Will SF back Ritchie?

The High Court judgement against Social Development Minister, Margaret Ritchie  MLA, presents an interesting dilemma for Sinn Fein. Does the party back a nationalist minister who stood up to the UDA when they were ‘on riot’ or does it stand with Peter Robinson who sought to scupper Ms Ritchie’s initiative on technical grounds?

Earlier SDLP MLA Carmel Hanna pointed out that the High Court vindicated the Minister’s substantive position which, she said, is overwhelmingly backed by all decent members of the community. The court of public opinion has ruled firmly in her favour, according to the South Belfast politician.

The Minister won on three substantive grounds with the judge ruling on technicalities regarding the ministerial code.

On the other, the issues raised by those who opposed her decision – that she pre-judged the issue, that she failed to consult, that she was wrong to take the decision– were all dismissed, as they had already been dismissed in the court of public opinion.

At the time of writing I can see no public comment from Sinn Fein on the judgement. The First Minister, Mr Robinson, has claimed total vindication for his attempts to block Ms Ritchie.

The question as to where they stand on this issue therefore remains.

SDLP call for NI budget

In a response to the British budget published today, the SDLP says the DUP and Sinn Fein are anxious to create the impression that the Executive is acting dynamically to address the economic downturn – even though it refuses to change anything.

The Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) has established what it has called a Cross-Sectoral Advisory Forum to provide advice on how the economic downturn should be addressed.Although much has been made of this consultative body by OFMDFM, it is largely a PR exercise designed to give the impression that people are being listened to and that things are being done.

In essence the Cross-Sectoral Advisory Forum is much the same thing as the well established Economic Development Forum (EDF) which already meets regularly under the chairmanship of the ‘economy’ Minister Arlene Foster. The EDF already has very wide representation and shares with OFMDFM’s new cross-sectoral forum, representation from CBI, Institute of Directors, NI Chamber of Commerce, NICVA, Trades Unions (ICTU) Ulster Farmers Union. In many cases the individual members are the exact same people. In fact the biggest difference is that the OFMDFM forum has more representation from the energy sector – which is a DETI responsibility.

It is known that the DETI Minister is concerned about the degree of overlap between the existing economic forum and the new one from OFMDFM. She has written to OFMDFM about the matter.

The SDLP believes that it is time to go beyond PR stunts and face the central issue – the need to refocus Executive spending plans.

Yet the DUP/Sinn Fein controlled Executive actually wants to choke off any real independent economic advice.

The SDLP is also calling for a major review of the Executive’s spending priorities. However the DUP and Sinn Fein have refused to change anything. Perhaps it is the looming European election causing them to play politics with our economic future?

We cannot afford to worry about the political implications of an emergency budget. If the Executive is serious about achieving its economic and social objectives then the Programme for Government and budget need to be recast, now.

It has been known for some time that there is a £1 billion shortfall in the Executive’s capital budget.

Alistair Darling’s announcements mean the demand for an additional £123million in budget cuts next year.

And there will be a further minimum of £75million in cuts in each of the following four years.

As we will not continue to receive special treatment from the Treasury for an indefinite period, we will be subject to ever increasing efficiency savings that will severely affect our economy.

It is time for the DUP and Sinn Féin to come clean and admit that a new budget is required to enable Northern Ireland to recover from the global economic downturn.

In keeping with our strong stance against the war in Iraq and our support, along with our Party of European Socialist colleagues, for Nuclear disarmament we welcome reports that the government are attempting to renegotiate the current £1.4bn contract for 16 Eurofighter jets, but we believe they could go further, by reassessing other costly military equipment spending. Most importantly the government should reconsider its plans spend an estimated £15bn to £20bn on a new Trident submarine fleet.

As it is essential that we protect frontline services in the NHS but also imperative that we cut costs, we propose that the government scrap the £20bn NHS IT system, of which up to £8bn is yet to be spent and which has been described as ‘doomed to fail’.

The SDLP also proposes the government drop the hugely costly and unpopular ID card scheme that is estimated will cost anywhere between £6bn and £20bn and which we are not convinced will carry any tangible security benefits, whilst infringing further on civil liberties.

