And so, quietly and with no fanfare or fuss, we have a new Economy Minister.
One minute, Conor Murphy was out and about doing his usual photocalls. Next minute, he’d left the Ministerial job behind, bid farewell to his chauffeur driven Skoda and hopped on the Enterprise down to Dublin and a new job as a member of the the Irish Seanad.
For Conor, it’s no more pretending that he’s really interested in how specialist composites are produced in a factory outside Lisburn or having to listen to one business organisation or another moaning about lack of action at Stormont.
In his stead, we welcome Caoimhe Archibald who has been shifted sideways from her role as Finance Minister. Or is it sideways and slightly downwards? Who knows?
One thing’s for sure. We must be one of the only regions that makes so little fuss when key government ministers are suddenly changed.
Fuss or no fuss, it means that Big John O’Dowd moves upwards from Infrastructure to take Caoimhe’s place at Finance while the relative unknown, Liz Kimmins, takes over as Infrastructure Minister. It’s hardly surprising that Liz Who is a bit of an unknown. There wouldn’t have been a big queue waiting to take over a department widely regarded as a poisoned chalice. When the job came free, Sinn Fein MLAs suddenly found something urgent to be doing.
As for Caoimhe Archibald, she’s a good pick by Sinn Fein. She’s an able politician, for sure, she’s a good communicator and, most importantly, she has as good an understanding of business and the economy here as anyone else in her party….probably more. Prior to the return of devolved government, she served as her party’s Economy Spokesperson for a long period of time.
Mind you, she got off to a fairly shouty start the other day. We were at an event in Ulster University on Tuesday while Secretary of State Hilary Benn was upstairs at an (allegedly) much more important one.
And Mr. Benn told his audience that over many years, decisions necessary to improve the health service and other public services had ‘simply not been taken by Stormont ministers’. A bit hard to argue with, one would have thought.
But his words certainly rattled Caoimhe’s cage. “Hilary Benn’s comments demonstrate a blatant disregard for communities here and for our democratically elected political institutions,” she fumed, before adding the standard Sinn Fein line. “Neither Mr Benn nor his government have any democratic mandate here.”
She wasn’t finished yet, though. “Rather than advocating for the people of the north of Ireland, as his title suggests he should, he has become an apologist for a Tory austerity agenda which his own government has now adopted and which has stripped our public services to the bone.”
Good on you, Caoimhe. Let him who’s boss. Kind of……
Trump & The Tariff Tester
It’s perhaps not surprising that none of us got too excited about a ministerial reshuffle up at Stormont. Everyone’s talking about what President Trump is going to go next.
Unless you’ve got shares in Jose Cuervo or Canadian Club, his decision (since paused) to slap whopping tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods won’t have bothered you too much. But when the big man starts slabbering about the EU, it’s a different matter.
It’s complicated, as you all know. While we might have left the big European party some time ago with the rest of the UK, we’ve only ever got as far as the hall leading to the front door. We’ve been hanging around there ever since.
Which means that, if Trump decides to target the EU with his tariff warfare, we’ll be caught in the crossfire. Apart from anything else, the effects on the rest of Ireland will be acute, immediate and potentially very painful.
So it seems we can’t take a moch solace from one of the curious sub-plots in the whole Trump Trade War story. Sky News Economics Editor Ed Conway put it rather well.
Somehow, and almost entirely by accident, Britain might just have navigated or blundered its way into about the best possible negotiating position of any industrialised economy.
And it seems to be the case. Put even more simply, it seems that Britain is just a bit too small and inconsequential for Trump to be worried about.
As special relationships go, it doesn’t sound too promising. But even Sir Keir Starmer must realise that this is a pretty good time to be seen as not very important.
Dancing In The Dark
Unlike many others, we’ve largely avoided offering any comment on the politics and bloody battles of the Middle East. We even waded our way through veteran journalist Jeremy Bowen’s excellent book The Making Of The Modern Middle East, but still struggle to get to grips with what goes on.
Most people, though, don’t let a lack of knowledge hold them back. They simply take a side and go with it. Hence a couple of observations from this week’s media.
