Africa v the World

Since returning from Uganda I have been trying to come to terms with the poverty gap between that country and anywhere else I have visited. What also baffled me was the availability of mobile phone technology in every corner of the bush yet a total absence of running water, electricity or basic healthcare. Technology had arrived but without all the benefits that it is meant to bring.  Santa came, but he left no presents!

I came across a TED talk by Hans Rosling which helps explain the inability of Africa to catch up with the rest of the world despite the massive economic and technological growth which has taken place since 1960. Its also highlights the power of data and the real barriers which exist to true global development.

(There is an interesting clip about Ugandan child mortality about 13 min in)

If you are interested in development, watch this.

A taste of Tall Ships to come

The Tall Ships will arrive in Belfast mid August. Here’s a report from CNN on their latest port of call, Charleston, South Carolina.

Next up Boston then Halifax before the Atlantic crossing.

Can’t wait!

Dublin in the pink

I was strolling down Bachelor’s Walk in Dublin last Thursday lunchtime when I took this picture.

Less then a week after the Equality Commission in Northern Ireland published research showing very high levels of homophobia and other prejudice in NI, the Capital was preparing for its biggest ever Pride event which took place on Saturday.

Today writing in the Irish Times, Eoin Collins, the Director the Irish Gay and Lesbian Equality Network, lays out his stall on the issue of Gay Marriage in Ireland and the current government proposals for civil partnerships.

Opinion polls over the last number of years have consistently shown more than 80 per cent of the public have supported legal recognition for same-sex couples.

The Civil Partnership Bill follows extensive public discussion and analysis on the issues in the media, in both houses of the Oireachtas and by a range of policy bodies, including the Government Working Group on Domestic Partnership (the Colley Group), the Law Reform Commission and the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution.

Some of the most striking aspects of the 2007 Dáil debate on civil unions for same-sex couples were the personal stories which politicians from all parties told about the importance of legal recognition for individual lesbian and gay people. The dominant theme of same-sex partnership ceremonies, noted one TD, was happiness, joy and celebration, not just for the couple but also for their family, friends, neighbours and work colleagues.

It is heartening to see this debate taking place in such a constructive environment south of the border. Many in the gay community will feel let down that the government’s proposals do not go far enough but they will also feel able to lobby publicly and speak out loudly for a stronger Bill without fear of attack or rejection by society.

There are loads of North – South divides on this island. Many have nothing to do with religion or politics. The fact that the Dublin, an increasingly liberal city,  can fly Gay Pride flags on in its best lamp posts and Belfast cannot is maybe as good an example as any of one.

We need an SDLP – UUP alternative

Patrick Murphy had a typically thought provoking piece in yesterday’s Irish News about the need for an ‘Opposition’ at Stormont which was also covered on Slugger.

Mr Murphy’s central premise is that some day the North will need to consider whether compulsory power sharing is working. This is not a new argument. Last year Mark Durkan raised the issue in the context of a debate around a strong and inclusive Bill of Rights.

The Irish News columnist has a point:

In the old Stormont, the opposition was ignored.  In the new Stormont, the opposition has been abolished.  How democratic is a parliament without an opposition?  Advocates of the new system argue that it brings political benefits.  But does it?  It gives constitutional authority to sectarianism and promotes political schizophrenia.  Both the DUP and Sinn Féin claim the other is the enemy, within a supposedly partnership government.  Do nationalists benefit by having nationalist ministers?  For example, would our roads policy be different if Arlene Foster replaced Conor Murphy as regional development minister?

But does a focus on the structures of government take away from other significant weaknesses in Northern politics?

Adversarial, winner takes all, politics with clear governments and opposition is the way here in the UK and Ireland but not everywhere. The American system is much more complex as is the French one. Not to mention Isreal or Belgium, both of which have systems in which power is effectively shared between different offices which may or may not be held by representatives of the same party.

Our system doesn’t make politics more difficult it just makes it different. What is worrying is that the weakness of our political parties may be the real issue which is undermining the opportunity for government here.

Neither SF or the DUP will score well on their record in Government. To date the Executive they both lead has distinguished itself for inaction rather than results and this is very unlikely to change in the run up to the 2010 UK General Election and the 2011 Assembly poll. This is not because they have a free run in institutional terms with no opposition breathing down their necks - it is because they are being measured by their support base on their ability to stand up to each other rather then work together. That said we do need to ask whether to some extent the SDLP and UUP are letting them away with it.

