09012024 - Flipbook - Page 15
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TUESDAY JANUARY 9 2024
On This Day
January 9 1974
Unionists
in search
for new
leader
W
HILE the Northern Ireland Executive sat down to its rst business
session
yesterday,
speculation
mounted over the leadership cri-
sis facing the unionists who rejected the Council of Ireland plan at their council meeting last
week.
The
steadfast
attitude
adopted
by
Mr
Faulkner’s supporters has dashed any hopes of
defection to the anti-Council of Ireland camp,
and it is extremely unlikely that the Unionist
Party will be able to nd a new leader as effective as Mr Faulkner.
None of the four men tipped to succeed Mr
Faulkner is likely to get the job. The four are Assemblymen Mr Harry West and Mr John Taylor,
A scene from the drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office with Amit Shah as Jas, Krupa Pattani as Sam, Ifan Huw Dafydd as Noel, Julie Hesmondhalgh as Suzanne,
Toby Jones as Alan Bates, Monica Dolan as Jo, Will Mellor as Lee and Shaun Dooley as Rudkin
party chairman Sir George Clark and Orange
Story of Horizon PO scandal
makes for compelling viewing
ed.
Order Grand Master Rev Martin Smyth.
Mr Taylor has said he is just not interest-
“
MARY KELLY
W
headlines
HEN you’ve spent a lifetime in the
news industry, it is sobering when
you realise that the most impor-
It is sobering when you
realise that the most
important stories, no matter
how many headlines they
generate, only truly resonate
with people when they are
turned into television drama
tant stories, no matter how many
they
generate,
only
truly
tted
bedrooms
and
kitchens.
David
who
has
been
classed
as a self-employed independent contractor by
an Assemblyman. And Mr West has urged the
appointment of a leader from outside the Assembly. It is doubtful whether Mr Smyth would
seek nomination since he recently suffered a
heart attack.
The party’s ofcers will meet on Friday and
a meeting of the Standing Committee is expected to be held next week for the appointment
ty leader in the country, and Mr Lawrence Orr,
leader of the Unionist MPs at Westminster.
The Ulster Unionist Party was thrown into
benets like holiday pay, sick pay and the right
dale Agreement and subsequent resignation of
to a minimum basic wage.
Brian Faulkner as party leader.
The 58-year-old has worked for the company for 30 years and says they prevent him from
working for competitors and control the dates,
times and fees for his work, yet still claim he’s
self-employed.
RUC reply to criticism
of Niedermayer probe
the minimum wage and holiday pay after the
A
Supreme
investigation was not being carried out with
who was CEO at the time, Paula Vennells, was
being classed as freelances.
about the scandal.
of
turmoil following its rejection of the Sunning-
sion drama.
Post Ofce”. This tells the true story of the Ho-
out
as a worker, and therefore entitled to employee
trades who lose out on employee benets by
publicity
be
Sharps, believes he should instead be dened
tions for what happened. Indeed the woman
despite
would
leadership between an Assembly leader, a parLockwood,
with people when they are turned into televi-
CBE
he
day that the committee may decide to split the
provides
If he wins his case, he’ll be scoring a victo-
the
said
of a new leader. It was being suggested yester-
that
ry for the many other tters, joiners and other
awarded
has
company
No-one from the Post Ofce faced any sanc-
actually
George
ment tribunal case taken against a well known
resonate
So it was with the latest – “Mr Bates vs The
Sir
touch with events as he is neither an MP nor
In 2021, Uber was forced to pay its drivers
actively
pursued,
night, replying to criticism from Bonn that the
an employment tribunal ruling that its drivers
mistresses for alleged theft, fraud and false ac-
200 government contracts worth some £6.5 bil-
should be classed as workers.
counting, despite knowing there were faults in
lion, including one for providing IT services to
Tories would have us all believe that every-
the
large
their computer system which were recording
schools in Northern Ireland and the infrastruc-
one wants “exibility”. But then their previous
der
investigation
shortfalls in employees’ accounts.
ture used by the HMRC.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman claimed be-
appointed a full-time team to investigate the
ing forced to live in tents on the street was a
disappearance of Mr Niedermayer,” the police
“lifestyle choice”.
spokesman said.
inquiry
and
calls
for
sparked
the
Post
a
police
Ofce
to
be
stripped of its prosecutorial role.
No-one will see justice unless organisations
are made fully accountable. That includes the
against
being
system and defended its operation, have won
now
appeal
were
an RUC spokesman said in Belfast last
more than 700 innocent postmasters and post-
has
its
mayer
Oh and Fujitsu, who made the Horizon IT
drama
dismissed
of Grundig chief Mr Thomas Nieder-
rizon IT scandal, when the Post Ofce pursued
The
Court
LL lines of inquiry into the abduction
the necessary intensity.
“Despite the present shortage of staff and
victims of the Grenfell re.
But it was really down to the dogged deter-
Arconic,
the
number
of
by
murders
the
at
RUC,
present
we
have
unstill
Since 1972, he said, there had been 211 as-
multi-billion
dollar
corpora-
sassinations alone for investigation. This gure
mination of one postmaster, Alan Bates, who
tion that made the combustible cladding that
DR Ian Paisley gripped a loud speaker during
did not include security force murders and did
spent
to
helped turn the high-rise block into an inferno,
an address to a massed gathering of support-
not take account of other serious crimes such
uncover what led to the prosecutions, jailing
killing 72 people, has recently refused to attend
ers in the Shankill Road area of Belfast.
as
and, in a few cases, suicides of blameless em-
an event for survivors and the bereaved.
two
decades
working
and
lobbying
ployees.
murder,
Mr Niedermayer (44), the Grundig general
in an attempt to bring down the power-sharing
manager at the rm’s Dunmurry factory, is also
of the most widespread miscarriages of justice
was arranged as part of the settlement of a civ-
executive brought about by the Sunningdale
the West German honorary consul in Northern
in British legal history.
il claim brought by hundreds of people caught
Agreement.
Ireland. He was last seen being bundled into a
a
High
Court
case
in
which some wrongful convictions were overturned.
But
the
lengthy,
drawn-out
“no
to
“everything” in the north “stops at midnight”
won
making
conspiracy
comment”
they
is
murder,
about its refusal to attend the meeting, which
2019,
company
attempted
explosions and rearms offences.
Little wonder it has been described as one
In
The
The Ulster Workers’ Council declared that
up in the disaster in June 2017. Maybe a TV drama will come along soon to shame them too.
prosecu-
Did you see the woman in archive footage
about the UWC strike that killed off the rst
power-sharing government in 1974?
tions and legal wrangling meant that dozens
Asked about potential food shortages, she
died without ever getting compensation and
IF
many are still waiting for their convictions to
“gig economy” works against the interests of
anyone
had
any
doubt
that
the
so-called
be lifted.
employees, they should consider an employ-
replied proudly: “We’ll eat grass if necessary.”
car by two men on the night of December 27
outside his home at Glengoland Gardens.
Thomas Niedermayer’s disappearance remained unsolved until his body was discovered in a shallow grave six years later.
Plus ca change. It’s pretty much still the
DUP stance.
compiled by Dr Cormac Moore