Thanks to fellow blogger Brendan O’Neill for featuring the Letter at the top of his short piece on Irish weblogs. Our stats software has packed up for the rest of the week apparently, so I have no idea how many …

There is some cautious optimism that today’s statement by Tony Blair will have the desired effect, though Jeffrey Donaldson holds on to the hard bottom line:“Anything that falls short of an effective exclusion mechanism is not worth the paper it’s …

Today’s expected statement from the British Prime Minister is not expected to end the on-going crisis in the political process. It looks like Blair will offer a tightening of the criteria of what constitutes a breach of the ceasefire. It …

There is an inevitable gloom gathering once again over North Belfast, in the wake of the killing of Gerard Lawlor early yesterday morning. Loyalists claim the killing, but insist that it was in response to “…the onslaught against the Protestant …

There are some great old articles to be found on the Atlantic Monthly site. In 1954, John V Kelleher in discussing partition suggested that: “The history of the problem is nearly irrelevant to its solution. Three present factors count: religious …

Trimble puts the responsibility for keeping law and order on Blair. And there are signs that Blair may go some way to back-up Trimble’s call for a tougher and more transparent approach to breaches of the ceasefires.Though it is clear …

The street violence of the last week or so claimed it’s first death yesterday; he was one of several others injured. It’s difficult to gauge exactly what triggered it off this time, but the Newsletter reports that Loyalist patience is …

Finally, for the first time in many years, the coverage in the media seems to be looking at Ulster Unionist problems with some degree of sympathy. Henry McDonald leads the way with a short but pithy analysis of where the …

And a last word of the week to Jack Holland, who is fed up with the endless rounds of ‘whatboutery’ that we are all inclined to locked into – and nowhere moreso than in cyberspace. For a great choice of …