIDS crisis, was lifted in England, Scotland and Wales following recommendations by the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO). Edwin Poots, the then NI Health Minister, maintained the ban in Northern Ireland in 2011, on the basis of ensuring public safety. Senior judges were told former Health Minister Edwin Poots’ acted irrationally in maintaining the ban because the threat was “infinitesimal”. (that means very small!) Lawyers also claimed Mr Poots’ decision was a “knee-jerk reaction” which went against the advice of his officials and experts – a so-called ministerial solo run! Mr Poots was also held to have breached the ministerial code by failing to take the issue before the Stormont Executive, and was evidently influenced by his Christian beliefs in preserving the blanket ban.

Health Minsiter Robin Swann said he is pleased to be able to announce the decision which he stressed is based on expert advice from the advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO) and was “guided purely by science”.

In other news, Economy minister Diane Dodds, a former DUP MEP, has now told MLAs that her department faces a substantial £124 million budget shortfall next year. Without the merest hint of irony, she noted that this includes, “the removal of EU funding of which £70m is required next year”. The DUP, if you remember, had adamantly predicted that Northern Ireland would be financially much better off because of Brexit. The previous EU funding is being replaced by a so-called Shared Prosperity Fund administered from London. Mrs Dodds was unable to say how much it will contribute, though “informal indications suggest £11m”. So, my maths isn’t great, admittedly, but by my calculations that’s quite a bit of a shortfall!

This episode arguably emphasises the folly of the DUP’s support for the whole Brexit project; just when the NI economy requires support to recover from Covid-19 and to meet the challenges of a customs border in the Irish Sea and all that comes with a hard Brexit, it is being significantly weakened and undermined.

One final note on NI before I move on. As stated above, there will be a 6-week lockdown imposed from Dec 26th here, but this will not include schools. Peter Weir, the DUP Minister for Education has been very resistant to any such suggestions, citing the effects of lockdown on pupils’ health and well-being. Whether you agree with him or not, his decision to inform school principals by email at 8pm on Friday, 18th Dec, was calculatingly evasive, to put it mildly. By sending his message out just after the term has ended and schools have closed for Christmas, he gave school management no opportunity to reply or challenge the highly controversial decision. This was pretty spineless, in my opinion and will do nothing to instil any confidence in him within an already deeply sceptical teaching profession, not to mention parents and pupils.

How things can change in the space of a few days. During PMQ’s on Wednesday, the PM was seeking to reassure people that their traditional family Christmas was not at risk and accused Sir Keir Starmer of acting like a Xmas Grinch! However, by the weekend things were looking very different, leaving a much chastened Boris to break it to much of the nation that a bubbled, extended family Christmas was as good as cancelled.

After a four-nations meeting on Wednesday morning, the UK government agreed not to change Christmas bubble laws that would allow three households to gather under one roof. However, the Prime Minister effectively began undermining many family plans anyway – by suggesting his advice was for the elderly to be left home alone. Mr Johnson told Prime Minister’s Questions: “We don’t want to criminalise people’s long made plans…..But we do think it’s absolutely vital that people should, at this very very tricky time, exercise a high degree of personal responsibility, especially when they come into contact with elderly people.

Calling on people to exercise personal responsibility, the PM added: “That is how, by being sensible and being cautious, not by imposing endless lockdowns or cancelling Christmas as [Keir Starmer] would appear to want to do… that is the way we will continue to work together to keep this virus under control, defeat it and take the country forward.” Johnson reaffirmed that Ministers would not change laws agreed last month, in which people in any tiers could travel and gather in a one-off, three-household ‘Christmas bubble’ from December 23-27.

However, over at the other dispatch box, Sir Keir Starmer indicated that he now wanted to cancel the Christmas bubble system. He quoted a joint call by two medical journals to cancel Christmas bubbles and said “the Prime Minister should listen to that advice – not just ignore it as usual.”

Mr Johnson replied: “I wish he had the guts to say what he really wants to do which is to cancel the plans people have made and cancel Christmas. ….I can tell him that as of today and just this morning there is actually unanimous agreement across all the UK government across all the devolved administrations including members of all parties… that we should proceed in principle with the existing regulations.”

Well, those confident promises didn’t last long, did they? Within a couple of days, more evidence had emerged about the new strain of Coronavirus that had been discovered in Kent and was now rampant throughout London and the Southeast. The new strain is up to 70% more infectious, which is a huge cause for concern. There are no indications that it is any more deadly, or resistant to existing vaccines, however. Nevertheless, this was a very unwelcome game changer for the hapless Boris, who has now put the whole of the southeast region into Tier 4, the highest category of lockdown. The 3 family bubble Christmas has been well and truly burst. Who’s the Grinch now, then?

In what has been a terrible week for the Prime Minister, it also emerged that UNICEF is planning an operation to feed hungry children in London over the Xmas period. Yes, UNICEF! Yes, in London, the capital of the 5th/6th richest country in the world!

In a damning indictment of the Tory government, 1,800 deprived families struggling in the pandemic will receive breakfast boxes over the Christmas holidays thanks to Unicef UK. Unicef is the United Nations agency responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to kids around the world. It is better known for boosting disaster relief or working in war zones – but has intervened to provide aid in Britain for the first time in its 70-year history.

The leader of the House of Commons, Jacob Rees Mogg, then sparked outrage on Thursday when he launched an extraordinary attack on UNICEF UK. The senior Tory told the Commons the charity should be “ashamed of itself” for providing food parcels to children in deprived areas of London. He claimed it was a “scandal” that Unicef was “playing politics” by granting £25,000 to fund breakfasts for vulnerable youngsters in the Southwark borough. The Labour MP for the area, Neil Coyle, has written to Mr Rees-Mogg accusing him of a “lack of shame”. He really is determined to confirm the general public’s view of him as an upper class Dickensian villain!

Further negative headlines were generated this week when it was revealed that the recently departed and highly controversial Special Adviser, Dominic Cummings, is to receive a substantial pay rise! He is currently serving out his notice period, working from home. The additional salary will probably be back dated! The salary raise to up to £144,999 form around £95-99,000, provoked anger for rewarding an individual whose trip to Barnard Castle during the first lockdown has been cited as undermining public confidence in the Government. Boris Johnson’s press secretary defended Dominic Cummings’ £45,000 pay rise – claiming it took him to the “correct level of salary” for his role as a “most important” Special Adviser. Clearly, we should emphasise the word ‘special’! Labour said the “bumper bonus” was an insult to public sector workers receiving a pay freeze. Well, quite!

And so to those Brexit trade deal negotiations, again! The interminable talks continue, still with no agreement in sight. There are many who suspect that all the posturing, grandstanding and brinkmanship of the last few weeks have simply been an exercise in duping the public over the concessions granted to get a deal over the line. Boris will wave the treaty agreement in front of the public and insist it was only possible because of the UK’s determination to drive the hardest possible bargain. EU leaders will, of course, do the same for their own domestic audiences. Haven’t we been here before?

Almost a year ago the Prime Minister signed a withdrawal agreement which was presented as a stroke of negotiating genius, despite granting concessions which he had previously promised were non-negotiable, as people in N. Ireland are only too aware! Only when we see the small print of any trade deal will we know what Johnson has agreed and discover who he has betrayed for the sake of political expediency and assuaging his own inflated ego. It cannot be the people of NI or Unionism this time, so will it be the fishing industry? Or, will it be the Brexiteers when they realise that, one way or another, we will now be EU rule takers, but outside the club and without a say at the top table?

Let’s head over the big pond and check out what’s going on in the US, shall we?

The main event of the week was when Joe Biden was formally elected as the next president of the United States by members of the electoral college on Monday, all but ending Donald Trump’s unprecedented bid to subvert the will of the American people and overturn the results of the presidential election. This is one more procedural step closer to Biden’s inauguration on 20 January despite Trump’s refusal to accept his defeat and concede the race.

Amid tight security, the President-elect addressed the electoral college vote count in a speech to the nation – “In this battle for the soul of America, democracy prevailed,” “We the people voted. Faith in our institutions held. The integrity of our elections remains intact. And so, now it is time to turn the page. To unite. To heal.” “Nothing, not even a pandemic, or an abuse of power can extinguish that flame” of American democracy, Biden added, highlighting the contributions of election officials in carrying out their duty amid the pandemic, even amid threats and verbal abuse from detractors and Trump supporters. “We owe these public servants a debt of gratitude,” Biden continued. “Our democracy survived because of them.”

It looks like Congress is just as polarised as ever, especially when it comes to spending federal bucks! Congress passed another short-term funding extension on Friday to give lawmakers more time to finish a coronavirus deal and avoid a potential federal shutdown, like the one that similarly occurred when the Obama administration sought to raise the debt ceiling in order to fund a stimulus package after he had inherited the financial crash!

Days of disagreements and drafting hold ups have suddenly threatened the delicate relief bill, with some Republicans opposed to the structure of stimulus checks and looking to rein in the Federal Reserve’s lending power. New restrictions could hamper the incoming Biden administration’s ability to respond to financial challenges and could lead to a further economic downturn.

Leaders from both parties, including Nanci Pelosi, have tried, to no avail, to assure the other side that they’re not trying to pull a fast one. But by late Friday afternoon, it was clear lawmakers wouldn’t be able to deliver legislative text of the compromise in time to avert a government shutdown, prompting Congress to move forward with a two-day continuing resolution. Negotiators had settled on $600 in direct payments, but Democrats have said all along that they’d be happy to include more. $600 wouldn’t go a long way for struggling families in the midst of a pandemic, to be fair!

In other news, Donald Trump’s dalliance with declaring martial law in battleground states and appointing a well known conspiracy theorist as special counsel to help his attempt to overturn defeat by Joe Biden, have caused a bit of stir. Despite Joe Biden winning the Presidential election by 306-232 in the electoral college and leading by more than 7m ballots in the popular vote, Trump is still entertaining increasingly outlandish ruses to remain in office, cheered on by allies like former National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, who Trump pardoned after he lied to the FBI, and longtime confidant, Rudy Giuliani, the president’s increasingly unhinged personal attorney. During a meeting on Friday, according to the NY Times, Trump discussed security clearance for Sidney Powell, the conspiracy-churning attorney who was previously axed from Trump’s campaign legal team.

While Trump still has the support of worrying number of Republican representatives, numerous others, from outgoing Attorney General, William Barr, to governors and state officials, have said repeatedly there is no evidence of the voter fraud Trump alleges. Even former Republican Presidential candidate and party grandee, Mitt Romney has weighed in against him.

“It’s not going to happen,” Romney told CNN. “That’s going nowhere. And I understand the president is casting about trying to find some way to have a different result than the one that was delivered by the American people, but it’s really sad in a lot of respects and embarrassing. You said it, Mitt!

Well, that’s me for this week, folks! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the latest instalment. I realise there may be the odd noteworthy story I may have missed, but I can’t cover everything, I’m afraid! I’ll be taking a well earned break for the next week or so, but I’ll be back early in the new year for a catch up. Until then, have a great Christmas and a healthy, safe and prosperous New Year! Stay tuned in, stay informed and stay safe! Take care out there! Adios!

Welcome back to Blog 16 of my Weekly Digest! My round up of this week’s politics news in NI, UK and the USA. You know the drill by now, I don’t cover absolutely everything, just whatever grabs my attention on any given week. And there was a lot to attract my gaze this past week, that’s for sure! Once again, I think the biggest story of several this week is still the Brexit trade negotiations. Hence, I have entitled this week’s blog – Brexit, Betrayal and Brinkmanship, for reasons which will become obvious! As always, we begin right here in N. Ireland.

It is in N Ireland where the Brexit betrayal is being felt most acutely. Specifically, within the ranks of the DUP, who have found themselves floundering all week under a wave of criticism over their strategic errors around Brexit and their misplaced trust in Boris and the ERG wing of the Tory Party. It was the DUP, let’s not forget, who campaigned most vociferously for a hard Brexit. It was the DUP who controversially received the largest ever recorded anonymous financial donation during the final days of the Brexit Referendum campaign, and duly spent it on full page, pro-Brexit adverts in London newspapers! It was the DUP who invited Boris Johnson to their conference and fawned over his every word, as he gave cast iron assurances that NI would not be treated differently post-Brexit. It was also the DUP who rejected the softer Brexit offered by Teresa May and stayed loyal to the hard Brexiteers in Parliament at every turn.

