an occasional commentary on political things, local and not so local.
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Welcome to the new blog which, it is intended, will focus on the issues that matter most to the people of Ballymena and the wider Mid and East Antrim community.
Unionism is facing its own existential crisis and must learn how to come to terms with it. Put simply the Democratic Unionist Party represent a clear threat to the very union they purport to uphold. In May 1974 then Prime Minister Harold Wilson used the term “spongers” to describe unionists involved in the UWC strike. Today it is a term that many in the rest of the UK would apply to what the DUP consider robust negotiations. Losing the goodwill of our fellow UK citizens at a time when Northern Ireland’s position in the UK is the principle barrier to many achieving the Brexit they aspire to cannot be considered a strategic position to take. The DUP constantly refer to the principle of consent underpinned in the Belfast Agreement, an agreement they had no hand in, yet they miss the point that while people are free to make their own determination others are free to try and persuade them of one view or the other. Ignoring this point is central to the risks attached to their t...
With the Review of Public Administration and the transformation of local government in Northern Ireland came a new power, that of Community Planning. The term taking power, rather than framing the process as taking responsibility, could allow some to argue that they are there to hold others to account. Such a view would limit a council's direct involvement in addressing issues at the same time as being flexible enough to both place blame where failures occur and take credit where positive actions happen. Community planning is intended to be transforming, not just in getting agencies and communities around the table but clearly identifying where resources can be applied to greater effect. A reduction in duplication, an increase in early detection of problems and strategic intervention to deliver a better outcome for all. Each agency has its own agenda, its own budget and targets, a thread which runs through peoples lives. If each thread runs parallel to every other thread without ...
As we enter the final few days of councils rate setting process rumours circulate about the scale of increases being planned by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council. During my time there prior to 2019 I warned that failure to address structural issues would lead to a crisis, that crisis arrived late last year with the announcement of a circa £7 million black hole. Should it transpire that the corporate response is to introduce double digit rates increases then its clear that sufficient lessons have not been learned. For new councillors the blame is not theirs, those who have sat in the chamber the longest carry the biggest responsibility for failing to challenge the mindset. But therein lies a lesson. In the late 1980’s Star Trek The Next Generation introduced us to a new species of alien, the Borg. A species which sought not to eradicate other species but assimilate them into the collective, a single all encompassing hive mind from which no original thought could originate. ...
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