Eastleigh by-election and Vincent Hanna
The by-election for Chris Hulm e's seat Eastleigh looks like being one that could benefit from that great BBC correspondent Vincent Hanna (RIP) as Martin Kettle mentions in the Guardian today. For those who do not know the great man he was Newsnight's by-election specialist in the 1980's-- few escaped from his tough questioning. He was one of those larger than life characters. Vincent was a Northern Ireland Catholic born in Belfast and married to the daughter of Gerry Fitt the founder and first leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party in Northern Ireland . He started his journalist career reporting on the civil rights movemen t in Northern Ireland. It is perhaps less well known now that many catholic's did not have the vote in Northern Ireland until the 1970s. The right to vote was linked to being a registered householder. To get a job or public housing in those days you had to answer on an application form what religion you were...