{"id":980,"date":"2020-09-22T13:03:23","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T12:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thedissenter.co.uk\/?p=980"},"modified":"2020-09-22T13:03:23","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T12:03:23","slug":"ambiguity-breeds-uncertainty-and-muddle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www1.thedissenter.co.uk\/?p=980","title":{"rendered":"Ambiguity breeds uncertainty, and muddle."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Episode 16<\/strong> looks at the destructive effect of ambiguity on effective messaging around two major aspects of policy &#8211; Brexit and Covid19. <em>Also available on principle podcast services for subscription\/download &#8211; quick links at end of post.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none;\" title=\"Ambiguously certain is not certainty at all.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podbean.com\/media\/player\/gbktb-eca28e?from=pb6admin&amp;download=1&amp;version=1&amp;auto=0&amp;share=1&amp;download=1&amp;rtl=0&amp;fonts=Helvetica&amp;skin=11&amp;pfauth=&amp;btn-skin=104\" width=\"100%\" height=\"122\" scrolling=\"no\" data-name=\"pb-iframe-player\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><!--more-->The UK Government has got itself into a muddle over its response to the outworking of the Northern Ireland Protocol in respect of the internal market of the UK. Maybe it is obvious the deep contradiction between the EU Single Market demanding some aspect of &#8216;customs&#8217; to function and the \u00a0UK believing the Protocol to the Withdrawal Agreement means that Northern Ireland remains within the UK Customs territory and there should be no barriers to trade within the UK or UK Free Trade partners as deals (such as Japan) come on line.<\/p>\n<p>That ambiguity was well explained in a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/thecritic.co.uk\/creative-ambiguity-in-a-hall-of-mirrors\/?fbclid=IwAR2OXITEqSyMi91p_X8WvvHGZvUpSRPZDGgLn6EfZaqxnJj3INLnT6pDaMg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Critic article<\/a> which wondered whether the wording of the Protocol was by accident or design; the podcast explores some more. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thearticle.com\/did-johnson-gamble-on-the-potential-breakup-of-the-uk-for-political-ends\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Owen certainly has had plenty to say recently<\/a> on the muddle that the Government has managed to create for itself, talking about how the proposed Internal Market Bill is a necessary step to minimising impact on Northern Ireland business by &#8216;clarifying&#8217; and noting the hysteria around the Bill has little to with practicalities:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-style: italic; font-size: 1rem;\">There is one thing for sure \u2014 the people who are defending the Withdrawal Agreement most adamantly, as opposed to those worried purely by the possibility that the UK may knowingly break international law, are not interested in protecting the Belfast Agreement. They are concerned only with maximising the protocol\u2019s potential to damage Northern Ireland\u2019s place in the UK. And, for them, that\u2019s always what an Irish Sea border has been about.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>We pick up on another aspect of the reaction to the Internal Market Bill that <a href=\"https:\/\/capx.co\/the-government-should-challenge-irish-americas-lies-about-the-good-friday-agreement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Owen also challenges<\/a>; that of &#8220;Irish America&#8221;. Noting that the loudest voices are of a generation that still thinks &#8216;Irish America&#8221; is a meaningful voting constituency outside Congress, the bigger question is why the British Government has been so poor at explaining itself &#8211; Pelosi&#8217;s Office gives impression that the only voices it ever hears are those of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Sinn Fein.<\/p>\n<p>Efforts, however, would be of little value in the USA if the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedissenter.co.uk\/973\/was-government-messaging-wrong-or-just-rubbish\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">UK Government remains so hapless at home<\/a>\u00a0as discussed in the previous post on this site. Brandon Lewis&#8217;s answers on matters relating to the IMB in the House of Commons seems only to have generated more questions, and a hostage to fortune in respect of future policy in any field.<\/p>\n<p>That same ambiguity, uncertainty and discontinuity seems to be prevalent across all aspects of Government communications at present &#8211; though admittedly there is little but Brexit and Covid19 breaking into the news cycles. Northern Ireland has its own particular challenges on messaging.<\/p>\n<p>The podcast was recorded at the end of last week, and before the scenes of pitch invasions<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Disgraceful, dangerous scenes as fans from Dungannon Clarkes and Trillick invade the pitch after a game yesterday <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hgW2A3AfJb\">pic.twitter.com\/hgW2A3AfJb<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Stephen Nolan (@StephenNolan) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/StephenNolan\/status\/1307956745483030529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 21, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>and street parties arising from a Gaelic Athletic match over the weekend<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Absolute scenes <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Dungannon?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Dungannon<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AvUbEK2u2n\">pic.twitter.com\/AvUbEK2u2n<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Baz Mac (@berba_10) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/berba_10\/status\/1307816129021308930?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 20, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Though we did record following a week of reports from the Holylands area of Belfast<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Holylands: Students continue to ignore COVID-19 restrictions &#8211; PSNI issue 55 COVID-19 and eight prohibition notices overnight. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/KgSS8I2sMA\">https:\/\/t.co\/KgSS8I2sMA<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Belfast News Letter (@News_Letter) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/News_Letter\/status\/1308021074664226818?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 21, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>where the lack of leadership and <em>&#8216;never apologise&#8217;<\/em> attitude of Sinn Fein makes the attitudes of nationalist youth unsurprising &#8211; rules are something others are expected to follow&#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Northern Ireland\u2019s Deputy First Minister Michelle O\u2019Neill is to be interviewed by police over alleged breaches of coronavirus regulations. Ms O\u2019Neill was among crowds who attended the funeral of Bobby Storey in west Belfast in June despite restrictions on public gatherings. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IU9geEl49K\">pic.twitter.com\/IU9geEl49K<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Q Radio News (@qnewsdesk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/qnewsdesk\/status\/1307279349297614849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 19, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Clear messaging is needed in actions and not just words. But ambiguity avoiding honest practical steps based on a realistic and clear assessment of the situation seems to be absent from just about all Governments&#8217; communication. A reset is needed, sooner rather than later. Muddled messaging is only the outworking of muddle thinking.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>PODCAST AVAILABLE ON:\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/politicalod.podbean.com\/e\/ambiguously-certain-is-not-certainty-at-all\/\">Podbean.<\/a><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/2NpTRsbGxlPLf8gbTel4eI?si=g3qb1VqGTRK_4QiUh4qYoA\">Spotify.<\/a><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/gb\/podcast\/politicalod\/id1481056929\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ITunes<\/a><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/pca.st\/episode\/f08daf73-70ec-4bad-8a9b-815b8be430a8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pocket Casts.<\/a><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Now on on <a href=\"http:\/\/tun.in\/pj06H\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">TuneIn,<\/a>\u00a0which means you can listen on your Alexa or Google smart speaker.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Episode 16 looks at the destructive effect of ambiguity on effective messaging around two major aspects of policy &#8211; Brexit and Covid19. Also available on principle podcast services for subscription\/download &#8211; quick links at end of post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,6,11],"tags":[40,63],"class_list":["post-980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brexit","category-dissenting","category-general","category-media","tag-brexit","tag-covid-19"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www1.thedissenter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www1.thedissenter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www1.thedissenter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www1.thedissenter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www1.thedissenter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www1.thedissenter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www1.thedissenter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www1.thedissenter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www1.thedissenter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}