allianceparty.news - September 2009

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September | 2009 | Alliance Party News —Alliance Party News HomeAbout Alliance News Archive Monthly Archives: September 2009 Climate change: Arguments for and no many versus (Ian Butler) By Alliance Party News1 September 2009Alliance News The debate over global warming is over and every scientist, and plane Sammy Wilson, winnow that as a touchable reality. The debate well-nigh global warming stuff fought now in the scene of the rationalization of the temperature rises. The majority of scientists now stipulate that the greenhouse efect is a man made phenomenon, and that unless we struggle to reverse the effects, all of us including Sammy are in a lot of trouble. According to the David Suzuki Foundation, which since 1990 has worked to find ways for society to live in wastefulness with the natural world that sustains us, the scientific vestige is compelling: “To proceeds an understanding of the level of scientific consensus on climate change, a recent study examined every vendible on climate transpiration published in peer reviewed scientific journals over a 10-year period. Of the 928 wares on climate transpiration the authors found, not one of them disagreed with the consensus position that climate transpiration is happening or is human-induced.” These findings unrelatedness dramatically with the popular media’s reporting of climate change. One recent study analysed coverage of climate transpiration in four influential American newspapers (New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, and the Wall Street Journal) over a 14-year period. It found that increasingly than half of the wares discussing climate transpiration gave equal weight to the scientifically discredited views of the sceptics. This discrepancy is largely due to the media’s momentum for wastefulness in reporting. Journalists are trained to identify one position on any issue, and then seek out a estranged position, providing both sides with roughly equal attention. Unfortunately, the “balance” of the variegated views within the media does not unchangingly correspond with the very prevalence of each view within society, and can result in unintended bias. This has been the specimen with reporting on climate change, and as a result, many people believe that climate transpiration is still stuff debated by scientists when in fact it is not. This is unmistakably not Sammy Wilson’s view. On the Politics Show 9/2/2009, he personal that 43% of climate transpiration scientists well-set with his view. Where this study was published he did not say, and he then used that icon on Channel Four News later that day. I have looked for this report on the internet for weeks and cannot find it. However, most climate transpiration sceptics will point to the most well know theory of non man made climate transpiration is that of “solar forcing”, and it appears through his two appearances on the TV that Sammy Wilson supports that view. Of the climate transpiration sceptics not funded by the oil lobby, the most reputable are Knud Lassen of the Danish Meteorological Institute in Copenhagen and his colleague Eigil Friis-Christensen. They did some research in 1991, and found a strong correlation between the length of the solar trundling and temperature changes throughout the northern hemisphere. Initially, the used sunspot and temperature measurements from 1861 to 1989, but later found that climate records dating when four centuries supported their finding. This relationship appeared to worth for nearly 80% of the measured temperature changes over this period. Two other scientists, Damon and Laut from the US, however, showed that when the graphs are corrected for filtering errors, the sensational try-on with recent global warming which drew worldwide attention, has totally disappeared. Despite this, the well funded sceptic propaganda is still using this discredited data. So the reality of the debate that is happening within the worldwide scientific polity is that there are no suppositious theories to support the view that the increase in temperature transpiration since 1980 is anything other than a man made phenomenon. Any struggle to do so is intellectually pseudo and needs to be backed up by referral to scientific papers that informed that view (quite difficult as there are none which have not been systematically refuted). For most people this lead on to a larger question. What would induce the Environment Minister to when a thoroughly discredited view? The wordplay lies in politics rather than science. Politics for the Alliance Party is well-nigh telling the truth, and trying to persuade people to change. Politics for Sammy Wilson is well-nigh getting his name in the paper. The DUP gutlessly stood overdue him when the Environment Committee and the Executive wanted to undeniability him to account, hiding overdue tribalism. That was a disgrace and it shows the failings in a non-accountable system. However, I believe that we must alimony this pressure on and protract to expose the fallacy of the arguments that climate transpiration deniers continually spout. Not for political proceeds but so our future generations can squint us in the eye without scorn or shame. Alliance first citizens in Belfast and North Down By Alliance