What’s this all about?

Staff at Bobballs recognise SDLP Councillor Matthew McDermott from his stand on the Ruane spiel about Bobby Sands in a school.

Now McDermott is speaking out against Sinn Fein re. a visit by Ogra Sinn Fein to the site of the Narrow Water bombing. His statement is covered pretty well in the News Letter and is posted up on the SDLP site.

We know the SDLP Euro candidate is targeting the UUP seat. We also know that Matthew McDermott is an advisor to the SDLP Euro candidate. So are his statements all part of a big plan to make the SDLP/Alban look good for easy transfers? Are the SDLP using McDermott to gently tac towards unionist/centrist voters?

While Staff at Bobballs rarely accept at face value anything that smacks of courage from a politician during an election year, we can’t but be impressed by McDermott’s assuredness and willingness to speak his mind irrespective of the discomfort it may cause.

No doubt that McDermott is making no real departure from SDLP policy. He's not saying anything essentially new, but he's picks his moments better than most. The end result is that he’s won himself a great channel into the unionist media... erm... but he’s not making any reference to Alban.

Why not? What’s this all about?