Is Sinn Fein trying to split the education system?

There are suggestions that the emerging splits in the Catholic education sector are politically motivated. Speaking this morning on Good Morning Ulster, Bishop Donal McKeown, the Chairperson of the Catholic Commission on Education pointed to the fact that there are principals and teachers in every part of the catholic education sector who have political agendas on this issue.

This is nearly certainly so.

What is also true is that these opinions are now being aired in public not because these people wish their personal political views to be aired at work but because of the failure of a Sinn Fein Minister to show leadership on the issue and find compromise with her fellow public representatives. That professionals are becoming politicised in this nature is a total indictment of politics and a negative development.

Following the Bishop’s interview the programme was flooded with texts from people claiming to support the primary school principals who have opposed the Catholic grammars’ plans. What was noticeable about the texts was how aggressively they attacked the grammar schools and the bishops. The language was very similar to that used by Sinn Fein in recent months.

I wonder how many SF press officers were posing as ‘concerned parents’ this morning? My experience of cathoilc parents, be they working class or not, is that they are angry and think the Minister is failing their children. But then maybe people just tell me what they think I want to hear.

On the other hand maybe there is an election in the offing.

The other 100 days

Another man enjoys his 100th day in office today. Vice President Joe Biden, a Derry man with deep a love for our island and this region, has been playing a major supporting role to President Obama during these initial days of government.

We would all love to see the President here in Ireland but in all truth we need more then a fly in fly out visit. The depth and nature of the economic downturn has left North and South exposed to global markets and desperately seeking good foreign direct investment opportunities which can directly create job but also stimulate indigenous business. The United States is investing heavily in areas which this island has potential in.

Innovation – the commercialisation of science – is a case in point. Across Ireland there has been much work done with universities and business to create innovation based enterprises ensuring good scientific ideas get commercialised here rather then jumping on a plane to Germany or the US. In the South Science Foundation Ireland has been the vehicle, here in the North we eagerly await the Executive’s response to the Matrix report.

The Green economy – another priority for the Obama / Biden Administration is an area of huge opportunity for us. Sammy Wilson may enjoy playing King Canute on Larne strand but the world is moving on and green is the new black when it comes to the economy. The global green economy train has president Obama in the engine room and if we were smart we would be thinking about ways of getting a few seats in a first class carriage.
 
Which brings me back to Vice President Biden.

It is often claimed the VP is in office but out of a job. It has been a long time since we had anyone with such close links to the North in such high office. Not since Kennedy have we had a president who enjoys such popular support across our divided people.

Let’s make this man our new best friend. Let’s bring him to our region and in the best tradition of the United States let’s see if we can do some business together.

99 days

Barack Obama will awake President of the United States for the 99th time this morning. There can be no doubt that the commentators have been impressed with his performance to date.

Joe Klein in Time has a his usual unique take. As does Fareed Zakaria in Newsweek who claims Obama’s centrury of sunrises is enough to make any president envious. The African-Asian commentator rightly points out that no other American president in modern memory has faced a learning curve as steep as the one Barack Obama has encountered. When he began his quest for the Democratic nomination three years ago, the Dow Jones industrial average was 14,000, and the world was in the midst of a great economic boom. By the time he took office, America’s financial industry was in chaos, credit markets were frozen, housing values were plummeting and the economy was in its worst contraction since the Great Depression. Add to that Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran and North Korea, and you get an extraordinary set of challenges.

And yet, by most measures, President Obama’s first 100 days have been successful. The economy remains weak, of course, but he has put forward a series of initiatives to stabilize the capital and housing markets, proposed longer-term programs to create sustained growth, adjusted America’s military priorities in Afghanistan and Iraq, and begun a process of reaching out to the world and changing America’s image. These are only overtures, and naturally much will depend on how things turn out—in the economy, in Pakistan, in Iraq. But so far, any president would be envious of Obama’s accomplishments.

There is also a lovely photo essay in Time which is worth an online visit.

Closer to home NIall Stanage is delivering a lecture in the Waterfront tonight on the first 100 days. If you have not got Niall’s book on the campaign yet you should. Its a great snapshot of history through Irish eyes.

