O’Conall Street

Every once in a while we are reminded of the importance of independent regulation in  certain areas. This morning the Consumer Council reminded us of the importance of strong independent regulation in the electricity market. In the midst of a global energy crisis it is critically important that energy companies are scrutinised independently and consumers and operators are treated fairly. In the long run this is the only way to guarantee sustained public confidence in the system and protect it from the possibility of commercial or political interference.

Personally I was disappointed when the Minister for the Environment, Arlene Foster, opted against the establishment of an independent environmental regulator yesterday.  Some are suggesting she is putting short term politics ahead of long term environmental protection. This move will not cost her a single vote nor will it create a public outcry. The issues are technical and the man and woman on the street will not know the difference between a rebranded EHS and a fully independent regulator. That is until there is a crisis and questions are being asked about whether the environmental watchdog is able to behave independently of political or commercial pressure.

It was Churchill who said the price of democracy was eternal vigilance. The point of independent regulation, be-it in energy or the environment, it to be the independent arbiter. This is easier said then done.

After twelve months of uncertainty Caitriona Ruane appears on the verge of turning the clocks back six years.

Can I declare an interest. I have an eight year old son (P4) and was looking forward to him being spared what I consider to be an outdated and infective judgment of a child’s potential - the eleven plus.

During the five years of suspension the New Labour government etched a consensus on the governing principles on selection from the major stakeholders and the political parties. Until St Andrews everyone accepted that selection at eleven was going, there was also an increasing acceptance that the demographic shifts all around us required a fundamental rethink and that a collegiate model was a possibility.  That was twelve months ago. Today the minister is reported to be on the verge of reintroducing selection at eleven.  

In many ways Ms Ruane inherited a good roadmap and needed to set about strengthening support around the already accepted principles as well as putting meat on the bones of the new system. Instead she retreated to 2002 rhetoric,  appeared to avoid the stakeholders and set herself on a war-footing with the Education Committee in the Assembly.

The long and short of it is that the common ground which had been gained has been lost and the principles which had been accepted are now being rejected. It was never going to be easy but that is no excuse for any minister who was handed a solid set of principles on which to build. There is very much this Sinn Fein minister could learn from the way in which her direct rule British colleague, Angela Smyth handled the issue during her time in charge. So far it’s been a walkover for New Labour over SF.

My son and his schoolmates deserve better. They are starting a new new curriculum which will not prepare them for selective testing at the end of primary school.   In fact it has been designed to do quite the opposite as it is based on a process on continuous evaluation of the child’s progress. I guess teachers everywhere will be arriving a work confused and concerned about how they can support their students in the coming years. Many will believe they are being used as pawns in this increasingly poor case study in policy reform. I will study her full proposals in great detail when they emerge at the end of this week and would encourage every parent to do so also.

Varney II is out. On a preliminary skim over the executive summary I am far from overwhelmed. He endorses all the good bits of existing Executive policy and calls for its implementation, something nobody will disagree with, and then adds a few of his own favourites just for completeness. The best one is the call for the privatisation of the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Agency, hardly the magic bullet to solve our competitiveness issues but in the report none the less. 

Sir David was asked to look in a considered way at the structural issues impacting on the competitiveness of the Northern Ireland Economy. He wrote and academic analysis, 90% call for implementation of existing policy 10% recycling of existing GB programmes.

 The lobby groups are reflecting this in their initial responses. The Institute of Charted Accountants in Ireland has said:

“Sir David Varney’s findings are in marked contrast to his disappointing review of Northern Ireland tax policy published late last year.  On that occasion, he seemed to find that nothing was wrong with the Northern Ireland economy, and in particular that no changes to tax policy were required, a position which ICAI strongly contests.

While on this occasion he has supported review and reform, the issue of taxation, a key component in assessing Northern Ireland’s competitiveness, has again failed to feature, and this remains a significant shortcoming.  This is particularly so in that the role of tax in offering a competitive edge is gaining widespread currency, not just in the context of the Northern Ireland economic debate.”

In a week when the Treasury is under siege from big business moving to the Republic he has failed to really recognise the North’s potential as an FDI location or a potential special region within the UK. This report, like it’s predecessor will disappear onto the shelf quickly. Our local Minister’s will put on a brave face and claim the better bits. This is not their report and not their analysis and it would be very unfair to hold them responsible for it. We have very many talented economists on this island in the public and private sectors. Next time we need some advice I think we should ask one of them.

Being a political communications strategist anywhere Ireland is not easy, but in the North the unique structures of government present a particular challenge to those tasked with communicating often complex issues to an electorate not particularly interested in the detail.

During the last month we have seen a good example of how things can go wrong in communications terms. The SDLP’s opposition to the budget and programme for government, a perfectly rational thing to do, which could have given the party a political edge in an Assembly dominated by the DUP and the SF has instead left the electorate and the media confused.  It has baffled SDLP supporters and created a sense that the party was hanging its only minister, Margaret Ritchie out to dry. This could have been averted if the party had prepared its support base and the media for its opposition using the time between the publication of the draft budget and the final vote (some six weeks) to communicate its intention to oppose unless things dramatically changed. It simply did not do this and left it until the eleventh hour to announce a dramatic rejection thus failing to capture the media agenda.

