Sarah Kirkwood

The electorate are as missing in action as our MLAs…

Sarah Kirkwood on August 29, 2023, 8:50 am | Readers 5803

Yesterday was the five-year anniversary of the #wedeservebetter peaceful demonstrations here, to try and restore government in 2018 the last time Northern Ireland was without a functioning government. It begs the questions, where are the people this time around?, why are the people not mobilising? Why are the electorate as MIA as our MLAs? Northern Ireland already holds the unofficial record for going without a functioning government (unofficial because technically Westminster can pass our laws), when in 2018 we beat …

The art of the peaceful protest…

Sarah Kirkwood on July 10, 2023, 8:53 am | Readers 4667

YET another anniversary, 25 years on from the Drumcree/The Garvaghy Road dispute which made headlines the world over. But there is a different ‘orange’ protest in the news that has caught my eye. That would be the ongoing ‘JUST STOP OIL’ campaign. On Saturday a member of the public approached George Osborne and Thea Rogers as they emerged from their wedding and showered the newlyweds in orange confetti from a Union flag paper bag. Naturally, given the fact George Osborne …

Is it time to hand over the torch to the next generation?

Sarah Kirkwood on July 5, 2023, 7:00 am | Readers 2172

person in red sweater holding babys hand

LAST Friday, 30 June 2023, the Northern Ireland Youth assembly ‘class of 2023’ met in Parliament Buildings for their last plenary, chaired by the Assembly Speaker Alex Maskey. The topics for discussion were climate change, mental health, children’s and young people’s rights, relationships and sexuality education and why it’s important that young people have a voice in shaping policy and legislation on the issues that affect them. What is interesting for me about the NI Youth assembly, apart from the …

What is the point of these reviews? Why do we look for what is broken with no intention of fixing it?

Sarah Kirkwood on June 30, 2023, 7:00 am | Readers 3433

orange band aid on concrete surface crack

THE MANIC Street Preachers performed their enduring anthem, If You Tolerate This Then Your Children Will Be Next at Glastonbury last weekend. The anthem, first released in 1998, is as relevant now as then. The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care Services report was published on Wednesday 21 June 2023 revealing “systemic and endemic” difficulties within the region’s Children’s social care services. We are tolerating this and as such “a higher proportion of its (NI’s) child population (are) seen as …

7 years after ‘that’ vote…

Sarah Kirkwood on June 26, 2023, 12:23 pm | Readers 4592

MY social media memories today from 7 years ago are of the results of the Brexit referendum vote, 23 June 2016. The seven-year anniversary of the ‘leave’ campaign’s victory was yesterday. The vote that David Cameron said would reveal “the future we want for our children” and “goes to the heart of the kind of country we want to be”. I remember feeling rather incredulous at the time, knowing in my gut that NI/ the north of Ireland was about …

Thoughts on the Day of Reflection…

Sarah Kirkwood on June 21, 2023, 5:26 pm | Readers 1192

TODAY is the 21 June 2023 and what most people will be blithely unaware of, is that here in NI /the north of Ireland, it is a day for collective reflection. The day has been marked as a ‘Day of Reflection’ here since 2007, although I only became aware of it two years ago. It is a day that gets little press, by design. Why the 21 June? Well, it was chosen as it is the summer solstice, the longest …

Happy 75th Birthday to the NHS…

Sarah Kirkwood on June 7, 2023, 1:00 pm | Readers 2123

round Happy Birthday cake with lighted candles

ANNIVERSARIES are very much at the forefront of my mind of late. The next, the NHS turns seventy-five on 5 July. Yet the 25 years of the Good Friday Agreement is still very present in my mind and the two have sort of fused into this thought piece, about the role the NHS plays in my life and the lives of others here. A diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) when I turned thirty has made me a frequent user and …