And yet, here we are! NI will indeed be treated differently, from January 1st, as the Brexit transition period comes to an end. Whether or not the UK and EU secure a last minute trade deal, there will be a customs border down the Irish Sea regardless! Fears of substantial extra costs and delays for goods coming to and from GB to NI have subsided somewhat, given the agreement this week on the removal of the highly controversial NI Protocol, but this doesn’t change the fact that an Irish Sea border will come into effect and will be here to stay. It was always going to be thus! So, it does beg the inevitable question; why did the DUP not see this coming? The fact that the DUP’s Agriculture & Rural Development Minister, Edwin Poots, has had to oversee his department officials installing the new border infrastructure at our sea ports, has only served to rub more ironic salt into the gaping wounds!

The big beasts of the DUP, including Lord Dodds, Jeffrey Donaldson and Arlene Foster, came out fighting this week, on the tv and the airwaves, denying that they’d made a huge strategic error in backing Brexit so enthusiastically, they rebuffed all suggestions that they were enthralled to Boris and his right wing ERG cabal and that they have now been hoodwinked, and have dismissed the notion that they have weakened the very thing which is their raison d’etre – the union! By anyone’s standards that is a staggering level of denial and delusion which is simply not credible! There must be some serious regrets and recriminations going on internally within the DUP, surely? There must also be a tacit admission that NI PLC could even do quite well out this arrangement in the medium to long term, particularly if there is a no deal exit, as seems increasingly likely! We could be handed the golden egg of being uniquely positioned with one foot in each camp, with fairly open access to both the UK and EU markets! The only caveat, and it’s a big one for the DUP and Unionism, is that we may increasingly pivot towards the ROI and the EU, economically speaking. The political and constitutional pivot may also seem a more distinct possibility as a result! The DUP may even be grateful, eventually, for the principle of consent assurances granted under the previously maligned Good Friday Agreement! It will also be interesting to see what impact all of this has on DUP support at the next election, or if there are to be any repercussions for the current leadership!

The other story which caught my critical eye in NI this week was on the education front. There was a very feisty meeting of the Education Committee at Stormont, with DUP Minister, Peter Weir, coming under intense scrutiny, mainly from the SDLP’s Daniel Wray McCrossan and Committee Chair, Chris Lyttle (Alliance). The main focus of their combined ire was in relation to the Minister’s refusal to countenance the early closure of schools before Christmas, despite a rising tide of positive cases in young people and the very real possibility of many pupils and teachers having to isolate over Christmas as a result. The other point of contention was regarding the Minister’s refusal to even contemplate an alternative to running GCSE and A level exams as normal in May and June.

The arguments for scrapping the exam series in 2021 are well laid out – pupils have seen significant disruption in the delivery of their courses of study, due to the initial Covid lockdown, extended half-term holiday and then there’s the many sporadic examples of pupils and/or teachers having to self-isolate for 14 days at a time. The fact that some schools/areas have been affected more than others arguably creates an uneven playing field where exams are concerned. Mr Weir refutes this analysis and believes that exams are still the fairest way to award grades for the current cohort. He described Wray McCrossan’s criticisms as a ‘diatribe’ and dismissed his call for the Minister to apologise to pupils and their parents for his constant refusal to listen to them on these issues! It was probably just as well that Mr Weir was attending via Zoom from the Department of Education HQ rather than in person!

Boris Johnson suffered another run of defeats in the House of Lords this week, after peers backed a move to protect the NHS in a trade deal. The new law would ban any trade deal that “undermined” the NHS’s ability to provide free services or control drug prices. That was just one of several defeats inflicted on the PM over amendments to the Trade Bill. Peers also voted to block trade deals with any country that commits genocide or violates human rights, and demanded a bigger say for Parliament over the details of any deal after Brexit. However, this could lead to a kickback in the House of Commons – after Tory ministers vowed to oppose the amendment on protecting the NHS, claiming that protections already exist! The problem is, the majority of the Lords simply don’t trust them!

Meanwhile, that Priti Patel bullying issue hasn’t gone away, you know! Boris Johnson is facing an unprecedented legal challenge over his decision to effectively exonerate Priti Patel of bullying her department officials. Lawyers acting on behalf of senior civil servants issued a pre-action notice to Downing Street this week accusing the Prime Minister of acting unlawfully by overruling the findings of his own independent adviser and clearing the Home Secretary of misconduct. The notice is the first step towards a Judicial Review of the PM’s decision, and states that if it were allowed to stand it would set a “damaging precedent” that would exempt ministers from being bound by normal employment practices.

If the challenge succeeds Mr Johnson’s decision could ultimately be overturned, which would have far reaching implications for ministerial accountability. The government could also be forced to make the Cabinet Office investigation into Ms Patel’s behaviour public! This could all get very embarrassing indeed!

And so to those Brexit trade deal negotiations! This is turning out to be quite the saga! Mr Johnson struck a defiant tone at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, as he prepared to make an eleventh hour dash to Brussels for dinner with EU Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen later that evening. As the threat of a no-deal scenario loomed large, Mr Johnson insisted a deal was “there to be done”. However, he told MPs: “Our friends in the EU are currently insisting that if they pass a new law in the future with which we in this country do not comply or don’t follow suit, then they want the automatic right to punish us and to retaliate…. Secondly, they are saying that the UK should be the only country in the world not to have sovereign control over its fishing waters… I don’t believe that those are terms that any Prime Minister of this country should accept.” Leader of the opposition, Sir Keir Starmer, said the British public would “pay the price” for a no-deal scenario and laid the blame squarely at the Prime Minister for a “total failure” of leadership.

Well, that was Wednesday! It seems the dinner schmooze with Ursula didn’t do the trick and the evening ended with little/no progress being made on the outstanding issues! Perhaps Boris was too preoccupied with the fine dining on offer to pay much attention?

Then, at a summit of EU leaders on Thursday, Mrs von der Leyen said: “I had a very long conversation yesterday night with Prime Minister Boris Johnson. It was a good conversation but it is difficult. We are willing to grant access to the single market to our British friends – it is the largest single market in the world. But the conditions have to be fair. They have to be fair for our workers and for our companies, and this fine balance of fairness has not been achieved so far.”

In response to the EU’s proposals, Downing Street again stressed the importance of taking back control of the UK’s waters. Mr Johnson said: “I’ve just updated Cabinet on where we’ve got to with our friends and partners in the EU and they agreed very strongly with me that the deal on the table is really not at the moment right for the UK.

So, into the weekend we went, still without a deal, or any prospect of one it seemed! In the meantime, contingency plans were being hurriedly announced for the event of a No Deal scenario. The EU put agreements in place to ensure air travel would not be disrupted, for example. Boris Johnson, meanwhile, deployed the Royal Navy! What?! The Royal Navy? Are we really gearing up for the Battle of Trafalgar 2.0? What is going on? No, you didn’t misread that, the navy have indeed deployed an additional 4 gunboats to add to the existing 4 to patrol British fishing waters! I kid you not! This was, literally, a crass act of gunboat diplomacy, designed to play up to the pro-Brexit gallery and make Johnson look like the tough guy! Very tough, yes, deploying warships against a few French trawler men! If this was designed to project British power and intimidate the EU, it will have laughably failed and will have been entirely counterproductive! Not so much brinkmanship, and more a sinking ship, which smacks of desperation! Luckily, the EU were dismissive rather than angry at the clumsy intimidation tactics.

And so to the current state of play? In a joint statement on Sunday, Boris Johnson and European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen said it was “responsible at this point to go the extra mile”. The leaders agreed to tell negotiators to carry on talks in Brussels “to see whether an agreement can even at this late stage be reached”. They did not say how long these latest talks would continue, but the final, final, final deadline is 31st December, and time must be allowed for the UK and European Parliaments to vote on any deal that emerges before then. It must be said, though, that the prospects still remain slim at best, but where there’s a will there’s a way!

The other consideration in all of this, of course, is what will the Labour Party do, both in the event of no deal or if the impossible happens and a deal is presented to the Commons to be voted on?

Keir Starmer must be weighing up what could be the biggest judgement call of his leadership. If there is a deal, the Labour leader has to decide whether to vote against the agreement, vote for it, or abstain. In this instance is a bad deal better than no deal? If he votes for the deal then Labour bears some ownership for what occurs next. If Starmer’s priority is to prevent further Brexit divisions within an already fractured Labour Party then you can see the attraction of abstaining. If he votes against he will be initially derided as the perennial Remainer but, if things go badly in post-Brexit Britain with no sunlit uplands to be had, he at least can claim it was not his fault or responsibility. Interestingly, when challenged by Johnson at PMQ’s, Starmer said Labour would act in the national interest. All I know is, I’m glad I don’t have to make that call!

Right, let’s leave those choppy, contested seas around the UK behind and head for calmer waters in the USA, shall we?Calmer waters? I’m afraid not! That may have been wishful thinking on my part! It has all been kicking off stateside this week, yet again, as the post-election fallout just keeps on rolling!

In what appeared to be a last ditch, desperate attempt to have the US Election result overturned, a legal bid was lodged at the Supreme Court by the State of Texas, backed by several other pro-Trump state Attorneys General. They seemed overly keen to please the President’s supporters, and submitted an amicus brief in support of Texas, undeterred by the reality that Trump has lost the election in multiple recounts and lawsuits already.

The elections lawsuit, backed enthusiastically by President Donald Trump and quickly dismissed by the US Supreme Court, was filled with claims that failed to withstand basic scrutiny. The high court, therefore, threw out the complaint filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that directly attacked four other states where President-elect Joe Biden won: Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Widely predicted to fail by legal experts, the lawsuit still drew the support of 18 Republican attorneys general and, fascinatingly, 126 Republican members of Congress, including House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy. Texas, Trump and his other allies argued that the high court should set aside all four states’ votes, allowing Republican-led state legislatures to swing the election to the president. That would have been unprecedented in US history. Needless to say, Trump’s response to his latest legal setback via his Twitter account was predictably incandescent!

Fascinatingly, this particular row may not end here, as Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) on Friday urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to refuse to seat any of the 126 Reuplican members who signed the Amicus Brief supporting the Texas lawsuit aimed at overturning the presidential election. Pascrell, who has been among the most vocal proponents in Congress of investigations into the Trump administration, called on Pelosi to “exclude” any members who signed the brief, claiming they want to “tear the United States government apart.” Pascrell cites Section 3 of the 14th amendment – which states that anyone who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” cannot serve in federal office – claiming the lawsuit seeks to “obliterate public confidence in our democratic system” and that those who signed it committed “unbecoming acts that reflect poorly on our chamber.”

Pelosi herself has signalled firm opposition to the Trump-backed effort, calling it “an act of flailing GOP desperation, which violates the principles enshrined in our American Democracy” in an open letter to Democratic colleagues. “Republicans are subverting the Constitution by their reckless and fruitless assault on our democracy,” Pelosi added in the letter, which was released after Pascrell’s, though she did not say whether she would heed his calls. This is thought to be unlikely, but such is the level of rancour in the air at present you simply couldn’t rule it out! Watch this space!

Well, that’s your lot for another week, folks! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading another instalment of the Weekly Digest. Feel free to share! Hopefully, by the time I file my next update, there will be some more clarity around the post-Brexit trading arrangements at the very least! Until then, stay tuned in, stay informed and stay safe out there! Au revoir!

Fergal McGuckin, Head of Politics, Lagan College, Belfast

Hello again, and welcome back to the Weekly Digest, Blog 15! My weekly politics round up from the NI, UK and US political arenas. Once again, there seems to be no such thing as a quiet week in this particular realm of study. Although the big story of the week has undoubtedly been the welcome news of a vaccine roll out, I’ve entitled this week’s blog ‘Deal or No Deal?’, as it really is crunch time for the UK-EU trade negotiations, and depending on the outcome, this has the more obvious potential for profound and far reaching political and economic repercussions at this point. At the time of writing, there is still no sign of a breakthrough, with negotiations now set to continue through Sunday, right up to the deadline on Monday evening. As always, however, let’s begin right here in N Ireland.

The mention of the Brexit trade negotiations in my introduction provides me with a convenient Segway to my opening observations. As mentioned here before, the previously agreed EU Withdrawal Agreement has already ensured that things are going to be acutely different for NI, regardless of the outcome of this week’s trade negotiations. We already know that we are to be the collateral damage, like the unwanted rescue pet caught up in the bitter divorce settlement. Both parties have got much more important stuff to agree on, but one side is adamant that we can’t just abandon the poor wee thing! Neither party really wants the responsibility of keeping the cantankerous, one eyed mongrel, however, so what’s to be done with him?

