British & Irish politics professor, Univ. of Liverpool. Views mine NOT Univ’s. Retweets/likes NOT endorsements: made me think/laugh. j.tonge@liv.ac.uk
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I’ll go for confidence in Johnson 59% (211 votes) to 41% no confidence (147) and delete this tweet at 9.01pm when it’s way out.
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So many Protestants and Catholics. The churches will be packed this Sunday #NIcensus
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Almost the time of year when everyone says “Merry Christmas Twitter - signing off” etc, then reappears an hour later when they’ve seen a post that enrages them.
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The DUP now effectively a pro-Remain and pro-Good Friday Agreement party. I’m giving up teaching.
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On Boris’s Scotland to N. Ireland bridge idea. Sure he has thought all this through though.
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N. Ireland must be the only place in the world making moves towards putting Boris Johnson in direct control
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“The condescending, patronising attitude that we get from the Chairman of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee…talking like some c19th colonial ruler”. Sammy Wilson almost sounding old school Shinner…
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I’ve decided to co-opt someone to do my teaching and marking rather than take up my university seat for the foreseeable future.
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It’s taken less time to approve a life-saving vaccine than it does getting a new module through university regs.
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To Queen’s Belfast for the offspring’s MA graduation. Politics of course. I don’t father. I clone.
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The awkward moment when you’ve done the radio pre-record, are in a taxi, the driver is listening and turns to you saying “What the **** is this guy on about?”
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“Do you ever wonder if you’re not secretly working for the other side politically?” C4News asks Sammy Wilson. Probably a good job he didn’t hear the question tbh…
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Scrap unionist, nationalist and ‘other’ designations. Have weighted majority voting at 65%. Just have one First Minister: Assembly to remove if 70% agree. End petitions of concern. Stormont’s rules were devised long ago. Time for change? Today’s @BelTel m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/new…
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Mrs Tonge says she always dreamt of a romantic wedding anniversary with a husband yapping about the DUP all day and then drinking beer and shouting at an England v Scotland game on the telly in the evening. Good job she did.
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Apart from the failure to take most of the DUP’s MPs with him, new polling depths, Irish language defeat, struggle to nominate his own First Minister and resignations from the party, the coup is looking a masterstroke #Poots
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The six hours between the triumphant return to school/end of home schooling and the son’s positive Covid test and resumption of home schooling were glorious.
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Thanks for very kind comments re VONC forecast. Main items: didn’t have a bet (sobs); you really don’t want my racing tips; Love Island? Liam or Gemma. Will post lottery numbers when rollover. As sceptical other half said though, ‘first time you’ve been right since marrying me’.
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Tomorrow Arlene Foster celebrates 5 years since becoming First Minister of NI. Been a quiet one discounting Brexit, RHI, Stormont collapse and revival, balance of power, £1bn funding, Johnson’s DUP conference speech, ssm and abortion legalised by Westminster, Irish Sea border...
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A bit more data re the DUP membership from (shameless plug) our book The DUP: From Protest to Power (Oxford Univ Press)
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Ponders whether to ask if the TV in a Galway bar could be turned over to Channel 4 for the Conservative Party leadership debate. Decides against.
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Deleted all PowerPoint slides for my British Politics 1 module. It’s just easier to start all over again...
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SDLP lambasts EU. DUP bitterly opposes EU border on the island of Ireland. Give us a break folks. Politics is hard enough to teach as it is.
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I’d imagine a Johnson return as PM, suspension from the Commons after the Privileges Committee report, subsequent by-election triggered under the Recall of MPs Act and loss of seat would bring the stability we are all craving.
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Congratulations Ben Lowry on landing the Irish News editorship. Didn’t see it coming tbh. What a date to take over.
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Glad we spent 48 hours last weekend agonising who’d be elected #allworthit #AE22
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Given the Greens are unambiguously pro-second independence referendum and would support such proposals (rejected by Johnson regardless) what is the absolute fixation with an SNP overall majority in all the coverage? Surely a bonus for the SNP but no more. What have I missed?
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The PM and Taoiseach launch the inaugural UK-Ireland summit in Liverpool tonight with the Taoiseach praising the ‘reset in relations’ under PM Starmer.
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Checks on candidates crossing into South Down will continue, I’m told #Protocol
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So to clarify: anti-EU campaigners spent 41 years arguing v the 17m 1975 Remain vote but want the 2016 Remain vote to give up after a week?
