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The Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister have delivered a televised speech following Boris Johnson.
There was nothing new announced since yesterday, it was a reaffirmation of the message that they have been giving for the last 24 hours. What was new was how the form of communication. Looking back through the logs (Slugger readers will correct me if I’m wrong) this is the first time in nearly 52 years this has happened. A leader (s) of a decentralized administration here giving a direct speech to the public on the Northern Ireland BBC. The latest was then-Prime Minister Terence O’Neill, who spoke about responding to the growing civil rights movement and protests.
They might not have wanted it, but Michelle and Arlene face elections and the consequences are the same as O’Neill faced in December 1968. Forces you don’t fully control and making a bet that you can appeal to the best nature of the public to follow you. We are a society tired of COVID, but so are our politicians. Many of whom would be delighted to revert to voter inquiries and for the Executive the exciting pieces of work around investment and economic development. Now they face a recession, mounting pressure from a weary public and lobbyists calling for consideration for the livelihoods of their members.
It’s a nice balancing act. When the two leaders come together, they do so effectively. This relationship will be very important to all of us. You may feel anxious after a statement or feel calm. Interestingly, despite feeling fed up and frustrated by some aspects of this, I feel like this will end at some point and we’ll get through it. It’s just a question of when, not if.
None of this is easy. I do not envy any political leader who makes difficult decisions like this, particularly when you do not control all the factors that involve this virus. In Talkback today, William Crawley spoke about how he had just reset his expectations for this year and came to terms with what we can do in the current circumstances. We have all done this in many ways and one thing I keep in mind is that the ship that I am sitting on is much larger than many in our society. There are many concerned about their jobs, businesses, loved ones, and futures. It’s important to take care of yourself during this pandemic, and going back to today’s Talkback, there is an excellent segment on that very topic on how you can take care of yourself. (49 minutes in).
Look at the direction, follow the instructions, do your best and take care of yourself. This is going to end one day
David McCann has a Ph.D. in North-South Relations from the University of Ulster. You can follow him on twitter @dmcbfs
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