Ireland is facing international criticism and it’s only natural that unionists want to join in. But incomprehension over support for neutrality is also a factor

Equally, the cost would be bad reason for the union to persist, so nationalists and unionists should want this spending to fall

Keir Starmer has been advised to raise defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP, which could be paid for by slashing social welfare

Both have the least positive views on immigration of any two groups of party voters on the island

Extra supply at the top relieves pressure on the whole market. This is one form of trickle-down economics that works

Trump has transformed expectations of what can be done, even if his administration ultimately fails to deliver it

There are worse fates for the agreement than fading into irrelevance, but it would be dangerous not to acknowledge this is happening

Compounding the unionist party’s agony, it requested the brake over a matter so apparently trivial - font sizes on labels for chemical products - that it sounds like a satirical joke

He seems himself as less ideological than Blair, but he might benefit from adopting the New Labour master’s Machiavellian streak

Sinn Féin says Murphy will use his new position to advance ‘Irish unity debate in the Oireachtas’, yet he has vastly more scope to do so as a Stormont Minister

Alliance doesn’t sit on the fence, it walks a tightrope - but it has fallen off over EU regulations

Preference for a united Ireland has risen from a quarter to a third. Support for direct rule is about 15%, while 10% want an independent Northern Ireland

There were 40 ramming incidents in the 12 months up to the end of November, injuring 58 officers

It is an absurdity that Winston Irvine missed his graduation from Maynooth with a masters in “international peacebuilding” because of a court appearance connected to the UVF bomb hoax on Simon Coveney

Concerns that Sinn Féin’s electoral setback will destabilise Stormont miss the point. The party is at greater risk of endlessly shirking difficult decisions

The flax plant might be bland and its symbolism trite, but the same could be said of the Tricolour

New rules introduced by the UK government bring a quarter of farms back within inheritance tax, after three decades of being fully exempt. They’re right to be annoyed, but sympathy is waning

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

The DUP gives the impression of modernising at minimum speed, while being constantly tempted by conservative culture-war positions

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