politicalOD

Back after a year’s absence when although there was a lot of activity around the political world there wasn’t a lot of achievement or change. More of the same characterised politics in 2025, which followed the pattern of 2024 when through the year there was an increasing sense of discussing the same old same old. 2026 starts with elections looming over the next couple of years that will then set t...

While Labour promised change during the election it seems to have reverted to an old Labour ‘tax and spend” approach that is no recipe for the other thing promised ‘growth”. Hard to see in the recent budget how growth is going to be delivered if the overwhelming sense is that spend will be mostly in the stubbornly unproductive public sector. In the USA fair to say change is coming at the speed of...

In Northern Ireland it is forwards into the past with Mike Nesbitt; apparently set to be the next leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, again. In Westminster Starmer has made a stuttering start to his premiership, while Sunak and Farage seem to have gone AWOL as opposition. Seems nowhere is greatly blessed with coherent leadership, which lends itself to the disaffection with politicians; not someth...

This election seems to be one where no-one wants to make an error and most parties make the case for ‘steady as it goes”. Policy has been overwhelmed by trivia and side-shows. The considerable challenges ahead barely mentioned. All this in a context where in elections in India, in Turkey, in Europe, old parties and Governments that have believed themselves to be ‘popular’ have suffered at the hand...

A private financial briefing summed up Wednesday's announcement of an election on 4th July as Rishi Sunak looking at the whisky and revolver, and reaching for the whisky. Unlikely the outcome of the upcoming election for the Conservative Party will be a clean shot, it will be much more messy.  This episode look broadly at the electoral landscape, and that both the Conservatives and Labour have one...

At the start of the year the most vulnerable political leader in the British Isles might have been Rishi Sunak. Today, Leo Varadkar is gone and best forgotten, Jeffery Donaldson is gone (no comment), and there is Rishi in his Adidas Sambas still sitting around in the big chair.  Change happens and events shape change. Reform may not be ready to take seats, but it certainly able to make its mark on...

There is a lack of substance, and basic honesty in politics in the UK. Perhaps this comes from the search for a tactical edge with elections looming. Perhaps because few have an underlying compass by which to articulate simply, directly and honestly the context in which action needs to happen to secure national renewal. Economic for sure, but more and more a sense of needing democratic renewal.  N...

This is the year of elections around the world. While America and Europe may see populism gain, in the UK it seems there will be little change but the party label. It isn’t certain how any of this pans out. There will be little time for the outworking of one election to be adsorbed before the next. 2024 will be an a fascinating year, offering a number of late night viewings for the election obsess...

The local Government elections in May and the more recent Westminster by-elections in England leave considerable challenges for political leaders in Northern Ireland and nationally, with wins and losses not being entirely clear cut. Everyone making the best of thread-bare endorsement.  Meanwhile, into the public arena the political bogeyman that is Nigel Farage cuts through Orwellian double speak,...

As the Coronation marks the continuity of the House of Windsor and the stability and sense of place for the UK, in Scotland the House of Sturgeon is in freefall. Remarkable history all around. Meanwhile elections excite, or don't. Difficult to read too much into local election results because very often they reflect actual local issues that concern local people. That does not mean hours of politic...

Perhaps expecting Gary Lineker to have listened to there recent "The Rest is History" podcast, in which he is financially invested, is too much to expect. Her might have learned something, though perhaps it is all a bit above his head.  The St Patrick's political festival is in full swing in the USA, to where our expenses-paid politicians (and the rest) seem to have decamped.  It is from Washingto...

While Harry burns his bridges and asks the family to jump into the void, the UK and EU seem to imagine that if the word 'breakthrough' is used no-one will look too much at the detail. In both instances the truth is out there, somewhere, just not as real as you are asked to imagine.  It isn't clear who the audiences for the outbreak of truths is trying to convince of the veracity to their accounts....

There is a date at the end of October when the Northern Ireland Secretary of State will call an election for the NI Assembly, or find some imaginative way to avoid national law and kick the can down the line.  The issue as to whether an Assembly will be possible after an election is centred on whether or not an 'deal' is made between the EU and the UK Govt that either a) is equal to the intent of...