In a mature parliament with an established lobby of political correspondents, expert in the procedures and machinations of parliamentary business it would have been a high risk strategy. In our nascent regional forum with restricted media output it was always doomed to failure.

A classic case of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The good thing is there won’t be an election for a few years so plenty of time to improve. As I said it’s not easy being a political communicator here.

There is a great lesson in this for anyone in any communications role. If you don’t prepare you audience for dramatic news you run the risk they simply won’t understand when you communicate it.

That’s that off my chest. Spent the day with 80 budding earth scientists at W5’s Gold Mine which is organised in association with the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland. Great fun and very rewarding.

The campaign for a lower rate of corporation tax for Northern Ireland has received a big boost  today with news that the cast majority of tax advisers in Northern Ireland believe it is the most important thing the British Government can do to improve the local economy.

The ICAI is hosting an important meeting of those who have led the campaign on Friday in Belfast. I suspect the calls will strengthen and the campaign will gather even more momentum after this gathering. Word has it the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee at Westminster has decided to hold an evidence session on the issue which will put it right back on the parliamentary agenda. 

Margaret Ritchie made a little history today becoming to my knowledge the first northern minister ever to issues a joint ‘political’ press releasewith a southern one. Her partner in politics is John Gormley the republic’s environment minister. Those thinking this is the first sign of a new SDLP - FF axis should note that Mr Gormley is in fact a Green Party Minister. Nuclear power could not be more provocative or emotive topic as O’Conall Street predicted last month. It’s a red line issue on the island and the two ministers will receive widespread support for their stance. For this of your with a deeper interest there is a report on the Green Party website on why nuclear makes no sense which you might find interesting.

Congratulations go to the Antrim hurlers for stealing the Walsh Cup of a gale and Offally.

The debate about the future of nuclear power in Britain has started again and is sure to run and run. Just watched a heated debate on News Night and note there are even some corporate voices in Ireland who want this controversial energy choice on the agenda on this island too. That could well turn out to be an impossible ask no matter how strong the arguments. The debate in Britain will be much more open and has the potential to divide both major parties and even the environmental lobby.

The PR gurus at Weber Shandwick petitioned O’Conall Street for this post. It is by the way, our hundredth blog: a milestone in our little blogosphere and an occasion to thank everyone who has visited to date.

The question de Jour: Is Britney the Victim here?

Sonya Cassidy, PR doyenne and Britney fan is upset at the way this 20th century starlet is being exploited by the media. She is particularly upset at the Paparazzi. Ms Emma Buchanan, our polyglot Account Manager, blames the parents and the two ladies on the fence are Cathy Kapande and Alison Park. Hang on, Alison is not on the fence anymore and has just asked to make a statement (a lawyer by training and occasionally asks to make statements in the office). 

“I think she is a victim. The whole Timberlake thing wrecked her. Then she cheated on him so really she was responsible for all that”

 Hold on, Sonya has something to say

“If Kevin had behaved responsibly she wouldn’t be in the state she is in”.

“No”, says Cathy. “You can’t blame him for a $55 wedding in Vegas. She’s trash and she always will be”. Ouch!

Chris Brown is in reflective mood. He is sitting out the argument which is now engulfing the office. Bitch? Who? “Britney, thats who” say’s Chris before going back to the finer points of Energy regulation.

Actually, after another five minutes of  informed debate it turns out it’s not the parents fault after all, it’s Disney’s! “It’s not where dreams come true, it’s where nightmares begin” according to BeBo. “You’d never have that sort of slander on FaceBook” says Chris and we all agree. Lets face it, Disney is where she met Justin and Christina Aguilera and its been downhill ever since. So young, so corrupted. And if you want proof there some bloke who is now a woman who used to be famous for valuing antiques when he was a kid who also blames fame for it all.

This is meant to be a serious blog about interesting matters. All I did was ask for some suggestions about today’s post.

Now they are talking about Jude Law, the b……… ! who is back treading the boards. Any takers? I’m afraid not. He is still officially the most boring man on the silver screen.  

 So what’s the moral of the story?

1. Never start writing a blog about Britney and expect it to make sense.
2. Never try and write a blog about Britney to make serious point. The office just won’t let you.
3. Never, ever ask your colleagues to tell you what you should be writing about ( they will always say Britney) and;
4. Hillary may not be as likable as Barack or as hip a Oprah but at least she’s nowhere nearly as screwed up as Britney.

I have just looked round and they are all working again. Thank God.

I  am lucky to have some great friends. The lads with whom I will travel to the Somme in February are a true band of camaraderie. In the North one man has been with me through the ups and downs of life in the ‘other Ireland’. Peter Coll and I have a Christmas tradition. We gift each other drink, good drink. Good whiskey and good wine have been exchanged over a decade and more. Peter has also gifted me a good few books. Fair deal in my mind as he is a learned barrister of some standing and I am in need of intellectual nourishment and enrichment. This year was no different and a collection of great Irish Speeches appeared under the tree on Christmas. Compiled by Richard Aldous and with a foreword by the brilliant Colm Toibin it has been delighting me for three days now.

