Northern Ireland
The Troubles amnesty and the hypocrisy of Sinn Fein
Predictably – and understandably – the Northern Ireland Office’s proposed amnesty for crimes relating to the Troubles has resulted in…
Boris’s Brexit deal isn’t worth sacrificing Northern Ireland for
There will be chaos at the borders. Food will run out at the supermarkets. Travellers will face long queues, and…
Has Boris Johnson forgotten what he once said about IRA terrorists?
Boris Johnson’s approach to dealing with historical prosecutions in Northern Ireland has achieved that unique political feat in the Province: uniting both…
Troubles’ veterans on both sides deserve immunity from prosecution
The recent decision by Boris Johnson’s government to put a five-year time-bar, save in exceptional circumstances, on the prosecution of British…
Portrait of the Week
Home The government contemplated its promised Planning Bill, blamed for contributing to the astonishing victory for the Liberal Democrat Sarah…
Diary
I’ve always maintained I go to Fermanagh for sanity, and after the past few months, I need a return to…
The protocol may be Boris’s greatest masterstroke
The jibes thrown at Boris Johnson over his unhappiness with the Northern Ireland protocol — based on the obvious observation…
Boris Johnson’s Northern Ireland problem
In an at times grouchy press conference, Boris Johnson tried to calm the row over the Northern Ireland protocol. The…
This G7 summit matters more than most
It’s risky planning a trip to the British seaside at any time of year. But if the weather forecast is…
Meat of the matter
Britain has already seen two ‘Brexit days’ — when it formally left the EU on 31 January 2020 and the…
Joe Biden doesn’t understand Northern Ireland
Even a pessimist could be forgiven for being surprised by Joe ‘I’m Irish’ Biden’s ham-fisted intervention in the ongoing row…
Give the people what they think they want
I have a mean streak. Perhaps my cruellest urge is to give people what they claim to want. When political…
Could Sinn Fein become the largest party in Northern Ireland?
In 2022, a year after its centenary, there is the chance that Northern Ireland could end up with a nationalist,…
My fears about an Irish border poll
Last week, Edwin Poots was elected leader of the DUP. You will have read all about him. I have. You…
What’s next for the Union?
The Union faces two simultaneous challenges in Northern Ireland and Scotland that both look set to worsen in the coming…
Portrait of the week
Home ‘I think we have got a good chance of being able to dispense with the one-metre-plus from 21 June,’…
Who would want to replace Arlene Foster?
Arlene Foster has announced that she will be standing down as DUP leader on the 28 May and First Minister…
Sinn Fein’s hollow ‘apology’ for Mountbatten’s murder
Prince Philip’s death presented Sinn Fein with a particular challenge, given that the IRA murdered his beloved uncle. ‘I am…
Why Sinn Fein can’t really apologise for the IRA’s atrocities
What are we to make of Sinn Fein’s latest experiment with the language of regret when it comes to the…
The Northern Ireland Protocol is untenable
The process that delivered us the Northern Ireland Protocol already seems to have been rewritten in official memory. It suits…
Portrait of the week
Home The government sketched a scheme for a coronavirus passport, or ‘Covid status certification’, to be tried out at the…
Northern Ireland’s sink estates are fertile ground for fundamentalists
Northern Ireland is routinely voted one of the happiest places to live in the UK. A few weeks ago, a…
Is Biden turning on Brussels?
The Joe Biden administration, headed up by a proud son of Ireland, has spent St Patrick’s Day briefing reporters in Washington…
Troubles shared
The chilling rise of ‘IRA TikTok’
It is time to make friends with the EU
On Monday morning, Clément Beaune, Emmanuel Macron’s Europe Minister, clipped out the section of his media interview criticising Britain’s vaccination…