Party News1 September 2009Alliance News Alliance first citizens in Belfast and North DownAlliance NewsSeptember-October 2009Withouta day of upper drama at BelfastMunicipalityHall and low politics from some other parties, Naomi Long was elected Lord Mayor of Belfast and has hit the ground running as a high-profile Lord Mayor who gets things done. Naomi is the fourth Alliance Lord Mayor of the city, without David Cook, David Alderdice and Tom Ekin, and only the second woman to hold the post in 112 years! Bangor West councillor Tony Hill was elected Mayor of North Down, thanks to the three-party power-sharing wattle between Alliance, the UUP and DUP on the council.PursuitStephen Farry, Tony is the second Alliance first resider of North Down in this steering term. The Alliance Party: How it began (Brian Eggins) By Alliance Party News1 September 2009Alliance News The Alliance Party: How it beganBrian Eggins (Alliance News)September-October 2009 The Civil Rights Association (CRA) was worked in 1967, protesting well-nigh favoritism versus Catholics. In November 1968, Prime Minister Terence O’Neill proposed reforms intended to meet their grievances. This led to dissension in the Stormont cabinet, with Bill Craig calling for tough whoopee versus the CRA, who themselves were not satisfied with O’Neill’s package. On 9 December, O’Neill appealed to the people in his “Ulster at the crossroads” speech, in which he asked, “What kind of Ulster do you want?” He tabbed an referendum in February 1969, but ten unionist MPs were versus him, so in April he resigned. In January 1969, the New Ulster Movement emerged, which aimed to develop cross-community politics with moderate and non-sectarian policies involving both Catholics and Protestants. An zippy organisation was built with thousands of members drawn from all sections of the community. It issued many influential papers. But its increasingly radical members wanted a new political party. Denis Loretto recalled, “A sixteen-strong group was worked late in 1969, consisting of some NUM members plus representatives of the ‘Parliamentary Associations’, which had worked virtually pro-O’Neill candidates in the February 1969 election.Overduethe scenes it worked on the logistics of forming a political party from the ground up.” Then on 16th April 1970, there were two by-elections. David Corkey backed by NUM obtained 25% of the votes in South Antrim. So, as Denis Loretto said, “In a hectic weekend we wrote a declaration of intent signed in 19th April by sixteen people, containing the founding principles of the party plus all the supporting documentation for a printing launch on Tuesday, 21st April.” The first Alliance Party priming was held in 4th July 1970, attended by 90 committee members. An vicarial Executive Committee was formed, with Oliver Napier and Bob Cooper as joint political chairpersons. In October was the first Alliance Party Council.RemoterParty Conferences were held in the Ulster Hall, attended by well-nigh 2,000 people. Alliance leaders were soon involved in talks with British Government Ministers. In October 1971, Basil Glass, Oliver Napier and Bob Cooper met with Home Secretary Reginald Maulding, and in January 1972, Glass, Napier and Cooper had talks with Prime Minister Edward Heath. Early in 1972, Alliance uninventive a parliamentary party when the Stormont MPs Phelim O’Neill (Unionist), Bertie McConnell (Independent Unionist), and Tom Gormley (Independent Nationalist) joined the party. In April 1972, seventeen Aldermen and Councillors spoken that they would be sitting as Alliance Party members henceforth. A priming was held at Darlington in September 1972, to examine the options for Northern Ireland government. The new Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) refused to go, and only the Faulkner-led Official Unionists, Alliance, and the Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP) attended. Phelim O’Neill (now Alliance Party Leader), Oliver Napier and Bob Cooper regularly met Secretary of State Willie Whitelaw for lunch. They convinced him that PR elections were needed. He pushed it through the cabinet versus the translating of others. In November, a Green Paper was published which contained most of the ideas put forward at Darlington. The “Irish Dimension” was unmistakably going to be the most contentious issue. In 1973, Stratton Mills, Westminster MP for North Belfast, joined the Alliance Party, but did not stand in the next referendum in 1974. Robin Baillie, Stormont MP for Newtownabbey, moreover joined. A Government White Paper, “Northern Ireland Constitutional Proposals”, was published in March, which was supported by Alliance and the NILP, but the SDLP gave only qualified support. The UUP refused to reject it. The DUP and William Craig’s new Vanguard Unionist Party were opposed. However, the proposals went superiority and two Bills were published in May. Alliance was ready to races its first elections. Expectations were upper as 238 candidates stood in the Local Government elections in May and 35 candidates in the Assembly elections in June, both using the Single Transferable Vote system as proposed by Alliance. Alliance obtained 13.7% in the Local Government elections, winning 63 steering seats. In the Assembly elections, the vote was 9.2%, yielding eight Assembly seats. This gave