Dirty Tricks in Northern Politics

I was invited on  the Politics Show yesterday to talk about dirty tricks in Northern politics on the back of the Damian McBride affair and the recent release of In The Loop.

As always my sincere thanks to Pete Baker at Slugger O’Toole for loading it onto YouTube.

Community relations challenge to Executive

Community Relations Week kicks off today with a challenge to the Executive to put community relations at the heart of economic development here in the North. According to CRC Chief Executive, Duncan Morrow, if the future here is to be prosperous and secure, then this must be a warm house for the whole community. Creativity and investment flourish where there is hope for the future, stability and leadership and a culture of enterprise and risk-taking.

“Sustaining peace where once there was only division means a commitment to creative engagement, a commitment to a fair and dynamic society and a commitment to a shared future for all. A prosperous future is a shared and peaceful future: tackling the legacy of the past is an investment in the opportunities of the future.” Accoding to Dr Morrow.

This year’s Community Relations Week takes as its theme the interdependence of community relations work, stability and the economy. Now is a time of significant economic challenge, but addressing division now in order to create an inclusive and open society is critical if we are to take advantage when the recovery comes.

There will be events across all six counties of Northern Ireland on themes including: reimaging communities through art in order to support good relations; the role of community relations in building a successful economy; the successful regeneration of contentious sites; and promoting acceptance in society through sport.

Events are being organised by a range of voluntary, public and private organisations. Organisers of events include: the Community Relations Council; local councils; community and voluntary organisations; statutory bodies; sports and cultural organisations.

Despite all this there is still no indication from the DUP-Sinn Fein coalition as to when we can expect a community relations policy.

The Green Social Media Opportunity

Tips on how to get your green message across using social media.

Brendan May, my London colleague who specialises in sustainable communications sent me over a few thoughts on green digital communications.

The digital revolution presents a golden opportunity for any company wanting to engage with consumers about sustainability issues. NGOs are already using the range of available social media – the online technologies (such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter) and practices that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives with each other – to great effect.

As individuals become ever more powerful in ‘streaming’ the information they want and filtering out what they don’t want to hear, any successful green marketing strategy should place digital at its core. But how?

It’s not an ad

First, we need a dramatic shift in our appreciation of what ‘marketing’ might be. Social media shouldn’t be ring-fenced as a stand-alone activity.

All communications from companies or brands will be consumed by consumers without them drawing any conscious distinctions between media type, content type or whether the placement was paid-for or ‘earned’. So our activity within social media must be a natural extension of what we do elsewhere: an approach we call ‘inline communications’.

Get in touch

Second, green communicators must create carefully conceived content that resonates with particular communities. We need to craft and deliver credible and interesting stories that are truly compelling to our audiences, so that they are driven to share – or narrate – those stories within their communities. Then we can create and drive advocacy.

We must also bear in mind that carefully created content doesn’t necessarily have to be content in the traditional sense of the word. Content in this instance could just be presence: an individual providing one half of a potential conversation.

Be organised

Third, we must organise internally to maximize the effectiveness of any social media activity. Digital communications are a grey area when it comes to mapping responsibilities according to traditional marketing groups; social media particularly so.

Tight and detailed internal guidelines and procedures are required to ensure social media communications are not duplicated or in conflict with other corporate messages or behaviours. Otherwise, a company risks finding itself in a fine mess in pretty short order.

The golden rules

Based on our experience in creating and managing social media programmes for clients, the critical success factor for any social media marketing activity is for it to be REAL. If it seems or feels inauthentic, it will fail.

Success in the social media environment isn’t about buying digital real estate and using it to shout about how great your products and services are. The guiding principles for any organisation venturing into social media are:

Be active
Be everywhere
Be nice

So what does that mean, in real terms? By ‘be active’ we mean you must participate in genuine conversations. You cannot throw money at social media marketing and expect it to work. The traditional notions of communications planning and deployment are comparatively pre-historic when looked at in the context of the social media environment.

In order to gain momentum and begin shifting perceptions, it isn’t enough to ‘advertise’ what you do or what you think. Rather, it is essential to be you. Don’t just say it, do it. In this sense, digital marketing is no different to authentic green business. It must be core DNA, not a bolt on marketing tool.

