O’Conall Street

The Alliance Party is engaged in talks with the DUP and Sinn Fein about the devolution of policing and justice. Many believe this engagement has the single objective of convincing Alliance to take on this Ministerial role upon devolution.

Over the weekend I detected deep anger amongst SDLP supporters about all of this. It relates to the perception that the DUP and Sinn Fein seem determined to find a solution which prevents an SDLP MLA assuming the reigns in the new Department even though, under the D’hondt system, it is their turn.

At the beginning of the summer the DUP and SF said they had agreed that neither party would take Justice. They never said this applied to the SDLP or the UUP, who also qualify for seats on the Executive. Why then this desperate attempt to get a party which does not qualify to hold the new department (because it does not have a big enough vote) ahead of the Party which does?

All this puts the SDLP leadership and the two governments in a very difficult position. D’hondt is central to the power sharing institutions in the North. It allows power to be shared in a way which respects and recognises party mandates. It prevents bigger parties from behaving as if they were a majority government.

As one senior commentator put it to me on Saturday, if the governments agree to a solution which gives Alliance control of policing and justice, they will be undermining not just the Good Friday Agreement but also giving the two fingers to the 105,000 people who voted for the SDLP.

Powersharing, he said, would be in big trouble.

It is nearly impossible to see how such an outcome could lead to anything but the SDLP’s withdrawal from the Executive.

Not Iris Robinson, Irish Palin. The darling of the conservative right in the US is Irish. This of course explains the devastating good looks. She is also a committed christian so if she misses out in November maybe we could ask her over here to lead something or other?

Jack Cafferty, one the US sharpest political commentators sums up the reaction to date from ordinary Americans to Gov Sarah Palin’s candidacy for the Vice Presidency.

Well worth a watch.

I blogged some months ago about Alaska governor and GILF, Sarah Palin who today has been named as McCain’s running mate.

Enough said.

Rescuing Genesis from the Creationists - This is the title of the next public lecture in the lunchtime series at St. Bartholomew’s Church, Stranmillis Road, Belfast, and will be given by the rector of the church, Revd. Dr. Ron Elsdon.

The lecture takes place at 1.15 p.m. on Tuesday September 9.

Huge questions have been raised about how evangelical Christians (and others) should handle the biblical text, and especially the opening chapter of Genesis. Interpreting this text literalistically has led Mervyn Storey, Chairman of the NI Assembly Education Committee, to call for creationism to be taught in school science classes alongside mainstream science.

In this lecture, Ron Elsdon will draw on the work of scholars such as Dr. Jim Packer, to show that there is a much more considered and fruitful way of handling these controversial verses.

The issue has important implications for science and religion education in schools and elsewhere. There are also important implications for how the bible has to be handled in a scientific age, and for how Christians face up to some of the criticisms thrown at their beliefs by people such as Richard Dawkins.

Obama may be giving America hope but back home the crisis continues and O’Conall Street understands even some Dublin officials now believe the power sharing executive could be on its last legs. More on the crisis in today’s Belfast Telegraph.

This brinkmanship is driving a wedge between the hope of a new North shared by the vast majority of ordinary people and increasingly partisan bickering from Sinn Fein and the DUP.

Rumor has it SF want an election. But what will another election fix?

The DUP are unlikely to be toppled by the UUP and few would put serious money on the SDLP overtaking SF in a snap poll. Fact is the election would leave us right back where we are.

This will be sorted around the Executive table. Nowhere else.

The Good Spin of the day comes from the Belfast Festival At Queens. All through the dark years the festival brought light into the shortening evenings. This year is no different and for those us interested in the media and public relations there are a couple of events to look forward to.

The talks line up includes Mary Robinson, Cherie Blair, Will Self and Jeremy Isaacs on ‘Broadcasting - the case for diversity’.

There is also an exhibition on the history of Public Relations Photography which will be well supported by the profession.

We may be failed by politics this autumn in Northern Ireland. In America, it has never been more alive. 

Hope dies last.

Today’s Northern press is full of news that Fraser homes is selling a development on the Northern outskirts of Belfast at a 40% discount. One can only conclude that the developer, Fraser Homes, has very low borrowings against the lands to make this a feasible proposition.

