France’s climate convention implemented 58% of its proposals and reached 78% public awareness, proof a citizens’ assembly can work when a state gives it real authority and resourcing. Sinn Féin’s defeated unity bill had neither, and a wider, patient conversation would serve the question better than a set-piece assembly ever could.
It looks like we are a couple of weeks out from a new Prime Minister in the UK. There’s been plenty of commentary about Andy Burnham and what he may bring to the table when, as seems inevitable, he takes over in mid-July. But what about Northern Ireland ? Burnham is making a major set-piece speech tomorrow about his economic plans, and we know that devolving more power to regions across the UK is something he has strong views on. …
Britain’s productivity flatlined in 2008, eight years before the referendum. Brexit added cost, and serious frictions but the real causes run deeper: weak investment, weak industrial strategy, and an employment model that grew jobs while output per hour stalled. Even Northern Ireland, the one part of the UK with a genuinely distinctive post-Brexit settlement, tells the same story.
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.
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 Northern Ireland, protestant burials are often small, private affairs. Only close family go and you must be invited to attend. When we arrived, we expected a small number of people. To our surprise, there was a crowd. My dad was …
Every July, blue and red pallets go up in flames on loyalist bonfires across Belfast. The theft is brazen, the impunity is total, and the cultural defence is well rehearsed. But behind the smoke lies a harder question — who is actually running this politics, and what do they gain from ensuring nothing ever changes?
We all know the quotation from David Copperfield, the most impenetrable novel I had to study in school. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds nought and six, result misery. Translink wishes. The reality is that Translink has been running at a substantial loss for the last two years. Forget Grand Central, forget new buses, forget the new Enterprise trains, all funded by DfI and not …
While Northern Republicanism remains preoccupied with the “semiotics” of defiance and historical score-settling, the dream of a 32-county state is stalling and the divergences between North and South are widening. If the Good Friday Agreement was meant to be a bridge, why has it been turned into a trench? Mick argues it’s time to trade 19th-century tactics for 21st-century statecraft.
On a recent speaking engagement, Fintan O’Toole made the observation of how important it is to avoid an Irish unity process that ends up like the brexit process. This is a wish that other analysts and political reps have also highlighted. Brexit shows, they argue, the need for adequate preparation. Northern nationalism has upped its rhetoric on this in recent months – SF has been running a time to prepare campaign, and its representatives issue a request for the …
Jim Allister is leader of the TUV and MP for North Antim. A KC he has previously represented North Antrim in the Northern Ireland Assembly and Northern Ireland in the European Parliament. He outlines the internal sea border problem. On Wednesday I led a debate in Parliament on the key ‘Safeguarding the Union’ provision that at least 80% of freight travelling from Great Britain to Northern Ireland must move in the UK Internal Market System, ahead of an anticipated report …
Late last week, we heard that the SDLP were putting a motion before the Assembly to call for a border poll. Looking at the order paper for Monday, I see the following motion tabled by the Leader of the Opposition : That this Assembly welcomes the positive step forward represented by the UK-EU deal of 19 May 2025; affirms that any arrangement which reduces friction for businesses is welcomed; supports further alignment between the UK and EU including via a …
The old Chinese curse that runs ‘may you live in interesting times’ holds today much as it ever did. Two days after Donald Trump announced his new tariff rates (and the international stock market when into meltdown), the air has yet to clear. Since the Second World War, the average US tariff has sat at around 4%, so what we are seeing is a remarkable shift in post war norms. World wide it is thought likely to affect around $700b …
Imagine! Festival of Ideas & Politics is back with a week-long programme to help you make sense of a crazy world. More than 90 events across seven days, with the festival organisers collaborating with lots of grassroots organisations and activists to bring small ‘p’ political issues to fore in accessible yet meaningful ways. Here’s my pick from some of the discussions, workshops, exhibitions, films, comedy, lectures, talks, music and theatre. Monday 24 March There’s an embarrassment of riches on the …
“…planning must precede a crisis rather than follow it, ensuring that shocks lead to constructive reform, rather than losses in resilience.” –Confronting the long crisis, Alex Evans • Bruce Jones • David Steven Today sees the first annual summit in London between the Irish and British governments. Although there are multiple crises facing both the UK and the EU bloc of which Ireland remains a part, for once there’s presently none in Northern Ireland. That doesn’t mean there won’t be …
“The human mind is incapable of rest, what it needs is change” -Winston Churchill There’s definitely a change in the air when it comes to the future of Northern Irish politics. Eighteen years the Executive and the power sharing Assembly has achieved a genuinely deepening peace, and from that peace has sprung a new prosperity. But it is unavoidably obvious what it has failed at too. Lee Reynolds (a former DUP SpAd) summarised the core problem, adroitly last Thursday on …
As anyone following the coverage on RTÉ will have seen, the result of Friday’s Irish election is now becoming clear with the country on course to re-elect a variant of the FF-FG coalition. As of Sunday evening, the consensus is settling on an FF-led coalition with FG, with a few independents making up the numbers. While it will be a government dominated by the same parties, the dynamic will be different – FF’s parliamentary party seems to have more older …
Sarah Davidson is chief executive of Carnegie UK – a foundation that works on wellbeing public policy Did life improve for you over the last year? Maybe you’ve got more money in the bank or a better job. Perhaps your neighbourhood has been cleaned up or feels safer. And it is possible that you found it easy to get a doctor’s appointment. No? Not you? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Carnegie’s Life in the UK Index reveals that life didn’t improve for the …
It’s not been a good few weeks for Belfast visitors and commuters. Not only are key arterial routes more packed than ever with traffic jams during most of the day, but the bus and train systems have been up the swannie too, especially on Thursday and Friday last week. This issue hasn’t escaped the notice of local politicians. In the assembly, during Infrastructure questions on October 1, the Minister, John O’Dowd, seemed to suggest that Belfast representatives Philip Brett and …
A couple of weeks back, the sixth Northern Ireland Executive released its draft Programme for Government. Coming over six months after the Executive was formed in February, following a gap in office of around two years, a naive observer might have had high hopes for this document, especially given that, during the election campaign in 2022, most of the parties talked up a good game about getting the government up and running. The UUP manifesto said : it is vital …
Brian took a brief look at the final report a couple of weeks ago, but real life has stopped me taking much more than an even briefer look up to now. Last year, I did a fairly in-depth review of the draft report, which Mick generously described as “proper scepticism.” I’m not going to repeat the analysis today, rather I’m going to look at what has changed between the two, but will it be enough for me to change what …