What I mean by this slightly unflattering analogy relates to the creation of a customs border down the Irish Sea, of course! In some ways, we are the unwanted afterthought of the Brexit divorce deal. This must be particularly galling for the DUP in particular, who campaigned vociferously for a hard Brexit. Never did they assume that their former Conservative allies would be so ready and willing to send us to the dog pound! There is even a cruel irony in the fact that it is a DUP Minister, Edwin Poots, that is very reluctantly responsible for overseeing the installation of border customs infrastructure at Northern Irish sea ports. The ongoing pretence by Boris Johnson and NI secretary, Brandon Lewis, that there won’t really be a border down the Irish Sea and that it’s all going to be fine, with NI businesses getting continued ‘unfettered’ access to the UK market and vice versa, is patently absurd. NI Beef producers were the latest sector here to voice their alarm this week, stating that their industry was simply not ready for the new customs arrangements being implemented from January 1st. Other sectors, including the big supermarkets and haulage firms have already expressed their fears and reservations about the inevitable extra costs and added bureaucracy involved.

Now for some good news, followed by a very stark health warning! Amid great fanfare, the NI Executive was able to announce this week that NI would be in line to receive its first batches of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine! Hooray! The cavalry has arrived on the brow of the hill, to, paraphrase the never less than hyperbolic Boris Johnson. Well, yes, but it’s at more of a canter than a gallop, I’m afraid. You see, it’s not that simple, unfortunately! After the initial euphoria, came the sobering realisation that, while this provides us with a route map out of this crisis, it’s not going to be a quick or instant fix! N Ireland’s initial allocation is just 25,000. With two doses per person, 22 days apart, you can begin to see what I mean. It basically takes a full calendar month for someone to be regarded as having immunity from the first jab being administered. And that’s before we get to the logistical issues around transporting a vaccine that needs to be stored at temperatures of -70 degrees! There has been some suggestion that the army might be utilised in the vaccine roll out, which of course may have some added implications in the political context of NI! Let’s not go there! Personally, I don’t care who brings me the vaccine, as long as it’s been done professionally and safely!

That’s the good news, albeit qualified. Now for the stark health warning! Because the vaccine cavalry are necessarily moving at donkey derby rather than charge of the light brigade pace, the ever present threat of Covid-19 is set to continue to be with us for some time yet. With that in mind, the NI Executive met this week to make yet another big call on whether to extend or relax the current Covid restrictions. Given the recent difficulties within the Executive in reaching agreement on such matters, it was perhaps surprising that they were so decisive this time around, and with a week to spare, too! However, did they make the right call? They have opted to reopen non-essential retail in the run up to Christmas from this Friday, as well as hospitality (excluding so called wet pubs), but controversially perhaps, have kept schools open right up until the holiday period. They have done this in the full knowledge that the R-rate of transmission will inevitably rise as a consequence.

A report to the Executive this week by health officials made it clear that the all important R-rate will rise and that we could cope, as long as it doesn’t exceed 1.6, but that further restrictions in January may be unavoidable! Now, excuse me if my memory is failing me, but weren’t we told previously that anything above 1 was really bad? Is this effectively a tacit admission that there is an acceptable level of illness and even death in order to give us as normal a Christmas as possible? Are Christmas festivities really that important to us? That really doesn’t sit too easily with me, I have to say! In relation to schools remaining open, I would regard closing a week early for Christmas as far less damaging for pupils’ education than a more prolonged closure in January, to be honest. There is also the risk of disruption to the planned transfer tests and GCSE modular exams in January! Fortunately, I don’t make these decisions, as that’s down to our Minister of Education, Peter Weir! Reassuring, eh?

While not being NI specific, this next snippet does have relevance as it involves Sinn Fein and how they manage their internal party discipline. A Sinn Féin member in Meath has resigned from the party saying she was told not to discuss internal issues in public and after a party member called to her house to ask her to delete recent critical tweets.

Christine O’Mahony (22), said she has left the party in light of the controversy surrounding Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley, who said he had nothing to apologise for over a 2017 tweet about Leo Varadkar. In that message, the now-head of the powerful Public Accounts Committee in the Dáil wrote: “yippee 4 d tory. it’s Leo. U can do what u like in bed but don’t look 4 a pay rise the next morning.”

Ms O’Mahony, like many other people, criticised Stanley’s comments for their homophobic overtones. For doing so, she has encountered a significant backlash from within the party. She received messages from other members of Ógra Sinn Féin (SF Youth) stating that a bedrock of the smooth running of the party was to have discussions that were kept internal, adhering to the principles of “democratic centralism”. Democratic centralism? Isn’t that what they call a contradiction in terms?

The UCD student said that a member of the party then called to her family home. “He wanted me to delete my tweets immediately. …. But this is my platform. I can write about what I want. You can’t censor me just because I am criticising the party. “ She said she made the decision to resign after this and said she believes members are being “silenced”. Why is this episode important? Well, it may give us a glimpse into the very strict discipline and suppression of any dissent that prevails within one of our major political parties here. I think that is important to know!

And so to this week’s Brexit trade deal negotiations. Hopes of an imminent deal appear to be fading after Thursday’s negotiations in London between the teams led by Lord Frost and the EU’s Michel Barnier. The UK’s current trading arrangements with the EU bloc expire at the end of the month, leaving little time to get a deal agreed by negotiators and approved by the EU’s leaders, Westminster and the European Parliament.

The deadlock led to crisis talks directly between Boris Johnson and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. In an hour-long phone call, the two leaders agreed to instruct their negotiating teams to resume talks on Sunday through to Monday in a last ditch attempt to see if they can resolve the remaining differences. In a joint statement following their call, Mr Johnson and Ms von der Leyen acknowledged “significant differences” remained on the key issues of fishing rights, competition rules and the governance arrangements for any deal.

With time rapidly running out before the Brexit transition period ends at the end of the month, British sources warned that the process may still conclude without an agreement. “This is the final throw of the dice,” said one source close to the negotiations. “There is a fair deal to be done that works for both sides, but this will only happen if the EU is willing to respect the fundamental principles of sovereignty and control.” Of course, from the EU point of view it will only happen if the UK is prepared to respect the rules of the EU internal market if they want access to it. As one EU source put it; “They can’t have their cake and eat it!” EU leaders are due to meet on Thursday for a two-day summit in Brussels – their last scheduled gathering of the year – when they could sign-off on any agreement.

However, France has already unhelpfully intervened to say that they will veto any agreement they don’t like! On the UK side, you also have vociferous pro-Brexit MP’s waiting to vote down any agreement they perceive to have been watered down! Also throw into the mix the fact that the controversial Internal Market Bill returns for another Commons vote this week, after defeat in the House of Lords. The Tories are expected to force it through! It looks like we really are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Who’d be in Boris Johnson’s shoes right now? Although, it is a crisis largely of his own making, admittedly, which does temper any notions of sympathy for him!

The other big news this week was the government announcement to great fanfare that the UK has been the first country to approve the Pfizer vaccine. However, some of the senior cabinet members may have gone a little over the top on hearing the news!

Gavin Williamson, for example, was asked whether he thought Brexit had helped grease the wheels of progress when it came to approval for the new vaccine, as had already been claimed by Health Secretary, Matt Hancock. The Education Secretary boldly exclaimed that Britain got the first approved Covid-19 vaccine in the world because we’re a “much better country” than France, Belgium and the United States. Oh dear! Apart from the obvious jingoistic insensitivities around such comments, coming as they do in the midst of delicate UK-EU trade negotiations, attributing the swift vaccine approval to the UK’s departure from the EU is just factually incorrect!

It was left to Boris Johnson to manage expectations and bring everyone back down to earth a little, as he warned it will take several “long, cold months” for the Covid-19 vaccine to protect the most vulnerable. Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, the Prime Minister said there were “immense logistical challenges” in distributing the vaccine.

There was further economic woe for Boris Johnson’s government this week with the news of the imminent collapse of high street giant the Arcadia Group, which employs more than 25,000 people throughout the UK. This hammer blow for retail comes after Boris Johnson admitted at the dispatch box that 200,000 jobs have already been lost in retail this year! Keir Starmer warned the collapse of the Arcadia Group and Debenhams in recent days threatens to “rip the heart out” of many high streets across the country. The Covid crisis may be accelerating and exasperating what was already an uphill battle for physical retail to compete with the online giants like Amazon and ASOS. Personally, I’m gutted, as I quite like Debenhams! Is that me showing my age now?

Never far from controversy these days, Home Secretary, Priti Patel, was under fire this week again for her controversial deportation policy! It emerged that a charter flight had been arranged to deport ‘foreign criminals’ back to Jamaica. However, various human rights groups expressed reservations about the legality of such a move and questioned whether some could even be classified as foreign citizens. A letter of protest at the deportations was signed by over 150 MP’s, including David Lammy who has been an outspoken critic of the government’s previous handling of the Windrush Scandal. This is not on the same level as Windrush, let’s be clear, but it has clearly aroused the same sense of grievance felt by the Afro-Caribbean community in the UK. Despite protests, the deportation flight went ahead as scheduled.

Finally, there was one other UK story which caught my eye this week, but it may have escaped all but the most avid observer’s attentions.

In what appears to be the latest No10 power grab, Boris Johnson is seeking to remove the need for parliamentary approval to call elections, and ban the courts from questioning the dissolution of parliament under legislation that hands powers back to the Prime Minister. Proposed legislation was published on Tuesday to scrap the Fixed-term Parliaments Act passed by the Conservatives as part of a deal with the Liberal Democrats in 2010 to ensure a stable coalition government. It means parliaments should serve a fixed five-year term but it has been overruled twice by the 2017 and 2019 elections. The most controversial change, however, is an attempt to bar the courts from ruling on the powers of the government to dissolve parliament. The move will be seen as a direct retaliation against the UK Supreme Court, which humiliated Johnson last year after it ruled that his prorogation of parliament at a key point in the Brexit talks was unlawful. Fascinating! Watch this space!

Speaking of the UK Supreme Court, it was with some sadness that I read of the sudden passing of recently retired Supreme Court Judge, Lord Kerr. Lord Kerr was from Newry in N Ireland and first studied Law at Queen’s University, Belfast. He was proof that there can be exceptions to the usual Oxford or Cambridge route to the top! The president of the supreme court, Lord Reed, paid tribute at the end of Tuesday morning’s court session to a “kind and modest man of the utmost integrity”. I also just wanted to mark his passing, as he was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to come and meet our AS Politics students on their visit to the UK Supreme Court while on our London Trip last year. He was a fascinating character, and had a wealth of information and stories to share with the Lagan College pupils. He conveyed his strong support for integrated education and seemed a genuinely nice man! RIP, Lord Kerr!

And so to America! Is he gone yet? You know, the squatter in the White House? I’m afraid not! Despite some signs last week that there was the flicker of recognition from Donald Trump that he might have to concede defeat to Joe Biden, he appears to have regressed and retreated back into his bunker mentality this week!

One of Georgia’s top election officials, who oversaw the implementation of the state’s new voting system, has made an impassioned plea to Donald Trump to tone down his rhetoric when disputing the election results, saying the president is “inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence”.

At a press conference on Tuesday, during which he became visibly angry, Gabriel Sterling stated; “We’re investigating, there’s always a possibility, I get it. You have the rights to go to the courts. What you don’t have the ability to do – and you need to step up and say this – is stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence. Someone is going to get hurt, someone is going to get shot, someone is going to get killed, and it’s not right. It’s not right.”

Sterling revealed that he has received death threats and also said that the wife of Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, had also received “sexualized threats”. Raffensperger has been the target of constant attacks from the president over his defeat in Georgia. Last week, Trump had called Raffensperger an “enemy of the people”, to which Sterling responded: “That helped open the floodgates to this kind of crap.”

In other bad news for the outgoing President, US Attorney General, William Barr, said on Tuesday the US Department of Justice has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. “To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,” Barr said. Tellingly, Barr has been one of the president’s staunchest allies, until now! It was Barr who had issued a directive to US attorneys allowing them to pursue “substantial allegations” of voting irregularities before the election was certified, despite their being no evidence of widespread fraud. The Attorney General’s comments come despite Donald Trump’s repeated claims that the election was stolen, and his refusal to concede to President-elect Joe Biden.

