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![]() Newton EmersonThe Irish News |
Sinn Féin’s answer to underinvestment in the water system is that developers should pay for it. That was the view of the party’s infrastructure...
Less than a year ago, immigration into the UK had never been higher, yet public concern about it had rarely been lower. In the 12 months up to October...
The Lough Neagh algal bloom is back, earlier and nastier than last year. But the green-blue tide has hopefully been turned by Alliance agriculture...
BBC presenter Mark Simpson has annoyed the TUV by describing Gavin Robinson as “in effect, the leader of unionism”. Ron McDowell, deputy leader of...
The conversation on a united Ireland is a game where participants profess their support for the concept in general, while trying not to get trapped...
Is health reform finally getting underway? There are mixed signals. Mike Nesbitt has announced he will publish a three-year strategic plan and a...
The “reset” both sides are promising in British-Irish relations may be mostly due to a change of government in London, but the importance of...
We have become familiar with the idea of the health service collapsing towards partial privatisation. Less appreciated is how easily this could happen...
The only consistent feature of the DUP’s election disaster is disaster itself. In three safe unionist constituencies, the party lost to the TUV, the...
The loyalist attack on new shared housing in Antrim should be considered a serious property crime, in addition to everything else about it that is...
“Unionists were too stupid to realise they had won and republicans were too clever to admit they had lost”. That was the infamous verdict on the...
THE Stormont executive normally meets every two weeks. Its final meeting before the summer recess has been cancelled, apparently due to the general...
Questions are being asked at Stormont about the £40 million the Department of Health has spent on taxis for patients over the past five years. The...
Why does Northern Ireland refuse to learn from the Republic’s success with toll roads? The question has arisen again with the announcement of the...
The DUP is not getting a good reception on the doorsteps, judging by its panic over the sea border. New leader Gavin Robinson had adopted a careful...
If Sinn Féin sees Stormont as a way to demonstrate its fitness for office in the Republic, the demonstration period just got longer. That could work...
Storing gas in salt caverns is a proven technology, used around the world for over 60 years. Caverns can be old mines or purpose-built voids hollowed...
GAA president Jarlath Burns has conceded Casement Park is unlikely to be rebuilt in time for the 2028 Euros. “The carrot was dangled in front of us...
Legal loopholes mean it is rarely a specific offence to park on the pavement in Northern Ireland. However, it is always an offence to drive on the...
Sinn Féin says it will reflect on its election disappointment in the Republic. Any change it makes will inevitably have implications for Northern...
Before becoming health minister, UUP MLA Mike Nesbitt was his party’s representative on the Policing Board. Some other board members felt he had a...
One response to Stormont’s sexual offences law fiasco would be to say it needs a House of Lords – a second chamber of experienced legislators who...
Working in Moy Park’s poultry processing plant in Portadown was a summer job option when I was at school. People who did so would return to class in...
Sinn Féin has caused a sensation by announcing nursing union chief Pat Cullen as its general election candidate for Fermanagh and South Tyrone....
THE post of Stormont justice minister is a rather strange job. That goes some way to explaining the different responses to Naomi Long and Robin Swann...
Northerners in a united Ireland would pay the same taxes as everyone else, yet they would receive lower benefits and public-sector wages for 15 years....
It seems as certain as anything can be in politics that Keir Starmer will be prime minister six weeks from now. His government will pursue a closer...
Where is the smaller-government part of Northern Ireland politics? It should be a prominent feature of the party system. The UUP is positioned, in...
Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly are Northern Ireland’s most popular political leaders, according to the latest LucidTalk poll. The Sinn...
Alliance minister Andrew Muir is not given to over-statement. He has told the assembly it is “disappointing” his Department of Agriculture,...
Arlene Foster has been criticised for a brusque performance at the Covid Inquiry, but the former first minister’s exasperation is partly...
“Nothing is off the table” to address the “epidemic” of road fatalities, chief constable Jon Boucher has said. That would require a reversal...
Initial hearings at the Covid inquiry in Belfast make it clear the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) is incapable of reforming itself. The lessons...
It is less than 20 years since the British and Irish governments were discussing compatible national identity cards to manage a shared immigration...
The reckless cynicism of the British and Irish governments over the past week can be of no comfort to anyone in Northern Ireland. To distract from its...
“Northern Ireland is divided in many different ways. It has been described as a 25/25/50 society with 25% of households living in hardship, 25% in...
In their haste to claim the UK’s Rwanda immigration law is having an effect, the Irish and British governments are both glossing over the question...
The hapless UUP is making a mess of what should be its most promising election in years. It has a solid chance of taking South Antrim from the DUP in...
If Translink was being abolished so Stormont could take direct control of public transport, it is likely you would be aware of it. If it was happening...
Open culture war has broken out between the DUP and Alliance. An Alliance motion in the Assembly on Monday called on the DUP to implement a compulsory...
The greatest concern with any restriction on tobacco sales in Northern Ireland is the smuggling opportunity for organised crime and paramilitary...
The Number 7 cafe in Craigavon’s Rushmere Centre – an institution in the town – has made headlines by publicising its £71,000 rates bill for...
Simon Harris must be taken aback by the reaction to his comment that he is “of a generation where people are more familiar now with London and...
Underinvestment in the water system has prevented 19,000 houses being built and Stormont must take action, the Construction Employers Federation has...
There is an ominous parallel between the decline of our water system and our health service. In both cases, Stormont knows action is required but has...
Ireland is overdue a debate on banning overseas buyers of residential property. This is very much a live debate elsewhere - EU countries are even...
As shock subsides over Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s resignation, it seems the political ramifications may have been over-stated. The DUP is determined to...
The DUP’s best route out of the crisis it now finds itself in is to focus on delivering a small number of concrete policies that improve everyday...
Any crisis within unionism provokes talk of “unionist realignment”, and the resignation of Jeffrey Donaldson as DUP leader has been no exception....