Where is the integrity of leap into DUP bed for Harbinson?

So the unelected Councillor for Bangor West, Adam Harbinson, has hardly surprised us with the announcement today that he has joined the DUP. When he

In his letter to the Belfast Newsletter explaining why he thought he had no need to resign his seat he said;

"It is they who will vindicate me on the principled stand I have taken and on my record as I continue to seek to serve them – regardless of race or creed, political affiliation or sexual orientation."

If that is true he will possibly be the only DUP Councillor on North Down Council he actually does serve his constituents regardless of sexual orientation. I have had no acknowledgement of any correspondence to most of my correspondence to my DUP representatives, bar one on the issue of equal marriage. It basically said that the Cllr would not change his mind on this issue and it was pointless me writing to him about it. So if that is the record of how my DUP representatives serve me in a neighbouring DEA I wonder how the voters of Bangor West will fare.

One of the reason that I believe Cllr Harbinson has given for leaving the Alliance was on the issue of equal marriage. The reason behind it would have something to do with his faith.

In his newspaper column in the Larne Times in August Cllr Harbinson started by saying:

"Did it ever strike you as odd that the Christian religion, which in the beginning was all about transformation, has become so impervious and resistant to change?"

Now I know that the church is always more reticent to change, it was something I blogged about in the past.

Before going on to say when talking about turning away the unchurched:

"Some find it surprising that Jesus had little time for the religious leaders of his day and they had no love for him.

"Pointing to them on at least one occasion he described them thus: 'They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden'.

"Jesus makes no such demands. To him only one rule is called for and it applies equally to us all: 'I give you a new commandment,' he said. 'As I have loved you, you should love each other.'"

I imagine the same it true today. But this stance on a policy that has every time it has come forward seek to protest religious freedoms of groups who object as well as those that are open to the idea shows a lack of understanding and integrity.

I rarely play this card but today I have and will again now. The Liberal Democrat policy on equal marriage, on which the Scottish and Westminster (for England and Wales) Bills are grounded, were not formed without taking into account religious groups and individuals on both sides of that divide. I know this first hand, having had many discussions about the drafting of the Scottish policy which was largely copied for Federal. I also met with Steven Agnew to express the importance of religious and individual freedom to choose being in the Northern Ireland Assembly motion.

If faith groups are not secure in the respective guarantees that they are protected from carrying out same-sex marriage, despite them all including the Church of England being protected from marrying divorced people if they don't want to, they should work with the Government to strengthen those areas of concern. But each individual or faith groups that protests on the basis that they don't want to do it, is missing the fact that they are not being forced to.

Maybe Cllr Harbinson and others should pay attention to the essence of what he writes.

Now there some leap in terms of shared society from what the Alliance means to what the DUP means. n May 2011 I had them at different ends of my preferences, so hardly a easy transition. When he resigned Cllr Harbinson said "'if a man does not have integrity he has nothing", may I be so bold to ask where is the integrity in leaving behind the Alliance to join the DUP. I

Flag protest now leads to arson and terrorism

This is the scene tonight in Carrickfergus at the Constituency Office of Stewart Dickson MLA. He is the Alliance representative for East Antrim.

Stewart does not represent any part of Belfast, yet the protest against the decision made by the Alliance party to come with a middle ground between no flags and the status quo has not led to criminal damage being caused. There is probably outstanding case work that has been destroyed in the fire and Stewart will certainly be inconvenienced in working for this constituents while this mess is getting sorted out.

As Stewart has said:

"This is an outright attack on Democracy and cannot be allowed to continue."

The problem is that the DUP and UUP have been stirring up tension over the issue of the Union Flag at Belfast City Hall for a month. They dropped a leaflet into the protestant areas of East Belfast.

There are suggestions that they are using this issue to stir up support to regain the Westminster seat they lost to Naomi Long. But this protest has now reached criminal levels. There are calls nightly to met outside Alliance Constituency offices. Where are the calls from the DUP leaders or the UUP leadership for these attacks, because that is what they now are. This is no longer the threat against a Belfast Councillor but are not actual attacks.

Update No sooner had I blogged this that the DUP issued this. Although I think at the moment they should call on people not to protest outside Alliance Offices at all as there is too much tension.

UTV have published this picture of the inside of the office

Further update My own Alliance Party Councillor, Michael Bower, and his wife Christine also a Councillor have now been attacked at home, where they live with their infant daughter. This indiscriminate targeting of any Alliance representative has gone to new levels this evening, this is terrorism and intimidation. And yes attacking peoples homes in the dead of night is a form of terrorism.

