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Newton Emerson

Newton Emerson

The Irish News

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How to fix the water system and housing crisis in one swoop

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...

previous day 9

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Britain seemed to have turned a corner on immigration after Brexit. Then October 7th happened

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...

previous day 10

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Has Lough Neagh tide finally been turned by agriculture minister Andrew Muir?

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...

20.07.2024 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Unionism now lacks an obvious leader

BBC presenter Mark Simpson has annoyed the TUV by describing Gavin Robinson as “in effect, the leader of unionism”. Ron McDowell, deputy leader of...

18.07.2024 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

How to talk about a united Ireland: Say little and set up a committee

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...

18.07.2024 9

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Pat Cullen’s single-legged table, health reform, 4D chess at Stormont and the DUP goes marginal

Is health reform finally getting underway? There are mixed signals. Mike Nesbitt has announced he will publish a three-year strategic plan and a...

14.07.2024 40

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

The difference between Simon Harris and Leo Varadkar on UK-Irish relations goes beyond tone

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...

12.07.2024 20

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Are we ready for privatised policing?

We have become familiar with the idea of the health service collapsing towards partial privatisation. Less appreciated is how easily this could happen...

12.07.2024 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Newton Emerson: Purdah, election disasters and the week that was

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...

06.07.2024 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Time to treat criminal damage seriously

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...

05.07.2024 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Unionism has welcomed Labour’s apparently inevitable win, but nationalists are already milking it

“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...

04.07.2024 10

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Health budgets, Lough Neagh and the soaring legal aid bill: Newton Emerson on the week that was

THE Stormont executive normally meets every two weeks. Its final meeting before the summer recess has been cancelled, apparently due to the general...

29.06.2024 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

MLAs need to drive school transport change

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...

27.06.2024 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Northerners look on the Republic’s motorways with envy – but tolls are a bridge too far

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...

27.06.2024 10

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Sounds like DUP voters are fed up with sea border spoofing

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...

22.06.2024 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Could Sinn Féin southern woes be good news for Stormont?

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...

21.06.2024 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Larne gas cavern project a victim of green nimbyism and North’s administrative deadlock

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...

20.06.2024 10

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

GAA right to blame government for Casement confusion

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...

15.06.2024 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Why can’t we just seize the cars of bad drivers?

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...

14.06.2024 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Can Sinn Féin pull off its left-right, North-South balancing act?

Sinn Féin says it will reflect on its election disappointment in the Republic. Any change it makes will inevitably have implications for Northern...

13.06.2024 20

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Will Mike Nesbitt have his bluff called on Stormont health cuts?

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...

09.06.2024 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Who will own Stormont’s sexual offences law fiasco?

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...

07.06.2024 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Northern Ireland’s poultry industry must be forced to clean up its act

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...

06.06.2024 10

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Sinn Féin’s Cullen coup re-opens abstention debate

Sinn Féin has caused a sensation by announcing nursing union chief Pat Cullen as its general election candidate for Fermanagh and South Tyrone....

01.06.2024 20

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Do we really need a department of justice?

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...

31.05.2024 20

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Notion that Ireland would hold all the cards on reunification has a whiff of Brexit

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....

30.05.2024 20

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Direction of travel on Europe for Keir Starmer is clear

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...

26.05.2024 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Who will make the case for smaller government?

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...

23.05.2024 60

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Why Caoimhe Archibald is the rising star of Northern politics

Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly are Northern Ireland’s most popular political leaders, according to the latest LucidTalk poll. The Sinn...

23.05.2024 30

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Why are we tiptoeing around Lough Neagh polluters?

Alliance minister Andrew Muir is not given to over-statement. He has told the assembly it is “disappointing” his Department of Agriculture,...

19.05.2024 50

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Why is the Covid Inquiry being so confrontational?

Arlene Foster has been criticised for a brusque performance at the Covid Inquiry, but the former first minister’s exasperation is partly...

19.05.2024 50

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Northern Ireland is already a ‘sanctuary city’ in the UK – it could yet become one in Europe

16.05.2024 20

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Road safety drive requires reversal of attitudes in PSNI

“Nothing is off the table” to address the “epidemic” of road fatalities, chief constable Jon Boucher has said. That would require a reversal...

11.05.2024 30

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Failing civil service must be forced into fundamental reform

Initial hearings at the Covid inquiry in Belfast make it clear the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) is incapable of reforming itself. The lessons...

10.05.2024 30

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

There’s an obvious solution to the migration row: compatible national identity cards for Ireland and Britain

It is less than 20 years since the British and Irish governments were discussing compatible national identity cards to manage a shared immigration...

09.05.2024 100

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

British and Irish governments cynically weaponising border in immigration row

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...

05.05.2024 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Why does suggesting the better-off pay more make me sound like I have two heads?

“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...

02.05.2024 40

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Rwanda immigration law may turn out to be another Brexit

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...

30.04.2024 30

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Newton Emerson: Buck stops with Beattie over UUP election mess

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...

27.04.2024 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

New health service area planning boards are a mistake which councils and councillors will use to obstruct much-needed change

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...

26.04.2024 20

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Battle lines are being drawn in the North over sex education and hate crimes

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...

25.04.2024 30

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Smuggling is the burning issue for any tobacco ban

The greatest concern with any restriction on tobacco sales in Northern Ireland is the smuggling opportunity for organised crime and paramilitary...

20.04.2024 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Businesses are paying the price of keeping household rates down

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...

18.04.2024 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Simon Harris was right. Many southerners know London or Paris better than Belfast

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...

18.04.2024 8

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Will funding for water just put up house prices?

Underinvestment in the water system has prevented 19,000 houses being built and Stormont must take action, the Construction Employers Federation has...

14.04.2024 20

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Why are Stormont’s parties scared of sorting out the water system?

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...

11.04.2024 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Debate about banning overseas buyers of residential property is overdue

Ireland is overdue a debate on banning overseas buyers of residential property. This is very much a live debate elsewhere - EU countries are even...

11.04.2024 8

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Have political ramifications of Donaldson resignation been overstated?

As shock subsides over Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s resignation, it seems the political ramifications may have been over-stated. The DUP is determined to...

07.04.2024 10

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

The DUP is a party badly in need of changing the subject

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...

04.04.2024 30

The Irish News

Newton Emerson

Unionist parties are not about to merge – it’s hard enough holding them together individually

Any crisis within unionism provokes talk of “unionist realignment”, and the resignation of Jeffrey Donaldson as DUP leader has been no exception....

03.04.2024 10

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

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