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Burnham has put on 114,000 votes since last time. Easily Labour's most impressive performance in England.
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DUP goes back into Stormont after Summer recess i.e. 5th Sept, on condition Protocol Bill passes Lords. Government turns to Lords: "Do you want to collapse Stormont by voting this Bill down?" Meanwhile EU takes legal action and threatens entire Brexit deal...
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Not updating any lecture slides on the Conservatives until 24 hours before the lecture. Just too risky.
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Smith = second shortest tenure as N. Ireland Secretary. Previous shortest was Francis Pym (4 months). They both got Stormont up and running again. Maybe that’s a bad career move...
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SF 23%, DUP 20%, Alliance 16%, UUP 14%, SDLP 10% (rounding up/down to nearest point). Institute of Irish Studies at Univ of Liv/Irish News/SMR Belfast published today
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Government defeats Lords amendments to NI legacy bill 288-205. Clearly know more than every victims’ group, every other political party, the former Church of Ireland Archbishop Robin Eames and the House of Lords…
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Not saying I’ve over-prepared for Thursday night but if anyone needs the vote shares in North Down going back to 1987 I can assist.
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Getting up at 5.30am on a Saturday to fly over to observe a TUV conference is perfectly normal behaviour.
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Entirely unfair to call our ex-Lib Dem, ex-anti-monarchist, ex-Remainer, ex-tax-cutting, ex-budget deficit running, ex-supply side reforming, ex-universal Energy Price Guarantee-supporting Prime Minister inconsistent.
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“I looked out of the window at Stormont 25 years ago on the morning of the Good Friday Agreement and saw Jeffrey Donaldson walking away. Soon he will have to decide whether he is walking away again”. Alliance President David Ford opens his party’s conference.
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Online exam submission day. 5pm deadline. Now 4.50pm and 17 student scripts still to arrive. That coolness under pressure and perfect timing will serve them well in life.
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I know I’m a nerd but BBC Parliament no longer covering the party conferences is ridiculous.
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The sound you hear is that of the "Sinn Féin need to take their seats at Westminster to make a difference" group leaving the building... #ge19
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“Committed supporter of reunification” Max Hastings reviews Geoffrey Bell’s recent book on unionism - Sunday Times.
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It’s completely wrong to assume everyone is blaming Jeffrey Donaldson for the current crisis. Only one student (of 60) knew he was DUP leader #blameless #ignoranceisbliss
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“His time here in Northern Ireland: 15 or 16 hours, half of which he’ll be in bed” - BBC’s Chris Mason on the President’s visit,
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Had £50-£60m been given at the time of the Euro28 announcement (see Chris “don’t worry-we’ll find the money” Heaton-Harris passim) there would be no shortfall, football would have benefited with a showcase event (recouping chunks of the costs like all host cities) then the GAA.
Why would Stormont pay anymore? football not getting anymore than was promised (which is now nowhere near what is needed) Rugby getting no more money. Why is Casement park more important than The Oval, The Brandywell or Solitude? all need significant increase in funding.
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Never anticipated a life reduced to scrolling Twitter every 30 seconds to see the fate of Chris Heaton-Harris
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If someone can convince me of the need for the hard-pressed BBC to fly a helicopter over Westminster because it’s Budget Day, I’m all ears.
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If the Conservatives ring the DUP’s Edwin Poots and Jeffrey Donaldson they can get some helpful first-hand advice on replacing the winner of a party leadership contest with the runner-up within a few weeks.
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The traditional Freshers’ icebreaker will have a new twist. “What A levels did you get?” “Which week?”
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Tonight’s Linen Hall votes: 79% to 21% would vote in favour of the GFA if there was another referendum tomorrow: 58% said they wanted a border poll in the next 5 years; 42% said they did not.
25 years ago today saw a 71% to 29% yes vote for the Good Friday Agreement. Tonight, in an interactive event at Belfast’s Linen Hall, that vote is analysed, people polled on whether they would vote the same way and asked if a border poll should be held within the next 5 years.
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Dear students: Monday’s lecture on ‘Stability in Consociational Power-Sharing Democracies’ goes ahead regardless…
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I obviously entered academia to spend the next 79 days calculating who might take the 5th Assembly seat in Lagan Valley
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To Belfast for the big day. That feeling you get going to a wedding when you wonder if the couple are really suited. Average gap between Stormont collapses (excluding technical one-day suspensions) 4 years 4 months.
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