UR TV CAST

But it fails to point out that the introduction expresses Dicey’s personal views. The idea of a referendum is not mentioned in the main text.
And it only appears in the introduction to the 8th edition when Dicey – like the Referendum Party – thought a referendum might get support for his views on an issue (Home Rule) on which he was unlikely to win otherwise. David Trimble’s acceptance of Senator George Mitchell as chairman of the mainstream talks at Stormont is both a harbinger of what might be accomplished in the talks and itself part of the bargaining “Of course it’s a compromise This is what happens in negotiations,” he said yesterday. In the banality of that observation lies not only wisdom but courage The courage to give in order to get. No one is saying Mr Trimble has changed his spots and turned overnight into a pillar of Ulster pluralism.

But his refusal to play at name-calling with Ian Paisley is almost statesmanlike. Those who feared his leadership of the Ulster Unionists would be an exercise in stiff-necked rejectionism have been proved pessimists in the most welcome way.. Any allocation of a large sum of money is bound to provoke disagreement at the margins. Government spending certainly does, yet those who object still have to pay taxes. If a democratically elected government feels that Hopscotch, Leicester lesbians et al are worth financing, why shouldn’t the charities board be able to do the same? Any players of the Lottery who object to the way that the board distributes the profits has an easy remedy which is not available to taxpayers Stop buying the tickets..

The Lottery, we were told, is different; it was set up to raise funds for “good purposes … nobody had in mind concerns like these.” It just isn’t what the public expected when they bought their lottery tickets, is it?What nonsense. Last October, the party chairman, Brian Mawhinney, played the same trick at the Conservative party conference. Mid-speech, he hailed with derision Camden Council’s support for the “Camden Hopscotch Asian Women’s Group”. But both Mr Mawhinney’s hopscotch and Mr Major’s prostitutes demonstrate how hollow and opportunistic these politicians’ complaints are.