Ian Paisley Senior had a reasonably polite exchange with John Reid today over figures he’d pulled together on the rise of violence since 1999, the year after the Belfast Agreement was signed which demonstrated some substantial increases. Tom Maguire of …

Sammy Wilson drops his usual penchant for the one-liner and uses a recent IoD report to argue that the NI economy needs a strong vocational element within its educational system, and will suffer, if Martin McGuinness’s educational reforms go through. …

Regarding my piece of the 23rd July, political scientist Michael Hodkinson comments: “The Belfast Agreement is a consociational model. Basically, it requires political elites to reach a consensus about objectives in the hope that the followers will adopt more consensual …

Malachy O’Doherty, looks at a new ‘leading player’ in the North Belfast Loyalism and highlights several key differences in the political profile and prospects of Republican and Loyalist paramilitaries.

Trimble is by several accounts preparing for a serious split with John Reid: “Mr Trimble’s confidence in Dr Reid is believed to have fallen sharply after the MP for Upper Bann suggested a security initiative after a break-in at Castlereagh …

After years of isolation, the City of Derry seems to coming back to economic life again. However the much hoped for boost in the tourist trade is not materialising.

The link from the Guardian news weblogs describes the Letter as an “Excellent, balanced weblog on Northern Ireland.”

There have been street disturbances for two nights in Sandy Row. Roy Hattersley suggests that the hard line action against paramilitaries that the Unionists are looking for, will necessarily lead to an unraveling of the peace process. Reg Empey outlines …

The First Minister was the subject of some forceful journalism this weekend. Áine O’Neill wonders if: “The penny might just have dropped with the UUP this week that loyalist violence, and their own perceived ambivalence towards it, is pushing another …