Michael has now said:

"My daughter who is 17 months old had just gone to bed when I heard an explosion against the window.

"I guessed it was some sort of attack on our family home. I checked that my wife and daughter were okay. The paint bomb hit the corner of the room where my daughter usually plays.

"There is damage to the window, but it could so easily have been so much worse. If events had been different, a young life could have been lost. I would plead with people to calm down and to stop attacking representatives doing their best to support their communities."

Even further update Police have reported that petrol or another accelerant were poured on the front of the Alliance Party offices in Bangor. A passing patrol disrupted their attempts at arson and no damage was done.

Co-opted Councillor resigns from party

In Northern Ireland should a councillor (or for that matter a MLA) die or resign his seat there is no by election but a co-option by the party that held the seat. That change for Councillors came about in 2010.

So it was that in March this year Adam Harbinson, who had failed to get elected in May 2011 for Ballyholme and Groomsport was selected to replace the late Tony Hill in Bangor West. Hill had been the Alliance Councillor for 11 years since 2001, Harbinson hadn't even managed 8 months before this morning announcing he was resigning from the party while at the DUP conference. He has not said that he is changing allegiances, merely thinking about it.

Earlier this month Harbinson was the one Alliance Councillor here who had voted against the marriage equality motion before council. He was entrusted with the seat on behalf of the Alliance Party and now less than a year on he trod all over the legacy of that faithful and dedicated party man he replaced.

There is no mechanism that can make Adam Harbinson resign his seat. Although as he himself does not have a mandate and is co-opted on behalf of the Alliance Party and vote for Tony Hill I believe he should do the honourable thing and resign his seat on council as well as resigning from the party, otherwise he is stealing the seat from both. He probably should have done that in the other order seat first and then party though.

Looking at the OED in response to Cllr Brian Wilson

In this weeks Spectator (pictured) there is a report of the debate on Equal Marriage. One of the Councillors Brian Wilson the independent for Bangor West is reported to have said:

"the definition of marriage was not a matter for the council but for the compilers of the Oxford English Dictionary."

Now the OED is a fluid document and definitions there do get redefined all the time; marriage is one such word actually.

In older editions it was defined as:

marriage, n.
1a the formal union of a man and a woman, typically as recognized by law, by which they become husband and wife:

But by 1989 in the (second edition) there is a subtle but important change.

marriage, n.
1. a. The condition of being a husband or wife; the relation between married persons; spousehood, wedlock.

Note that the 'and' becomes an 'or' it is also extended beyond a formal union to include common-law husbands and wife within the wider definition as a result. But the or is important and does not imply that there is one of each gender required any more.

We move along to 2007 and we have a further revision:

marriage, n.

1. a. The condition of being a husband or wife; the relation between persons married to each other; matrimony. The term is now sometimes used with reference to long-term relationships between partners of the same sex.

Apart from the final part of the main definition which is quite clear, there is another subtlety. The relation between married persons becomes the relation between persons married to each other. At this stage of course some countries and US States had already introduced same-sex marriage, therefore there is subliminal recognition of these unions.

Elsewhere in the same volume is another definition.

gay marriage n. a relationship or bond between partners of the same sex which is likened to that between a married man and woman; (in later use chiefly) a formal marriage bond contracted between two people of the same sex, often conferring legal rights; (also) the action of entering into such a relationship; the condition of marriage between partners of the same sex.

 But the OED are not alone in recent version of the Merriam-Webster's dictionary marriage is defined as:

marriage, noun

 

1 a (1): the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law (2): the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage same-sex marriage> b: the mutual relation of married persons : wedlock c: the institution whereby individuals are joined in a marriage

2: an act of marrying or the rite by which the married status is effected; especially : the wedding ceremony and attendant festivities or formalities
3: an intimate or close union marriage of painting and poetry — J. T. Shawcross>

 So the OED and indeed other dictionaries have already redefined marriage. Why then did Brian Wilson not vote for the OED definition of marriage but instead called the motion on Monday a political stunt?

PS Of course governing by dictionary definition is almost as bad as governing by wikiopedia definition.

Council vote not synonymous with progress

The following are taken from the websites of two Northern Irish political parties:

First:

"We want to normalise our institutions and political arrangements to demonstrate that democratic standards apply and fairness and equality of opportunity is the right of all.

"We wants to strengthen our relationship within the United Kingdom.  Our representatives in Westminster dedicate themselves to involvement in the affairs of the Nation and in partnership with their Stormont colleagues maximise Northern Ireland’s contribution to the United Kingdom.  We will work to increase the respect and status of our region within the Union....