I see no great public desire to see instability return to Stormont. As much as it pains many who are ambitious for the North, the basic threshold for success in the public mind appears to be stability. The vast majority of Northern voters seem willing to reward parties who stay together. That they are achieving very little whilst doing so is not an issue as there is nobody offering an alternative which would also be stable.

So heads down and do nothing then?

With the exception of the 60,000 who support the TUV the other million voters in NI seem supportive of powersharing and devolution.

If either the SDLP or UUP were to leave the Executive they would stand accused of fostering instability. But that does not mean they cannot change they way they work together and inside and outside the Executive. Right now is not so much a debate about opposition but one about alternatives.

There is nothing in the structures of government which would prevent the UUP and SDLP from developing common positions on key issues.

Education is an obvious example. Agree the basic principles of a workable system based on academic excellence and social justice, possibly with pupil choice at 14 and at least both parties could demonstrate that Irish and British people who call this region home can agree on important issues.

Tackling our divisions is another. Commit to a shared future and stand together against sectarianism and racism.

Even on the economy there is very little on which the DUP and SF agree.  This creates yet another opportunity for the UUP and the SDLP. They should agree a real Green New Deal and have the courage to publish it as an alternative response to the current recession.

All this does not in any way prejudice either party’s nationalism or unionism. No more than it would prejudice the Green Party, Alliance or PUP if they were to support agreed positions. What it would illustrate is that our two communities and their representatives can work together and share a commitment to the success of this region and its people. This would be a real platform for change.

The system can be reviewed till the cows come home but real change will come when nationalists and unionists start really sharing power and working together for the betterment of all.  The DUP and SF seem unable or unwilling to do this. The question is whether the SDLP and UUP could?

American day

Weber Shandwick was very pleased to support yesterday’s Independence Day celebrations at the United States Consul General’s Residence in Belfast.

It was a wonderful event on a glorious day. Susan Elliot who leaves Belfast next month to take up a new post in Moscow gave an emotional speech to a packed lawn. It is a testament to her and the quiet work the consulate does here that so many people from so many diverse backgrounds were there to mark the US idependence from Britain.

There has been a good bit of chat in recent months about how the North matures it’s relationship with the States. Whether it is time to try and identify ways in which we can return some of the support that has been so generously given. A Friends of America group might be a possibility so might a more structured trade or commerce body.

Obama has “become the media”

Have just been handed a sneak preview of Professor Michael Freedman’s DIVA address to the University of Ulster’s School of Communications. He is a former US Congressional Spokesperson and heads up the Global Media Institute at George Washington University in DC.

Its a great history tour of the communications revolution which draws specifically on the contribution President Obama has made. I’ll post a link to the full speech later but this passage stuck out for me:

Like Franklin Roosevelt in 1933, President Obama is using new media platforms to carry his messages, push his political agenda and – thanks to social networking – initiate and encourage dialogue, not just locally and nationally – but globally. President Obama has over 1.3 million followers on Twitter. He has been building this following for 28-months now – meaning he has successfully transformed a unique campaign tool into one through which, as President, he can communicate directly with a broad constituency about policy issues.

President Obama is following the first rule of politics – define yourself before the opposition has an opportunity to define you. And in addition to working with the media to that end, he has become the media.

The President’s recent speech to the Muslim world in Cairo serves as a good example. My friend and colleague, CBS News White House Correspondent Peter Maer, points out the “high profile” White House strategy to spread Mr. Obama’s message using Facebook, My Space and Twitter. A White House spokesman pointed out that Facebook is the largest social network in the Muslim world with nearly 20-million users.  A State Department program also allowed international callers to register to receive free text messages on the President’s speech in Arabic and other languages. Video of the speech was streamed live on the White House Web site and it was posted on YouTube. The President not only delivered his message to the Muslim world locally in Cairo, he communicated globally by becoming the media. 

Pig win for Weber Shandwick

Weber Shandwick has scooped a top prize at the prestigious Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival this week.

The ‘Pigs Are Worth It!’ campaign for the public body representing pig farmers in England (BPEX) has won a Best PR-led Integrated Campaign award.  The initiative was executed by a truly integrated team of agencies: Good Relations (consumer PR), Weber Shandwick (public affairs), HD Communications (trade PR) and DDB (advertising).

