Over the summer and the autumn I’ve been quietly working away talking to a small number of cross party backbenchers about the work they do in the Assembly as part of a new project we call the Slugger Cato Project. Cato the Younger was famous not for seeking power, but for relentlessly challenging it. He was a symbol of integrity, independence, and defiant courage—a citizen who demanded the highest standards from his government. Now it seems the wider media is ... Read more...
Over the summer and the autumn I’ve been quietly working away talking to a small number of cross party backbenchers about the work they do in the Assembly as part of a new project we call the Slugger Cato Project.
Cato the Younger was famous not for seeking power, but for relentlessly challenging it. He was a symbol of integrity, independence, and defiant courage—a citizen who demanded the highest standards from his government.
Now it seems the wider media is more interested in messianic stories of collapse and failure, without taking a closer to look at our young institutions to see how or even whether there are some ways in which they might already be working if only in parts.
So we’re moving the camera away from the controversialist rhetoric of party politics to look at those individuals in all parties and none who persist in asking awkward questions of power even when the minister in charge is in their own party.
We hope, as we go along, to pick insights up into how major projects (like the A5) might fail not simple because of the politician in charge but because perhaps of failures within departmental civil servants who are used to the rigours of what takes to deliver.
So we hope our interviewee will bring detailed knowledge to bear on the process of government, not for its own sake, but to vital lessons on how to fix a barely used scrutiny system and shine a light on those happy few who are unafraid to make good trouble.
Finally, dear readers, we hope you will bring your own positive insights and stories, either in the comment zone, or if you prefer by emailing me directly at editor at sluggerotoole dot com. If you know anyone who we should talk to drop us a line.
So our first backbencher is the DUP’s North Antrim MLA Paul Frew…
Remember the commenting rule that you must play the ball (ie, talk about what is said) rather than the man (who is doing the talking). I’m asking the moderator group to be ultra stringent on these threads to encourage the sharing of actionable insights.
