digg_url = ‘http://nabidana.com/2010/01/30/tories-and-northern-ireland/’;
digg_title = ‘Tories and Northern Ireland’;
digg_bodytext = ‘I notice that, finally, consideration is being given to whether the Conservative Party should be fully invested in Northern Ireland, and what sort of interaction there should be between the party and the (inaccurately described) province. I’ve written about this before, when I was to a [...]
digg_url = ‘http://nabidana.com/2010/01/28/day-2-and-3-the-diary-of-stephen-nelson-bickerstaffe-northern-ireland-office-hillsborough-unit/’;
digg_title = ‘Day 2 and 3: The Diary of Stephen Nelson Bickerstaffe, Northern Ireland Office Hillsborough Unit’;
digg_bodytext = ‘Tuesday, 26 December 2009
4.15am
Castle woken by intrusion alarm, as Lord Alderdice tries to ram-raid his way through the security cordon in a JCB. Eventually talked down by David Forde, and was immediately tazered by angry [...]
digg_url = ‘http://nabidana.com/2010/01/27/stormont_diary/’;
digg_title = ‘The diary of Stephen Nelson Bickerstaffe, Northern Ireland Office Hillsborough Unit, Part One’;
digg_bodytext = ‘Monday 25 January,
8.15am
Got phone call from Perm Sec’s office, telling me to get to Aldergrove airport and make sure there is no red carpet. DUP don’t look amused that my tie is green. Apparently thery’ve been up [...]
digg_url = ‘http://nabidana.com/2010/01/25/two-morons-walk-into-hillsborough-castle/’;
digg_title = ‘Two morons walk into Hillsborough Castle…’;
digg_bodytext = ‘The title should presage a joke, but, to be honest, the impact of the idiot leaders of the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom flying to Hillsborough today was nothing short of sickening, as each sought to use the situation in Northern Ireland [...]
digg_url = ‘http://nabidana.com/2010/01/11/nobody-believes-me/’;
digg_title = ‘Nobody believes me…’;
digg_bodytext = ‘I got a few scoffing emails, mostly from idiots, on my suggestion on Sunday that Arlene Foster could be appointed First Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive.
I think this is a good move for a number of good reasons, and for me massively improves the standing [...]
digg_url = ‘http://nabidana.com/2010/01/10/shaun-woodward-has-some-work-to-do/’;
digg_title = ‘Shaun Woodward has some work to do.’;
digg_bodytext = ‘As the probability of Sinn Féin turning the screws on the DUP increases, Northern Ireland Secretary of State Shaun ‘Turncoat’ Woodward is presumably even now ordering his butler to bring him some options to protect Northern Ireland from government collapse.
The arithmetic is relatively [...]
digg_url = ‘http://nabidana.com/2009/10/21/introducing-ar-dheis-a-modest-proposal-for-a-right-of-centre-thinktank-in-ireland/’;
digg_title = ‘Introducing ‘ar dheis’. A modest proposal for a right-of-centre thinktank in Ireland.’;
digg_bodytext = ‘This website is primarily about UK politics, and rarely forays into the politics of Ireland. There’s a simple enough reason for this; the blogger doesn’t feel that there’s a significantly developed school of political thought in Ireland [...]
I am moved by the lovely and fragrant @sharonashambles on twitter to tell a story about people advising others on how to vote.
digg_url = ‘http://nabidana.com/2009/04/24/ni-mp-expenses/’;
digg_title = ‘NI MP expenses’;
digg_bodytext = ‘UnionistLite comments on his excellent blog that one solution to the troughing of Northern Ireland MPs might be, in part at least, the end of multiple mandate. He’s right, of course; I would extend that one person one mandate principle all the way down to district and [...]
digg_url = ‘http://nabidana.com/2009/04/21/no-two-tier-mp-system/’;
digg_title = ‘No two-tier MP system’;
digg_bodytext = ‘Northern Ireland’s MPs should be treated exactly the same as MPs from other parts of the United Kingdom. Their expenses should be based on their actual attendance at and participation in Parliament, and no MP should be entitled co claim a red cent from the [...]
