29th Sep 2008
Rotten Politics
Alex Maskey delivered another spectacular display in political denial on the Politics Showthis Sunday as Peter Robinson talked all though in Fermanagh.
The more this stand off continues, the more convinced I am that both Sinn Fein and the DUP are driven exclusively by selfish partisan interest. They are classic examples of using power for the few not the many.
But what about the people?
Both parties have done their best for example to turn the debate about the future of selection into a sectarian ‘them and us’ when in fact it is an issue which transcends community and if anything splits people along socio-economic lines.
Nor have they displayed any interest in tackling the current fuel poverty crisis, the gaping whole in public finances, the need to urgently reduce our carbon footprint or sort out the planning system. All issues which can’t be boxed off neatly into a community stand off.
A friend commented to me that politicians in NI are smarter then people give them credit for but smart does not mean good.
All the bread and butter issues aside, the acid test of all this has been the absolute failure of the DUP and Sinn Fein to tackle the elephant in the room – sectarianism. Both parties rejected the ‘Shared Future’ policy and neither are interested in progressing any debate which could lead to a cross cutting anti-sectarianism policy which could seriously change things here.
But then why bite off the hand that feeds you?
[...] wrote about how rotten our politics were here yesterday. I’ll add republicans the US Congress to the list of self serving public [...]