"We want the name of Northern Ireland to be synonymous with progress." 

Second:

"We recognise the value of culture, arts and leisure in encouraging economic growth as well as maximising quality of life for the people of Northern Ireland. Cultural identity is an important aspect of our make-up."

I'll give you no prizes for guesses that these are the two Unionist parties, first the DUP then the UUP.

Well this evening being synonymous with progress, maximising the quality of life for all people, normalising institutions to bring about fairness and equality of opportunity for all saw these two parties, along with the independents and Adam Harbinson the co-opted Alliance Councillor for Bangor West, all feel this meant voting down an equal marriage motion in the chamber.

As a result North Down's contribution was defeated as giving fairness of opportunity to all to get married. The DUP may want "the natural beauty and the friendly character of our people to be promoted to make Northern Ireland 'the place to visit'". However, they have shown once again that they don't really want it to be the place that the LGBT community in Northern Ireland can see the friendly character.

Of course I know of a number of North Down residents who want to have the option of same sex marriage. What would happen should we go to Scotland, England or Wales once they introduce same-sex marriage and have a ceremony there? Should we come back to Northern Ireland we would not be civil partner and civil partner, but husband and husband or wife and wife.

Of course the people here in Northern Ireland including one of our MLAs who during that debate last month said this was a Scottish issue are ignoring the fact that without recognition that Northern Ireland will not be recognising legal UK marriages if they carry on in mindless opposition. The Equality Minister Maria Millar at the weekend said that laws would be introduced that would prevent same-sex couples suing churches that refused to marry them. Of course civil marriage or allowing churches that want to would not be affected by this, indeed these were the areas that tonight's motion was actually outlaying.

Sadly the DUP or UUP cannot bring about normalisation of politics here while they continue to legislate for only one narrow world view of what should be allowed. While they continue to put up the blinkers and barriers to LGBT equality legislation and only pay lip service to anti-sectarian or anti-racist measures they are only going so far. Once against they show myopia about what equality actually entails.

Update meanwhile normalisation in Belfast means distributing a leaflet in Alliance Party colours over flags from the DUP.

Bangor, Bowls and Bells

Yesterday my good friend Michael came out to Bangor for some sea air. The two of us being us of course a trip for him to Bangor did not just involve the normal activities of Bangor. There was a stop of at the Frederick Schomberg, the 1st Duke of Schomberg's camp before he set off to the Boyne where he died in battle in 1690. There was a visit to the old Walled Garden of Bangor Castle, now shortlisted for Britain in Bloom 2011 and open to the public and a walk around town, checking out some architectural history in my Gazeeter of the town, as well as spotting a graphic design error that got both our attention.

The evening rounded off with us actually sharing a little with the other a little of our favourite passtimes. First I took Michael along to see Sylvia Lady Hermon MP delivering the ceremonial first bowl of the Bangor Tournament. After a 10 year absence, while I was over in Scotland, I'll be making my return to the competition on Monday at 9:30am in the Singles. But here is a video I took of Lady Hermon, speaking (sorry very poor sound) and then delivering the ceremonial bowl.



After a few brief pointers about what was going on to Michael as we left the Greens we heard the bells at Bangor Parish start up. So Michael introduced me to his campanology passion and led us up the bell tower. I eventually did get to pull a few strokes on the bell and I can say it is a lot harder than it looks.

My new MLAs -how they got there and what it means #ndo11 #ae11

I was sitting around near the North Down Alliance team, augmented by Brian Wilson and the DUP's Peter Weir as they accumulated their tallies on Friday morning after verification.

Even then it was clear that Peter along with his party colleagues Alex Easton and Gordon Dunne were going to get elected. Stephen Farry of the Alliance also looked safe it was a matter of where the other two seats would go. The UUP were looking like they didn't have a full quota (4015 is turned out) between them, the two independent Alans, McFarland, the former UUP MLA looking to be returned now he was independent, and Chambers. Or would the Alliance manage to get a second in with Anne Wilson or would the Green's manage to replace her husband with Steven Agnew.

It was all tense stuff. The main concern was how the DUP transfers would go. A lot of DUP papers appeared to have just 1,2,3 and no further preference but others did transfer. The other thing was how would the independent Unionist votes transfer and most worryingly for the UUP would they still be in the race if one of the independents got eliminated.

