"I do believe that if the SDLP had more people there we certainly wouldn't be able to get away with some things we have been able to get away with."
These were the words of Ian Paisley Jr., certainly no friend of the SDLP, on Hearts and Minds last night. Here we have a senior member of one of the two major parties in government thanking Sinn Fein for their ineptitude in holding them to account. We in the SDLP have been saying for months that the DUP have been running rings around the Shinners and getting the better of them on nearly every major issue.
As the months go by it is clear for all to see that Sinn Fein, just like Sammy Wilson, are not fit for purpose. Maybe, just maybe, its time to give the DUP some serious opposition. And maybe, just maybe, this is why the Shinners are determined to prevent the SDLP taking on responsibility for policing and justice. One SDLP minister is doing a better job than McGuinness, Gildernew, Ruane, Murphy and Kelly at holding the DUP to account. Sinn Fein know rightly that if Margaret Ritchie had an extra SDLP minister sitting around the Executive table that it wouldn't take too long for the rest of their shortcomings to be shown.
The recent decision by the Minister of the Environment, Sammy Wilson, to prevent advertisements urging people to reduce energy consumption and cut carbon dioxide output, and the inevitable condemnation by every right thinking person that followed, have lead me to obvious conclusion that Sammy Wilson is fast becoming the DUP equivalent to Sinn Fein's beleaguered education minister, Caitriona Ruane.
As soon as Peter Robinson announced that Sammy would be replacing Arlene Foster as minister, in June 2008, there was widespread concern amongst not only the environmental sector, but across Northern Ireland, due to the ministers belief that there is no evidence that climate change has been caused by man.
Praise must go out to the Assembly environment committee which today passed a motion of no confidence in the Minister. SDLP environment spokesperson, Tommy Gallagher, who proposed the motion said, "The view is that the minister's remarks are seen as outrageous and his approach a very small-minded one. I feel we need to be seen to be taking environment issues much more seriously than the minister appears to be taking them."
I am the SDLPs spokesperson on sustainable development on Belfast City council and part of my role is trying to encourage the council to do all that it can to tackle climate change. For months now I've been reading up as much as I can on the issues involved and have done a fair bit of research on the topic. I don't claim to be an expert, by any stretch of my imagination, but to me it is obvious that man is responsible for the vast changes in our climate over the past number of decades. Since the Minister has written to the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change to asked for the add to be banned I have also written to the Department asking them to do no such thing.
I can't get my head around the concept of climate change denial. Why do people persist in claiming that climate change is a con, a hoax, or a scam? What would they have to gain from it?
This would honestly be hilarious, if it wasn't so serious. It is a disgrace that Northern Ireland has a Minister charged with protecting the environment and trying to prevent climate change but doesn’t believe that it exists. It sounds like a script from Yes Minister, but it's not funny.
It is time for the DUP to show real political leadership and remove Sammy Wilson from his post or else he really will turn into a marginalized figure like Caitriona Ruane whose only retort against the criticism that he faces it by declaring, "I am the Minister."
Howard Dean, former Governor of Virginia, and 2004 Democratic nominee for President is probably going to go down in history as the grandfather of political internet campaigns. Dean ran a grassroots, left wing, anti-war campaign in late 2003, early 2004, that scared the wits out of the political establishment in the US. This little known Governor from a relatively obscure state in the north east almost shocked the establishment by winning the Iowa caucus.
Dean will probably only be remembered for the way he used the internet to raise money and organize but that does the man a disservice. Dean was passionate about what he believed in and got straight to the point. Below are parts 1 and 2 of a speech Dean gave to the California State Democratic Convention, on March 15, 2003. Known as the "What I want to know" speech Dean Dean shows how he was able to energize thousands of people. It really is a cliche but Dean was the forerunner for Barack Obama.
If you can't be bothered to sit through the whole speech do yourself a favour and watch the last 2 minutes of the second speech and try not to be impressed.
As you may, or may not know, I was the previous writer of the now defunct Belfast Stoop blog. The Stoop was my first attempt at blogging and became a rather time consuming effort as I felt the need to write on practically every topic under the sun from council meetings, to the US Presidential election, to party politics and much much more. In fact practically the only thing I never did was write film reviews.
This new blog is my attempt to get back into the blogging but this time to focus more on the quality and not the quantity. So instead of feeling the need to write five or six or even seven times a week just for the sake of writing I'm going to try and focus on one or two issues a week.
The idea of the blog will be to give you an insight into my role as an SDLP councillor in Belfast and hopefully we can engage in a bit of banter about politics in the North in general.