Some very clever media scrutiny has uncovered that Donald Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, got millions of dollars in PPP loans that were supposed to go to small businesses in the US. Over 25 PPP loans worth more than $3.65 million were given to businesses with addresses at Trump and Kushner real estate properties, paying rent to those owners. Fifteen of the properties self-reported that they only kept one job, zero jobs, or did not report a number at all. News organizations had to go to court to access the data, and what they found was that the President and his son-in-law took money that they should have never had access to. Have Trump and Kushner been engaged in a blatant conflict of interest? Some might call it fraud, even?

Most presidents will demonstrate some reverence and respect for their office. Trump’s wilful ignorance of such rules is evident in an extraordinary scenario concerning his expected use of the absolute pardon power. Departing presidents usually grant clemency to those who suffered miscarriages of justice or who have served long terms for non-violent crimes. But many have also used this constitutional gift to absolve cronies: President Gerald Ford most infamously pardoned Former President Richard Nixon, then there was Bill Clinton handing a pardon to his own brother!

Trump, who has already ignored the official pardon process in granting clemency on several political allies, is now considering the possibility of granting pre-emotive pardons for his children Don Jr., Eric and Ivanka, his son-in-law, and even, incredibly, himself! Other presidential cronies, like Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, are also reportedly in line for pardons. The aim would be to shut down any pending investigations they face in civilian life and apparently offer get-out-of-jail-free cards for any past criminality. While a president can help out whoever he wants, federal pardons would not deter state and local cases from embroiling the Trumps. As Trump has found out to his cost in recent weeks, the courts don’t always give him what he wants! Here’s hoping! 🤞🏻

Well, that’s all for this week, folks! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading and keeping up to date with everything that’s been going on. Check in again next week for what looks to be another big week coming up on the political front! Until then, stay tuned in, stay informed and stay safe! 👋🏻

Hello and welcome back to Blog 14 of my Weekly Digest round up of political news and events from N Ireland, UK and USA. I’ve titled this week’s blog ‘ better late than never’, as, well, it’s being published a day or so later than usual, and, it seems appropriate given some of the events this week! In the always shifting sands of political developments, this week’s focus is mainly on what’s been happening at UK level in Westminster, at No.10, and in those crunch trade negotiations with Brussels. As always, however, we’ll begin right here in NI!

After the previous week’s chaotic and often farcical trials and tribulations within the NI Executive, we experienced something of a quiet week. However, the repercussions of the Executive’s dysfunctional and fractured decision making processes will continue to reverberate for some time to come. Firstly, there was the fatally flawed approach to agreeing a coherent and consensual strategy to combat Covid-19. The lack of agreement and total absence of anything resembling collective responsibility ensured a delayed and heavily compromised set of half-way house anti-Covid measures. These have singularly failed to have the desired effects, both in terms of addressing the R-rate of community transmission and, crucially, in fully engaging widespread support and buy-in from an increasingly sceptical and confused NI public! Arguably, therefore, the Executive’s failure to act quickly enough has jeopardised not only the many local businesses that rely heavily on the pre-Xmas trading bonanza, but perhaps even Christmas itself! The decision to fully re-open non-essential retail and close contact personal services, such as beauticians and hairdressers for a week, before closing them again for another fortnight, has been widely criticised for being a contradictory and confusing mishmash which will not address either business concerns nor contain the spread of the virus sufficiently to allow people to have a ‘normal’ Christmas !

Secondly, all of the Executive shenanigans throws up serious questions about the very future operation of the NI Assembly itself. At the very least, this could herald the death knell for mandatory coalition in the near future, and if so, would that necessarily be such a bad thing? Would a voluntary coalition work any better and which party or parties would gain advantage from such a move? Justice Minister and Alliance Party Leader, Naomi Long, made her thoughts very clear in a communication to the party faithful last week: “Let’s be clear: the only way to overcome the failures of leadership we have witnessed at the Executive in recent days is by ending mandatory coalition and breaking the governance structures that have held Northern Ireland back for far too long.” The Alliance may be among the chief beneficiaries under a voluntary coalition. Although they currently hold the Justice Ministry outside of the usual d’Hondt appointment mechanism, by virtue of the fact that SF and the DUP could not countenance letting each other have it, they have also lost out somewhat under the community designations and cross-community voting arrangements within the Assembly. Conversely, the biggest losers under voluntary coalition could well be the DUP, as they would find it difficult to find enough common ground with other parties, as evidenced by the recent group dynamics within the Executive! The Alliance could find themselves in the power broker seat, just as they have been in Belfast City Council chamber. This could result in an acceleration of recent electoral gains for them, too, as they would profit from the increased profile and relevance at the heart of government. It should be pointed out that the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement made provisions for such a transition from mandatory to voluntary coalition, when the time was right. Many are thinking that time has now come. We shall see!

And so to Westminster, where it’s been another very busy and eventful week, politically speaking. Brexit has reared it’s ugly head again, as the deadline to reach a trade deal with the EU draws ever closer. There are, of course, potentially profound implications for businesses and consumers in N Ireland, in particular, due to the imminent introduction of a customs border down the Irish Sea! This could mean customs tariffs for goods entering NI from GB, and ultimately, higher prices for NI consumers! This is high stakes poker between the UK and the EU and we’re caught in the middle and seen merely as collateral but acceptable damage, unfortunately! One of the most interminable and intractable issues appears to be in relation fishing rights and quotas in UK waters. I’m not entirely sure why it’s such a deal breaker, to be honest, as there has been a 32% decline in the size of the UK fleet since 1996, and it contributes less than 1% of the UK economy, so it’s certainly not the industry it once was!

Labour and Keir Starmer will also have a big judgement call to make on this and another key vote in parliament this week regarding Boris Johnson’s new 3-tier lockdown system, which is facing a back-bench Tory rebellion. Environment Secretary George Eustice confirmed that as many as 100 Conservative MPs could rebel against the Government and the result of the vote was now in Labour’s hands.

Politically, Starmer has everything to gain by lending the Government Labour’s support. A final decision will be made after Starmer speaks to Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, and Patrick Vallance, the chief scientist, today. Although it is always tempting to inflict a defeat on your opponent, it is expected that Starmer will whip his MPs to be cooperative.

The more problematic issue for Starmer is what Labour will do if there is actually a Brexit deal to be put to the House. If Starmer opts to back the deal, then several Labour frontbenchers have already indicated they will resign. It would also mean that Labour has part ownership should the deal prove to be unsatisfactory and the country nosedives, economically, as many analysts are forecasting. The other options are to vote against or abstain. Voting against would allow Johnson to paint Starmer as a stubborn Remainer who still does not understand why voters in the northern Red Wall constituencies turned their backs on Labour. Abstaining on the biggest political question this country has wrestled with in a generation may also look chronically indecisive. Who’d be a party leader, eh? 🤷🏻‍♂️

In what appeared to be great news, initially, the team developing the Oxford University vaccine released it’s trial findings this week which showed it to be 70% effective, but a little worryingly, it was not as effective as the previously released Pfizer or Moderna vaccine trials, which showed up to 95% efficacy. This has potentially huge implications for the UK government, which has put most of their eggs in this particular basket in terms of vaccine investment. Interestingly, the trials also showed that the Oxford and AstraZeneca vaccine can be up to 90% effective if a second dose is administered after giving an initial half dose. A further trial will be required, however, to confirm this, which may waste further precious time! So, the results may be considered both a triumph and a slight disappointment, following very successful trials by Pfizer and Moderna, depending on how you look at it. If it does eventually all work out, it will be far cheaper and easier to store than other successful vaccines, meaning it will likely play a big part in fighting the pandemic globally if approved. Boris Johnson et al, will be keeping all fingers and toes crossed for a successful outcome! 🤞🏻

Probably the biggest news of the week in the UK was Rishi Sunak’s anticipated announcement of his dreaded Spending Review. Inevitably, there would be some hard nosed and controversial decisions to be made! Here is a very brief summary of the highlights/lowlights, depending on your view! Warning – there are some eye watering figures involved!

• The budget deficit will be £394bn this year, or 19% of GDP – the highest level in peacetime.
• The national debt – the sum total of every budget deficit – of £2.2tn in 2020-21, or 104.1% of GDP.
• Pay rises for the public sector will be frozen next year, with the exception of more than 1 million NHS staff.
• 2.1 million public sector workers who earn below £24,000 will be get a pay rise of at least £250.
• The national living wage will be increased to £8.91 an hour, and extended to over-21s. (That’s just 14p per hour, btw!)
• Unemployment is forecast to peak next year at 7.5%.
• Sunak says day-to-day departmental spending will rise in real terms by 3.8%, the fastest growth rate in 15 years.
• The government will match EU funding for regional development after Brexit, apparently. Funding for communities to pilot programmes will be made next year.
• The core health budget will grow by £6.6bn. The chancellor says this will help to hire 50,000 new nurses.
• The schools budget will increase by £2.2bn.
• The government will cut the overseas aid budget to 0.5% from 0.7% in 2021, allocating £10bn at this spending review.
• Investment in infrastructure will total £100bn next year, with plans to deliver the highest levels of sustained investment in 40 years.
• The chancellor announced a new £4bn fund for “levelling up”, to which any local area can bid for the funding of local projects.

The most controversial aspects of this review, apart from the gargantuan levels of borrowing and debt being accrued, would be the public sector pay freeze for millions of workers and the cutting of the overseas aid budget. The latter attracted ardent criticism from across the political spectrum from politicians who felt that the UK was reneging on vital overseas aid commitments that will potentially adversely affect the lives of millions of impoverished people. It even led to the resignation of a Tory junior Minister in the Foreign Office – Baroness Sugg! For Sunak, the message was clear – charity begins at home, for now! That would be a lot easier to accept if it weren’t coming from a government who were recently refusing to extend the free school meals scheme for children from low income backgrounds!

And sticking with affairs of the purse, it has been revealed that Rishi Sunak’s wife has shares in her family’s tech firm that are worth £430million, making her one of Britain’s wealthiest women. Even richer than the Queen!

Why is this important? Well, Akshata Murthy’s multimillion pound portfolio of shares have come to light amid questions as to why the Chancellor failed to declare them in the register of ministers’ interests. This is just the latest revelation, coming after Sunak faced demands to reveal details of his financial interests last month, after it emerged he set up a ‘blind trust’ when he was made Chief Secretary to the Treasury in July last year. But critics said there was still a risk of conflicts of interest, as Sunak – reputed to be the UK’s richest MP – is well aware of what he put into the trust. Looks like the financially shrewd Sunak wasn’t made the Chancellor of the Exchequer for nothing!

Another Conservative Minister was being criticised this week, too, after losing a court appeal. In a great example of politicians being held to account by the judiciary, Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, was adjudged to have unlawfully removed safeguards for children at the start of the coronavirus pandemic – without consulting children’s rights organisations.

Children’s rights charity Article 39 launched a legal challenge after the Department for Education removed or watered down 65 distinct legal protections designed to protect nearly 80,000 children in care in England, during lockdown. They included six-monthly reviews of children’s welfare, independent scrutiny of children’s homes, timescales for visits to children in care by social workers and oversight of adoption decision-making.

But the court of appeal, in a judgement handed down on Tuesday, said Williamson should have consulted the children’s commissioner for England – as well as other bodies representing the rights of children in care before introducing the changes. Not a good week for Gav, then!

Yet another Tory Minister in hot water this week was Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, who failed to declare that he appointed his closest friend from university as an adviser and later gave her a £15,000-a-year role on the board of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). Gina Coladangelo was secretly appointed in March – at the height of the pandemic – as an unpaid adviser on a six-month contract. She has since accompanied Mr Hancock to confidential meetings with civil servants and been seen at 10 Downing Street. Ms Coladangelo, 42, is a director and major shareholder at Luther Pendragon, a lobbying firm based in central London that offers clients a “deep understanding of the mechanics of government”. Well, indeed! And wasn’t it ever so lucky that she has a bezzie mate who just happens to be the Health Secretary and who had no qualms about letting her have an ‘access all areas’ pass!

Okay, enough of all this anti-democratic cronyism in the UK. Let’s head over to that bastion of democratic values that is the USA! What, with Trump at the helm, I hear you ask? Well, yes, actually! The checks and balances within the US system, in place since the signing of the US Constitution, have done their job in protecting the integrity of the US election and in preventing Donald Trump’s crass, anti-democratic power grab attempts! Great, yes, but this does come with a health warning for the future!

Journalist, Kaitlyn Collins, has been a long-time media nemesis of the Trump administration. The CNN reporter on Thanksgiving tweeted a photo of Trump at his tiny desk. The picture very quickly went viral, of course, with people saying it looked like a child’s table. The phrase ‘Diaper Don’ began trending within hours! This may all seem a little trivial and infantile but that’s precisely the point. It’s the perfect metaphor for the prolonged tantrum that is the end of Trump’s presidency! Here is the actual picture, plus one of the many photoshopped memes that are doing the rounds!

