Stakeholder

In the current political climate one has to feel a degree of sympathy for the canvassers of all political parties as they come to your door over the next few weeks. The electorate is not in a very forgiving mood and who can blame them. Moat cleaning, plasma Tvs, grocery bills and ladies ‘accessories’ all charged up to the taxpayer. So the canvassers coming to your door have a lot of explaining to do. But this election while a timely opportunity to vent anger on the political classes is about Europe. Of course, bookmakers want to turn it into a sectarian bean count between Sinn Fein and the DUP to see who tops the polls.

This is not surprising as our politics has always been disappointingly so. Yet, the election is important even if the overwhelming instinct of the electorate is apathy.  The runners and riders in this year’s election are not terribly inspiring and certainly don’t match the colourful yesteryears of Hume, Paisley and Taylor.

Back then Hume tried to bring a new lexion to the public.  For Hume Europe was a model for co-existence that Northern Ireland could learn from and implement. It could also pay for a lot of things too and our legions of Northern Ireland voluntary groups, heritage centres and useless quangos are testimony to that.  To the press, Hume talked ad nauseum of ‘the Germans still being Germans, the French still being French etc’ and how Europe had reconciled its considerable differences through the European ideal. 

Naturally, twenty years on the French are still very much French, implementing EU principles only when it suits them or until their farmers, truck drivers or cheese-makers protest. The Germans are still Germans wanting to run everything instead of over-running everything. And yes, the Italians are still chaotically Italian with more corrupt politicians than spagetti.

Though in fairness, the British parliamentary classes are giving them a good run for that title but with less sex and more grubbiness. Yet the Hume mantra worked and we came to appreciate just how lucrative it can be to be a good European.

Even Paisley and Nicholson got on board proving that with Hume, Northern Ireland could field a formidable team of opposites if the bounty was attractive enough. The added colour of Paisley challenging the Pope from the back-row of the EU Parliament before several Italian Knights of Columbanus threw him out ensured that everyone knew Northern Ireland existed.

 

These days our European team is a much blander affair. Paisley has been replaced with the now dissident DUP renegade – the dour Jim Allister, who has the unnerving smile of the Child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. 

Hume the old multi-linguist has been replaced with Sinn Fein’s bashful  Barbera, whom Mark Durkan wryly said has managed to be silent in two languages for the past four years of her term.

It’s funny how the Sinn Fein Pravda resurrects politicians like De Bruin the way the old Communist regime in Russia used to de freeze aging leaders in time for the May Day parade.

And of course there is poor old Jim Nicholson, the twenty year incumbent who says it’s time to change. The only problem for Jim is that it’s his colleagues who are changing, mostly to other parties. 

 

To unseat ’spoil the party’ Allister, the DUP is fielding the wife of Finance Minister, Nigel Dodds another DUP dynasty in the making. Perhaps not the smartest of moves with the seething unionist electorate watching DUP double acts netting nearly half a million quid in income.

But it’s likely she will still win when the errant second preference votes of Jim Allister have to find a home.

 

Hume’s legacy is being fought for by the affable and capable SDLP Justice spokesperson Alban Maguiness. He faces an uphill battle but he is using Hume/speak up and down the country and in the traditional SDLP heartland it’s going down well. Maginness is unashamedly pro European and is the only hopeful holding that tag who has any realistic chance of taking a seat-notwithstanding Alliance’s youthful and talented Ian Parsley who may be secretly hoping that dsylexic voters North Antrim voters get confused. Parsley, like Naomi Long shows that Alliance is shedding its blue rinse image but in this election its more a conscience vote. Talking about image, if the posters are anything to go by -the Green Party has opted for the caricature look.

With UKIP and the Tories set for victory in Britain and Libertas hoping for a strong showing in the Republic, Northern Ireland could do with a pro European voice like Alban Maguiness. If justice had a voice he should get elected but unfortunately justice does n’t have a vote.