Being everywhere means exactly what it says. If your organisation is going to convince its target audience that it is what it purports to be, it must do so everywhere online. Being active everywhere means you are giving itself the best opportunity to provide constant, contextual, responsive and valuable content within each and every available target community.

Finally, ‘be nice’. This tells us how we should act while we are active, everywhere. It may sound trite, but businesses that adopt the attributes of ‘niceness’ when communicating online can only succeed.

After all, if you’re generous with your time, are courteous, listen, don’t interrupt, help people achieve what they want to achieve and make people smile – in short, if you’re nice – then people will want to hang out with you and they’ll want to introduce you to their mates. This simple maxim applies as much to digital communications.

Any organisation that demonstrates the core attributes of personal niceness online – those that run online campaigns that are inclusive, non-judgmental, even-handed, polite, respectful, courteous, humorous, empowering, supportive, interesting and engaging – will be infinitely better placed to succeed than an organisation that doesn’t.

Companies that are committed to real, embedded sustainability have already accepted the virtue of being active, everywhere, and nice. They would be missing a trick if they did not deploy the quiet revolution that is changing the way in which audiences receive information, for good.

Africa Day – Rushmere

Spending the day at Rushmere Shopping Centre, Craigavon where we will be raising money for the centre’s Uganda School project.

Customers will be treated to the sounds of Africa and the team have arranged and African Art exhibition as well as loads of fun for the kids.

Sainsburys staff are throwing a BBQ to put a few more pounds in the kitty for our school in the Kibaale district of Southern Uganda. Thirty five of us will be travelling there on June 7th to finish of construction of new school in this remote and underprivileged community.

Despite considerable economic growth in Uganda in recent years, in rural villages such as Kibaale life is still difficult. There is an eagerness to learn but a lack of resources make it difficult to give the hundreds of children who live in the village, the quality education that they so desperately need.

In Kibaale the existing school which is made from wattle and mud is susceptible to all the forces of nature. Wind and rain can effectively destroy this temporary structure and ensure that many children are out of education until it can be rebuilt or alternative arrangements can be made.

A good education delivered within a permanent school structure gives hope. It offers the children of Kibaale the chance to make a better life for themselves and their families.

The opportunity to attend a “real” school, will give the children of Uganda a sense of belonging, the opportunity to meet people whom they may not normally meet and learn skills that they may not normally learn.

So if you are about Craigavon today, drop in to Rushmere Shopping Centre and get a flavour of the country they call The Pearl of Africa.

One big diversion

Despite the calls for a rational debate about the need to revisit the Northern Ireland budget from economists, business leaders and other social partners, it seems some politicians much prefer to get stuck into an old fashioned blame game.

As Dan Keenan reports in today’s Irish Times, Nigel Dodds has responded to calls for a new budget with suggestions that the number of government departments should be cut and north south bodies reduced in size.  The Minister is reported to have said: “If we were to cut the number of departments in half I believe we could save £40 to £50 million a year in terms of duplicated services. Take that over five years, that’s a substantial amount of money.”

Lets get real.

This is not a seriuous suggestion about saving money. It is an attempt to undermine power sharing government and the institutions created by the Good Friday Agreement.

No surprise that the SDLP and Sinn Fein reacted negatively to the Minister’s comments.

SDLP Deputy leader Alasdair McDonnell said: “We’re very happy to look at anything that increases efficiency, but six departments didn’t work for us in the past and they won’t work for us now.”

Sinn Féin’s Assembly leader John O’Down also criticised the DUP minister. “Nigel Dodds should not use British Government cuts as a smokescreen for DUP attempts at removing equality . . . from government in the six counties.”

President Obama has a good line on the issue of government spending. 

“The question is not whether government is too big or too small, but whether it is working for the people”

Here in the North we need an efficient government. Parts of it will be big, parts small but to work it must be delivering for all our people. We don’t have that today.

What we also need is a serious debate about public finances and a revised budget and Programme for Government. Not more smoke screens and sectarian politics.

A good side show may suit Sinn Fein and the DUP with a European election on the horizon but it will do nothing to help the thousands loosing their jobs.