Under Pressure

The political future of Northern Ireland Secretary of State Karen Bradley remains uncertain after she was widely criticized for remarks in the House of Commons where she said killings carried out by the security forces during the Troubles were not crimes, but the actions of those “fulfilling their duties in a dignified and appropriate way.”  Her timing could hardly have been worse, coming amid evidence in Belfast from families of people involved in the so-called Ballymurphy Massacre, and with the decision on whether or not to prosecute British soldiers involved in Bloody Sunday to be announced this coming week.

After “clarifying” her words and issuing an apology – including what seems destined to become a classic political quote: “I do not believe what I said, that is not my view”– the Secretary of State said she would not be resigning. Susan McKay at the Irish Times wrote that the incident showed both that “the Tories had abandoned [the] pretence of impartiality” and that it was “just another demonstration of how little the parties at Westminster care” about what happens in Northern Ireland. (And in case you missed it recently, an excellent piece by Patrick Kielty made the same point by perfectly comparing the province to “a stable block with planning permission.”)

Northern Slant’s Fionbharr Rogers wrote this week about the broader implications of the Karen Bradley situation.

 

Keep coming up with nothing, it’s so slashed and torn

Prime Minister Theresa May, who insisted she still had confidence in Karen Bradley, needs all the cabinet allies she can get heading into another crucial week for Brexit. Another meaningful vote is scheduled for Tuesday, with the backstop still apparently the key to breaking the political impasse. But again, as all too often, literally anything – or nothing – could have happened by this time next week.

Martha Gill at The Guardian writes that the PM’s manoeuverings seem like the “last futile moves of a chess player in check” while the EU and Michel Barnier showed they were irked by the idea of being drawn into a ‘Blame Game’.

The rest of the world, meanwhile – not to mention dog owners at Crufts – continues to look on in disbelief as March 29th approaches. Washington Post columnist Anne Applebaum connected the politically seismic events of 2016 to write that “the more we learn about Brexit, the more crooked it looks.”

On the day that Northern Ireland’s budget for the coming year was announced in Parliament by – yes – Karen Bradley, the head of the NI Civil Service David Sterling wrote to local politicians with an updated warning of the grave consequences of a no-deal scenario and saying that businesses were largely not prepared for such an outcome. His warnings were subsequently echoed by 50 companies in a letter to Westminster MPs saying no-deal would damage the local economy and represent a “threat to political stability.”

A poll in the Irish Times showed that most people in Northern Ireland were unhappy with the British government’s handling of Brexit and also had some interesting numbers about a potential border poll.

Meanwhile, DUP leader Arlene Foster was given an award for ‘Female Politician of the Year’ and judging by the comments when Rodney Edwards of the Impartial Reporter tweeted out his story, it went over pretty much exactly as you’d expect.

Ruairi McCallan wrote this week at Northern Slant on Brexit and the need for greater devolution.

 

Splits a family in two, puts people on the streets

President Donald Trump’s declaration of a “national emergency” amid his claims of an immigration crisis at the US southern border faces rejection by Congress this coming week. The President could, however, veto such a move, continuing the argument over funding for his controversial border wall.

Elsewhere in Trumpworld, as intensifying Democratic investigations and regulatory subpoenas put more pressure on the president, the White House said it would reject requests for information about the circumstances surrounding security clearance for presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner after it was reported that the president had intervened to circumvent intelligence recommendations.

With Trump and Chinese president Xi apparently discussing a summit later this month at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, it probably wasn’t the best time for a story to break connecting the resort, Chinese businessmen and a massage parlor owner.

But a busy news week was overshadowed by the reaction to the apparently lenient sentencing of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on bank and tax fraud charges. Manafort isn’t out of the woods just yet, though, with another sentencing hearing in his other trial set for this coming week.

Meanwhile in the still-early stages of the race to succeed Trump, a few folks took themselves out of the already-crowded running this week: Sherrod Brown (a move that could set him up as a potential VP choice), Michael Bloomberg (who instead will use his influence to campaign on climate change) and Hillary Clinton (although if you believe some reporters, she’s still “waiting to see…”). The rest of us are still waiting for word from the two “Bs” – Biden and Beto.

The guy who has the job at the moment visited Alabama along with someone some people thought wasn’t his wife and signed autographs for hurricane survivors.

 

It’s the terror of knowing what this world is about

North Korea went to the polls this weekend – yes, they have elections there, silly – but there’s probably no need to wait up for David Dimbleby to tell us the results of the exit polls. Oh, and, they appear to be planning a new missile launch so nothing to worry about there, since President Trump has said he would be “very disappointed if I saw testing.”

Elsewhere, there appears to be a growing military threat from Russia as well as warnings of further election meddling. Meanwhile President Trump appears to want to charge Nato members and other allies a “premium” for hosting US troops.

As power blackouts continue in Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro appears to be determined to stay put, with the backing of Russia and China.

Finally, while everyday life can be full of hazards, here’s your regular reminder that paragliding may be dangerous, but landing can be worse…

 

Can’t we give ourselves one more chance?

Yes, the world’s a mess, but Derry Girls is back and it’s still “a total ride.” Twitter, understandably, loved the one-liners, even if creator Lisa McGee felt she had to clarify something…

Donald Clarke wrote in the Irish Times: “Madonna once said she couldn’t love anybody who didn’t admire the paintings of Frida Kahlo. I feel the same way about curry, Alastair Sim and Lisa McGee’s sitcom,” saying that the blackboard scene was the “TV moment of 2019.”

So at least it brought us together, well, some of us, albeit briefly.

Next up? The return of Game of Thrones next month, so you can draw your own political metaphors there.

 

Thanks for reading. Northern Slant’s Ruth Foster will be back with a slightly more serious approach to the Five Points next week (but in the meantime, do check out this piece she wrote the other day). And in case you thought this week’s sub-headings seemed familiar – lyrical almost – I’ll leave you with this.

 

Finally, while we have your attention, Northern Slant will be hosting a discussion at the Imagine Belfast festival later this month looking at “Politics Beyond Politicians”. It would be great if you could join us. Details of the panel and ticket information is here: