Paying tribute to Colum Eastwood on his resignation as SDLP leader, former secretary of state Julian Smith called him “an exceptional communicator”.
Many others have made similar remarks but they are only half right. Eastwood could be a great performer but he never managed to communicate a unique selling point for his party, admittedly a difficult task.
Doug Beattie may have failed to deliver his vision for the UUP but at least it was fairly clear what that was.
Eastwood’s attempted partnership with Fianna Fáil revealed tactical nationalist ambition without much strategy or ideology behind it. Another UUP parallel could be drawn by comparing it to UCUNF, although even that fiasco made sense in theory, being underpinned by shared Tory values.
South Belfast & Mid Down MP Claire Hanna, Eastwood’s presumed successor, is another great communicator but the real gift she brings is a clear political position.
Hanna considered resigning over the Fianna Fáil link-up as it offended her social democratic principles. She would be a Labour TD in the Republic and fills some of the gap left by UK Labour’s refusal to run candidates here.
The SDLP once thought that was too small an electoral market for its ambition. As it has shrunk regardless, it might find this is a role that fits.
Claire Hanna, Eastwood’s presumed successor, is another great communicator but the real gift she brings is a clear political position
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Mike Nesbitt is returning as UUP leader, effectively by coronation, with no other candidate expected in next month’s leadership vote.
A statement from UUP deputy leader Robbie Butler said Nesbitt will head “a revised and refreshed leadership team” that will “embed the vision of a modern, ambitious and vibrant strand of unionism for the people of Northern Ireland but also... strategically modernise party structures with and for our membership”.
The promise of party reform reflects a view that the UUP leadership has been hamstrung by outdated internal decision-making processes. However, some party members, including senior figures, believe those processes were fine and the problem was leaders ignoring them.
Beattie had a tendency to make decisions on the hoof, as did Nesbitt during his last tenure, with his ‘Vote Mike, Get Colum’ transfer pact with the SDLP being the best-known example.
Nesbitt might need better structures to control the UUP but the UUP also needs better structures to control Nesbitt.
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Sinn Féin has caught the bulk of the backlash over a temporary ban on puberty blockers for children with gender dysphoria. The decision was made by Mike Nesbitt as health minister and signed off by the first and deputy first ministers, in line with the Cass review and advice from Stormont’s chief medical officer.
The drugs will remain available for children with other conditions.
Sinn Féin has said it is following science, not politics, although of course those two things can be hard to separate. Many people condemning Sinn Féin have noted the Cass review has been criticised by the British Medical Association. Few have noted the BMA is a trade union, with internal dynamics to match. Its objection appears to be more political than scientific.
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Newry recycling firm Re-Gen has won a contract to handle Cambridgeshire’s household waste. Councils across the county had been using a facility in Cambridgeshire but say it is more “advantageous” to ship waste 400 miles away, despite no cost saving, because Re-Gen’s innovative robotic facility can separate 99 per cent of waste. Re-Gen intends to build a plant in England as its business there develops.
Meanwhile, Stormont’s Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs is consulting on higher targets for households to separate waste, although we already have one of the highest recycling rates in the world and Re-Gen has warned new targets would needlessly damage our recycling industry.
This is a classic example of officials ticking boxes instead of thinking outside the box. If only they could be recycled into something useful.
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Major problems remain with the Windsor Framework, which at heart is a dishonest re-spin of the protocol. A business parcels deadline next month could cause calamity, while next year’s veterinary medicines deadline threatens the economy and public health.
But the supermarket sea border, once Brexit’s headline problem, does appear to have been solved.
Sainsbury’s has announced it opening new stores in Omagh and Derry under a UK-wide programme to repurpose 10 former Homebase sites. It had been considered the most vulnerable of the UK multiples in Northern Ireland because it is the smallest, has no presence in the Republic and all its stores here are supplied from its Scottish distribution centre, which means sending fiddly mixed loads to Larne. When Sainsbury’s closed its Craigavon store in 2021, the Unite union expressed fears it was preparing to leave Northern Ireland altogether.
Only Marks & Spencer is more exposed to the sea border, due to the even fiddlier nature of its food business. After a brief wobble, it has also been expanding in Northern Ireland.
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Dumping of plastic bottles containing Bible verses appears to have ceased in the Lower Bann. In January, an environmental group that helps clean up the river appealed for an end to the practice, which had been going on for several years on a scale large enough to constitute serious pollution.
The group, Sea2It, was commendably sensitive to religious sensitivities and its diplomatic approach has apparently swayed the unknown person or persons responsible. It must have been tempting to point out that throwing sacred objects into water was a Celtic pagan practice and Christians should not do it.
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DUP communities minister Gordon Lyons, whose remit covers sport, has not attended any type of GAA match since his appointment six months ago. He has accepted an invitation to a club in September but has otherwise declined invitations, including to last month’s All-Ireland final, citing “diary commitments”.
Lyons has attended just about every other type of sporting event, including an Olympic tennis match in Paris, in which no athletes from Northern Ireland competed.
Some nationalist political and media reaction suggests not everyone finds this hilarious. Is it not supposed to be unionists that are always in a thin-skinned rage?