Does the Secretary of State’s decision about Drumcree serve social justice, or victors’ justice?
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Gadfly is a political geographer from Belfast with a particular interest in the relationship between democracy and the creation of more sustainable futures. Northern nationalists and republicans have long aimed to differentiate themselves from unionists through a strong commitment to …
Drumcree: What does Northern Ireland think?
2026
Conleth Burns is Associate Director (Ireland and Northern Ireland) at More in Common. More in Common is a research agency that aims to help leaders understand and better navigate public opinion. You can reach out to Conleth directly on: [email protected] …
A new opinion poll on Drumcree…
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The first survey of opinion on Drumcree has been published by polling organisation More In Common in an extensive report. To a large extent the results will not provoke much surprise. In general, the picture is one of hardening opinions …
Maurice Hayes remembered. From a nationalist background the paragon of all public servants and the pathfinder to an integrating Northern Ireland
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The Royal Irish Academy’ s Dictionary of Irish Biography has just published its entry for Maurice Hayes. in my book Maurice was a principal hero of the Troubles, the very model for adapting a Catholic nationalist background to an instrument …
O’Neill must go Carla? Aye, but Unionism will pay all the costs and Michelle will be back by May
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Carla Lockhart borrows from Paisley and Thatcher, but she isn’t speaking from strength. Pulling the deputy First Minister to remove Michelle O’Neill would freeze budgets at 95%, lose Barnett money from today’s UK Budget, and leave the DUP carrying the blame for a gesture voters would reverse in May.
Business As Usual
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Last week, there was a ‘Dallas’ joke. This week, a ‘Derry Girls’ joke. However ‘Blue Lights’ remained no laughing matter as the show reached the penultimate episode of its fourth series. Before we get into that.. well, you know the …
Go East, Old Man, Part III: Are you ‘this’ or ‘that’?
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In 1988, a Moscow paper called Nagorno-Karabakh “our Northern Ireland.” In Part III, Peter Emerson asks why “this or that?” questions divide us, from Belfast to the Balkans, and makes the case for multi-option, preferential voting instead.
CS Lewis author of Narnia reclaimed for Norn Irn.
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Ahead of Netflix’s version of the Chroncles of Narnia to be shown early next year, Patrick Little in the Guardian has reclaimed the celebrated writer and visionary scholar Clive Staples ( always known as CS) Lewis for his specifically east …
What ‘Before the Vote’ gets right and wrong about health…
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John Doyle’s Before the Vote: Planning for a united Ireland devotes a chapter to the island’s two health systems, and its main finding is hard to dispute. On the figures he reports, a far larger share of Northern Ireland’s population …
Playing today’s game of aggrieved victimhood should be called out as sectarianism
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While the unionist parties may be trying out a new game at Stormont portraying restraint as strength rather than weakness, what is the temper of the times among the people? Will something far worse that Drumcree be repeated on the …