Ireland

Saturday February 8, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday February 8, 2020

As Trudeau campaigns in Africa for UN Security Council seat, Norwegian PM is steps behind

Nearly everywhere Justin Trudeau goes in Addis Ababa, it seems Norway’s prime minister isn’t far behind.

September 21, 2016

On Saturday, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg arrived to an African Union meeting on gender equality just minutes after Trudeau did. Then, she followed in Trudeau’s footsteps, strolling through Unity Park with the Ethiopian prime minister. And as Trudeau was leaving Jubilee Palace from his meeting with the Ethiopian president, Solberg’s staffers were in the building preparing for her imminent arrival.

It’s no coincidence. The two leaders are both in Africa to win support from world leaders for a UN Security Council seat they both want to win. And Norway’s prime minister is suggesting that when it comes to that campaign, it may be Canada who is trailing behind.

“I think one of the differences, of course, is we have been on the steady same path for a very long time, so [African leaders] know us,” Solberg told Canadian reporters.

Take, for example, the African Union meeting. Trudeau made history on this trip by being the first Canadian prime minister to attend an African Union session. But Solberg was also here last year.

January 13, 2018

The African Union is a rich source of potential votes for any country looking to win a Security Council seat. It has 54 voting members at the United Nations, roughly a quarter of the total votes.

Speaking to Canadian reporters, the Norwegian leader said she didn’t want to emphasize competition between the two countries, noting they take the same approach to many issues. But she suggested Norway was perhaps more deeply engaged.

“Canada is a bigger economy, a larger country, of course, but on the other hand we are using more in development aid. We have used more support for the international policies as part of our GDP.”

In 2018, Norway spent nearly one per cent of its gross national income on international assistance. For Canada, the figure was 0.28 per cent, according to OECD figures.

October 13, 2010

Norway, Ireland and Canada are all gunning for one of the two limited-term UN Security Council seats that open up next year.

Ireland too, has been plotting a course of engagement with Africa for years. It launched its “Africa Strategy” in 2011.

While all countries see the seat as something of a prize that would allow their countries to play an influential role in world affairs, Solberg said the seat is also something of a burden.

“It’s an obligation that you have as supporters of multi-lateralism, as a supporter of rule of law. “

“You have to take the burden of sitting on the Security Council, because it’s also a burden. You have to take a stand on some policy decisions that as a non-member you don’t have to do.” (CBC) 

 

Friday November 16, 2018

November 16, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday November 16, 2018

The Brutal Reality Of Brexit

June 25, 2016

Theresa May’s chickens are coming home to roost. The deal she agreed with Brussels is unravelling fast, and her premiership along with it. So far, seven of her ministers have resigned. Letters calling for her replacement are pouring in to the powerful chairman of the Conservative Party’s 1922 Committee: once he receives 48 letters, there could be a vote of confidence in her leadership, and perhaps a leadership challenge. Other Tories are calling for a second referendum. Meanwhile, the Labour party is slavering at the possibility of an early General Election. The political crisis that has been simmering since 2016 has erupted with a vengeance.

The political fallout from Mrs. May’s latest attempt to square the Brexit circle is understandable. Her Brexit deal is horrible. It would lock the UK into a “frozen Brexit”, neither in the EU nor completely out of it.  The U.K. would be forced to accept EU decisions over which it would have no say, and continuing to contribute to the EU budget despite no longer being a member. It would also be unable to enact its own trade deals with the rest of the world until the freeze ended. And it would be unable to end the freeze unilaterally.

June 22, 2016

The idea is that this “frozen Brexit” would initially be only for a transitional period ending in December 2020, when it would be superseded by a free trade agreement. But the proposal allows this date to be extended, if necessary for decades, if no free trade agreement is negotiated. And if the transition ends without a free trade agreement, then the entire U.K. would remain in a customs union with the EU indefinitely, but Northern Ireland would have a closer relationship with the EU than the rest of the U.K.

