A busy evening sending out SDLP membership forms to Mr Mick Fealty and Mr Brian BBC Walker of Slugger O’Toole.
I will be honest. I never really had either of them down as SDLP supporters but they are certainly full of advice to my Party. To be even more honest, I dont see any reason to heed the advice of our enemies.
Still it will only cost Mr Fealty £20 per annum for SDLP to pay him any heed. Mr Walker, a pensioner like myself can make his opinion heard within SDLP for just a tenner.
Keeping An Eye On the Czar of Russia 
Some years ago I wrote a thread on another site titled ‘Can’t get on to P.U.L.S.E. go to Slugger’ or something like that.The editorial line on Slugger tolerates, indulges and patronises , in fact loyalists from the vile to the laughable and yet even moderate nationalism is attacked. I’ve no idea what motivates the likes of Baker, Fealty and Malachi O’Doherty but they seem to be over consuming the RDE juice.
They also seem to be massively talented at mass mind reading of people they know sod all about, even though they once knew thse communities. People giving parties an electoral kick up the arse is nothing new. In England, its classical for people to vote in council elections or EU elections (see UKIP) for parties other than their Westminster vote.
I think McKinney and Dolores Kelly getting their p45s was significant. They both represent a very negative wing of the party. I’ve never got why the party has not given Alex Attwood the top job, whicg think he should have got after a brilliant tenure as minister.
The bright young thing card is just bloody irritating, be it the SDLP, Greens or PUP doing it. That’s a Blair period thing and went with the boot cut jean. Even internationally young voters are looking to older politicians and turning away from glitz (Sorry Hillary).
Anyway, the summer is coming and I’m sure that Slugger will give itself to loyalist ranting and self pity, with lots of stories about how Catholics used to love the Orange Order and paradesand spent the whole twelth sirring on walls, probably cursing the Pope or somesuch.,
I always think its a bit like Football.
If Manchester City (Micks team) was playing against Manchester United….Id be wary of Mick naming the team for me and wary of his advice on tactics.
Likewise Walker banging his old unionist drum about integrated education to give the SDLP a purpose is risible.
Youre right of course….another summer of the usual drivel.
I suspect that the Slugger folks are still trying to work put a narrative for Alliance this weekend.
And no doubt when Naomi Long regally ascends the ALliance throne, Slugger will go into orgasm.
As I always say, when they say integrated educated, they mean subsumed, let’s all become good nordies. No thanks.
Yeah, Mick is like someone who knows the average diameter of a cow’s hoof but couldn’t milk it. Baker would try to milk a bull.
As for Alliance, the scramble for crumbs, spilled by Mike Nesbitt, over his stupid quote was disingemuous and typically headed by Stewart Dickson. I’ve never bought Alliance and that period when they were taking UUP cast offs like Merkel takes refugees, was telling. I’m not sure what party Ian Parsley is in this week but he’s all over the David McWilliams article like as much a unionist as any I’ve seen, even doing the DUP tactic of deliberately conflating GB and UK economic statistics with NI ones.
On that matter, Alex Kan’s response to David was more telling than he may have intended.
I dont know what Alliance is playing at.
They dont have enough MLAs to be called an Opposition. Nor enough MLAs to be choose a Ministry…except as a gift from DUP-SF. They would have no “cover” no reason to be there except to serve their masters.
So this tactic of arguing for Integrated Education seems like clutching at straws…although it might just give them the cover they need to get Farrys snout in the Justice trough.
Just as interesting is the co-options for Belfast City Council due to election of
CHristopher Stalford,
CLaire Bailey
Nichola Mallon
PAula Bradshaw.
Claire Hanna was replaced by her hubby Donal Lyons last autumn so if precedent is followed, we could have Ian Parsley on council. (Duncan Morrow or a female in Anna Lo mode seems more likely)
I do tend to agree that the over-the-top attack on Mike Nesbitt’s tweet was interesting. Led online by Ian Parsley, whose wife left the UUP when she was not selected to run as their South Belfast candidate for the 2011 Assembly. I think it reveals he has them rattled and they want to hurt him. I think they must think he has eaten their vote, and could do more if he is out of the Exec. and they are in.
The two parties that seem most rattled are Alliance and SF.
There is a crowded field in the unionist middle ground (as it is called).
UUP seem to be made up of the kinda golf club bores who would be mediocre Tory councillors in Yorkshire.
The Alliance Party is increasingly conservative (welfare cuts) and increasingly unionist (no member of their Assembly team is overtly nationalist). And there is no Anna Lo, to add diversity.
They might seek to replace Bradshaw on council with either Morrow or a person who is longer in Alliance than Bradshaw.
The Greens are encroaching on Alliance territory as Womens Coalition did before. ALliance could have been badly hit by NI21 before it imploded.
Oh, the heat I got from a certain brand of Shinners for saying (I was being positive) that it was time for Marty and Gerry to go was off the wall. Its not like I was alone in saying this and its not like those saying it were unsympathetic to the party.
Like every party here, when you think about it, they have a fantastic lack of insight and the writing was on the wall for SF..
As for Alliance, they should be made aware that sniping is as attractive as they seem to think it is and the party aren’t as smart as they think they are when it comes to covering the cracks on LGBT and reproductive rights.
Sooner or later the career of evey politician ends in failure. (I forget who said that). Its like a football manager. You can have great seasons but once you lose your touch, you are gone.
Mick Fealty’s Slugger Reports broadcasts are quite interesting to watch. He said this morning that there are tensions inside within the SDLP as to whether they will go into opposition.
He does that. When a nationalist party has unanimity, they are Stalinist. When they’re having a debate, they’re fractured or at war. In fairness to him, he’s not alone as testified by the BBC reporting on the SF wages story, yesterday.
Oddly, the party that could be said about is the beloved DUP. We’ve materially seen it in action over the Red Sky/McCausland and Jenny Palmer reports.
Well all parties have factions.
But Slugger has a problem with nationalismm…both parties of course. But from a SDLP perspective…Slugger would like three Parties, unionist republican (SF) and Alliance.
There is a strategy to take the weaker nationalist party off the board, leaving mainstream nationalists to make a choice between SF and Alliance.
Its not really the “Slugger” strategy but one that Slugger seem to promote for others.
Its the SDLP so Mick has to say that there are “tensions” because it makes for a better story.
They looked pretty United on it this evening with MLAs and MPs all present.
I dont think there was any dissent at all. And youve prolly seen social media. Its been five years in evolving. And interesting how party membership really changed.
Odd sense of motivation. Arlene and Martin seemed like Mr and Mrs Ceasescu (sp) the Romanian dictators.