From one angle, news that public money from Stormont via Invest NI has allegedly gone into manufacturing companies here that indirectly supply components, parts and equipment for the American Lockheed F-35 fighters used by the Isreali Air Force.
The whole story had been raised, according to reports, by Oxfam, of all people, who seemed to be questioning whether Northern Irish public funding should be used to support companies engaged in defence work. Or attack work, perhaps it should be called.
But it raises a much more fundamental question. Should Oxfam not stick with relief efforts and helping to save lives in conflict zones?
From another angle, Irish President Michael D. Higgins faced a fair amount of criticism for conflating the Holocaust with Gaza…..at a Holocaust Memorial Event in Dublin. A group of pro-Israeli protestors took offence and we had the unedifying spectacle of a young Jewish woman being dragged out of a Holocast event. Not a good look, whatever way you cut it.
But we’re not offering any other comment. When it comes to the Middle East, unless you’re a real authority, it’s best to stay schtum. Wait….where does the word ‘schtum’ come from?
Lunchtime Bonus
We mentioned being at Ulster University on Tuesday at the same time, but not in the same room, as Mr. Benn from the UK Government.
While he was there to get his wee dig in about how crap Stormont is, we were there for the opening of a Faces Of Family Business exhibition organised by the NI Family Business Forum. Fortunately for us, we were also there to enjoy lunch at the Academy Restaurant (www.academyrestaurant.co.uk).
If you haven’t had the chance to dine there, log on, make a booking and you won’t be disappointed. The Academy is a fully fledged, fully licensed, all singing, all dancing restaurant attached to the Ulster campus in Belfast.
But it’s also the training restaurant for the university’s hospitality trainees, marshalled by the excellent Martin Caldwell (no mean wine tutor, we might add) – from chefs through to front of house staff – and, on the day we were there, a group of them were tackling their duties in a busy restaurant for the very first time. No pressure.
They were brilliant, the food was brilliant and it’s well worth a visit.
Oh, and the Faces Of Family Business exhibition runs until tomorrow (Friday).
They Haven’t Gone Away, You Know
Anyone who watched The Last Of Us on telly, or The Walking Dead before that, will know a thing or two about our old friends, zombies.
Being of The Walking Dead vintage, we know – for instance – that if your wife, husband or another of your loved ones gets bitten, they’re a goner. It’s only a matter of time before they’ve become distinctly unattractive, slobber a lot, can’t walk properly and try to bite you too. And all you’ve got to do is grab the nearest sword, golf club or garden spade and plunge it into their head. Simples……
Anyway, on that cheerful note, news reaches us that scientists have discovered a novel fungus that turns its hosts into a form of zombie.
Thankfully, to date, it’s only been found in spiders located in several cave systems across the island of Ireland, including the Whitefathers Caves on the Fermanagh/Cavan border. The fungus is called Gibellula Attenboroughii because, you’ve guessed it, it’s named after Sir David Attenborough.
What an honour it must be to have zombie-creating fungus named after you.
Oh, and apparently it changes the spider’s behaviour, making it leave its concealed lair or web, venture out into the open and then, inevitably, die. A sad story, isn’t it?
But what happens if it evolves, like these things do in the movies? Fermanagh, after all, isn’t that far away. We’ll be keeping an eye out for any fungus growing on us over the coming weeks and months. One can’t be too careful.
News From The Courts
Back to our local courts, always a rich source of variety and entertainment, and a couple of gems from the past week.
First up, there’s the lady who made more than 50 different 999 calls asking for lifts or for someone to take a look at her heating. She even pretended that she’d been stabbed in a particularly urgent effort to sort out her heating issues.
If she’s a bit of a persistent offender, so is the chap from County Down who appeared in front of the magistrate for the 39th time charged with driving without any insurance. Oh, and he didn’t have a licence either.
He’s due back in court next month for sentencing for offence number 39 and the helpful judge told him that he should ‘bring a bag’ with him. Wonder what he’ll need that for? Presumably not to carry his insurance documents.
Anyway, it’s a bit chilly in here. We’re off to call the fire brigade.
richard@businesseye.co.uk