Soapbox 
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.
Families were burned out of their homes in Belfast this week in openly racist violence. But Sara Morrison, who has lived in Belfast most of her life, argues that what happened on the Newtownards Road is the product of decades of political failure, an unfinished peace process, and communities that were never rebuilt. A vital if uncomfortable read.
By Brendan Mulgrew, Managing Partner, MW Advocate Later this month Belfast will host what I believe is one of the most significant civic gatherings ever held on the island of Ireland. For the first time, all twelve cities across the island will come together under one roof for the 2026 Summit of the Cities at Belfast City Hall. Elected representatives, civic leaders, business representatives, academics, policymakers, cultural leaders and urban experts will gather to discuss the opportunities and challenges that …
Daniel McCrossan MLA, SDLP Chairperson, writes for Slugger about an event coming up on Irish unity Politics across Britain and Ireland is changing fast, and the recent election results in Britain underline just how profound that change could become. The rise of Reform is not simply another electoral story or a temporary protest vote. It raises much bigger questions about the future direction of the UK, the growing influence of populist politics, and the kind of political culture that may …
Adam Fusco is a Senior Lecturer in Department of Politics in the University of York The results of the devolved elections in Scotland and Wales have seen three out of three First Minsters elected for the first time that wish to see the immediate or eventual independence of their nations. To date, Wales has largely been absent from conversations about independence, but the historic victory of Plaid Cymru in the Senedd election brings Wales into discussions about the breakup of …
Colin Murray is a Professor of Law at Newcastle University. The UK Supreme Court’s judgment last week in Dillon undermines the UK’s commitments in the Brexit deal. The decision, relating to the previous Conservative Government’s Legacy Act of 2023, and its controversial amnesty provisions, demonstrates a high-handed disregard for Northern Ireland’s special constitutional arrangements. It amounts to an assertion that, after Brexit, the UK Parliament can legislate as it chooses and the special commitments made under the Withdrawal Agreement are …
The Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly are under fire for their record in delivering public policy and services. In a new working paper published as a Constitution Unit report today, Alan Whysall argues that their under-performance threatens the stability of the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement settlement. Specific measures to improve matters have been little discussed. The paper – Improving Government in Northern Ireland – offers an agenda for early debate on such measures. The debate must have a clear and …
David McNarry, former advisor to FM David Trimble and a former Strangford MLA for UUP/UKIP argues Unionism’s fractured political landscape may have found its wildcard — but will Nigel Farage’s Reform UK have the courage to play it? It is true that in ceding political primacy to nationalist and republicans, unionists have paid a heavy price. Cringeworthy is the woeful state of unionist representation in the NI Assembly, Belfast City Council and across local councils. And yet the divided party …
Originally from County Down, Rosie Donnelly is a student in Liverpool. Contemporary British writer and pertinent voice for Gen Z, Freya India, has recently released her book GIRLS: Generation Z and the commodification of everything. From the beginning of this book, India sets down the fundamental idea that girls are no longer teens navigating insecurities. We are products, and girls can no longer live their lives without pervasive companies, apps, and influencers collecting their data and monetising it. I found …
Caoimhin O’Gallchobhair is rom Belfast, he is a digital native, social media alien. He is currently making another game about the Irish fighting. The Irish invented Chess – its a boast that arises because there are descriptions of a board game in the literature that could be talking about chess, and some of them do appear to be from a time before chess is believed to have existed in Europe. No mention fully describes a game, we only ever get …
Council Watch is a group of concerned locals holding Newry, Mourne & Down District Council accountable When Newry, Mourne and Down District Council’s proposed gondola up Slieve Donard collapsed, you might have expected some form of reckoning. A project tied to £30 million of Belfast Region City Deal money was redirected from Thomas’s Quarry to Kilbroney Forest Park, where it also ran into serious difficulties, and then approved by the BRCD Executive Board before the landowner’s permission had been obtained. …
Ray Bassett is a former senior Irish diplomat. This post was originally published on the Irish border poll website, and we have reproduced it here with their kind permission. The current Government in Dublin has built its Northern policy around the Shared Island Initiative. It claims that its approach is anchored in the Good Friday Agreement (GFA). Certainly, on reading through that Agreement, it is difficult to understand how an entire Irish Government approach to the North could be based …
Marie Doyle is an Office Senior Partner at Deloitte in Belfast Few will be surprised by what the public told us in the survey for Deloitte’s latest State of the State report. The NHS, social care, the cost of living and affordable housing remain at the top of people’s list of concerns when it comes to the delivery of public services in Northern Ireland. These longstanding pressure points are not unique to Northern Ireland. Across all four UK nations surveyed, …
Kevin Carlin is originally from Derry, lived in America for 30 years and moved back to Ireland in 2017 for the weather. Sampling in musical terms is the extraction of portions of sound from recorded media and their reuse as material for new recordings (Oxford Reference definition). But it is so much more than that. Its roots can be traced as far back as 1942, when French composer and theoretician Pierre Schaeffer began his study of radiophony. Experimenting with creative …
Originally from Belfast, A.J. McManus is currently a teacher in the United States. I have just read Alex Kane’s interview with John Taylor in The Irish News and the ensuing posts on Slugger by Arnold Carlton and Mick Fealty. The lede of it all was Taylor’s statement: “… the reality that there is going to be a united Ireland.” Beneath this big prediction is Taylor’s criticism of political unionism since his own involvement in the mid-1960’s out of which he …
Mary McManus is the Regional Manager for Living Wage NI In 2001, in the City of London, faith leaders, union members and teachers staged a bold action in a major bank to demand a real Living Wage. That spark ignited a grassroots movement which, 25 years on, has created real change for workers across the UK. Over 16,000 employers across the UK now commit to the real Living Wage, returning £4.2 billion to low‑paid workers, delivering nearly half a million …
Jim Allister MP argues that the “Stormont Brake” and “Applicability Motions” have failed to protect Northern Ireland’s democratic integrity. He calls for full re-enfranchisement, rejecting these “demeaning mechanisms” in favour of a solution that restores true citizenship and parliamentary accountability.
Tim Cairns is a Senior Policy Officer for CARE (Christian Action, Research, and Education) We all know that social media is harmful. Many of us have encountered trolls or content we did not want to read or see online. Even for adults, social media takes its toll on our mental and physical well-being. In 2024, 15,000 adults (over the age of 16) were studied to see what effects social media had on their health. The study concluded that the more …
Does demographic change make Irish unity inevitable? Responding to claims that unionism is fading into irrelevance, Lorna Smyth argues that constitutional change requires more than slogans and census data—it requires practical answers on healthcare, the economy, and identity that have yet to be provided.
Country Ways is a Slugger reader from Belfast Following a recent report on the Civil Service, here are my personal perspectives, which I share with you. As a retired senior manager in the NI Civil Service, I find it difficult to disagree with the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General, Dorinnia Carville. The basic findings are that the Civil Service needs “strong leadership and a right-sized workforce”. I would also add to this that it needs the right people …
