Society and Culture

The Health Crisis at SWAH: When Data On Their Own Just Aren’t Enough

| Readers 1841
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Data is not a mirror. It does not simply reflect reality back at us — it selects, frames, and in doing so, inevitably excludes. The most powerful use of data is not confirmatory but exploratory: the patient, unglamorous work of tracking real changes in real communities, driven by genuine curiosity about what’s happening rather than what we hope or assume to be true. When data is used to justify decisions already made, it stops being a tool for understanding, becoming …

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The Union’s Wildcard: Maybe Farage Can Succeed Where Unionism Has Failed?

| Readers 4658

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 …

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From tartans to Guinness: Identity in Northern Ireland and beyond

| Readers 1258

Belfast Exposed photography gallery on Donegall Street hosted “Why Is Identity So Difficult?”, a public lecture and discussion delivered by Professor Dominic Bryan of Queen’s University Belfast. The event was organised by the Office of Identity and Cultural Expression (OICE) and formed part of the gallery’s BIEN programme, which accompanies three concurrent exhibitions exploring identity in its many dimensions: work on the Irish language tradition; the material decay of Ulster Scots buildings; and the story of the travelling community, refugees, asylum seekers, and new arrivals. In …

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Curating the conflict: Everyday Objects and the challenge of representing the Troubles

| Readers 650

An online panel discussion hosted by The Peace Museum in Bradford brought together museum professionals, academics, and heritage practitioners to explore how the conflict in and about Northern Ireland has been represented in exhibitions. Chaired by Dr Louise Purbrick of the Royal College of Art, the conversation introduced the museum’s current special exhibition, Everyday Objects Transformed by the Conflict, developed by Healing Through Remembering (HTR). The panel included Professor Elizabeth Crooke of Ulster University, Dr Karine Bigand of Aix-Marseille University, and Dr …

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Government Decision Confirms : The ‘Powerful Democratic Safeguards’ Deceit

| Readers 2997
Cargo ship loaded with colorful containers at a port

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.

Unionism’s Future Will Be Decided by Consent, Not Commentary…

| Readers 6037
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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.

Why Northern Tribalism is Slowly Burning Ireland’s Republican Dream

| Readers 6122
The sun is shining through the trees in the field

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.

Why Unionist Unity is the Wrong Answer to the Wrong Question…

| Readers 4139
Abstract neon lights in red and blue hues

As calls for Unionist unity and electoral pacts resurface ahead of the 2026 elections, Terry argues that political unionism is trapped in a “mental bloc.” The movement is failing to engage a new generation of pro-union voters who value cultural hybridity over old denominational structures. Is unionist re-alignment a path to renewal, or merely the final throes of a tired ritual?

Why Europe (And Ireland) Needs a Reality Check on Russia

| Readers 1822
men in green and brown camouflage uniform

In the high-stakes world of geopolitics, the belief that “chai and chat” can disarm a dictator is a dangerous delusion. From the “bad actor” tactics of Putin to the military vulnerabilities of neutral Ireland, Gary Kent argues Europe must transition from reliance on American to becoming a military superpower in its own right.

Flags and Bureaucracy: Commonwealth Games Standoff Resolved

| Readers 3130
man playing soccer

The row over the Ulster Banner at the 2026 Commonwealth Games must be one the shortest crisis in recent NI history, but it proves that while it doesn’t take much to NI’s successful sporting arena into a political minefield, only time, work and unending commitment can bring the generative change needed to make Northern Ireland a warm house for all.

The Union’s Best Argument: Why Winning the Middle Ground is the Key to the Next 100 Years

| Readers 3632
black mixing console

Northern Ireland is no longer a simple two-way divide. As a growing “middle ground” of voters begins to prioritize economic stability, healthcare, and public services over traditional ideology, Independent Unionist MP Alex Easton argues that Unionism must stop the infighting and start selling the tangible benefits of the UK. From the £25 billion fiscal gap to the strengths of the NHS, Easton explores why the Union remains the most viable path forward—if Unionists can finally get their act together.

The Low Priority of Governing: The Consequences Of A Decade of Stormont Instability

| Readers 1481
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My previous post has helped spark an interesting debate elsewhere. What seems to have piqued that interest was my view that since 2016 (the last time there was an actual three year budget) there’s been a loss of seriousness within the two senior parties about doing government particularly in comparison to administrations led by those same parties prior to 2016. The fiscal black hole both now face didn’t come from nowhere. Although there is a case to argue that austerity …

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John O’Dowd’s “ghost budget” is waiting for a fiscal rescue that isn’t coming…

| Readers 3043

When is a budget not a budget? Answer when it’s a ghost budget. That’s the term the SDLP opposition leader Matthew O’Toole used yesterday to describe a few pages of rushed homework the Finance Minister John O’Dowd is choosing to call a budget. This downright weird exercise in PR comes before any of his Executive colleagues had a chance to look at how he proposes to deal with their collective bids. So, in effect O’Dowd is breaking collective responsibility in …

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Border Poll Reality Check: Demographics, Data, and Decades of Debate (Part Three)

| Readers 5321
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Is a United Ireland inevitable, or is the status quo strengthening? This final installment of our University of Liverpool survey series tackles the Border Poll head-on. While support for unity has risen since 2017, recent data reveals a slight decline and a sobering demographic shift: a shrinking youth electorate. With 59.4% of decided voters favoring the UK, we explore why the “50+1” threshold remains a significant, and perhaps growing, challenge for pro-unity campaigners. We have been testing the border polls …

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