O’Conall Street

Having threatened to walk out of government if he failed to get agreement on his draft budget, Northern Finance Minister Peter Robinson has spent January finding more money to turn his budget for business into a budget for business with a caring heart.

The big winners in his final budget are, not surprisingly the departments of Health and Social Development led by two ministers from the parties (SDLP and UUP) that threatened to veto the draft budget when it was first published. Politics has won out if you ask me. He gets his efficiencies which are much needed but a social dimension has been maintained which was strangely absent from the original draft.

I have been following the machinations within the Irish Green Party on the Lisbon Treaty with great interest over the past week and am at sixes and sevens about how they can realistically hope to maintain a ‘no comment’ stance in the face of a referendum which the government they are members of is holding and which the rest of the government is supporting.

But then at least the Green Party are getting the chance to say no. O’Conall Street is depressed at the absence of any debate on this most important or treaties North of the border.  Just after Christmas the First and Deputy First Ministers lauded Europe as the North’s great friend, embracing the Commission and the other institutions as partners in this region’s reconstruction. Yet neither party appear to have expressed an opinion on the Lisbon Treaty North of the Border. In the South SF MEP Mary Lou McDonald has rejected the treaty saying it would result in a loss of power to Ireland, indeed her Party President Gerry Adams has described it as a bad deal for Ireland. I strongly suspect the DUP position would be if asked a robust - Ulster Says NO!

So here we are. An island that owes more to Europe than most and a North which has received more from Europe than many other regions. The two leading parties are rejectionists and the Assembly is silent. There will be a referendum in the South which no one here will get to vote in and a debate in Westminster which SF will boycott. This is a terrible denial of a proper debate on a critically important issue and in my view a silencing of what could well turn out to be a pro-Europe majority.

 Blogger from the bog has a dcent post kicking oiff the debate.

I am one of a growing number of senior Weber Shandwick staff globally who blog on a plethora of issues and interests.

It is striking how few of the other leading communications groups have the same footprint in cyberspace. Maybe they are waiting to see how the digital and social media revolution pans out or maybe they have nothing to say.

As part of the occasional series of O’Conall Street signposts I wanted to highlight three newish blogs which are worth checking out. A scroll down the blogroll to your right will bring you to the rest.

 CandidCulture offers a unique insight into the world of multicultural communications. It’s pacey and written from a slightly left of field perspective. Good craic as well as a good read.

 MayDayMayDay is a clarion call to anyone genuinely interested in sustainability and the role business has in ensuring our children and their children have a planet to enjoy.

 All About Advocacy does what it says on the tin.  A good read for anyone genuinely interested in the changing world of public relations and integrated communications.

Byrne Baby Byrne’s twitter for those of you who enjoy a twitt and if you would like a taste of China give Sino Scott your click.

Weber Shandwick Belfast account manager Chris Brown and myself are waiting patiently in the departure lounge at Heathrow for what will be a very delayed flight back to Belfast.

The BBC is running wall to wall coverage of today’s near miss on the north runway and airside thousands of British Airways passengers are queueing for a bed as the carrier grounds its entire shorthall fleet.

The mood is calm and the customer commications are working well. BA appear to be handling their media message well although a worrying report in this evening’s Standard reports that a BA plane on route to eastern Europe in October 2005 lost all power for 90 seconds. Not good given initial reports suggest today’s crash landing was as a result of another total systems failure.

Off for a stroll around the terminal now. Will keep you posted.

I read in today’s Irish News that the excellent Slugger O’Toole blog is inviting councillors to become bloggers. The scheme has the support of the Department of Finance and Personnel in NI which is odd given the anti institutional nature of the blogosphere.

Setting aside the fact that to my knowledge there is not a single local politician with a blog in the north, anything that drags them into the twenty first century is good.Next stop Facebook as I am sure there will be some government scheme to manage their profiles and advise on which zombie to bite and who the real chumps are. It’s depressing that it took the government and the best blogger in the land to shift our councillors from boggers to bloggers but a very welcome initiative none the less.

