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Posted by Jim on November 28, 2018

Official Communication from the UFA

Posted by Jim on November 27, 2018

Foster’s leadership career hangs by a thread

Posted by Jim on

Foster’s leadership career hangs by a thread
Alex Kane. News Letter. Belfast. Monday, 26 November 2018

 I’ve always thought that Boris Johnson likes to imagine himself as some sort of much-loved national treasure: Winnie the Pooh, perhaps. Sadly, he lacks Pooh’s belief in old-fashioned loyalty; his ability to follow through on a plan (albeit with the help of a motley crew of rag-tag supporters); and the devastating socio/philosophical insights which make Pooh worth listening to all these years later.

So it was no particular surprise that Boris’s performance (and it’s always a performance, of course) at the DUP’s conference was less Winnie and more wind and knowing winks. At one of the most important moments for ‘Ulster’ unionism since the Third Home Rule Crisis, a moment when we might have expected some considered reflection and historical overview (he is an enthusiastic and talented historian), Boris gave us Star Wars lightsabers, bendy buses, a joke about the Titanic and another reference to bendy buses in Malta jack-knifing and catching fire.

The rest was a rehash and reheating of points he has been making for the past 18 months. He was a distraction on Saturday and the audience clearly enjoyed the distraction. But I’m not sure how much help he can be to them. He hasn’t been able to unseat Theresa May. He was unable to swing a majority of his cabinet colleagues round to his way of thinking. He and his friends in the European Reform Group (of which Jacob Rees-Mogg is the leading spokesman) have failed to gather a majority of Conservative MPs around their own alternative to the prime minister’s strategy. After weeks of claiming that they were on the cusp of forcing a vote of confidence in Mrs. May (and Johnson used his Daily Telegraph column and other platforms to pummel her relentlessly and mercilessly) they finally had to admit that they were ‘considerably short’ of the 48 letters they required.

What he didn’t do—and the DUP will have been grateful he didn’t—was say anything interesting enough or controversial enough to overshadow what Arlene Foster said in her speech. Hers, of course, was always going to be a difficult speech. There’s still no Assembly. The party feels betrayed by May. RHI has been an embarrassing nightmare (with the worst, the final report, still to come). The party has also been discomfited by what an MLA described to me as, ‘a few other personal problems which were mightily enjoyed by the media and our enemies in the past year’. All of which explains why she was neither bullish nor belligerent.

There were no attacks on the UUP. There were no attacks on Sinn Fein: indeed she stressed the need for the “full involvement of all parties capable of holding ministerial office, and want their contribution considered and acted upon, on its merits”. She addressed, without actually mentioning it, the breakdown of talks last February over the Irish language: “We must be conscious that there is a lack of cultural security primarily for Unionists, but also for others. We need a new Cultural Deal for everyone in Northern Ireland that respects difference and fosters understanding.” That phrase, Cultural Deal, is likely to become one of the key phrases in any new talks process (due to start again in January), so let’s hope the DUP leadership prepares its grassroots better than it did a year ago. Alex Kane Alex Kane Much was made of Foster’s supposed mea culpa: “Today as leader of the party I apologise. As a party we are, deeply, deeply sorry for the mistakes we made, and for the things we got wrong during that period. I know I speak for many when I say that over the course of the last twelve months there have been a number of other areas where behaviour in our ranks has not matched the standards expected of people holding public office.”

At the end of her speech two MLAs asked me the same question: “Has she done enough to save her job?” They asked the question because they know, as does she, that there are growing numbers who wouldn’t lift a finger to help, or raise a voice to persuade her otherwise, if she was to suggest standing aside. They will know, as does she, that the structures for a coup are already in place.

Tony Taylor to be released after almost 1,000 days

Posted by Jim on

Republican political prisoner Tony Taylor is set to be freed tomorrow

after spending 993 days interned at Maghaberry Jail without charge.

It is understood that onerous conditions have been imposed for his

release from Maghaberry jail, which is set to take place in the morning.

British military intelligence had long claimed to hold ‘secret’

information which backed the indefinite detention of the lifelong

republican activist, who was chairperson of Republican Network for Unity

at the time of his internment.

After a lengthy campaign, the Parole Board in the North finally agreed

to his release earlier today, but this was delayed overnight for what

were described as administrative reasons.

Mr Taylor’s wife Lorraine, who has led the group calling for her

husband’s release, paid tribute to all those who helped in the campaign.

“It will really make our Christmas special for us,” she said. “Myself,

the children and Tony’s parents are all delighted and very relieved to

have him back with us.

“We are concerned nonetheless at some of the punitive restrictions which

continue to be placed on Tony, who has already spent the equivalent of a

five-year sentence in jail without charge.”

The release of the local man follows a long campaign led by his family,

legal team, the local community, local political groups and activists.

While his legal team and campaign group had always contested his

imprisonment on basic justice and human rights grounds, Mr Taylor’s

family had recently appealed for his release for humanitarian reasons.

Mr Taylor’s parents are both seriously ill and housebound, while his son

Blaine has a profound disability.

Earlier this month, Mr Taylor’s father Willie made a direct appeal to

the British government for his son’s release.

He said his son’s continued detention was “vindictive and merciless”.

Official Communication from the UFA

Posted by Jim on November 26, 2018