 The compendium spans Irish politics from the late eighteenth century to date. The first words go to Henry Grattan, addressing the soon to be abolished Irish Parliament on College Green in April 1782: ‘I am now to address a free people…..’the last to An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, delivered to both houses of Parliament on the 15th of May this year:  ‘Ireland’s hour has come: a time for peace, of prosperity, of old values and new beginnings. This is the great lesson and the great gift of Irish history. This is what Ireland can give to the world.’

In between these words are the past twenty two decades of fractured politics and unfinished projects. Of blood and tears and the division of our people. Hume is there, as is Paisley (the man of peace). Adams, Carson, Yeats, deValera, Lemass, Browne, Davitt, Craig and Davis stand out. ‘I stand by the Republic’, Des O’Malley’s defining speech also catches the eye for its sheer quality as does David Trimble’s Nobel acceptance speech which so famously acknowledged that the North was for a long time ‘a cold house for Catholics’.

In 2008 many new speeches will be made. As a PR man they are the ultimate expression of ideas and for me the strongest. They may attempt to chart the next decade or simply deal with the issue of the day. All will be delivered with conviction but only one or two, if that, will become historic. 

I hope 2008 sees some historic speeches. I hope a major figure rises to challenge the elephant in the room on this island. Scanning through the two centuries in this book it is a constant theme. We achieve great things, we do great deeds but still we live with the bogeyman of sectarianism at the very table at which we dine.

It will be a brave leader that stand’s up and says it is time to stop the sectarian imperative. An even braver one that challenges the existence of the problem in the Republic as well as the North. But that politician, if it is a politician, will have done the island a great service and will have earned his or her right to sit between the covers of great books. The speech will be the start. Tackling the problem will be the revolution. Abraham Lincolon noted wisely in his Gettysburg address: ‘The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they have done here..’

That’s my big lesson from this wonderful gift. We have talked the talk. Wolftone and Hume have been vindicated in words, Paisley has found peace in his rhetoric and an Irish Prime Minister can address the mother of all Parliaments as an equal. Hope and history in the great poet’s words are beginning to rhyme on paper at least. But words without action are hollow. Great speeches are just inspirational collections of words. History remembers events. Let 2008 be the beginning of the era of fulfillment. An era which as well as witnessing great speeches sees real change. An era in which the challenges of a new Island are seen as opportunities not threats. In which the light is shone on the white elephant of sectarianism. In which our people are empowered and in which fear leaves our speeches, our politics and our lives. 

My pledge for the new year : to do my bit to point at the elephant and call it what it is, a cancer that needs treated aggressively and a cure found.

There is simply not greater gift than a book. Happy new year. 

Social media is about so many things. Near top of my list is the sharing of stories and experiences with a touch of satire.

A good friend of mine sent on the empirical analysis below. It have been doing the rounds on the emails and I thought it deserved a wider audience. Enjoy!

 Physicists Identify New Periodic Element

 Research has led to the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science.  Recent hurricanes and defense issues are proof of the existence of the new chemical element.

The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert;  however, it can be detected because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact.

A minute amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from four days to four years to complete. 

Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2-6 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.  In fact, Governmentium’s mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration.

This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass. When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

Bit slow on it on O’Conall Street these days. RTE have a quirky story about yet another Internet phenomenon which has apparently passed me by. 

According to RTE  

“Seven score and four years ago on this date, US President Abraham Lincoln delivered what would become one of the most famous speeches in history.

His Gettysburg Address, just 272 words long, was a powerful summary of the young nation crippled by war.

Seven years ago, a man named Peter Norvig created The Gettysburg Address Powerpoint Presentation.

He posted what has now become an internet phenomenom after one too many bad presentations at a meeting in January 2000.

On his website norvig.com, he says many people get ‘frustrated at seeing too many presentations where PowerPoint or other visual aids obscure rather than enhance the point.’

His Powerpoint ‘address’ is titled ‘Gettysburg Cemetary Dedication’ and provides bullet points instead of President Lincoln’s lyrical prose”

You can make you own mind up by following this link. I have to say I think the man had a point (about PowerPoints that is, not the great speech)

Here is the full text of Lincoln’s fantastic speech:

The Gettysburg Address

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate - we can not consecrate - we can not hallow - this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

WILFING

Off now to watch Iain Stewarts new series, Volcanoes tonight. Happy days!. Also read on Yahoo news that  Brian May, rock star and astrophysicist, has been appointed chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University.

May will be installed as the university’s figurehead leader early next year, according to the Yahoo news report. The 60-year-old Queen guitarist said the appointment was “a great honor and a great new challenge.”

He is an honorary fellow of Liverpool John Moores University, which has a well-known astrophysics research institute. Now who says science isn’t cool.