The DUP boycott of the North-South Ministerial Council has ended, with the party denying it ever took place. After two meetings cancelled due to unionist no-shows, economy minister Diane Dodds attended a discussion on tourism.
The party explained this did not breach its ‘five point plan’ to end the Brexit protocol, one of whose points is stopping cross-border cooperation, because tourism is not a protocol issue. But neither are transport or language, the topics of the two cancelled meetings.
This ministerial boycott that is not a boycott is reminiscent of the 2015 ‘hokey cokey’ ministerial resignations that were not resignations and which finally brought the curtain down on Peter Robinson’s leadership.
Arlene Foster will not be as damaged by putting her leg in and out of the North-South Ministerial Council, a far less prominent body than Stormont. Still, the sense of a procedural ploy turning into farce is familiar, and should be especially familiar to Foster, as Robinson’s protege and successor.
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The UUP has put some clear liberal water between itself and the DUP with a motion to outlaw gay conversion therapy, which the DUP predictably refused to support.
Tellingly, UUP leader Mike Nesbitt said this should help people understand why there “never can be unionist unity”.
Although those proposing the motion were undoubtedly sincere, cynics might say this is an easier way for the UUP to distinguish itself than by having a different policy on Brexit.
The DUP’s stated concerns were well-known issues of freedom of speech and religion. It is tricky to define ‘therapy’ for regulatory purposes, as Westminster has discovered while trying to legislate its own ban.
However, the DUP also tried to amend the motion to remove a reference to gay people not needing a “fix or cure” - a more hardline stance than necessary merely to signal objection. It seems the DUP still needs to fish in deeply conservative waters.
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Conservative MP Johnny Mercer has been sacked as veterans minister after his bill to restrict prosecution of soldiers was watered down by the government.
This has caused a political sensation but it is hardly a legal surprise.
Mercer’s plan to exempt Iraq and Afghanistan veterans from all charges after a number of years, including for serious war crimes, could have caused soldiers to be tried at the Hague.
Currently, the International Criminal Court trusts the UK legal system to prosecute to its standards, a principle known as complementarity. Neither the government nor the military want to jeopardise that standing.
As for Mercer’s plan to give Northern Ireland veterans protection, it is well understood across Westminster that a Troubles statute of limitations might be possible but only it if applies to all and follows political negotiations.
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Mary Lou McDonald was widely reported as having apologised for the murder of Lord Louis Mountbatten, an 83-year-old woman and two boys. The Sinn Féin president had to clarify her party’s position had not changed. No plausible reading of her comments could have suggested otherwise - far from apologising, she issued the usual meaningless regret for all deaths then referenced “the armed forces associated with Prince Charles”.
Despite Sinn Féin’s rhetorical equivalence between the army and the IRA, the party remains unable to condemn specific atrocities, as David Cameron did for Bloody Sunday.
Sinn Féin claims journalists only raise specific acts of violence to attack it. However, the willingness to see an apology where there was none suggests the media would be only too happy to celebrate the party coming to terms with its past. Imagine the positive coverage if it actually did so.
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Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond is downplaying his proposal that a united Ireland should join the Commonwealth, following a mixed reaction in the southern press. This is a debate nationalists are having amongst themselves, much like raising the threshold on a border poll, which may explain why it is so oddly uninformed. The reaction revealed a widespread belief, including amongst journalists, that a republic cannot join the Commonwealth (33 of 54 members are republics) or that Commonwealth membership is incompatible with the EU (two EU states, also both republics, are members). Nor must the UK sovereign be head of the Commonwealth - the next incumbent may not be Prince Charles. In short, membership has little value as a gesture to unionists, certainly compared to how much aggravation it seems to cause.
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Bilingual Irish and English on board signs have been introduced on the west Belfast route of the Glider. They will switch to English only as the vehicles enter the city centre and progress onwards through east Belfast, then back again on the return journey.
West Belfast buses have had bilingual signs for a decade but they do not turn monoglot in transit as they only run in and out of town.
While this might seem like a unique Northern Ireland absurdity it is similar to requirements in Belgium, where by coincidence Glider vehicles are built.
Policy on Belgian public transport is to display the local language only - French, Flemish or German - or French and Flemish in Brussels. On board signs change en route, as must the language spoken by staff to passengers.
Flemish, of course, is the Ulster-Scots of Dutch.