The real killer blow to Trump’s chaotic presidency came late Monday afternoon, however, when a previously obscure US government official, Emily Murphy, finally initiated the official presidential transition – nearly three weeks after Joe Biden won the election. Meanwhile, the outgoing President’s ridiculous legal challenges are crumbling, key states keep certifying his election defeat and President-elect, Biden, has started naming his key Executive appointments, including a former Presidential candidate and former Secretary of State, John Kerry, who has been appointed the Special Climate Envoy! Anthony Blinken, who once described Brexit as like “a dog being run over by a car – a total mess!”, has been appointed as Secretary of State! That may not bode well for Boris Johnson’s hopes of securing a favourable UK-US trade deal!

The transition unleashes millions of dollars in funds for the President-elect to prepare for power and compels the current administration to brief the incoming team. That doesn’t necessarily mean Trump himself will cooperate with the transition, though. In a face-saving tweet, the President insisted that it was he who had ordered Murphy to begin the transfer of power — but his remaining two months in office leave him plenty of time to try to sabotage Biden’s administration.

We may never get a formal concession from Trump, who’s likely to walk out of the Oval Office in January still insisting the election was stolen. But the basic foundation of American democracy appears to have weathered the storm and narrowly survived him. The state and local officials and judges who resoundingly rejected Trump’s attempts to subvert democracy and invalidate millions of votes have undoubtedly rescued American democracy from the mouth of the dustbin. The scariest thought, however, is just what would have happened if there had been a competent and smart would-be populist dictator, rather than the hapless Trump? This is a question that all Americans who purport to defend democracy and its values should be asking themselves. They also need to find ways of addressing the widespread disaffection that gave rise to Trump in the first place!

That’s all for this week, folks! The blog was published a bit later this week, due to some issues beyond my control, but I hope it was a case of better late than never. Until next time, then, stay tuned in, stay informed and stay safe! Now, here’s another one of those Trump memes to sign off on! 😂👍🏻

Welcome back to Blog 13 of my Weekly Digest politics roundup of all the big stories emanating from the N Ireland, UK and US political spheres. It’s my 13th blog, unbelievably, which may prove to be unlucky for some who have prompted my ire! So, let’s see what/who has attracted my critical eye this week, shall we?

As always, in the search for political, scandal, incompetence or farce, there is no more fertile ground and nowhere better to begin than N. Ireland. After last week’s farcical events in the NI Executive, I had hoped that a sudden bout of common sense would suddenly break out to allow us all to breathe a collective sigh of relief. (With masks on, obviously!) However, while we did eventually get some form of agreement within the Executive in relation to implementing further anti-Covid restrictions, it has still left many scratching their heads in bewilderment, particularly the business community, at just how convoluted, torturous and ultimately inept the whole process has been to get to this point!

As you may know already, the NI Executive was having a torrid time of it last week, trying to find some consensus on the way forward regarding the imposition of anti-Covid restrictions for NI. Such was the rancour and division within the Executive Committee that the DUP employed their veto to block what appeared to be broad agreement between the other four parties on the way forward. All the others favoured accepting the expert scientific and medical advice and adopting a stricter period of lockdown type measures to combat the inexorable, rising ‘R’ rate and critically high levels of hospital admissions. The DUP chose to oppose this view, based on their belief that the downsides of closing businesses for a further period would outweigh the positives gained from reducing community transmission of the virus. Some senior figures within the party have been vociferous in this belief from the outset.

Over two weeks ago, the Executive was presented with a paper from Health Minister Robin Swann setting out the Chief Medical Officer’s advice that the restrictions already in place had to be extended for two weeks or the NHS would be overwhelmed. The DUP and Sinn Féin refused to take a decision and instead spent the next few days drawing up an alternative plan to relax restrictions, before Sinn Féin reneged on that and then the DUP deployed its cross-community veto to block Mr Swann’s proposal.

Forward on to this week and we suddenly have the apparent mother of all u-turns by the DUP! Although, don’t let Arlene Foster hear you saying that! When that very assertion was put to her, Mrs Foster emphatically denied that she had performed a U-turn. With Trumpster levels of denial and implausibility, she said: “No, we didn’t have that information last week. Of course the new medical advice in terms of where the R number was at, of course the new information around our hospital numbers – that’s all new information and it’s in that context that we had to make the decision.”

Unfortunately for Mrs Foster, that does not remotely stand up to even the most basic scrutiny. SDLP minister, Nichola Mallon, conversely stated that Mrs Foster was misrepresenting what ministers had been told. Other Executive sources have agreed with Ms Mallon’s view. So, is Mrs Foster being economical with the truth, or just displaying worrying levels of delusion, along with a complete lack of self-awareness? Either way, it doesn’t look good for her!

The truth is, last Wednesday, the Executive was given a health paper (publicly available). It stated that the R number “has increased… and is around 0.8 and rising”. Therefore, it would be no great surprise to anyone in the Executive that it is now at 1, considered to be the critical tipping point. They were also told that there was a “major concern” around hospital capacity and that because the hospitals were full and community transmission was still widespread, “there is likely to be very limited headroom for relaxation without quickly reaching the point where the hospital system is at the point of being overwhelmed”. Gulp! 😳

Now, here’s the rub, because of last week’s DUP proposal, cafes and restaurants had ordered in perishable stock to re-open on Friday. And because principally the DUP and Sinn Féin left this decision until hours before the existing restrictions ran out, it would have been seen as highly unreasonable to tell them that they could not open the following day. Therefore, the Executive concluded that they would permit them to re-open for a week before everything is closed again! This will inevitably lead to a stampeding wildebeest rush to the shops this week, with all the increased transmission risk that this undoubtedly entails, as people try to cram all of their Christmas shopping into one week! How on earth did it come to this? 🤦🏻‍♂️

There is a feeling among many observers that all of this should have been dealt with weeks ago, but such was the level of disagreement, dysfunction, lack of collective responsibility, crippling indecision and ineptitude at the heart of our devolved government that a golden opportunity has been missed to get ahead of the curve regarding the virus before the all important pre-Christmas trading period. The measures, belatedly announced this week, are widely viewed as too little, too late for many small businesses. Add to that, the grindingly slow release of money from the financial support scheme, and it amounts to a calamitous, epic failure by Stormont on this issue!

Is it any wonder, then, that Justice Minister and Alliance Party leader, Naomi Long, has reiterated her belief that mandatory coalition is simply not working. She had even threatened to quit the Executive at one point last week! This would have precipitated a full on, existential crisis for Stormont!

This entire episode also raises serious questions about Arlene Foster’s leadership within the DUP! She was clearly being guided down the anti-Covid restrictions path by the more hardline and outspoken elements within the party, like Sammy Wilson, Edwin Poots and Ian Paisley, before flipping a complete u-turn, presumably when the scientific evidence and description of a health service on the precipice, became so compelling! Even Arlene might not have enough Teflon to get out of this one!

Speaking of Teflon politicians, what about the Home Secretary, Priti Patel? Talk about a politician with nine lives! A report into allegations of bullying against the Home Secretary, which Boris Johnson has sat on for months, has found Priti Patel “shouted and swore” at staff in actions “that can be described as bullying.” If true, this should have very serious implications for Ms Patel, as the Ministerial Code says “Ministers should be professional in their working relationships with the Civil Service and treat all those with whom they come into contact with consideration and respect.”

The long-awaited report by the Prime Minister’s adviser on Ministerial Standards, Sir Alex Allan, found the Home Secretary broke the Ministerial Code “even if unintentionally”. How do you ‘unintentionally’ bully someone? That’s like saying – “All of those items unintentionally ended up in my bag!”, when caught shoplifting! Even worse, for Patel and Boris, Sir Alex Allan has now resigned after Johnson unilaterally overturned his findings, deciding Ms Patel didn’t break the Code after all and then refused to sack her or discipline her in any way. Furthermore, Downing Street is refusing to publish the full report in a move Labour has criticised as a “prime ministerial cover-up”.

Of course, this is not the first time Priti Patel has courted controversy as a Minister. She was previously sacked by David Cameron when International Development Secretary for separate breaches of Ministerial Protocol! For all her faults, Boris remains a staunch defender of her, for some reason, even sending out the clarion call to the rest of the cabinet to “form square around the Pritster!” This poses the obvious question – what does she have on Boris? The controversy also just adds to the growing criticism of Boris Johnson as a Prime Minister who is prepared to ride roughshod over existing protocols, conventions and even laws in pursuance of his political agenda.

A key part of Boris Johnson’s ‘Global Britain‘ agenda was revealed this week. Controversially, Britain’s Armed Forces will be given a four-year budget deal worth £16.5bn. This is a significant increase in defence expenditure, coming after years of defence cuts. Undoubtedly, this is seen as a key part of asserting the UK’s continuing role as a key player at the top table of world affairs, post-Brexit. However, questions do arise about the affordability of and justification for this decision, given that the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has also just announced a 3 year freeze on public sector pay amid record levels of government debt because of the pandemic. People may well be entitled to ask why there is money for planes and missiles but not for a hard earned pay rise for nurses, for example, or for free school meals during the holidays, or, considering the record numbers of people relying on food banks! I suppose it depends on your priorities, doesn’t it?

In the same week that the Grenfell Inquiry revealed that the company that had supplied the supposedly fire retardant exterior panels for the ill-fated tower had faked the results of the fire resistance tests, Boris Johnson was dealt a triple defeat in the Lords over the nation’s response to the fire.

Peers voted 269-250 to implement a number of recommendations from the first phase of the public inquiry – after complaining progress was too slow. They also backed a landmark new law that would ban building owners from making residents pay for remedial fire safety work. Finally, they also backed a law to create a public register of fire risk assessments – so flat-hunters will know if they’re buying a “death trap”. All three amendments to the Fire Safety Bill passed after Labour and Lib Dem peers teamed up in the House of Lords.

The Government has also come under intense criticism for handing out billions of pounds worth of Covid-19 contracts without following normal accountability and transparency rules. The public spending watchdog found ministers had secured £18bn worth of supplies and services in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic which bypassed usual standards for procurement.

The findings were published as the Government faced pressure to explain its decision-making process amid accusations a so-called “cronyvirus” culture, due to allegations key Covid-19 jobs and contracts have been awarded to people closely linked to the Conservative party. The report found that, by the end of July, more than 8,600 contracts with a value of £18bn had been awarded and the majority of these (£10.5bn worth) had been done so without any competition process.

The spending watchdog acknowledged the pandemic required acting with “extreme urgency” and the Public Contracts Regulations allowed an emergency response, including awarding deals directly without a formal competition.

Meg Hillier, Labour MP and chair of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, said the failings uncovered in report may be the “tip of the iceberg” and urged ministers to “come clean” and publish all information about Covid-19 contracts awarded. “The Government overlooked a serious conflict of interest, paid consultants for months before giving them contracts and purchased masks it knew weren’t up to scratch,” she said.

Brexit negotiations were halted this week after an EU negotiator tested positive for Covid-19. High-level negotiations were “suspended for a short period”, by agreement between EU chief Michel Barnier and the UK’s David Frost. The unwanted development comes with the negotiations at a critical point. The need for any deal to be approved by the European Parliament and member states means there is precious time left for negotiations. The major issues in the talks remain access to UK fishing waters, the “level playing field” designed to prevent unfair competition on issues including state subsidies and the governance arrangements for any agreement. It’s certainly not seeming as ‘oven ready’ as we were led to believe by Boris Johnson at the last election, that’s for sure!

Meanwhile, the Labour leader continues to have his own difficulties. The internal strife within the Labour Party has rumbled on this week, as ex-leader Jeremy Corbyn was re-admitted to the party after his recent suspension regarding the anti-semitism row. However, controversially for some, he still has the Labour Party whip withdrawn in parliament. The decision not to restore the whip to Mr Corbyn was made by Sir Keir Starmer as party leader and the chief whip, Nick Brown.

Mr Corbyn’s supporters had insisted party rules meant he should be automatically readmitted. The simmering civil war between Labour’s new leadership and allies of Mr Corbyn is now likely to intensify as a result. Mr Starmer said he would not restore the Labour whip to Mr Corbyn because of a lack of confidence in the party’s disciplinary processes. However, the decision was praised by some Jewish groups, with the Board of Deputies of British Jews saying Mr Starmer had made the “appropriate leadership decision”.

