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Thursday, Mar 11th 2010


About Jenny Muir

Jenny Muir is a lecturer who lives and works in Belfast.

You can also contact Jenny through e-mail: s.belfastATyahooDOTcoDOTuk

Visit Jenny Muir at East Belfast Diary »

Articles by Jenny Muir

An interview with John Barry

John Barry is Associate Director of the Institute for a Sustainable World and Reader in Politics both at Queen’s University Belfast.  He was educated at University College Dublin and the University of Glasgow.  From 2003-2009 he was co-chair of the Green Party in Northern Ireland and was a key figure in the creation of an [...]

Are We There Yet?

So the DUP and Sinn Féin have managed to negotiate their way through the disaster scenarios to a deal. No walkouts, elections or joint authority after all. The agreement is now out for consultation, so there will be plenty of opportunity to pick over the details over the next few weeks. The outline is:

The devolution [...]

Moving Away From Ethnic Politics

The number of unresolved issues in the Northern Ireland Assembly is increasing - such as the transfer test replacement, the new good relations strategy, the Review of Public Administration and, of course, the devolution of policing and justice powers. All have foundered on the attempts of parties in the mandatory coalition to make gains for [...]

How Not to Campaign for a United Ireland

Gerry Adams outlined Sinn Féin’s new campaign for a united Ireland in the Guardian yesterday. The London launch of the campaign took place on Tuesday evening, following a similar event in New York. If I understand the strategy correctly, SF intends to build a broad campaign in Britain and the USA in order to change [...]

Well Done, Lads

So the Romanians intimidated out of their homes in South Belfast have decided to leave Northern Ireland. No surprises there.
Of course the majority of people in Northern Ireland are ashamed and disgusted by this episode, which has put us back in the news for the wrong reasons. Politicians tell us that the incidents brought people [...]

Building a Platform for Change: An Interview with Robin Wilson

Robin Wilson is an independent policy analyst based in Belfast. He is co-leader of the Northern Ireland devolution monitoring team-part of a UK-wide project co-ordinated by the Constitution Unit in London-which provided the Northern Ireland input to the democratic assessment of the two jurisdictions in Ireland conducted by the think tank TASC. He was part [...]

A Missed Opportunity

Recently on South Belfast Diary I leaked the draft Section 8 of Labour’s 21st Century Commission, dealing with Party organisation in Northern Ireland. Since 2002, the Irish Labour Party has allowed membership in the North. We have actively participated in conferences and have had an NEC co-opted member, Mark Langhammer. More to the [...]

It Ain’t Over ’Til It’s Over

An article by Jenny Muir of East Belfast Diary • October 21st 2008

Well, it’s been a busy few weeks trying to keep up with the US Presidential election campaign and the global economic crisis, to say nothing of trying to do some work occasionally.So, inevitably, the campaign is taking place in the shadow of ‘events’ and has been affected by them. As we move into the final [...]

A Place called Unity

An article by Jenny Muir of East Belfast Diary • September 1st 2008

Obama’s nomination acceptance speech last Thursday (text | video) was never going to fall flat on its face. Compared to previous set piece events, the rhetoric was toned down and the content improved - all delivered in an electric atmosphere with the stadium backdrop shouting either confidence or hubris, depending on your optimism about the [...]