Oil and fuel retailers are being called into the Enterprise Minister’s office on Friday to explain why prices at the pump have jumped so high ahead of any supply disruptions caused by the war in Iran. Revealed at FG’s weekly PP meeting this evening. @virginmedianews.bsky.social
And finally, sadly, a growing belief (or even acceptance) in mainstream conspiracy theories.
About a third of the electorate believe/don't reject/are undecided on things like great replacement, a secret global ruling cabal, or deliberate dissemination of viruses 🫠
By the end, almost a third of people who would back Fine Gael in a general election still weren't prepared to vote for that party's Áras candidate
(Interesting that Labour voters were seemingly split nearly 50-50 between Connolly and Humphreys, illustrative of that party's dilemma with the public)
In an election persuading 2 out of seven voters during the debates seems to be quite impressive tbh
By comparison, voters' views of Catherine Connolly were broadly more stable, and didn't vary much, across the three stages of sampling (start of campaign, final week of campaign, and after the election concluded)
The graphic shows that attitudes to Heather Humphreys' candidacy became distinctly more negative as the campaign went on.
57% of respondents said Humphreys engaged in negative campaigning, while only 16% said the same of Connolly.
Having a browse of the Electoral Commission's post-#aras25 voter study. These jump out for me – and suggest it's not so much the case that Catherine Connolly won, but rather than the conduct of Heather Humphreys' campaign actively lost the race:
(The three 'waves' are start, end and after campaign)
Whilst an improvement they should go for STV with regional lists imo.
Cover of the Research Ireland Strategy, showing an aerial photograph of Ireland, with the Research Ireland and Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science logos; and the text: Curiosity, Capability, Competitiveness - Charting Ireland's Research and Innovation Future
Research Ireland's new Strategy: Curiosity, Capability, Competitiveness – Charting Ireland’s Research and Innovation Future, aims to build a research and innovation system that delivers prosperity for the people of Ireland. Read the full Strategy: www.researchireland.ie/strategy/
#ResearchIreland
🤦🏻 Bad enough that the game is being played, but awful news for Evan Ferguson who I hope recovers well.
Duck and duckings close together on lake
If UKG is serious about a u-turn, it has to *talk positively about European institutions and law, including accessing our suite of trade deals; more and better oversight of the City, including money laundering; how FoM benefits everybody; and how the UK should play its part in the community
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Passport control sign in Switzerland
When commentators talk about "no return to SM or CU" this is what they really mean. That is a problem.
a) means trade carveouts for the UK. Hard to see.
b) means goods only, no SM for capital and services, potentially disadvantaging European biz
c) poses problems for Europe, for many reason.
3
Statue of Europa riding a bull
(For comparison, here are Europe's real, albeit unstated, redlines:
α) Protect unity
β) Maintain advantages of membership
γ) Preseve decision-making freedom)
2
Huffpost headline: Rachel Reeves Launches Her Strongest Attack On Brexit Amid Gloomy Economic Numbers The chancellor vowed to "break down trade barriers" between the UK and EU. By Kevin Schofield
In the light of recent UKG prnouncements on getting close to Europe, useful to remind ourselves of what the *real* UK redlines are:
a) Maintain "nostalgic" trade deals with Oz & NZ
b) Keep the City of London outside of European law
c) No free movement of people (at least nothing called FoM)
1
All the Brexiter lies before the Brexit referendum about Brussels sending the UK car industry to Turkey look richly ironic now.
The UK speaks of its Brexit red lines as immovable truths.
Yet still seems faintly surprised the EU has some too: protect the single market, defend its legal order, no cherry-picking.
Negotiations work better when both sides acknowledge reality.
As and when the UK and EU both want to really repair the relationship, we'll know because there will e an upswing in political activity, compared right now to there being few people in senior positions in either Brussels or London really prioritising the subject.
The Brexit referendum was in effect the first serious populist revolt against globalisation, which was then followed by a self-radicalising UK government which attempted very badly to blackmail the EU. Not so easy to repair such a breach given such actions have become an international norm.
From the school of UK-EU thinking that sees the relationship as somehow separate to any of its history or global trends, thus that somehow trust should miraculously appear in a climate of profound mistrust between countries including that sparked by UK actions.
And much more energy in Erasmus, esp. from UK side.
As David acknowledges, the bullying, breaches of the rule of law, and Europhobic language of Brexit politics need to be fixed.
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This is actually quite a thoughtful short thread from David. It is hard to rebuild trust from the outside in the way that members trust each other cos they know each other.
We need two annual Europe-UK summits; proper meetings, exchanges and secondments between Bxl and Whitehall;
1
That prediction didn’t ware well now did it😳🤣🤣
🤞
New Employment Rights Act ‘a huge boost for women in the workplace’
The infamous Better Together advert, 'Put our pensions at risk? No thanks', next to two articles where the UK Pensions Minister confirms that actually Scottish's people's pensions will still be paid after independence.
If there's one thing Unionists are renowned for, it's our astute analysis. So you can trust us when we say there will never be an #Indyref2. Swinney must rule out #Indyref2 now.
No Thanks.
Trump multiple times just today has said the country is at war. War can only be declared by Congress, and Iran posed no imminent threat. What Trump is doing there is a textbook illegal war and impeachable offense — if we still had a Congress.
After four days of hesitating, the president of France has joined the prime minister of Spain in saying that the 🇺🇸🇮🇱 attack on Iran is a violation of international law.
But they are still the only 2 EU leaders to have done so. Will others join?
American political leaders are openly stating that the United States is fighting Iran for Israel.
The President of Ireland has sent her support for our Strength in Solidarity Climate event in the Shankill Women's Centre next Thursday 😎
All our elected representatives have been invited to hear from the community growers and 3rd sector organisations across the city. We'll see who turns up.