After it was finally established that Trump did indeed lose Georgia to Joe Biden by around 13,000 votes via an expensive and time consuming manual recount, the Republican Secretary of State in Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, has surprisingly emerged as one of the few Republican officials who has aggressively disputed Trump’s baseless claims of electoral fraud. Raffensperger has stuck his head above the parapet and is now being fired at by Trump and Georgia’s two Republican Senators, who have called on him to resign.

Raffensperger continued to push back on the attacks against him and his office, saying Trump’s loss in the state – previously regarded as a Republican certainty – was his own fault. “I’m a conservative Republican. Yes, I wanted President Trump to win. But as Secretary of State we have to do our job,” he said in an interview. It’s just a pity there aren’t very many more politicians on the Republican side of the divide in the US with the same honesty and integrity right now!

Donald Trump could face legal action when he is officially evicted from the White House in January. After his defeat to Joe Biden in the presidential election, Trump may need to stop focusing on overturning the election results in the courts and turn his attention to his own personal legal woes, because in January he will lose the protections the US legal system affords to a sitting president. There are at least five different lawsuits either in process or waiting in the wings, on topics or charges ranging from fraud and tax evasion to defamation and even one allegation of rape! Whatever happens after he leaves office in January, and he will be leaving office, we won’t have seen the last of the news headlines featuring Donald J Trump!

If you were wondering just what the increasingly unhinged Donald Trump might be capable of before he physically has to leave office in January, then a report in this week’s New York Times will be deeply troubling!

Donald Trump sought “options” for attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities but was dissuaded by advisers warning it could escalate into a larger conflict, according to the well respected newspaper. The president was reportedly told by vice president Mike Pence and secretary of state Mike Pompeo that such action could jeopardise the final weeks of his presidency. A source was quoted as saying- “A range of senior advisers dissuaded the president from moving ahead with a military strike!” The subject was apparently raised after international inspectors reported a large increase in the theocratic state’s stockpile of nuclear material. Mercifully, there appear to be some adults left in the room, as they say! I wonder did it dawn on anyone present that, perhaps, this may have been the result of Donald Trump deciding to arbitrarily pull out of the Iran nuclear deal that had been painstakingly brokered by his predecessor, Barack Obama? Probably not! It sure is comforting to know that the orange man baby still has access to the nuclear codes for the next few weeks! 😳

The outgoing President may not start any wars or nuclear conflagrations but there are plenty of other ways to spitefully cause mischief and mayhem for the incoming Biden administration, and he seems determined to explore as many of these options as he can! Trump even seems to find amusement in creating trouble for the incoming Biden administration. He has already decided to hastily withdraw troops from Afghanistan and Iraq, which means Biden will have to carry the can if the Afghan government falls or Shiite militias are emboldened in Iraq. He has imposed new sanctions on Iran, which will make it more difficult for his successor to revive the abandoned nuclear deal. Stoking tensions with China could be next. A Trump administration official openly admitted to a CNN reporter this week that the idea is to create so many fires that Biden cannot put them all out. I think that tells you all you need to know about any lingering prospects for a smooth or dignified transition of power! Joe will have his work cut out, it seems!

I’m afraid that’s all I’ve got time for this week, folks! Those A level Politics essays won’t mark themselves, unfortunately! So, until next week, I will bid you farewell. Stay tuned in, stay informed and stay safe out there! Adios! 👋🏻

Welcome back, folks, to my Weekly Digest politics blog, where I give my tuppence-worth on the latest political developments to catch my eye in NI, the UK and the USA. I was expecting a much quieter week, with a more light touch article, after the momentous conclusion of the US Election last week. Well, how wrong could I be? This has been a long way from a slow news week, and not just in the US, either! Seismic, reverberating political shocks are coming thick and fast in all three of my selected jurisdictions. So, without further a-do, let’s go to work and try to make sense of it all, beginning, as always, in N. Ireland.

Well, what a tumultuous week that has been up at Stormont? Even by their usual meagre standards, this week has been a cringeworthy embarrassment of epic proportions for the NI Executive! When faced with a crisis, admittedly an unprecedented and unrivalled crisis like the Covid-19 pandemic, it had been hoped that old enmities would be left to one side and our political leaders would work together in solidarity against a common enemy for the common good. Nope! That was wishful thinking, I’m afraid!

The issue of whether to extend partial lockdown restrictions, impose further restrictions, or ease the existing restrictions proved to be intractable, as it became clear that opinions between the DUP and the rest of the Executive parties were bitterly divided on the issue. The DUP wanted all of the current restrictions lifted, as they had promised, after Fri 13th Nov, whereas the other parties were prepared to follow the scientific and medical advice being given by Michael McBride, the Chief Medical Officer, the Chair of the PHA (Public Health Agency) and the Head of the BMA (British Medical Assoc) in NI. They all wanted the NI Executive to implement a further 2-week lockdown, at a minimum. They cited the still worrying rates of Covid transmission and worryingly high levels of hospital admissions, threatening to overwhelm our already underfunded and under resourced health service.

The DUP’s deployment of its Executive veto (separate to the petition of concern mechanism in the Assembly) to block the other Executive parties from agreeing to an extension of the current restrictions, led to accusations from all of the other Executive parties and many others that it was inappropriate to use a device that was designed to protect the rights of unionism or nationalism from abuse. Yet the DUP was using this mechanism, against a unionist Health Minister, to block a democratic vote in the Executive on a crucial issue relating to public health in the middle of a pandemic! The DUP were acting within the letter of the law but clearly not within the spirit of the regulations, as laid out in the St Andrews Agreement, 2007.

After days of wrangling, and while businesses, particularly in the hospitality sector, waited with baited breath, a number of comprise solutions emerged, put forward by Economy Minister, Diane Dodds, Health Minister, Robin Swann, and finally by an increasingly exasperated Justice Minister, Naomi Long, before the impasse was broken. It took an excruciatingly long time to get to the point where they were able to agree to Long’s proposal. This cannot be seen as anything other than a total failure of mandatory coalition government, just at that very moment when we were most willing it to work! That one time we needed strong leadership, unity and clarity of purpose and decisiveness, they collectively failed to provide it! How profoundly damning and depressing is that? I fear we have finally hit rock bottom! At least there is only one way to go from here and that is upwards. Ever the optimist!

Let’s get out of here and fly over to the Westminster bubble to seek some solace! That’ll be another ‘nope’, I’m afraid, as it’s been quite the omnishambles over there this week, too!

The week began badly for Boris Johnson and his government with a House of Lords defeat. Peers defeated the government by 433 votes to 165 on Monday night, amending the government’s Internal Market Bill to remove clauses that override the Brexit deal with the EU on Northern Ireland. Number Ten had already pledged ahead of the vote to use its Commons majority to reinsert the offending clauses, which ministers have admitted break international law in a “limited and specific way”. However, the decision would put Mr Johnson on a collision-course with US President-elect, Joe Biden, who has warned he would not sign a trade deal with the UK if the prime minister presses ahead.

Then, there is the looming Brexit trade negotiation deadline with the EU itself that shows no sign of resolution! There are real fears that Britain will be plunged into a “ruinous” no-deal scenario. The UK and EU have already missed their mid-October deadline for a deal and Brussels now wants one by mid-November. Um, this is kind of mid-November, isn’t it? It is thought they’ll reopen next week, to make one final push for a breakthrough! With typical understatement, Downing Street admitted “significant gaps” still remain between the two sides and “time is in short supply”. Even Ireland’s worried Taoiseach, Micheal Martin, warned the UK must “knuckle down” if it wants to hammer out a post-Brexit trade deal. Well, indeed!

In other even more sensational developments, Dominic Cummings and newly appointed Chief of Staff, Lee Cain have both left Downing Street after internal ructions. Initially, it was stated that Cummings would continue to work from home, on issues such as mass coronavirus testing, until the middle of December, but this is questionable. The Prime Minister is said to want to “clear the air and move on”.

Mr Cummings has been at the heart of a No 10 power struggle, which has also seen former Communications Director, Lee Cain leave, just one day after being appointed as Number Ten’s Chief of Staff! A number of Tory MPs have publicly welcomed the pair’s departure as a chance for Mr Johnson to make a fresh start. It has been reported by several media sources that Boris Johnson’s fiancé, Carrie Symonds, had a hand in the departures! There have been allegations of inappropriate/unflattering text messages about Ms Symmonds being sent between the departing Cummings and Cain.

Voters may not care about the characters or gossip involved but they will care that a dysfunctional No 10 is embroiled in a bitter round of bloodletting as the country is still battling with the Covid-19 pandemic, a ballooning economic crisis and Brexit. On the day the UK reached the depressing milestone of 50,000 coronavirus deaths, few will be impressed that those at the heart of Downing Street were engaged in a petty power struggle over perceived disrespect towards the PM’s partner, or who has the most access to the PM.

Dominic Cummings has long been regarded as a highly controversial figure within British politics. He rose to prominence as the mastermind of the successful Brexit referendum campaign, and followed that up by steering Boris Johnson and the Conservatives to a landslide election victory. However, his Westminster outsider, anti-establishment stance has not gone down so well during his recent tenure as Boris Johnson’s Chief Adviser at No10. He has taken a wrecking ball approach to reforming the senior civil service in Whitehall and has been blamed for developing a fatally flawed strategy to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. This has not been helped by his now infamous breach of the lockdown restrictions on his trip to Barnard Castle! This highlighted an arrogance, disrespect and sense of entitlement which has not endeared him to the British public. He was, by all accounts, not a very popular figure within Downing Street, either, or within the parliamentary Conservative Party for that matter, which may well have helped to seal his fate! This week’s goings on in No 10 appear to have been the final straw for Boris, who seems to have been enthralled to this enigmatic svengali for far too long. This surely raises questions about Johnson’s judgement and leadership credentials, too! The Tory knives may well be sharpening!

In other news, which may have slipped under the radar somewhat, experts have admitted they don’t know how far schools might be fuelling England’s coronavirus second wave after they recorded more than 1,000 groups of Covid-19 cases. National Statistician, Sir Ian Diamond, is set to lead a review after the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) revealed the worrying toll of incidents. New SAGE papers say there have been more than 1,000 “clusters and outbreaks” – of two or more cases each – in education settings since schools reopened in September. Virus rates have “risen significantly” in school-age children since around the time schools reopened, SAGE added. Children aged 12-16 played a significantly higher role in introducing infection into households since September. The effect was less marked for under-12s, it seems. However, despite this, SAGE said there is still not conclusive evidence either way about how far schools are fuelling the virus. Hmm? 🤔

And so to America, where the post-election ramifications just rumble on, as Donald Trump steadfastly refuses to concede electoral defeat to Joe Biden. Trump is increasingly looking like a King Canute type figure, desperately trying to defy the incoming tide which will inevitably engulf him! As I shall outline here, it has been a bad week for Donald and a very productive one for Joe!

Any legal experts worth their salt have been saying for over a week now that President Donald Trump’s court cases to throw out ballots and turn around his election loss were doomed to failure. Sure enough, as this week wore on, the court losses piled up. In one day, nine cases attacking Joe Biden’s win in key states were denied or dropped, adding up to a devastating series of losses for the President. The Trump campaign lost 6 cases in Montgomery County and Philadelphia County in Pennsylvania over whether almost 9,000 absentee ballots could be thrown out.

The Trump campaign dropped a lawsuit in Arizona, seeking a review by hand of all ballots. A Republican candidate and voters in Pennsylvania lost a case over absentee ballots that arrived after Election Day, because they didn’t have the ability to sue. A case addressing similar issue is still waiting on decisions from the Supreme Court, which has remained noticeably silent on election disputes since before Election Day. Republican Pollwatchers in Michigan lost their case to stop the certification of votes in Detroit, and a judge rejected their allegations of fraud. On top of all of that, a law firm leading the broadest challenge in Pennsylvania, dropped out!

And yet, other lawyers representing Trump, Republicans and voters unhappy with the election’s result blindly forge ahead, as part of an increasingly desperate attempt to swing the Electoral College in Trump’s favour, no matter about the popular vote and swing state victories for Biden. Despite this, it looks like the writing is already on the wall for many of Trump’s election claims and in many cases, already on paper.

