he says that, in her new role as a contributor on Nigel Farage’s show, Political Correction, she’s hoping “to bring Northern Ireland into the mainstream of UK politics”.
She’ll have her work cut out.
I say this even though I’m not quite sure what she means by bringing Northern Ireland into the mainstream of UK politics.
Northern Ireland is rarely out of the mainstream of UK politics. On at least a couple of previous occasions, this was thanks to Arlene herself.
First, she scored a billion via the DUP’s Confidence and Supply arrangement with Theresa May’s government. Then she scored an own goal by trusting Boris Johnson.
The Northern Ireland Protocol is currently the most contentious and controversial aspect of the EU-UK Brexit arrangement.
Thanks to the Protocol, Northern Ireland has been brought into the mainstream of EU politics.
I’m assuming that what Arlene is really on about is bringing the unionist perspective into the mainstream of UK politics. Good luck with that.
A cynic might say Mrs Foster had a prime opportunity to do so when she was leader of the largest unionist party here.
But at a time when she could have been making friends and influencing people on behalf of unionism, she didn’t make a great shape of it.
Maybe the new post-Poots Arlene will do a better job of selling unionism from the sofa than she did from Stormont.A man who does know something about unionist outreach has also been in the career-change headlines this week.
Ian Marshall was formerly a senator in the Dublin Seanad, where he sat as an Independent. He’s just joined Doug Beattie’s UUP.
This new UUP is living up to that proud claim of party members from some years back, that theirs was a broad church. That it brought together people from across the unionist spectrum, with often quite different views, but with respect for each other and a joint dedication to furthering the unionist cause.
After his stint in Dublin, Mr Marshall talks warmly of Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney. This may not be a sentiment widely shared in the UUP.
Mr Coveney’s attitude to unionist concerns during Brexit negotiations was dismissive and cack-handed. It’s a bit of an understatement to say he would not have a big fan following amid the unionist grassroots.
But no one can fault Ian Marshall for taking the unionist message to Dublin, to southern politicians and media and to a wider audience.
As someone who feels secure in his unionist identity, he says he wants to see a positive and forward-looking unionism.
Of course, outreach is a two-way process. Sinn Fein used to have a unionist outreach officer (maybe they still do.) But as proof as to how seriously they viewed this role, their ambassador to the unionists was Martina Anderson.
A word still regularly used to refer (disparagingly) to unionists is Planter.
People who would style themselves as liberal and leftie will assert — quite rightly — that new citizens, those who’ve made their home here in recent years, have the same right to live in this place and to be regarded as locals as the rest of the population.
Yet, many of these same “liberals” still talk about unionists who oppose Irish unity as having the option of the boat back to Scotland or England.
Those of us whose forebears arrived during the reign of Elizabeth I are still regarded as alien here in the reign of Elizabeth II.
On all sides then, there’s need for a little more effort on the outreach front.
There’s a view that unionism is in some sort of free-fall at the moment. That unionists are in turmoil.
An alternative interpretation is that this is a redefining time for unionism, the shake-up the big parties needed, a chance to do things differently.
But to make progress, unionism also needs to make its voice heard. The DUP’s “will they, won’t they?” approach to the North/ South Ministerial Council is a case in point.
The DUP should be down there arguing its case on the Protocol. It should be gagging to.
Unionism needs to abandon the politics of huff and get out more.
And by “out more”, I’m thinking a bit further than on the GB News sofa with Arlene.
Another day, another humiliation for Coleen
Coleen Rooney, AKA Wagatha Christie and Wayne’s wife, obviously hasn’t thought to deploy her investigative skills in keeping tabs on her numpty husband.
Once again, he’s humiliated her after being caught in compromising circumstances in a cheapie hotel room with a clutch of models.
What was he thinking? No, don’t answer that. The couple have four sons, a couple of them now old enough to be aware their Da being ridiculed on social media.
Coleen needs to worry more about her boys than her big Wayne.
Who will elect to receive £100 voucher?
Call me a pessimist, but I’m concerned that the voucher scheme, aimed at giving all adults £100 to hit the shops, might end in the same chaos as the roll-out of vaccine passports for travellers.
One niggling aspect: you have to be on the electoral register to get your voucher.
I can foresee problems with that one. Apart from anything else, as we know from past experience, dead people have, occasionally, been known to vote here.
Will they also apply for shopping vouchers?
Simon says it's time to go
So, farewell then to The X Factor. It’s been an amazing journey. An emotional rollercoaster. You should be so proud of yourself. Simon is proud of you.
Seriously, though, lovely to see that two of the local stars who emerged from the show, Janet Devlin and Eoghan Quigg, still have fond memories of their time on The X Factor.
Eoghan, who was only 16, recalls how his mother loved the show. Like Janet, he used it as a springboard to do what he wanted to do.
Success isn’t just about the spotlight.
