Politicians need to decide if Northern Ireland is desperately poor or so rich it requires no help
What passes for debate on a united Ireland is endlessly derailed by absurd claims from activists, academics and politicians. At least Fianna Fáil has now begun putting flesh on the bones of its plans
Gavin Robinson and the DUP need to reach out with style as well as substance
The DUP gives the impression of modernising at minimum speed, while being constantly tempted by conservative culture-war positions
It is dangerous to compare the slave trade and British rule in Ireland
Robert Jenrick’s suggestion that former colonies ‘owe a debt of gratitude’ to the British empire is one of the more robust responses to reparations debate
Stormont’s only ideology is to be a shadow of Britain
An almost total dearth of ideology, beyond unionism or nationalism, may be the deepest North-South political divide
Britain’s anti-obesity jab plan is the stuff of sci-fi
Drastic action is considered essential, but this is part of a wider strategy that represents a looming calamity for Stormont
Michael McMonagle scandal: Sinn Féin needs to get to grips with its troubled relationship with money
Not every organisation passes its employees around like a pilfered stapler until nobody is quite sure what is going on
How Northern Ireland’s supermarket aisles have become another Brexit battleground
Brexit and the sea border have dragged all aspects of trade with Northern Ireland into the zero-sum game of traditional politics
Why Dublin, London and Stormont are still bankrolling loyalists
Throughout the negotiations of the 1990s, the British government and many others encouraged loyalism to develop a political project mirroring that of Sinn Féin. This briefly appeared realistic
Stop blaming unionists for the Casement Park debacle
What remains of the Euros plan is rancour and paranoia, a sorry legacy for what was meant to be an inspiring cross-community project
In their cosy new embrace, Starmer and Harris may be forgetting the Belfast Agreement
Concerns are being raised by experts that north-south and east-west strands face being “hollowed out” by careless duplication
If you want to know whether Sinn Féin’s housing policy will work, look at what it achieved in the North
There’s one unifying factor to the party’s entirely different strategies in the North and South: both approaches ultimately aim to secure power to advance a united Ireland
UUP needs to become the Progressive Democrats to the DUP’s Fianna Fáil
The UUP could become unionism’s champion of centre-right or centrist good government, challenging the populism and incompetence of the DUP and Sinn Féin
Something weird is happening to the North’s economy, and for once Brexit is not responsible
The public sector is crumbling as essential reforms fall prey to spineless politics. Yet the private sector is booming
No major party has been as cynical on immigration as Fine Gael
The temptation for Sinn Féin will be to portray opposition to immigration as a unionist prejudice, while urging everyone else, North and South, to follow its example and do better
Why the three main unionist parties are making a show of themselves over a GAA flag
A classic failure of unionism is fear of being called a Lundy, an insult derived from the siege of Derry, meaning a traitor or appeaser. The entire unionist political system immediately Lundied itself over the GAA flag