Stormont Assembly Elections 2017

[Owen Brannigan]

So if otr letters is not a amnesty or a pardon what would you classify it as??

I could be wrong but I presumed they were just letters saying "you are not currently under investigation by the authorities".

When this letter was presented in court by John Downey he could not be prosecuted and was an effective pardon or amnesty for the Hyde Park bombing killing 4 people.

His letter said:
"The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has been informed by the attorney general that on the basis of the information currently available, there is no outstanding direction for prosecution in Northern Ireland, there are no warrants in existence, nor are you wanted in Northern Ireland for arrest, questioning or charge by the police.  "The Police Service of Northern Ireland are not aware of any interest in you from any other police force in the UK. If any other outstanding offence or offences come to light, or if any request for extradition were to be received, these would have to be dealt with in the usual way."

The problem for the Northern Ireland Office was that at the time the letter was sent, John Downey was listed as wanted by the Metropolitan Police in connection with the Hyde Park bombing and PSNI had not told the attorney general about this, so it was not new evidence.

Other OTR letters are effective pardons/amnesties as most cases are no longer being currently investigated.

[red hander]

So if otr letters is not a amnesty or a pardon what would you classify it as??

I could be wrong but I presumed they were just letters saying "you are not currently under investigation by the authorities".

When this letter was presented in court by John Downey he could not be prosecuted and was an effective pardon or amnesty for the Hyde Park bombing killing 4 people.

His letter said:
"The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has been informed by the attorney general that on the basis of the information currently available, there is no outstanding direction for prosecution in Northern Ireland, there are no warrants in existence, nor are you wanted in Northern Ireland for arrest, questioning or charge by the police.  "The Police Service of Northern Ireland are not aware of any interest in you from any other police force in the UK. If any other outstanding offence or offences come to light, or if any request for extradition were to be received, these would have to be dealt with in the usual way."

The problem for the Northern Ireland Office was that at the time the letter was sent, John Downey was listed as wanted by the Metropolitan Police in connection with the Hyde Park bombing and PSNI had not told the attorney general about this, so it was not new evidence.

Other OTR letters are effective pardons/amnesties as most cases are no longer being currently investigated.

Nice of you to convict him without a trial, who needs British justice when we've got you about the place? BTW, you forgot about the poor wee horses. At the time there was more made out of them by the media than the four members of the British armed forces killed... I'm only surprised Sefton wasn't given the Victoria Cross, though they did erect a lovely statue of him, I believe

[Applesisapples]

everyone here appears to be ignoring 13 Scottish Torys who will want exactly what the DUP gets.

[armaghniac]

What about the poor Welsh? Nothing for them?

[Applesisapples]

What about the poor Welsh? Nothing for them?

exactly

[Avondhu star]

everyone here appears to be ignoring 13 Scottish Torys who will want exactly what the DUP gets.

And they will get it. That will show up the S.N.P. and bury indyref2. Its all going wrong for Gerry and the Peacemakers. Arlene will have them licking out of her hand

[Gold]

everyone here appears to be ignoring 13 Scottish Torys who will want exactly what the DUP gets.

Everyone with their hand out for the crumbs from England's table.  Embarrasing

[playwiththewind1st]

everyone here appears to be ignoring 13 Scottish Torys who will want exactly what the DUP gets.

And they will get it. That will show up the S.N.P. and bury indyref2. Its all going wrong for Gerry and the Peacemakers. Arlene will have them licking out of her hand

If that happens, it would definitely be worse than George Galloway & Rula Lenska.

[Owen Brannigan]

Interesting thread on Twitter from Richard Bullick, former DUP adviser for many years who left in the last few months to go into PR. Former DUP SPAD to NI First Minister 2008-2017, SPAD to NI Finance Minister 2007-2008, SPAD to NI Regional Dev. Minister 2000-2002, Head of Policy DUP 2002-2007:

With less than two weeks to the latest Stormont talks deadline it might be useful to reflect on the lessons from negotiations NI style.  At the request of the parties the names have been omitted, out of respect for the truth everything else has been told as it occurred!  So here's just a few tactics I've seen by various players over the last 15 years ... (you know who you are).

1. Agree the importance of confidentiality of negotiations while adding Brian Rowan to cc list for all sensitive documents;

2. Wrong-foot opponents by pretending to act irrationally. Double down on strategy by actually acting irrationally.

3. Present financial asks in appropriate format – handwritten, on jotter page – all numbers divisible by 1 billion.

4. Claim there is no more money then present 'generous' financial package with little or no actual new money – hope no one notices.

5. Ensure Ministers still rigorously Ministers stick to the Government policy (of the previous administration).

6. Set deadline, break deadline, claim next deadline really is deadline, repeat as often as necessary.

7. Enter negotiations with wholly unrealistic demands until negotiations reach climax then increase demands.

8. Add to demands at regular intervals by adopting other parties demands and passing them off as your own.

9. Keep other parties negotiators busy while conducting real negotiations at another venue altogether.

10. Create a sense of involvement in the process by appearing on the media more often than in talks.

11. When deal finally done agree that things will be different in the future and things really have changed.

12. Deny that final agreement could have been done in a few hours and ignore the fact that long standing red lines have been breached.

[armaghniac]

Nelson McCausland is an odious bollix, but one of the reasons he is so odious is that he understands perfectly well but spouts bigotry to those who do not. One thing he said on the radio there was that the billion would bring SF back into the Assembly as they main objective was in the South and they couldn't be supporting austerity in the 6 counties, now they don't need to. Sad, but likely true.

[Avondhu star]

Nelson McCausland is an odious bollix, but one of the reasons he is so odious is that he understands perfectly well but spouts bigotry to those who do not. One thing he said on the radio there was that the billion would bring SF back into the Assembly as they main objective was in the South and they couldn't be supporting austerity in the 6 counties, now they don't need to. Sad, but likely true.

But Sinn Fein want Arlene Foster to stand down. They wont betray their principles surely

[armaghniac]

Nelson McCausland is an odious bollix, but one of the reasons he is so odious is that he understands perfectly well but spouts bigotry to those who do not. One thing he said on the radio there was that the billion would bring SF back into the Assembly as they main objective was in the South and they couldn't be supporting austerity in the 6 counties, now they don't need to. Sad, but likely true.

But Sinn Fein want Arlene Foster to stand down. They wont betray their principles surely

Of course not, their party stands for "ourselves" and they will look after themselves.

[Owen Brannigan]

Nelson McCausland is an odious bollix, but one of the reasons he is so odious is that he understands perfectly well but spouts bigotry to those who do not. One thing he said on the radio there was that the billion would bring SF back into the Assembly as they main objective was in the South and they couldn't be supporting austerity in the 6 counties, now they don't need to. Sad, but likely true.

But Sinn Fein want Arlene Foster to stand down. They wont betray their principles surely

Of course not, their party stands for "ourselves" and they will look after themselves.

+1

[Applesisapples]

SF need to stand up to Foster and let Stormont go, Tories will trump them in Westminster for now. DUP will lose out in the end.

[Owen Brannigan]

SF need to stand up to Foster and let Stormont go, Tories will trump them in Westminster for now. DUP will lose out in the end.

Your SF leader has stated that Stormont is key to the strategy for achieving a UI.