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Newton Emerson

Newton Emerson

The Irish News

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Maybe Stormont just needs a nudge in the right direction

latest 4

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Moral panic about build-to-rent apartments overlooks their obvious advantages

yesterday 9

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Harmony reigns at the Stormont executive after Hilary Benn hits a nerve on public service reform

09.02.2025 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Has Trump just brought the paramilitary gravy train to a screeching halt?

06.02.2025 6

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Stormont can’t deal with falling pupil numbers, how will it cope with a falling population?

02.02.2025 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

The cruise ship business could be Belfast’s for the taking – but can we get it right?

31.01.2025 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Architecture of the Belfast Agreement is dying of disinterest

30.01.2025 20

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

What will be the ‘consequences’ of the failure of the Stormont Brake?

26.01.2025 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Why not let the money follow the patient to help save our failing NHS?

24.01.2025 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

DUP’s first attempt to use the Stormont brake ends in humiliation

23.01.2025 10

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Welcome to the new happy, clappy Sinn Féin

19.01.2025 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Why do our young people not want to leave home?

17.01.2025 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Starmer’s political image increasingly at odds with a public mood turning against liberal causes

16.01.2025 10

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Integration, immigration and lobster liberation – the week that was in the news

11.01.2025 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

As the health service falls apart, we need to confront the UUP’s failure to get the job done

10.01.2025 7

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Conor Murphy’s puzzling move to the Seanad crystallises sense of an unsettled Stormont

09.01.2025 20

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

When will Sinn Féin actually support Sinn Féin policy on water charges?

Gerry Darby, manager of the Lough Neagh Partnership community organisation, has said domestic water charges must be considered to modernise the...

05.01.2025 5

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Sinn Féin’s explanation for moving Conor Murphy doesn’t add up

Sinn Féin’s explanation for moving Conor Murphy does not add up. Stormont’s economy minister is one of the party’s six nominees for the Seanad. His...

03.01.2025 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Daft Brexit rules have brought havoc for the Alliance Party as well as Northern shoppers

The classic cliche about the Alliance Party is that it sits on the fence. This trite insult fails to grasp what an achievement it is to carve out...

02.01.2025 10

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Stormont staggers on, mostly because no one can agree on an alternative

One-fifth of Scots would vote to abolish devolution, according to a poll conducted last month for Progress Scotland, a think-tank owned by SNP...

26.12.2024 4

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

The Department for Infrastructure is failing – is it simply too big to function?

The Department for Infrastructure is not just failing on roads and public transport. Its other main responsibilities, NI Water, planning and flood...

22.12.2024 4

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

What is the point of having to book to go to the dump?

Having to book to use the recycling centre is a pointless nuisance but as soon as one council in Northern Ireland introduced it, the rest were...

20.12.2024 7

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Why has ramming police cars become a trend in Northern Ireland?

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) ended 2024 by appealing to criminals to stop deliberately driving into police cars. There were 40...

19.12.2024 7

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Stormont’s sea border non-event leaves public cold

Stormont’s consent vote on the sea border is a mechanism created in 2020 by the original Brexit protocol. Although it was always known that the...

14.12.2024 4

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Stormont had money for transport but spent it elsewhere

The traffic chaos that has snarled up Belfast in recent weeks reflects failures larger and older than lack of money. But it is no coincidence that...

12.12.2024 4

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Why are unionist politicians shy of challenging loyalism?

Two men have pleaded guilty to possessing guns and ammunition in suspicious circumstances after they were put under PSNI surveillance following a...

12.12.2024 6

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

DUP and Sinn Féin’s contempt for Stormont reform leaves us stuck with lowest common denominator politics

Sinn Féin and the DUP have made it contemptuously clear that Stormont reform is not on their agenda. When the SDLP tried raising the subject in the...

08.12.2024 6

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Have our schools and teachers learned the lessons of the Covid pandemic?

I had a visceral reaction to news that Northern Ireland’s teaching unions want a 13.5 per cent pay rise and will strike if they do not get it. Paul...

06.12.2024 5

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

The real danger now is of Sinn Féin quiet quitting in Northern Ireland

There will be changes “within the ranks” of Sinn Féin following last week’s Irish general election, DUP leader Gavin Robinson has predicted,...