The breakdown of the results was:

DUP 3 candidates 3.1 quotas
Alliance 2 candidates 1.3 quotas
UUP 2 candidates 0.7 quotas
Green 1candidate 0.55 quotas
Alan McFarland 0.46 quotas
Alan Chambers 0.44 quotas

Others 3 candidates (SDLP, UKIP, Sinn Féin) 0.42 quotas

It was going to be tight. Agnew was just 107 first preferences ahead of Anne Wilson to come 5th. But that once the DUP managed to get there three in on one on the first round and the other two on the allocation of Easton's surplus in the second round it was the unionist block of 1.6 quotas that made it unlikely that both Wilson and Agnew would make it. So although it was unclead which unionist made it as well there was a fight on for the sixth seat between the Alliance and Greens and it was going to be tight. Problem for me now was that it looked like my top three preferences were going to only secure two seats.

When both the Alans were eliminated it pushed Leslie Cree over the quota securing the UUP one seat and then it was down to his surplus. The transfer of that ended up giving Agnew the edge maintaining a Green representative at Stormont.

However, it does throw up interesting permitations for the Executive. The UUP are on 16 seats they secured Cree's seat from 9th place in the first preferences. Though you are not going to get me suddenly defending First Past the post that saw DUP 1,2,3, Alliance 4 and 6 with Greens 5. If Anne Wilson had of won her seat that would have been 9 Alliance. Therefore under D'Hondt the second UUP seat (the final seat to be allocated*). Eight the half of the UUP seats (having already secured one minister) will be equal to the 8 seats held by the Alliance. The tie break is votes again divided as by D'Hondt. There the UUP's 87, 531 is divided by 2 making 43,765 again less than the Alliance's 50,875, therefore earning David Ford another seat.

The UUP are however flirting with David McClarty the former deputy speaker and member of their party who stood as an independent after failing to be selected in East Londonderry. He managed to get 73 first preferences more than the two UUP candidates and get re-elected where either of them failed to do. But this is a case of where the people did have a option of voting for an official party candidate and didn't do so. What would have happened in North Down if instead of Cree getting in another former UUP MLA Alan McFarland had got elected, would it then have been them that they were courting. Or what if Wilson and McFarland had got in instead of Cree and Agnew this would all have just been a series of what ifs in the final rounds of counting in Newtownards on Saturday that would have been eventually forgotten.

* The order will be DUP, Sinn Féin, DUP, UUP, SF, SDLP, DUP, SF, DUP, Alliance

Who is standing in North Down #AE11

Here is the notice of cadidates for North Down in the Assembly election.

In full they are (with online links and contact details where available):

Steven Agnew - Green Party Twitter Mob: 07706 784 436 Email: stevenagnewgpni@hotmail.co.uk

Colin Breen - Ulster Unionist Party Email: colinbreen.vote1@gmail.com

Alan Chambers - Independent

Leslie Cree - Ulster Unionist Party Mob: 07876 170 309 Email: l.cree726@gmail.com

Gordon Dunne - Democratic Unionist Party - D.U.P Tel: (028) 9042 3046

Alex Easton - Democratic Unionist Party - D.U.P Tel: (028) 9188 9620

Stephen Farry - Alliance Party Mob: 07775 687 152 Email stephen.farry@allianceparty.org

Conor Keenan - Sinn Féin Tel: (028) 9024 3194 (Email: conor.keenan@sinn-fein.ie

Liam Logan - SDLP (Social Democratic & Labour Party) Email: gonoorthat@gmail.com

Alan McFarland - Independent Tel: (028) 9147 0900 Twitter

Fred McGlade - United Kingdom Independence Party Tel: (028) 9146 7707 Email: mail@ukipni.org

Peter James Weir - Democratic Unionist Party - D.U.P.Tel: (028) 9145 4500 Email: pjweir@hotmail.com

Anne Wilson - Alliance Party Tel: (028) 9145 9110 Email anne.wilson@allianceparty.org

Council Fail, Community Pass II

It was on Tuesday of this week that I posted how the local council here back home were unable to respond to the chaos on residential streets in this area caused by the freeze of thawed snow.

Well today is bin day. However, I walked out to the shops to get some last minute messages, the the temperature was -9c here last night. So the frost was harsh again. The roads were still quite fierce as were the pavements.

Having gone downtown to get some wheaten bread and some other things I returned to find the road had miraculously become less icy than either pavement, in the same conditions of temperature and sunshine. Yes you guessed it the council work lorries were given a gritted road to get to and from their houses while for the last two days local residents have struggled and slipped and slid down the various slopes that make up our roads.

