Simon Harris was right. Many southerners know London or Paris better than BelfastFigures suggest a substantial share of the southern population may never have been north of the BorderThu Apr 18 2024 - 06:00
We need to talk about restricting overseas buyers snapping up homesThe Republic’s property market is one of the most open in the world, with effectively no limits on overseas buyersThu Apr 11 2024 - 06:00
Unionist parties are not about to merge – it’s hard enough holding them together individuallyA choice of parties may be essential for unionism’s long-term health; the implosion of the Scottish National Party is a warning about putting all your eggs in one basketWed Apr 03 2024 - 06:00
At some point it will become unmissable that on many issues Sinn Féin is on much same ground as DUPNorthern nationalism regards itself as left-wing, but on most issues its views are centre-rightThu Mar 28 2024 - 06:00
DUP’s best option is to say the Stormont brake has been tested and then move swiftly onDUP has never promised this test would block an EU law. The party has only said it will show Stormont has been given “democratic scrutiny” and “the ability to have a say”.Thu Mar 21 2024 - 06:00
In both the UK and Ireland, even the left is starting to turn rightThe true culture-war divide in the UK is public exasperation with the trivia that obsesses the political classThu Mar 14 2024 - 06:00
What’s Micheál Martin’s long game: a stronger North or a United Ireland?There was no chance of a tub-thumping republican speech at the Alliance Party conferenceThu Mar 07 2024 - 06:00
Upgrading the A5 and A8 is not only about safety - this is constitutional politics in concrete formShared Island initiative avoids gauche claims of literal nation-building but it was impossible to ignore the subtext: a road in a unionist area to balance a road in a nationalist areaThu Feb 22 2024 - 05:45
The best thing Varadkar could do for Stormont is to lay off Sinn FéinWhen Sinn Féin ducks difficult decisions in the north, southern rivals accuse it of populism. Meanwhile, business at Stormont suffersThu Feb 15 2024 - 06:00
Nationalism would have let the DUP baby have its bottle, except the SDLP threw the toys outThe Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is fortunate nationalism is not laughing openly at the party’s deal with the British governmentThu Feb 08 2024 - 05:00
Stormont now has no plausible excuse for failure. That doesn’t mean failure is impossibleWalking out of Stormont now would be a different proposition - any party quitting would be leaving everyone else to govern for six monthsThu Feb 01 2024 - 06:00
Is ‘British-only’ direct rule really direct rule if it needs consent from Ireland?Time has run out for indirect rule. There is no longer any defensible reason to keep Northern Ireland in limbo if devolution is not promptly restoredThu Jan 25 2024 - 06:00
Northern Ireland’s public sector strike may have been doomed before it beganThe trade union movement is avoiding direct criticism of the DUP. And Donaldson can’t be seen to give in on the sea border to avoid embarrassment over public sector payThu Jan 18 2024 - 06:00
Gerry Kelly’s mix of righteousness and victimhood fits the cry-bully culture of Sinn FéinThe Sinn Féin Assembly member often boasts of his crimes, yet feels wronged enough to turn to the law when others mention themThu Jan 11 2024 - 06:00
Dublin should have taken more care to avoid a public row with LondonThe Government could have warned London privately of its intentions to take an inter-state case against the Troubles Legacy Act - which raises the question of whether the subsequent argument was staged, or played up for certain audiencesThu Jan 04 2024 - 06:15
Britain wants to have its Swiss roll and eat it. Should Ireland stand in its way?Time is surprisingly short. Speculation is turning to a May election in the UK, after which Ireland will have to decide if it helps Labour government bring the UK into closer alignment with the EUThu Dec 28 2023 - 07:00
If you think dereliction in Dublin is bad, come to BelfastSituation is so dire Greens have asked Belfast City Council to compulsorily purchase an entire 12 acres of the cityThu Dec 21 2023 - 06:00
What does it really cost to run Northern Ireland? The answer isn’t straightforwardIreland has the fiscal space; Northern Ireland has a fiscal floor – the minimum spending per head. A bidding war has broken out over what that figure should beThu Dec 14 2023 - 06:00
Coalition trying to scare voters with spectre of Sinn Féin minister for justice If potential future coalition partners baulk at the prospect of handing Sinn Féin the Justice portfolio, they should look to Northern IrelandThu Dec 07 2023 - 06:00
Here’s what you might not know about ‘woke’ water cannons and their use in riotsIn response to human rights concerns, PSNI required operators to set water pressure to a minimum and fitted water tanks with heaters to spare the sprinkled from hypothermiaThu Nov 30 2023 - 06:00
Government isn’t offering Northern Ireland money just to annoy DUP or Sinn Féin. But that may be a bonusOffer to contribute to a financial package to restore Stormont went mostly unnoticed in the South, but it is causing ripples in the NorthThu Nov 23 2023 - 06:00
A Sinn Féin minority government is a real possibilitySinn Féin-led left and green coalition and the present government would each be half a dozen seats short of a majority, polls showThu Nov 16 2023 - 06:00
Unionists are counting on Sinn Féin proving a fiasco in office and damaging republican projectMost unionists think the DUP should not restore devolution until the Windsor Framework is scrapped, something the party cannot deliver and has been careful never to promiseThu Nov 09 2023 - 05:45
Those drawing parallels between the North and Israel-Gaza are missing the pointBritain could look to the North for a template of how to manage protests and divided communities - but it probably won’tThu Nov 02 2023 - 06:00
