The Government has once again taken on the Nationalists and, contra 25 years of devolutionary received wisdom, won the day.
At the very least, create separate processes for a swift, inquisitorial, ‘Black Box’ investigation to find facts and learn lessons, rather than assign blame or provide catharsis.
This excellent telling of the clash between Francis Bacon and Edward Coke draws out the men beneath the legend.
It is not a coincidence that the only bits of England he omits from his coalition of “progressive values” are those that are net contributors to the Exchequer.
You don’t need to buy the wilder conspiracy theories about a deep state to recognise that it would be irresponsible to ignore the machinery of government.
We need an honest debate about the right balance between transparency and security on the one hand, and the need for quick decision-making and private deliberation on the other.
“Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall; And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.”
The Belfast Agreement decoupled Northern Ireland’s constitutional future from day-to-day elected politics, but the pro-UK parties failed to adapt.
Why not conceive of the state as essentially a regulator and provider of services, dressed up in such odds and ends of holy writ as pass the smell test – one tax base under the NHS and the Equality Act?
Joining the UK would end its status as a dependant territory, and so finally nullify Spanish (and Argentine) arguments based on the UN definition of decolonisation.
“Because all the reforms you guys passed already have panned out really well over the past 20 years, haven’t they.”
The Governor-General de facto fills the role on many a day-to-day basis, whilst the Sovereign serves as an anchor for our democratic system.
Recent polling shows the party well ahead of both the UUP and the TUV, meaning the current deadlock would simply be reproduced.
For years, the ravages of the Scottish Government’s failures have not shown up in the Nationalists’ polling. But the spell has broken.
A staunchly pro-Brexit Tory peer or an ardently Europhile Labour MP agree that it should be the legislature which sets the law of the land.