The answer to policy free politics

In the last post we discussed Northern Ireland's world of policy-free politics, which kind of very much makes the "NI21, where are your policies?" debate a misnomer, non-starter, outlier and non-terrestrial. But there's a problem with living in a world of policy-free politics. As Mick Fealty said: "if there's no policies there's no politics."

The solution? According to Mick Fealty:

"The ‘former moderate’ parties can tag along for the ride, or pull back try to develop their own alternative, policy based approach and try to build some form of politics that is a functional response to the material interests of real people."

For Mick, it's about "acting 'through' the middle". He said:

"Building the strength of those who currently occupy the middle actually misses the point. What’s required is the emergence substantive political actors who are committed not to being in the middle, but who are capable of acting decisively through the middle.

In short we need inveterate deal makers who can do deals that stick and who are obsessed with more than covering up for the failures and misadventures of the past, but are instead committed to enlarging the shadow of the future."

The UUP and SDLP have given up on becoming the radical, credible alternative to the DUP/SF sectarian carve-up. This is where NI21 comes in: a party that will take a policy based approach and that will make a functional response to the material interests of real people. For example: jobs, the economy, education, healthcare and so on.