Elsewhere on O,Conall street the Irish Times has an embarrassing bubu today on page ten when it calls Edwin Poots, Mervyn. Fair play Edwin for taking the first step and attending a GAA match last night. His thoughts would make a good blog. I am wondering if we can also look forward to Mervyn Storey’s musings on creationism, Martin McGuinness cricket critique, Paisley junior on life out of office or Alan McParland on complex adaptive theory. Let’s not forget the opportunity a blog would give Mark Durkan to fully explain himself!

2008 could turn out to be the year when the politics of this island goes global and the politicians find their voice.

Two more firsts today. Pol posted a short story in Irish on El Blogabdor last night and I am sitting on an Aer Lingus plane at Belfast waiting for take off. Change is everywhere.

Slan.

Rumor has it the former NI manager Lawrie Sanchez is being considered for the Republic job. I can hear the northern call - Ulster says NO!

Sanchez is a great communicator and an outstanding motivator but also a fundamental liability in reputation terms. He went to war with the northern press and lost. He went to war with the British press and lost and as one senior hack commented to me yesterday, the press in the south will be having him on toast within the year. In football as in life you have to walk the walk as well as talk the talk.

Curley’s is being sold today to Sainsbury’s in what will be a big blow to the independent retail sector. As well as its well known west Belfast shop the UK multiple will be acquiring thirteen off licences across the north which will give them a significant foothold in the competitive convenience market.

Our systems are down this morning so writing this post on the blackberry and as a result no links. My apologies for that.

Fr Ted’s legacy is growing with news this morning that the annual festival on the beautiful island of Inis Mor to celebrate the amazing comedy series is stretching from a weekend to a week. Ted Fest 08 will run from the Feb 25th to March 2nd.  There will be the 2nd Paddy Power World Cup and the Lovely Girls competition guaranteed to get catch the clerical interest.  

Speaking of competitions, I get to represent the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) for the first time today as incoming chairperson in Northern Ireland. We will be launching the 2008 Press and Broadcast Awards which pit journalist against journalist and outlet against outlet for the boasting rights and the prestige of the top prizes in the region. The CIPR here is the only public relations body in these islands to organise a press and broadcast awards and we very much looking forward to another strong competition this year.

 I’ll post details of the categories later in the week.

Monday’s advocate of the day goes to the five Protestant clergymen from North Belfast who are claiming the Executive is failing to deal with sectarianism (front page Newsletter).

This blog highlighted the elephant in the room over Christmas. Sectarianism is the biggest single challenge facing us on this island. To say you should focus on the economy, health and education and ignore sectarianism simply won’t work in a place like ours. To leave the ‘Shared Future’ policy agenda on the shelf as the Executive has and make no serious suggestions about an alternative could be seen as collective denial. In that regard the Draft Programme for Government as the clergymen rightly say is a let down for us all.

The integration of blogs, social networking platforms and the rest of the Internet has been possible for some time but for an ordinary techno Joe like me it is only in recent months that the opportunities have become apparent.

 A good friend sent me a link to a BBC news story last week about the growth of facebook since its establishment less then four years ago. In the UK alone there are 7 million and worldwide over 50 million. No wonder advertisers are circling with serious intent.

From a PR perspective the opportunities are also endless. Social networking sites allow you to create groups such as the one Belfast fashionista Cathy Martin has now got for her increasingly successful Belfast Fashion Week. These cost you nothing and ensure all members are updated everytime they log on.

 For those with more resource, like Barack Oabama, there is the opportunity to create an application which people can download onto their own sites and here is where it gets exciting. The application can be passed throughout a growing the community of interest and ensures the user is constantly up to date with news, video and pretty much anything else its developer wants them to see. From a campaigning point of view this means your YouTube Channel, blog, myspace presence, technorati rating and news as well as the main website are now integrated. The opportunities are endless.

O’Conall Street wants to congratulate the Irish News  for making it’s online edition free to all. The best online newspapers are free online and the trend is increasingly to drive revenues from online advertising.

Slugger O’Toolehas already supported this move and I am sure more cyberscribes will too. In Northern Ireland, The Newsletter is already free online as is the current edition of the Belfast Telegraph. The Irish Times has stubbornly, and in my view mistakenly, kept Ireland.com as a subscription site whilst the Irish Independent and Examiner are available free.

None of the Northern sites host blogs. I guess this will come in the fullness of time.