Left with no other viable choice the best choice is ‘no deal’ after two and a half years of the Prime Minister’s indefensible prevarication proving her to be a lamentable negotiator. The Nation and Parliament must bite the bullet and get out now of the E.U. quagmire. Three historical humiliating defeats in the Commons…

  Stop the sharp practice of pundits and propagandists who show no shame in pedalling alarmist boot licking over Brexit’s impact on the local economy. Unlike the Irish economy our economy is not overheating and causing serious concerns in the E.U. banking fraternity . All trade and business in Northern Ireland is crucially precious to…

  We witnessed a different Peter Robinson on Thursday at the Methodist Centre at Knock in Belfast – the weight of political office lifted from his shoulders. Robinson – the former First Minister and DUP leader – was the latest guest speaker in a series of talks – ‘The World Around Us’. The question posed…

    It’s a picture that speaks a thousand words. Those barriers on the Stormont steps a striking image in a place where obstacles, obstructions, blocks and impediments stand stubbornly in the path of progress. With the focus on Brexit, Stormont has been relegated to something of a political afterthought. There is no suggestion of…

    Many people reading will know of my distant past – that of the boy who grew up on the West Belfast interface during our recent conflict or that of the young soldier who served the notions of Nationhood for the UK in various theatres of operations. Few know me as a business man…

  The draft agreement for the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union that was published last week sparked a maelstrom in London that has kept most people enthralled, if not with the contents of this long and hugely legalistic technical document, then at least with the political fallout that has subsequently  arisen. The…

  My knowledge of nationalist involvement in World War One was never as extensive as that of soldiers mainly from the unionist community who served in the 36th Ulster Division. After discovering in my late mother’s family home, war medals and a card bordered in black with a black ribbon and containing a photograph of…

  As one who actively campaigned for the Belfast Agreement and supported the experimental concept of power sharing and parried some punches to boot, it is with genuine sadness that their demise is being written into our history. Such is the reality. After 10 laboured unproductive years unionists have learnt the salutary lesson that Sinn…

  Last Friday, a letter was sent to an Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, by over 1,000 people from right across nationalist civic society. Individuals with political affiliations and none, from the worlds of academia, health, the legal profession, business, the community and voluntary sector, sport and the arts made a direct public appeal to the Taoiseach…

    It was if a rewind button had been hit and what followed was a playback into conversations that have spanned two-plus decades. The panel discussion in north Belfast on Tuesday was on tackling paramilitarism; the question: How can government and civil society work together? We now have an Independent Reporting Commission – established…

“I have lived in Leeds which is a great place for 30 years and worked all over England “he said in his rich Tipperary accent “but I have come back. England’s not the same. It’s full of foreigners.” The retired tradesman who was now working part-time as a security-man on the building site where a…

  The on-mic/on-the-record commentary was bad enough – but what was whispered on the sidelines of Thursday’s Stormont talks was all the more telling. “Shit show” was one summary. “Complete bollocks” another. “Bloody awful” yet another two word put down of this all-party meeting with Secretary of State Karen Bradley. When you think things are…

  The anger within unionism requires and deserves to be urgently addressed by a Unionist Convention representing the entirety of the unionist family. Someone has to unlock the drift circling endlessly in choppy political waters. That someone incorporates social corporate unionism and it is they who must step up to the mark and end the…

  I would like to thank Eamonn for the opportunity to use the power of www.eamonnmallie.com to float my idea for breaking the political impasse in Northern Ireland. In brief, I suggested appointing Commissioners to liaise with the Permanent Secretaries of the Northern Ireland Civil Service to produce a list of urgent actions to be agreed, or…

    If you can’t see a problem, then you can’t fix it; and if you can’t see, or won’t accept, that you are part of that problem, then the route out of that predicament becomes all the more challenging to navigate. After almost 650 days without government on the political hill at Stormont, the…