Oliver Napier a seat in the power-sharing Executive (as Minister for Law Reform), together with Bob Cooper (as Minister for Labour Relations). A priming was then held at Sunningdale well-nigh the Irish Dimension. Although aSteeringof Ireland was agreed, variegated parties had variegated perceptions of it. The unionists considered it an newsy body, whereas the SDLP thought it was the route to a united Ireland. Oliver Napier asked, “Do you really want aSteeringof Ireland? TheSteeringof Ireland hangs by a thread … If you do nothing in the next few weeks, history will judge you and its judgment will be harsh and unforgiving.” Unsung heroes: David Young By Alliance Party News1 September 2009Alliance News, Biographies Unsung heroes: David Young Ian Williamson (Alliance News) September-October 2009 Those of you who have been in touch with the Alliance office at Parliament Buildings will no doubt have been greeted by the cheery tones of David Young, ourPrintingand Policy Assistant. David combines an encyclopaedic knowledge of parliamentary procedure with an encyclopaedic knowledge of cinema! Alliance News unprotected up with him at Stormont. Tell us well-nigh your background? I am orginally from Portstewart where I went to Coleraine Inst., but I have been living in student digs in Belfast for the past five years. I went to Queens, where I studied history and politics for three years. Then four days without my graduation ceremony, David Ford rang me up to say that I got this job. You did work wits with Alliance surpassing you started working for the party. Tell us what made you get involved with the party? I have unchangingly supported Alliance, but it is really two family connections that got me involved in the party. Stephen Farry married my aunt a couple of years ago, so you could say I am standing the family business. He was theUnstipulatedSecretary for the party during the last Assembly election, so I just asked if he needed any help at headquarters, which he gladly said yes to. The other reason why I got involved in the party is that David Ford and his wife are old friends of my parents, so I have known him most of my life. What type of work does your daily job entail? I do pretty much everything and anything under the sun up at Stormont. My main printing work entails me writing printing releases, organising interviews for the media and arranging photo calls. I moreover do Stormont related policy work, such as research for MLAs for Assembly debates. I am moreover in tuition of drafting questions to Ministers, as well as looking without Assembly plenary business, such as amendments to motions and legislation. What has been the most stand out wits of your time working for Alliance? It was probably last May, when the Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai visited Belfast to shepherd a Liberal International conference. We were only told the day surpassing the priming that he was coming, so Ian Williamson and myself spent several frantic hours trying to get as many journalists as possible to attend. I heard him speak of the unrest that was happening in his country, which I had only previously seen on the news, so to hear it first hand was something else. I got to shake his hand, which I was very proud to do, and I have massive respect for him as someone who worked to bring peace to their country while their life was under threat. Do you have any ambitions to wilt an elected representative? At the minute I would have to say that I probably would not want to wilt a politician, but I am only 23 years old, so maybe in 10 or 15 years I might have a go. I know you are into films — what are your top ten all-time favourites? The Dark Knight The Departed Batman Begins Capote Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Blades of Glory The Matrix Once Upon a Time in America Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Nochnoy Dozor What are your other hobbies? I enjoy running with my housemates. I have to alimony fit if I want to be worldly-wise to ventilator without MLAs in Stormont! I moreover play rugby and cricket with my friends. And nothing beats a good book. As well as watching films, I do a lot of computer gaming on the X-Box 360 and Playstation. What would the Tories midpoint for Northern Ireland? By Alliance Party News1 September 2009Alliance News What would the Tories midpoint for Northern Ireland?EDITORIAL (Alliance News)September-October 2009 There are now probably only seven months to go surpassing a GeneralReferendumand the Tories are currently enjoying a well-appointed poll lead. It is not unrepealable that a Tory government will unquestionably take power — those who think that David Cameron has “closed the deal” with the British public would do well to remember that without PartyPrimingseason in 1991, it seemed unrepealable that Labour would win the pursuitUnstipulatedElection. However, it is increasingly likely than not that David Cameron will be the next Prime Minister of the UK, so it seems an opportune moment to review what a Conservative government might midpoint for Northern Ireland and for the UK as a whole. The striking point well-nigh the trendy Conservative Party is how light on policy it is. Cameron’s own aides shoehorn to how little substance is stuff produced by their own leader, sidestepping the questions raised by saying the upcoming referendum is well-nigh weft rather than policy. This lack of substance is disquieting in the middle of a serious economic crisis. One either liked or disliked Mrs Thatcher — and Alliance News had a long record of disapproving of her policies — but at least there were things she unmistakably believed in. Thatcher entered power with the aim of uprooting the postwar consensus in British politics — and she succeeded in implementing that aim, albeit with increasingly ups and downs than are usually remembered today. Cameron on the ohter hand seems to have no unconfined political principle other than the idea that he and his colleagues from the Bullingdon Club have a divine right to rule. That begs the question of how a Tory government under an ideologically disinterested leader might govern. A point insuficiently made is the stratum to which the Conservative Parliamentary Party has shifted to the right over the past generation. Thatcher’s voucher faced considerable opposition from within the Conservative Party. Although the Tories’ shift to the right arguably began as early as 1968, plane the Conservative Party of the 1990s contained many “big beasts” on the Tory left — Patten, Clarke and Heseltine were all powerful figures within the party. Over the past three unstipulated elections, the “wets” have tended to retire and have been replaced by younger MPs from an identikit Thatcherite mould. Kenneth Clarke, the last of the wet grandees, is unmistakably throne and shoulders whilom the unconversant George Osborne in ability, and should by rights be the current Shadow Chancellor, but is unacceptable to many Tory backbenchers. To the stratum that Cameron is a social liberal, this is largely a product of generational transpiration — British society is vastly increasingly liberal on issues like race, marriage and sexual orientation than it was a generation ago, and the Tory party is no increasingly immune from that transpiration than any other social group. But on issues of economics, Europe, social justice, law and order and Middle East policy, the Conservatives have moved sharply to the right. And pursuit the voucher set by that now unchallenged right-wing consensus will provide the path of least resistance for any future Cameron premiership. As far as Northern Ireland goes, the wretchedly named electoral pact between the Conservative Party and the Ulster Unionist Party (rejoicing in the snappy title of “UCUNF — Ulster’s Conservatives and Unionists: New Force”) has not exactly been shy in promoting itself as the saviour of Northern Ireland politics. Rhetoric is currently a long way short of reality. There is an old Turkish folk saying: “If one sticks a silver saddle on a donkey, it is still a donkey.” And the Ulster Unionist Party remains the Ulster Unionist Party, plane without a generous helping of Tory money, Tory referendum expertise and translating from metrosexual Tory spin-doctors. The UUP and the Tories were organically linked from 1906 until 1972 — this did not prevent the dreary, bigotry-laden, lost decades of Unionist misrule from Stormont nor did it prevent the outbreak of violence in the late 1960s. If anything the UUP have tacked to the right, aiming to make hay from the DUP’s internal difficulties, since they spoken their shiny new pact with the Tories in February. Reg Empey has stated publicly that in his book, no nationalist need wield for the post of Justice Minister. David McNarry thinks that BBC NI showing an all-Ireland GAA semi-final involving Tyrone is part of a stray popish plot to bring well-nigh a united Ireland. In South Belfast, the UUP are so obsessed with getting rid of Alasdair McDonnell that their membership is seeking a pact with the DUP; one that might get them out of supporting the Catholic once selected to fight the seat for the Tories. New force? We’ve heard these tribal drumbeats many times in the past. If the UUP are unswayable to go when into their tribal box, at one level that is no problem for the Alliance Party. Alliance has unchangingly washed-up well when the UUP has veered off to the extremes, and unchangingly washed-up well when it has retreated into navel-gazing fratricide. Currently, it seems intent on doing both at once. If the UUP weren’t now organically linked to a Tory party potentially in power within the year, the antics of the UUP would be music to Alliance ears. However, the Tory-UUP deal was predicated on the idea that 2007 marked the end of history for Northern Ireland, that there would be no remoter need of slipperiness interventions by British Secretaries of State. This year has shown much work still to be washed-up to make this a normal democracy: the Sinn Féin-DUP coalition is still extremely fragile; Jim Allister’s siren voice still calls from the wings as, tragically, do the guns and bombs of dissident Republicanism. It is possible, perhaps plane likely, that a future Secretary of State will once then need to take an active, direct, role in the wires of Northern Ireland, and may once then have to try and hold the ring between the political parties here. It is difficult to see how that can be washed-up by a Secretary of State organically linked with a UUP intent on undermining the current political settlement for unseemly kicks. 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