It's recess week so I am suffering withdrawal symptoms from my addiction to the Stormont canteen porridge. In order to distract myself from this ailment, I drove down to Dundalk today for a north south meeting featuring Messrs. Paisley, McGuinness and Dermot Ahern. The ministers expressed concern about the Seagate job losses, and Ian Paisley put on the record what we've all known for some time - that he and the Deputy First are off to the USA to lobby for investment before the end of the year. They are expected to pose for a photo with President Bush in the first week of December.
I had a weekend off so wasn't there for Margaret Ritchie's "no surrender" moment at the UUP conference. But my colleague Gareth Gordon told me she was definitely the star turn. All the UUP-SDLP talk of internal opposition may be a bit half hearted when their ministers are still in office, but it certainly seems to have spooked SF-DUP. Michelle McIlveen put out a statement headlined "Yes - Stranglehold on Executive exactly what DUP want" whilst John O'Dowd accused the SDLP and UUP of "living in an arrogant fantasy world of political denial".
If the SDLP and the UUP did pull out, would the whole notion of a mandatory coalition be holed below the water line? Or would both parties take a hammering from their traditionally moderate voters?
I shall leave you to ponder these thoughts for a while, as I am exploiting the opportunity afforded by recess week to take a couple of days' leave. If you see a forlorn character walking the streets pining for porridge, my advice is to cross the road and walk swiftly by on the other side.
I had just finished an interview for Talkback this lunchtime about today's North South Ministerial meeting, when the programme turned to more important matters - the proposal for a Great Britain football team in the 2012 Olympics.
Predictably the IFA and their Welsh and Scottish counterparts have given the suggestion a cool response. So in an attempt to be helpful I proposed a formula which I thought might preserve the associations' separate identities, whilst ensuring that 11 players take to the pitch in 2012. This was that the four GB teams should hold a one off "home international" tournament in the run up to the Olympics, and the winner should then represent Great Britain.
The football pundit Talkback had on didn't seem too impressed. But if the national associations continue to block the creation of a GB dream team, could a pre-Olympic tournament prove a possible compromise?
Later this week the Electoral Commission will start requiring local parties to report donations. However, as we have noted previously on the blog, the system will still not be as transparent as elsewhere in the UK, as donors will retain their anonymity. The Commission will know the identity of big donors but will have to keep it confidential for an initial period.
Coincidentally talks broke down last night between the major UK parties over Sir Hayden Phillips' proposals to reform party funding. Prior to the breakdown the SNP and Plaid Cymru had already protested about their exclusion from the discussions. Sir Hayden had proposed amongst other things that parties should get 50 pence for every vote cast for them in a Westminster election and 25 pence for every vote cast in a devolved or European election. Back in March I calculated that if the formula was applied to Northern Ireland the DUP would have earned £121,000 from the Westminster election of 2005, and £51,930 from this year's Assembly election.
The Scottish and Welsh parties claim the formula is discriminatory, both against them and against the NI parties. I am not quite sure I follow the logic, as I imagine an English politician who doesn't get the chance to stand in a devolved election might argue he or she is being discriminated against, as the devolved votes would be counted in addition to a Westminster tally. But I am happy to be corrected on this score. I am including the SNP/Plaid letter in the extended entry, together with some relevant quotes from Sir Hayden Phillips' report.
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