For Brexiters and Remainers alike, this is the worst of all possible solutions. But horrible though it is, this deal satisfies the conditions set by Mrs. May in her Lancaster House speech. It also satisfies the EU’s conditions. No other proposal achieves this. It is, therefore, the best deal available. The U.K. Government has struck a deal that allows Britain to have its cake and eat it – but the cake tastes so disgusting that no-one wants to eat it. (Source: Forbes) 

 

Wednesday November 14, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday November 14, 2018

UFO reported streaking across Irish skies on Friday morning

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) is investigating an unidentified flying object (UFO) which streaked across the sky on Friday morning and disappeared.

December 17, 2016

Several commercial aircraft reported seeing at least one bright light with one pilot stating that the UFO was going at an “astronomical” speed of at least Mach 2 (2,500 km/h), which is twice as fast as a commercial jetliner.

If there are little green men and women visiting Earth for the first time, they have proved to be very elusive.

The British Airways 787, call sign Speedbird 94, radioed Shannon Air Traffic Control at 6.47am asking if there were any military exercises off the west coast of Ireland.

A pilot recounted: “It was moving so fast. It appeared on our left hand side and rapidly veered to the north. We saw a bright light and it then just disappeared at a very high speed.

“We were just wondering. We didn’t think it was likely political. We were just wondering what it might be”, she added.

May 14, 2004

A Shannon air traffic controller responded: “There’s nothing showing on either primary or secondary (radar)”.

A pilot from a Virgin Airlines plane, callsign Virgin76, came on to air traffic control and suggested it might be a “meteor or another object making some kind of re-entry. There appeared to be multiple objects following the same sort of trajectory. They were very bright from where we were.”

The pilot also confirmed that he he had seen “two bright lights that seemed to bank over to the right and climb away at speed at least from our perspective.”

A third pilot responded: “Glad it wasn’t just me”.

An IAA spokesman said the authority is investigating the incident and will file a report. “This report will be investigated under the normal confidential occurrance investigation process.” The spokesman added that it was unlikely to be aliens from another planet. (Continued: Irish Times)

 

 

Thursday March 30, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday March 30, 2017

Scotland to press on with referendum

Nicola Sturgeon has pledged to press on with a fresh independence referendum after dismissing Theresa May’s promise of substantial new powers for Scotland Brexit.

June 25, 2016

The first minister said May’s decision to trigger article 50 on Wednesday, beginning the UK’s divorce from the EU, was one of the most destructive acts by a British leader in modern history, threatening hundreds of thousands of jobs across the UK.

Writing for the Guardian, Sturgeon said the decision was dispiriting, economically foolhardy and constitutionally reckless, threatening stability in Northern Ireland. It also undermined European efforts to combat climate change and collective security, she said.

“Brexit – especially the hard Brexit shaped by May’s inability to shake off the agenda of the Ukip-tinged right wing of her own party – threatens to be an act of self-harm on a scale barely understood,” she said.

She accused May of paying only superficial attention to the Scottish government’s demands for a special deal on the single market, opening up further conflicts with the UK government over the benefits Scotland could gain from Brexit.

“The result is that we must now ensure that people in Scotland are given a choice between the hard Brexit deal now being negotiated, and independence,” she said.

Just as the prime minister told MPs at Westminster she had formally triggered article 50, Sturgeon had received a letter from David Davis, the UK Brexit secretary, insisting his government was engaging seriously with Sturgeon’s proposals.

Neither government would release Davis’s letter but it is understood that he told Sturgeon he was disappointed that she had launched her claim for an independence referendum before she saw the full extent of the new powers on offer once EU laws and regulations were repatriated. (Source: The Guardian) 

 

Friday September 19, 2014

Friday September 19, 2014By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday September 19, 2014

European Integration Emboldens Europe’s Separatists

Scotland’s referendum has galvanized national movements across Europe. The irony is that this has been made possible in part by the European Union, for decades the driver of economic and political integration across a once war-torn continent.

