Why we need to understand what’s driving instability in and beyond Northern Ireland
The labour market is changing shape — from a pyramid with a broad base of entry-level jobs to a diamond with a glut of experienced middle-tier workers and a radically contracted bottom. Harvard economists warned us what happens when a successor generation can’t find work. Belfast showed us what it looks like in practice. And it isn’t just a problem for the young.
Why Shared Island, not ‘Brits out’, is the way forward for Ireland…
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I have just come out from two and a half weeks in hospital, which means I haven’t closely followed the anti-immigration riots in Belfast, except to feel – as someone from a Northern Protestant background – horrified and ashamed once …
Riots in Northern Ireland: this is also about racism
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My dad died two days before Christmas in 2023. On the day of his funeral rain poured from the heavens. We waded through thick mud to get to his grave. “Christ,” my brother remarked, “it’s like the f**king Somme.” In …
Unionists made their peace with the Belfast Agreement — so why hasn’t nationalism?
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A defence of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement’s legacy, arguing that while most unionists have embraced its principles, Sinn Féin has systematically undermined the consent framework — leaving centrist unionism stranded and the Agreement itself surplus to republican politics.
Banning under-16s from social media does not reach what drove the riots: the harm was adult-made and amplified by design…
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The government has made an age limit its answer to a system it says is failing children. But the social-media harm on display in Belfast over the past week was made by adults and amplified by platform design, and an …
Weekly Bulletin 13/06/26
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What you need to know Executive and business groups condemn disorder On Wednesday (10 June), The Executive Office issued a joint statement condemning ongoing disorder and violence in Northern Ireland, following Monday’s (8 June) knife attack in north Belfast. First Minister Michelle …
Ireland an Example To Rest of World What Not To Do With Data Centres – UN
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Artificial Intelligence doesn’t exist as a ghost in the machine you know, living like digital spirits in the cloud alone, oh no. The Chatgpts, Co-Pilots, Claudes and Groks of the world require physical infrastructure. And this infrastructure is, to put …
An Answer to “The hurl was ours”: why the article needs to do rather more than simply shift culpability…
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The Soapbox piece “The hurl was ours” put up on Saturday night, sets out to present an alternative advocacy for the working-class community of east Belfast through a significant qualification on the racist riots of this last week. It identifies …
Choyaa: For many, immigration remains a taboo topic, entirely shielded from critical analysis…
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The brutal stabbing of Stephen Ogilvie on Monday evening sent shockwaves throughout Northern Ireland. For many, however, the primary shock lay in the graphic video posted online rather than the incident itself, as communities had been bracing themselves for such …
Open Sunday – discuss what you like…
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The idea for Open Sunday is to let you discuss what you like. Just two rules. Keep it civil and no man/woman playing. Comments will close at 12 pm on Monday.