If one was to look at this through an ultra critical lense, we could conclude that Trump is cynically financially exploiting his ever loyal support base for donations. Trump supporters are being bombarded with online appeals for help with the significant expense of the ongoing court cases. However, it has been revealed that there is also a clause buried in the small print of the donation appeals, making it clear that some of the money raised will be used to pay off Trump’s significant debts accrued over the presidential campaign! Is Trump exploiting the self-generated electoral fraud fears to clear his campaign debts before leaving the White House? We would never suggest such a thing! 😏

In further bad news for the President, some prominent Republican Senators and Congressmen have publicly conceded to Biden’s electoral victory and some are now saying he should be given access to the White House security briefings, as would usually be the case for Presidents-elect. Trump, however, remains in no mood to concede or engage with the usual handover protocols.

Meanwhile, in the real world, President-elect Biden continues to ignore all of the court shenanigans and is busily working towards his January 20 inauguration. He has named his all important Chief of Staff already, his longtime aide Ron Klain. Klain is a man with vast Washington and West Wing experience, having worked in the Clinton administration and also, tellingly, as Obama’s Ebola Czar. Biden has also set up a Covid Task Force, which includes a range of medical and scientific experts, such as infectious diseases expert, Michael Osterholm. Osterholm has already suggested a possible four-week nationwide lockdown with the government covering wages and losses for many companies. This would be in stark contrast to the Trump administration’s approach to the pandemic. The Biden administration is already looking more professional and competent, and they haven’t even started yet! Joe Biden is also making and taking calls with an array of foreign leaders, including Boris Johnson. This would indicate a clear change of direction and tone on foreign policy by the incoming Biden administration, who will seek to re-engage with the international community and organisations like the EU, UN, NATO, WHO. etc, after 4 years of Trump’s more isolationist ‘America First’ policies.

Well, that’s your lot for this week, folks! I’m hoping for slower news week next week. What are the chances? Slim, I suspect, but sure, would we have it any other way? No, we politics geeks just love it, of course, in the same way that other people love to read about celebrity gossip and tittle tattle! Although, as American tv host and political commentator, Jay Leno, once said; – “Politics is just show business for ugly people!” 🤷🏻‍♂️ Until next week, then, stay tuned in, stay informed and stay safe! 👍🏻

Hello again, and welcome back to my Weekly Digest politics blog, where I take a wry look at selected political news stories over the past week from NI, UK and the USA! Obviously, one major story has dominated the headlines, as well as our tv screens and social media feeds this week. Yes, that’s correct, Nigel Farage is back! 😱 I jest, of course! That was not the main story, although, it does make an appearance in the ‘in other news’ section, unfortunately! No, the main event was, of course, the US Presidential Election! Us dedicated followers of the world of politics have been eagerly anticipating this for weeks if not months now and, oh boy, it did not disappoint! Of course, plenty of other stuff has happened this week, too, in the NI and UK political arenas, so I’ll be giving those some attention as well. Thank you for tuning in again and I hope you enjoy reading! As per usual, let’s begin at home in Norn Iron!

Arguably, one of the starkest and most damning examples of Executive’s failure to engender any semblance of genuine collective responsibility can be seen in their disjointed response to the Covid-19 pandemic. In particular, an abject failure to plan for the pandemic’s second wave now enveloping our hospitals, is threatening to have dire consequences! I mean, It’s not like they haven’t known for ten months or more now that Covid-19 would be with us for the long haul!

The current restrictions in place were only as a result of some serious horse-trading between the DUP and Sinn Féin, rather than any logical process of following the scientific advice. They’ve had more than three weeks in which to decide what happens after Friday the 13th (a somewhat appropriate date, perhaps!), when the current restrictions run out. The Executive doesn’t appear to have a plan – nor any consensus on what we do next! This does not inspire much confidence with the general public, nor does it necessarily encourage everyone to comply with the restrictions as their cynicism grows!

The hospitality sector, in particular, have been left in limbo, with no idea as to whether they need to plan and order stock for next week in anticipation of re-opening, or should they batten down the hatches for a more prolonged lockdown period? The only certainty is the uncertainty and it is killing some businesses!

We only have to look at contrasting statements from the different Executive parties in recent days to realise how divided they really are! We had the Edwin Poots solo run shenanigans last week followed by DUP MP, Sammy Wilson, adding his tuppence-worth this week, when he described a leading medical professional’s comments about the need for further lockdown restrictions as irresponsible and urged the Executive to “ignore him!” Dr Tom Black, Head of the British Medical Association in NI, had stated that a reopening of the hospitality sector again after Nov 13th, would be “appalling” and “an act of vandalism!” Mr Wilson was not a happy bunny, as he has been pushing for existing restrictions to be eased! In stark contrast, the Minister for Infrastructure, Nichola Mallon (SDLP), seemed much more receptive to Dr Black’s comments, as did the Health Minister, Robin Swann (UUP). This reflects the very different attitudes to the current crisis between the different political parties here, not least within the NI Executive Committee itself!

Okay, enough with the depressing NI political scene, let’s see if the wider UK political landscape is any more uplifting, shall we? Um, I’m afraid not! It’s all still a bit doom and gloom at Westminster, too, unfortunately. The biggest millstones around Boris Johnson’s neck remain the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic and the continuing uncertainty around the looming Brexit deadline on a trade deal with the EU. This week has also seen the government perform more u-turns than Italy in major wars!

First, however, let’s deal with some good news. Rishi Sunak has confirmed the coronavirus furlough scheme will be extended until the end of March. The Chancellor said employees on furlough will receive 80% of their salaries if businesses have been forced to close under lockdown measures. In a major u-turn, (you see, there’s the first one!) Mr Sunak tore up his plan to end the scheme when the four-week lockdown ends and instead extended it to March.

The good news for NI, is the scheme will apply across the UK, with upfront guaranteed funding for the devolved administrations to increase by £2 billion. If only we had sufficient faith in the NI Executive to make appropriate use of it! The bad news for the UK Government, is this will cost the government a heap of money, extending their already ballooning national debt exposure! It will all have to be paid for some day! It’s also bad for Mr Sunak, in that the current Tory golden boy’s halo has now slipped a little after this about turn! Something tells me Boris Johnson may not be entirely unhappy, as his next door neighbour has become something of a genuine rival for the top job! 😏

Boris had quite a job on his hands this week to persuade an ever growing band of sceptics on his own back benches that a 4-week national lockdown was now required, as Covid-19 infection rates and hospital admissions continue to rise inexorably. Although the measure passed a vote in the House of Commons, there was a significant backbench Tory rebellion.

The decision to go for another full lockdown is something of an embarrassing u-turn for the PM, (there’s the second one!) who had been steadfastly resisting calls for such action for several weeks, opting instead for the regional, tiered interventions. The grizzled, old cynic in me would say that the change of heart was only prompted by the fact that, until now, London and the southern counties had been much less affected by the second wave rise in cases seen up north. It has been said before that Boris’ universe does not stretch much further north than Luton!

Even worse for the PM was the fact that the scientific advice from the SAGE Committee was to go for a 2-week ‘circuit breaker’ a number of weeks ago, but the indecision, delay and regional tiered approach adopted instead has only made the situation infinitely worse! Asked what difference it would have made if the Government had taken the advice of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), Prof Hayward, a world renowned epidemiologist, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Well, we can’t turn back the clock. “But, I think if we had chosen a two-week circuit-break at that time we would definitely have saved thousands of lives.” This cannot be seen as anything other than very damning for Boris and the government generally. 🤦🏻‍♂️

That conveniently takes me to u-turn number three! Boris will be suffering from dizzy spells if this continues! As predicted, the government inevitably gave in on the free school meals during holiday periods controversy. Boris Johnson finally put on his big boy pants and took some personal responsibility for the matter. He contacted the footballer turned anti-child poverty campaigner, Marcus Rashford, directly by telephone to break the good news to him. Common sense seems to have prevailed at last, or, it was simply the massive public backlash that has been very evident, and which has dogged the beleaguered PM over recent days! It’s such a shame when we have to embarrass the government into doing the right thing!

This week also saw the return of arch political opportunist, Nigel Farage. After doing a bizarre star turn at one of Donald Trump’s election rallies last week, he has managed to grab some attention on this side of the pond now, too. He has announced the relaunch of his Brexit Party under a new name and with the focus on a new core issue. It is now called Reform UK and it’s main focus will be to jump on the relatively small but growing anti-lockdown bandwagon. I’m tempted to say that he’s backing a real loser with this one, but then I do recall saying that about his Brexit campaign, too! One bet Farage definitely did lose, was the £10,000 he allegedly wagered on Donald Trump winning the US Election! 😂

Right, speaking of the US Election, let me try to analyse just what the heck has been going on over there for the last week! For both the expert and casual observers, (I’ll leave you to decide which one I am!) the final lap in the race for the White House has been nothing short of enthralling! It produced bucket loads of pure political melodrama, and palpable, nail biting peaks of high tension, as well as some genuinely poignant moments, too! It was a real roller coaster of emotions for those who were invested in the outcome, on both sides of the political divide. And what a divide! If you thought we were intractably polarised in NI, I think the Americans would give us a run for our money, currently! This has been a very bitterly fought affair from the outset and the political stakes have never seemed higher. This was a battle for the very soul of America, the tv pundits would tell us. Sounds vaguely familiar, alright!

The knife-edge election would eventually and inevitably come down to a handful of key battleground states, the so-called “blue wall” or rust belt states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania that flipped and sent Trump to the White House in 2016, plus neck and neck races in Florida, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina.

By the end of polling day itself, Mr Trump falsely claimed victory and declared the election “a major fraud”, while Mr Biden, 77, said he was “on track to win this election”. But the results were incomplete, with millions of ballots still to be counted. It was always known and understood that the count would take much longer this time around, due to the massive increase in postal voting as a result of fears around the pandemic. Now, here’s the rub, Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, had encouraged his supporters to avail of the mail-in option, where possible. Whereas, Donald Trump had actively discouraged his followers from availing of this option, appealing to them to vote in person. This was due to the fact that he believed the postal vote option was open to abuse and fraud. There was absolutely no evidence of this, whatsoever, but that didn’t stop Trump from pedalling this myth for weeks in the run up to polling day. Therefore, it was pretty much inevitable that if the outcome of the election hinged on the counting of outstanding postal ballots, and if it looked like it wasn’t going his way, he was going to cry foul!

Now, it wouldn’t take a mathematical or statistical genius to work out, given what I’ve outlined in the previous paragraph, that a majority of postal votes would favour Biden. The in-person votes on the day were counted fairly quickly, but the mail-in votes took much longer. There are good reasons for this, as signatures need to be matched on the envelope with those on the ballot etc. There are various checks and balances in place, precisely to avoid the kind of fraud that Donald Trump alleged was routinely occurring. Therefore, this would logically mean that the initial results, based on mostly in-person ballots would make it seem like Trump was winning comfortably. However, once the counting of the millions of outstanding postal ballots moved up a gear, Joe Biden was always going to make up significant ground on Trump, and so it proved. The Trump team knew this, of course, and tried their upmost to cast doubt on the outcome by claiming that fraud on a grand scale was being perpetrated in several key, battleground states. It’s funny, though, how this apparent, endemic fraud only occurred in these particular states. There was no mention of fraud in Florida or other states where Trump won fairly narrowly! Strange that? 🧐

Despite Trump’s fraud allegations being utterly baseless, he has nevertheless embarked upon a legal crusade, filing numerous lawsuits across a number of states, some of which have been thrown out of court already! He despatched his loyal minions out to cause mischief, too, such as his long term confidant and personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. While Rudy and Trump’s son, Eric, gave press conferences and waived lawsuits in the air, Trump did what he has done for most of his Presidency, tweeted angrily and played golf!

By Friday it was apparent that the early Trump lead was being eroded and eventually surpassed by the tidal wave of postal ballots for Biden. An interesting demographic difference was also clearly emerging – the cities and urban conurbations were voting heavily for Biden and that’s were most of the votes were. The more rural districts overwhelmingly voted for Trump, adding credence to the typical Trump supporting, redneck stereotype. What was also very apparent was that the African American vote had come out strongly in favour of Biden, which should come as no surprise, given recent events following the murder of George Floyd and subsequent Black Lives Matter protests across the nation. Apart from in Florida, the Hispanic/Latino vote favoured Biden, too.