Promoting the advantage of ‘two Irelands’ for business would challenge everyone’s political convictionsAll-Ireland promotion of the advantage of two Irelands would challenge everyone’s political convictionsThu Oct 26 2023 - 06:00
Could Derry be the island’s next big university city?Galway and Limerick offer a template for what could be possible for Derry’s neglected Magee campusThu Oct 19 2023 - 06:00
Sinn Féin stirring separatist pot in other EU states is unwiseWhat principle is republican party trying to uphold by getting involved in Catalan, Basque and Scottish independance arguements?Thu Oct 12 2023 - 06:00
Forget Sinn Féin’s ‘Irish NHS’. We may all be headed for a British HSEAll-Ireland healthcare is increasingly presented as a way to keep small facilities open in northern border areas, without acknowledging their southern equivalents would have to closeThu Oct 05 2023 - 06:00
Let’s not forget Lough Neagh started dying when Stormont was working exactly as intendedA 2013 Stormont strategy to almost double the size of Northern Ireland’s agrifood industry was the tipping point for the lakeThu Sept 28 2023 - 06:15
DUP must resist temptation to kick devolution can down the road to UK electionCrises from hospital waiting lists to pollution in Lough Neagh are driving calls for Stormont’s return. Another year of inaction would be a disasterThu Sept 21 2023 - 06:15
The rise of Sinn Féin is fraying tempers on both sides of the BorderIf Varadkar really wants a new British-Irish arrangement, he should show some statesmanshipThu Sept 14 2023 - 06:15
Nationalism appears to be making the Belfast Agreement up as it goes alongReform of Stormont is opposed by Sinn Féin and the DUP, yet neither has a leg to stand onThu Sept 07 2023 - 06:15
PSNI has a pattern of appeasing Sinn Féin, but republicans still aren’t happyPandering to republicans to maintain their support for policing is a confused reading of historyThu Aug 31 2023 - 06:11
Newton Emerson: Too many cooks turned Lough Neagh into a disgusting green brothThe lake, which supplies 40% of Northern Ireland’s drinking water, is suffering an ecological collapseThu Aug 24 2023 - 06:15
Newton Emerson: Water charges could solve Stormont’s budget messWater privatisation and water charging have been hanging over Northern Ireland since the first lengthy Stormont collapseThu Aug 10 2023 - 05:00
Newton Emerson: Politics in Northern Ireland is tricky, as Britain’s Labour Party will soon seeThere are scenarios in which Labour could begin carving out a serious role for itself in the North, but it won’t be easy in a place where novelty and hope turn swiftly to disappointmentThu Aug 03 2023 - 05:00
Newton Emerson: Dublin’s lingering air of menace fits neatly into Sinn Féin election agenda If Coalition leaves door open to party laying claim to law and order, then of course it will seize that chanceThu Jul 27 2023 - 05:00
Multi-billion-euro new railway lines for Northern Ireland are make-believeReversing decades of underinvestment in the west of Northern Ireland is a political imperative but there are smarter ways to do it than costly rail rebuilding projectsThu Jul 20 2023 - 06:30
Newton Emerson: Taoiseach’s image was on the bonfire but he wasn’t the targetJeffrey Donaldson’s summer balancing act shows his ability to juggle on a tightrope, but to get the DUP back into Stormont, he needs to decisively call time on the circusThu Jul 13 2023 - 06:30
The United Ireland paradox: Taking unity seriously means accepting a more realistic time frameThis is not a paradox. Taking unity seriously could be precisely why people are imagining a more realistic time-frameThu Jul 06 2023 - 06:30
Newton Emerson: Tyre deflation could be a solution to illegal parking, but environmental activists went too farAnti-car activism is rife, but letting air out of tyres appears relatively benign compared to an array of more strident tacticsThu Jun 29 2023 - 06:31
Newton Emerson: What’s the real significance of Irish Government funding for Northern Ireland?Spending creates perception of Dublin stepping in where unionism has failed, but may be double-edged sword for Sinn FéinThu Jun 22 2023 - 06:21
Newton Emerson: Sex Education becomes latest battleground in Northern IrelandCatholic bishop says anyone who needs information on abortion should Google it. The DUP is taking a harder line. It all points to one thing: a row is brewingThu Jun 15 2023 - 05:00
Newton Emerson: Michelle O’Neill brings antiquated republican thinking to WashingtonSinn Féin is struggling to fit current events into the Irish republican world view, where unionists might be bad but Britain is always worse, and a British Tory government is worst of allThu Jun 08 2023 - 05:00
Newton Emerson: The threat of joint authority in the North is a scare story unionism has heard beforeA Sinn Féin government in Dublin might settle for an enhanced consultative role while cranking up the opticsThu Jun 01 2023 - 05:00
Sinn Féin’s sudden silence on Irish unity is a deliberate and intelligent strategyA brief pause on border poll demands is a deliberate and intelligent strategyThu May 25 2023 - 05:00
Newton Emerson: High-stakes contests and a dull plot characterise today’s electionsSome opinion polls put the DUP and Sinn Féin tantalisingly close in Northern Ireland local electionsThu May 18 2023 - 03:00
Newton Emerson: Unionist reaction to British air defence deal could be history repeating itselfNorthern unionists pay more attention to the Republic than people in the rest of the UK. They tend to be sensitive to signs of anti-British feeling, and doubly offended if assured such feelings do not apply to themThu May 11 2023 - 05:00
Newton Emerson: Bertie Ahern’s unsubtle advice to unionists is to start talkingSomehow the UUP can’t seem to capitalise on the DUP’s multi-year Brexit fiasco and epic leadership contest meltdownThu May 04 2023 - 05:00
Irish unity: What could Mary Lou reply if Britain said ‘take out your cheque book, you can afford it?’What could Mary Lou McDonald reply if Britain was to say ‘take out your cheque book, you can afford it?’Thu Apr 27 2023 - 06:00
