Monthly Archives: October 2012

Eamon Gilmore and Róisín Shorthall.

… But along came a glorious opportunity. Róisín Shortall’s conflict with James Reilly dramatised in the clearest possible way the difference between machine politics and good governance based on clear principles and objective evidence.

Labour had the enormous good fortune to be overwhelmingly on the right side, not just of an argument, but of a whole approach to public life. It had the chance to stop the emergence of Fine Fáil as the new dominant force in Irish politics.

And Eamon Gilmore knew exactly what to do – he threw all of his weight behind clientelism. He cleared the path for Fine Gael to drive The Machine forward – across the dead body of his own party.

 

FG Wide Boys Replace FF As Party of Operators (Fintan O’Toole, Irish Times)

(Sam Boal, Albert Gonzales/Photocall Ireland)

The film’s transmission was scheduled for mid-December, a couple of weeks before the airing by the BBC of Christmas tributes to the presenter of Top of the Pops and Jim’ll Fix It, who died in October 2011.

Pulling the film avoided a potential embarrassment for the corporation, which was elsewhere feting him as a hero to the public.

 

Jimmy Savile: Newsnight Staff Were Furious After Abuse Report Dropped (Guardian)

Narrowly…

A MOTION to introduce same-sex marriage in the North was narrowly defeated in the Northern Ireland Assembly yesterday when only three unionist members supported it.

However, equality campaigners hailed the closeness of the vote as evidence of changed times. The motion to extend the rights already available under civil partnership was brought by Sinn Féin and the Green Party, but it was effectively blocked by the DUP, which tabled a “petition of concern”, meaning it needed cross-community support.

The vote was lost by a slim margin of 45 to 49. Of the 45 MLAs in support of the motion, only three were unionists.

Still.

Progress.

DUP Blocks Same-Sex Marriage Proposals (Una Bradley, Irish Times)

Northern Ireland Assembly Rejects Motion On Gay Marriage (Henry McDonald, Guardian)

(Pic: Paul Faith/PA)