Post by earl on Jun 27, 2008 15:21:37 GMT
They really don't like the DUP at the Economist!
Oh, for a honeymoon
Both parties to an improbable marriage must learn to rub along
NORTHERN IRELAND without the Rev Ian Paisley? The man who bestrode the region’s troubled politics for decades has been gone for less than a month, and already the place feels different. Peter Robinson, who stepped into his shoes on June 5th as first minister, is putting his own gloss on things. That means, first and foremost, defining the relationship with his partner-in-power, Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein’s man of the moment and deputy first minister.
It was, perhaps, an unfortunate start that Sinn Fein tried to hijack Mr Robinson’s assumption of office to extract concessions on matters in dispute. To resolve their differences they trod the familiar path to Number 10. Mr Brown was, it seems, less inclined than his predecessor to get involved in the nitty-gritty of Stormont politics. On June 6th he listened to the two, then told them to go sort out their disagreements at home.
One is over what should replace the now-defunct 11-plus exam used for admission to grammar schools. Prized by unionists, it was junked in the last days of the previous power-sharing administration by Mr McGuinness, then education minister. Another quarrel has to do with the Irish language: Sinn Fein want to give it official status; the Unionists demur. And handing control of policing to the power-sharing executive is also thorny.
Mr Robinson’s early appointments may steady his party after the discombobulation it felt at the sight of Mr Paisley laughing and joking with the former arch-enemy. They may also make it harder for him to rub along with his nationalist partners in government.
Gregory Campbell, a Westminster MP, is now Stormont’s minister for culture, arts and leisure—putting him in charge of the Irish language (and Ulster Scots) and grants to Protestant marching groups. He has in the past attacked equality and anti-discrimination legislation, the purpose of which, he insists, is to disadvantage Protestants. Sammy Wilson, another Westminster MP, is minister for the environment. Popular within his own party for dubbing Irish “leprechaun language”, he marked his appointment by questioning the link between carbon-dioxide emissions and climate change. And Mervyn Storey, a creationist who has replaced Mr Wilson as chairman of Stormont’s monitoring committee on education, takes time out from criticising the planned 11-plus replacement to nag the education minister, a Sinn Fein MP, to have intelligent design taught in schools.
While Mr Robinson and Mr McGuinness were discussing their differences in London, Iris Robinson—an MP and Mr Robinson’s wife—was making her own contribution to the rich tapestry that is Northern Ireland’s political life. Speaking on Radio Ulster, she condemned a homophobic attack near Belfast, but added that homosexuality was an “abomination” and that she worked with a “lovely” psychiatrist who helps homosexuals become heterosexual. Mr Robinson had to assure the Assembly that his wife, like himself, would be “at the forefront defending anyone who was being discriminated against”. Proof, if he needed another, that no marriage is easy.
Oh, for a honeymoon
Both parties to an improbable marriage must learn to rub along
NORTHERN IRELAND without the Rev Ian Paisley? The man who bestrode the region’s troubled politics for decades has been gone for less than a month, and already the place feels different. Peter Robinson, who stepped into his shoes on June 5th as first minister, is putting his own gloss on things. That means, first and foremost, defining the relationship with his partner-in-power, Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein’s man of the moment and deputy first minister.
It was, perhaps, an unfortunate start that Sinn Fein tried to hijack Mr Robinson’s assumption of office to extract concessions on matters in dispute. To resolve their differences they trod the familiar path to Number 10. Mr Brown was, it seems, less inclined than his predecessor to get involved in the nitty-gritty of Stormont politics. On June 6th he listened to the two, then told them to go sort out their disagreements at home.
One is over what should replace the now-defunct 11-plus exam used for admission to grammar schools. Prized by unionists, it was junked in the last days of the previous power-sharing administration by Mr McGuinness, then education minister. Another quarrel has to do with the Irish language: Sinn Fein want to give it official status; the Unionists demur. And handing control of policing to the power-sharing executive is also thorny.
Mr Robinson’s early appointments may steady his party after the discombobulation it felt at the sight of Mr Paisley laughing and joking with the former arch-enemy. They may also make it harder for him to rub along with his nationalist partners in government.
Gregory Campbell, a Westminster MP, is now Stormont’s minister for culture, arts and leisure—putting him in charge of the Irish language (and Ulster Scots) and grants to Protestant marching groups. He has in the past attacked equality and anti-discrimination legislation, the purpose of which, he insists, is to disadvantage Protestants. Sammy Wilson, another Westminster MP, is minister for the environment. Popular within his own party for dubbing Irish “leprechaun language”, he marked his appointment by questioning the link between carbon-dioxide emissions and climate change. And Mervyn Storey, a creationist who has replaced Mr Wilson as chairman of Stormont’s monitoring committee on education, takes time out from criticising the planned 11-plus replacement to nag the education minister, a Sinn Fein MP, to have intelligent design taught in schools.
While Mr Robinson and Mr McGuinness were discussing their differences in London, Iris Robinson—an MP and Mr Robinson’s wife—was making her own contribution to the rich tapestry that is Northern Ireland’s political life. Speaking on Radio Ulster, she condemned a homophobic attack near Belfast, but added that homosexuality was an “abomination” and that she worked with a “lovely” psychiatrist who helps homosexuals become heterosexual. Mr Robinson had to assure the Assembly that his wife, like himself, would be “at the forefront defending anyone who was being discriminated against”. Proof, if he needed another, that no marriage is easy.