The creative campaign succeeded in encouraging supermarkets to raise the price of pork paid to farmers in crisis, effectively saving the British pig industry.

“The Cannes Lions Festival recognising public relations excellence for the first time is a great step forward for PR professionals and we are delighted to be part of this first ever Cannes Lions public relations win,” said Colin Byrne, CEO, Weber Shandwick UK & Europe.

Car free summer

The Alfa packed it in (again) about three weeks ago. They want £2000 to fix it! So I’m hopping on the bike for the summer and will use the modest amount they will give me for something that wont loose two thirds of its value as soon as the ignition is turned.

So there you go. No car for three months. How will I do business and get to meetings? What about Dublin – how will I ever be free in the capital again? You see, I had become very attached to my privacy pod on wheels. Nothing gave me more pleasure than rat running the Dublin traffic in a desperate dash to beat the 7.00am Belfast train to Connolly. Yet here I am sitting on a perfectly clean and comfortable train whizzing through Com Armagh on my way to the fair city. The bike is parked up under the watchful eye of the car park attendant at Central Station in Belfast for as long as I like and for nothing.

I have been on the bike since I got back from Africa too. Its been great. I have made every meeting and enjoyed the four mile jaunt into town on my two wheeled steed. Mine is a so called hybrid (half racer – half traditional straight bars) which I got under the ride to work scheme last year and have been using occasionally since then.

The weather has been kind, I grant you that, but even if it were pouring down I could pop on the train or a bus and still make all my commitments, North or South.

It will be easier now the kids are off for the summer. The family car which is used to ferry them about will be available for emergencies or meetings in the rest of NI where public transport is not a practical option.

I’ll give it until September and see how things go.

But so far I don’t miss the car, I don’t miss the payments and have not noticed any shrinking of my ego!

Viagra boost for North – South trade

Forget the traffic queues at Newry and the battle at Tescos or Sainsbury’s for a cheap bottle of wine, the next big Northern market opening up to southern consumers will be Viagra.

Boots has decided to put the little blue pill on sale over the counter in GB and NI but men (and women) south of the border will still need a prescription. This could see another dash North in search of the ultimate escape at these times of economic woe.

It’s not the first time NI has been the destination of choice for Southernersseeking sexual liberation. Back in May 1971 an intrepid group of Dublin feminists boarded the train to Belfast to buy condoms and other contraceptive material in defiance of law at the time. Commentator, Mary Kenny, recounts her parts in that day’s shopping expedition to Belfast.

Our post-World War II generation grew up in an Ireland where birth control artefacts were forbidden by laws enacted in 1929 and 1935. This meant, basically, the condom, spermicides, and the female diaphragm. The pill, yet to be invented in 1935, did not come under the prohibition. In 1969, I was one of the founder members of a feminist group called the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement, which very quickly became controversial. One of our demands was to annul the anti-contraceptive prohibitions, and we devised the excellent stunt of taking a train to Belfast, in May 1971, purchasing condoms and spermicides over the counter, and returning with them to Connolly Station. We would challenge the customs officers, who @@STYL cf,plabx manned the barriers at Connolly, to arrest us for bringing home the contraband.

All went to plan. The customs men were mortified and quickly conceded they could not arrest all of us, and let us through, waving the banned items. Some people did indeed use the French letters as balloons, but I was not among them.

Later that Saturday evening, a few of us appeared on the Late Late Show, and I was indeed the one who held up the condoms for all to see. Even as I did so I was aware of mixed feelings. I did sincerely think the law was daft. I did sincerely believe it was absurd that women, and their husbands, couldn’t make decisions about their conjugal lives without interference from the State. But I also felt something like shame thinking of my mother watching this exhibition.

New MLA Code of Conduct Published

MLA’s will be required to declare how much time they spend doing other jobs and what they earn from them under a new Code of Conduct Published today by the Chairperson of the Committee on Standards and Privileges, Carmel Hanna MLA.

They will also need to register family members who benefit from any Members’ Allowance, for example a family member who is employed through the Office Cost Allowance. The Assembly will also be able to suspend Members without pay if they are found to have breached the new Code.

Ms Hanna said The Committee has already called for an urgent review of the rules governing MLAs’ Office Cost Allowances and is pleased that the Assembly Commission has begun this important work.  The Committee will continue to keep the issue of Members’ conduct under review and will not hesitate from taking whatever steps are necessary to ensure that the public can have confidence in the integrity of the Assembly and its Members