When the Draft All-Island Strategic Rail Review was published last year, the ‘draft’ in the title was not always noted. It meant there was hope the fantastical document would be revised into a more serious set of proposals.
Alas the final version, released this week, retains every implausible project.
Reports that a line to Fermanagh has been ruled out are misleading: it was ruled out in the draft as well. Advocates for a Fermanagh line should note it is so unviable it cannot be justified by a report that recommends a tunnel from Belfast to Lisburn.
Ministers in Dublin and Stormont are mistaken if they think this review is harmless grandstanding. An impossible strategy distracts from deliverable improvements and will foster grievance as apparent promises are not kept.
Of course, there is a place in politics for vision and ambition, but leadership also requires being honest about what can and will be done.
Advocates for a Fermanagh rail line should note it is so unviable it cannot be justified by a report that recommends a tunnel from Belfast to Lisburn
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It goes against the grain of our peace process institutions to tell petty or vexatious complainants to wise up. A quarter of a century after the Good Friday Agreement, perhaps it is time this level of indulgence was reviewed.
Consider the complaints from all three main unionist parties about police officers driving a GAA flag through Camlough.
The PSNI announced an internal investigation, instead of telling the complainants to wise up.
Chief Constable Jon Boutcher did try to brush off the complaints as petty, but only by pretending the dangerous driving allegations were serious.
The TUV made a separate complaint to the office of the Police Ombudsman, which issued a weird statement about also receiving expressions of support for the officers.
It could just have told the TUV to wise up – declaring a complaint vexatious is entirely at the ombudsman’s discretion.
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Sport-related meltdowns are not confined to unionism. Media outlets have faced a barrage of criticism online for describing Team Ireland Olympic athletes as “from Northern Ireland”.
Although Michelle O’Neill can describe herself as “the First Minister of Northern Ireland”, it seems merely referring to the Place we call Here still affronts some people beyond endurance.
This does not inspire confidence that Northern Ireland playing at Casement Park would unite us all in joyous celebration.
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Labour has given the clearest indication yet that it wants close enough alignment with the EU to remove most sea border checks on food.
On his first visit to Northern Ireland as minister for EU relations, Nick Thomas Symonds said the government will aim for an “ambitious” veterinary agreement in scheduled talks next year.
Signals from Brussels indicate this will be a tough negotiation and none of it will solve the problem due on December 13 this year, when the EU’s General Product Safety Regulations (GPSR) come into effect under the Windsor Framework.
Overnight, almost everyone in Britain selling almost any consumer product into Northern Ireland will have to meet a host of full EU export requirements, including having an agent here or in the EU, which will be uneconomic in many cases.
The impact will be most noticeable to the public through disruption to online shopping, although the wider impact on inflation and product availability could be severe enough to be noticeable as well. If mitigations cannot be agreed in time, it will cause economic and political chaos.
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Arsonists have attacked mobile phone masts across Belfast in what appears to be the genuine belief that 5G signals spread deadly radiation. These fears have escalated since the pandemic, with some conspiracy theories claiming the signals spread the virus.
Attacks on phone masts and ludicrous health scares are nothing new but they used to be excuses for Nimbies, or cover for jealousies and arguments over the rent paid to site owners. If reporting had made that clear at the time, we might be less vulnerable to paranoia today.
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The executive office is refusing to release details of a meeting the first and deputy first ministers held at Stormont in May with China’s ambassador to the UK.
Amnesty Northern Ireland submitted a freedom of information request for the minutes to see if human rights were discussed. The executive office says this could harm “international relations”, which Amnesty director Patrick Corrigan is calling “somewhat absurd” and part of “an unacceptable pattern of secrecy”.
For once, Stormont’s secrecy is not absurd: there is a blanket exemption for international relations under the Freedom of Information Act and it was inevitably going to be used – Amnesty’s request was an obvious stunt.
What is somewhat absurd is for Stormont to be conducting international relations, as this matter is fully reserved to Westminster. No British diplomat was reportedly present at May’s meeting.
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There has been some excitement about a reorganisation inside BBC Northern Ireland, which will see Stephen Nolan’s programmes integrated into the newsroom.
The story made front page headlines but its implications seem poorly understood.
BBC management wants consistent news output across all platforms – television, radio and online. Keeping Nolan in a silo has encouraged a regular phenomenon whereby he breaks a story at 9am, it is discussed all over the internet and by other broadcasters and newspapers, yet the rest of the BBC downplays or even ignores it due to silly office politics. That will no longer be allowed.
A separate ‘digital first’ policy also aims for consistency by requiring stories to appear first on the BBC Northern Ireland news website. However, the website is so badly run it is likely Nolan will be first on a regular basis and this will have to be allowed. The biggest show in the country is about to get even bigger.