In the past week, Edinburgh has been like a magnet for politicians across Europe who regard their regions as nations. Representatives from Wales, the Basque Country, Flanders, Catalonia, Galicia, Corsica, Sardinia and Friesland visited the Scottish capital.

They have been emboldened in part by the safety net that the EU is perceived to offer to small countries. The institution that was created to make national borders irrelevant may perversely play a role in creating new ones.

Even as voters in many European countries register growing dissatisfaction with the EU, membership offers smaller nationalities the hope of separation with a minimum of disruption.

Today, “separatism has a spring in its step,” says Charles Grant, director of the London-based Centre for European Reform.

Europe’s borders have already fractured in the last 20 years. With the exception of Czechoslovakia, which split in 1993, these changes have been born out of the violent breakup of the former Yugoslavia.

What is seducing nationalists these days is what Michael Desch, professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame, calls the prospect of Velvet Divorce: a gentle segue into an independent state while preserving membership of institutions like the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and retaining the same currency.

But governments across the continent have viewed developments in the U.K. with growing alarm, as support for Scottish independence appeared to strengthen. Europe’s other capitals, surprised that London has appeared to sleepwalk into a potential constitutional crisis, are unlikely to succumb meekly to the phenomenon.

Their reaction, should Scotland become independent, will be instructive. Scottish Nationalists have portrayed Scottish membership of the EU as a foregone conclusion, suggesting it would be waved into the bloc with little fuss. (Source: Wall Street Journal)

LETTERS to the EDITOR

In my lifelong reading of The Spectator, I’ve never been shocked by a cartoon until now. The editorial cartoon of Friday, Sept. 19 was funny to a point. That point was the last cell of the multi-celled cartoon. The real life events upon which it was based are horrible. The Spectator doesn’t need to embed these events, even more, into the Zeitgeist by depicting them as the punch line of a cartoon. It was insensitive, tasteless and thoughtless. You went too far. — B. Kish, Hamilton

Insensitive cartoon disappointing – September 22, 2014: Sorry, Graeme MacKay. I’m really disappointed but that was as insensitive as anything you’ve ever done. I only hope and pray that no family members of these victims ever lay eyes on it. — Virginia Coombs, Stoney Creek

Untimely and tasteless trash – September 23, 2014: I was beginning to think cartoonist Graeme MacKay’s work was showing some maturity. After a brief break, some of his concepts were starting to display some intelligence. However, we seem to be back to stuff that portrays the lack of sensitivity and taste that have been his mark in the past. The cartoon Scotland’s Influence Endures is pathetic and the portrayal of an ISIS executioner with a knife at the throat of a prisoner, especially now when people are totally sickened by what has happened to these poor victims, is obscene. It is hard to believe that The Spectator would publish such untimely and tasteless trash. — Roy Coombs, Simcoe

Scottish cartoon went too far with ISIS – September 24, 2014: I am totally disgusted by the editorial cartoon that appeared in The Spectator on Sept. 19. I cannot stomach anything that would include Scotland and ISIS in the same reference. Is this supposed to be funny or witty? What part of a drawing showing someone being beheaded is in keeping with decency? In this case, cartoonist Graeme MacKay has offended many. It is indefensible that your paper can continue to publish his work. — David McIntyre, Hamilton

SOCIAL MEDIA

Post by The Hamilton Spectator.

 

Commentary by Graeme MacKay

Last week the above cartoon in advance of the day the world was to find out the results of the referendum on Scottish independence. Of course, no one knew how the final numbers would turn out, but the pollsters said it was to be close. The choice for me therefore was to draw something that would work with either a yes or no victory. There was an overwhelmingly negative reaction to the cartoon (see above), yet with all the thumbs down communicated to me through social media, I’m still not clear why this cartoon is so repulsive to so many… continued