The Green Ribbon

Labour MPs in call to force nuclear on Scotland

It looks like Scottish Labour MPs are having a tough time coming to terms with the new regime at Holyrood. Not content with comparing Alex Salmond to Hitler, they want Westminster to strip him of the power to block new nuclear power stations - a manifesto commitment.

Varney rules out corporation tax cut for Northern Ireland

It's the one policy almost every major party in Ireland is agreed on, including those that won the recent general election in the south, and the assembly elections in the north, but that it seems is not a consideration for the British Treasury.

Plans by Northern Ireland's new power-sharing executive to stimulate foreign investment by cutting corporation tax have been dashed.

In meetings with local politicians and business leaders last week Sir David Varney, a former head of the UK Inland Revenue appointed by Gordon Brown to consider changes in the province's tax policy, poured cold water on the idea.

Demands that business tax rates be dropped to 12.5 per cent to allow the province to compete with the Irish Republic would encourage transfer pricing, he said.

Transfer pricing is the practice whereby profits of UK-based foreign multinationals are channelled through a Northern Ireland office without actually bringing any additional economic activity to the province.

Sir David, who was accompanied by three officials from the UK Treasury, "absolutely dismissed the idea", said one of those present at the meeting. "He discussed a very wide agenda, but it was clear corporation tax was not part of that agenda at all." (Financial Times)

This, of course, is what almost every observer expected. One result may be to make the Stormont Executive look more favorably on Alex Salmond's requests for co-operation.

Can all-Ireland politics catch up with the all-island economy?

It looks like Bertie Ahern is going to come out of the Irish election on course to become the first Taoiseach since De Valera to serve three consecutive terms.

It's perhaps worth recalling in what was a bad election for Sinn Fein and Gerry Adams in particular, that Adams has done one thing even De Valera tried and failed to do, namely won a seat in West Belfast for Sinn Fein. This fact perhaps demonstates one of the lessons of this election, the existence of an enduring political disconnect between northern and southern nationalism, that has yet to be overcome.

In Belfast in 1918, De Valera's Sinn Fein suffered a defeat at the hands of Joe Devlin's nationalists that arguably shaped De Valera's, and subsequently Fianna Fail's, approach to electoral politics in the north.

In Dublin in 2007, Adams' Sinn Fein suffered a setback which clearly raises the question, where now for all-Ireland politics?

Irish election: Exit poll

Counting gets underway later this morning, but RTE's exit poll offers an early indication of the way things are going.

The RTE survey — providing the first hard figures from Thursday's national election for the Dail Eireann parliament — put Fianna Fail on 41.6 percent while its major opposition rival, Fine Gael, was on 26.3 percent.

The left-wing Labour Party, which could end up holding the balance of power and has a formal alliance with Fine Gael, was on 9.9 percent. Fianna Fail's longstanding partner in coalition government, the Progressive Democrats, had 2.6 percent. The Greens had 4.8 percent, Sinn Fein 7.3 percent and independents 7.5 percent. (International Herald Tribune)

On these figures it looks like Fianna Fail are best placed to return to Government. However, a margin of error of 2.5 per cent leaves a lot scope for uncertainty about the fate of the smaller parties, notably the PDs, who could provide a coalition partner. A lot will turn on transfers.

For more coverage, check out these sites:

RTE election page
Politics.ie
Irish Election.com
Slugger O'Toole

The US, Iran and the Abrams plan

Hats off to our Satin Pajama rival Blood and Treasure for spotting the deliciously-timed conjunction between these two stories:

Iran is secretly forging ties with al-Qaida elements and Sunni Arab militias in Iraq in preparation for a summer showdown with coalition forces intended to tip a wavering US Congress into voting for full military withdrawal, US officials say. (Guardian, 22 May)

The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject, say President Bush has signed a "nonlethal presidential finding" that puts into motion a CIA plan that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of Iran's currency and international financial transactions. (The Blotter, ABC News, 22 May)

Green Ribbon up for the Satin Pajama Awards

It appears that the Green Ribbon is up for the best weblog from the UK category at the Third Annual Satin Pajama Awards. Thanks to Alex from the Yorkshire Ranter for the nomination

There's are some very good blogs in the category and, at the moment, I seem to be languishing on one vote so any support would be greatly appreciated.

Spare a thought also for Mick Fealty's Slugger which seems to be making a rather better fist of competing for the Best European Weblog category.

Update

Clearly, the Green Ribbon was squeezed...

Congratulations to the winners, particularly Jonny Billericay and Slugger.

Antiwar.com on the Aegis contract

Antiwar.com today carries my latest article on the Iraq security contract currently held by Tim Spicer's Aegis:

The contract, originally due to be awarded on April 10, involves a wide range   of services, from the provision of personal security details to the management   of six regional reconstruction operation centers (ROCs) interfacing between   coalition forces and private contractors, as well as a national reconstruction   operations center that distributes sanitized intelligence to contractors.

One current method of intelligence distribution is an ROC   Web site, which is supposed to be password-protected, although the site's   main page appears to be accessible as the top Google   search result for the phrase "Reconstruction Operation Center."   Material designated "For   Official Use Only," including information about patterns of insurgent   activity, is publicly accessible under the headings "ROC   National Weekly Summary" and "Special   Intel Products." (antiwar.com)

A lot of the content in these briefings looks as if it could be available via open sources. However, there is also material of a distinctly different character:

Irish election: Enda's turn or u-turn?

Ireland goes to the polls on Thursday. In the final days of the campaign, there seems to be a growing expectation that neither the current Fianna Fail-PD coalition nor the opposition Fine Gael-Labour alliance will get a governing majority.

While calling an STV election is something of a mugs game, there's a lot of speculation that the only combinations with a workable majority could involve Fianna Fail-Labour and Fianna Fail-Sinn Fein alliances, the very options which many of those concerned have been most anxious to rule out.

Dean Godson on Open Government

"More “open” government is not necessarily better government," the Policy Exchange research director argues today in a Times article on the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill which has Tim Worstall wanting to know, "Who is this Dean Godson character?"

You may well ask.

Related post series:

PC Spooks?
US covert action in Britain today

MPs vote themselves exemption from Freedom of Information

To those who feel the political system doesn’t listen and doesn’t care;

To those who feel powerless and have lost faith;

To those who feel Westminster is a distant place and politics simply a spectator sport:

I will strive to earn your trust.

The aspirations of Gordon Brown's leadership acceptance speech didn't last very long, did they?

He had the perfect opportunity to demonstrate his seriousness today by blocking the bill to exempt Parliament from the Freedom of Information Act.

Instead MPs have voted the bill through and the effective leader of the majority party in the Commons says it was nothing to do with him. Not good enough.

If this bill becomes law, Westminster will be that much more distant, and the public will be that much more powerless.

At least we know where we stand with Brown's supposed constitutional reform agenda.