This episode takes in a range of issues. Perhaps unconsciously it looks at how patience and focus on straightforward goals can reduce the greatest challenges to achievable goals.  We look at the Queen's role from Empire changed to Commonwealth. How will Liz Truss fare in reversing the technocratic aversion to change and salami slicing the economy towards growth and a dynamic economy that frees peo...

It is a not so silly summer season, with the Conservatives looking for a new leader and the background of high energy costs, strikes, and war. No it is not the 1970s. In particular we don't seem to have the political figures that exude confidence and big ideas on the world stage, nationally nor, noting the death of David Trimble, locally. 

Seems like we are heading into a period with Stormont being put in storage, mothballed for now, putting on hold all those amazing ideas MLAs have been imagining to solve all the problems of the world. Waiting, of course, for the greatest fanfare of all will be Robin Swann's plan to do what has not been done in twenty years of devolution; to end waiting lists and create the best working NHS anywher...

We don’t have much to go on when it comes to predicting the forthcoming election. The polling is volatile and there’s no reliable data on how many people don’t know who they will vote for or remain undecided. We look at the three relevant battles; in unionism, in nationalism, and the fight for the so called middle ground. There’s a lot of talk about new, fresh politics, but some of the rhetoric, p...

For all the talk of crisis things seem much the same up the hill at Stormont. Sinn Fein wants to see legislation through, but also an early election. What they couldn't do with 28 pieces of legislation they'll need twice as much time to do with fewer, apparently because the DUP pulled Paul Givan out of the Executive and despite that not reducing one day of Assembly time before they close for the a...

The New Year brought little cheer for Downing Street with a forever list of crises, much of its own making. Perhaps surprisingly, Downing Street is cut some slack on the podcast while the empty demands for the Prime Minister's resignation by Northern Ireland politicians is called out for what it is - hubris. Meanwhile, since the last podcast, Liz Truss has taken over the role of chief Brexit negot...

Despite claiming to be 'guided by the science' the NI Executive's reluctance to publish 'the evidence', the science and reason on which a decision is being made, seems churlish. It also seems that the politicians in the NI Executive don't quite trust, certainly lack confidence in the data. Added to which any review of the published NISRA data, a daily update on statistics around Covid and health s...

Labour, Conservatives, and most recently the UUP presented fine optics at their respective conferences. Leaders who said a lot about nothing we didn't know already, at best. Boris was Boris, delivering what everyone in the Conference Centre expected of Boris. Sir Keir and Doug Beattie presented speeches that didn't alarm the horses. At least Sir Keir started to articulate a Labour Party of his own...

We have heard a lot in Northern Ireland about Executive disagreement on the matter of 'Vaccine Passports'. Less clear, and barely discussed, is either the science that underscores a requirement for restricting 'the unvaccinated' access to hospitality venues. Arguments on encouraging vaccinations or 'saving' the NHS don't add up: the age categories with least vaccination uptake - say 18-30 - are no...

Cherryvalley will be eating M&S baked beans on toast this Christmas as this one retailer lays bare their shelves in an honest announcement of the reduced Christmas lines for NI shoppers this year. Every indication is that the 'grace periods', currently preventing already challenging restraints on goods from GB to NI becoming brutal, will be extended beyond the 2022 Assembly election to spare the b...

While we know there is a Judicial Review of the Protocol in our courts, the key points on which the Protocol is being challenged haven't had much airtime. Efforts by Jim Allister to explain on the BBC Northern Ireland Nolan Show were interrupted (frequently) by the host shouting "but Brexit". With his legal hat on, we give Jim time to set out the legal case, clearly: on the fundamental risk to the...

Has the DUP leadership contest been precipitated by policy, politics, or a simpler clash of personalities? Hard to say, and more difficult to see how the DUP comes out the other side with a stable leadership. Not that Unionist voters are going to have a massive choice in 2022 - devil you know, or the devil or the deep blue sea.  The accusation of policy designed by focus group has been made. A gre...