By Saturday morning, our time, Joe Biden was declared the victor, after finally securing narrow, finishing line lunge wins in a number of states, including Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada and even Georgia in the Deep South. Georgia has long been a Republican stronghold, but flipped due to a strong turnout in its big cities, like Atlanta, and where there is a large African American and Latino population. Of course, Trump has been in no mood to concede and is continuing to gracelessly tweet his belief that the presidency has been stolen from him and there has been electoral fraud committed on a grand scale! It really does say something when the vast majority of the major news networks cut short his most recent impromptu press conference at the White House, because he was making so many patently untrue statements and allegations! That is unprecedented, and some might say, long overdue. He is also being admonished by FaceBook and Twitter for the same reasons! Here are some examples of the sort of tweets that have attracted their opprobrium. 😲

So, now we know that Donald Trump has lost the election, his lawsuits are doomed to fail, and Joe Biden will be resident in the White House for the next four years come January 20th. Wait, you mean Donald and Melania don’t have to pack the Louis Vetton bags right now? No, in one of the strange vagaries of the US political system, President Trump remains in office for another 70 odd days. Plenty of time for him to wreak some more political havoc, unfortunately! I get the sense, however, that despite his pathological narcissism, he will eventually realise that the game is up. His ‘friends’ in the GOP (Grand Old Party) will desert him just as quickly as they jumped on his bandwagon after he secured the Republican nomination. He will have served his purpose to them and will be discarded. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives, has been strangely quiet of late. Trump must also worry that, without the protective cloak of the presidency, he may be open to prosecution himself on a number of fronts, not least his tax affairs!

For Joe Biden, the task ahead is a difficult one. He will preside over a bitterly divided nation in which he will need to build bridges and mend fences. He faces an economy on the brink due to the pandemic, which he must tackle more effectively than his dismissive predecessor did. He will have a slightly narrower majority in the House of Representatives and a narrow minority in the Senate, which won’t help with passing his legislative agenda. He will also need to build bridges in foreign policy, after Trump’s isolationism and wrecking ball style diplomacy! The Iran nuclear deal will be revisited, the EU will be re-engaged, as will NATO and the UN. Perhaps most importantly, the US will immediately re-sign the Paris Climate Change Accord. All of this will mark a return to a more normal, more civil, more stable kind of politics under Biden. He may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but we’ll take a bit of certainty, competence and a steady hand on the tiller after four years of the Trump circus! If Biden’s first speech after his victory was confirmed is anything to go by, at least we will see a much more statesmanlike performer in the White House. Any president of the US who liberally quotes our very own Seamus Heaney, as Joe so eloquently did, has my vote!

“History says, don’t hope On this side of the grave But then, once in a lifetime The longed-for tidal wave Of justice can rise up, And hope and history rhyme.” – Seamus Heaney

By the way, one of the most powerful images to emerge from election week, was this one of, Vice-President elect, Kamala Harris. Harris is the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, who represents the rich diversity of a country that has not always had the best track record on race relations. The evocation here of the shadow of Ruby Bridges, an iconic figure from the civil rights era, is a poignant and powerful image. If you’re not familiar with the story of Ruby Bridges, take a moment to look her up!

Well, that’s all for this week, in what has been a momentous few days in the world of politics! Thank you for reading and please feel free to share. Until next week, stay tuned in, stay informed and stay safe! I’m off for a long lie down!

Welcome back once again to my Weekly Digest politics blog. A round up of selected political news from NI, UK and the US, all delivered in my own inimitable way! So, let’s get started, as there’s a lot to get through!

It’s been all about the money in Norn Iron politics this week, or rather, the alleged misappropriation of it! Surely not, I hear you say! Aren’t we a model of good housekeeping, competence and moral fortitude in such matters? I almost typed that with a straight face! 😂

So, the NI political story of the last week has undoubtedly been the financial scandal engulfing Sinn Fein, regarding sums of government money that had been sent to three of their constituency offices in error but were still not returned after 8 months! The money, totalling £10,000 in each case (£30k in total), was part of Stormont’s emergency Covid fund for small businesses. MP and MLA constituency offices were ineligible for the scheme but some were sent out to those accounts automatically, clearly in error! No other political parties in NI received the payments, although one payment was made to the landlord of a DUP MLA’s constituency office.

The Sinn Fein leadership has acted swiftly to deal with the issue, resulting in the resignations of four party figures, two of them serving politicians. Former Foyle MP and Senator in the Seanad, Elisha McCallion and West Tyrone MLA, Catherine Kelly, as well as two party officials who have all fallen on their metaphorical swords! This is a source of acute embarrassment for the party, who have been quick in the past to highlight perceived financial impropriety by other parties, and which prides itself on its socialist principles. Sinn Fein elected representatives even claim to only receive an average industrial wage from the salary paid to them, with the remainder going into central party coffers. Perhaps, it’s the central party coffers that are the problem? Sinn Fein are, by some stretch, the richest party on the island of Ireland! In fact, £30,000 is small change to them!

The issue here is not how or why the money was paid to them in the first place. In all probability it was an administrative error. Rather, it was the length of time it took the three constituency offices to pay the funds back – 8 months! Why did they hold on to the money for so long? Why was it only paid back after the error had been exposed by the media? A separate issue is why a total of over £45m was handed out in error to various companies and organisations as part of the same scheme? The usual mix of Stormont profligacy and departmental/civil service ineptitude, we would have to assume! 🙄

And so to the DUP’s money problems! As reported here in last week’s blog, the Northern Ireland Audit Office found that a Stormont green energy scheme far more lucrative than RHI saw Arlene Foster approve more generous subsidies than in Great Britain, but managed to get electricity customers in GB to pay for most of it — and the total bill could be £5 billion! Yes, £5 billion! It’s worth repeating! This was revealed via the Auditors’ investigation into the Northern Ireland Renewables Obligation (NIRO) which incentivised green electricity from wind turbines, solar panels and anaerobic digesters. What are anaerobic digesters, I hear you ask? Well, apparently anaerobic digesters produce biogas from waste material, such as the waste from poultry factories, to generate electricity. Poultry factories? Now, wasn’t there a connection between the previous RHI scandal and that particular industry? 🤔

Now it seems documents show how officials in Mrs Foster’s Department for Enterprise Trade and Investment (DETI) — the same department which set up and oversaw RHI — used equally dubious maths logic to justify these lucrative subsidies back in 2011. I know, we should be getting used to this by now, but how many times does this have to happen before the big boys in London lose patience with us altogether? 🤦🏻‍♂️

Okay, let’s leave the financially scandal riven basket case that is NI behind for now and move on to the goings on across the Irish Sea!

There’s more ‘trouble at Mill’ up north for Boris Johnson this week, starting with the growing discontent on his own backbenches. A 50-strong group of Conservative MPs, called the Northern Research Group, released an open letter to the PM calling on him to commit to his pre-election promises to invest in the north in what he termed his “levelling up” initiative. Jake Berry, the MP who organised the letter, insisted it was not a “revolt” but an offer to work with the Prime Minister. Hmm? Sounds like a bit of a threat there, Jake, to be fair? 🤔

What should really worry Johnson is they would not have taken this bold move if they were not deeply worried that support for Conservatives is starting to ebb away, particularly in the so called northern red wall constituencies that flipped from Labour to Conservative at the last election. Many are still considered to be marginal seats and, therefore, vulnerable to flipping back to Labour again!

To add to Johnson’s growing list of migraine inducing internal difficulties, former Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb also fired a warning shot over plans to end the temporary £20 extra being paid in Universal Credit. He told the BBC’s Today programme that it would be “unconscionable” to remove the additional funding and warned it could prove a greater headache for the government than the row over free school meals. And we all know how that has gone down! (Pardon the pun!) It’s enough to give one indigestion, Boris!

Children’s Commissioner Anne ­Longfield has weighed into the extension of free school meals controversy to heap yet more embarrassment onto the embattled PM. She said she was “horrified” that children in one of the world’s biggest economies faced hunger on a daily basis. She also added: “We are a wealthy country, it’s 2020 and to have a debate about whether we should make sure hungry children should have enough to eat is something which is strikingly similar to the chapters of what we would expect to see in Oliver Twist…. We all have to agree now there is a problem with children going hungry.” Well, that is embarrassing! Is the PM listening, though? Boris? Hello?

Finally, at the time of writing it would appear that the PM looks set to announce a belated 4-week, nationwide lockdown. For many, this comes too late, as the SAGE Committee of scientific advisors have been arguing for just such a measure for weeks now! Labour has accused the PM of dithering over the issue and of not following the clearly stated scientific advice!

It hasn’t exactly been a good week for the Labour Party, either, however! This week saw the release of a fairly damning report by the ERHC (Equality and Human Rights Commission) into allegations of systematic anti-semitism within the Labour Party. Following the publication of the report, Jeremy Corbyn was dramatically suspended from the Labour Party after he claimed the scale of anti-Semitism within the party was “dramatically overstated for political reasons”. The former Labour leader accused “opponents and the media” of exaggerating anti-Jewish racism within the Party during his tenure.

So, in unprecedented scenes, Corbyn was informed by a photographer that he had been suspended and the party whip removed pending an investigation, rather than Starmer contacting him directly to tell him in person. Apparently, he had been notified by a formal letter/notice instead. If the ex-leader is found to have broken party rules he could be disciplined or even expelled.

The watchdog report found Mr Corbyn’s office unlawfully interfered in anti-Semitism complaints, including one against the then leader himself. Sir Keir promised to implement the EHRC recommendations in full and branded it a “day of shame” for Labour.

Corbyn’s suspension, and the manner in which it was executed, has caused a lot of anger on the left of the party which could easily break out into all out civil war! This is the last thing that Starmer needs, after gaining the party leadership on the back of a promise to unite the different ideological factions. Perhaps, ostracising the hero of the entire left of the party may not be the best way to achieve this aim, Keir? Or, was that precisely the intention – to purge the far left wing and return the party to the more electable centre ground of the Blair years? This is a fascinating power struggle at play, with the very soul of the Labour Party at stake!

And so to America, where Amy Coney Barrett has now been sworn in as a Supreme Court Judge, in a lavish, floodlit ceremony in the White House Rose Garden.

However, only hours before Coney Barrett took the oath, the Supreme Court already took a decision which could be a harbinger of things to come and may have hinted at potential Election Day chaos. The court ruled that the state of Wisconsin could not extend its deadline for postal ballots to account for mail delays. Controversially, it is thought that this move will affect mainly Democratic Party voters.

The Court appeared to argue it was better to get a result on time than to count all the votes – even if they arrive late. That’s a view which is wholeheartedly shared by the President – who knows people who vote in person and are counted on the day are more likely to vote for him. He’s repeatedly insisted the result must be announced “on the night”.

Apart from Florida, a close election could hinge on the so called Rust Belt states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Given the avalanche of mail-in ballots due to the pandemic, counting might take much longer than usual. Pennsylvania counts ballots that arrive as late as November 6. And Michigan has already warned it may not announce results until then.

It could all point towards a chaotic situation after the Nov 3rd election, where Trump could claim victory based on in-person votes, and declares Biden-leaning postal votes to be fraudulent! Crazy as it sounds, you really couldn’t rule this scenario out! Any element of doubt or question mark over the results is sure to be exploited by the notoriously bad loser, Trump. And if that happens, Trump expects the newly appointed Justice Barrett to tip the vote in his favour when it all ends up in front of the Supreme Court. All indications are still pointing towards a Biden victory, but don’t expect the spoilt man-baby to go quietly! Watch this space!

There are also real concerns inside Downing Street as polls point to a Biden victory. A win for the Democrats could leave Boris Johnson scrambling to rebuild the ‘special relationship’ he has enjoyed with the Trump administration.
Mr Johnson’s relationship with Mr Trump, who backed Brexit and calls his British counterpart “Britain’s Trump”, is much closer. Downing Street was hoping the good will between the two leaders would help smooth the path of a trade deal, London’s top priority when it comes to its relations with Washington. With the expected Biden victory, however, British officials have been trying to draw up trade proposals that are more likely to win Mr Biden’s approval, such as including tougher protections for the environment and workers’ rights.

However, there are many who believe that Mr Biden is likely to follow in the footsteps of Mr Obama in making Berlin his primary relationship in Europe. “Biden is an old fashioned Atlanticist,” said John Kerr, a former British ambassador to Washington. “But Angela Merkel and Merkel’s successor will be the main focus in America.” That’s not sounding too good for Boris and his much vaunted U.K.-US trade deal! There is a lot riding on this election on both sides of the Atlantic. The stakes really couldn’t be any higher!

Well, that’s all I have for you for this week, folks! Once again, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading and that you feel inclined to tune in again next week. Next week is going to be huge, whatever the outcome in the US Presidential election, so don’t miss it! Until then, stayed tuned in, stay informed and stay safe! Adios! 👋🏻

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.