The refuge collectors however are being treated like the Queen with a freshly painted building, no ice on their route.

Council Fail, Community Pass

Once upon a time when I was the age of my nephews the local council here, and indeed the residents were more able to cope with the onset of quite treacherous wintry conditions. Over the past few days we have only had less than an inch of snow on three occasions.

On the previous two occasions this has usually thawed out totally and there have been no issues a couple of hours after even on the residential roads. Today however is different. The snow turned initially to slush, but the temperatures are sub zero later on and the slush has now turned to ice.

Next to my mum's house is a very steep short stretch of hill leading to a T-junction, it is only 2 doors down the road. Mum had already skidded coming round the bends to get here after a morning shopping. And the postman arriving with his second delivery of the day told up that some o the other nearby roads were have cars piled up. So we took the easiest route out to the cemetery to place a wreath on Dad's grave on his birthday.

On our way home we were getting flagged down not attempt to go down the hill. After parking up in driveway I headed straight back to see if there was anything I could do to help. As it was one car had skidded down two car lengths trying to make the junction, another had skidded trying to go around her.

On that hill every year up to this had been a grit bucket. And every year up to this, in these conditions the local residents had sprinkled grit on the top of this hill to enable people to make the junction. What happened just now was that from about four different households came sand, salt, fire ashes, and anything to help get traction under the stuck car, we did end up getting the car up and off the slope. But not before warning several other cars off trying to make their way up.

There are other ways that you can drive from the bottom section around to the area where we live, it was how me and my mother got back. The local police are stretched with so many accidents and so many dangerous roads, but what I saw just now was that the local community are prepared to do their bit to enable to roads to remain passable, if only the council had provided the tools to enable them to do so earlier. There are three hotspots within half a kilometre from here and presently all three have local residents crying out for why the council has removed the grit boxes.

There are times I'm prepared for the worst back in Bathgate, but I rarely have to use the measures I have taken. Our Scottish local councils prepare far better and more effectively than here, at least the community is kicking in to help out as best we can.

Parsley Goes Blue

News from back home is that Alliance Euro Candidate and North Down* Councillor has joined the Conservatives (not quite merged with the Ulster Unionists yet).

I'd been following the news on the Northern Irish blogs when I could during the day, held out a little hope when one story pointed to substantial inaccuracies in a report in the Mirror that he had defected to the Ulster Unionists. Something he refuted on his blog. The only inaccuracy appears to be that it's not the UUs he has joined but their soon to be bride Cameron's Tories. The move comes with speculation that Lady Silvia Hermon upset with the UU and Tory wedding will not be seeking re-selection under that ticket.

Announcing his reasons for the shift to the press Parsley said he saw it as:

"the best means of delivering a shared future and a genuinely new type of politics would be through David Cameron’s Conservative Party."

Personally I don't see Conservative politics as being a new type of politics, especially not one I'd want to see take over in the land, or constituency of my birth. Speaking later on his blog he said:

"With a heavy heart, today I left the Alliance Party. I was, however, delighted to join David Cameron’s Conservative Party, and to become involved in politics at a UK level."

He goes on to say:

"Far from negating my commitment to the causes the Alliance Party believes, my move should be seen as an attempt to drive forward those values. Without the party’s work, in which I have played a small part, on the promotion of issues such as integrated education, costs of division and shared neighbourhoods, it is unlikely the prospective next UK Government would be making any of these issues a priority. I understand that many in the Alliance Party will not share my preference for a Conservative Government after the next General Election, but I trust they will recognise the value of having many core Alliance issues placed high on its agenda for Northern Ireland after it."

It is not just members of the Alliance Party that would look at such a statement with bemusement. I've lived in an council that had Alliance as the largest party (North Down) and in two one by majority one largest party being Conservative (Kingston and again North Down). You know something I don't see how anyone could put core Alliance issues into the heart of a Conservative Government. My views are shared by Alliance leader David Ford:

"There are huge contradictions between the delusions of some Conservatives that think they are anti-sectarian, and the 1950s-style bigotry still coming from Ulster Unionist elements.

"I fear Ian will find this contradiction more and more difficult to live with as time goes on."

As I speculated earlier this year is the time right for the Northern Irish branch of the Liberal Democrats and the Alliance to officially become one. Bring UK-wide Lib Dem politics to Northern Ireland. The Tories are doing it, Labour are considering it. You know if that does happen I'd be tempted to seek selection as the Lib Dem candidate for North Down and show Mr Parsley just what new politics on an United Kingdom wide level really does entail.

*So literally back home.