Having it both ways
According to the Assembly Official Report in a tight 47-45 vote on the future of the transfer test yesterday, the PUP's Dawn Purvis wasn't counted because she voted in both lobbies. And it wasn't even a multiple choice question.
P.S. It has since been brought to my attention that under the current rules of the Assembly, you cannot abstain from a vote, Dawn wanted to prove she was present and to abstain, so the only way to do that was to go through both lobbies. Assembly sources are telling me the abstention issue is something they are looking at.
I'm 
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Mark
MS PURVIS DOESN'T KNOW WHETHER SHE'S COMIN' OR GOIN'
Who cares what's she's doing; she's an irrelevance, much like the UVF criminals with whom she associates.
Susie
Carryduff
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Mark,
Nothing surprises me with these MLA's. £44,000 to vote twice on the one subject? Crazy
Stormontspy
PS Are you not going to tell us what you were doing today? How did you end up chairing a group looking at the Civil Service Reform? In an answer last week at Question Time Nigel Dodds said he was pleased about the reform especially HR Connect. Pity it has already cost the taxpayer well over £500 million. How can us the general public be asked to be budgeting our money when half a billion has been wasted on a failed computer system?
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Voting in both lobbies has been a standard way of cancelling your vote if you vote in the wrong lobby in the House of Commons for years. More recently some have used it as a way of deliberately abstaining, such as David Taylor: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4381354.stm
Look at it this way: at least she was there to vote at all.
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Does anyone else thing that Stormontspy is perhaps going off tangent just a little?
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Perhaps you mean going off on a tangent, which is derived (probably) from the mathematical term for a straight line that touches a curved line at one point only.
Therefore the further you go along the tangent, the greater the distance between you and the curve, which is metaphorically the original discussion.
It has nothing to do with tangerines, which are a small citrus fruit. I have 7 of them in a fruit bowl along with 2 bananas and 3 granny smiths.
The Tangerines is also one of the nicknames of Dundee United football club. Another of their nicknames is The Arabs, because of the amount of sand they used to have to put on the Tannadice pitch to make the surface playable.
The city of Dundee found itself in the news not too long ago following the arrest and subsequent collapse of a court case against some men accused of various crimes carried out in the name of the Red Hand Commando, a paramilitary group with close links to the UVF, the very same UVF that Dawn Purvis would claim to have a decent understanding of.
And that is called going full circle, which is completely different from going off on a tangent.
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RJ
Very impressive
Just a wee question - now that I don't live in Northern Ireland anymore (although I was there at the weekend - it rained - but it was great)
What is the craic with the 11 plus and what will happen next year instead?
There doesn't seem to be any definitive information.
Thanks
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The suggestion that Dawn Purvis was cancelling her vote would indicate that she made a mistake and didn't understand the motion.
If it is claimed that she was abstaining then the evidence from her own words on the Stephen Nolan Show on Tuesday morning would counter and put paid to that argument.
Dawn Purvis of the PUP was clearly adopting and advocating the position of Sinn Fein and their minister in attacking the 11-plus and equality of opportunity. If she had received a better education she may not have allowed herself to be painted into a corner.
Forrest Gump called it right. "Stupid is as stupid does"
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Reluctant expat,
Nobody knows. Something to do with bruschetta, whatever that is.
Even if you were to explore the depths of Catriona Ruane's mind, you would not find answers to your questions.
It hasn't been sorted out, and the only people who have the authority to sort it out aren't speaking to each other.
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RJ
INSIDE CATRIONA'S MIND.............AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH
Please, please desist from such imagery.
The thought of being inside that woman's mind is an appalling vista.
If you promise never ever again to allude to such a prospect , I promise never again to mention your old stand-by.
That's how serious I am.
An early affirmative response would be appreciated.
Susie
Carryduff
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Is it me or has anyone else noticed the rise and fall in Catriona Ruane's voice?? Talking on TV or the Radio people can just about make out what she is saying. Talking on the Assembly there is no quiet voice. Is this merely a publicity stunt in order to get the limelight? Has someone told her to do this in order to gain attention?
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Aye ok Susie. I would also like to apologise for implying that Catriona Ruane's mind has depths. I meant shallows.
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where is the explanation for Dawn Purvis' behaviour? Demonising Ruane may satisfy some distractors but does nothing to account for the PUP leader's action.
Is Dawn Purvis merely mimicking many other unionists who state one position to the electorate and practice an entirely different position in the privacy of Stormont? Particularly after their meeting with Sinn Fein in private sessions to decide the fudge on education.
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