If these properties sell, it will be seen by many as an indication of where the market actually is.

We have a great bumper sticker in the office with the slogan above. It captures the democratic hankering for  change and a return to progressive politics in the United States.

Bill Clinton came and conquered in Colorado yesterday. Tonight is the main course, Obama to 80,000. His biggest challenge will be to get substance into his oratory.

The democratic darling and high king of Irish America came to Denver, Colorado on Monday to deliver what will probably be his last ever speech to a convention.

He came to pledge his presence on the Senate floor in January to welcome President Obama, but his real message was of party unity. Should Obama - Biden win through the VP will become the highest ranking Irish American in recent years. Nobody will ever replace Teddy Kennedy though.  I leave O’Conall street to this true Irish American hero….

It is Irish News day on O’Conall Street. Topic de jour is the Olympics……

What a Games! $43 billion dollars and no disappointments.

China was never going to leave anything to chance and unlike the chaotic international torch run, the 16 days on Chinese soil were choreographed within an inch of their life.

It was more a case study in propaganda than public relations – text-book stuff. As one BBC journalist noted last night you simply could not organise a Games like these in a democracy. The electorate would not allow you to spend so much, nor would they accept such limitations on the personal freedoms.

Within hours of accepting the Olympic flag, London was already involved in a debate about the use of an image of Myra Hindley in a ‘Visit Britain’ video. It has been condemned by the PM and Boris Johnston. The accountability has started and will not abate until the Olympic flame goes out on August 12th, 2012.

Proper order too. There are many in my profession who will cite Beijing as a case study in public relations. I’m not sure this will stand up to scrutiny. It’s easy to manage your image when you control the media, the web, the blogs, the movement of your people, where and if they protest. These, in public relations terms were a closed Olympics. London can be nothing but the opposite.

I was really looking forward to reading Olympian’s blogs – as it happens there were only a few. The Chinese authorities blocked many of the hosting platforms making it impossible for athletes to upload their thoughts.

Then last week Channel 4 brought us the news of two septuagenarians sentenced to ‘re-education’ by the state for applying to protest about housing in the official protest zone. It made great TV but I wonder if these elderly ladies received another visit from the police after their interview was broadcast around the world.

For the Beijing ‘yin’ there will be the London ‘yang’. The 2012 games will be a true public relations challenge. In one of the most open cities in the world with one of the most vocal democracies - a tradition of protest and political debate and more nationalities then any other conurbation in Europe, the skills of those in my profession will be tested.

There will be little point in trying the Chinese top down approach. You cannot control a free press and a free people. Building the reputation for these games will have to be bottom up. In London, individuals looking for news, information and cues will rely less on institutions, or even the press and more on each other.

As individuals take control, they’re demanding more, which is why, in communications terms “pull” now overrules “push.” Amid information overload, pushing messages is not enough. London need to pull people toward the ideas it wants to convey in a true exchange. This requires engagement.

London will need to recruit advocates, forging emotional bonds and higher levels of involvement from supporters — active, vocal, proud, informed, experiential.

That is easier said then done in a democracy.

So the gauntlet has been thrown down again.

The Power Sharing Executive will be collapsed if the principal parties cannot agree on fundamental policy. Not surprising I hear you say. What with the economy in the state it’s in and so much to do in education, health as well as the real and present challenge of global warming. This is an executive with lots on its agenda. Understandable if regrettable that they might not be able to agree on one of the above and have to call an election.

Not so.

Sinn Fein are threatening to collapse Stormont if they don’t get devolution of policing and justice now. Important yes and the DUP should not delay what is the obvious missing piece in the devolution jigsaw, but the electorate want government not stand off and they need leadership not brinkmanship.

The Irish Times today reports that the Church of Ireland Gazette has also said it is too soon for devolution of policing. Canon Iain Ellis the paper’s editor said:

“What appears to happen is that decisions are very often taken on what effectively is a system of ‘trade-off of demands’ between the political parties, as opposed to focusing on the real merits in particular issues.”

SF will be monitoring nationalist response to this latest ’show of stregnth’.

Don’t be surprised if the electorate tell them to get back to their desks and do the job they are being paid to do.