05.12.2024 30

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Stormont badly needs to hire a project manager

It is considered a scandal that the South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen will cost the taxpayer three times more than the building is worth,...

30.11.2024 3

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Stormont stance on benefits is cowardice by political choice

Labour’s plan to reduce welfare spending may or may not come to pass. It has been re-announced this week, yet again, still without much detail or...

29.11.2024 5

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

For flax sake: why is the idea of a new flag for Northern Ireland so controversial?

The chair and chief executive of the Commonwealth Games board in Northern Ireland want Stormont to design a new flag for the region. While that...

28.11.2024 20

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

No job market can put organised crime out of business

Loyalist Communities Council chairman David Campbell has dipped into the Big Book of Political Cliches, claiming young people in loyalist areas...

23.11.2024 3

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Why limit regulation of protests to parades?

When regulation of parades was being coaxed into existence three decades ago, it was considered fortunate that marching is fundamental to...

22.11.2024 2

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Farmers have a point - if only they could make it more reasonably

There was a daunting display of political power outside Lisburn on Monday night. Thousands of farmers gathered in a convention centre for a rally...

21.11.2024 2

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Clearing the road blocks in the way of major infrastructure

One month after the A5 dual carriageway apparently received the final go-ahead, the Department for Infrastructure has received notice of another...

17.11.2024 4

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

The LCC exists in the space where we have forgotten what normal means

A stark difference of opinion has been revealed by the latest LucidTalk poll. Eighty-one per cent of unionists, including 91 per cent of DUP...

15.11.2024 5

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Politicians need to decide if Northern Ireland is desperately poor or so rich it requires no help

The Shared Island Initiative gets its own page in Fianna Fáil’s 200-page manifesto, amid five pages on a broader “Shared Island Agenda”. This...

14.11.2024 6

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

History suggests Trump has no interest in our nonsense

The world may have changed since 2016 but President Trump’s first term remains our best guide to how he might treat Northern Ireland during his...

10.11.2024 2

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Family farms need a balanced response to inheritance tax change, not Stormont alarmism

It is a bit much to expect Stormont to take a balanced view of inheritance tax. The tax is not devolved so Stormont sees none of the money, at...

08.11.2024 2

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Gavin Robinson and the DUP need to reach out with style as well as substance

The DUP must win over the unaligned centre ground to secure the union, leader Gavin Robinson has warned his party. The first response from much of...

07.11.2024 2

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

The Treasury tap is back on – but does more money mean more problems?

Extra spending in England means more money for Stormont under the Barnett formula. This week’s Westminster budget means a lot more: £640 million...

03.11.2024 4

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Newton Emerson: Stormont reform is a goal that could unite us all

Sinn Féin and the DUP are at pains to insist devolution is stable, despite recent scandals in Sinn Féin and ensuing acrimony between both parties....

31.10.2024 2

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Newton Emerson: Spurious comparisons between British rule in Ireland and the slave trade damage the peace process

You can almost feel the slavery reparations debate drifting balefully towards Belfast, not that slavery will be the issue once it touches our...

31.10.2024 5

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Police back-pedalling, Stormont stone-walling and a plague of biting insects

The PSNI has engaged in absurd back-pedalling over an intelligence assessment on Sinn Féin and the IRA. Asked last week by Jamie Bryson if a 2015...

26.10.2024 8

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Is enforced education really the best way to reach ‘neets’?

In 2015, it became compulsory in England to remain in full-time education or training until the age of 18 – not a new school leaving but a new ‘...

25.10.2024 2

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

You may as well discuss a Stormont space programme as how to align welfare systems North and South

Four-fifths of households in Northern Ireland receive more in benefits than they pay in tax, according to a new report from the Economic & Social...

24.10.2024 10

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Everyone wants loyalist paramilitary gangs to go away - including UVF and UDA ‘members’

There is a growing sense that time is running out for interminable loyalist peace processing. DUP ministers are under increasing if somewhat...

20.10.2024 4

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

How competitions can change thinking and get government moving

Government competitions are an old idea to encourage new thinking and new technology. Many of the great achievements of Victorian engineering began...

18.10.2024 2

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Britain’s anti-obesity jab plan is the stuff of sci-fi

The British government is planning to give weight-loss injections to obese people so they can be taken off sickness benefits and obliged to work....

17.10.2024 3

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson